So I'm doing a double publish, since I've been so bad at updating my stuffs. Sorry . So, Chapter Seven and Eight, just for you guys. =] I don't own Naruto, but I do own this story.
Chapter Seven – Saving Sakura
We found ourselves seated in six rows. I was in the fourth, and Tenten was in the third, directly in front of me. Lee was in the third, one to the right, and Neji was in the one behind me, three to my left. They explained the rules, how we only had ten points, if we get caught cheating we lose some points, blah blah. Whatever. Tests weren't that hard. He told us to begin, and I turned the paper over, only to see that the problems were quite difficult. I sighed, thinking. If the problems were this hard, almost no one in the class could answer them probably. Cheating was supposed to eliminate you from a test, not cause you to lose some points. That had to be it. We had to cheat. I looked up, and saw Tenten moving her fingers rapidly, and then Lee moved. Their movements had to be staged as a conversation of sorts, since Tenten stopped moving when he moved. She then proceeded to scoot slightly to the side, so that I could see what she was doing. Nonchalantly, I read the answers to the first three problems, before taking my time in writing them down, as if I were coming to the answers naturally. Then the next three. And then the next three still. Throughout this time, people failed and left with their teammates. Poor genin. Oh well. By the time I was finished, it was thirty minutes into the test. Fifteen minutes to spare. I glanced around, already bored. It was a long fifteen minutes.
Finally, they decided to administer the tenth question. It was a pass or fail question, one that you chose whether or not you took. If you failed the question, you couldn't become a chuunin. After a long moment, one in which I already determined that I'd take the question, no matter what, one person raised their hand. And, like that, a flood of others raised their hands, and soon there were many empty seats. Finally, after a time, Naruto raised his hand, and I thought he was quitting. Then, he made some bold, Naruto-like comment and the tide of people leaving ended. We waited expectantly, only to be told we all passed. It was wonderful. However, before we could celebrate, we were being whisked off to our next trial: The Forest of Death. Spooky, but it didn't daunt me. I walked with my teammates after the woman, and after even more rules, we were handed waiver forms. We could die in this challenge. Not surprising, seeing how even on our last mission we almost died. Such was the way of the ninja, yet everyone seemed surprised. As they setup a tent to hand out some scrolls that we were supposed to be fighting for, my team and I gathered together to sign the papers.
"We've got this." I said confidently.
"There's no way we can lose." Tenten seconded. We finished signing and made our way to the tent, where we turned in the waivers. They handed us an earth scroll, which went into Lee's holster before we walked out. I made myself look conspicuous, as if I were hiding something, keeping my hand protectively over my second pouch, as if that was what the pouch was there for. Some looked at me with unhidden glee and calculation. The four of us travelled to a gate, where we waited to be allowed in. After a signal was called, the gate was flung open, and we entered swiftly. Lee darted ahead of us, and Neji called out to him.
"Take it easy Lee. The test just started."
"That might be the case," He called back. "But still, whoever our enemies are, I want to find them first."
"You little fool." Neji returned, but not unkindly. We darted ahead, before Neji called for a stop at the base of a large tree.
"Alright, here's our plan." He told us, looking back and forth between us. "We'll wait here until the sun starts to go down. Then, we'll split up and strike, because at night is when they're going to feel safest." I smirked, while Tenten and Lee nodded in agreement. We were stuck here for a couple of hours. At least it wasn't a full day – since we started right after the first examination, it was going to be a shorter wait. During this time, I handed each of them two kunai with my paralysis poison on them, telling them the best way to get the most charges out of them. Then, Tenten and I sat in the roots of the tree, almost completely hidden by them. I know I dozed off, she might have as well. Neji shook me awake brusquely when we were moving to the branches above to survey the ground, because it was a better vantage point to wait for enemies. Eventually, the sun went down and we dropped to the forest floor again.
"Alright, you all know the plan." He was toying with a kunai. It wasn't one of mine. "No matter what happens, whether you make contact with an enemy or not, we will meet back here in this spot." He threw the kunai into the ground. "Understood?"
"No sweat." Tenten replied tiredly.
"Roger." Lee saluted.
"Got it." I acknowledged.
"Then let's go!" And with that, we all parted. Neji went west, while Lee went east; Tenten went north while I went south. I travelled quickly and quietly, listening to the forest around me for my target. I sniffed the air, searching for a fool who would light a fire. A good distance away, maybe an hour's run, I found a group. I nearly passed them, I'll admit. I heard their voices, and went to investigate. They were hidden in the roots of a tree, speaking to each other. While their voices were subdued, the roots channeled their voices straight upwards, so that I could hear them. Fools. If you were in enemy territory, you shouldn't be speaking at all unless it was necessary, and if it was, in a place that wouldn't carry your voice. I drew two kunai, one poisoned with paralysis. Then I dropped down to the three. They were all male; rain nin I noticed. I threw the kunai down at one man as I fell down, shifting so that I would land on a second. The kunai embedded in the man's shoulder, he looked up in surprise. The other two did the same, and the one I was aiming for barely got out of the way before I landed.
I didn't waste time in pausing to get my bearings, to look around in surprise because he moved. I just let my body flow into the next move, striking at the third member of their group. I lunged in with my kunai, and he blocked it with his own, trying to overpower me. His eyes flickered to the left momentarily, and I used that to my advantage. I dropped my body down, causing him to over balance, before rolling away to the right as the second teammate lashed out with a kick, catching his friend in the gut, knocking the wind out of him. I jumped to my feet and lunged at him, tackling him to the ground while he paused, staring down at his friend. He fell under me. I knelt over his chest, my knees pressing his arms down against his sides. My hand held a kunai in it, which I now pressed against his throat.
"The scroll for your lives." I told him coolly. I wouldn't actually kill them, but I would threaten. If they refused to give me the scroll, I'd render them helpless while I stole it from them. However, the man felt I was being serious, and swallowed carefully out of nervousness, before pointing slightly with one hand. It was hard to do so, seeing how I was pinning down the arms, but I understood the movement.
"He has it." He'd pointed at the one I paralyzed. Good. I smirked.
"Thanks." Then, I removed my kunai from his throat. As he breathed a sigh of relief, I reversed the blade and rapped his head with it gently, knocking him unconscious. Not hard enough to give a concussion, like that guy had done to me in a different forest, but enough that would leave him out for a period of time. With that done, I got off of him and went to the paralyzed one, pilfering through his things until I found the scroll. An earth scroll. We had one of these already. Oh well, I'd take it anyway, just to cut down the odds. I turned to the last conscious member of the team.
"This one here," I set my hand on the paralyzed one's shoulder, right above my kunai. "He'll be okay in an hour or so. The other one will awaken by morning, I'm sure. Neither is dead." I told him, before setting my hand on the blade and yanking it quickly out of the man's shoulder. I waved with a grin before taking to the trees. I looked up at the sky. I was running out of time to make it back without being late. I sprinted off. It had taken an hour to get here, but I needed to get back even quicker, before they came to look for me and got angry.
"Where are they?" I heard Tenten's annoyed voice. They? I wondered. Who else is late? I dropped down out of the trees.
"Here, sorry. I got caught up in a fight." I said, taking a few breaths. I'd practically sprinted the whole way here from that site, almost an hour's jog away. Anyone would be a little breathless. I looked up, glancing around to see who was here. Neji and Tenten were standing near the kunai.
"Where's Lee?" I asked, rhetorically. Obviously neither of them knew.
"I don't know," Tenten replied. "But he's late. And he's never late. Lee's like, fanatical about being on time."
"Maybe he ran into the enemy, like I did?" I offered, stretching my arms above my head. Tenten gasped.
"You think…?" Her face filled with slight concern. Neji chuckled softly.
"No, I'm sure he's alright." His face grew more serious. "Still, we'd better go find him."
"Right." Tenten agreed. I merely nodded. At that, we took to the trees once more, heading east in the direction Lee had taken. We didn't know how far away he'd gone, so Neji took the lead, using his Byakugan to scout out where he may have gone. After a good distance, he directed us to veer off of our course a bit. He'd found Lee, and he didn't look too happy about it. He stopped on a tree limb, holding an arm out for us to halt. Tenten crouched at the base of the branch, one hand on the tree trunk. Neji stood in the middle, now posed with his arms crossed over his chest. His Byakugan was no longer active. I stood to his left, one hand on my kunai pouch, surveying the scene before me.
Lee was laying face down, unconscious. There were three people, leaf shinobi it looked like, standing defiantly against three sound shinobi. Behind the three leaf shinobi was Sakura, along with her team. They were lying unconscious behind her. She didn't look to good, and her hair, which had been long before, was now short and unkempt. The three leaf shinobi were in varying positions. One was sitting on the ground, looking nauseous, and the only female, a blonde, was being supported by the other male in the group. The sound shinobi were in interesting positions as well. One, the one that had attacked the white haired guy earlier before the first test, was standing there all contemptuously. The second male was standing with his fist pointing towards their female member, who was lying with a look of fear on her face. I wondered why they were threatening their own teammate.
"… Anything that happens to Kin happens to her too. So, if say, Kin were to die…" The first said to the male supporting the girl.
"What're you gonna do? Murder your own teammate?" The guy demanded.
"If push comes to shove," The guy who had his fist out now opened it. "yeah." Wonderful. I really hope that my teammates would never turn out like these three. "Did you really think you could win? Face it, you're just a bunch of hacks." He said loftily.
"From a second rate village." The first finished.
"Huh," Neji spoke, pitching his voice so that it carried across the clearing. "That's pretty tough talk. I guess that makes your village third rate. I wonder if any of your amateurs are ready for the real thing?"
"What?" The first demanded, annoyance and scorn clear in his voice.
"It's Lee's team. I wondered when they'd get here." Sakura's voice, very soft, reached my ears.
"Lee!" Tenten called, spying his felled form.
"You blew it." Neji said dismissively.
"These genin keep popping out of the woods like cockroaches." The first sound ninja complained. Neji ignored him and spoke again.
"It looks to me like someone used our teammate as a punching bag. No one does that and gets away with it!" He invoked his Byakugan, his neutral-seeming face growing angry. "No more playing around, Tenten, Maia. Full power!"
"Right." I drew two kunai, both poisoned with paralysis venom. Tenten readied her weapons as well. Then Neji gasped, and we both turned to look at him. He had a look of shock on his face.
"What's the matter, Neji?" Tenten asked softly.
"Well?" The sound shinobi demanded. "Are you going to stand up there all day, or are you going to do something about it?"
"It looks like this has been taken out of my hands." I looked down to see what he meant. I spotted what he was talking about quickly. Sasuke was waking up, and he was emitting so much chakra that even I, without the Byakugan, could see it.
"Who did this to you, Sakura? Who was it?" She looked at him with fear.
"Sasuke? What's happened to you?" He was covered in dark marks. Well, not covered, necessarily. His left arm and the left half of his face had them, and I had to assume his shoulder and throat had them as well, but they were covered by his clothing.
"Don't worry, I'm alright. It's just the power flowing through me. In fact, I've never felt better. He gave me this gift. Tell me, now, which of these people did this to you?"
"That would be me." The second guy, the one who had threatened his teammate, said cockily. Sasuke looked at him, and if looks could kill, the guy would have been in little bitty pieces all over the clearing. After a little squabbling from the other team that was present, who were now out of the way, I turned my attention back to Sasuke and the two sound shinobi. The marks were now covering Sasuke's whole face.
"What's the matter Dosu? Getting cold feet?" the second sound shinobi asked.
"No, Zaku, you don't understand!" Dosu cried.
"I'll take them out in one fell swoop! Super Sonic Slicing Wave!" Zaku cried, flinging his hands out before him. A huge blast of air and light emitted, so strong that everyone within the area was affected. Tenten clutched the bark of the tree trunk, and Neji managed to brace himself in time. Me, on the other hand, I was knocked backwards off the tree and I hit a branch behind me with my back. It hurt pretty badly, but I knew I'd only have a nice icky bruise on my back from it. At least I didn't die, right? After the attack was over, I leapt back up to my place next to Neji. Neither he nor Tenten glanced my way, their eyes were on the clearing below, as were mine. The dust cleared before Zaku – the three leaf shinobi were gone. "Hah, what do you know? Blew them all away!" Zaku cheered.
"Not quite." The dust cleared from behind Zaku as Sasuke punched him across the clearing. There lay Sakura and Naruto as well.
"How did he do that?" I whispered, awed. I didn't think Lee could have done it, and he's no slouch. After a short battle, Sasuke dislocated Zaku's arms with two sickening cracks. I winced and rubbed my shoulder sockets in pity. Then he turned to Dosu, and Dosu was so frightened, he couldn't move. I didn't blame him. If Sasuke's gaze had fallen upon me at that moment, I'd have been afraid too. Sakura looked sickened and terrified of the whole thing. But still, I definitely have to give her points for guts. She watched Sasuke walk past her, and something in her must have snapped or did something, because I don't think I would have done it. She got up off the ground and ran at Sasuke, screaming "No!" and "Stop!"
"Please, stop." She whispered, and I could tell she was crying, even though I couldn't see her face. After a very long moment, the marks retreated from Sasuke's body, and he collapsed to the ground with Sakura supporting him. Dosu gave up and gave them their scroll in exchange for the lives of him and his teammates. After a bit more squabbling, the sound shinobi left. I watched them disappear, and then I heard noise below us.
"Ino, you take care of Lee. We'll check the kid."
"Right!" The three man leaf shinobi team split up to check out all the combatants. I stayed with my teammates in the tree, watching the others on the ground. Naruto started freaking out the instant he woke up, and Ino was carrying Lee towards us. I leapt down to help her, but Tenten beat me to her.
"I'll take care of him now, Ino." Tenten said, looking up at the girl from the crouch she'd landed in.
"Uh, okay." Ino said, slightly puzzled.
"Come on Lee, pull it together, and snap out of it already, alright?" Tenten vigorously shook Lee by the shoulders. I took a few steps forward to be next to Tenten as Lee dropped to his knees, before blearily looking up at the two of us.
"Tenten? Maia? Is that you? What're you guys doing here?"
"We came to help you out, what do you think?" I said, kneeling down to be on his level. Tenten crouched too.
"What? Where are those sound ninja?" He asked, looking around slowly.
"They're gone now. Sasuke took care of them. Don't worry about it." Tenten told him gently, more gently than she had when she shook him into consciousness.
"Really?" He asked, awed.
"Just what were you thinking, rushing in there all by yourself? Look at you, you're a total mess!" Tenten scolded.
"Well, Sakura was in trouble, so, I had to do something, right?" I sighed and rolled my eyes at him.
"That was pretty darn stupid don't you think?" Tenten reprimanded.
"Well, I can't argue with that." Just then, Naruto decided to pick at Lee, rushing over to us.
"Hey! I know you, bushy brow!" He said, emphasizing the 'bushy brow' part childishly.
"Knock it off! Don't you say anything bad about Lee!" Sakura yelled, punching Naruto a few feet away. "Thanks Lee. Because of you, I could stand up for myself, and I became a little stronger." Lee looked way too sad and touched and I almost gagged.
"Thank you, Sakura."
"Tenten, Lee, Maia. Let's go." Neji's voice called. The two of us helped Lee up and we carried him off to our camp. When we arrived there, I fished out a healing potion.
"Drink this. It'll renew your energy." I told him. He took it gratefully, before going to lie down and rest.
"I'll take the first watch." I offered. "Oh, and I got this." I added, holding up an earth scroll. "Useless to us, but it keeps one team from going forward." I shrugged.
"I have a heaven scroll, so we're all set then. I'll take second watch." Neji replied. Tenten agreed to take third, and by common consent, we decided that Lee wouldn't take a watch at all. It would be a long night, but it would be far from the first.
