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Sasuke and her team landed with an almost inaudible thud. Sasuke crouched in the center, Dosu to her right and Zaku to her left. The three were behind a low bush, thin enough to peak through, but dense enough to avoid being seen. The trio silently watched their target- they had discussed the best team to confront hours earlier.
They had discussed the rookies- at how easy it would be to take them out, but in the end that was exactly why they had decided against that course of action. They needn't bother with a group that was almost sure to be taken out by another group, and if by chance they did make it through then it would just mean finishing the exam would be much easier. They had later looked over the various teams-Gaara's team from the sand was out for obvious reasons, and most of the other teams were a giant question mark.
Sasuke wasn't afraid of genin, but rather the possibility that Orochimaru, sand, or even an unkown third party had smuggled in others, and she didn't want to accidentally attack a ninja that could be at jounin level. There was only one other team that she was absolutely sure was made up of genin.
A feminine voice suddenly cut through the silent forest, "When should we start to head out, Neji?"
Four groups from Leaf (the only village that wouldn't have snuck in high-ranking ninja to take out the village*) had made it to the second exam. Three were rookies, and the fourth consisted of a weapons expert, a Taijutsu expert, and a Hyuuga. Raising her right arm with her hand in a 'stop' motion Sasuke signaled for her team to attack.
As soon and Dosu and Zaku lept up from the bushes and into the clearing the only girl in the group instantly sent a barge of weapons in their direction. In a snap Zaku flickered his arms up, blasting the ensemble of kunai, shuriken, and other sharp weapons in various directions.
"We don't want to hurt you," Sasuke spoke with slowly walking into the battle arena, "just give us your scroll."
"Or what?" The Hyuuga boy gave her a glare.
The edges of Sasuke's lips curled into a devious smirk while her eyes eased shut, "We'll take the scroll," the raven snapped her eyes open to reveal a black pattern written on red eyes.
Not to be out done the Hyuuga, whom the girl had called Neji, activated his own kekki genkei.
"Your eyes are nothing against mine!"
Sasuke shook her head, like a parent being amused by one of their small children, "A jutsu, even a kekki genki, is nothing unless the user knows how to properly use it."
"What do you-"
He was cut off as Sasuke leaped towards him at an amazing speed. Twisting her body towards the side she managed to maneuver her body into a low position. Neji placed his foot forward, taking on his fighting stance, before quickly darting towards the girl. While his efforts were commendable, Sasuke had been trained to dodge speeds much greater than his, and she was able to easily dodge his attack.
"I don't like being underestimated," if it were anyone else it would have come out in a growl, but Neji just let it flow in a calm manner.
"The last thing I want to deal with is your village complaining that I killed one of their Hyuuga's." Sasuke mimicked Neji in tone.
"I signed a waver, just as you have," the smirk was evident in his voice, "now fight."
Sasuke didn't need to be told twice. Quicker than the normal human eye would have been able to follow she did a series of hand seals before uttering a quiet murmur.
"Chidori Nagashi."
It was nearly instant- the glowing needles landed into her opponents chakra points, and within seconds he let out a pained grunt and lost consciousness.
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"We've been out here forever!" Naruto complained in a winy voice.
"Actually it's only been a day and a half," Kabuto offered with a slight grin.
If the two young ninja had learned anything from this experience it was that Kabuto Yoshida was, indeed, the biggest asshole either of them had ever met. He had complained about Sakura's cooking 'I'd thought that all kinochi learn how to season fish correctly, oh well. I suppose you were just absent the day they explained that too much salt didn't taste well'. He complained about how slow they were 'You know genin should really be able to travel much faster than this. Do both of you not practice cardio much?'. To top all of that off he was the biggest smartass either had ever met (as his comment just now proved). All in all they were both extremely irritated with him, and decided that it was a real shame you couldn't murder your teammates without getting disqualified. Although, with the teammate they were stuck with, it might be worth staying as a genin another year.
Suddenly the sound of rustling could be heard, and the trio tensed slightly. The rustling got closer, there were two-possibly three- different patterns, they were quick, meaning they weren't simply dallying in the forest, they were headed for a purpose. Most likely their scroll.
"Ahh," came a muffled voice, "looks like tracked down a good team. This will be a piece of cake."
"Oh yeah? I'd love to see you say that after I smash your face in!" Naruto shouted.
"Technically you'd hear him say it," Kabuto corrected.
"Shut up Kabuto!" Both Naruto and Sakura shouted in sync.
It didn't take long before the three's antics were no longer important. It turns out that there had, indeed, been three members of the other team. They were a strange bunch. They had full body latex suits with some sort of gas mask covering their faces. They had all of the usual ninja gear (weapon holsters, headbands, ect), but that wasn't what was so strange about it. They all looked…identical?
'Clones?' Sakura thought 'But…they all have their own chakra signature? How is this possible?'
She didn't have time to ask, as the one standing to the far right dashed for her. Miraculously, she dodged, before retaliating with a kunai that hit with a soft thunk. She smirked to herself before noticing that his body absorbed the kunai.
'What are these guys?' She thought, bewildered.
Meanwhile Kabuto and Naruto were fighting the other two. Kabuto appeared to simply be on the defense- avoiding attacks while not looking too interested in throwing his own. Naruto, on the other hand, was using his opponent as a punching bag. With the good it was doing him it might as well have been a punching bag he was hitting.
Every punch, kick, even the occasional slap, was being absorbed by the same technique Sakura's kunai had been absorbed with. Naruto didn't know what it was called, but he dubbed it P.I.A. (Pain in the ass).
"Just give it up already," the three said simultaneously, "You're just going to tire yourselves out. Just hand over the scroll and admit defeat."
"You obviously don't know us!" Naruto shouted, "We don't give up when it gets hard, and we aren't going down without a fight!"
"Yeah!" Sakura added, "You can shove your technique up your ass before the three of us kick it!"
Kabuto just stood there before throwing exploding notes at the enemies.
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"Now," Dosu smugly remarked, "do you still want us to take the scroll from you. Or are you going to give it to us?"
"With our power of youth and training from Gai-sensai, we can prevail! Right Tenten?"
"Be quiet Lee," Tenten said in a hushed tone, "I-I think we should just give it to them. We can't beat these guys."
"But Tenten," Lee argued.
"You saw what they did to Neji Lee!" She interrupted, "Now, give it up before we both end up dead. Getting a promotion isn't worth dying for."
"Smart girl," Zaku commented. Tenten just sent him a glare.
After a few seconds of rustling in her pack Tenten flung their scroll at Sasuke, "Just go now," she sighed. Sasuke smirked before leaping into the air, her team following suit.
Exam Two: Complete.
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The explosion cast their enemies back several feet. It appeared that the explosive tags were effective, as the trio of freaks (Naruto had taken it upon himself to give them names. The one fighting Sakura was Tio, the one fighting Kabuto was Kin, and the one fighting Naruto was loser- because he was going to lose) found it difficult to get back up.
"Why you! You'll pay for that!" The 'Kin' yelled. He sprinted forward, toward Kabuto, before Kabuto pressed several pressure points, incapacitating him.
"Now," Kabuto smirked, "may we have your scroll?"
The other two seemed bewildered as 'Kin' struggled to get up before reaching into his pack and handing it over.
"I hope we meet again. Next time I won't hold back," he informed Kabuto before he, and his team took off.
"How did you do that?" Sakura asked.
"When I was fighting him I noticed that he needed a hand seal to complete his technique, so I just had to be faster than he was." He replied with a grin. Neither Sakura nor Naruto fully believed him.
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It wasn't a large village really, more like a small town. Approximately two-hundred and fifty people resided in this place, and in such a small town Ninja were basically non-existent. When Sasuke and her small team, made up of her, a man with spiky brown hair and a man with flat, short, white hair had entered the village the villagers noticed their holsters they had bombarded the trio with questions.
An old woman, "Aren't you a bit young to be risking your lives?"
A small child, "Can you teach me how to do jutsu?"
An overprotective mother, "Don't go near them son they're dangerous!"
A young man, "What's so special about you?"
A pre-teen boy, "Why do you have a little girl with you?"
A teenage girl, "Will you marry me?"
The questions had droned on and on for almost an hour while the trio simply stood their ground, showing no indication of having heard them at all. Sasuke, getting impatient, decided to walk through the crowd pushing everyone out of her way. There were several surprised gasps as she split the crowd down the center.
Quiet murmurs of anger irrupted.
"Who does she think she is?" 'Someone who could easily kill you off in a matter of seconds.'
"Ninja, always thinking they're better than civilians!" 'Because we are.'
"I'd love to fight her and show her who's boss around here!" 'Not a bad idea."
"Who said that?" Sasuke's voice cut through the crowd like a sharp blade. Sasuke stood-her back still turned to the crowd- for several seconds before turning around to face them.
"Oh?" she arched a brow, "no one wants to confess? All talk then?" A dark smirk covered her once innocent-looking face, "That's fine. I suppose I'll just have to weed you out."
Sasuke turned her head to the right to reveal a quivering boy- hardly twelve. She placed her hand on her weapons pouch. There grew a heavy, tense, silence- everyone was wary about what would happen next. In the blink of an eye blood splattered and chaos erupted.
Her team, although older than she, were under orders to follow her command. So, the second Sasuke had killed the pre-teen, the other two followed suite in slaughtering the rest of the villagers. Some looked in horror, simply standing there, shocked. Unable to cope. Others attempted to run, quickly getting chased down. Then there was the smallest group, the ones who had the long deaths, the ones who pitifully chose to fight a battle they knew they would not win.
Sasuke simply stood where she had killed the boy, smirking as she watched the chaos she had created unfold.
She was in Orochimaru's chambers now. The air was humid, and the lighting was dim, they changed bases every month, but somehow the terrible smell (a mixture of dead-rodent, old water, mold, and snake skin) followed them everywhere.
"Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke," a slimy voice scolded, "I specifically told you not to mess with the villagers. Now I have much more popularity than I would wish for. You do understand what this means for you, don't you?" a few seconds of silence, "Don't you?"
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Sasuke awoke with a gasp, drenched in sweat. She picked up her left arm and began tracing a deep scar that went from her right shoulder, down her side, and stopped at her hip. That day was once she would never forget, Orochimaru had, without mercy, sliced at her for stepping out of line. At the time she hadn't understood what was so wrong about it-he slaughtered people all of the time. Now, three years later, she understood that that was just it, he made the rules and she-and everyone else- were just pawns that followed them.
Most followed without complaint, they got something out of it as well. Orochimaru had saved them from a life even less desirable then the ones they lived now. They had gone with him willingly, in search of power, companionship, the idea of a future, but not Sasuke. She didn't even know what she had before. Had she been loved? If she wasn't with Orochimaru, would she be just an innocent civilian planting flowers? A regular genin? Would she even be alive.
When she was younger those thoughts used to plague her, but now she knew what she would be without Orochimaru. Nothing. Because he had made her into everything she now was. And she hated it.
Last chapter a reviewer asked why Sasuke was afraid of Orochimaru (as most of his followers worship him), I realized that I may have been pretty vague about that, and decided to have an explanation this chapter. If you have any more questions please leave a review or PM me, I'd hate for any of you to be confused!
QUESTION: Alright, so is there a specific team (or person) you would like me to write more about? As this is mainly about Sasuke, I have been writing mainly about her, but I would hate to be leaving out someone's favorite character, and these chapters would be the best place to put them. Not to mention- do any of you want to keep Team Gai in this?
* Sasuke doesn't know about the Uchiha clan, so to her that thought process seems entirely logical.
Sorry I took so long! I have no excuse, I was just lazy…
