Chapter 10:

~Tsuki's POV

"Taiyou, go help Sakura," I muttered.

"What about you?" she protested.

"I can handle him. Besides, Sakura can't fight off Kin and Zaku by herself."

Taiyou glared at Dosu one more time before running to help Sakura.

"Oh no you don't." Dosu went to send an attack Taiyou's way.

A second later, there was an arrow lodged in his arm. His arm started bleeding as he groaned in pain. He glared back at me.

"Your fight is with me." I readied another arrow. "And I don't miss."

He chuckled. "Very well. I'll kill you first."

~Taiyou's POV

Sakura was doing a pretty good job. Kin stabbed her with a kunai, but Sakura had performed a Substitution Jutsu just in time. I took this chance to start fighting Kin myself.

Sakura ran at Zaku, throwing kunai his way. She made the hand signs and was substituted again when Zaku blew the kunai back at her. Now she was coming at Zaku from above. He threw three kunai at her, then started looking around. He only realized she was the real Sakura when blood dripped onto his face. She stabbed his arm with a kunai, and bit his other arm. He started punching her in the head, but she didn't give in.

I focused on Kin now. All she was doing was throwing weapons at me, which I easily deflected with my fans. I even sent some back at her. It did little damage, but it was working.

I was getting tired of this. I quickly sheathed my fans and started performing hand signs.

"Senjo Kyuusho! Makai Gokuin!"

Kin stopped moving. She was paralyzed.

I haven't perfected Makai Gokuin yet, so it won't take long for her to break the Genjutsu. Five minutes at least. But she'd probably be scarred for life, which was good enough for me.

I looked over to Sakura. Zaku managed to get her off of him with one last blow to the head.

I was about to run over to her until Zaku spotted me. He sent a large gust of wind my way. I put my arms in front of me to block what I could, but I was still skidding back, away from Sakura. I wouldn't be able to get to her in time.

~Tsuki's POV

Dosu took the arrow in his arm out and tossed it to the ground. He started walking toward me, lifting his arm with the metal plate. A few steps toward me, and he stumbled forward.

The discarded arrow was now lodged in his back.

"That one might not come out," I said.

"How did you…?"

I lifted my hand without saying a word.

"Chakra threads. Smart girl." There was a glint in his eye. He rushed at me. "Let's see you deal with this!"

I jumped back quickly, shooting and arrow at him and trying to avoid his sound waves as much as possible. He tossed the arrow aside with his metal arm and continued toward me. I back-flipped three times before standing my ground.

'I won't get anywhere if he sends those sound waves of his my way over and over. I need to beat him as quickly as possible.' I looked around a little. I spotted my second arrow lying on the ground not far from me. 'But maybe that's what it takes to beat him!'

I knew what I was doing was risky, and the others would probably be beyond angry with me for it, but it was the only way I saw to beat Dosu.

Dosu charged at me again. This time, I stayed put, putting my bow back in place. Dosu was right in front of me, throwing his arm at me for a blow. I lifted my arm to block his, and the sound waves came rushing through my ears seconds later.

I cringed and tried to deal with it. I pushed my arm up, lifting his arm with the metal plate at the same time. Perfect.

Dosu laughed. "You should have expected my attack. You've seen it many times before."

I smirked. "I was expecting it." I waved my right arm forcefully, controlling the second arrow with my chakra. I put a heavy force of chakra into it, and it collided with Dosu's metal plate easily, cracking it dangerously.

Dosu was startled beyond compare. I took the opportunity and spun, kicking Dosu in the stomach. He flew through the air away from me. He struggled to get up, and I figured he'd be occupied trying to for a good few minutes.

Breathing heavily, I turned around to look for Taiyou and Sakura. Kin was paralyzed. Taiyou was being blown back by a gust the Zaku sent after her. He was advancing on Sakura. We couldn't get to Sakura in time before Zaku did.

Regardless, I started running towards her. But I didn't have to.

I stopped in my tracks when Ino and her team appeared, standing in front of Sakura protectively. Sakura looked up in awe.

Zaku smirked. "So what's this, the second string?"

"Ino," Sakura muttered.

"Surprised?" Ino commented. "I swore I'd never let you show me up, didn't I?"

I turned my attention to Taiyou. I ran over to her and pulled her away from the gust. It passed right by us and disappeared when its target vanished.

"Arigato," she said, trying to regain her breath. "Who are these guys?"

"Another Leaf team. Sakura's friend, I suppose."

"Sakura, your teammates are down," Ino told her. "Look after them."

Sakura sat there for a minute until she nodded.

"Come on." Taiyou pulled me with her. We ran over to the tree that Sasuke and Naruto lied under.

I looked around. Ino's team was fighting Zaku. Kin was no longer paralyzed, meaning she broke Taiyou's Genjutsu. Dosu was finally on his feet and heading to his team. I spotted Lee not too far away, still unconscious.

I hurried over to him and lifted his arm over my shoulder. I walked back to the tree where Sakura and Taiyou were watching the fight from. It was the safest place right now.

I settled my teammate on the ground floor and turned to see what was going on.

The bigger of Ino's teammates was able to jump Zaku's current. He was spinning in a giant ball, and Zaku stood there, petrified. Dosu ran toward him in order to save his teammate, but the lazy one in Ino's team stepped in.

"Ninja Art! Shadow Possession Jutsu!" His shadow stretched until it connected with Dosu's, freezing Dosu on the spot.

Zaku was able to jump out of the way before the giant human ball could land on him.

Dosu was standing there in a strange pose, since the lazy one was doing the same. Whatever he did, Dosu did. Kin was shouting at Dosu, wondering why he was just standing there.

"Ino, I'll leave the girl to you," the lazy boy muttered.

"Okay, you got it," Ino said. "Just take care of my body while I'm gone." She made a hand sign. "Ninja Art! Mind Transfer Jutsu!"

The boy caught Ino's limp body, and Kin stood there. Zaku was still dodging Ino's other teammate.

"Enough of this!" Zaku exclaimed. "Kin!"

She didn't move.

"What's wrong with you?" Dosu shouted.

Kin grabbed a kunai and pointed it to her neck, smirking at her two teammates. "Party's over, fellas. Take it easy. One false move from either of you and your teammate her gets it in the neck. You don't want that to happen. So here's what you do. Just drop the scroll and walk away. When you're far enough away to where I can't sense your chakras, I'll let her go."

Zaku and Dosu said nothing. But it didn't look like they were contemplating Ino's offer either.

"Hey, Chouji!" she shouted.

"What is it? What are they up to?" Sakura exclaimed.

Chouji spun his way over to her. Zaku sent a strong air current at Ino, who was still in Kin's body. Chouji got in front of her, but was blown away. Ino got knocked into a tree. Ino's actualy body started bleeding by the mouth.

"This is bad!" the boy said.

Ino in Kin's body lied there, looking up at the Sound nin weakly. "I don't…I don't understand you guys. What kind of monsters would attack their own teammate?"

"I guess…Monsters like us," Zaku huffed.

"You see, we don't play this game by your rules," Dosu added. "It's not the scrolls we're after, or even passing this test."

"What then?" Ino asked.

"Sasuke."

Taiyou and I turned around and looked at Sasuke. Dark energy was emitting from him.

'Why would Orochimaru want Sasuke?' I thought.

We turned back to the scene before us.

The boy's jutsu wore off, and Dosu was free.

"So, your paralysis jutsu has a pretty limited duration I see."

"Shadow Possession Jutsu. Get your jutsus right."

"Whatever. And I see your teammate is able to slip her soul into her opponent. Very clever and interesting. So whatever happens to Kin happens to her too. So if Kin were to die…"

"What are you gonna do? Kill your teammate?"

"Well if push comes to shove," Zaku lifted his arm in Ino's direction, "yeah."

The next second, I was standing in front of Ino. She was still in Kin's body, which made me wonder why she didn't release her jutsu.

"Try it!" I dared.

"Tsuki, are you crazy?" Taiyou called.

I didn't answer.

"You don't have the strength to stop Zaku's attack, Senjo," Dosu scoffed. "You're still taking damage from the last attack you endured." He raised his plated arm.

"Tch." I gritted my teeth, knowing he was right.

"Oh man, what a drag!"

"Yeah, no kidding," Chouji agreed.

Zaku stood up, his arm still raised in my direction. "Did you really think you could beat us? Face it! You ninja are just a bunch of hacks."

"From a second rate village," Dosu sneered.

"Huh. That's pretty tough talk." Everyone looked up, and there stood Neji with Tenten. "I guess that makes your village third rate. I wonder if any of you amateurs are ready to take on the real thing?"

"What?"

I sighed in relief.

"Lee!" Tenten gasped.

"You blew it," Neji scoffed. He looked at me. "Stand down, Tsuki."

I would have stood my ground, but Zaku had let his arm fall to his side. He was no longer focused on killing Kin and Ino at the same time, only on my teammates. I stepped back as Neji asked.

"Hn. You Genin keep popping out of the woods like cockroaches!" Dosu seethed.

"It looks to me as if somebody used our teammates as a punching bag." He activated his Byakugan. "No one does that and gets away with it!"

Dosu and Zaku seemed to be frightened, even the slightest bit. Ino and her team were speechless with awe.

"No more playing around, Tenten," Neji commanded. "Full power!" But then he paused.

"What's the matter? Neji?" Tenten asked.

I felt a large amount of chakra nearby. I looked around until I spotted Sasuke.

"Well?" Dosu taunted. "Are you going to stand up there all day? Or are you gonna come down and do something about it?"

"Actually, it looks like it might've been taken out of my hands," Neji stated calmly.

Dosu was confused. But that was when he looked at Sasuke. Everyone else was already seeing it. Sasuke was surrounded in dark purple chakra.

Sasuke lifted himself from the ground, but there was something off about him.

"Sasuke! You're awake!" Sakura gasped in relief. But then she faltered, seeing something wasn't right about Sasuke after all.

There were markings covering half of Sasuke's body. They glowed a fiery orange until settling and becoming black.

Sasuke observed his surroundings. "Sakura…Taiyou…Who did this to you?" His Sharingan was activated. "Who was it?"

"Sasuke?" Taiyou voiced.

"What's happening to you?" Sakura asked.

Sasuke said nothing as he looked at his marked arm. "Don't worry. I'm all right. It's only the power flowing through me. In fact, I've never felt better. He gave me this gift. And he made me understand what I am."

I caught on to what he meant. "Sasuke! Don't let him take over!"

He ignored my comment. "I am an avenger. To follow my path, I must have power. At any price, even if it means being consumed by evil."

Sasuke was going to turn to evil for power…I don't know what those markings on his body means. But I do know that whatever the case, if Sasuke is so consumed in evil from now on, he was to have no relation to Taiyou or me.

"Sakura, Taiyou. Tell me. Which one of these people did this to you?" Sasuke demanded.

Zaku smirked. "That'd be me."

Sasuke flashed his gaze to Zaku. Then turned his full attention on him. I could feel Sasuke's intention to kill him.

"Ino!" Ino's teammate was calling her from the bushes. "Hurry up and get back in your body! You don't want to get involved in this! You too, Chouji! Get out of there!"

Chouji ran over to his teammate. Ino nodded at me in thanks and then released her jutsu. Kin dropped to the ground unconscious.

I hurried back to where Taiyou and Sakura were. I stood next to Lee's unconscious form, just in case things got out of hand. And they might.

Sasuke's mark spread across his face. There was an idle gust of wind blowing at Sasuke's hair and clothes roughly.

Dosu was arguing with Zaku not to attack.

"Super Sonic Slicing Wave!"

I grabbed Lee and leaped away. Taiyou did the same with Naruto, and Sasuke with Sakura.

Zaku's jutsu faded. "What do ya know? Blew 'em all away."

"Not quite." Sasuke, standing next to Zaku, punched him in the face. Zaku toppled onto the ground, his body tossing itself until he finally landed.

Sasuke performed his Phoenix Flower Jutsu. Zaku blew the flames away, but there was shuriken in the flames to begin with. They did there damage as Zaku was preoccupied with the basic weapons. Sasuke moved fast, as fast as Lee. Next thing I know, Sasuke had a hold on both of Zaku's arms, pulling them back with his foot on Zaku's back. Sasuke pressed his foot forward and pulled Zaku's arms back, trying to break them.

And break them he did. He let Zaku go finally, and the injured Sound ninja landed on the ground in a heap. Sasuke turned his attention to Dosu.

"Looks like you're the only one left. I hope you make things more interesting than your friend did."

Sasuke advanced on Dosu. Dosu stood there, unable to move out of fear. Sakura gazed at Sasuke desperately. She was crying. What she did next surprised me.

"No! Stop! Don't do it!" She hugged Sasuke from behind, and he turned his gaze on her, angry that she stopped him. "Stop…Please."

Sasuke stared at her for a long moment. His mark started to fade, disappearing from all around his body. The only mark left was the one on his neck. He fell back, almost in Sakura's arms. He was breathing heavily.

"You're strong, Sasuke." Dosu held out his Earth scroll to them. "Too strong. We can't hope to defeat you the way you are now." He set the scroll on the ground. "We'll strike a deal. I'll give you this scroll, and you let us go." He walked over to pick up Zaku. "It seemed we underestimated you. But at least we found out what we needed to know." He picked up Kin. "For the moment, we're even. But if we should ever again meet in combat, I promise you. We won't run or hide." He started to walk away.

"Wait!" Sakura shouted, catching Dosu's attention. "Who is this Orochimaru anyway? What's he done to Sasuke? And why Sasuke?"

"I don't know. All I know is that we were told to target Sasuke. And we did. I don't know why he sent us to assassinate someone to whom he bestowed such powers. I don't even know why Sasuke survived the curse mark. There are many things I don't know."

With that, Dosu left.

"Hey, are you guys okay?" Chouji called.

"Ino, you look after Lee and Tsuki. We'll check out the kid."

"Right!" She came over to us. "Are you okay, Tsuki?"

I nodded. "Fine." I looked over at Sasuke, Sakura, and Taiyou. 'But are they?'