New Wind Nation: Alliance

by Kyogre

AU. Hidden Sand genin Naruto has gained a good friend in Gaara, but now he and the entire village are facing a new crisis. It's a race to convince their leader to abandon his plans of an invasion, or they just might find themselves on the brink of a new war. (Sequel to New Wind Nation.)

10. Chunin Exams 3

/~/~

Title: New Wind Nation: Alliance

Chapter 10: Chunin Exams ~ Second Round (part 3)

Notes: Hmmm... It was at this point that I realized I had made certain mistakes in my outline. Heheh...

/~/~

As the genin teams that were moving on to the second round dispersed from the clinic - some to gather supplies, some to rest up before setting out, some heading out immediately - Sasuke shared a quick look with Naruto, receiving a short nod in return, and turned to his teammates.

"We'll set out immediately. There's no point in waiting, and the symptoms will probably start returning soon," he told Said. Then, to Hinata, "You can head back to the inn. There's no need for you to come any further."

Hinata's eyes widened, in surprise… and fear.

This was an important mission that had been entrusted to her by the clan. This was her chance to prove herself more than a complete failure, to finally do something to bring honor to the Hyuuga, her father had said. But what had she accomplished so far? Just filling up the third space?

If she returned like this… If she failed this one last chance…

"I disagree," Sai spoke up, drawing startled looks from both his teammates. This was the first time he expressed any opinion. "Splitting up the team will create suspicion. And alone, Hinata-san might be targeted by other teams. It would be best to stay together."

Sasuke frowned, considering his words. He hadn't meant to be unkind to Hinata. If anything, he thought she would be safer back in the village. He wasn't sure he trusted Sai's reasoning either, not when Kakashi had cautioned him to watch Sai carefully.

"Please!" Hinata burst out, finally gathering her courage. She dipped her head in a low bow. "Please, Sasuke-kun! I want to help with this mission! I will do my best not to slow you down. Please let me come..."

"Fine," Sasuke said quickly. He had never quite figured out how to deal with girls and their feelings. "Let's just go."

Preoccupied, none of them paid much attention to the three genin watching them.

"So that's your cousin? She's… really different from you," Tenten commented quietly, as Sasuke's team quickly departed from the herbalist's house. She, Neji and Lee had hung back, following Neji's lead in observing the other Leaf team.

"Hinata-sama is weak. And because of that, her team is weak," Neji stated coldly.

Tenten sighed. "So I'm guessing you won't agree to team up with them?" she said. That was what she had planned to suggest.

"Hmph. There's no reason to burden ourselves with those fated to lose," Neji declared. But his eyes still lingered on the direction his cousin had gone.

/~/~

"Are you going to be okay traveling like that?" Naruto asked, eyeing Gaara - who had covered one eye to use his Third Eye jutsu to follow Sasuke and his team.

"It's fine," Gaara said calmly. This was the best way of keeping track of the others, while still remaining at a distance.

Remembering how easily his own technique had been spotted by Orochimaru, the Kazekage had taken the last few days to drill Gaara in keeping the Third Eye more inconspicuous, though it might have been a lost cause. The best they could hope for was that Orochimaru would disregard their tail and make a move on Sasuke anyway.

More memorable to Gaara was the strange way his father kept looking at him while they trained. It was… thoughtful and considering. The Kazekage's entire demeanor had been subtly different from their previous training sessions, almost uncertain, as if he didn't know quite how to approach Gaara. That in turn had made Gaara uncertain as well, and the two often ended up lapsing into uncomfortable silence. It was the single most awkward thing Gaara had ever experienced, impressive given Gaara's usual lack of social awareness.

"I hope that snake guy appears soon, or the symptoms are gonna come back. I can't believe they actually poisoned us!" Naruto complained distractedly. "I mean, I didn't even notice, but everyone else wasn't doing so well…"

"Don't worry about that," Kankuro said, his tone clipped with tension. "The stuff the proctor gave us wasn't just a temporary treatment, like for the others. It was the real cure. I recognize that after taste from the Jofuku flowers. That Leaf team probably got the same."

"Huh," Naruto let out, momentarily caught by surprise. He supposed he should have considered that. This entire thing was controlled by their village, after all. Except out here, in the desert, where anything could happen.

Out here, it was up to them.

/~/~

A sharp, shrill scream had brought the proctors running. The scene they found was both gruesome and unsettling - a young kunoichi having stumbled upon three bloody corpses in one of the village's back alleys.

The girl, the same Grass kunoichi who had spoken up at the announcement of the second round, had been sent by her teammates to find the other team from their village. They had wanted to link up, to increase their chances of passing and put on a good showing for their smaller village. Instead, she found their corpses, mangled and missing the faces.

"She says the other team took off right after you announced the start of the second round," a proctor reported to Yura. Unlike the older genin, the girl's team had hesitated for a good while longer, before finally deciding on a plan. "But that's all she knows. They separated right after arriving yesterday, and no one on her team spoke to them since then."

"...Do we have a record of this team setting out?" Yura asked, his expression carefully controlled. His subordinates whispered quickly among themselves, then one of them nodded hesitantly. Yura blew out a heavy breath. "Notify the Kazekage immediately," he said quietly. "It seems we have three impostors on the loose in the desert."

/~/~

An underground river had once flowed between the village and the oasis that was the destination of the second round. However, as the water dried up, the ground above it cracked and splintered. Numerous narrow canyons opened up over the dried up underground riverbed, crisscrossing in an elaborate maze.

It was through that maze the genin teams in the second round of the Chunin Exams had to pass to reach the oasis, unless they wanted to risk a very wide detour over the surface. It was also the perfect place for an ambush.

There was almost guaranteed to be one, hopefully not from some over-enthusiastic genin team, but from Orochimaru's group, to separate them from Sasuke. Thus, Gaara was taking point in their formation, given that he alone knew where to go and he had the best defenses, while Naruto and Kankuro followed just behind.

The shadows were even deeper in the faint moonlight, to the point that Naruto could barely keep himself from stumbling as he leaped almost totally blind across the rocky canyon floor. With their footsteps all but silent, only the sound of the wind was left to echo eerily between the tall, often sheer rock walls.

In the night's almost unnatural stillness, it took Naruto a long moment to realize that it wasn't his eyes playing tricks on him and that the rock walls in front of them had begun to tilt sideways.

The cliffs were collapsing, stones raining down toward the three man team.

"Gaara!" Naruto yelled, momentarily caught between forcing his way forward and retreating from the danger.

His eyes snapping toward the avalanche, Gaara gestured sharply. Sand surged forward, engulfing the falling rocks and sweeping them away harmlessly.

But that wasn't their enemy's only attempt to stop their advance. A thick-set figure leaped off the remaining cliff, plummeting straight toward Gaara. With most of his sand having been dispersed to counter the rockslide, Gaara's shield was slow to react and much thinner. It domed inward visibly under the force of his enemy's full-body attack, which was almost strong enough to break through.

"Reppusho!" Naruto yelled, clapping his hands together.

A powerful blast of wind slammed into their attacked, tossing him away from Gaara. Finally, they were able to get a clear look at the ambusher - a large man in a crude mask. The small tag trailing from him wide-brimmed hat read "Punishment" three times.

'Huh? Who is that guy?' Naruto thought, completely blanking.

'That's… one of the Grass genin, if I remember right,' Kankuro thought. 'But is he attacking us on his own or...'

Their opponent regained his bearings easily, flipping to land on a tall stone spire in the middle of the canyon. "You won't go any further, you trash," he snarled in a deep, rumbling voice. It sounded familiar to Naruto. Slamming his hands down onto the stone under his feet, the stranger barked, "Doton: Doroku Gaeshi!"

Panels of rock snapped out of the canyon walls on either side and, connecting to the stone spire, formed a towering wall in front of the Sand team.

"Like that's going to stop us!" Naruto yelled, pointing at the man. "You… fatso!"

The stranger twitched. "You'll be eating those words," he hissed, though the mask hid his glare and scowl, which turned into a sneering smirk. "That's not the last of it…"

"Sawarabi no Mai." It was a different, softer voice that announced the next attack.

Countless gleaming white bones burst from the canyon walls, aiming to skewer the three Sand genin. Cursing, Kankuro - who had hung back after retreating from the initial rockslide - managed to escape just out of range, but Naruto reacted in the opposite direction, darting to Gaara's side, as the sand shield quickly rose to protect them both.

Kankuro glanced from the bone spikes, almost completely filling the canyon in front of him, to the second enemy figure that had appeared atop the canyon wall - slighter than the first, but otherwise unremarkable, with a tag that instead read "Sin" thrice.

"Looks like there's just one left," their first enemy mocked, reaching up to rip the mask off his face. But as he pulled, the bald skin of his head was dragged off as well, revealing the earth style user who had lost to Kakashi in the Land of the Sea - Jirobo.

His partner did the same, tossing aside his wide-brimmed hat to reveal Kimimaro's fine features.

Catching a glimpse of the skin fluttering beneath the discarded hat, Kankuro made a face. 'Orochimaru's men, huh? So that's how they were able to sneak in - they literally wore the faces of those Grass-nins,' he thought. But despite the malevolent attention turning toward him, Kankuro just smirked.

"I wouldn't count those two out yet," he said.

It was as if his words were a cue.

The sideways forest of bones suddenly and violently exploded, the white spines shattering and their fragments flung picked up by a powerful wind. As the winds died down, Naruto's smirking figure was revealed in the center of the chaos, Gaara watching from safely behind him, the remains of his sand shield scattered around them.

Naruto turned, clapping his hands together once more, and another impossibly strong tornado roared to life, aiming for Jirobo. The cutting winds that made up the tornado all but shredded another path through the bone barricade and then the rock walls.

Jirobo had been forced to flee his perch in the center of the canyon, as it too collapsed under the wind jutsu's power, and in the moment when Naruto abruptly canceled his technique - the debris still hanging in the air and only slowly beginning to fall - the path onward was open.

"Gaara, go! Leave these two to us!" Naruto yelled.

Gaara didn't hesitate. This was what something they had to do, as shinobi of the Sand. They each had their own duty. He dashed past, before either of Orochimaru's henchmen could stop him, and disappeared down the twisting canyon.

Snarling, Jirobo - being closer - tried to pursue, but a powerful gust of wind slammed into his back and sent him almost crashing into a rock wall.

"You won't go any further, you fatso," Naruto parroted Jirobo's earlier words. "We'll be your opponents!"

"Don't just volunteer me," Kankuro complained under his breath. He twitched a little as Kimimaro turned his cold gaze onto the puppeteer.

"Very well. I will deal with this one. Finish the other quickly, Jirobo," Kimimaro instructed. "We will not allow anything to interfere with Orochimaru-sama's wishes."

Two narrow bone swords slipping out of his sleeves and into his hands, Kimimaro lunged down at his target. Cursing, Kankuro turned tail and ran.

/~/~

Left alone, Jirobo and Naruto stared each other down for several long moments. Finally, Orochimaru's subordinate sneered. Drawing back his fist, he pushed off the wall he had been clinging to and flung himself at Naruto.

Naruto jumped back just enough to avoid the attack and the shockwave that would follow from something of that force. But Jirobo had predicted that. Instead of slamming his fist into the ground, he twisted to land firmly on his feet. Instead, his hands both touched the ground, sending chakra through the rock.

"Doton Kekkai: Doro Domu!" he announced, as stone rose up in a circle around Naruto.

The Earth Dome Prison was a jutsu designed to be almost inescapable - anyone trapped inside would have their chakra continually drained and used to repair any damage they might cause to the dome. Jirobo was quite proud of it, as his cocky smirk showed.

But like all barrier techniques, it relied on one thing: trapping the victim inside.

The walls of the dome formed almost instantly near Jirobo, which was also the point closest to Naruto, and the diameter of the circle should have been too great for him to be able to make it there in time to escape… with his own speed, that is.

Naruto had instinctively begun to step back, and he gestured sharply, almost as if yanking a line toward himself. A sharp gust of wind slammed into his chest, sending him flying - straight through the narrowing, closing gap in the back of the rock dome.

He had practiced this maneuver as well - it was useful - and this time managed to recover from his short flight by using another, weaker gust of wind to hit him from the back, counting his reverse momentum. Flipping, Naruto landed on his feet, his hands already coming together to clap once more.

"Eat this! My original jutsu!" he yelled, before his voice was lost in the roar of the wind.

All higher level wind style ninjutsu functioned by creating two simultaneous wind currents that, when they came together, created a thin, cutting edge between them. Naruto, being unable to control his chakra finely enough to maintain that edge, decided to simply power through regardless.

So what if he couldn't cut something precisely? All he needed to do was shred it, cut it so many times that it wouldn't matter if he hadn't hit the center the first time or the fifth.

When the two massive opposing winds he had created collided, instead of cancelling each other out, they created a wild vortex that expanded violently. The half-constructed dome was torn apart stone by stone, along with the rock beneath it, and all the debris was dragged into the roaring tornado, where it was further crushed into gravel and dust.

This time, Jirobo wasn't fast enough, having been still in the middle of his own jutsu. He only had time for a short curse before he too was pulled into the wind vortex. Cuts appeared all across his body, even as he brought up his arms to shield his head and face and struggled to endure the onslaught.

Finally, the jutsu cut off, and everything that had been dragged into the vortex - rocks, dust and enemy shinobi - began to fall.

Snapping his arms open, Jirobo revealed his face, and the triangle markings that had begun to crawl across his body.

"Like that's going to be enough!" he yelled, baring his teeth in the parody of a grin. "You trash-!"

But before he could do more than draw back his fist, about to attack, Naruto darted forward, bringing his own fist into Jirobo's gut. "Futon: Senpuken," Naruto declared, and a whirlwind burst out of his punch - sending Jirobo flying into the canyon wall behind him, hard enough to leave an imprint.

Orochimaru's underling didn't move again, his head lolling forward in unconsciousness.

"Heh. I'm thinking of calling it Uzumaki no Jutsu," Naruto said, straightening. "Pretty cool, right?"

There was no response, of course, and Naruto's amusement faded quickly. They were still in the middle of a vital mission, and there was no time to fool around. 'We've got to catch up to Gaara,' he thought.

Glancing around, Naruto sighed. "Stupid Kankuro. Of course he ran back the other way…"

/~/~

Unlike Naruto, Kankuro had no intention of trying to muscle his way past. There was no point, as far as he could see. Even if he caught up with Gaara, it was almost a foregone conclusion that the third member of the imposter Grass team was actually Orochimaru, and there was nothing Kankuro would be able to contribute to that. Even Gaara wasn't supposed to win, just protect Orochimaru's target, Sasuke, from the Sannin.

So why try to rush over? Stalling one of Orochimaru's subordinates was enough of a contribution for Kankuro.

Besides, it didn't look like his chances were all that good. It was about all he could do to stay ahead of Kimimaro's pursuit and avoid the bone projectiles being furled at his back with frightening precision. The narrow canyon favored him, fortunately, slowing Kimimaro's pursuit and giving Kankuro plenty of cover.

On the other hand, he still didn't have any chance to properly use Karasu. There was simply no time to pull ahead enough to do it, or to set up a good ambush. Kankuro resorted to simply tossing a kunai behind him occasionally, all of which Kimimaro dodged nimbly or deflected with his own bone weapons.

In the end, Kankuro's luck had to run out - and he found himself facing a dead end, boxed in by sheer walls on three sides. As Kankuro turned, sighing to himself, Kimimaro arrived to block the last route of escape.

"There's nowhere left to run," Kimimaro said, advancing slowly.

"We'll see," Kankuro said, and threw down a smoke bomb.

'A smokescreen? No, it must be poison gas,' Kimimaro thought, instinctively holding his breath. 'But I won't go down so easily...'

However, Kankuro didn't try to run. Kimimaro was right - he wouldn't be able to escape. Shinobi did not rely on sight alone; if Kankuro tried to climb the cliffs, he'd leave himself completely open.

He didn't try. Instead, Kankuro put on his most shit-eating smirk and taunted, "It doesn't matter if you catch me. Your pathetic snake of a master is going down. He never had a chance. What was he even thinking, trying to go against one of the five great villages? He's nothing but a washed-out has-been idiot!"

His only warning was the furious hiss as Kimimaro drew a sharp, angry breath. Then, the Kaguya attacked.

Kimimaro's bone sword plunged into Kankuro's torso, homing in using the sound of his voice. But a moment later, Kimimaro realized that something was wrong - a thin layer of sand peeled away, as "Kankuro's" head spun around in a complete circle, its jaw dropping completely open and its eyes rolling back.

The bandages that had been tightly wrapped around the bundle Kankuro had been carrying burst open, and Kankuro himself jumped away. Chakra strings trailed from his fingers to the puppet that had been posing as him. A twitch of his fingers, and Karasu's snapped around, hidden daggers emerging.

Kimimaro jumped back quickly, but one blade still managed to graze him. Even his cool expression showed a hint of chagrin - he knew he had made a mistake by getting riled up and breathing in some of Kankuro's poison. Letting the no doubt poisoned dagger graze him was another mistake. The amount was miniscule in both cases, but all good puppeteers coordinated their poisons to cause them to exacerbate each other's effects.

Against a puppeteer, a long, drawn-out battle was almost a sure loss.

Kimimaro had no intention of allowing the battle to be drawn out any longer. With the smoke beginning to clear, he could make out both Karasu and Kankuro attempting to hide behind it. He charged, bones sprouting across his arms and chest, but just as he approached Karasu, Kimimaro pivoted around the puppet and lunged for Kankuro instead.

Releasing the strings of one hand, Kankuro quickly attached a string to Kimimaro's foot instead - and yanked sharply. Unlike Chiyo, Kankuro was still too inexperienced to use a human as a puppet, but it was enough to pull Kimimaro off-balance and throw off his attack.

Kimimaro spun gracefully even as he fell, and five finger bullets shot out from one hand, almost point blank. Kankuro's smirk quickly morphed into a split-second expression of fear.

But before the projectiles could connect, a violent wind swept away the bones and the remaining smoke.

Taking advantage of the distraction, Kankuro jumped away, Karasu following. Kimimaro regained his feet almost immediately, but he did not pursue, straightening slowly and looking up with narrowed eyes at Naruto, who stood atop the canyon wall.

"Where is Jirobo?" Kimimaro asked.

Naruto gave a self satisfied smile. "Oh, I took care of him," he boasted. "Now, we're going to to deal with you, and then it's just your boss left."

"I should have killed you on that island," Kimimaro stated, with the faintest trace of frustration. "I won't allow you to interfere with Orochimaru-sama's wishes. I'll end it here."

'And how do you plan to do that? The odds are in our favor,' Kankuro had been about to say, but the words died in his mouth.

Markings like fire spread across Kimimaro's skin and even hair. As his pale complexion became a dark grey, Kimimaro hunched over, in pain, or ecstasy. Bone spikes burst out of his back, ripping his shirt, and when Kimimaro threw his head back with a roar, a long lizard-like tail hit the ground heavily.

"You have no chance, against Orochimaru-sama's power," he growled.

Massive bones wrapped around his arm to form a drill-like weapon, as Kimimaro lunged for Kankuro - this time, he was willing to go straight through Karasu to get to its master. Kimimaro's lance slowed, if only barely, as it plowed through the puppet, and Kankuro quickly retreated, cursing all the while.

But Karasu wouldn't go down so easily. Even with its torso torn to shreds, the puppet was able to release a flurry of kunai at Kimimaro. He would have been able to dodge, but a clap and a gust of wind from Naruto thrust the kunai forward faster than he expected, and several grazed his limbs.

'...He's slowing down,' Kankuro realized, as he pulled Karasu's remains back to his side.

Kimimaro realized the same thing, his face contorting. He could feel the ache building in his chest and lungs, and he had to struggle to hold back a cough fit. 'I won't fail Orochimaru-sama,' Kimimaro swore to himself. 'I will take out all obstacles in his way...'

His gaze snapped up to focus on Naruto, and Kimimaro jumped toward the Sand-nin standing high above. It looked like a foolhardy move, leaving him open to attack, but Naruto easily took the bait, preparing to strike with a wind jutsu as Kimimaro approached. Instead, Kimimaro reached back over his shoulder with his free hand. A long chain of bones - his spine - popped out, forming a whip that he pulled free and swung forward.

The added reach caught Naruto by surprise, the whip wrapping around his legs and yanking his feet out from under him. He toppled with a yelp, just as Kimimaro reached him, bone spear drawn back to stab.

"It's over!" Kimimaro yelled, bringing his weapon down on his helpless opponent.

But his cry of victory was cut off by a wet, pained gurgle. Craning his head back, he tried to catch sight of the dagger that had been plunged between his shoulder blades - part of Karasu's arm, independently manipulated by Kankuro while Kimimaro's attention was distracted.

Crashing to the ground next to Naruto, Kimimaro struggled to get up again. That level of injury shouldn't have been enough to stop him, but… He couldn't breathe, and as he coughed desperately, blood began to dribble from his mouth. His bone constructs broke apart, and the Cursed Seal state reversed, his skin and hair fading to white again.

Kankuro and Naruto watched, one suspiciously, one in stunned surprise. Kimimaro reached out one blood-stained hand toward Naruto, fingers grasping as if to wrap around his throat, but as the poisons took full effect, his eyes dulled and he collapsed bonelessly, like a marionette whose strings had been cut.

Kicking his legs free of the bone whip, Naruto carefully crawled up to Kimimaro's sprawled body and nudged him. There was no response.

"It acted faster than I thought…" Kankuro muttered, jumping up to land next to them and already wrapping up Karasu's damaged form. "Well, he should be out for a good while, with all those in him."

"...Yeah," Naruto agreed. He stood, dusting himself off. "Let's go. Gaara's waiting."

/~/~

Orochimaru watched from a high perch as Sasuke's team approached. His eyes passed quickly over the Hyuga girl trailing behind the other two - such an impressive bloodline was wasted on that meek little thing - and lingered only a moment longer on the pale boy keeping to Sasuke's left.

The markings of a Root agent were easy to recognize, and the boy was almost certain to be more powerful than he appeared, but Orochimaru didn't concern himself. He knew Danzo, and he was certain he knew what the old warhawk would have ordered his subordinate to do. There was no threat there, especially not to one of the Sannin.

In fact, despite knowing that this was certainly a trap, Orochimaru felt no unease or worry. If anything, he was looking forward to what was to come. He fully intended to show Hidden Sand and the Kazekage what happened to those that thought they could turn against Orochimaru's will. He would enjoy this little bit of payback.

But that would come after. For now, Orochimaru had an even more delicious prey in his sights. He licked his lips as he studied Sasuke, leading his team down the twisting canyon, toward his inevitable fate.

An Uchiha - the Sharingan. The dojutsu capable of seeing through and copying any technique. It was a terrible shame that only two sets remained in the world. Naturally, Orochimaru couldn't let the opportunity to claim one pass him by. With the Sharingan, his research would advance to new heights!

But not every Sharingan was equal. That was why Orochimaru would first need to test the boy's potential… and then leave his mark.

Sasuke's eyes darted to Orochimaru as the Sannin's borrowed form landed gracefully in the genins' path. They backpedalled immediately, all jumping away from him and warily settling into defensive stances. Orochimaru smirked.

"My, my, what do we have here?" he drawled. "A trio of little rats…"

His eyebrows rose as Sasuke asked point-blank, "Are you Orochimaru?"

'So they were told? Surprising,' Orochimaru thought. 'I would have expected them to be sent in blind to the slaughter.' "And if I am?" he asked, amused.

"What do you want with me?" Sasuke took the acknowledgement for what it was.

His bluntness was charming, Orochimaru thought. "Your eyes," Orochimaru replied, equally bluntly. His long tongue flicked out as Sasuke's Sharingan instinctively activated, the single tomoe circling the pupil.

"Then come and get them!" Sasuke taunted.

So young, so foolish. So ready to be killed.

It would be so easy. They were all so weak, even the Root boy. Orochimaru could imagine it perfectly - hunting them down, ripping them apart, and finally, an executioner's blow straight in the center of their cute little heads...

With a sick smile, he projected that very image - so that even the children trying to face him would know the truth of it. His bloodlust overwhelmed them. Hinata collapsed with a soft whimper, and though Sai's face remained expressionless, his eyes grew painfully wide and cold sweat rolled down his face.

Between them, Sasuke was left utterly paralyzed and trembling, unable to move even as Orochimaru landed gracefully in front of him.

"Hmm, is that all? You're quite a disappointment, compared to your brother…" Orochimaru drew out, running his hand over Sasuke's cheek in the parody of a caress. Looking into a Sharingan should have been the height of foolishness, but he was certain this child wouldn't be able to ensnare him in a genjutsu.

Orochimaru's words were enough to make Sasuke flinch. His lips drew back in a snarl, even as he struggled against the paralyzing effects of Orochimaru's bloodlust.

'My… brother? That man...' Sasuke thought. 'That man… I'm nothing compared to him? I can't compare to him? No! Everything… everything has been… so that I can kill him!'

The kunai in his hand flashed. But the one Sasuke stabbed wasn't the man in front of him - it was himself.

The sharp sudden pain in his thigh cut through the lingering paralysis, and Sasuke immediately formed a handseal. 'Gokakyu no Jutsu!' he thought, his chest puffing out as he took a deep breath.

Orochimaru only smile in the face of the massive fireball Sasuke breathed out, making no move to evade. Sasuke's hadn't expected it to affect him - the light and fire was just a distraction to let him gain a little distance.

'Don't hesitate, don't waste time being scared!' Sasuke shouted at himself. 'You knew this was going to happen! You agreed to this mission, even though you knew he's too strong to fight! Stick to the plan! Buy as much time as you can…'

This was, he thought distantly, the same as with Orochimaru's underling. First, he had to fight to prove he was strong enough to be worth letting him live. Because he couldn't afford to die here, not before he killed that man.

Unnoticed, a second tomoe formed within each crimson eye.

/~/~

Besides their Sharingan, the Uchiha clan was - had been - famous for their shuriken-jutsu and their fire-style jutsus. Sasuke put on a magnificent display of both. Nothing that could truly amaze or even surprise Orochimaru, of course, but worthy of a passing grade.

The last of Sasuke's fire jutsu lit up the canyon walls, before fading away. But despite taking the brunt of it head on, Orochimaru only chuckled, slipping through the burning wires with inhuman ease, and reached up to peel off the burnt, no longer needed skin mask to reveal his true face.

"Yes," Orochimaru mused, "you will do just fine. Now, come. I will give you a taste of true power."

Sasuke tensed and might have tried to flee, but Orochimaru was much, much faster. His neck elongated, his head shooting out with thin fangs bared.

In the instance before he bit down, Orochimaru knew something had gone wrong. Then, there was the taste of something that was not blood in his mouth, before the "Sasuke" whose neck he had attacked burst into a cloud of black ink.

Orochimaru sighed internally. He had gotten too excited and made a rookie mistake. Using the brief moment when the flare of Sasuke's fire jutsu had blinded him, Sasuke had been replaced by a solid clone. Orochimaru's own distraction and reveal had also helped. Of course, now that he noticed, it was easy to find the culprit - Sai, crouching beside Sasuke in the shadow of a boulder.

"Choju Giga!" the Root agent exclaimed, one hand in a hand seal, the other holding a brush poised over a scroll.

An ink and chakra beast burst out of the scroll, lunging for Orochimaru, but the Sannin only batted it aside. Even Sai's usually expressionless face twitched - in fear or frustration at his jutsu being so easily overcome - but he had no time to attempt anything else as Orochimaru advanced on the two boys again.

"Good try," Orochimaru praised facetiously. "But playtime is over."

Sasuke shoved his teammate down just in time to avoid the serpent that shot out from Orochimaru's sleeve, aiming for Sai's head.

Looking up, he met Orochimaru's gaze and smirked.

"Yeah," he agreed. "It's over."

Sand surged between them.

Reinforcements had arrived.

/~/~

Q&A:

Why did you cut Sasuke's fight with Orochimaru? Honestly, I was getting tired of writing. Also, I always planned it to be pretty similar to what happened in the Forest of Death anyway. I kinda thought about maybe having him know something new, but… eh.

Was that Karin finding the bodies of the other Grass team? Yes. Karin's first meeting with Sasuke (in canon) was when he saved her from a bear in the Forest of Death. She was wearing a Grass headband, and it seems she was not yet one of Orochimaru's subordinates (she was not in disguise, she didn't have any bite marks - in other words, she hadn't been experimented on to have that ability, etc). So Karin makes a cameo here as a Grass kunoichi.

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