"Just who are you?" Sakura said to the unknown ninja across from them, the mysterious shinobi who had appeared.
"My name for now is private," The man said to her and Naruto with a smirk. "Feel free to guess if you wish."
"Your name is slimeball as far as I'm concerned." Naruto called out and the man raised an amused eyebrow at him.
"Anyone ever tell you, you have a habit of speaking up when you should be silent?" He told Naruto who glared at him.
"You said you and I share a title, what do you mean by that?" Sakura asked the man who let out a soft chuckle.
"Think about what you have been through so far," The enemy ninja said to her. "Little Blossom; you and I share something important, that which less than a handful can say to have been in their lives."
"You're not making any sense." Sakura told him.
"KuKuKu, what's the point of riddles and mysteries if its immediately solved?" The shinobi told her. "But don't worry, you'll find out the answer eventually, or at least I hope you will." He said to Sakura who looked on trying to get a read on him. This shinobi was unlike anyone she had ever meet before. His smile was revolting and made you want to wash off and his eyes were unnerving as well as it was hard to maintain eye contact with such a man. Everything about him from his appearance to his nonchalant posture was making alarm bells go off in her head that this guy was someone who'd kill another without even blinking if he felt like it. Naruto also seemed to share the same feelings about him it looked like.
"This guy makes Gato look like a good Samaritan." Naruto mumbled under his breath as whoever this guy was, he was bad to the core. Even that whacko with the tattoo on his head looked like he was sane compared to this man.
The unknown man looked on at them, both of his eyes on them. "You two are quite intriguing, my curious is piqued over the both of you from what I've recently heard about you, where will the two of you be in five years' time I wonder?" He asked with a shrug of his shoulders. "Will you be in the next rank? Decide the shinobi life is not for you? Have achieved a new level of growth and power? Surpass everyone's belief they had about you? Or will the two of you wind up dead and forgotten about like so many before you?" He asked as Naruto and Sakura glared at him. "So many options and yet only one of them will ever come to fruition."
"The two of you had better run along now, it's about halfway through the stage of this part, the two of you had best find a scroll so you can advance before its too late." He said but suddenly stopped and put a hand to his head. "How foolish of me, my math is somewhat off. Aren't there suppose to be three members of a team?" He rhetorically asked to them.
"S-Sasuke!" Sakura said outloud and she and Naruto looked on at each other alarm in there eyes.
"Let's go!" Naruto shouted and the two ran back the way they came to where they had left him.
The ninja cackled laughing wildly as he saw them flee as everything was going the way he had set it up.
Sasuke threw out a kick which was dodged and he was suddenly blasted from behind via a gust of wind knocking him down. Scooping himself up he recovered up off the ground and glared at his attackers in defiance.
The three ninjas leaped at him and attacked him from all sides, Sasuke dodged and blocked the best he could as he could not focus on one without the other two getting him from the rear.
The three had appeared and attacked him without any explanation, they weren't here for the scroll which he didn't have. They seemed focused on fighting him and he was having to fight at a handicap due to Naruto and Sakura having gone off.
The long haired girl slashed at him with a kunai which he stopped catching her arm and disarmed her of it and slashed at the bandaged one with it who blocked it with his gauntlet. The third appeared beside him with a grin revealing a open hole in his palm and let loose with not air like before, but a burst of sound staggering Sasuke.
Sasuke leapt backwards and pulled out shuriken with chakra strings attached to them and threw them at them and using the strings to control them as he fought them.
"This guys' got plenty of tricks!" Kin Tsuchi said as she dodged one and pulled out a weapon scroll. "But so do I." She said and activated it revealing a giant bell.
"What the?" Sasuke said in confusion not understanding what she was doing as she took aim.
She fired releasing multiple senbon and they hit the bell and it rang loudly echoing all throughout the area. Sasuke clamped his hands over his ears as the sound was deafening. "If you had trained your ears to resist and knew how to send chakra to increase or decrease the sound you heard, you would not be affected by it." She taunted him as it wasn't affecting her or her teammates as it continued to rang and it felt like his head was a drum being pounded on.
Sasuke gritted his teeth and formed hand symbols ignoring the fact that his ear drums were ready to burst. "Fire Style: Great Fireball!" He shouted and let loose with it and it hit the bell and shattered it stopping the noise.
"Hey! That cost me a lot of money!" Kin shouted at him in anger over Sasuke destroying it
"I'll handle him, 80% Air, 20% Sound!" Zaku Abumi shouted and let loose with another attack which Sasuke evaded as he saw it uproot the ground. "C'mon punk, don't leave us disappointed." He taunted Sasuke who sneered at him.
"Fire Style: Phoenix Stream!" He shouted and released multiple fireballs at once. Zaku smirked and fired another blast thinking he blew them away only to his shock to see shuriken hidden in them which he brought his arms up to defend himself as they cut his clothing. Sasuke took that chance to appear behind him and before Zaku could react was drilled by Sasuke's fist sending him rolling across the ground.
"I've fought against stronger people than thugs like you." Sasuke said to them his Sharingan activated.
"Don't think that'll do much good for you. The Sharingan is quite good at tracking and mimicking an opponent's movements." Dosu Kinuta said to him. "But unless you also happen to have the same weapon on hand that your opponent is using, it's not much use then." He explained to him bringing up his gauntlet he wore on his left arm to Sasuke who glared and began preparing a Jutsu setting up another Great Fireball.
Sasuke aimed and fired it, but not at them, but above at the branch of a giant tree which hit and broke it apart from it sending it downwards.
"Impressive…" Dosu noted narrowing his eye as he looked on as it plummeted towards him and leapt up and threw out a punch activating his Melody Arm's power and the giant branch shattered into pieces from the blow surprising Sasuke at what he did. "Your skills are impressive no doubt, but there is a thing such as numbers advantage." He told Sasuke as the three attacked him once again. The hits piled on and soon Sasuke was finding himself struggling with catching his breath
"Got you!" Kin shouted and went to stab him with the curved blades on her weapon from an angle he couldn't defend himself from.
A clanging sound was heard as a pink haired figure appeared in front of him and blocked the attack with her dual swords.
"You…" Kin said to Sakura and the two rivals glared at one another as she had stopped Kin's attack with her Kodachi. Sakura threw her off and slashed at her which Kin blocked as the two engaged one another in a test of strength fighting one another.
"Sasuke!" Naruto shouted appearing as well and blindsided Dosu tackling him. "Real lot of guts you guys have, attacking someone all by himself!" He shouted as he threw punches at him from above
"Annoying pests!" Dosu said narrowing his one eye and suddenly activated his gauntlet letting loose a loud burst of sound making Naruto cry out in pain and get off of him as his ears felt like they . Dosu scrambled up off the ground. "Zaku! Together!" He commanded his teammate who joined up with him and the two prepared a joint jutsu.
"Sound Release: Sound Gun!" The two shouted bringing up their hands forming a circle and fired two small attacks which joined together creating a large attack which flew right at Naruto, only for a vortex of wind to surround him and deflect the attack. "What?!" Zaku shouted in shock and fired from his air cutters but they too were deflected away.
"Don't think your attacks are gonna do any good now." Naruto said with a smile as he utilized the move that Kakashi had given him the day before the exams. Having spent every waking hour before it to master and learn it. Having learned the jutsu that would protect him and also damage those who got too close.
"Lightning Style: Electro Ball!" Sasuke shouted rejoining the fray having recovered and send the attack right at Zaku hitting him in the chest knocking him down from the impact.
(That must be the one Kakashi gave him.) Naruto thought to himself as he had never seen that one before. (I wonder what Sakura got?) He questioned but now wasn't the time to do so as battle was afoot.
Sakura and Kin continued to fight one another, the Leaf and Sound Kunoichi going at it as they fought. Each had a scowl on their face as they looked on at one another determined to win.
Sakura swung her swords which Kin dodged and fired senbon from her wristbow at her, Sakura avoided hiding behind a tree and ran up it, running up the tree she made her way, but to her shock the tree suddenly exploded as a paper bomb went off. She flew and grabbed a branch as she did catching herself from hitting the ground.
"You really think I was going to fall for a trick like that?" Kin on another branch across from her said as she realized what she was going to do beforehand and attached a bomb to the tree. Sakura dropped down to the ground evading her fire.
Kin appeared on the ground as well and charged at Sakura and slashed at it with the blades on the weapon, Sakura dodged it and saw her long black hair. With the length of it she immediately thought about grabbing it to immobilize her but remembered Sarutobi's words. If she had it that long, than that meant she knew how to defend herself and prevent others from using it against her meaning Sakura would be open to attack if she had tried to grab it. Instead she pulled out a kunai from her pouch and threw it at Kin who ducked under it.
Kin threw a kick which hit Sakura in the stomach but not to be deterred she swung a fist catching Kin in the cheek knocking her backwards but neither let the hit hold them down as they continued to fight.
"Not bad for some wannabe." Kin said to her.
"I earned the right to be called Kunoichi, and I will show everyone why." Sakura responded to her as she blocked an attack.
"Then go ahead and show it!" Kin dared her as she reached into her pocket and threw out regular senbon this time.
The fight continued and the two teams joined back up. Team 7 was starting to run out of gas as they needed a reprieve, this Sound team was a formidable foe with each being a threat. Discretion maybe the better part of valor, as Naruto was about ready to create as many bushins as he could so to distract him while he grabbed the others and ran away.
He got ready to form the hand symbols when Kin suddenly stopped moving. "What the?!" She shouted as she wasn't able to move just now which surprised Sakura just now.
"What's going on?!" Zaku shouted seeing what was happening.
"Leave Sasuke-kun alone!" A voice shouted and Team 7 recognized that voice as they saw emerging from the bushes Team 10 consisting of Ino Yamanaka, Chouji Akimichi and Shikamaru Nara who had immobilized Kin using his Kage Mane ability.
"Where the heck are these ants coming from?!" Zaku shouted in anger as they appeared to be sprouting out of the ground
"Thanks guys." Naruto called out to Shikamaru.
"Don't thank us, Ino made us do it." He told him but Naruto could tell he was lying about it.
"More lambs to the slaughter then!" Dosu shouted and crouching down leapt at Team 10 who scattered forcing Shikamaru to break his jutsu freeing Kin.
"Guys now!" Sakura said as they now had an opening with the unexpected arrival of them. "Sakura Blossom technique!" She shouted using a move she had made on her own and threw bags filled with cherry petals at them which exploded and covered the area with them seemingly raining.
Naruto appeared in front of Dosu and kicked him in the chin knocking him in the air. "Now you're gonna get it!" He said and creating a Bushin which he grabbed and tossed into the air and tackled Dosu knocking him to the ground.
"Get lost!" Zaku shouted blasting at Team 10 with his Air Cutters. Chouji lunged at him and his arm suddenly expanded in size nearly tripling shocking Zaku who narrowly avoided it as his massive fist left a crater from the impact.
"That's it guys you're doing great!" Ino shouted cheering them on as they drove them back. "Kick their butts good for me!"
(Why don't you actually get involved them?) Sakura thought to herself as her teammates were doing all the work. Ino had yet to get involved in the fight.
Kin fired senbon at Shikamaru who dodged them as she was in a tree and in an area where his shadow couldn't reach her. "Troublesome." He muttered under his breath but saw Sasuke appear behind her and attack her knocking her down. "Might as well." He said and went to activate his Kage Man but Sakura stopped him.
"This one's mine to handle Shikamaru." Sakura told him.
"Alright if you say so." He mumbled putting his hands in his pockets.
"Come on." Sakura dared Kin who narrowed her eyes and charged at her the two resuming their fight.
Dosu pulled himself up from the ground an irritated look in his eye as that move he had taken from Naruto had hurt but heard a beeping sound. He looked down at the small wristwatch he had. "Fifteen minutes already." He mused. "I guess playtime's over with."
"Kin! Zaku!" Dosu called out to the other two. "Time has passed," He said to the others who stopped what they were doing and joined up with him.
"What's the big idea!" Naruto called out to them. "You dirt bags giving up?"
"Far from it," Dosu said with a laugh. "Our mission we were given is now complete, we was under orders to analyze nothing more. We have no reason to fight you now. But next time we don't plan on backing out so early." He said and the group leapt backwards and disappeared ignoring Naruto's shouts to come back and fight.
"Darn it! Come back here!" He called out running a few steps but didn't see any trace of them as they had vanished. He let out a growl at what just happened before turning back to the others. Just who were those ninja? Why had they attacked them just now and then retreated, what did they mean by mission?
Those and more questions plagued his mind as he checked on the others. "Everyone okay? Anyone need medical aid?" He asked looking on. They had gotten some bruises and cuts back there, but nothing serious or threatening thankfully.
"Starving but other than that I'm good." Chouji mentioned causing his best friend to roll his eyes as of course he would be hungry. "Any reason why those guys were fighting you?" He asked as they had stumbled onto the scene seeing them fight.
"Ask Sasuke, he's the one they were fighting first." Naruto mentioned as they had seen it as well when they had gotten back. He left out that he and Sakura had encountered that mysterious man earlier.
"It doesn't matter," Sasuke said to them. "You heard them say they'd fight us again, and next time I'll handle them."
"That's right Sasuke-kun I know you will!" Ino said as she fawned over him. "I bet you'll be able to beat them all by yourself."
(That's it!) Sakura shouted in her mind and suddenly reached out and grabbed Ino by her hair.
"OW! What the?! What's the big idea Forehead girl?!" Ino protested squirming in her grasp as Sakura had a solid hold on her blonde hair. Ino tried to writhe out of her grip by Sakura held tightly a scowl on her face as the others looked on in surprise at the display.
"Would you mind giving us some privacy?" Sakura said to the others and began to walk away dragging Ino by the hair as she took her.
"What's goin' on?" Naruto said not understanding what was happening.
"Whatever it is it's going to be troublesome." Shikamaru groaned.
Sakura dragged Ino by her hair, ignoring her cries and curses as she lead her. Sakura walked for over a minute before finally letting go of her dropping her to the ground.
"Why you!" Ino shouted in fury and went to slap her for what she had done only for Sakura to easily block it and grabbing her arm twisted it and was behind her holding her arm forcing her to one knee. "Ow! Why are you doing this Sakura! Let GO!" Ino shouted wincing in pain as her arm was twisted and she couldn't get free from Sakura's iron grip she hold on her.
"Pathetic, you didn't listen to one single word I said to you did you Ino?" Sakura harshly chastised her as she had an harsh grip on her arm. "I told you that you needed to work on your training and work and you instead decided to goof off didn't you?" She demanded to know. "This isn't a game Ino! We could've been killed back there, all of us!" She said to her as Ino had given up squirming. "You did nothing at all back there. Why did you decide to even become a Kunoichi in the first place? We're ninjas! Fighters! We're not someone's personal cheerleader like you think we're suppose to be! How would you react if you was attacked and all alone? Would you do nothing but wait for someone else to save you?" She harshly said to her. "Look just now how easily I've subdued you just now, all I had to do was grab your hair. What would you do if I was someone who was planning on killing you?" She demanded to know and got no response from Ino who was silent.
"You're going to have to grow up Ino, not next year, not next month, starting today." She told her. "Do you wanna die Ino?" Sakura demanded from her and got no response. "Answer me!"
"No! I don't wanna die!" Ino shouted loudly.
"Then stop pretending that you're a ninja and actually be one for a change!" Sakura angrily told her. "You're nothing right now but a fake! Stop thinking that this is some romantic dream you're living in and face reality! What would've happened if they had decided to attack you back there? How would you have defended yourself from them? Do you even have any moves or techniques you could use to protect yourself? Shikamaru and Chouji were the ones who actually helped us out back there; you did nothing but stand to the side when we needed help against them."
Ino looked on at her sadly but Sakura wasn't giving her any sympathy, she had to learn this lesson, just like she had done. Just like Sarutobi had done to her when she started under him, she was showing Ino the foolishness of her style and what it would result in if she kept this up.
She looked on at her and Ino stared at the ground not looking on at Sakura and the intensity of her eyes. Sakura took a deep breath and let loose of Ino's arm who rubbed her wrist trying to get feeling back into it.
"You may think that I'm just trying to be mean to you right now," Sakura mentioned to her. "But I'm doing this so you can finally wake up Ino as you need to do so." She told her as Ino looked on at her. "You have gotta change this way of thinking for your own good."
She reached into her holster and pulled out a kunai holding it up.
"And the first change must be done by your own hands."
Shortly later, the males of the team stood there as they licked and recovered their wounds and wondering what was going on with their female teammates.
They heard footsteps and looking saw Sakura walking towards them, following shortly behind her was Ino.
"Ino!" Chouji shouted as he saw her and the change that had been done to her
"What'd you do to her?!" Shikamaru shouted angrily at Sakura seeing Ino's lack of hair she now possessed. It took a lot for him to get angry but he was now.
"I didn't do anything," Sakura responded to him. "She cut her hair herself." She said and looked over at Ino.
"Ino, is that true?" Shikamaru asked and she nodded her head in response. Her long blonde hair that she had taken such pride in had been cut off.
"Why?" Chouji asked.
"Because it was nothing but a burden to me." Ino said in response her eyes on the ground. "I had to cut it as it was a weakness that anyone could use against me." Ino said and slowly lifted her head up. "All this time I've been focusing on stuff that won't help me at all and neglecting and ignoring my training. I can't do that anymore as I have to realize what being a Kunoichi means and why I decided to become one." She told the others who looked on at her still stunned at her new look.
"Ino, your hair."
"It's just hair Chouji, it'll grow back." Ino replied to him as she walked over to them. "We should go now."
"I guess we'll see you hopefully in the next stage." Naruto said to them as he got ready to go.
"Hopefully." Shikamaru mentioned to them tucking his hands into his pockets. "What a drag…"
"Good luck you guys, and Ino?" Sakura called out to here and she turned around. "Remember what I told you." She said to her and Ino nodded her head and faintly a smile formed on her face as they departed.
"I guess we should find someplace to setup camp." Naruto said rubbing the back of his head still thinking about the encounter and fight. "Its getting late and we need to find some place to rest as we're in big trouble if we get attacked again." He said as he doubted they could fend off a team right now in the state they were in.
"Let's go." Sasuke said and went on ahead.
Sakura looked on at the fighting spot and what had just happened when she felt Naruto nudge her in the arm urging her to join up with them as they went into the woods.
Dosu, Zaku and Kin were seen standing by one another at the meeting spot they had been told to go to deep in the forest. The three stood as they looked on as they were before someone who had their back to them. No words came from any of them as silence was needed right now.
A figure was seen his back to them, the one who had given them the mission and upon doing so had reported to him. His long dark hair was all they saw as he made no motions keeping them in the dark. After retreating they had went to this spot as that was where they had been told to meet him and had done so.
The three looked on staying silent not saying a word to him, their master. The fearsome shinobi stood there not moving a muscle, raising the tension and leaving them in the dark.
"And your analysis?" He asked them as he finally turned around to look at them. Having shed the disguise from his face exposing his pale white skin. "What did you see from him?" Orochimaru asked the Genin Sound team.
"He's quite skilled, The Uchiha Clan doesn't just live off of its past reputation I see, he held his own against us despite having the numbers advantage finding ways to counter but he would've succumbed and been beaten by us eventually." Dosu acknowledged to them giving his report. Their mission was to fight Sasuke, not to the death, but to gauge his abilities and skills for their master.
"Unfortunately his team and some other wannabes showed up and helped him out. We had him dead to rights before they did." Kin replied to him.
"We could've killed him back there if those others hadn't shown up." Zaku said speaking up.
"That Zaku," Their master said to him his voice carrying an ominous tone. "Would be the last mistake you would ever make if you had killed him." Orochimaru said glaring at him and Zaku stiffened up and didn't say anything in response. The last thing he wanted was for one of his shinobi to get overzealous during this and ruin his long term plans. Whoever did would suffer unspeakable agony for doing so. "Sasuke's skill level at this rate doesn't surprise me, my spies have noted that he trains feverishly in an attempt to get stronger. No doubt many pegged him to win this whole thing. You've all done well in your task, I watched your fight from afar and I gathered enough information I need about him to know how his mind works. He knows as well that he would've lost to you and had to be rescued by those others which is eating him from within." He said as everything had gone according to plan with what he had ordered them to do. This would effect the last Uchiha, knowing that despite his skill he needed help in order to survive. "You shall be rewarded and paid the money I promised you for doing the mission, and also a small bonus as well."
He held out in his hand a small weapon like glove and tossed it to the leader. Dosu caught The Tekko Kagi and strapped it onto his right arm having a new weapon in his arsenal.
"Keep performing well and there'll be more of where that came from. You are free to do whatever you wish from here out," The snake like man said to them "Compete for Chunin if you desire, but keep a low profile, as I don't want anymore unwanted attention is that clear?"
"Hai Orochimaru-sama." The three said at once bringing a hand up over their chests to salute him before they departed.
"Good." He said and disappeared beneath the ground and soon reappeared in a different spot a smile creeping up on his face as he stood there and overlooked the area.
"Now then, I believe its time I go and pay Sasuke a visit myself." Orochimaru said and leapt away with a laugh to pursue his desired target.