The Fox and the Hound
Chapter 9: A Forest of Death
Chapter Summary: There are all kinds of obstacles in this thick and guarded forest; some natural and some not. Just what will Team 7 do and can they escape them all?
Author Note: I really gotta start paying attention to arcs lol. They seem short when you're reading through them and watching them but WOW…these things are epic. So fun to play though… for starters…we've not had a good Naruto-Ririshii scene in a while. *grin* There's also a question of how much do I want to change it up. Eh…nah that's not a question…we're going full throttle on this one…
P.S. this one has been a hard one to go for, dunno why I mean I had a lot of liberty with it but it Kinda sucks when you really want to get to a part but you don't want to skimp getting there either. (Jiraiya meets Naruto…..god I cannot wait to whip that baby out)
"Do this, do that…." Naruto scowled as he stopped a good couple feet off the ground in one of the many monstrous "trees" this particular training ground was populated with. He was not even sure they were trees from the size of them. They had to be some kind of mutant overgrowth or chakra-fed plant life because the sizes of them were monumental.
Ririshii landed a few branches ahead of him, either on a separate tree or some odd twisted branch from the same tree Naruto himself was perched upon. The shepherd's black muzzle was pointed to the air sniffing intently as a light breeze worked its way through the dense forest canopy. The dog seemed to be in its element out scouting as they were but all Naruto could think was how they ended up scouting.
"Who died and appointed him leader…"
"Do you want me to bite him?" Riri sat down, these branches more than accommodating for his size and his tail curled around his feet. For a moment he looked like some kind of regal creature that the forest itself had produced. "Maybe he would stop being a jerk if I did…"
"No then he would be a pissed off jerk." Naruto snorted and took a kunai out and carved a small Leaf symbol in the rough bark below him. He was not entirely sure why he thought to start carving the little symbols each time he and Riri took a look around, but now that he was doing it he was hoping someone would see them and think the Leaf Genin were all working together somehow. Maybe it would put the other teams on edge or make them more wary of approaching any of them.
"Why do you listen to him?" Riri sniffed below him as he lay sprawled out on the tree branch. Night was coming soon and the damp smell of the forest floor debris was coming into play. It had to be tiring to the shepherd to be wary of scents he did not recognize, those he did, and any predators or creatures that would want to make a meal out of them, but he was better at it than the humans were. "Why not just challenge him?"
"Yeah, in the middle of an exam where everyone's out to get everyone I think that's a bad idea." Naruto sighed and finished up his defacing of trees. "Anyway, it's two against one."
"Two against two…"
"Heh, you sure about that Riri? You sure you want to tick Sakura off?" Naruto smirked at the dog who was now hanging from the underside of the branch, sniffing at a fairly sizable caterpillar. "She might not bring you any more of those dumplings you like."
That got Riri's attention in full and the dog's ears perked as his head jerked over to Naruto, eyes disbelieving but head knowing full well Naruto was right. "Damn…"
Naruto began laughing quietly as he too sat down, ready to just hang out and keep watch. He did not want to go too far from where they had designated their meeting spot but he also wanted to get a feel for what might be nearby them. The three of them had decided to split up and start scouting for other teams…well more like Sasuke had decided but Naruto and Sakura had agreed to it.
Sasuke had been sure at first that Naruto had made enough of a target out of them by getting Anko so riled up. They were pretty sure others would be seeking them out and they would be fielding attacks but instead their first night had found them close to the river that ran through the middle diameter of the large circle formation of the grounds.
But no one had approached them so far. No one dared to touch them, or so it seemed. Either all of the other teams had run into problems already and Team 7 was lucky or everyone was doing the opposite after Anko's and Naruto's theatrics. After all who would touch Naruto when Anko had made it pretty clear she wanted him to herself.
"I still say you can stand up to him. It does us no good to be split up and you know it." Riri huffed after he finished inspecting below them, somewhat transfixed by how he could not see the ground any longer, as high up as they were.
Naruto gave a little nod of agreement and reached up to his hidden bag of tricks. He pulled out one of the larger scrolls he had created and unfurled the still-crisp parchment and smiled to himself. The seal was still intact so he still had plenty of food and they still had three days left.
Even better it was the perfect size to wrap around the heaven scroll they possessed and mask it as a harmless piece of paper. Naruto had thought to seal the scroll given to them at first but had talked himself out of it not wishing to be 'tampering' with anything Anko had given them and cause them to be disqualified.
Sure Ririshii had a point but Naruto felt far safer with him than with his teammates at the moment. After the first day and nothing had happened Sasuke had lost what sense he had and suddenly was out to prove himself. Apparently being looked over was a great insult to the Uchiha heir and once more Sasuke was barking orders to Sakura and himself.
Naruto would not mind so much if he was not being so completely stupid about it.
For starters, they were safer together. Safety in numbers was the way to go but Sasuke believed they could find another team faster if they fanned out from one central location. Secondly, if someone happened upon Sakura alone she would be pretty screwed. She was smart and she was fast but faced with someone more suited to taijutsu or someone far stronger than herself she would be toast before Sasuke or Naruto could reach her. Thirdly….
Well there was no thirdly but he hadn't really had the time to think about all the possible 'bad' outcomes of this plan.
"Some came through here…" Riri was muttering his nose down to the bark and running along the length of the branch to its end. "But scents are weird. Two mixed as one…"
Naruto leapt over to the branch Riri was on and glanced down at what was invisible to him, but a beacon to Riri. "Is it possible more than one person came through here? There were a bunch of teams left…Anko seemed ticked by that when she came to scare us all."
"No, odd…" Riri returned to his broken speech whenever he was confused by something. "One person, two scents."
"Okay yeah, that's a little weird." Naruto straightened and took a cursory glance around them. The only thing that met his eye was the occasional bird, bug, or scar on a tree that showed the forest was actually used as a training ground. "Maybe it's to throw off trackers?"
"Possible." Riri stood and his fur bristled as he shook. "Sooner or later we will fight yes?"
"More than likely. Either that or we fail."
"What should I do?"
The question stunned Naruto momentarily and he locked eyes with familiar brown. Naruto was about to ask what he meant but silenced himself and thought about it too. Ririshii was a long way from being like any of the Inuzuka dogs they had seen by spying, but he was large and he had a good set off teeth on him. If he struck at the right place and with enough force he probably could kill someone rather efficiently.
Naruto was not even sure what he was going to do, how could he tell Riri? Granted it could be a situational thing and if the team they were fighting were not that big of a threat they could be soft, but if any of the older teams or that freaky looking Sand Ninja found them?
"This is a test but I have a feeling that killing is well within the bounds of it. She did say an all out battle and she made us sign those consent forms."
"Naruto?"
"I dunno Riri; it's kinda a hard question you know?" Naruto sat beside Ririshii and put his arm around the dog's shoulders. "We're ninja and we're on a battlefield of sorts and everyone's the enemy…except…."
"You know some of the enemies."
"Yeah, and they might come after us because they know how we fight. The other teams might be waiting for us to wear each other out to have an easier time of it." Naruto sighed and looked through the canopy to see the fringes of darkness enveloping the sky above. "I don't want to kill anyone but…something tells me we might have to. I mean we'll have to at some point right?"
"Yes." Riri's ears drooped a little. "But here?"
"I hope not, but maybe."
The two left it at that and took back up scouting in earnest, maybe to keep themselves from thinking about the unspoken question of when they were going to be forced to kill someone. It was an impossible thing to think about but in all reality they were ninja now. That was part of the job description.
And Naruto tried his best to keep Kakashi's words in his head. There was a difference between some ninja and how they killed…."Whether or not you take pleasure in it…."
Naruto would never take pleasure in it and he doubted Ririshii would either. Still to even think about it was nauseating. But eventually it would happen and he would have to deal with it himself. For now though he merely focused in on Riri's form ahead of him, leaping soundlessly along the unseen path they had through the trees, and kept his own senses alert for anyone or anything that might be around the area.
As another hour dragged on and the only thing Ririshii and he could find were creatures they stopped, looked at one another and heaved great sighs and decided to head back to the meeting spot Sasuke had designated for them.
Something just was not right with them not finding anyone. They should have blundered into someone by this point just because the entrances all along the gate perimeters were not that far apart from one another. They should have found someone or someone should have found them by now. Instead they were by themselves getting antsy.
So along they went quietly, back to the tree with roots above the ground and a small amount of cover for them to sleep under and wait to see what Sasuke's next move was.
"He's probably already ticked, me and Riri stayed out too long."
As the approached the area both became tense and rigid. Riri began growling lowly in his throat and his fur stood on end. Naruto also felt the imminent spike in chakra that did not belong to anyone they particularly knew and it was threatening enough that Naruto was ready to stop and try to keep out of sight until he knew who it was and why they were in their meeting spot.
"Near Sakura and Sasuke."
"Shit." Naruto snarled and upped his pace. Sakura and Sasuke probably had met back exactly around the time Sasuke had noted and whoever it was near them now had found them a teammate short. It would be a no brainer for someone to try at them for an easy scroll win except Naruto was the one with scroll.
As soon as his feet hit dirt and Ririshii landed just behind him he knew things had just upped in difficulty. Sakura and Sasuke's eyes darted to them almost immediately and held just a small amount of wariness in them. Naruto blinked at them and then blinked at the pair just shy of their camp to the other side of the two.
It was himself and Ririshii….or what appeared to be him and his dog. Whoever it was had the henge down really well, they had even done the scratch on his cheek that Anko had given him a day prior. For a second he blinked as well at the intruder but quickly shook his head and whipped out a kunai and held it defensively.
"Which one of them is the real one?" Sakura whispered to Sasuke who had begun to look between the two Naruto's as well. He was beginning to activate his Sharingan but Naruto decided to save him some effort by marking himself the real one.
"Sakura, I gave you a plant a week ago. You planted it in your backyard."
Sakura gasped then nodded and inched herself closer to him while Sasuke turned his all-seeing eyes on the fakes. Riri quickly positioned himself in front of Sakura and lowered his head and began to snarl viciously at their targets.
"How cute…" the fake Naruto smirked and the face contorted into an evil sneer as the dog beside him puffed out of existence. "I suppose it was only a matter of time before you discovered my deception with those eyes…"
As the fake spoke his voice changed from Naruto's to a female's and the instant recognition made Naruto bristle. It was the Grass Ninja from a day ago who had returned Anko's kunai to her after she had tossed it. It was the freak with the tongue. The woman let the henge merely melt away and smiled sadistically from underneath her broad straw hat as she fixated upon the three of them.
"Whoever you are, get lost." Sasuke stood straighter and fixated his own gaze on the woman. "You're alone out here and it's three against one."
"Oh? So sure of your victory are you?" the woman's tongue slipped out like an eel from her mouth and it licked over the pursed lips as she grinned. Naruto shuddered involuntarily at the motion. "Such brazen prey usually ends up as supper…"
Her hand went up to her eye, the fingers playing with the lids until she pulled down on her lower lid and revealed the whole of her eye. Naruto's last thought was to think of how gross it was until something went rigid and he froze.
He saw his own blood splattered against the floor of the forest, as a dozen kunai pierced his body. He watched Ririshii's lifeless form landing atop of him, the dog equally wounded by kunai and shuriken. Naruto could do nothing but freeze and hit his knees. It was real…was it happening? What was this? This woman, she was going to brutally kill them just for the joy of it.
Beside him he heard Sakura and Sasuke, one of them was actually being ill from whatever it was that this woman had done to them. Was it an illusion or was it more? Why did he find the act of lifting himself off the ground too horrible to do? What was this?
"Sakura…"
Sasuke's voice caught Naruto's ears but he could not tear his gaze away from the Grass ninja in front of them, nor could he stop the trembling.
The woman smoothly removed three kunai from behind her back and licked each one as she took slow steps towards them. Naruto stiffened and tried diligently to get his feet or hands to move but could not. All he kept seeing was the way this was going to end with each of them getting killed.
"Move! Why can't I ever seem to do what I need to when I should!" he began berating himself and could hear the other two as well. Sakura was crying and Sasuke sounded as if he was struggling just as much as Naruto was with the fact that this woman was moving towards them and none of them could act.
As she got within certain range, Ririshii began to snarl louder. It caught Naruto's ear enough and he turned his gaze to the dog, now between himself and Sakura. The snarl turned to a loud growl and then vicious barking but it did not deter the woman in the least. Riri backed away from her, each step she took and Naruto found himself transfixed with the dog.
Ririshii was not affected by the woman's Genjutsu, or whatever this was. He was still able to move. But why?
"Now, now little mongrel, you don't want to end up like your master do you?" The woman chuckled; reaching with her other hand for another kunai, one for Ririshii should he decide to attack.
"Riri…" Naruto finally found himself able to speak but still could not move. Damn it why did Riri just keep standing there, why was he making a stand like this? "Go…get…"
This was the end after only two days? "Nii-san…please….I …"
"I expected you to be more of a challenge. How disappointing." The woman was sighing as she raised the kunai above her head. Naruto was not too sure who it was she was talking too but it seemed she was speaking to just one of them, not all of them.
Ririshii made a move and dodged one of the kunai but instead of attacking the woman he bit down on Naruto's forearm. He whimpered as he did so but as soon as the fangs broke skin Naruto yelped but found he was able to move. Nearby Sasuke had taken a kunai to his own leg and had yelled as well. The woman aimed for them but Sasuke grabbed Sakura and Naruto and Ririshii took off before they had a chance to hit their mark.
All of them went tearing in the opposite direction of the odd lone Grass Ninja. After changing their direction a few times and finding a suitable hiding spot, they all came to a standstill. Sasuke let Sakura down, she was still trembling and tears still streamed down her face and Sasuke heaved himself up against the tree trunk, the kunai still in his leg. Ririshii stood above them, ears erect and eyes unmoving from the direction of the woman and Naruto stood between the two panting like a mad man, holding his bleeding arm.
"What the hell was that?" he finally found the words to describe what he was feeling and saw Sakura blink and glance up at him warily. "What did she do to us?"
"I..I don't know." Sasuke ground out as he extracted the kunai from his leg, wincing as he did so. "Where were her teammates? Was it a paralysis jutsu?"
"I don't think so, I think it was Genjutsu." Naruto frowned behind him. "Damn it what is she? It was like you could taste the chakra in the air…she wanted to kill us….why?"
"For the scroll…." Sakura whispered looking at Naruto unwittingly. "Why didn't you just give it…"
"No that's not it; she did not know which one we had." Sasuke frowned and began applying some pressure to the wound he had made to himself. "She just wanted to kill us for fun."
"Ugh…" Naruto fought the nausea fighting to win and looked up to Ririshii, still on alert.
"We've got to get out of here, now." Sasuke was muttering, his Sharingan looking the same direction that Riri was focused in on. "We have got to get away from her."
Sakura frowned and Naruto nodded his agreement but where exactly would they go? Anko said they could not exactly quit this portion of the exam. The forest was big and they just had taken themselves a few miles from the river and any direction Naruto had in the place was now gone. For all they knew the Grass Ninja's team was fanned out in different locations waiting to ambush them as she flushed them out.
She certainly did not need help killing them, now did she?
As they all seemed to ponder this dilemma they were now in the attention Riri had suddenly swapped to behind them, barking almost a little too late and all three found themselves face to face with the largest snake they had ever seen. It hissed only momentarily before opening its wide jaws to reveal sharp fangs that were flying towards the branch they were rested on with great speed. As it embedded in the bark all four of them flew away, cursing their lack of guard.
"Son of a bitch! She has a summoning contract!"
"No way I didn't even notice it! I'm losing it!"
Sakura landed a few branches away, Riri nearby, and the snake coiled around the large tree as if it were a twig, going up and up until it was more even with Sasuke, flying backwards and up towards another nearby branch, while Naruto went downwards to a branch just below him. When he landed he looked up, kunai in hand, as the snake went towards Sasuke, mouth open.
Something about the snake's approach unnerved Sasuke to no end and he panicked; something neither Naruto nor Sakura had seen him do before.
"No! Stay away!!!" Sasuke lashed out and threw a handful of small shuriken into the snake's mouth. It worked well enough as the snake bit down and began flailing in pain from the weapons it had just swallowed.
Naruto started moving towards Sasuke's position keeping wary blue eyes on the snake, now oozing blood all over the crook of the tree it landed in. Sasuke knelt panting where he finally landed and Naruto came to rest just above him, each one completely taken in by the snake. Each one of them were bleeding, they were panicked, and had no idea what was going on.
But both were sure that the other was just as equally frightened by what happened next.
Just as the snake lost its color and appeared to be dead the skin began to bulge at the neck and splinter around a center point. Slowly the Grass Ninja from before began to emerge, covered in slime and guts, as she exited her own summon snake.
"I can sense your fear and desperation." She began to purr as she freed herself from the snake's skin. "It's only natural. The prey must never let down its guard, not even for a moment"
"Okay she's insane." Naruto took an involuntary step back just as Sasuke seemed to gasp in disbelief. Naruto's eyes traveled to Sakura and Riri, standing together now and watching in the same slow horror as the woman came out of her shell. "We gotta get out of this but how? What can we do to stop her?"
Before Naruto could finish his thought the woman began to do exactly like the snake had before, her body becoming a lot like elastic and winding around the base of the tree, coming up at a much faster speed than the snake had and darting out at last towards Sasuke.
Sasuke seemed to freeze, his eyes wide and his feet glued to the branch below him. Naruto snarled and whipped out what kunai he had left and a few of the small shuriken he really was not good at using and halted the witch's advancement by smacking the tips right in front of her. She stopped and glared up at him, snarling slightly as she did.
"My you're a persistent one." She finally spoke and rested herself on her elbow on the tree.
"Damn it." Sasuke finally growled and glanced in Sakura's direction. "Sakura get out of here, go while you can. Naruto and I will hold her off…"
"No way, stay there Sakura." Naruto crouched down watching both the snake and Sasuke. "What the hell is wrong with him?" "We're safe as long as we stay together Sakura…."
Sakura seemed conflicted as she stood and grasped her hands in front of her. She looked between them both worriedly and made no move whatsoever. She inwardly probably wanted to do what Sasuke said, but outwardly she obeyed Naruto.
The woman remained watching the three battle amongst themselves, smirking all the while. Sasuke's red eyes remained locked on her as he scowled and tracked each little twitch she made. Finally though the little change to his eyes faded away and he straightened, letting his hair cover his eyes.
"You can have it."
All of them turned to Sasuke when he finally spoke again. The woman smiled and Naruto cursed under his breath.
"It's what you want isn't it?" Sasuke snarled and raised his black eyes up to the woman once again. "You want our Heaven scroll. Naruto give it to her and she can leave."
The woman's attention came his way but only for a second before laughing at Sasuke. Naruto began to growl and clutched his fists at his side. "What the hell is wrong with you? You just want to give it to her?"
"Stay out of it!" Sasuke yelled up at him, his glare intimidating but not enough to force Naruto down. "We can't fight her…"
"Very wise." The woman began to slither up to a standing position just short of Sasuke. "Very sensible. Sometimes the helpless prey, if they are to save their own lives, realize that their only hope is to distract the predator with something even more precious."
"Go on Naruto give it to her." Sasuke frowned, keeping his eyes on the woman but directing his words to his teammate.
Naruto's only movement was to land beside Sasuke, his back to the snake. He was not going to give in just because Sasuke said so. Sure she was tougher than they were, and sure they were way in over their heads but this was not right. She was focused on Sasuke…not their scroll.
"Stop being the hero you idiot!" Sasuke finally snapped, turning fully to his side and berating Naruto, crouched nearby. "Just give her the damn scroll, and leave this to me."
That was the last straw and Naruto rose up and used his right hand to hook Sasuke right in the chin and knock him backwards. He recovered quickly enough and vaulted to a nearby resting place, now fairly seething in Naruto's direction.
"You're being a fool!"
"No way, I know who I am but I'm not so sure who you are." Naruto accused, ignoring the 'predator' as she kept calling herself, near him. "You keep saying I don't know what I'm doing but I don't think you do either. Who's to say she doesn't just kill us after you give her the scroll anyway? We're not buying our way out of this."
Sasuke's eyes went wide and Sakura gasped and reached around Ririshii fearfully.
"Heh. Sad but true." The woman reinserted herself into their crisis and Naruto's eyes darted back her way. She was pushing up her sleeve and biting her thumb in a very familiar fashion to Naruto. She was about to summon again.
She drew a thin line down an intricate tattoo on her left arm, laughing lowly as she did so. Naruto finally had enough and rushed forward, kunai drawn up and hoping to catch her in a moment of weakness. She would have to choose whether to summon or defend herself and another large snake was not going to help matters.
"Naruto no!!!" he heard Sasuke calling after him but he disregarded it. Sasuke had choked. He was all talk as far as Naruto was concerned and anything Sasuke had planned before now was out the window. Naruto himself had to figure out how to get out of this mess and try to stop the madwoman assaulting them.
"There's still no sign of her team…and she doesn't seem all that interested in our scroll. If she had been she'd be attacking me, but she's only been attacking Sasuke."
With a speed Naruto had never seen before the woman spoke the words and formed hand seals faster than he could track. Her hand slammed down into the wood below her and the black symbols spread out in a familiar circle.
"Summoning Jutsu!"
A large snake appeared beneath her, the same mottled brown as before, but this time she rode atop the snake as it whipped its head at Naruto, flinging him back into a tree trunk and whacking his head solidly against the bark. He hissed in pain but landed well enough to take in the large snake now perched above him, its tongue lacing out and in with each little hiss it took.
"You'll make a tasty little morsel." The woman placed her hands on her hips and grinned. "Careful though, he likes to play with his food."
The snake's tail came swishing downwards, smacking straight through the branch Naruto had come to rest on. He tried dodging but found the snake's tail arching back upwards too fast for him to get away and again found himself being smacked hard against a solid mass. This time keeping his vision clear was much too hard and for a moment blackness took him.
"Naruto!" both Sakura and Sasuke called out and he heard them as he tried to force his eyes open.
When he finally got them open and forced his vision to clear he found himself hanging precariously over the snake's licking tongue. It playfully was out of reach but constantly was trying to get a taste of him. Above him his coat, the familiar gray he decided was better suited for survival, was bunched under his arms and around his neck snugly.
Above him on the tree branch was Ririshii, upside down and limbs shaking as he kept Naruto from meeting his end as snake food. Naruto winced, his head sharply pounding as he fought to right himself enough to stick himself to the tree instead of Riri holding both of their weights. When his feet finally found solid beneath them Riri let go of his coat and turned snarling fangs towards the Grass Ninja.
"What a faithful hound." She smirked up at the blonde.
Naruto reached up to his bag and pulled out the scroll he really hoped had worked. He scrolled out the paper and put his finger to the larger symbol in the middle and whispered the release and was surprised when the paper released the larger shuriken he had found and he caught it almost without thinking about it.
"It worked. It actually worked. I can start pulling out the kunai and shuriken. If we can outlast her…"
"Ah now things have gotten very interesting!" She giggled slightly and raised her one hand in front of her as if she were inviting him to attack. "You know how to use Seals. You are so very full of surprises."
Naruto rushed forward again, swinging back and wide with the shuriken and preparing to heave it at the woman. It was not his best weapon but it was his largest and if he could at least get a solid hit on the snake it would disappear. As he neared her grin only widened and she brought her outstretched hand to her lips and blew…
He froze, unable to process what she had just done. The fire raced forward in a ball form and he felt a tug at his legs where Ririshii was pulling him down and out of the way but throwing them both off balance and towards the forest floor.
"That was Sasuke's jutsu!" he thought as they fell. "But she didn't form any hand seals after the summoning jutsu! How in the world did she do that without hand signs?"
"Let's see how you do Sasuke." The woman turned her attentions back to original target and again Sasuke froze eyes wide and unseeing. Naruto cursed, landed hard but pushed back up off the tree with all the might and chakra he could spare and put the shuriken over his head and braced himself for the impact.
Time seemed to stop but he finally felt the shuriken meet flesh and felt the jarring as he came to a stop; the weapon now imbedded in the tip of the snake's jaw. It hissed angrily but did not budge. Sasuke stood just in front of him and Naruto felt that bile rise in his gut again. He wanted nothing more than to force it down, to keep it quiet, but its rage was starting to win.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Naruto snarled, panting as he glared up at his 'teammate'. Sasuke balked and was white as a sheet but it did not stop Naruto from going forward. "You're just a scared little coward, you loser! What the hell happened to proving yourself and reinstating your clan huh? You aren't fit to do any of that now."
That last part struck its mark and Sasuke frowned but still did not budge. Naruto did not care at what he had just done. He had to do something to wake Sasuke from this fear of his otherwise they were dead. Sakura was no use right now and he and Ririshii could not take the woman on by themselves.
Before the Uchiha could finally answer Naruto felt something winding around his arms and pulling upwards. He glanced down at them and found the woman's tongue wrapping expertly around him and pulling up.
"Eww gross! Let me go!"
She pulled him closer and he struggled to free himself and pull his arms closer to get a handle on her tongue but found she had bound him from that. Now it was his turn to panic as she drew him closer and closer, a gleam in her eye as she studied him.
"How odd that the demon brat still lives." She began to chuckle and Naruto finally went still. She had said that way too loud for his liking. Not only that but she knew who he was and she was not from their village! "What an interesting childhood you must have had."
He began his struggle again, they were getting too close and he had seen her hand sign this time around. Naruto did not know her plans but he knew it could not be good. Before the length between them was too short a loud snarl broke the air and just as suddenly as she had him in the air Naruto was falling downwards again. The woman let out a blood curdling screech as half of her tongue, still wrapped around his torso came flying loose and Ririshii was biting the other end clear thru.
Her pain was soon turned to rage and she released whatever technique she had been aiming at Naruto onto the dog and Ririshii let out a loud yelp before falling backwards and slipping off the branch, his eyes closed. She seethed as she sent the snake after the falling animal but Naruto was faster and caught Riri and began darting down and out of the snake's sight.
As he went he found the dog unresponsive and limp. But above him Sasuke had finally found his footing again.
Just as Naruto landed he looked up to see a ball of flame again lighting up the darkened forests around them. This time, however, it was Sasuke who was aiming it. His eyes were afire with the odd little patterns and even though the snake woman was nothing more than a blur to Naruto, he somehow knew Sasuke was able to see her movements well enough to counter.
"It is about damn time you idiot." Naruto snarled to himself. He carefully laid Ririshii down in a sturdy branch, his legs dangling a little to give him some stabilization and he pet the dog gently just to see if Riri woke up, but the dog did not move. "Not now, he's still breathing, just gotta deal with it after we deal with her."
He began moving his way back up, feeling the movement around him of the Grass Ninja and Sasuke as they dodged, parried, and struck at one another. She was fairly throwing her chakra around, how was the question, but Sasuke was doing well to dodge it all.
As Naruto came up behind Sakura, momentarily shocking her, he caught the glimpse of Sasuke vaulting off of a limb and coming down hard on the Grass Ninja, wrapping his arms and legs around her own limbs and pile driving her straight down to another sturdy branch. He flipped away and Naruto moved to get to the other side of the woman just in case the strong strike to the head had not done her in.
She seemed to twitch a moment, and then oddly enough began to almost melt around the branch.
"Substitution!" Sasuke called out a little too late as they both began deflecting weapons of all shapes and sizes. It really was a call back to their mission in Wave and Naruto found himself smirking at the thought of it. Beside him Sasuke began to do the same. Unspoken between them the same thought came.
"Let's see who catches her first…"
Sasuke went vaulting off the edge and pulled out wires that he wove around the tree's sturdy structure and began flying around. The barrage came to an end and Naruto began moving in the opposite direction of the dark-haired Uchiha, pulling out another one of his scrolls and pulling out a good handful of kunai, stuck now between fingers and itching to be thrown.
Naruto was too slow though and the woman was at Sasuke just as he came off his wide swing. She threw hard punches and began really beating him down but Naruto saw the slight movement of the hand and waited to see what his teammate was playing.
He hit hard and stayed down, but his tight breathing told Naruto he was faking.
"What a disappointment you are." The woman was snarling as she strolled up to her 'kill'. "Your ancestors weep. They should thank me for killing you."
The little paper bombs went off and Naruto took it as his turn as he began slinging his kunai to throw her off her guard and got her attention towards him. Sasuke came up fast, slinging out more wires and began to get them around the woman, pulling hard as he went downwards. The pull caused the wires to slam the woman harshly against the tree trunk and she winced as she hit.
Sasuke began forming hand signs and came up with the familiar hold for his Dragon Flame Jutsu. The fire licked at the wires and then raced up their paths, all flames headed straight for the Grass Ninja who was completely pinned. The force of the hit caused wood to splinter away and disintegrate into ash and for a moment Naruto was bummed out; Sasuke had gotten her first but he was also impressed. After he had goaded the other boy enough he had finally found his courage again.
Sakura came running down, assured of their victory as Sasuke stood panting a little.
"Sasuke you did it!" she began to congratulate him but sagged a little as Sasuke began to balance himself on his knees. "You okay? It's over right?"
Naruto was coming down as well but he was not as sure as Sakura. The body on the tree did not look that singed or damaged, even though it was unmoving.
"We need to go." Naruto whispered out to his teammates and they both nodded but before they could go the body broke the confines of the trap and began stalking forward. A yellow eye peered at them from the folds of melting skin and with a hand sign they felt like they had when she had first approached, and they could not move.
"Damn it, no way." Naruto snarled forcing himself to stay standing as the woman stayed a good couple feet away from them.
"It's impossible."
"Such mastery of the Sharingan at so young an age."
As she had before, when disguised as Naruto, the woman's voice began to change its pitch and instead of a woman's harsh tone it was a male's light and feminine one replacing.
"Just what the hell is she/he?"
"You're a true Uchiha after all." The woman smiled and kept her hands in and odd seal she had first brought up. "Yes, you'll do nicely."
Naruto and Sakura's eyes darted up to Sasuke, the true focus of this freak's attention. What was it and why did it want Sasuke?
"You are definitely his brother." That pissed Sasuke off and he snarled loudly while trying to keep on his feet. "If anything your eyes are even keener than Itachi's."
"Who are you? What do you want!!!"
"My name is Orochimaru." Naruto froze. He had heard that name somewhere else, where had he heard it before? It was a name he should know, he knew that much but it was not coming to him at the moment. "But as to what I want, that will have to wait until we meet again which won't happen until you finished this test with the best score."
He brought back out his Earth scroll and presented it to them before allowing it to burn to a crisp. "First you will have to defeat the Hidden Sound Ninja who serve me.
"We have no idea what you're talking about." Surprisingly it was Sakura who now spoke up and began to get defensive. "But if you're finished why don't you just beat it!"
Orochimaru's hands formed a new seal and as he did his neck began to stretch much like the rest of his body had just moments ago. Naruto was already reaching for something, anything, to inflict himself with but it was too slow and this time the man's neck wrapped around Sasuke and his mouth, now fitted with fangs, dug into Sasuke's neck.
"Sasuke no!"
"You bastard!" Naruto called after the man as he released himself from Sasuke's neck and left three small puncture holes on Sasuke's neck. The holes quickly closed up and formed three little comma-like marks on Sasuke's neck and after all his struggling Sasuke began to hit his knees, clutching at his neck and grinding his teeth in pain.
"What did you do to him!!!" Sakura yelled over at the Grass/Sound Ninja who only watched passively.
"Oh, I've only given him a parting gift. Very soon Sasuke will seek me out and desire my power." The man began to melt into the tree below him and they were powerless to stop him. "In the meantime I have enjoyed the demonstration of the Uchiha Power he already possesses…and the display of the Nine-Tail's container."
They were left with his echoing laughter all around them and slowly the paralysis they suffered began to lift. Almost immediately Sasuke cried out in pain and began clawing at his neck, the marks there were causing him a great deal of pain. Sakura was beside him almost immediately and Naruto found himself standing ahead of them, too afraid to look at either one.
"Sasuke what's he done to you?" Sakura began to plead with him but the dark-haired boy on struggled more and curled into himself even more and finally just collapsed into the girl's lap. "Sasuke? Sasuke! Naruto, what do we do??"
Naruto glanced back at them and heaved a little tiny sigh of relief. Sakura was in too much of a panic to have paid any attention to what the man had called him. He came to kneel next to them both and frowned though. Whatever it was, it had robbed Sasuke of his consciousness and it appeared to be causing him a lot of pain.
"I don't know…." He began to glance around them and saw the starting light. Had it really taken most of the night to face their opponent? "We should find somewhere safe though. Let me get Riri, we'll find some place to hole up until they come to okay?"
"Is…is Ririshii okay?" Sakura was crying now, sniffing slightly as she watched with panicked teal eyes as Naruto stood and started to head off to retrieve his dog.
"I…I don't know." He hunched his shoulders and shuddered a bit. This was dangerous what they were doing, but they had to move forward and now Sasuke was out of commission. "Just stay here okay? I'll be right back."
As he rushed himself towards Riri's spot he began to panic only slightly, away from Sakura's keen eyes. Sasuke was poisoned or something and Riri was unconscious. They were down two members and that snake-bastard had all but told them someone else would soon be after them to test the Uchiha power, as he called it.
"What do I do? What do I do???"
Naruto nervously flicked the kunai in his hand against the dirt floor of the small cave they had found, not too far away from their original position near the river. He was hoping the sound of the river's running waters would muffle or silence Sasuke's cries of pain and that the water source would be useful to them in either drawing out the poison or diminishing any traces they might have left on their way too this place.
Beside him Sakura had fallen into an almost deep sleep while sitting up and as much as he wanted the company he could not find it in his heart to wake her. Anyway, one of them should take the rest as they could and then maybe he could when she awoke.
But it was a lie. There was no way he could sleep now no matter how tired he was.
In his lap Ririshii's head was rested, the shepherd's muzzle placed carefully across his legs. His hand methodically stroked the smooth coat of fur and he kept praying at any moment the petting would awaken Riri and he would have an extra set of ears to help him keep guard.
Not only was there that but to assure him the shepherd was alright. The animal's breathing was even and steady, unlike Sasuke's until early that morning, but there had been little stirring from the animal as they moved. Naruto's arms still ached from carrying the larger dog from their spot but was not about to abandon his best friend to a forest full of predators and crazy women who turned into snakes and men.
He glanced out to the early morning dawn and squinted against the brightening light outside. He caught sight of the silvery spinnerets of chakra wire and hoped anyone who had tracked them could not see the invisible threads that Sakura had so skillfully began to place and pull around their little stronghold. She may have panicked at first but once they had Sasuke and Ririshii in a safe place she had set herself to the task of setting up traps, mainly to curb her anxiety and to keep herself busy but the effort was not a waste at least.
"Why is she always so eager to just let us do everything? She knows more than I do about setting traps and I'm the freaking prankster." Naruto thought idly as he watched the pink-haired girl sleeping.
Sakura had also set out to tending to the wound in Sasuke's leg and eventually the one Riri had left in Naruto's arm.
"Naruto, you're still bleeding…" she had reached out kindly and took his arm away from him and held it in her lap as she began unwinding bandages. "You'll be out too if you keep letting it…."
Naruto had merely let her do what she wanted and tried to ease her fears but he was not even sure he was easing his own fears just yet. There was too much to take in all at once. First there was the Grass Ninja who turned out to be a man…whose sole interest was Sasuke.
"Why does he want Sasuke? What is he going to do with him?"
Then there was the fact that Orochimaru had called him the Demon Brat at least once.
"Only villagers who were alive at the time of the attack know that. Is he from Konoha? Does he have a spy in Konoha?"
And then there was the mark he left Sasuke with. The punctures formed a neat little circle above Sasuke's collarbone at the base of his neck and shoulder. Each one looked like a comma and they were dark black and bruised against his pale skin. At first Sasuke had cringed and cried in pain, lashing out at intervals and Naruto was sure others would soon be at their throats, but finally Sasuke had quieted and only kept his eyes tightly shut as he seemed to sleep.
At first Naruto believed it to be a poison of sorts, the woman had a distinctive liking for snakes after all, but he could not find the openings beneath the black marks and there was no drawing blood with Sakura watching him like she was. And if it had been poison Sasuke should be getting worse, instead he merely stayed the same.
Beside him Sakura finally stirred a bit, the sun filtering in through a tiny spigot in the rock's surface. She blinked for a moment then turned her eyes down to Sasuke and removed the now dry cloth from his head and laid her hand there, frowning as she did.
"Still warm…" she muttered before pulling out another cloth and wetting it with her own water container and wringing it tightly before replacing it on Sasuke's brow. She blinked up at Naruto and then her eyes traveled to Ririshii, still out as well. "Anything from Riri?"
"Nope." Naruto huffed and kept his eyes outside to avoid having her see any tiredness.
"Naruto…." She began to play with the hems of her skirt and she also looked outside. "Who do suppose that was? Why did he seem to know Sasuke and his brother?"
"I'm not sure. I'm pretty sure I've heard his name before but I can't remember where." Naruto sighed in defeat. "My guess is he's a missing Nin."
"Then why is he back here?"
"Revenge?" Naruto shrugged and was about to go on but he spotted a squirrel heading their way and right into the traps Sakura had laid on the ground. He flung out his kunai, causing Sakura to jump mildly and clutch at her own weapon's pouch. She let out a long sigh of relief when they both realized it was merely a squirrel but both reacquired the jitters they had finally let loose of in the early morning hours.
"What are we going to do? We can't quit, that crazy proctor said we couldn't, Sasuke needs help but that Orochimaru guy said there might be others coming for us…"
"We just have to be patient." Naruto said to try to calm her and to appear in control and not frightened. He glanced down at Riri's closed eyes. It seemed to him something Kakashi would say and he had no other experience to base this on. "Sasuke's not getting worse so if we have to we can just wait till the 5 days are up and let the proctors find us. Or maybe he'll wake up."
"Do you think so? Do you think they will?"
"I hope so."
The sound of chirping birds filled the silence and Naruto for once found his eyes drifting shut for a few moments. He could not sleep, not yet, but he found he had little choice in the matter. It seemed like only seconds but when he snapped his head back up, the sound of movement outside drawing his attention, he saw a lot more light and he saw Sakura's stiff posture.
"What a good lookout."
Naruto heard the monotone voice and pushed himself up against the wall behind him. They had not seen him and only thought Sakura was there with Sasuke.
"Wake Sasuke up, we want to fight him."
Naruto took a peek out the same hole that was near his head. Three ninja stood just outside of Sakura's trap, wearing gray and black fatigues. Two men and a woman, all three with little music notes on their head protectors. They were ninja from the Hidden Sound.
"What for? I know Orochimaru is calling the shots from the shadows!" Sakura stood up, her hand dangerously close to her kunai pouch. Perhaps she had not noticed Naruto was awake already but she was defiantly trying to bluff her way out of this confrontation.
"You think you can get away talking to us like that?" The one with spiky hair mused and stood at his full height. "That's it, I'm killing her and then I'm killing Sasuke."
"Zaku wait!" the odd male, bandaged all up except one eye and walking bow-legged, stopped the impulsive one and stalked right up to where Naruto's kunai had landed when the squirrel had approached them. So the squirrel was a decoy and they had given away a trap.
"You should try to hide your traps better, little girl." The man mused as he pulled on the odd covering Sakura had created and revealed the pit fall she had made. "Okay, now we kill her."
As they leapt up, Naruto freed himself of Ririshii and crouched low as Sakura grinned and pulled out a kunai to spring her other trap, a log from above, and the Sound Ninja were scattering to avoid it. Naruto came up out of the cave just behind Sakura, giving a light touch to the arm as he readied himself for the next bout.
"Good thing for that power nap huh?" He smiled assuredly and then began to figure out who he should go for first. The odd male was the leader and the other male was the hot-head so maybe he should target the female first but the odd male did not dart away like they had. Instead he extended his arm and the log shattered into tiny toothpicks all around him.
"Ah so I see your other friend is awake, good this won't be so boring after all."
As they neared a voice called out from above and a green blur began spiraling in-between all three Sound Ninja. Sakura gasped a little and Naruto grinned wickedly. Lee landed just a few steps ahead of Sakura, in a typical Gai-pose with a squirrel on his shoulder.
"What's he doing here?" Sakura whispered.
"Lee, I'm gonna owe you big time." Naruto snickered as he pulled back a bit and flanked Lee's right.
"Who are you?" the sound ninja demanded and Lee began to smile.
"I am the handsome devil of the Leaf Village and my name is Rock Lee." Lee proclaimed in all seriousness.
"Really Lee what are you doing here?" Sakura could not believe her eyes that the guy who attacked Sasuke before the first exam was now standing between her and their attackers.
"I will always appear whenever you are in trouble, Sakura." Lee reached up and scratched the little squirrel under its neck, a proud smile appearing on his face as he eyed his opponents.
"Ohhhh so that's it." Naruto had to laugh at Lee's posturing but he understood a little better now. "He's got a thing for Sakura."
Lee allowed the squirrel to crawl into the palm of his hand and let it down slowly, patting it a little before shooing it off and facing the Sound Ninja.
"But…but we're enemies during this test."
"Sakura, I will only say this once. I will protect you with my life."
Sakura was quiet as the two boys stood off with the Sound. Lee's proclamation probably shocked her a little but this was not the time for laughing and prodding Lee. Lee was going out on a huge limb here, just for himself and Sakura.
"So how do you want to do this Lee?"
"Naruto, please allow me to make up my earlier transgression." Lee played with his bandages around his hands and grinned over to Naruto. "I attacked you and your team unprovoked and I wish to make it right to you. You and Sakura seem quite tired and you are injured."
"Lee these guys are not what you think…" Naruto began to protest but Lee slipped into his fighting stance and shook his head at him forcibly. Naruto ignored it and continued on. "And I'm fine enough to want to knock them around a bit. They hurt my teammates after all."
The odd sound ninja cocked his head at an uncomfortable angle and tossed by a dark black scroll to the one called Zaku. "It looks like I have no choice. Zaku, you take care of Sasuke, I'll deal with these two."
As he rushed forward he pulled on his long sleeves revealing a metal container around one of his forearms. He was coming forward fast for Lee but Lee pulled into the dirt and drew out one of the roots of the large trees all around them, blocking whatever it was the man was trying.
"I am sure there is some kind of trick to your attack, so I won't try dodging it." Lee smiled brightly as the Sound ninja retreated a bit. "Naruto, if you are going to fight, I have a favor to ask of you."
Naruto nodded to the taijutsu specialist and Lee began unwrapping his hands as he almost had with Sasuke back at the Academy grounds. "Sure thing bushy, what's that?"
"I need a moment," was all Lee said as the Sound ninja was on the attack again. Naruto swung in front and kicked outwards and slung another kunai but missed with the weapon and was pushed back before his foot could land. He swiveled on his toes and came swinging back around but the Sound Ninja blocked with his odd arm again and Naruto never made contact.
Lee brought his hand up with two fingers erect in front of his face and closed his eyes for a moment. Naruto put himself on the offensive and kept the Sound Ninja on him while pondering Lee's action. Lee, as he and only a few others knew, worked only in Taijutsu so the sign was confusing. Naruto knew why he only worked in taijutsu was because his chakra coils were warped or something like that, he had not asked after the first time Lee had admitted it. Certainly did not stop him so Naruto never asked again. One did not need jutsu solely to be a ninja and Lee was no exception. Still it left Naruto wondering what he was up to, he could not possibly be trying a jutsu with just one hand.
His question was answered in a split second blink and his target was flying upwards from a good strong uppercut to the jaw. Lee was only seen for a second, as his hand vaulted him up after the Sound Ninja and left Naruto blinking in surprise. Once Lee caught up with the opponent the bandages he had unwrapped cocooned the ninja and Lee grabbed hold.
It was very reminiscent of what Sasuke had done to the Snake-freak from the night before only Lee was moving a lot faster than Sasuke was at the time and there was no way that anyone could survive…
He caught the movement from Zaku too late and saw his final sign and then his palms slamming to the ground. Naruto tried to interrupt him but had reacted too slowly and he dodged backwards as little hills of earth rushed forward to capture the other ninja's head.
"Dosu, that was close." Zaku chuckled as the Sound Ninja landed. "Stop screwing around."
Lee darted away, wide eyes on the two as he again came to stand near Naruto, in front of Sakura. As the odd male dug himself out of the dirt, Lee began to sputter.
"What?! This cannot be!"
"That's a frightening jutsu; it almost took me out even landing on this soft dirt." He stood and quickly turned to face them both. "Now it's my turn."
Dosu came forward quickly but just as Lee dodged something sped through them both and Naruto clamped his mouth shut tight as the world went wavy. Lee seemed to have the same reaction as he stumbled back and tried to steady himself.
"Your jutsu is pretty fast." The man teased as he stood patiently in front of them. "But ours is faster because it travels at the speed of sound. Now relax, we're going to show you something called 'the wall.'"
"Troublesome, troublesome, troublesome."
It had taken them almost three days to finally track down Naruto and his team and when they finally did find them they found them in a battle with some Sound Ninja and Rock Lee was with them. Ino was fretting about Sasuke beside him and Choji was chewing down as fast as his mouth would let him beside her; a sure sign that Choji was also nervous about the situation they suddenly found themselves in.
All he had wanted was to poke at Naruto a bit, to see what it was Naruto could actually do and now he was watching the blonde and the mini-green-beast go down clutching at their ears as the sound ninja manipulated the sound around them, more than likely busting their ear drums and screwing up their inner ear.
"Which means their balance will be screwed up." Shikamaru frowned as the Sound Ninja had their fun with the two as Sakura was crouched nearby, keeping guard over a prone Sasuke. Whatever had already happened had to be big because Sasuke did not look good and Shikamaru was pretty sure that was Naruto's dog lying nearby.
As Lee and Naruto hit the ground something triggered Sakura and the kunochi was flinging kunai and coming to a full stand in front of the now incapacitated boys. Her weapons were deflected easily and the Sound seemed to take her as little threat.
"Oh man these guys are scary." Choji whimpered and stuffed another handful of chips into his mouth.
Shikamaru had to agree with him but he could not tear his gaze away.
"Oh man, it's just Sakura against those three guys." He seemed to point out for no one's benefit but his own. He was really trying to gauge Ino's reaction, which seemed minimal. "Well what do you want to do? Ino?"
"Why ask me?" She finally asked but could not tear her eyes away from what was happening to Sakura ahead of them.
"Sakura wants to fight but she's greatly outnumbered and she's already banged up." Shikamaru took in the situation again and kept trying to find a good way to end it without anyone else getting hurt. His eye caught Naruto, now struggling to get back up and succeeding. The blonde was unsteady but he was on his feet and he was throwing himself between Sakura and the wiry Sound Ninja with spiky hair. He was thrown to the ground again and Shikamaru found himself wincing.
"Well if we don't do something soon they are toast. Are you cool with that?" he found himself barking at Ino, frustrated at last with her stupid attitude. "You guys were friends once right?"
Ino froze again, transfixed as the Sound Ninja began to really take Sakura through her paces. Finally the female of the Sound trio had the pink-haired girl by her long hair and was pulling on it roughly and knocking her around a bit. The one with the bandages was moving towards Naruto, again trying to get up and stop what was happening and the one with the grin was moving towards Sasuke, who still had not budged.
"Damn it Ino!" Shikamaru glared over at his female teammate and waited to see if the girl was going to do something or if he was finally going to have to call the shots here. He had asked if Ino and Sakura had been friends once, despite knowing the answer. They fought like cats now but they had once been close. But Ino was too stubborn.
"Well Ino?"
"Why do you keep asking me for? Do you want me to go out there and get myself killed?"
Shikamaru blinked and then snarled involuntarily. "Stupid girls…all they think about are themselves."
Sakura shocked everyone by reaching up with a kunai, supposedly aimed for the woman who had her trapped but instead it sliced away a good chunk of her hair, freeing her from the Sound Kunochi's grip.
Shikamaru watched with growing horror as Sakura tried time and again to break at least one of the Sound Ninja but each move she made, Shikamaru could see their next four, and she was outmatched just in sheer numbers and probability. Not only that but the one with the odd device was closing in on Naruto, still struggling to stand and keep his balance and something about that Shikamaru could not watch.
"Choji, forget her, what do you want to do?"
In all honesty, Shikamaru did not care what Choji would say because he already knew his own answer. Ino and Sakura might have been friends once but they were no longer and Ino was being selfish. But Naruto….Naruto was Shikamaru's friend, the second closest he had behind Choji, and he was not okay with just watching Naruto get slaughtered.
"Hey Shikamaru…"
"Yeah? What?"
Naruto had pinned him before they had left the festival a few years ago and they were alone heading back to their respective homes.
"Thanks for letting me tag along."
It had always bothered Shikamaru how bashful the blonde would get sometimes. It just did not fit with his over-boisterous personality. But he finally figured out that Choji and he were Naruto's only friends. And despite the fact he had prodded his team into finding Naruto, just to test him and see where he really was level wise; now that they were there he could not let this happen. He had to stop this…what kind of friend would he be if he did not?
"We can't let them do that to Naruto." Choji stuffed away his chips and began to move.
"Right." Shikamaru nodded and began to stand, ignoring Ino's grasp as she tried to pull him back down. The one ninja finally had Sakura trapped, but she was still fighting, and something about it finally struck Ino and she followed him up.
Just as the female began to notice them, they darted out and cut them off from their respective targets, Choji bulldozing the one near Naruto and Shikamaru and Ino in front of Sakura, now beaten and bloody.
"Ino." Sakura whispered.
"Surprised?" Ino snorted and tried to keep her reputation and their rivalry intact.
"Choji?" Naruto finally got to a sitting position, though he still looked wobbly and somewhat unbalanced by what the Sound Ninja had been throwing at him. "Shikamaru?"
"Didn't we tell you we had your back Naruto?"
"What's this? The second string?"
"You will regret sticking your nose in where it doesn't belong." Dosu threatened.
"You're messing with our friends here." Shikamaru growled, trying to bluff his way through but knowing it was a lost effort.
"We can't let that happen." Choji joined in which seemed to amuse the Sound Ninja.
"Oh? And what are you going to do about it, Fatty? Sit on us?"
Naruto and Shikamaru both grinned as Choji's face went blank with rage.
"What did you just say?" Choji's eyes narrowed and he began to brace himself. "Did you just say what I think you just said?"
"Oi, I think he just called you fat, Choji." Naruto snickered as he steadied himself with his hands between his knees. He knew how badly that word ticked off Choji and that would help them in this fight if Choji was not a timid eater and more of a pissed of fighter.
"Yeah Choji, I think he did." Ino also added in, a small smile playing on her lips.
Choji's only reaction was to pull in his arms and legs and head. His family was known for jutsus that relied on their size and ability to manipulate their size and this was one of the first ones they were taught.
"Human Boulder Jutsu!"
"You're joking me." Zaku snorted and brought his hands up, the tunnels of air in them aimed straight for the rolling ball that was Choji. "Slicing Sound Wave!"
Choji went airborne and barreled down towards Zaku with increasing speed and force. As the Sound Ninja panicked about his options it appeared his teammate was moving in to help him but it gave Shikamaru a wonderful opening and he went with his family's preferred style of fighting.
"Ninja Art: Shadow Possession Jutsu."
The odd Sound Ninja froze in mid-step as Shikamaru's shadow met his. The good thing about the cover and the trees all around them was it put him in his element and could easily manipulate any shadows near him.
"Ino, why don't you take care of the girl…" he smirked as Ino brought her hands up and zeroed in on the female of the sound group.
After a few seconds she collapsed against him and the Sound Ninja began to question their third member, who merely stood with her head down. It always took Ino a few minutes to get established once she did the Mind Transfer Jutsu but once she did she had a great deal of control.
"So maybe we can barter their teammate for their leaving."
That was the plan anyway.
The plan went flying out the door as soon as Zaku aimed his hand at his own teammate and began to try to blow her away. Choji blocked a good deal of the attack but the female still went flying back and it halted Choji's momentum that he had going.
"What kind of monsters attack their own teammates?!"
"I guess monsters like us."
"They're not Genin." Naruto was coming up now, blue eyes fiercely focused on the two males.
"Heheh, very good." The one Shikamaru had trapped began to chuckle. "It's not the scrolls that we're after or even passing this test. We have only one goal in mind."
"Sasuke." Naruto seemed to snarl his teammates name and tightened his grip on his weapon.
"Exactly."
"What the hell is going on here Naruto?" Shikamaru eyed the blonde. Obviously something else was happening here and Naruto and Sakura seemed to understand that the three were not after their scroll. Instead it seemed the Sound Ninja were there solely for their lives.
"We got jumped by …by something last night." Naruto shook his head to clear the last of the dizziness and glanced back at Sakura and Lee a few feet away. "He was after Sasuke."
"What the hell for?"
"How the hell should I know? You're the genius." Naruto snarled back and Shikamaru groaned. With his attentions divided he began to lose his hold on the shadow and it began to recede rapidly from the target. He cursed and watched it as the Sound Ninja tested his mobility once again.
"Oh I see your paralysis jutsu has a very limited duration…"
"Shadow Possession Jutsu." Shikamaru found himself barking back, while supporting Ino against him. "Get your jutsu right."
"Whatever. And I can guess that your friend there can transfer her soul into her opponent…very clever. However, it leaves her open to attack." His hand rose to the female ninja that Ino was still possessing and so did Zaku nearby. They would actually kill her to kill Ino. It was unfathomable to the Leaf Ninja but to someone from another country it was accepted.
"We just used all our trump cards." Shikamaru looked for Choji, still recovering from the fast spin he was in and Sakura who was still crouched behind them. Unless Naruto had something he was hiding, and he doubted at this point Naruto did, they were at a loss and there was not anything they could offer the jerks except Sasuke. "Oh man what a drag…."
"Did you really think you could beat us? You all are just hacks…"
"From a second rate village…"
"Huh, that's pretty tough talk."
"Damn it, where…" Shikamaru's head snapped up to find another pair of Leaf Ninja above in the trees. A Hyuuga and a girl in pink. "What now…"
"I guess that makes your village third rate. I wonder if any of you amateurs are ready to take on the real thing."
"He can't be serious." Shikamaru frowned as the Hyuuga made his stand. He'd seen Neji a few times before and knew the Clan in passing and from what his father had told him about them.
"It's Lee's team." Sakura whispered.
"Bout time they showed up." Naruto snorted and glanced over his shoulder at the pair as well. The Hyuuga boy had the same look in his eyes when Naruto had come upon them on the training fields.
"It looks to me like somebody used our teammate as a punching bag." Neji pointed out to Lee, still unconscious on the ground. "No one does that and gets away with it."
Just as he made his proclamation the veins around his eyes began to protrude and he began assessing each of them on the field.
"No more playing around TenTen…."
"Right."
But neither of them moved and Neji seemed to back down all of the sudden.
"Well are you going to stay up there all day?" Dosu called up, trying to provoke the other Leaf Genin. He was underestimating the older team and taking them as they had Naruto and Shikamaru's teams.
"This is bad, the more noise we make the more attention we're going to draw." Shikamaru took in the field but stopped when his gaze got behind him. Sasuke was standing at the mouth of the cave and he looked absolutely pissed. "Shit! What are those!!!"
There were black markings all over the Uchiha boy's skin as he stood propped against a solid wall of rock and his eyes were blood red with black markings as well. Shikamaru froze momentarily in fear. The amount of chakra Sasuke was putting off was unreal, it was not even human. The way his eyes bore into everyone in front of him made his hair stand on end.
"Sasuke…"
"Shit…" Naruto muttered nearby and began backing up. "What'd he do to him?"
"It appears it's been taken out of my hands." Neji smirked from his vantage point and TenTen dropped her weapon down as well.
As he walked out of the cave, his steps somewhat slow and halting, he kept his eyes glued ahead. Finally he came to a stop just beside Sakura, who was trembling and holding back tears as he approached.
"Sakura, who did this to you?" When she did not answer him he began to lower his head and fixate even more on the girl beside him. "Who was it?"
"Sasuke…what's happened to you?"
Naruto was almost right up against Shikamaru's other side, his kunai still drawn only pointed more towards his own teammate than their common enemy.
"Tell Ino to get out." Naruto finally sputtered and looked over at Shikamaru who blinked in return. He knew Naruto had heard what the Sound Ninja surmised about Ino's jutsu but he did not believe the blonde to understand it as much as he did. "Sasuke won't notice it's her in there. Tell her to get out now."
"Ino, do it." Shikamaru whispered in her ear then returned to watching Sasuke.
He was staring at his arm, covered in the odd black markings and still emitting the foulest killing intent Shikamaru had ever come across. He seemed almost fascinated with himself and the same black markings marring his skin.
"What the hell is going on Uzumaki?"
"I don't know but I don't' like it."
"Don't worry, I'm alright." Sasuke finally responded to Sakura's question and let his hand fall. "In fact I've never felt better. He gave me this gift and he made me remember what I am. I'm an avenger. To follow that path I must have power, at any cost, even if it consumes me."
"Damn it, Emo just went psycho on us." Shikamaru frowned over at Naruto, somewhat stunned into silence beside him.
"Sakura, tell me, who did this to you?"
"That'd be me." Zaku finally smirked and put himself ahead of the pack of Sound Ninja. At the admittance Sasuke's full attention rested on him.
"Ino get back in your body!" Shikamaru finally yelled at the girl who was in just as much shock as Sakura over the transformation Sasuke had gone through. "You do not want to get involved in this! Naruto, come on, we gotta get outta here."
"I…I can't."
"Idiot, he's clearly lost it!"
"I can't leave Sakura."
"Your funeral." Shikamaru scuffed and hefted Ino up on his shoulders and took a wild dive for the safety of the trees. Choji was soon after him but they did not go too far. They turned and watched from a safer distance as Sasuke began to focus on the Sound Ninja who admitted to beating up the girl.
"That one's clearly too stupid to realize something's wrong with him." Shikamaru thought sourly as Zaku brought up his hands in front of him and formed the proper seals.
"Dosu, what's wrong you got cold feet all the sudden?" Zaku seemed proud of himself for what he was about to do. "Watch this, I'll take care of them all in one fell swoop."
"No Zaku! You don't understand!"
"Super Sonic Slicing Wave!"
The wind created from the large blast reached even their hiding spot and Shikamaru threw up his arms to shield himself. This was insane, Choji, Ino and he should be turning tail and heading in the complete opposite direction and yet there they were. The only Leaf Genin missing from this expedition was Kiba's team and even if they were nearby he would never expect the Inuzuka to help them, not after their falling out and seeing Naruto's dog.
"What do you know, blew them all away."
"Not quite."
Shikamaru quickly came back up to watch after the wind had died down. Naruto had gone back to the cave like an idiot, probably for his dog, but Sasuke and Sakura were now beside Zaku and Sasuke backhanded him so hard he went flying into a tree. Sasuke had moved fast enough to get both himself and Sakura out of the blast wave.
Sasuke barely let the Sound Nin land before flying through hand seals.
"Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu."
"Sasuke…" Ino was whimpering as she too watched, just as terrified as Sakura and the rest of them were at Sasuke's behavior.
"This is all wrong. He was out cold when we got here and he looked ill. What's going on here?" From the cave Naruto began to come back out, looking a little nicked and bruised from flying debris but still standing, and beside him Ririshii came to stand unsteadily beside his master. "Naruto knows something's wrong but he's too stupid to stop it…"
Zaku tried to put out the four flames flying at him with his wind tunnels and the flames died away but revealed shuriken in their shadow. The Sound Ninja threw up his arms to defend himself from the barrage but lost sight of the Uchiha.
Sasuke had the wind-user's arms behind his back in a quick couple of moves and his foot digging into the man's back. As he began to apply pressure the Uchiha heir began to smirk oddly, as if he was pleased with his work.
"You seem to be very proud of these arms of yours. You must be very attached to them."
"No what are you doing?!"
"No way!" Shikamaru gaped at the scene unfolding. Sasuke kept applying more and more pressure until the man began to scream in agony and even as far away as they were he could hear the audible popping as the joints became dislocated.
Sasuke let loose and Zaku went falling forward, unconscious from the pain and dislocation of his shoulders. Shikamaru had almost thought Sasuke was going to rip the limbs right off, the way he had been grinning like a mad man.
He was now stalking towards the other one, Dosu, who seemed to freeze up at the prospect of finally fighting their intended target.
"Sasuke, please!" Sakura was calling after him, trying desperately to stop the other boy's rampage but it was in vain, he merely ignored her and kept on his intended path.
He only stopped when Naruto appeared between Sasuke and the Sound Ninja.
"Get out of my way!" Sasuke barked at Naruto and all of them winced at the amount of loathing that was betrayed behind the tone. "You idiot, do you see what they did to her?"
"That's enough!" Naruto seemed to bark back as well and something he did to himself made him seem just as threatening as Sasuke did. "He's not even attacking anymore; he's not a threat to you."
"They wanted to kill us, you idiot. It's only fair to pay them back."
"No, not like this!" Naruto reached out and shoved Sasuke back physically and everyone went still, certain Naruto was going to be the next one Sasuke hurt. "You're enjoying this too much!"
"You idiot! He's going to kill you!!!" Shikamaru thought and began to draw his chakra in to his shadow to prepare it to snake out and trap Sasuke if he had to.
"Why shouldn't I?"
"We're better than that. We're better than them." Naruto growled and stood his ground unwavering.
Things were tense and still as the two faced off against one another. Naruto looked ready to smack sense into Sasuke but finally something clicked and the black marks began retracting until they went up under his shirt. Sasuke hit the ground panting and Sakura rushed up behind him, worried but still a little wary.
"You're strong, Sasuke." Dosu began rooting around in his shirt and finally produced a small black scroll. He held it up in his hand in front of his face to the three and cocked his head slightly at them. "Too strong. We cannot hope to defeat you the way you are now. We'll strike a deal." Slowly he knelt down and put the scroll dead center in behind Naruto. "I give you this scroll and you let us go."
Dosu retreated slowly at first and picked up his lifeless teammates. After one last look he darted away, leaving the congregation of Leaf Ninja to watch after him but then alone with their thoughts at what had just happened.
Ino finally lost her fear and she rushed forward to kneel to Sasuke's other side, instantly barraging the other boy with questions as Sakura blinked up at Naruto.
"Oh man, that was too scary." Choji whimpered and Shikamaru let out a long drawn out sigh.
"Troublesome…"
Lee's team came down and began to check on their own teammate, shaking the green-clad boy till he finally awoke and bashfully apologized to the girl in pink. Ririshii came limping towards Naruto, his head down and his path wide of the girls and Sasuke.
Shikamaru returned to Naruto's side and crossed his arms in front of him. Naruto's hand was instantly in Riri's fur and clutching to the dog as he trembled a little watching.
"What the hell was that Uzumaki?" Shikamaru growled lowly, keeping his voice low enough that Sasuke or the others could not hear them.
"I don't know. The one that ambushed us last night, he did something to him, I thought it was poison but I don't know now."
"You guys were ambushed by one lone attacker?"
"She…I mean he was tough. " Blue eyes darted towards him and Shikamaru saw something click behind the depths. "The only reason we're still standing is because he wants Sasuke, I don't know what for."
"What a drag, what kind of shit did you get us pulled into?"
"I didn't ask you to stick your neck out Nara."
"No, but I wasn't about to let you become worm food, you idiot."
"Neat trick with your Shadow…." Naruto tried deflecting the dialogue but failed. "Listen, just…just keep quiet okay."
"Keep quiet? Are you insane?" Shikamaru lost his cool and snagged Naruto by his coat sleeve. "Did you not see what he just did? If you hadn't put yourself in the way we'd be surrounded by bodies. He's clearly lost it!"
"I know, okay I saw it. Just…Just give it time, maybe that mark did it. Maybe he's got it under control now."
"Naruto, he's crazy…and so are you." Shikamaru huffed and threw his hands behind his neck. "Ino! Choji! Let's get out of here."
"What?" Ino began to protest but then saw the look on Shikamaru's face and nodded. Choji obeyed as he always did and Shikamaru took one last look at Naruto.
"For your sake, I hope he doesn't kill you in your sleep."
"Yeah thanks Nara." Naruto smirked a little beneath all the bruising and scrapes. "You guys better be at the tower…"
"Yeah, yeah, we'll be there." Shikamaru waved and headed off towards the river and onwards. He frowned the farther away they got from the scene of chaos and wondered just why in the hell he had done what he did and why he was leaving Naruto alone with a clearly whacked out teammate.
"You better be okay you dolt…"
Author Note x2: HA! Take that you evil evil arc. Finally the end of the arc; at least this tiny little leg of it. There is the elimination rounds and all that jazz left to go. This thing was epic and I did a lot more tinkering in terms of what happened and of course the missing 'Kyuubi' incident this section of the exam had. Why I'm still not sure but I wanted Naruto as the more level headed one this time around and in all honestly I think he'd be hyper sensitive to if it were happening and try to tamp it down. Secondly the five-pronged on Ririshii… yeah the five-pronged seal and the whole 'sexy jutsu' thing was a few of the factors that got Jiraiya to teach Naruto. Trust me…It's still in play but….eh now you know why I'm excited to get to Jiraiya meets Naruto.
Oh…and a little side note to you all :D There will be a Missing Moments posted a day or two after F_H hits 100 reviews. I don't want to seem like a review hog, no quite the contrary, it's just in my many years of lurking around this site, playing in several fandoms and the like, no story has ever broken 100 reviews. Last night I realized F_H had 91 reviews….and I want the missing moment to be like a celebration of that milestone! So here's a hint for the chibi naru fans. Snowball Fight. That's all I'm saying…but trust me it just oooooozzzzess cute and maybe has a little history in it as well. *Evil grin*
HA! Try that on for size Naruto-verse!!