As I've been doing so often lately, I apologize (again). I know you guys don't like waiting so much for each chapter, but I'm doing my best, so I hope you'll be patient with me.
I've got something else to apologize for, too. Remember how I said Sasori was likely to show up in chapter thirteen but less likely to show up in fourteen? Yeah. It's offcially going to be fourteen. Sorry. But both thirteen and fourteen are going to be super long like this one and the last two.
Also, things are really starting to change. Maybe not too much in this chapter, but next chapter is where the shit's gonna hit the fan and go flying in every direction. Just keep in mind that everything that strays from the original story is due to something else that's already happened. If you're wondering why something is going a certain way, trace it back to everything that affects it.
We're almost there! The next chapter will finally end part one, and part two will pick up MUCH more quickly. I mean it - things will be moving fast starting in chapter fourteen. I hope you all enjoy this, and please review; I love reading your feedback. :) (I'm also shamelessly begging you to help me achieve my first 1000-review fic, so...please?)
Sedulity
Aside from medical techniques, ninjutsu had never been Sakura's strong point. Sure, she could do the basics like clones and whatnot, but advanced jutsu and those of the elemental variety usually fell outside of her range of abilities — but that wasn't to say that she couldn't do some. She'd recently added her first two wind-style techniques to her admittedly small arsenal, even though they weren't that strong considering the size of her chakra reserves; the best she could hope to accomplish with them was momentary distraction or knocking someone off-balance, unfortunately. It was clearly a field she needed to work on once the Chunin Exams were over.
But one intermediate jutsu she had managed to learn was a simple sealing technique.
So, after finding an adequate location to hide her all-but-useless teammates away and setting up traps to catch any unlucky souls that came snooping (a process that wasn't completed until the early hours of the following morning), she took another look at the mark on the back of Sasuke's neck. Frowning to herself in concentration, she probed it with chakra. Immediately, it pulsed and hissed, releasing a tiny puff of steam. She felt the shock in her fingertips, but aside from stinging, it didn't harm her. She cursed.
She'd been right after all. It did have something to do with a jutsu, and judging by the look of it, whatever it did wouldn't be pleasant in the slightest.
Sakura pulled Sasuke's torso across her lap and turned him over, tugging back his collar. "Sorry about this," she muttered, forming a quick series of hand signs. Then, she placed a glowing palm over the symbol.
It reacted even more angrily this time, and she swore she could hear it screeching near the frequency of a dog whistle. Determined, she poured chakra into the mark even as it began to burn her hand, and she could literally feel the evil coursing through it in waves. The sensation was gross and creepy, and it made her feel altogether dirty. Goosebumps bloomed across her skin, and the hair on the back of her neck rose.
Sasuke groaned but didn't stir. Probably for the best, she thought grimly, because he'd undoubtedly be writhing in agony if he was awake. The mark throbbed like it was alive beneath her palm, and all at once, Sakura felt lightning shoot up her arm.
Unable to swallow a short shriek of shock and pain, she tumbled back as her hand was forcibly expelled from the symbol. Eyes wide, she regarded it warily.
This was even worse that she'd imagined. That thing, whatever it was, couldn't be contained with any sealing jutsu she knew of. She doubted even forbidden jutsu would be able to stop it completely.
This wasn't good at all.
Gazing absently down at her hand, she noted that the shape of Sasuke's mark had been burned into her palm, and it was still smoking nastily. She flexed her fingers, displeased with how much the simple action hurt, and pooled chakra to heal it.
It hissed and refused to mend at first, but finally gave in just a little. It no longer smoldered, but the scald remained a painful, ugly red. She settled for just numbing the nerves around it.
"Damn it," she growled, glaring at it.
If she'd had any doubts beforehand that Orochimaru had used a forbidden technique, they were all erased now. Only kinjutsu injuries could sustain medical treatment. It would probably take her a couple days to fix that accursed blister if she kept prodding it with chakra, and there was no telling how long it would be before it healed naturally.
Wonderful.
Sakura shot a glower at Sasuke before reminding herself that it wasn't his fault that psycho had decided to bite him. Sighing, she laid him back out beside Naruto and replaced the damp cloths on both of their foreheads that she'd had to use thick bandages for, their hitai-ate on the ground between them. The last of the water she'd gathered from the river nearly a kilometer away was used on Naruto's strip of cloth. Jaw clenching, she knew she'd have to cast another genjutsu over them and hope no one noticed it while she went to collect more water, but that would have to wait.
She was sure she'd sensed someone relatively nearby a little while ago.
Just in case, she refrained from scanning the area with chakra — it they were still in range, they might detect it, and she might need that chakra to defend her team.
No sooner than the thought crossed her mind, there came the rustling of leaves. Her eyes flew to the movement, and she saw it the instant it emerged from the bushes.
A squirrel.
She hesitated — but then she saw the thing on its back: a paper bomb.
Her instincts, it seemed, were as sharp as ever. That was a plus, if nothing else.
Unfortunately for the poor rodent, she had no time to save it. If she strayed from her teammates' sides, they'd be open for an assault — but she also couldn't let it come any closer.
With precise aim, she flicked a kunai into the ground barely a millimeter in front of its paws, and the squirrel squeaked in alarm. Scrambling to escape, it slid through the leaves and darted off with its tail fluffed out. There was no need to kill it; if the paper bomb didn't do the job, it might get lucky and have been tagged with one that was dysfunctional.
Sakura came dangerously close to attaching a chakra string to the knife and retrieving it before she remembered that the culprits behind that attack could probably see her. It wouldn't be a good idea to reveal her secrets to the enemy. She stayed crouched, hard gaze locked on the bushes, and she nearly chanced casting a chakra scan. She was certain they were directly in front of her.
She could practically feel them debating whether or not to confront her. She made the decision for them.
"How many more hours are you going to sit there?" she sneered, pulling another kunai from her pouch and tapping the tip of the blade on the ground. "Come out and face me, or get lost."
She honestly wasn't surprised to see the three Oto-nin that had attacked Kabuto step out from the foliage. She knew they'd show up sooner or later after what Orochimaru said about paying Sasuke another visit if they could defeat his henchmen. It didn't mean that she was happy to see them, though.
"Been expecting us, have you?" the apparent leader, a guy covered in bandages, inquired.
"I figured you'd make an appearance by tomorrow at the latest," she replied coldly. "But it's a little disappointing that none of you had the decency to wait until Sasuke's awake." At their surprised looks, she scoffed. "That's obviously why you're here. Otherwise, Orochimaru wouldn't have promised to stop by again for another chat once we'd defeated you."
All three genin froze, eyes going wide.
"And judging by the stupid looks on your faces," she plowed on, undeterred, "he didn't bother to tell you that he'd confronted us — meaning he probably also forgot to mention the mark he put on Sasuke's neck. So you know what I think?" She spun the ring of the kunai she was holding on her finger. "I think he sent you in to test whatever jutsu he put on Sasuke."
The leader of the trio stood incredibly still, while the guy behind him snarled something in outrage. The female glanced at the leader uncertainly, expression tight with what might have been worry. "Dosu…"
"We'll continue on as planned," the one called Dosu ground out, eyes narrowing on Sakura.
"I can live with that," the other male growled. "First, I'll kill this girl for that attitude, and then I'll kill that Sasuke guy no matter if he's awake or not."
Sakura slowly rose from her crouch, feet shuffling a few inches to evenly distribute her weight. She gripped her kunai threateningly. "Big talk. Can you back it up?"
Irked, the obvious hothead of the team leapt forward to lead the assault, his comrades right on his heels. Sakura retrieved two more knives from her pouch and flung them the instant they crashed through the genjutsu trap she'd set. All three staggered, and she regretted not placing a stronger one when the female Oto-nin quickly regained her senses.
Barely dodging the dagger aimed at her head, she lunged for the hothead and dragged him out of the illusion just as a kunai imbedded itself in his right shoulder. Dosu, having dispelled it a little more sluggishly, got his side sliced but was otherwise unhurt. Sakura didn't give them time to recover before throwing a kunai at a nearly invisible wire stretched across the tree behind them, releasing a volley of shuriken from either side.
"Zaku!" the girl yelled as three struck his hip in his attempt to hit the ground. She caught one across the cheek, but Dosu successfully avoided them all.
Sakura readied herself, sliding one foot back in a defensive stance and bringing both fists up, chakra already collecting for a vicious attack once they got within range. Dosu yanked back his sleeve and streaked toward her, preparing to swing out his arm and initiate what she suspected was the same thing he'd used on Kabuto to make him throw up. Zaku and the girl were slower to get to their feet, and they were still a couple yards away when Dosu reached his target. Sakura snapped back a fist and let it fly, and her opponent brought up his arm to block with some strange metal contraption.
She smirked. Wrong move.
But before her punch could connect, there came a cry of "Leaf Hurricane!" and a whirlwind of green spun out of nowhere, foot connecting with Dosu's jaw. Sakura hurriedly caught herself before she shattered his skull, stumbling right into Lee as he landed in front of her. He twisted and seized her shoulders, steadying her, and paying absolutely no attention to the two stunned Oto genin as Dosu was sent twirling head over feet into a tree.
"Are you uninjured, my youthful blossom?" Lee asked, eyes scanning her form anxiously.
"Lee?" she choked out, unable to do much more than gape at him for a moment. "What are you doing here?"
He smiled broadly, turning to face what were now his enemies as well. "I shall always appear when you are in trouble," he said firmly, sounding serious rather than overzealous. "I promised to protect you with my life!" He not-so-subtly placed a familiar squirrel down by his sandals.
"And just who the heck are you?" Zaku sneered while his teammate helped Dosu up.
"I am Rock Lee," he replied steadily, "Konoha's Beautiful Green Beast."
Zaku snorted loudly, and Sakura was tempted to chuck a boulder at him. She stepped up to stand next to her comrade, fists clenching in anticipation.
"Thank you, Lee," she said, gaze locked on the genin opposite them. "But please don't waste your time protecting me."
"But—"
She shook her head, cutting him off. "I'm serious, Lee." She glanced at him with a half-smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "I won't sit back and let you do all the work. It's my teammate they want, after all." Her expression sobered so that he'd understand that she wasn't kidding. "Just help me keep them both safe."
Lee stared at her for a long moment, then looked back at the unconscious forms of Sasuke and Naruto. He beamed, giving her what she was quickly beginning to suspect was his trademark thumbs-up, and proclaimed, "Very well, Sakura-san! Place your trust in me!"
"Dosu!" the female Oto-nin called, jaw clenched. "Are you alright over there?"
The bandaged shinobi climbed to his feet, giving his head a little shake as though to dislodge something, and didn't bother to reply. She evidently didn't like being ignored.
"You sure you're up for this?" she demanded.
He glared at her balefully. "Don't concern yourself with me, Kin," he bit out in a less than friendly tone. "I'll deal with the one in green. Zaku, you take care of the girl." His glare returned to her with full force. "And if you find yourself capable, Kin, perhaps you can handle Sasuke; being comatose as he is, surely it shouldn't test your abilities too heavily."
She scowled back and bared her teeth in a snarl.
Dosu approached Lee again, stopping barely twenty feet away, and Zaku shuffled to his right. Sakura sidestepped to meet him head-on, not for even a second worrying that her makeshift teammate would be in any trouble. She did, however, divert a fraction of her attention to Kin. There was no way she was letting her get past her.
Then, Zaku was attacking, and she had no more time to think.
He crouched in the blink of an eye and shoved his hands into the ground, and the dirt surrounding his palms suddenly inflated as if some kind of animal were tunneling just under the surface. Two identical paths of bloated earth shot toward her with shocking speed, and Sakura knew without hesitation that she didn't want it beneath her feet. She sprung forward and cleared the distance between them in a single bound. Zaku ducked as she struck out with a chakra enhanced fist, rolling to the side and bringing both hands up. She turned on her heel, elbow snapping back.
"Zankūha!" he yelled, and she had a split-second to see the tubes imbedded in his palms before they exploded with a solid wall of air. She instinctively blocked with her left forearm since she hadn't the tiniest hope of dodging at point blank range. The force of the blast shoved her over ten feet back as her boots dug deep grooves in the ground, and she felt the unmistakable splintering of her ulna — maybe even her radius, too. Swearing, she dove to the side before he could hit her with another jutsu and brought a glowing hand to her broken arm. The strip of wooden puppet arm, thankfully, was unharmed as her real limb had absorbed the brunt of the damage.
He eyed the green healing chakra as he lashed out with a kunai. "A medic?" he taunted, slashing again when she avoided the blade. When the tip opened a deep cut on her cheek, Sakura twisted out of his reach, pushing the bones back into place to seal the fracture. "They say that shinobi with no outstanding skills turn to medical ninjutsu."
Zaku went for her throat, and she slipped beneath his swipe to get right into his personal bubble. "They also say that only idiots try to piss off people that are stronger than them."
Before he could retort, she surprised him by pulling her hand away from her arm and smashing her fist in his face. He flew straight across the clearing and slammed against a tree amongst the undergrowth, her careful conservation of chakra the only reason why he hadn't gone through said tree. By saving chakra, she'd sacrificed much of her usual power, but it had still been more than enough to knock him on his ass. Sakura whipped around took a threatening step toward Kin, who scrambled back from the advance she'd made on Sasuke upon seeing the raw power in that single punch. Eyes wide, the Oto-nin took a defensive stance.
Sakura chanced a look at Lee, dismayed to find him staggering to his knees. Dosu, at least, seemed a little roughed up as well, but Lee's bleeding ear didn't sit well with her. She glowered at Kin, body coiling for the offense.
"Make another move in their direction," she warned her counterpart lowly, "and this next punch will send you crashing all the way back to the gates."
Kin made no attempt to conceal her apprehension and instead openly stared at the energy pooling in her hand. Her fingers danced over the weapons pouch on her hip, hesitating. Sakura decided on impulse to change her tactics, hoping to catch the girl off-guard.
It worked.
She pushed out with her chakra, feeling for the whisper of Kin's mind, and found it with relative ease. Not giving her a chance to sense what she was doing, she wove a genjutsu around her senses and rapidly withdrew to let her stew. Kin stood there, staring into space, without even a suspicion that whatever she was seeing was an illusion.
If she'd done as good of a job as she thought, that technique would hold her for at least a few minutes, giving her plenty of time to finish off Zaku. As she was turning back to confront him, she paused.
Three chakra signatures crept within range and settled in the bushes on the edge of their field of battle. Her eyes narrowed.
Ino. She shook her head. No, she can wait. She's not stupid enough to get in the middle of this. This is more important.
Zaku, to his credit, was back on his feet with a hand pressed to his doubtlessly broken nose. He scowled at her with a burning hatred as blood spilled between his fingers.
"You're gonna pay for that, you little witch," he snarled.
Sakura opened her mouth to make a snide reply, but she was cut off by a sharp yelp from Lee. Her eyes shot to him, and she watched as he fell, hands clamped over his ears. He vomited up whatever he'd eaten that day, eyes watering, wheezing. Not good.
"Zankūha!" Zaku bellowed.
Sakura leapt away before it could touch her, and with a swift glance to ensure that Kin was still distracted, she made a beeline for Lee. Dosu shot toward her, pulling his sleeve back from the strange metal gadget on his arm, and swung out his arm in a wide punch. She jerked her head back to avoid the blow, gaze scanning the unnamed contraption as it passed barely an inch from her nose.
Then, it spiked with chakra, and it suddenly occurred to her what had done Lee in.
"Shit," she grunted under her breath.
Just as his jutsu activated, she brushed her fingertips over her ears and prayed it would hold. When nothing happened for the first few seconds, she smirked. Dosu, startled, took an uncertain step back.
"Why didn't it work?" he murmured more to himself that her.
Sakura didn't catch what he said — she couldn't hear anything, in fact, thanks to the chakra seal she'd blocked up her external auditory canals with — but she could read his lips well enough. She'd taken a chance by deafening herself in the middle of a battle, but she'd just have to rely on her other senses; she couldn't afford to let his jutsu affect her.
Her fist flashed out, and Dosu dodged it by a hair. He flipped back and skidded to a halt several yards away, wide eyes wary. Unclogging her ears as it seemed he'd think twice before trying that again, she crouched down beside Lee but didn't look away from the Oto-nin.
"You three are from the Hidden Sound Village," she stated matter-of-factly, reaching out a glowing hand to her fallen comrade. "It only makes sense that you'd use jutsu having something to do with sound — and since your friend, there, can blast sound waves from the holes in his hands, I assumed that you could do the same from the holes on that shiny armguard you've got. It also explains why Lee's ears are bleeding, seeing as you ruptured his ear drum and all. Oh." She paused in her medical treatment and patted the green-clan shinobi's head. "This is Lee, by the way. In case you're interested. Anyway. We medic-nin have dozens of really cool tricks up our sleeves, including being able to stop sound from reaching our inner ears." She arched her eyebrows pointedly. "So, I hope you haven't shown me your entire hand, or you're out of luck."
She allowed the chakra to fade from her palm once she'd successfully mended Lee's tympanic membrane and shifted to stand, but a hand caught her own before she could. When she was sure Dosu and Zaku weren't moving, she looked down at Lee. His cheek was pressed into the ground, but he was gazing up at her with one, hazy eye.
"Sa…kura-san," he choked out, hardly seeing straight or thinking clearly after such a trauma dealt to his senses. His breathing was ragged, and he appeared to be passing out even as he spoke. "Be…careful…" His heavy lids closed, and the tension left his body.
Sakura's jaw clenched. He was hurt and now unconscious all because of her — because he was infatuated with her and would do anything to protect her. Something akin to guilt swirled in her stomach until she tightened with resolve.
No. This was Orochimaru's fault.
It was his fault Lee was hurt. It was his fault Naruto was knocked out. It was his fault Sasuke was wringing with pain from that damned mark. It was his fault she was going through this crap and battling his underlings. And if it was the last thing she did, she was going to show him just how much it all pissed her off with a nice, sweet punch to the face.
Leveling Dosu with a glare and casting an equally icy one at Zaku so he wouldn't feel left out, she rose and planted her feet in front of Lee. Kin, thankfully, hadn't yet managed to escape her genjutsu, so it was two-on-one rather than three-on-one. And now, she had three people to protect — but that was okay. She was good at protecting people.
Just like she'd be good at acting as aniki's shield and tool.
"Let's get something straight," she ground out, making a show of channeling chakra to her fists. "Unless you choose to cut your losses and leave now, I'm going to beat the both of you into the ground before you can get past me to Sasuke, and then I'm going to kick your head in — Dosu, was it? — for torturing Lee. And just so we're clear, even if you do decide to run while you've got the chance, I'm still going to kick your head in for Lee's sake. So take your pick."
Zaku glowered at her, teeth gritted, and his angry expression reminded her that she hadn't finish fixing her arm. Absently, she peered down at it. In all the excitement, she'd actually forgotten that it was only halfway healed — probably because her puppet-armguard kept it mostly in place.
"I was afraid that we'd stumble upon something like this."
Taken aback, Sakura's head whirled around to stare at the two genin who'd appeared in a nearby tree while she was distracted. From the way Zaku and Dosu started, it was clear they hadn't sensed them, either. Almost instantly, she recognized the newcomers as Lee's teammates, but their names escaped her.
Dosu grimaced. "They just keep crawling out like cockroaches." Apparently he, too, had noticed Ino's team hiding in the bushes.
The female on Lee's team murmured his name, looking worried. The male sized her up.
"Don't worry," Sakura assured them. "I healed him before he passed out, and I won't let him come to any further harm."
The girl smiled wryly. "Yeah. We heard what you said about kicking that guy's head in."
Zaku, finally reaching his boiling point, stopped all attempts to continue the conversation by unleashing another bout of his Slicing Sound Waves. Sakura reacted in a fraction of a second, scooping up Lee with her good arm and launching herself in her new allies' direction with a burst of chakra. She wasn't fast enough, however, to completely miss the jet of air, and she swore as she felt it all but shred her right leg. Stumbling to her left knee at the base of the tree, she deposited Lee safely behind her and clamped a chakra-filled hand on her freshest injury.
Lee's teammates dropped from the perch and secured him, the girl reaching out to Sakura. Before she could speak, Zaku's palms swiveled toward them, and the three tensed in preparation to leap out of the way.
Then, she felt it.
Her neck audibly cracked when her head snapped around to the source, and the motion nearly gave her whiplash. Lee's male teammate turned perhaps a heartbeat ahead of her, but there was at least a second's delay before the other three became aware of the dark, billowing chakra. And there, rising slowly to his feet in the middle of that ugly aura, was Sasuke.
She was rendered temporarily speechless, wide eyes taking in the inky, flame-like marks that had spread down the entirety of the right side of his body. They glowed a menacing red, as did his Sharingan. Steam hissed across his skin, and the black chakra surrounding him was powerful enough to be visible. His murderous stare locked onto hers between the bangs clinging to his forehead with sweat.
"Sakura," he growled, the mere sound of his voice ominous. "Who did this to you?"
Shocked, she didn't even register his demand. "Those marks," she whispered to herself.
That proved it. Orochimaru had implanted a forbidden jutsu in his body, and from the feel of the chakra radiating from her teammate, it wouldn't be wise to pick a fight with him while he was under its influence. God only knew what it would make him do.
"Sakura," he repeated, tone even lower and more dangerous. "Who was it?"
It occurred to her, then, what she must look like.
A deep, bleeding cut on her face. A heavily bruised, not-that-obviously broken arm. A leg covered in slashes and — well — lots of blood.
Her gaze flickered to the Sound genin. Dosu had gone incredibly pale beneath his bandages, Zaku didn't seem to grasp the severity of the situation so he just looked ticked, and Sasuke's menacing chakra had startled Kin out of her illusion. Almost as if to prove how stupid he was, Zaku had the audacity to talk back to his new, bloodlust-exuding opponent.
"That'd be me," he sneered, unconsciously wiping at his still-bleeding nose.
Instantly, Sasuke's savage glare shot to him, and his eyes narrowed as he turned his entire body to face the offender. To Sakura's disbelief, the sinister marks illuminated brighter and snaked their way to cover the other half of his figure, dulling to black once they settled in place.
"Don't get scared now, Dosu!" Zaku scoffed as he caught sight of his comrade shivering. "I'll destroy this brat in one shot!"
Dosu rounded on him in horror. "No, Zaku! You don't understand!"
It was too late.
Zaku aimed his palms in Sasuke's direction and spread his fingers wide. "Zankūkyokuha!"
An explosion of razor-sharp waves of sound decimated everything between him and the trees on the far side of the clearing. Sakura shrunk back, shielding her eyes with her good arm as the invisible wall erupted the ground just a foot in front of her. Lee's teammates turned their backs to protect their faces and formed a barrier around their fallen ally. When the wind died down, Zaku was huffing for air even as he smirked smugly. Both Sasuke and Naruto were gone.
"Hah!" he snorted. "Blown away!"
"Just who was blown away?"
He flinched, spinning incredulously, but Sasuke was faster. His arm was barely a flicker as he struck, sending Zaku crashing half a dozen yards away with a single blow to the shoulder. Undeterred, the Oto-nin used his momentum to roll back to his feet, only to come face-to-face with Sasuke's Phoenix Flower Jutsu. He deflected it with a quick Zankūha, but the shuriken hidden within the flames plowed onward and cut right through him. Yelling out, blocked his face with his arms.
"Zaku, behind you!"
Jerking to alertness, he missed Sasuke appearing below him and twirling right around him until he felt the pressure. Clenching both of Zaku's wrists in his hands, Sasuke slammed a foot on his back and grinned an unnatural, crazed grin.
"Heh. These arm of yours…you seem awfully…attached to them."
"No, wait—!" Zaku cried.
He yanked, breaking the shinobi's arms with minimal effort. Zaku shrieked with pain, collapsing to the ground in an agonizing heap, and Sasuke just watched him with a dark sort of humor until the wounded genin finally passed out.
Holy shit. That was the only thing Sakura could think as she hurried to heal her leg as quickly as she could. Holy shit. Sasuke had gone off the deep end. Whatever that jutsu was, it had warped him into a ruthless machine fueled by vast amounts of power, and she needed to get up and knock some sense into him before he turned on her.
The medical chakra blazing in her palm dimmed for an instant before roaring back to life.
No. Sasuke wouldn't turn on her. Hadn't she heard him just a moment ago, demanding to know who had hurt her?
He wouldn't turn on her.
But that didn't mean he wasn't dangerous.
"Great Kami-sama," Lee's female teammate whispered, throat clogged with fear.
Sakura cursed under her breath. Her leg was only halfway healed, but Sasuke was already switching his attention to Dosu and Kin. One look at them told her that they would bolt whether he attacked or not, so there was no need to let him at them — not stopping him would probably send him on a killing spree, if nothing else, and that wouldn't be good in the slightest.
He advanced one pace in Dosu's direction.
"Sasuke!" she snapped, forcing her voice as loud as it would go.
He halted. Dosu and Kin actually flinched at the sound, and Lee's comrades watched her warily. Slowly, almost too slowly, Sasuke's head turned until she could nearly see the profile of his face. He seemed to be waiting to hear what she had to say; had the situation not been so grim, she might have laughed.
"That's enough," she said in the flattest tone she could manage.
For the longest moment, none of them dared to breathe. Sasuke stood incredibly still, any reaction he'd had hidden. Sakura tensed in preparation to repeat her words with her fists. In the rigid silence, she finished mending her leg and placed her hand on the ground, ready to use it to push herself up if she needed to.
Sasuke never spoke. His marks alit with a chilling red-orange glow and slowly snaked their way back up to the original point of the jutsu on his neck until they disappeared completely. The second they were gone, he knees went out from under him.
Sakura jumped up, biting out a curse, and ran to him without hesitation. She dropped down beside him, forgetting all about her injured arm in favor of checking him over for nasty side effects from that mark. He sat there in the dust, eyes wide and shocked as if he couldn't believe what had happened, trembling like a leaf in the wind. She placed her hand on her forehead, and he recoiled from her, but when she repeated the action he didn't stop her. Once satisfied that he was fine, she absently repaired what little was left of the break in her ulna and allowed her gaze to drift to Dosu.
"Grab your idiot teammate, there, and beat it," she ordered.
He hesitated before taking a careful step forward. When no one made a move to rip him limb from limb, he took another step, then walked deliberately to Zaku. He bent over, making a show of easing his hand to the folds in his cloak and removing a scroll with the kanji for chi painted across its front — an earth scroll.
"You're quite powerful, Sasuke," he said cautiously. "Too powerful, in fact, for us. As we are now, we have no hope of defeating you." Though still breathing heavily, Sasuke eyed him sharply. Sakura glowered at the Sound genin. "In exchange for our lives…" He set the scroll down and slid his arms around Zaku, hoisting him over his shoulder as he stood. "Please accept this gift. We will leave and cause you no further trouble." His head turned just so. "Kin."
The girl gave the tiniest of nods, and both shinobi retreated. When they vanished into the forest, Sakura let out a heavy breath and relaxed for the first time since the second stage had begun the previous day. She permitted herself to stay there for a short while longer before heaving herself to her feet and approaching the scroll. She snatched it up, examining it briefly for any tricks, then looked back to Sasuke. He just watched her silently, respiration eventually returning to its normal rate. Movement behind him caught her eye, and she glanced at Lee's teammates.
The girl appeared distinctly uncomfortable with Sasuke's presence, so she addressed Sakura. "Thank you," she murmured. "You healed Lee and protected him when those guys beat him senseless."
Sasuke froze, staring sightlessly at her, then at Lee's unconscious form.
"He came to help me when my team was down," Sakura replied. "Those Oto-nin had nothing to do with him, but he fought with me anyway. It was the least I could do."
The girl smiled. "He wouldn't stop talking about you after the last time we met," she commented softly. "Sakura-san, right?"
She inclined her head. The brunette smiled. "I'm Tenten, and this is Neji." Her eyes crinkled closed. "I get the feeling we'll be seeing a lot of one another in the future. Good luck."
Neji nodded to her, darting one last look at Sasuke before securing Lee and leaving with Tenten. Sakura sighed, suddenly recalling that Ino's team had been hiding in the bushes. She reached out her senses to feel for them, but they had already ran off. Even such a simple technique required more effort than she would've liked, drilling home the fact that she was unnervingly low on chakra.
A quiet groan attracted her attention to where Sasuke had deposited Naruto when he carried him away from Zaku's sound wave attack. She strolled leisurely toward him, massaging the sore muscles in her arms and crouched at his side. He stirred but didn't wake until she prodded him a half dozen times. It figured he'd come to as soon as the fighting was done.
"Naruto," she said. "Come on, Naruto, get up."
He moaned, dragging an arm across his eyes. "Ten more minutes, Sakura-chan…"
She rolled her eyes skyward. "Now, Naruto."
He huffed drowsily, turning over onto his stomach. She gave up for the time being and returned to Sasuke's side. He studied her face while she arched both of her eyebrows, expression clearly demanding that he get moving before she made him. Just as she opened her mouth to verbally accentuate her wishes, he cut her off.
"What did you do to your hair?" he asked bluntly.
Sakura stared at him blankly for well over a minute, not comprehending what he was getting at. Clearly seeing her struggle, he swiped two fingers just below his left cheek. Nonplussed, she continued to look at him as if he might give her more hints. When he gave none, she reached up the same way he had to see if that led to any revelations.
She frowned. "What are you—"
The words died in her throat as she went utterly still. Afraid she was hallucinating, she fumbled around for the familiar feeling of her hair. There it was — but what the hell was it doing there? She didn't remember doing anything to it.
And then it hit her.
She hands flew to the hitai-ate on her right thigh. The metal band wasn't a perfect mirror, but it reflected basic shapes and colors well enough to serve her purpose, so she held it out from the left side of her face, watching it from the corner of her eye. She saw it. A red line traced her cheek less than an inch above her jaw — the cut she'd gotten from Zaku's kunai — and the bangs on her left side were gone from below that point. His attack had chopped off her hair in that section at approximately chin length.
Shock and fury coursed through her with energy that rejuvenated her. How dare that asshole cut off her hair after she'd decided to let it grow out until she made up her mind about how to deal with befriending (and eventually abandoning) her teammates?
It was replaced a moment later with calm and acceptance. He'd had no idea what significance her hair had held. And even if he had, he was her enemy; why would he care? Besides, she told herself, it hadn't been that important anyway. Prematurely cutting her hair didn't change her mind one way or another.
Abruptly, Naruto shot up out of the dirt with a shriek. She jumped and Sasuke's head whipped around. Naruto whirled in circles, eyes wide as he fumbled for a kunai.
"Where is he?!" he yelled, looking in every which direction. "That creepy guy with the tongue — where'd he go?!"
Sakura let out another sigh, wanting nothing more than to just sleep for a week or two. "He's gone, Naruto," she deadpanned. "You've been out for hours — it's not even the same day anymore."
He blinked at him, slowly relaxing, then frowned. "What the heck happened to your hair, Sakura-chan?"
She grimaced. "Don't ask."
His eyebrows furrowed. "But it looks kinda…"
Before he could continue, she clenched her jaw and gathered her hair in one hand. With the other, she grabbed a kunai and sawed off the rest of the long locks to relatively match the new length. He gaped at her, and even Sasuke seemed a little startled — or as startled as he ever did.
"There," she intoned flatly. "Done." She slid her weapon back into the holster and turned, leaving all the pale pink hair she'd just severed lying on the ground. She tied her headband in a tight knot in its usual place on her right thigh. "Now, let's go. We can't stay here, so we need to find someone else to rest for a while before continuing."
Bewildered, Naruto didn't budge even as Sasuke finally climbed to his feet. "Continue where? And where's my hitai-ate?" he added when he discovered it to be missing.
"Oh. Right."
She rummaged around in the pouch above her backside, belatedly hoping she hadn't broken anything in it. Thankfully, everything seemed to be in one piece. She retrieved both his and Sasuke's headbands and tossed them to them. They secured them in place automatically, and Sakura held something else up for their inspection — two things, actually.
"As for where we're going after we take a break," she replied, showing off the heaven scroll that she'd managed to keep away from Orochimaru and their new earth scroll from the Oto-nin, "we're getting out of here."
.
.
.
Sakura was tired when they finally made it to the tower in the center of the Forest of Death, but she was also relieved that this part of their exam was over. They'd spent the entirety of the second day sleeping, finding something to eat and drink, and recovering their chakra. Sasuke and Naruto had been ready to go a few hours before Sakura, but they'd still waited for her sake since she'd expelled her energy defending them. Early in the morning on the third day, they'd made a straight shot for the tower, occasionally avoiding other teams and a multitude of disconcertingly large animals, but they fortunately encountered no real trouble. It was now nearing midday as they stumbled inside, and they each picked a place on a wall to lean their weight against for a few moments.
Once satisfied, the three looked around. The room they'd entered was surprisingly empty save for a large plaque on one wall. It was clearly meant to be read. She caught both of her teammates' eyes and nodded to it, and Naruto took it upon himself to read it aloud.
" 'If qualities of Heaven are your desire, acquire wisdom and knowledge to take your mind higher. If Earthly qualities are what you lack, train your body in the fields and prepare to attack. When both Heaven and Earth are opened together, the path of peril with revert to the righteous path forever. This…something…is the secret way that guides us on from this place today. Signed, the Third Hokage." He was silent for all of two seconds. "…what the hell does that mean? And what's with the blank space in the fourth sentence?"
"It's a poem," Sakura stated, pointing out the obvious. "The first two lines are just something philosophical, I'd guess, but the third line says 'when Heaven and Earth are opened together'." She turned to Sasuke, who'd been given the scrolls to hold onto earlier in the day. "Clearly, it means to open the scrolls."
"That's it?" Naruto questioned as Sasuke pulled out the scrolls. "It's seriously that easy?"
She shrugged.
"We're about to find out," Sasuke deadpanned.
He tossed her the one marked 'heaven' and slid his thumb along the seal of the earth document. Naruto squeezed between them as they both prepared to open them. They all exchanged a glance, then the two holding scrolls unraveled them.
Immediately, Sakura recognized the writing they contained, and Sasuke's expression said he did, too. Simultaneously, they threw them across the room, ignoring Naruto's confused objections. He fell quiet as soon as the parchment began smoldering, and they each tensed when a cloud of smoke burst from them.
When a person appeared before them, he put two and two together.
"Iruka-sensei!" he cried. "Why the heck did you pop out of summoning scrolls?!"
The chunin grinned. "Long time no see," he greeted. "You're all looking a little worse for the wear."
"Is this part of the exam?" Sasuke demanded suspiciously.
"We chunin were assigned teams to greet at the tower, and I got you guys," he explained. "Congratulations. You've just passed the second stage." Before he could go on, Naruto leapt at him and latched on with one of his signature hugs.
"We did it!" he shouted victoriously. "Yeah!"
"I wasn't finished—" Iruka tried, but Naruto wasn't listening.
"We did it, we did it, we did it!" he whooped, jumping all around and throwing his fists in the air.
Sakura wondered bitterly where he'd gotten so much energy — then remembered the small bottle of soldier pills in her pouch that she had yet to open. Damn. Why hadn't she thought to use those earlier?
Iruka smiled warmly. "You haven't changed a bit, Naruto," he laughed.
"Is that it, then?" Sakura inquired. "You pat us on the back for a job well done and ship us off for the third stage?"
"Well," he hedged, "I've got something to tell you three before you go on. And besides that, the allotted five days aren't over yet, so you'll actually be staying here in the tower until then."
"You're explaining the poem on the wall, I presume?" She motioned to it. "Since it's missing a word, that's probably what you have to tell us, right?"
"That's right," he agreed, smiling at the indicated passage. "The Sandaime wrote that. It's our way of the shinobi — for us chunin, that is." He fixed them with a stern look. "And it'll be your nindo as well if you pass this exam."
Taking the bait, Naruto piped up, "So, what does it mean?"
Iruka had obviously been waiting for that invitation to elaborate. "In this poem, 'Heaven' is your mind and 'Earth' is your body. 'If qualities of Heaven are your desire, acquire wisdom and knowledge to take your mind higher.' So if, say, Naruto's weakness is his mind, then he must gain wisdom and knowledge to strengthen it."
The blond scowled at him. "What the heck are you trying to say, huh?" Iruka ignored him.
" 'If Earthly qualities are what you lack, train your body in the fields and prepare to attack.' If Sakura's weakness is her body," — she shot him a burning glare at the perceived insult — "then she has to train physically to fix that. And if you possess strength of both Heaven and Earth, then even the most difficult missions will be a piece of cake."
"And the last sentence — with the blank space?"
"What goes in that spot," the chunin said, "is the description of what a chunin should be. It's jin — 'one person' or 'all people'." He assumed his usual teaching pose from the academy with one hand on his hip and the other with a single finger raised. "Chunin are commanders, and they are responsible for their leading teams. Without both physical and mental power, chunin cannot accomplish this, so I implore you to remember what I've told you when you go on to the next part of this test." He released a weary breath. "And that's it. That's the entire message."
"And if we'd opened the scrolls during the test?" Sasuke interrogated, looking as if he already knew the answer. "What would you have done?"
The brunette gave a dry smile. "Sharp as always, Sasuke. If you'd broken the rules and opened the scrolls, or even just one scroll, before you got to the tower, I'd be forced to knock you out until the test is over." He beamed. "So it's a good thing you didn't open it, huh?"
Naruto averted his eyes, uncomfortable.
It probably had something to do with the fact that he'd suggested they do just that less than an hour earlier.
Iruka made to walk toward the door opposite the one Team Seven had entered by. "If that's all the questions you have, then come on. I don't have much time before the summoning jutsu ends."
Naruto saluted overzealously. "Yes, sir!"
When Iruka just stood there watching him, Naruto's hand fell.
He sighed. "But about the third exam…don't overdo things. Especially you, Naruto… I worry about you."
Naruto met him gaze with a challenging stare. "The day I got this hitai-ate, I stopped being a student, so you don't have to worry about me, Iruka-sensei." The chunin's eyebrows flew all the way up behind his headband. Even Sasuke seemed a little surprised. "It's proof that I'm not a kid anymore, and I got it from you. I'm a full-fledged shinobi now."
The corners of Sakura's lips quirked up. Naruto never ceased to amaze her.
"I see," Iruka finally forced out. Though he smiled, there was still something sad about the way he was looking at Naruto. "Then…I suppose I should show you the room you're being permitted to use until the end of the fifth day."
.
.
.
"Why did you stop me?"
Sakura glanced at Naruto sleeping on a bedroll, limbs akimbo and mouth gaping with thunderous snores, before she looked at Sasuke. Like her, he was finding it difficult to sleep; after two and a half days of only resting when someone else was on watch, the transition was understandably rough, even if it was nearing nine o'clock at night. Naruto, however, hadn't had any trouble at all — he could sleep through a war.
She considered his question from where she sat cross-legged on the concrete floor. "How much do you remember from the fight?" she asked, holding off on answering him.
"All of it," he replied blandly. "Those three were planning on killing you. Why did you stop me?"
"Actually," she deflected, "they were planning on killing you."
He twitched, startled. In all the chaos of trying to reach the tower in one piece, the genin of Team Seven hadn't spoken much — or at all, really — about what had happened. Sasuke had just requested that she not tell Naruto about Orochimaru's "parting gift," and she'd so far agreed to it.
She derived a small amount of satisfaction from the blatant shock on Sasuke's face. He wasn't even trying to hide it.
"Orochimaru sent them," she continued, watching him tense up further. "He also didn't tell them about…" She touched the side of her neck meaningfully. "I'm pretty sure he was testing to see how well that jutsu he put on you worked. And as for why I stopped you…" She shrugged. "Orochimaru sent them in knowing they'd probably be torn apart. You scared the shit out of them and did a number on the moron that wasn't scared of you, so I figured that was enough." She arched her eyebrows pointedly. "Unless you wanted to kill them?"
He said nothing for a very long time, eyes boring into hers as though searching for lies.
"If they were after me," he murmured, "why were you injured so extensively?"
She looked at him in surprise. "Because I wasn't about to let them at you, especially considering your condition. Obviously."
It was then, as he was staring at her, that it dawned on her exactly what she'd just said.
She hadn't thought twice about whether or not to protect Naruto and Sasuke, and later Lee. She'd made up her mind to be their human shield the instant she came face-to-face with those genin from Sound. Why was she so attached to them? Every time she tried to pull away, they'd always sucked her back in without her knowing until it was too late.
This was like when she'd witnessed her two clones in the Land of Waves arguing with one another during a midnight training session. When she'd first realized that her personalities were battling one another. When she'd decided that her hair wouldn't be cut until she had an answer.
And then she knew.
Whether she liked it or not, all three of her cellmates had burrowed their way in too deeply for her to scoop them back out. They were a part of her life now, and regardless of when she inevitably left to find him, they would forever change the person she was. She wouldn't ever forget them. Hell, she might even miss them — Naruto, she definitely would, but the other two were still a little iffy at the moment.
However, even if it meant she never saw them again, she would still choose him.
But she would take what she could get. She could afford to let them in.
Because she trusted them with her life.
"We're a team, Sasuke," she said more quietly. "I trust all of you, and I hope you all trust me. I've got your backs so long as you've got mine." She never blinked. "Have you got my back?"
He nodded. She smiled. "Then don't worry."
Without further ado, she grabbed one of the two unoccupied bedrolls and stretched out by the door, a faint rustling indicating that Sasuke had taken his cue as well. She settled down, blew out the wick floating in a dish of oil that served as the only light, and relaxed in the darkness. After a few minutes had passed and Naruto's snores had quieted down to dull breathing, she closed her eyes.
"He's not actually my brother."
She got no reply, but she knew Sasuke was listening.
"He found me when I was six years old," she whispered. "I was nothing — a nobody. I wasn't particularly good at anything except studying, and the girls in our class used to throw rocks at me. But one day, he was there, and he promised to help me become strong if I could be useful to him. So that's what I'm doing; I'm training to become strong so that I can leave this village and track him down someday, and I'll show him that I wasn't a waste of his time. I'll be his weapon and his shield, and I'll make him proud of me."
The silence carried on for many heartbeats, and she wondered for a brief second if he had fallen asleep until he spoke.
"Why do you call him your brother?"
She hummed. "My parents died when I was little on a mission to some foreign land, so I lived in an orphanage until he came by. He pretended to be my long-lost older brother so that they'd let me leave with him, and he rented an apartment for us. He even left a bunch of money for the rent after he left to tide me over for the next year. He took care of me for four years, and he was posing as my brother the entire time, so I guess I just…got into the habit of it."
"Who was he?"
She shook her head even though she knew he couldn't see it. "I don't know. He told me his name, but that was it, and I didn't ask about anything else. He came from another village, but that's all I know."
Sasuke fell silent again.
Then:
"My brother massacred my entire family except for me. I'm training to gain the power I need to leave Konoha, find him, and kill him someday." He paused. "But before I kill him…I'm going to ask him why."
Sakura smiled, eyes remaining closed. "Will his answer affect whether or not you kill him?"
By way of replying, he ground out, "The night I found him standing over our parents' bodies, I asked why he'd done it. He said it was to test the limits of his abilities."
"And you didn't believe him. Or, at least, you don't now." She didn't wait for confirmation; she knew she was right. "Why do you think he lied to you?"
She could practically hear his jaw clenching. "He had a reason for everything," he said flatly. "A legitimate reason — not something ridiculous like 'testing the limits of his abilities'. He was probably bribed by dignitaries from some other country who wanted the Uchiha Clan gone, or something else like that; he hated our family for as long as I could remember, but I know he'd wait for an actual excuse before killing them."
"You didn't answer my first question," she prompted softly when he gave no indication of continuing.
He was quiet. Perhaps he didn't want to answer.
"I don't really care what his reason was," he finally grunted. "If he gives me the names of specific people who put him up to it, I might kill them, too, but that's not why I'm going to ask him. I want him to tell me the truth because our family deserves something better than 'to test the limits of his abilities'."
Sakura nodded to herself, understanding.
"And what will you do afterwards?"
His hesitation was longer this time. "I don't know."
"Well, then," she murmured, "once you've achieved your goal, why don't you come back to the village?"
He made a sound that was neither positive nor negative.
"If you don't know what to do, just rely on Naruto. He'll give you a reason to keep going."
"Is that what you plan to do?"
Her grin died a little. "Once I leave," she said softly, "I won't ever be coming back unless he's with me or he dies."
It got quiet.
She burrowed deeper into her thin bedroll for warmth. "Good luck, Sasuke. I hope he answers your question when you find him."
Sasuke grunted, rolling over to face Naruto's direction.
Before she drifted off, she was certain she heard him mutter, "You, too."
.
.
.
Though Anko had oh-so-confidently informed the genin that she would cut down their numbers by at least half, she was still surprised at how many actually made it. Seven teams had survived the Forest of Death — twenty-one applicants that were carrying on to the third stage. In the years she'd been a proctor for the Chunin Exams, when they were held in Konoha, the highest she had ever seen pass her test was four teams. She'd expected three at the most from this group, as the average was somewhere between that and two. Seven cells was unheard of. It was even more shocking, perhaps, that four were from Konoha and three were rookies.
We've got a good batch this year, she thought to herself with a grin.
She nearly missed her cue when she busied herself with smirking sadistically at the remaining genin. Luckily, she caught the end of what the Sandaime was saying just in time.
"Alright, all of you, listen up!" she barked into the microphone headset she wore. She took pride in the fact that many of them flinched. "The Hokage will now explain to you to rules of the third exam." She looked to him, and he nodded.
As he began to speak, Sakura did the exact opposite of Anko's orders. She didn't pay a shred of attention to what he was saying except when she took a second to confirm that he was discussing politics and philosophy. Instead, she studied the other twenty-six shinobi who'd survived the second stage.
On the far right stood the team of Oto-nin she'd fought — the only team from Oto this year, if memory served correctly. They were looking a little rough, what with Zaku's arms crossed in a single sling and the glowers they were shooting her. They'd most likely made it to the tower on the fifth day, and with the third test being held the following day, they were undeniably worn out. She doubted she had anything to fear from them; she knew their techniques except for Kin's, Zaku probably couldn't use his, and she could effectively counter Dosu's. The only downside was that they were aware of some of her skills, as well: medical jutsu, genjutsu, and enhanced strength — though they didn't know just how enhanced said strength was. It was probably a good thing she'd refrained from hitting Zaku with a fully-charged chakra punch, even if part of her wished she had.
Beside them was the Suna team they'd encountered the day Kakashi gave them their applications. The taller of the two males, whose name she recalled being Kankuro, was a puppet master. He kept his main weapon — Karasu, the blond on his team had called it — strapped to his back. He, more than most of the applicants, she was hoping to fight. The shorter male, called Gaara, she also wanted a chance to battle. She hadn't sensed him at all when he'd appeared that day to berate his comrades for causing trouble, and she could feel a powerful chakra about him. He'd be a good candidate to test her strength — because, to be honest, she didn't know how she'd fair against him. And on top of all that, all three of them appeared well-rested. They'd finished the second exam early.
Third from the right was Kabuto's team, but she didn't care much about them. Kabuto, perhaps, would be a challenge, but his cellmates didn't interest her. They'd just stood in the background the entire time when Kabuto was attacked by the Oto-nin before the first test, and they didn't make an impression now. Judging by their appearance, they'd probably finished the same day as her team or the day after.
Next came Neji, Lee, and Tenten. The green-clad genin kept glancing back at her, then at Sasuke, as did Tenten. Neji, at the least, was completely focused on the Hokage. Sakura would be lying if she said she didn't want an opportunity to fight each of them. They, too, looked to have finished around the same time.
Her team stood to their left, Kiba and Hinata's beside them. She didn't know the third one's name, and he seemed to keep to himself. This was another team she didn't have much interest in, except maybe Kiba — she'd have to think about that one. They appeared just as rested as the Suna-nin despite the fact that they kept shooting said Suna-nin wary looks.
And, finally, on the end was Ino's team. Aside from waiting for the chance to get Ino back for invading her mind during the first exam, she was pretty sure she'd like to fight Shikamaru. Ever since their academy days, his intelligence had been through the roof. She wanted to see how she'd fair against a genius under pressure. At the moment, though, he was looking pretty stressed. Out of all the teams, theirs was clearly the least energetic. No doubt a last-minute finish.
Sakura's attention finally returned to the front when a special jonin appeared. He introduced himself as Gekko Hayate, then proceeded to cough all over the front row. Naruto cringed, wiping invisible germs off of him, and she was thankful that she stood at the back of her team.
"Um," he murmured so quietly that they could hardly hear him, "before the third exam begins, there's something you have to do… That is…um, it's a preliminary. To decide who goes on to the third exam…" He also had the annoying habit of pausing and saying "um," it seemed.
"What?" Shikamaru grouched. "Why can't we just go on to the third exam?"
"Um…because the first and second exam this year…um, they may have been too easy…" He trailed off for a moment to cough and hack again. "As Hokage-sama said earlier, there'll be many shinobi watching the fights, and we don't have enough time…there's, um, too many of you…" He shifted his weight. "So, um…anyone who doesn't feel up to it can…quit now…because we'll be beginning the preliminaries immediately."
"Immediately?!" Kiba yelled. "After what we just went through?!"
He received no reply, and a second later, Kabuto's hand rose. "I'm out," he announced rather cheerfully.
Naruto looked over at him, shocked.
"Um, you're Yakushi Kabuto from Konoha, correct?" Hayate asked, checking a clipboard. "You may leave." He coughed into his fist. "Does anyone else wish to forfeit?"
No one responded as Kabuto walked out. Sakura watched him every step of the way, eyes narrowed. He'd said this was his seventh time applying — and with that kind of attitude, she could see why. But it didn't make sense. Why disqualify himself when he should be determined to finally pass the test?
Just as Hayate was making the final call, Sasuke flinched and grabbed the back of his neck. Sakura automatically placed her palm over his and numbed the nerves around the mark. He glanced back at her, and she offered a grim smile.
"I can't do anything about that," she whispered, making sure Naruto didn't hear her since he'd asked her not to tell him. "While you were unconscious, I tried to seal it, but it didn't work. You'll have to get someone else to do it, and it needs to be soon. But, at the very least, I can stop it from hurting you."
His lips pressed into a hard line. He wasn't sure he wanted her interfering with the mark Orochimaru had placed on him. Truth be told, he might…want the power it possessed. Evidently reading this on his face, her voice dropped even further in volume.
"Sasuke," she murmured, "get it sealed. I mean it. That's a forbidden jutsu, and no matter how strong it makes you when it's activated, it also damages your body. Use it too many times, and God only knows what'll happen." Her eyes burned a hole through the collar of his shirt. "Just now, when I deadened the nerve endings in that area, I could feel it. That mark is feeding off of your chakra, and it's infecting your chakra pathways. If you don't get it sealed, it'll just make it worse."
"If I still have the time to achieve my goal before it gets out of hand," he argued quietly, "I have to consider using it."
Her tone was fiercer this time. "Sasuke," she hissed, "that thing is not your power. It's Orochimaru's, and if you use it to kill your brother, you won't have killed him at all. Orochimaru will have, and you will never be able to change that. Is that what you want?"
He wavered.
"Do you remember what happened when you woke up to find those Oto-nin?" His eyes flashed, and for a heartbeat she thought his Sharingan might activate. "Was that you or the mark that did all of that? No, think," she insisted when he opened his mouth to say something. "And think hard. Were you actually in control, or was it?"
He deflected her words. "I can control it if I want to."
Before she could reply, there was an electronic noise, and they both looked up. A screen on the far wall displayed in large letters, "Uchiha Sasuke vs. Akado Yoroi".
The jonin called Hayate announced, "Um, the two participants in the first fight are Uchiha Sasuke and Akado Yoroi. Please come to the front. All others, proceed up the stairs to your right and watch the match from the landing above."
Sakura grabbed his shoulder before he could go, leaning in to murmur close to his ear so as not to be overheard. He paused, not pulling away, waiting for her to speak.
He was listening to her. He was beginning to trust her. She took that as a good sign.
"You're right, Sasuke," she told him quietly. "I may have told you to stop back in the Forest of Death, but you chose to listen to me. You didn't have to; you could've just ignored me and reduced them to a bloody smear on the ground." She met his gaze seriously, making sure he understood. "Whatever that thing is, you can control it if you want to. So I'm asking you to control it."
He studied her for a moment, then gave a slight nod. When he turned to walk away, she didn't stop him. She stared at the spot where she knew his collar hid the mark.
Naruto shot her a questioning look, so she lied absently, "I told him to aim for an injury I spotted on that guy when we came in."
The blond frowned uncertainly as he led the way up the stairs to the second level. "Isn't that…I dunno, kinda fighting dirty?"
"Why do you think they're pitting us against one another so soon?" she answered instead. He blinked, leaning his elbows against the railing. "They're trying to weed out the weaker ones among us. Anyone with serious enough injuries from the Forest will be eliminated."
"What are we discussing?" Kakashi chimed in as he appeared behind them, face open and friendly.
"Naruto thinks it's unfair to attack injuries your opponent already has."
The jonin glanced at him, visible eyebrow raised. "I agree that it's polite not to exploit your enemy's weaknesses, but what if not doing so gets you killed and in turn hurts your village?"
Naruto grimaced. "Alright, alright, I get it. But I still don't like it."
Sakura bumped his shoulder with hers. "That's because you're kind. You don't like hurting others unless there's a good reason." She smiled. "The shinobi rules say that we can't ever show emotion because it weakens us and will get us killed, but the guys that wrote those rules forgot something important."
He teammate looked at her curiously. "What?"
"They forgot that one day, a kid with blond hair and an unhealthy obsession with ramen would be born, and that he'd be able to kick all kinds of ass no matter how much emotion he showed. An embarrassing mistake on their part."
Naruto's grin was huge and bright as he squeezed her into a hug that nearly cut off her oxygen supply. Behind her, Kakashi beamed with pride.
"Thanks, Sakura-chan," the blond said.
Hearing how happy he was made her recall something that wouldn't make him so happy. She'd procrastinated long enough; it was something he had to know.
When he finally pulled back to watch Sasuke's fight, she leaned on the railing beside him. "Naruto, there's something I have to tell you," she murmured. His blue eyes were clear and unsuspecting. "When this is over, we need to talk, okay?" He nodded.
"Sure thing."
She focused her attention on the three figures below just as Hayate spoke. "Begin."
.
.
.
Sasuke's match went well, all things considered. For one, he managed to keep that mark from acting up. He also managed to keep his opponent from draining all of his chakra, even if he did surrender a large chunk of it. And though he looked like hell at the end, he still won in less than two minutes.
When the medical corps appeared to take away the thoroughly beaten Yoroi, they tried to take Sasuke, too, but Kakashi intervened with an ominous, "You have no idea what you'd be getting yourselves into. I'll handle him." Despite that, Sasuke kicked up a fuss, and after promising to go with him when the preliminaries were over, his sensei allowed him to stay and watch the other fights. To be safe, Sakura discreetly healed the few injuries he'd acquired, much to Kakashi's approval.
While Naruto was distracted, she glanced at the jonin and asked, "How good are you at sealing techniques?"
He seemed surprised for a second before looking to Sasuke. "Good enough."
Relieved, Sakura sighed.
The next fight was the Oto-nin with two broken arms, Zaku, against Aburame Shino — the third member of Kiba's team whose name she hadn't known. Zaku's arms, it turned out, were less broken than he let on.
Not that it really mattered. He still lost.
She paid close attention to the third fight — Kankuro and the last genin from Kabuto's team, apparently named Tsurugi Misumi. To her disappointment, Kankuro won quickly without revealing anything she didn't already know.
Then came her fight.
Sakura stared at the screen, making sure she was reading it correctly. Her opponent, it seemed, would be Ino. An easy fight, but one she'd been anticipating.
Her mind was her most sacred domain. She was safe there; it was strictly hers, and no one else could go there. Within her mind, she was free to do and be whatever she wanted. She could be with her parents. She could be with him. She could have both him and her teammates.
She could be happy.
And Ino had invaded her mind, had stomped all over her haven and tried to manipulate her.
Some part of her understood that Ino hadn't intended something like that. She knew the girl only wanted to use her eyes to see her answer sheet and pass the first exam, but it was so much more than that to Sakura. She felt naked. Her safe place was no longer safe.
And it scared her.
"Alright, Sakura-chan," Naruto chirped, giving her a thumbs up. "You've got this! Go get her!"
Lee, who'd crept over to them at some point, mirrored Naruto's stance. "Fight with the power of youth, Sakura-san!"
Kakashi smiled at her, while Sasuke merely gave a curt nod.
But it was that nod that did it.
The instant she looked at him, it hit her what she'd told Sasuke. She'd asked him to control himself.
And now she was about to go out there and beat Ino senseless for something the kunoichi probably didn't realize had upset her so badly.
What kind of hypocrite was she? If Sasuke could keep a handle on Orochimaru's mark, then surely she could reign in her anger at Ino — let it go, even — and give her a real fight. She remembered a time years ago, before he came, when she'd looked up to Ino and thought her to be the coolest person she'd ever seen. She'd wanted to be friends with her, to be like her someday.
When had that changed? Maybe it was when she made friends with Naruto and saw Ino picking on him like all the others. But she could hardly hold that against her — they'd been six years old. And she couldn't really blame her for using her mind possession technique during the first exam; it was the smart thing to do. Who knew? Maybe they could be friends someday.
So she let it go. She let it all go, took a deep breath, and walked down the stairs to face her.
Ino, for her part, was looking a little nervous — probably because of the way Sakura had shoved her out of her mind the last time they'd encountered one another. Hayate glanced between them.
"Are you both ready?"
He went entirely ignored.
"I see you cut your hair," Ino observed absently. She clearly hadn't noticed when it happened.
Sakura raised her voice to make sure the girl — and, inadvertently, everyone else in the room — heard her. "That asshole from Oto with the two broken arms sliced part of it off in the second stage, so I had to even it out." She cracked a humorless smile. "It looks like shit now, but at least it doesn't get in the way. I kind of like it, actually."
Ino didn't reply, eyes seeming a little nervous.
"You remember when we were back in the academy?" she prompted. "When we were little? You used to be my idol. I wanted to be just like you."
Taken aback, Ino's face flushed bright red. "W-what?" she stammered.
"We've come a long way from there," Sakura continued, "and we haven't been on the best of terms lately. So let me make something clear." One corner of her lips twisted up into a grin. "Come at me with everything you've got. If you pull even one punch, you'll seriously offend me, because I'm not going easy on you. Make me respect you — and we'll see where it goes from there."
Ino gaped, her mouth having fallen open minutes earlier. When she finally recovered her senses, she smirked. "Alright, Forehead Girl," she challenged. "You asked for it."
The insult bounced right off of her. Hayate, obviously detecting the mood, declared that they could begin.
They both sprung forward as soon as the word left his mouth. Ino swung out her fist, but even at top speed, she was no match for Sakura; she hadn't had the agility training her counterpart had. Sakura ducked, nearly a blur in Ino's eyes, and slammed her heel right in the middle of the blond's sternum.
Ino was sent flying across the arena and slammed into the wall beneath the catwalk where the other genin were gathered, cracks spider webbing across the concrete. There was a collective gasp from her teammates and a couple others as Ino crumpled to the ground. She coughed, blood bubbling to her lips, but nevertheless forced herself to her feet.
Sakura gave a small smile at that. She hadn't been lying when she said she was holding nothing back, but she had lessened the chakra in her kick a bit; if she'd knocked her straight through the wall, any future opponents would keep from coming within fifty feet of her during battle.
Ino coughed again, stumbling and grasping at her chest. When she didn't fall, she steadied herself and flung a handful of shuriken in Sakura's direction. Sakura easily deflected them, whipping out a kunai. Ino launched another barrage, which she batting aside with her knife. The instant the throwing stars blocked her line of vision, though, Ino snapped up her hands in a distinctive seal. Sakura didn't see it until it was almost too late and leapt away, Ino halting her jutsu when she was it would almost certainly fail. Instead, she switched to a transportation technique at the last second and appeared directly behind Sakura with her leg already arching out in a wide roundhouse.
Sakura dropped to the floor and slid beneath her, kicking her other leg out from under her. Before Ino could fall on top of her, she twisted up to stand and caught her in a headlock. Ino froze, swearing.
"Now, you felt how hard I hit you," Sakura said rather pleasantly. "I don't plan on snapping your neck, but we both agree that I could with minimal effort, yes?"
Ino struggled to nod.
"In other words, you'd already be dead if I was an enemy."
Another nod.
"So call the match, or I knock you out."
Ino jabbed her elbow into Sakura's gut, a move that made her grin. Turning, Sakura slammed her to the ground and held her down with one knee on her chest.
"You did it," she murmured just before she hit a pressure point on the blond's neck. "You made me respect you."
Hayate called the match as she stood, and she smiled up at her team. With her and Sasuke's fights out of the way, they were nearly through; Naruto was the only one left, and she hadn't the slightest doubt that he would win.
They were almost there — just a little bit more. Then, she and Naruto would have that talk, and whatever happened after that would happen. She was ready for anything.
And for the first time in so many years, Sakura felt really good.
You're nearly there now; the end is within reach.
Stretch out a bit further for those last few feet,
But take heed, for the water is deep.