Woot! The next one is up and I big thanks to my beta. Although I'm sad to say that I mght have to find a new one for Nymphadora Potter is feeling a little overwhelm of late as she has told me. But I told her I'll let her decide if she wants to still be my beta or not, I don't mind, just means I'll have to look for a new one if she quits. Your call sweetie, I'm happy with any choice!
Chapter twelve
Chuunin Exams: Second Test.
Survival of the Forest of Death: Completed.
Total number of teams that passed: 11 teams.
At the last line, the Third Hokage narrowed his eyes at the number of teams that passed; bringing the paper a little closer to be sure his old eyes weren't playing tricks on him. They weren't, what he saw was correct, a total of eleven teams had passed, more than the usual number. Normally, for the third and final test, there are three or four teams that make it, that move on to the last test of the Chuunin Exams. It's been a long time since that high a number of Genin have passed to the third test. For this, it called that they must hold another test in order to cut those numbers down in half before taking the last test. Therefore they had to hold preliminaries before they could move on to the last step.
With a tired sigh, Sarutobi stood up from his seat in the private room of the tower in the forest of Death, and headed out the door with two of his bodyguards in tow.
(B R E A K)
Three hours later, all ten teams gathered around in front of the Hokage in a large training area. Behind the Hokage, stood their senseis along with the examiners and two of the Hokage's bodyguards.
Sarutobi looked at the Genin before him, his old eyes drifting over each and every young face. Many faces he did not recognize while others he did. He was greatly pleased to see that Naruto and his team had made it, as well as the rest of the Rookie Nine. He knew each of the Rookie Nine quite well and was very proud to see how far their progress had come. He noted that Gai's team made it too and knew they would make it this far. But what surprised him was to see that a Rock team made it this far, deep down he was pleased with this for he knew that Iwa would be very pleased with Konoha for letting a team pass. He even spotted a Sand team, and not just any team but the children of the Kazekage, another pleasing sight for the Hokage.
Itachi looked out towards his team and felt a swell of pride inside him as well as a feeling of dread. Although, as happy as he was for his team for making it this far, a part of him was hoping for them to fail, hoping for Sasuke to fail. He really did want to see his brother make it up to the next level, keep pushing himself to become a stronger and better ninja. But another part wanted him to fail in order for him to avoid their father allow Sasuke to the clan meetings. For once Sasuke learns the dark secret of the Uchiha clan, he feared that there was nothing he could do to spare his younger brother's life.
'If only you know what would happen to you Sasuke, once you become Chuunin.' thought Itachi.
Within Hiruko, Sasori looked at his team broadly, knowing that they would make it this far without problem, he did teach them after all. Though his teaching methods are quite harsh and brutal at times, they prove to be quite effective. He smirked freely inside his puppet, for no one could see his real self, at the shape Temari and Kankuro were in while Gaara remained perfectly untouched.
'Huh, I wonder what's gotten them so bloodied up. Gaara's work no doubt, those idiot ninjas didn't know what was coming.' Sasori thought with a smug grin.
'I'm not surprised you made it this far, Loki.' From her spot behind the Hokage, Deidara looked out at her team but mostly to Loki, with knowing eyes of that boy's true strength and potential, 'I'm afraid though that we haven't even seen the tip of the iceberg of what your capable of.'
Kisame, unlike the rest of the senseis, wasn't afraid to show his toothy shark grin at his students. 'You brats were cutting it a little close there for a moment. But it seems that all your stubbornness and hard headedness pulled you three through.'
'Oh, thank god Shirahime didn't get them all killed!' Kakuzu praised the lord, seeing that his students were safe. Well… at least in one piece, seeing that they're pretty beaten up and dirty from the terrifying forest.
Pein watched the Genin was little interest as his façade was blank like always. Right behind him, Konan stood just a little off to Pein's side to be able to see the group of Genin in front too. Her expression was calm and collected, letting her eyes wander over her and Pein's students, studying their appearance and making sure that none of the seem to be seriously hurt.
Although, Pein seemed to be bored of this whole ordeal something did catch his slight interest, a bloke with blonde spiky hair and whisker marks on his cheeks. 'He almost looks like…'
'What the fuck is taking so long! Let's get this fucking show on the road already, I have more important things to do then fucking stand here all day with you shithead bastards!' Hidan thought irritably as he was quickly losing his patience. Big surprise there…
After a moment of pure silence, the Hokage looked over to the examiners of the Chuunin exams. Anko looked to the Hokage and nodded, letting him know it's time for the third part of the Chuunin Exams. With a tired sigh, Sarutobi looked out to the Genins that had made it this far.
"Welcome and let me first say congratulations for making it past the second round." The third Hokage greeted everyone, "Let me tell you the reason we even have these exams." All eleven groups looked to the Hokage, "The Chuunin exam is completed with participations from allied nations to maintain good relations with those allied nations and to heighten the level of the ninja. This exam is the epitome of a war between the allied nations. In history, these allied nations were neighboring countries that have fought each other over and over. To avoid wasting military power, those countries decided to choose a place to fight. That is the beginning of the Chuunin Selection exam."
'Boy this is boring,' Kohta thought with an eye roll.
"The exam does choose who is of Chuunin level, but it is also a place where ninjas fight and carry their country's dignity. In the Third Exam, feudal lords and famous people from various countries who may be potential clients are invited as guests to watch the battles. If there's a significant difference in power, the strong country will be flooded with jobs. If a country is seen as weak, their jobs will decrease. The countries are also able to show how their village has grown and possess excellent military power to the adjacent countries so they can put foreign pressure on them."
'I remember Konan-sensei saying something like that to us before we came here.' Katara listened to the Hokage as she tried to remember what Konan said.
'It's a freaking miracle that sensei hasn't lost his patience, yet.' Ayama giggled.
"A country's power is the village's power. A village's power is the ninja's power. And a ninja's true power is only born in life or death battle. This Exam is a place to show off the ninja power of one's country. Because they fight with their life, the Exam has meaning. That is the reason their predecessors have fought and dreamed of being in the Chuunin Exam. The custom of saving one's life and fighting to maintain balance - that is the good relation in the world of ninja. This is a life or death battle for your dream and village's dignity."
'Shut your fucking trap already and let's get on with this!' Kotone growled.
'All I'm hearing his blah, blah, blah…" Aika tapped her foot.
'Come on let's get going already, you old geezer!' Harusame glared at the said geezer.
'Those are some BIG hands..." Shirahime spaced out.
Once Sarutobi finished, a pale and sickly looking Leaf Chuunin stepped forward with a clip board in his hand. "My name is Gekkou Hayate, the examiner for third part of the exams, I'm afraid there are too many examinees left and they must hold preliminary one-on-one matches to see who advances to the Third Exam."
Whispers broke out among the genin teams at this enouncement, whispering furious to their teammates of what was happening.
"The preliminaries will begin immediately. If any of you wishes to quit, now would be the time to say so."
Kabuto peered up, past the Hokage and Jonins, at one certain Leaf Jonin standing behind the senseis of the Genin. There were no words between the two but they didn't need to in order to communicate with each other.
"Sasuke." the pinkette whispered.
Uchiha turned to her, "What?"
"I-I think… I think you should forfeit."
"What?" he exclaimed, but to only wince in pain a second later and hold the side of his neck.
"Sasuke, you can't fight like this. The mark that Orochimaru left on you is preventing you to fight at your fullest. Even when we were fighting those Rain nin you were struggling. I-I can't stand seeing you like this, to see you suffer." she rested her hand on his shoulder
He growled in anger and slapped her hand away, "I don't need your concern and I am not dropping out!"
"Hey, what's the matter with you?" Naruto intervene after seeing what Sasuke did.
"Stay out of it idiot!"
No too far down the line, Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro watched team Itachi bicker among themselves. It didn't take them much to know what they were fighting about, with Sasuke holding the spot where the curse mark was and seem to be in pain, they knew what was the cause of it.
"Sasuke, please." Sakura made one last attempt.
"Shut up the both of you, I am not forfeiting and that's it!"
The pinkette wanted to protest, but tone in his voice made it clear that there was no room for argument.
"If there is no one then we'll continue on," said Hayate, "Now if you all turn your attention to the screen right behind we will see who the first match will be."
No sooner then he said that, a large black screen appeared on the far side of room, right behind the large pair of hands. All eyes turned to the screen above as it soon lit up and several names flashed across it at once.
"The two names on the screen will be the ones that will face off against each other." Hayate added.
Names continued to flash by at lightning speed. Each Genin watched with eager eyes to see who was up first and who they would face off to make to the finals. Suddenly, then it stopped as to names finally appeared on the screen that made Sakura's heart stop.
Sasuke Uchiha
vs.
Yoroi Akadou
"The two that have been drawn, please step forward, as for everyone else please move up to the rails above so we can begin."
The crowd broke apart, Yoroi moved forward to the center with Sasuke following behind, ignoring the small weak protest of a certain kunoichi.
"Come on Sakura, we need to get out of the way." Naruto said gently, pulling his teammate with the crowd. She didn't protest but just allowed the blonde to pull her away, staring at their last teammate with concern.
On the left side of the rail stood Team Eight, Team Nine, Team Gai, Team Itachi, and Team Kisame. On the other side, across from them stood Team Sasori, Team Deidara, Team Hidan, Team Kakuzu, Team Pein, and Kabuto's team.
Everyone above watched eagerly down at the fight that was about to take place. To see the younger brother of the infamous Itachi Uchiha to show off his skills and talent in front of not just the Hokage, but other well famous shinobis from across the Five Great Nations. A real chance for the Leaf Village to show their neighboring villages one of their greatest prides in their home.
"I hope Sasuke will be okay." Sakura whispered to no one but herself.
"Ahh he'll be just fine Sakura, you'll see." Naruto crossed his arms behind his head with a cheeky grin on his face.
Sakura didn't look too convinced.
"I'm not so sure about that."
Naruto looked over to his other side to see Ryoma leaning over the rail, staring down at Sasuke and Yoroi with a serious expression.
"What do you mean?" the blonde raised an eyebrow.
"You mean you didn't notice?" Kohta asked, joining Ryoma at the rail.
"Notice what?" Naruto whined this time, annoyed of being left in the dark.
"During our fight with those Rain nin, he was struggling." Ryoma explained.
"What do you mean, struggling?" Naruto looked behind him to see his sensei, Itachi, standing by the wall with Kisame with a curious expression at the mention of his brother, "What's wrong with Sasuke?"
The blonde opened his mouth to respond to only close it a second later when he realized he had no real answer to his sensei's question. Ryoma and Kohta remained silent, seeing that this was really none of their business, unless Itachi asked them himself.
Seeing that Naruto had no answer, the Uchiha turned to look at the silent member of their team, "Sakura?"
She kept her back to him and kept her attention down below. She didn't know what to do, she didn't know what to say, especially to Itachi, Sasuke's older brother. If she said something to him she was sure that Sasuke would never forgive her.
"Please come to the center and face your opponent." Hayate announced, "Now the rules are simple, there are no rules. Fight until the other person dies, is knocked out, or admits defeat. If they don't wish to die, they should give up. However, if I sense that the match is over, I will declare it so to prevent any unnecessary deaths. The winners will advance to the Third Exam. Any questions?"
"Nope."
"None."
"Alright then, when I give the signal you may begin." Hayate stepped away from the two as suspense filled the room as all eyes were on them now. "Begin!"
Yoroi made the first move as he threw a punch at Sasuke. Sasuke dodged and gripped Yoroi between his arms.
"I have you now!" Yoroi grinned reaching out and grabbed Sasuke's forehead, and began to suck the remaining chakra from Sasuke's body. Kicking him away Sasuke huffed and tried to put some distance between then. Yoroi had no intention of giving up, he lunged for Sasuke again as he dodged him.
"What's wrong with him?" Kohta asked.
"It's almost as if he's already exhausted." Ryoma noted.
"Come on Sasuke, what's wrong with you! You can take this sucker out with no problem!" Naruto cheered.
"It seems that guy is a human sponge." Kisame noted with a chuckle.
"Huh?" the blonde tilted his head to the side, confused as always.
"He absorbs chakra." Itachi cleared it up.
"Ah, now I see." the Mist genin said as he adjusted his glasses, "Interesting."
Katsumi nodded in agreement, standing quietly behind her teammates as she watched the fight down below.
"It seems your little brother is in a real pickle, Itachi." the shark man stated.
The older Uchiha didn't comment.
"What's wrong?" Yoroi taunted as Sasuke grinned and disappeared.
He then reappeared behind him and delivered a swift kick to the head. But Yoroi easily dodged it and grabbed hold of Sasuke's ankle, draining his chakra once again. Quickly, with his free leg, Sasuke kicked himself away from his opponent. His breathing came out as short breaths as every muscle in his body quickly began to grow tired. His chakra levels were quickly dropping from that guy's weak ability. He needed to think of something and fast if he wanted to pass.
'I guess it's time to bring out my secret weapon.' on that thought, he quickly activated the Sharingan. But as soon as he tried that, a large wave of pain washed over Sasuke as the side of his neck began to pulse painfully. A loud scream ripped through his lips as he held the side of his neck and fell to his knees in pain.
Sakura gasped and place a hand over her mouth after seeing Sasuke keel over. That mark on his neck was cause of it, she knew it. Oh, she knew this would happen, why didn't he listen to her for once; now he was paying for his actions.
"What's happening to Sasuke?" Naruto stared down at his friend in agony. Yoroi charged towards Sasuke with his hand raise out in front of him. But the raven haired boy was quicker than that for pulled himself together in time to jump out of the way and put some distance between them.
"Something's wrong." Itachi narrowed his eyes, watching his brother's movements more closely.
Team Kakuzu.
"He's not very good, is he."Mindori said broadly, leaning over the rail with arms crossed on top of it with her chin resting on top.
"Is it just me or is he weakening as the fight goes on?" Ren asked of no one in particular.
"He's chakra is being stolen." Kakuzu said suddenly.
His students looked up to him, a little surprised he answered Ren's question.
"What do you mean, sensei?" Shikahime tilted her head to the side; confused as always,Yoko mirroring her.
"His opponent seems to have the ability to drain one's chakra by merely touching them. It doesn't matter if it is skin on skin contact or if something is covering your body, he can still absorb it through." Kakuzu explained.
Shirahime made an 'O' a she finally understood what was happening down below.
"Seems kind of a cheap trick to me." said Ren.
Team Pein.
"Ooo, that's got to hurt right there." Katara winced with a smirk on her face.
"Man, he's getting beaten up down there." said Hanatsu.
"Doesn't matter, either way we will have one less opponent to deal with." Harusame narrowed her eyes at the fight down below.
From behind them, both Pein and Konan watched the fight with interest as they watched Sasuke's shaky movements. Just after three minutes into the fight, Pein could already see that something was disturbing the Uchiha's chakra flow. The disturbance only seemed to happen when Sasuke summoned a large amount of chakra for a jutsu or his Sharingan. It's almost as if the disturbance was acting like dam, letting out small amounts of water to keep the flow even and keeping the large body of water back.
Team Hidan.
"Hahaha! That little shit is done for." Hidan laughed.
"Why do you say that sensei?" Oreo's eyes were glued to the fight below.
Hidan had an insane smile on his face, please at seeing the Uchiha getting beaten to a bloody pulp. He just wished he could sacrifice him afterwards. "He has no chance of winning if his chakra amounts are limited, he is good as fucking dead!" he laughed.
"Jashin will be pleased with his blood." Kotone said with a crazy smile herself while doing that evil hand thing that you see villains do when they are pleased or scheming.
"Huh! You two are horrible." Amaya said in mock horror with a grin.
Team Deidara.
"This is it! That's the best an Uchiha can do? I am so unimpressed." Aika sneered, crossing her arms and turning her chin up the other way.
"It is disappointing." said Yuuen.
Loki didn't comment on anything about the fight.
"Don't let this fool you, un." said Deidara.
Both Aika and Yuuen gave her confused looks.
Deidara smirked at the looks on their faces, "Everything isn't always what it seems to be, un. Right?" She turned to Sasori inside Hiruko.
Sasori didn't say a word but merely kept his eyes on the fight below. He couldn't help but feel uneasy during the whole thing, ever since all the senseis and students were gathered together for the Hokage's speech. Something wasn't right.
The sand siblings watched the fight with great interest as they had a pretty good idea of Sasuke's struggles against Yoroi.
Sasuke grinned at the turn of events and kicked Yoroi upward and the pain came with it, yelling in pain once more. The curse was begging to awake, spread from its small section and started to cover Sasuke's entire body. Pain gripped him.
At the sight of the marks, the entire battle room was filled with gasps of shock and surprise at the marks of a forbidden jutsu. Anko growled and subconsciously reached to the side of her neck where her own curse mark was. The Third Hokage narrowed his eyes at the marks, knowing who was responsible for placing such a forbidden jutsu as that on the boy.
Itachi's eyes widened in horror at the spreading marks on Sasuke's face and arm.
From across the way, inside Hiruko, Sasori also stared in shock and horror at the growing marks on the boy's body. 'No… it couldn't be…'
Sasuke screamed in pain but found what little will power he had left to fight off the curse mark. The mark retreated back to his shoulder as Sakura's eyes widened in shock at Sasuke. Sasuke grinned and picked up were he left off with Yoroi still in the air. He began various kicks and punches and end up kicking Yoroi down into the ground rendering him out cold, leaving Sasuke the victor of the match.
Hayate stood over Yoroi's unconscious form, double checking that he was down for the account. "And the winner of the first match is Sasuke Uchiha!"
As soon as the first match was declared over, Itachi immediately appeared at his brother's side, a few feet away from Hayate and Yoroi.
Sensing someone beside him, Sasuke tensed and readied himself to defend. But when he turned to face his attacker, he quickly relaxed, seeing that it was just his older brother.
"Itachi, what-" he didn't get a chance to finish. Itachi roughly tilted his head to the side to expose the curse mark on his neck to the older Uchiha. Itachi narrowed his eyes at the curse marking, ignoring Sasuke's protest, studying to see what level the thing was at. Much to his relief the mark was barely activated and remain at stage one. Satisfied at this, he let go off Sasuke and stood up in time for the Hokage, Anko, and medics to arrive.
"He's fine, the mark is barely active." the raven haired Jonin reported.
Sarutobi nodded in understanding.
Anko stepped forward towards Itachi, dropping her voice low enough for his ears and the Hokage's only. "You know perfectly well who put that mark on him, same that gave me mine. There is a reason why he did it, Itachi. He told me himself in the forest a few days ago."
"I understand." Itachi moved away from her and stood in front of the Third. "Lord Hokage, allow me to deal with the curse mark myself."
"Very well, I put my trust in your hands, Itachi."
"Thank you, Lord Hokage." with a bow, Itachi turned to Sasuke and hailed him up to his feet, "Come on Sasuke, come with me."
"Where are we going, I want to watch the rest of the matches!" he protested.
"You are in no condition to stay here right now," his older brother glared at the mark, "We have to deal with that thing right away."
Sasuke pouted but didn't say anything as he allowed his brother to take him out of the large room. Outside of the battle room, in the halls of the tower, Kisame stood waiting with his back leaning against the wall. Seeing Itachi and Sasuke coming out and heading his way, Kisame pushed himself off the wall and met them half way.
"Is it what I think it is?" Kisame asked.
Itachi nodded.
"What is this 'it' that you guys are talking about? Why is everyone making such a big fuss over me?" Sasuke whined.
"Kisame, can I ask you a favor." Itachi asked, ignoring his brother's whines.
"Sure, shoot."
"I just need you to keep an eye on Naruto and Sakura for me until I get back. It'll take me a while with this."
"No problem."
"Thanks."
(B R E A K)
"So that's what a curse mark is like, looks painful." Kankuro commented, shifting his weight from one foot to another.
"Tell me about it, that's the first time I've seen one before." Temari commented back, "What do you think sensei… sensei?"
Sasori remained silent as stared down at the ground floor with hollow eyes. His mind was racing through what he had just witnessed moments ago. Horrid memories flashed in his mind of what he'd seen from Sasuke, remembering others going though the same as the Uchiha, only that some died from it.
"Sensei… Sensei, earth to Sasori." Temari called out to him, waving her hand in front of his face.
"Huh, what?" he came out of it.
"You okay, Sasori-sensei?" Kankuro asked.
"Yes I'm fine. What do you two want?" he asked bitterly, in a foul mood now.
The blonde frowned, "Nothing, we just wanted to make sure you are okay. You kind of spaced out there for a while."
"I was in deep thought."
"Of what happened to the Uchiha." Gaara finally spoke.
The older red head narrowed his eyes, "Perhaps."
"Oh," Kankuro suddenly snapped his fingers, remembering something, "Temari, you should show sensei the mark."
"Mark, what mark?" Sasori asked a little curious.
"Oh yeah, I almost forgot!" she reached into her pocket and pulled out a small piece of paper that she drew the mark on, "Here we are. We ran into their team in the forest and helped them out a bit. The Uchiha had a mark on the side of his neck that neither of us knew what it was. So I decided to draw that mark on the paper here to bring to you and see what you know of it."
"Let me see it." Hiruko, with his good hand, reached out for it.
Temari handed the paper to her sensei.
Sasori brought the paper closer to him and looked at the marking on it, only to widen his eyes within Hiruko.
"I'll be right back." Without even waiting for a response from his students, he disappeared in a whirl of smoke and sand.
Both Temari and Kankuro stared at the spot where their sensei was seconds ago.
"Did that bastard just abandon us?" Temari's left eyebrow twitched.
"I think he just did." the puppeteer said through his teeth.
"Alright," everyone's attention turned down to Hayate on the ground floor, "With the first match completed, Sasuke Uchiha will move on to the finals. We'll now move on to the second match, the two names will be written on the screen above."
Once more the screen flashed to life as several names flashed on it, moving at lightning speed to the point where it was almost impossible to keep up. Everyone watched the screen, eager to start their match after watching the first one. The screen kept flashing names until finally it stopped on the two names for the next match…..
!IMPORTANT!
Alright people, the battles are about to begin! And since we are heading for the fun stuff now I have decided that I'm going to let you guys tell me who you want to see face off. That way it's a little more fun for everyone! (that and I'm feeling a little lazy to figure it all out)
So send me who you want to face off! It could be a Naruto Char vs. Naruto Char, or Naruto Char vs. OC, or OC vs. OC. Just tell me waht you want to see! All though I have to tell you that there might be some fights that will most likely stay the same, depends on what works for me and story.
So send them in people!