"I'm tired, tired of being enclosed here. I'm wearying to escape into that glorious world, and to be always there; not seeing it dimly through tears, and yearning for it through the walls of an aching heart; but really with it, and in it."
-Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights
Rough hands were on me and I had been spun around to see Jun and Masa's worried faces. Orochimaru had just been here right in front of me. He could have killed me easily, could have killed the two boys who had so much more to live for easily.
The thought sent a shiver up my spine.
"What were you thinking, jumping in front of us like that? We agreed that you would only interfere after Masa and I weakened the enemy!" Jun was shaking me hard yet I couldn't get my eyes to focus on him. Distantly, I thought that had Orochimaru not seen whatever it was he saw in me then I wouldn't be alive right now. And if I wasn't here, who knows what'd happen to Konoha then.
...
"-wa! Hinowa! Are you even listening to me?" The familiar tone yells at me, and slowly I acknowledge the faces in front of me.
"Jun? Masa?"
"Yes, it's us." Then, gently removing his hands from my shoulders, the red headed teen continues, "Are you okay, lovely?"
Masa steps closer and his own face asks a similar question.
"...Yeah, think so."
The forest, who had been so guiltily quiet throughout the whole ordeal, finally resumed the swaying of its leaves, the calls of the wildlife, and even the small sounds of a water source nearby. As if time had stopped when Orochimaru was here, now that he's gone life once more continues.
My head turns towards where I felt distant chakra signatures- not that man's- and then I make an assessing thought before turning back to the two teens.
"There's a team just forty meters west of here. If we hurry we'll be able to catch up to them. Let's hope they have an Earth scroll." I command them in a clipped, hurried tone. Just as I was readying myself to chase after the other team, a firm hand is clasped on my wrist. I look down at the wrist that was seized, following the offender up the length of his arm to his face.
Masa gives me a stern look though his voice is laced with worry, "We cannot just pursue after another team, Hinowa-san. You are still quite shaken up, so I think it is best if we recuperate for an hour as we gather our senses?"
My own eyes blink back at him vacantly at first but like a summer storm, my mood shifts instantly. Though Masa was gentle in his suggestions I couldn't persuade the anger that suddenly shot through me to stop itself. If only I could have stopped myself from blowing up at him, at least.
"Gather our senses?! You've got to be fucking kidding me if you think we can just relax after encountering Orochimaru!" Then, after seeing the confusion in their shocked faces, "Oh, don't even tell me...You don't know who that man was? The one so obviously wearing a person's face like some kind of fucked up suit? We can't afford to relax! We need to get the other scroll so that we can head to the tower and tell the Hokage to warn them about him! We need to get reinforcements!"
I was near hysterical at that point, my arms flailing around me while it took sheer will to keep my chakra from spiking and alerting any others to our location.
It was Jun, proud and brave Jun, who stepped forward, "We know who Orochimaru of the Sannin is. We understand how dangerous he is as well, but how are you sure that that person was him? It was a woman, no? And even then you cannot make accusations like that, lovely."
"It's him because I know it's him!" I racked my mind for anything to convince the two.
"Didn't that person feel unnatural to you? Masa, you could feel it right?"
"I will agree that it was not normal. It felt oddly as if there were some kind of blanket over that person's chakra." He nodded his head gravely.
"Please, please believe me you two. If I mean anything to you, you've got to trust me and follow through with this plan." I pleaded to them as much as I could. I needed them to be on board with this makeshift plan because even I didn't expect to see Orochimaru so early into the exams.
The two Kazuhiko cousins looked at each other, a conversation passing through eyes and thoughts alone. After what almost seemed like an eternity, the two looked back at me.
"We will follow you, Hinowa-san, since you have not steered us wrong yet." Masa offered a hesitant, albeit weary, smile.
"Lovely, you know that I have promised to chase after you until you return my own affections, yes?" Jun gave me a cocky, radiant smile and after seeing the two stand so confidently next to my side, I couldn't stop my own smile from breaking through as relief flooded through me.
Feeling overly emotional at the moment I launched a hug at both of them.
"You two are good kids, you know that? Now let's hurry, the chakra signatures I felt are getting farther and farther away."
I pulled away from the two and we nodded to each other once more before falling back into formation.
As their dark haired teammate jumps back into the higher branches of the trees, she misses the concerned look the two teens gave her way.
The boy with short, red hair shook his head clear of any ill thoughts, jumping ahead and tuning into his chakra senses.
It was the second boy, with orange plaited hair and blue eyes like an ocean's depth, that nursed the worry he had about his teammate.
Tatsuya Hinowa looked down right perturbed after encountering that team from Kusa, her eyes were glazed over and she seemed locked away in her own mind. After hearing her accuse the Kusa woman, who seemed dangerous and disgusting all at once, as Orochimaru of the Sannin, he was near ready to yell out "Kai!" in case Hinowa had been put under a genjutsu.
It took those pleading eyes and wavering voice to convince the two teens that she was genuinely sure that that person was indeed one of the fabled Three. Jun could only hope that whatever plan Hinowa had thought up of, it would work.
The three eventually caught up to the team headed west. Both teams faced each other after landing on opposite sides of a clearing.
One from Konoha, the other from Iwa.
"If you don't have a Heaven scroll then fuck off!" One of the Iwa genin barks out, his hitai-ate nestled on top of his unruly blonde hair. His two partners, a girl and boy, stand behind him looking a little worse for wear.
"Thank you for announcing what scroll you have, you brat!" Jun, the more hot headed of the two Kazuhiro, retorts back.
Just as the blonde sputtered and was about to fire back an insult of his own, the two teens jumped forward and initiated a taijutsu brawl between the blonde and the other boy.
The girl- who had short, cropped, black hair- only lets out a gasp as she inches backwards, unaware of the figure who stood behind her. It didn't take long before her back met something solid.
"Aa-" She lets out before a hand lands over her mouth. The girl could only panic as she glances up and sees what she assumes is the third member of the team that had bumped into her own.
"Give me the scroll and we can leave. Your teammates won't have to fight mine's any longer if you do." The woman- tall and seemingly so sure of herself the girl can't help but be envious- demands seriously.
The Iwa genin only shakes her head furiously, Misano and Komura trusted her to make sure the scroll would be kept safe. If she failed them now they'll never forgive her.
"Give me, the scroll." The woman continues, her voice halting yet growing harder with each word.
"From the looks of things, your team just recently fought with another not too long ago. Those two guys, from my team, they're itching for a good fight. I don't know if I'll be able to stop them from killing your own boys, by the way." She continues, her voice steady as if she was reading off any other mission scroll. As if it wasn't her team's lives she was threatening.
"If you decide to be difficult with me, your teammates will just die and I'll be forced to kill you too. It's your choice, give it to me willingly and I'll call my team off, or you keep refusing and all three of you will die right here."
The girl glances back at the clearing, the two boys trying so hard to defend themselves against the brutal kicks and blows from the older teens. It was clear that they were nearing a breaking point.
She could only repeat apologies in her head as she nods and fishes for the scroll inside a pocket of her shirt.
Once the scroll was in the woman's hand, she disappears and the girl finds herself and her team alone in the clearing. The rattling of the wind and trees are the only thing left behind from the encounter with a team that seemed too strong to be genin.
With nothing left to show for, no scroll or stamina to continue, the girl only hopes that they make it back home alive.
Hinowa may have been a bit rough on that little Iwa girl and her team but it may have been her own lingering grudge against them from another life. All that really mattered now was that they had both Heaven and Earth scrolls and were covering considerable ground towards the tower in the center of the forest.
By the time they got there, panting and sweating from exerting themselves, the sun was slowly setting. The sky was a creamy orange blending into the baby blue of the earlier day.
The dragon mistress places both scrolls on the ground, completely ignoring the scroll on the wall that gave sound advice. She already knew from the first world that nearly all chuunin helped to conduct the exams and more than likely were supposed to be put into the scrolls. The small chakra she could feel in the rolled up paper even confirmed that indeed, this was a sealing and summoning scroll.
"Lovely, I do not think we should open them." Jun cautions, placing a hand on her shoulder.
The woman only glances up and smiles at the soon-to-be blushing teen before sliding the scrolls open anyways.
Instantly, a poof of smoke emerges and as that cleared, Hagane Kotetsu stands where the smoke had once been. He looks cheerful, ready to greet and congratulate the genin team for making it through but stops himself after seeing the grim faces of the notorious new team that was created shortly before the exams started.
"Ah, Tatsuya-san. Um-" He starts but it promptly cut off.
"Sorry Hagane-san, no time for that. We have matters that need to be seen to immediately and you must inform the Hokage as soon as possible. Orochimaru of the Sannin was seen six kilometers north-east from here just after the second part of the exams kicked off. We had come across him and his team after our sensor picked up their chakra signatures. Orochimaru is disguised as a woman from Kusa and his two teammates seem nothing more than grunts, though I would still take caution. Please, call for backup before anything worse happens. "
The dark haired woman let out a deep breath after giving a detailed explanation of their status report. If everything goes to plan, Orochimaru will be caught or at least weakened and the invasion will be held off.
Kotetsu was professional enough to look shocked for a few, brief moments before nodding in affirmative. He glances to the two boys behind Hinowa before looking back at her and speaking, "I'll go and summon some reinforcements. At the moment, there are only chuunin readily available until I'm able to tell the Hokage and get the jounin and ANBU assembled. Thank you for reporting this."
"It is my duty." She answers gravely. Konoha always has and will be the epitome of her loyalty after all.
"Nonetheless, I'll make do with the chuunin until further resources are available."
The bandaged man was about to nod in reply until Jun jumped towards the pair, "What are you speaking of, lovely? Do you plan to chase after that man too? If he truly is Orochimaru of the Sannin then it is too dangerous! We cannot hope to face him just yet."
"I understand that, Jun. That's why only I'm going. I have a lead on his chakra and can easily identify him. You two will stay with Hagane-san and gather more reinforcements."
This time it was Masa who spoke, "We cannot leave you in good faith, Hinowa-san. Jun is correct, it is too dangerous for genin."
"But we're not genin! Haven't you noticed? With our skills we could have easily made chuunin, this 'team' was just to show the other nations that Konoha is growing in power!" She screeched out, immediately regretting it after seeing the teens' scorned faces and hearing Kotetsu's own awkward cough.
Hinowa lets out a long breath before composing herself. Now was not the time to be breaking down when the village was in danger.
"I'm going." She says with finality and this time no one speaks against her.
"Keep to the back. We won't be able to protect you when we face off with Orochimaru but at least you'll be kept off the front lines." A gruff man with brown hair and big, clear eyes directs me. I nod in affirmative despite getting a sinking feeling that I'll have to barge in since my skills as a jounin still lingered.
Not long after, a group of eleven chuunin in a V formation starts heading out towards where Orochimaru was last sighted. I followed dutifully after giving them a head start.
Foliage was passing by in a blur at the speed we were going but it didn't take long before a tell-tale sign, a large snake, rises above the trees in the distance. My heart rate quickens as I fall back into the rush of battle, the blood in my veins singing at the prospect of a real fight.
"Sasuke!" The shrill voice of a certain pinkette cries out. We arrived too late to stop Orochimaru from giving the Uchiha his curse mark but at least Sakura was still safe.
"Orochimaru! Step away from the boy!" The man who spoke to me earlier- apparently the leader of this group- orders the Sannin.
Skin was peeling off grotesquely and it's obvious that Orochimaru couldn't hide behind the guise of his skin suit any longer. The viscous curl of his lips is the last thing I see before I turn around to chase after the snake.
I felt a small pang of guilt for leaving the chuunin, Sakura, and Sasuke behind to deal with Orochimaru but the snake summon had to be neutralized before it attacked any more genin.
Sprinting off in the opposite direction, I skidded to a halt on a branch as I threw a kunai to its large head. Immediately, the summon whirls its head towards me, lopping off large branches in the process. Now that I had its attention I had to shunshin down to the ground to dodge the head ramming towards where I stood.
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" I cry out before nipping my thumb and slamming it onto the ground below. There was no way I was going to fight a summon with my bare hands when I had summons of my own.
A plume of smoke and a sleek, viridian colored dragon rushes out. Its body thinner yet much longer than the snake's own size.
Princess, you have called for me in this form. What do you wish for me to destroy?
The deep baritone of Ryuujin-sama's voice resonates through my mind as the dragon circles above me though the long, white whiskers brush against me affectionately each time his head passes by.
Ryuujin-sama's chakra was nothing to scoff at. Though it came in fluctuating waves, it carried with it a wild and ruthless strength reminiscent of the sea. Orochimaru's summon did well in recognizing a threat when it saw the dragon.
"Destroy that snake, Ryuujin-sama. I ask of you this favor!" My voice bellows out and with that command the coiling dragon plunges towards me.
I expertly jump onto the snout of Ryuujin-sama and soon enough we are shooting straight at the snake, wind pushing past us as my hair flies behind me. As the two summons meet, Ryuujin-sama easily coils himself around the snake as I jump onto it.
Its cries were pained and pitiful as it was being choked out and I hurried through the hand seals to make a chakra scalpel.
The snake continued to hiss out and it grew even louder as I drove my scalpels into its thick skin, hopefully reaching the brain and killing it instantly.
I hopped back onto Ryuujin-sama as he uncoiled himself off the limp snake, the creature's body falling with a large thump onto the dirt. Getting back down, I walked back up to the snake and placed a hand on top of its scales to confirm its death.
My brows furrowed in confusion.
What is it, Princess? Is that vile snake not dead?
I shook my head, "No, it should be but I feel this chakra signature inside it anyways. It feels awfully like-"
I couldn't finish my observations because all of a sudden the middle of the snake bursts open, its guts flying out messily, and a certain blonde is standing in front of me with a sheepish look and a kunai in hand.
"Naruto!" I hurried over to the boy and put my hands on his shoulders, running a Mystical Palm over him to check for any injuries.
"Ehehe, sorry 'bout that Hinowa-chan! I was halfway through to being digested until suddenly everything went still, so I got my kunai out. Then bam! I sliced through and here I am, dattebayo!"
I release a relieved sigh and smile gently at the boy. He seems all alright, if his bright attitude was anything to go by.
"I don't want to be the bringer of bad news but you have to get out of here, Naruto. I'm meeting back up with the chuunin to hold off Orochimaru but you have to head towards the tower, alright?" My face fell seriously while I spoke to the short blonde.
"Wha- Who's Orochimaru? And what about Sasuke and Sakura? I can't leave them behind, Hinowa-chan! Those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash!"
My face blanks as I gape at the boy. Naruto stood there with his fists clenched and his face determined, wholly believing in his words.
Those words...They sound familiar, do they not, Hime?
"Those are Kakashi's..." I whisper off. I was still on my knees, staring at nothing in disbelief when Naruto suddenly pipes up.
"Gah! A dragon! Is it that same one from last time? No, actually this one is green and more bigger!"
"Hello, child." Ryuujin-sama greets cordially as he hovers around us, his whiskers playfully flicking itself lightly on the boy's head.
"It can talk too! Gahaha!" Naruto jumps up to grab one of the whiskers before it is quickly yanked back to its owner. I stop a sweat drop that suddenly formed on my head from dropping.
"'It' has a name, Naruto-kun. This is Ryuujin-sama, one of my biggest summons." I lift myself back onto my feet and dust my knees off.
"As well as her most favored summon." The viridian dragon adds in smugly.
"Naruto," I try to get the boy's attention back on me seeing as the blonde was busy trying to catch whiskers that were obviously always going to stay just out of reach, "Get back to the tower. Ryuujin-sama and I are heading back to fight Orochimaru."
"No! I'm coming with you two! I don't know who this Orochimaru guy is but I can take him on, dattebayo!"
I was about to just knock him out or force him somehow to get to safety until Ryuujin-sama spoke up, "Let the boy come, Hime. He should be able to return to his comrades at the very least."
My brow twitches erratically as Naruto fist bumps the air and yells out, "Yeah! Thanks Cool Old Dragon!"
"Of-of course, Ryuujin-sama."
We head back to where the chuunin are dealing with Orochimaru on Ryuujin-sama's head but what greets us is a massacre.
Bodies littered the floor and behind me Naruto gulps nervously. Four chuunin were still left alive, three engaged with Orochimaru in the distance while one is leaning against the side of a tree while clutching his bleeding chest.
"The two genin from earlier?" I question immediately as I rushed towards the man with brown hair and big, clear eyes. My hands are immediately trying to mend the broken flesh.
"Had the pink one...take themselves back to the tower." He wheezes out, his lungs filled with blood.
His hands jerkily pushed my own away from him, "Don't bother. Not gonna make it. Try to help the...others."
My mouth forms a grim line and I'm forced to swallow the bile in my throat. It was a tough choice. Kami, why does it always have to be a tough choice?
Even back then, in Iwa, they told me to go on without them. That they were dead men already and that I was the only one with a chance of getting out alive, I think bitterly. My eyes squeeze shut for a moment as I allow myself a brief moment to mourn for my dead partners as well as the man before me.
After gathering myself I look into the man's clear eyes once more as I nodded, leaving him and going back to Naruto.
"Where's Sasuke-teme and Sakura-chan?" The boy asks worriedly, standing by Ryuujin-sama and petting his green scales. I carefully note that the dragon positioned himself in a way to block Naruto's sight from seeing the corpses.
"Sasuke is hurt, Naruto," And before the boy could cut me off I raise a hand, "Sakura took him back towards the tower where it is safe so you need to go back too. Please."
Flashes of consideration go through the boy's eyes though he still accepts, albeit reluctantly, "Okay then, Hinowa-chan. But promise me you'll be alright! Promise!"
I hold out a pinky finger and the boy quickly latches on with his own, "I promise, Naruto."
I watch as he smiles happily- maybe more for my sake than his own- and he vanishes into the shroud of trees. My hand feels warm though my insides ring hard and cold.
Perhaps you should not make promises you may not keep.
Ruefully, I turn my head to ignore the dragon's callous words and stalk to where there were sounds of metal hitting metal.
Orochimaru impaled the Konoha chuunin easily with Kusanagi, the tsurugi sliding out of the body like nothing. The chuunin drops dead, occupying the ground along with two other bodies. He flicks the blood off the blade with a quick twist of the wrist as his eyes latch onto mine.
"Just you and me now, little bird. I waited for your arrival." The grey pallor of the man radiated killing intent, harsh and vicious. He wears the same smile as he did before, grinning as if all this had been some kind of inside joke between the two of us.
"I wonder if you will sing for me, little bird. Let me hear your sweet song." All at once he came rushing forwards, Kusanagi raised and aimed for my heart. I was fast but the Legendary Sannin was even faster.
I dodge as quickly as I could but I couldn't avoid the sharpness of the metal from cutting a small wound into my right shoulder. I bit back a scream and clutch the wound with my palm. Orochimaru grins even wider, licking the blood off of Kusanagi as his eyes fill with madness.
"As sweet as I expected. But what's this? You have a dragon summon?...How interesting. Such mythical creatures exist in this world after all. Though it's hardly fair if your beast interferes with our affairs, little bird." He gives Ryuujin-sama a considering look after the dragon appeared overhead. My nerves harden as I dread the worst.
Without warning Orochimaru runs a thumb over his own blade and brings it down to the ground, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu."
An ominous, purple-tinted smoke cloud fills the air as a large, hulking figure slithers out onto the field.
"Orochimaru, you'd better prepare at least one hundred sacrifices after this, you got that?" Comes the gravelly voice of Manda, the Snake Boss.
Orochimaru only gives him a noncommittal shrug, "Make sure to dispose of the dragon, Manda."
The gargantuan snake, easily as big as Ryuujin-sama's own length, hisses angrily at its summoner despite it turning towards the dragon and engaging in a fight.
The two titans battle it out in the background, leveling the forest with each swipe and bite, their guttural cries echoing out as one or the other gains the upper hand.
"Now, back to where we left off." The snaky voice snaps my attention towards him, surprising me because in that second of inattention he was already right by me.
I immediately shunshin away but another cut is my punishment for my distraction. This time it was on my left forearm.
I had no time to heal either cuts as I pulled out two kunai to deflect any more blows from Kusanagi. Orochimaru was clearly so much stronger than I am. Hell, even in my prime at this age I wouldn't be able to hold off against him much longer.
The only person I could think off in this timeline that would be able to stand against him was off somewhere I didn't know, maybe with his team or halfway across Konoha. The tsurugi slides between my arms and cuts a large chunk off my side. I stagger as I fall helplessly onto a pile of rotted leaves, the kunai still clenched in my bloodied fists.
In the distance the two behemoths continue to clash, their maws dripping red and their scales surrounding them like a smog. The two are intertwined with one another, uncertain of where one ends and the other starts like the storied Ouroboros. In my head the only things I can hear from Ryuujin-sama is the call of battle or an unsettling silence. I do not know which scares me more.
Orochimaru stands above me now, tall and proud and overwhelmingly God-like in this state with the wind at his back and the sun setting behind him. If it hadn't been for the ringing, teeth-aching pain coursing through my body I would have dared to call him beautiful out loud. As he stood now with a smile that bordered between blasé and serene, Kusanagi in his hand, and the fake skin nearly falling off him like a tattered rag, I count my blessings for the second time.
My breaths become softer and softer as I kept my eyes open with sheer will power. I barely had any more chakra left since most of it went into summoning Ryuujin-sama in his combat form and the other in trying to put as much strength into my body to fight Orochimaru.
Much help that did, I'm no Tsunade-hime blessed with supernatural strength and pinpoint chakra control, I think jokingly sarcastically.
The Sannin in front of me tilts his head at seeing the small smile that forms on my face, probably confused as to why I was smiling when I was soon to be dead. I tried to shake my head- and end up failing- because he wouldn't understand anyways.
He takes a few steps towards me and I think he's had his fun with me now. Kusanagi shines brilliantly and I continue to look up at this twisted, beautiful man who will deliver my last death.
I finally let go of my kunai, the metal rolling onto the ground that I laid on. But before Orochimaru raises his arm, I catch a flash of silver and red and orange in the corner of my eye.
"Hinowa!" A strained shout calls from that direction.
There was no time to see who had come because Orochimaru was plunging Kusanagi straight through my already-bleeding abdomen. I cough out dark globs of blood immediately and there are cries from all directions, engulfing me along with a fading vision.
Orochimaru gave me one last look over before rushing off, a blur of grey and white chasing after him in the process.
I force my eyes open, wanting to take in the Konoha sky one last time but what appears in my vision instead makes my failing breath catch even more. Maybe it was the way my blood dripped and spilled over me, a gaping wound where Kusanagi had struck.
Kakashi's face as I was pulled into the darkness of unconsciousness was wrought with more expression than I had ever seen. Eyebrows pinched together, eye glossing with the threat of tears that would surely grow red after.
I could barely make out the movements of his mask, his voice overpowered by the high pitched ringing in my ears. It didn't matter. His face alone told me all that was to know of how he felt at seeing me die: Heart overflowing with the burning hope to see me live. A soldier's desperation; expecting those around him to die but still wishing to see everyone make it through.
This was it. I was going to die a second death.
Unlike my previous death- which was riddled with regret and bitterness- this one was surprisingly calming for me. Almost peaceful, even.
The juxtaposition of the turmoil of the outside world paired against the still-water thrum inside me made for quite the pretty picture, I felt. It might have been because I wasn't alone this time; people I have grown to care for and even love were around me. Instead of the loneliness of a solitary death I can live on in the memories of those who have seen me fade out, as morbid as it may seem.
Despite my relatively short time in this world, with these people, I have grown to love them for who they are. Not as poor imitations of those I knew in another life (and definitely not as a replacement) but for who they were as they were presented to me.
It was perhaps selfish of me to wish that they don't forget me. To keep their last memory of my dying breath in their minds only to satisfy my need to not be forgotten. It eased me, however the price, to know I won't be forgotten. For who can easily forget the death of a comrade, of a friend?
Mustering up all my strength in this broken body, I spoke, "...thank you."
My eyes could no longer stay open, missing the crystalline tear that dropped from Kakashi's lone eye.
The end?
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