Disclaimer: Naruto is a Japanese manga created by Masashi Kishimoto. All characters in this story are copyrights of Masashi Kishimoto, Shonen Jump and Studio Pierrot.
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The Lazy Uchiha
By Bud
Chapter 13: A Snake in the Grass
"Welcome to the stage for the second test, Practice Arena 44," said a sexy looking female Special Jounin wearing a trench coat, fish net short-style body suit and a khaki skirt along with a pair of metallic shin-guard. She had short purple hair tied into a wild tail and piercing pupil-less chestnut eyes. She is Tokubetsu (Special) Jounin Mitarashi Anko, 2nd test Examiner. "Also known as... The Forest of Death!!"
It was the second day of exams and the 26 teams that passed Morino Ibiki's first exam were standing before Mitarashi Anko waiting the second test. Behind her was a small open-air stand with three chuunin aides sitting down with stacks of paper and a pair of boxes. Behind them was a tall fence that reached at least 30 feet tall. Within the fence was a huge forest. Huge, meaning that the trees grew many times higher than the fencing. The trees on the outer edge of the Forest of Death were reaching heights of 100 to 150 feet, which were drawfed by the gigantic trees further inside that surpassed the 200 and 300 feet height. Just looking at the trees seemed intimidating, until a huge snake slithered from around one of the gigantic branched and at a large bird in one bite.
"......." Naruto placed his hand over his eyes to shield off the sun as he looked into the forest.
"This is creepy...." muttered Sakura.
"Che." Sasuke snickered.
"You'll soon find out why it's called the Forest of Death." Anko said with a smirk.
Naruto snorted. He put his hands on his hips and mocked the Tokubetsu Jounin. "You'll soon find out why it's called the Forest of Death." He pointed at her and shouted. "You think that scares me?!! That's nothing!!! I'm not afraid!!!"
Anko smiled.
Sasuke knew Anko because of Itachi's connections with ANBU, and the way Anko was smiling was not really favorable towards Naruto. Stepping away from his teammate, he simply squatted down on the balls of his feet and rested his arms on his thighs with a bored expression.
"Yeah..." Anko began. "You're spirited..." Her hand suddenly shot forward.
Naruto's eyes widened and he visibly winced as a kunai shot passed him and cut along his cheek. When he finally realized it, Anko was behind him cupping the right side of his face with one hand while leaning her face close to his. "Kids like you are quickly killed... hehehe..." She giggled in a seductive, predatorial voice. "Spraying that red blood I love everywhere..." She moved her face closer, licking up the trail of crimson spilling from the wound she created on Naruto's cheek. The sight of her doing that scared quite a lot of genin.
Sasuke stared forward, blinking. Wow, this is a great view.
It just so happened that when Anko moved behind Naruto, she had to bend over to get her face near his. And in doing so, she just happened to bend over in front of Sasuke, giving the younger Uchiha an awesome view of her posterior. It was like watching a movie in 3D vision. Heh, and Itachi thinks I'm gay. Sasuke continued to admire Anko's ass for a longer moment until she finished having a short conversation with a Hidden Grass genin. She looked right at him with a raised eyebrow.
"Sasuke-kun, why the fuck are you staring at my ass?" she asked, narrowing her eyes after a moment. "You've been hanging around Kakashi, haven't you?"
It was his turn to raise an eyebrow. "Actually, you just happen to move into my line of vision. I haven't moved one bit with the exception of my current seated position. Also, I do not appreciate it when you attack my teammates like that. Nice ass, by the way."
"Sasuke-kun!!" Sakura looked at him, startled and incredulous at his comment about the examiner. Damn it, he likes older women!! Grumbled Inner Sakura. Stop looking at older women, Sasuke-kun!!
Anko rolled her eyes. "You're too young for me, kiddo, but thanks anyway. IF you survive this test, tell your brother I said hello."
"Che, do it yourself." Sasuke stated coolly, more interested in the forest at the moment instead of her. He didn't like the way she said IF he would survive the test. How hard could it be?
"Well, it seems that we have a lot of blood thirsty ones in this test," Anko noted with a predatorial smirk, eying the shinobi from the Hidden Grass. "Hehehe, this should be fun."
Naruto glared at the special Jounin, holding his wounded cheek. You're the most blood thirsty...
Anko turned to the crowd. "Now, before we start the second test there's something that I need to pass out." She held out a large stack of papers. "To further participate in this particular examination, you must sign these consent forms."
"Why?" asked Naruto.
"From here on, people will die." Anko said with a straight face, looking right at the blonde genin. "Therefore, we need people's consent before we continue. Otherwise, I'd be held responsible." She finished with as sheepish grin and a chortle.
Sasuke muttered a few curses under his breath as he received the stack of forms and passed it on to the next person after taking his own. He looked over the form while Anko began explaining the 2nd examination, a type of survival program in which teams will fight over the possession of a Heaven scroll and an Earth scroll. Now I see why Aniki was training us in survival skills and tactics, thought Sasuke. He was preparing us for the Chuunin Examination. He glanced over at Sasuke and Naruto, finding that they were indeed thinking about the same thing as himself. Five days alone with just Naruto and Sakura, with no Itachi around, surrounded by enemies that consist of not only ninja, but the surrounding landscape and the creatures that live in this habitat. He smirked, the only genin of the assembled 78. When Naruto and Sakura took a look at him, their smirks joined his.
We can do this! Thought Sakura, clenching the fist of her empty hand. Itachi-sensei was confident enough in our abilities to have us take this exam, and I'll see it through to the end no matter what the odds are. Inned Sakura agree whole-heartedly. That's right, damn it!!!
"... so not only will some fail by losing the scroll, but some will die from the natural dangers of this course. Now, I will talk about what will disqualify your team." Sasuke paid more attention to Anko as she started to explain. "First, those that do not make it to the tower with both scrolls within the appointed time of 120 hours. Second, teams that lose a teammate or those who have a teammate killed. As a rule, there is no quitting in the middle. You will be in the forest for 5 days. And one more rule, you must not look inside the scroll until you make it to the tower."
"What happens if you do?" asked Naruto. He winced when Sakura smacked him on the back of the head. "What was that for, Sakura-chan??!!!"
"For asking that question. Ninja handle classified documents during mission. The majority of those that act as couriers of those documents do not have the clearance to know what they contain." She shook her head. "They taught us that at the Academy."
Naruto rubbed the back of his head, grinning stupidly. "Oh yeah, I must of slept during that part. Hee hee hee!"
Anko sweated. Are these really Itachi's subordinates? She shook her head. "That is it for the explanations. We'll give you ten minutes to think things over. Once that is done, you can exchange your three forms for a scroll there," She gestured at the booth with the curtain set-up. "then choose a gate to get ready for the start." She turned towards the booth, but paused for a moment. "A final word of advice..."
"Don't die." Sasuke raised his hand and stepped forward in front of the crowd. "What do you want, Sasuke-kun?"
"I know it's strange coming from me, but, can I see that map of the area one more time?"
Anko shook her head. He looked too sincere about the request. "Fine, just one more look and that's it, got it?" He nodded, opening his eyes for a moment which shocked the special Jounin. Those are... She quickly rolled up the map.
Sasuke blinked his eyes, smirking at the special Jounin. "Thanks a lot, Mitarashi-sensei." He turned away and joined Sakura and Naruto under a tree, isolating themselves from the rest of the genin.
No doubt about it, those eyes he had for a brief moment were the Sharingan. He copied the map of the area to memory, tricky little prick. Anko shook her head, eying Team Seven as they began to converse among themselves. The looks in their eyes, they already understand the seriousness of this examination and the meaning of signing the forms.
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Team Seven stood at Gate 12 with the examiner that would open the gate once a 30 minute time slot was completed. They had less than five minutes left and the two boys and one girl looked psyched for this test by the way they were fidgeting in excitement. The Chuunin examiner looked amused.
"Four minutes," he stated, checking his pocket watch once more to double-check.
Sasuke stopped hopping on the balls of his feet, turning to his teammates. "Let's double check our equipment right now before the test starts just in case." he suggested. Naruto and Sakura nodded, setting themselves on the ground while removing their waist packs. All three of them were carrying one extra smaller waist pack that was half the size of the normal pack. When the examiner looked, he raised an eyebrow at seeing ANBU issue personal survival kits that contained bandages, antibiotics for various poisons, soldier pills and water purifying liquid drops.
"You never told us were you got these, Sasuke-kun." said Sakura, hooking her packs to her waist once again. "I don't believe these are suppose to be issued to Genin."
He smirked. "There not. I stole them from Itachi's room this morning. He's going to be pissed off I took these, but he'll understand why. I brought these for us because of the location of the exam. I didn't know we'll be fighting other ninja."
"I hope Itachi-sensei won't be that upset," said Naruto. "Last time he was upset about something we did, he made us run for so long that I couldn't walk without my legs shaking for a couple days." He shivered at that memory.
"Two minutes," announced the examiner.
"Remember..." Sasuke held up his fist and squeezed it a few times to produce a type of clicking sound. He opened his palm and displayed a small trinket that caused the sound. "... just in case." Sakura and Naruto squeezed their fist to produce the same sound. "Good."
"30, seconds." said the examiner, opening the gate and stepping in front of it. "Get ready."
Team Seven nodded to each other, getting into a V-formation with Sasuke taking point, Sakura to his left behind him and Naruto to his right a bit further behind Sakura.
"GO!!!" shouted the Chuunin, quickly stepping out of the way as Team Seven darted into the forest at full-speed.
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It was several minutes after the start of the exam. Not even an hour has passed and screams of pain could already be heard throughout the gigantic forest. One scream seem to startle Team Seven, who stopped in a secluded clearing to observe a map Sasuke was drawing into the ground with his kunai.
"That was... a human scream, right?" asked Sakura, startled by the horrific sound. "I'm... getting a little nervous."
"You're not the only one," said Sasuke. "But shut up and deal with it for now. This test is too important to be nervous."
"This.. this is nothing, Sakura-chan." said Naruto, putting his arms behind his head. He suddenly jumped in front of a nearby bush and started to unzip his pants. "I gotta take a piss."
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN FRONT OF A LADY!!!" Sakura immediately cold-cocked Naruto on the back of the head. She pointed to the other side of the bushes. "Do that IN the bushes!!!"
"Ouch!!!" Naruto cried, rubbing the back of head while he disappeared round said bush.
"Would you two cut it out." Sasuke grumbled, holstering his kunai after finishing his little project. "It's not much, but it will give us an idea of the general topography and locations we could exploit or avoid."
Sakura squatted down and started looking over the dirt map. It looked almost exactly like the map the main examiner showed them. Only a few errors she could point out, but it was an almost perfect copy. She wondered how good was Sasuke's memory, whether it was photographic or not.
"We started here and traveled at least three miles from the starting point, so we are around here." He pointed to a section of forestry. His other hand waved over the area of the tower. "This area is pretty much high risk since there would be a lot of traps set-up by anyone fast enough to get there."
The pink-haired Kunoichi rubbed her chin. "The river wouldn't be safe either since it would be a common source of water for almost every team. We might encounter traps or other ninja there."
"Wow!! I peed a a lot!! I feel great now!!!" exclaimed Naruto, zipping his pants up.
"I said not in front of a lady and...!!!" Sakura paused for a moment a squeezed her fist, producing a clicking sound. Sasuke responded the same way, but Naruto...
Naruto suddenly flew back as Sasuke's appeared in front of him and slammed his back-fist into the blonde-genin's face, sending him crashing into a huge tree trunk. "What the hell are you doing?" Naruto asked with a pained expression, wiping his mouth of blood and spit. He jumped out of the way of Sasuke, barely dodging the roundhouse kick that cracked the tree's bark.
"Why did you do---?" Before he could finish, Naruto rolled out of the way as Sasuke charged and slammed his foot into the tree were Naruto's head just previously located. Sasuke pushed off of the tree and flew at the blonde genin, twisting his body around and aiming a spinning heel kick to his teammate's neck. But the Loud shinobi leaped away, high into the air onto the lowest branch of the many gigantic trees. But the attacks didn't stop there. A volley of kunai stabbed into the branch he just occupied courtesy of Sakura, forcing him to jump away.
Sasuke followed Naruto, leaping high and grabbing onto the branch Sakura attacked. He used his momentum to swing around the branch a few times like a gymnast before he sling-shot himself into an intercept trajectory aimed at Naruto's back. His foot connected were the boy's kidney's were located, forcing a loud cry of pain from the blonde shinobi. Turning with the last of his momentum, Sasuke rose a leg up and brought it down hard on the top of Naruto's head in an axe-kick, sending his teammate back down to the ground at an angle. As he came back down due to gravity, he watch Naruto land hard against the base of a tree only to be pinned by several kunai and shuriken thrown by Sakura.
"Where's the real Naruto?!" demanded Sakura.
Naruto seemed shocked at the question. "I don't know what you're talking about." He coughed a couple times, the hard landing and the kunai and shuriken stabbed into his body effecting him more than it seemed.
"What happened to the wound of your face?" asked Sasuke, pulling out a kunai and each hand. Naruto gasped. "I'm asking you, what happened to the wound on your face made by Anko-san? Also, your shuriken holster is on your left leg. Naruto is right handed." Sasuke snickered. "You're even worse than Naruto at transforming. You fake loser."
A rustling of bushes caught their attention. To the surprise of the one pinned against the tree, another Naruto appeared. This time it this one had a wound on his left cheek and his shuriken holster was on his right leg. He also looked really upset. "Hey you!!!" He pointed at the one against the tree. "I'm gonna kick your ass!!!"
Sasuke rolled his eyes. It was definitely Naruto, but just to make sure he squeezed his fist to produce that low clicking sound. Thankfully, the new and real Naruto did the same. He turned to Sakura. "Let's search him and see what he has."
Sakura cracked her knuckles, grinning along with her two teammates.
The fake Naruto, now a shinobi from the Hidden Rain, had a look of fear in his eyes.
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"That was not a very productive search," said Sasuke, holding a scroll of Heaven, the exact same scroll that they already had. "But at least we have prevented one team from completing this exam."
Sakura shook her head. "But did we actually have to do what we did? I understand taking his equipment and using it ourselves, but stringing him up by his ankles with no clothes on with a sign that says 'I like Sausage' really necessary?" But it was really funny, thought Inner Sakura.
"Yes." Naruto and Sasuke said in unison.
Sasuke suddenly held up his fist, signaling the team to stop. He turned to them and held his finger to his lips before motioning them to listen to him. What is this feeling? It's the feeling you get from someone eavesdropping, but I don't feel a presence anywhere. He kept his finger to his lips while speaking. Sakura noticed that his eyes kept searching around them. "Listen, if we get separated next time, even it's one of us, don't trust them. This could happen again."
"Then... what do we do?" Sakura asked, also searching around with her eyes.
"We'll make a codeword just in case." He made motion across his neck that signaled no, then showed them the small clicking device and pointed to it with his free hand before making an okay sign. Naruto and Sakura nodded. "Listen, if they get the codeword wrong, assume they are the enemy no matter what they look like." He pulled out a kunai and started toying with it. "Listen carefully, I'll only say it once."
"The ninja song, Ninki," He pressed the kunai into the ground and started moving it around as he spoke. "When this is asked, answer with A large amount of loud enemies is the friend of a shinobi, hide and remain silent. A shinobi must understand the proper time, when the enemy is tired and ill-prepared." But on the ground, Sasuke wrote, "The codeword is still the same as before. Someone is listening."
"Okay!" said Sakura.
"Wait um... That's impossible to that by me again." said Naruto, a confused look on his face.
Sakura smacked him on the head. "Are you stupid? I already memorized it."
"Huh?! I remember it perfectly, too!" Naruto shot back.
Sasuke rolled his eyes and kicked around the dirt to remove the message. "Hey might learn better if you would quick hitting him, dumbass." Sakura blushed. "I'll hold onto this for now." he stored the extra copy of the Heaven scroll in his pouch.
"Hmph! I just wanted to be sure by hearing it one more time.." The blonde boy turned away with his arms crossed in a pout. He stood up and suddenly wince. "Huh Ow!" He felt a cut form on his right cheek and he looked at the direction it came from. "What was that?"
Two pairs of eyes studied the direction Naruto first looked. Three pairs of eyes listened to the surroundings. There was a sound of something approaching at high-speed, but none of them could figure out what it was. Before any of them could react, a strong gale of wind. Their hair and clothes whipped back as the trio planted their feet firmly and fought against the powerful wind blast, shielding their faces from flying debris.
"More enemies?!!" Sasuke shouted, gritting his teeth. This is a Fuuton no jutsu!! A wind element technique, thought Sasuke. "Break!!" he shouted over the wind, focusing chakra to his legs and diving for cover, hoping the other two heard him. He flipped over a large root of a tree to use as a shield while he hid within a large bush. He kept low, body to the ground and scanned his field of vision as the strong gale began to wither away. What kind of Ninpou (ninja magic) attack was that? He felt someone approaching from his right.
"Sakura...." He eyed the female for a moment. He heard a pair of clicks coming from her hand and nodded, producing his own pair also. "Did you see were Naruto went?"
She shook her head. "No, I didn't. I was already taking cover when you called for the split. I didn't see were he went at all."
"Oww... you guys alright?" came the voice of Naruto, coming around a large root. Sasuke eyed him for a moment find his kunai holster in the proper leg and the wound on the left cheek. "Wait a second, Naruto. The codeword, the song Ninki."
Naruto grinned. "I know... A large amount of enemies is the friend of the shinobi, hide and remain silent. A shinobi must---- WAHHH!!!!" Naruto dodged to the side, evading a kunai from Sasuke and Sakura. "What the hell are you doing, jerk-off??!!!"
Sasuke smirked. So this time it's someone good enough to dodge our attacks.
"Impressive that you knew..." came a voice from Naruto that definitely wasn't his. A cloud of smoke engulfed the fake as it dropped the transformation technique, revealing the person to be the Hidden Grass ninja that had a little exchange with Anko before the exam over a strand on hair. "How did you know? That I was a fake..."
Sasuke clenched his first, narrowing his eyes at the shinobi. He was getting some very bad vibes from this one. "I knew you were listening to our conversation from under the ground. That's why I pretended to change our real code to see if you would take the bait or not. Besides," Sasuke snickered. "Naruto isn't the brightest guy out there, but he's not stupid. He knew what our code was all along even though he couldn't remember a song that long. So you had to be a fake."
The Grass shinobi tossed away his straw hat revealing a face with hard feminine features. "I see... Neither tired nor ill prepared, are we? This will be more fun than I thought."
"You sound very confident in yourself." said Sakura. "If I'm not mistaken, it's two on one." This guy is creepy, she thought back to seeing this person extend his tongue out holding a kunai to Anko while Sasuke and herself stared him down. And where is Naruto?
The shinobi held out an Earth scroll in his hand. "You want my Earth scroll, since you guys have the Heaven scroll..." The two genin of Team Seven were shocked speechless when the Grass Shinobi opened his mouth and wrapped his long tongue around his scroll of Earth, literally swallowing the scroll as a whole piece down his throat. He licked his lips dry after gulping it down. "Now, let's begin the battle for each other's scroll..."
He pulled down his left eye-lid and stared at them.
Their eyes suddenly snapped open as visions started to appear before their eyes. It wasn't just normal visions though, but scenes in which both of them died, impaled through the head by kunai thrown by their opponent. After a moment, Sasuke remained on his two feet, his knees and hands were trembling, but the look on his face seemed amused. As for Sakura, she feel to her knees hugging herself, but staring at the Grass shinobi in defiance.
"Y-you call t-this... a k-k-illing intent?" Sasuke's smirk was destroyed by how hard his knees and body was trembling in fear. "I-I-I have felt w-worse from my own b-brother!" This is just fear, he thought. He's using the killing intent in his eyes to make us see an image of death... Who is this guy?!
"Sakura...."
He cursed to himself. She seemed to be shocked by the killing intent he was radiating. He suddenly realized the only option they could do at the moment. Damn it, we have to run. This is too bad of a situation and we don't know where Naruto is located. Sasuke reached into his waist pouch.
"Hehe... You can no longer move," chuckled the Grass shinobi. Like in the vision of death, the shinobi casually threw a pair of kunai, one aimed at each of their foreheads.
Sasuke shifted his foot, pushing off suddenly and turning his body. His arms spread out and he caught each kunai, one of them barely scratching Sakura's forehead. He quickly turned around and flung them back at the opposition, then hauling Sakura up by her waist and carrying her off into the forest away from the shinobi.
The Grass shinobi caught the two weapons, smiling coyly while licking his lips. What interesting prey. The handles of the kunai suddenly hissed with fire and his eyes widened. "Wha----!!!!"
BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!
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Sasuke leaned up against a tree standing on one of the high branches. He heard the explosion of the explosive tags he placed on the kunai thrown at them. He was panting like he ran a marathon, his chest rising up and down rapidly. From that little experience he just had with the Grass shinobi, he knew he was not facing any normal genin.
Sakura stared at her teammate for a moment, before speaking softly. "Sasuke-kun... I'm sorry.."
He waved her off with his hand, keeping his eye out for that shinobi. "It's okay. You're not the only one that was effected by that... feeling. That guy isn't your run of the mill shinobi." He cursed briefly. "Damn, where is Naruto?!"
She shook her head. "He could be anywhere. That wind technique separated us and I think he lost his footing when we all took cover." She brought her hands together and started forming seals.
Sasuke leaped up just as a snake chomped down on Sakura's location, bitting into a log instead of a pink-haired kunoichi. He landed a few branches up next to his teammate. Pushing off with his legs, he flew across the air towards another branch making the giant snake follow him. Planting his feet once more, he leaped in the same direction he came from, this time twisting and flipped to face the pursuing reptile. He narrowed his eyes when a feeling of familiarity came over him.
Rat, Tiger, Dog, Ox, Hare, Tiger. "KATON: HOUSENKA!!!"
Pulling extra chakra into his lungs, Sasuke breathed out multiple fire bolts at the reptiles gapping maw like machine gun. While the snake hissed and swung it's body around in pain from the hard-hitting fireballs, he threw a trio of kunai, each pulling three explosive tags. When they pierced into the slithering serpent, each one exploded in a huge fireball that burnt the reptile to a crisp and sent it slamming hard into one of the larger tree branches. Just as he landed on his own branch higher than the snake, he saw Sakura pull on a wire and then watched as a large log came swinging down, nailing the snake to the tree with it's pointed end like a tent stake driving into the ground.
But to their horror, the side of the snake's body near it's head started to rip open, revealing the same Grass shinobi covered with the bodily fluids from inside the snake. He had a strange look in his eyes as his extended tongue licked his lips.
"You guys shouldn't relax for even a moment." said the Shinobi, stepping out of the snakes body. "Prey should always be trying their best to run away in the presence of a predator, that is..." The shinobi's body blurred and he started coil up along the trunk of the tree like a snake.
What the hell?!! Sasuke stared, shocked at seeing the shinobi move like that. He was heading right for him. Shit!! I---
Five shuriken and a kunai embedded themselves into the tree in front of the Grass-nin, stopping his climb. The shinobi whirled his head around and looked in the direction they came from in surprise.
"I'm sorry, Sasuke!!!" Said person looked up, seeing Naruto standing on top of a high branch in a dramatic pose. A pair of clicks came from his fist. "But I forgot the other codeword!!"
Sasuke grumbled to himself for a moment. He glared at his teammate out of the corner of his eyes. "Naruto!! I know you think you're cool and all, but where the hell have you been?!!" he shouted, moving his eyes back towards the enemy.
"Hehe.." chuckled the Grass-nin. "Looks like you successfully defeated that giant snake... Naruto-kun."
Naruto stared hard at the enemy. This guy sure looks like a snake. He narrowed his eyes. I see... So it was him behind it..
This jerk-off is definitely not you're ordinary Genin. Sasuke squatted down and stared at the Grass ninja. Not only did he survive that first explosive tag, but he survived against a full-powered Mythical Fire Flower and three triple-explosive notes. That's almost the strength of a full-powered Grand Fireball.
"Hey!! Hey!! Looks like you're picking on the weak!!" taunted the blonde genin.
Sasuke gave Naruto a dead-panned expression. I'll give you a weak. He crouched down, wishing his knees would stop quivering. There's no other choice now. "Look, I will give you the scroll," he said, shocking Naruto and Sakura. "Please... take it and leave."
"WHAT?!!" shouted Naruto, his eyes widened in complete shock. What the hell is Sasuke doing?!! "Sasuke!! What the hell are you talking about?!! Why would you give the scroll to the enemy?!!!"
The Grass-nin laughed. "I see... very smart. The only way for prey to escape a predator is to give the predator a different meal."
"Take it!" Sasuke simply tossed it to the snake-like Grass ninja. His eyes widened when Naruto blurred by and snatched the scroll in mid-air. "You bastard!!! What the fuck are you doing?!?! That's---!!!"
Naruto's fist of anger slammed into Sasuke's jaw.
"HUH?!!" Sakura stared at Naruto and Sasuke, wondering what the hell is going on.
"What the hell was that for all of a sudden??!!" Sasuke growled. But his look of anger changed to a look of panic. He lunged at Naruto as fast as he could and knocked the boy down. Ripping the scroll out of his shocked grip, he chucked it at the Grass shinobi and put himself over Naruto.
BOOOOOOM!!!!
Sakura shielded herself, turning her face away from the explosion. I see! He used a fake copy of the real copy he and Naruto carries armed with an explosive note. She looked at the enemy ninja, worried because he looked like he didn't take a scratch. "Sasuke-kun... Naruto.."
Naruto stared at Sasuke. He... wasn't giving the real scroll??? He saw his teammate in a new light. I'm the real dumb-ass. I thought wrong of Sasuke and I didn't believe in him... "Sasuke.. I.. I'm sorry.."
The younger Uchiha pushed himself to his feet, shaking his head. "Forget it. Water under the bridge." His attention turned to the enemy.
"You tried to trick me, Sasuke-kun," The ninja licked his lips before pulling up his left sleeve to reveal tattoos. "I don't like being made a fool out of, so I'll just kill you and take the scroll." He bit his thumb and wiped a streak of blood across the tattoo.
"SHUT UP!! I'll kill you first asshole!!!" Screamed Naruto, charging at the shinobi.
"NARUTO!!!" Sasuke screamed. That fucking idiot!!
Sakura pulled a hand full of kunai from her pouch and started flinging them at the shinobi to help Naruto out. "Watch out, Naruto!!! He's using some sort of Ninpou (Ninja Magic)!!"
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!!!" Sasuke gasped at hearing the technique.A huge plume of smoke appeared in front of Naruto and started to blow away to reveal a gigantic summoned snake many times larger than the others. Naruto cried out in pain when the snake reared back and slapped him upward with it's head with enough force to make him fly up and crash through many thick branches until he slammed back first into a very dense branch that didn't even give way to the speed he was moving at.
"NARUTO!!!!!" Sakura and Sasuke screamed in fear. Fear for their teammates life.
"Hehe..." chuckled the enemy shinobi, watching the blonde kid falling down towards him. "Eat him for now." he commanded to the snake.
Sasuke watched with horrified eyes, his heart pounding rapidly. He watched his teammate fall towards the snake that was going to eat him, and he was too helpless to do anything about it. He closed his eyes and clenched his fist tightly.
"EAT SHIT!!!!"
His eyes snapped back open just in time to see Naruto connect with his first to the snout of the snake. He watched as Naruto growled like a wild beast, raining down punch after punch that rocked stunned and jarred the snakes head. The tongue flicked up, slapping Naruto away but the blonde just flew threw the air and squatted against the side of a tree then sent himself flying back, slamming a powerful punch towards the Grass ninja.
Holy shit, Naruto is going berserk. But... Sakura stared shell-shocked at her blonde teammate. Why is Naruto so strong...??!
"WAAA!!" Naruto cried out as he was blasted by burst of flame from the Grass ninja's mouth and palm. He fell down, crashing through several branches before landing on a thicker branch that held his weight.
Is that Naruto? Sasuke thought, staring down with widened eyes at his teammate.
"You're next," said the Grass ninja. The snake turned towards Sasuke's frozen form. "Sasuke-kun, what will you do?!!!"
Sasuke stood his ground, unable to move. His was frozen like a deer caught in the headlights of a car.
"SASUKE-KUN!!" Sakura shouted. But she was too late.
CRASH!!!!!
-----
"One... two... three..." counted a Chuunin in uniform wearing sunglasses. "Three dead bodies."
"This is some kind of ninjutsu, right?" Asked Kamizuki Izumo, the Chuunin that participated in the pre-test the previous day.
"This is horrible..." said Hagane Kotetsu, Izumo's partner. He scratched his head. "A problem alrady... Geez..."
"Mozuku, Izumo, Kotetsu!" called a very familiar cold voice. "It is about time I found you three numb skulls."
"Commander!" exclaimed Mozuku.
"Itachi-sama." Izumo waved him over, a grim look on his face. Itachi approached the trio and immediately his face screwed up at seeing three dead bodies with their faces missing. "Looks like we have some trouble, boss."
Itachi nodded his head. "I can see that. Any identification beside them being from the Hidden Grass?"
Mozuku nodded. "Yes. They are genin participating in the Chuunin Examination. I have their files if you want to see them?"
"You should inform Examiner Mitarashi Anko-san right away." Itachi suggested.
"Hai!" Mozuku disappeared.
Itachi stared at the faceless and bloodied head of the nearest Grass shinobi. It looked as if their faces were melted and peeled off. He turned his head, spitting out the bad taste in his mouth. Somehow he couldn't get the feeling that he had seen something like this before. But it was either just his imagination, he couldn't remember, or he didn't want to remember. Where have I seen this before?!
"Itachi-kun, you're here too?" Anko glanced at him for a brief moment before taking in the situation. She took up a pondering pose when she saw the bodies.
"Yes, it seems you have a situation here, Mitarashi-san."
"After examining their papers and personal items," began Kotetsu. "They seem to be Hidden Grass shinobi's who were entered in this exam but, as you can see... they have no faces." He shook his head. "They are blank... As if they were melted off."
Itachi spotted the panicked look on Anko's face. It was at that moment when he realized where he had seen this technique. And who used it. He clenched his fist tightly, narrowing his eyes. If Orochimaru is here, then that means.... His eyes snapped open. Sasuke!!!
"This is bad!!!" He exclaimed at the same time as Anko, whirling around to face the other ninja. "You three!!" He looked at Kotetsu, Izumo and Mozuku. "You guys go report this to Hokage-sama!! Find Kakashi and have him send two ANBU-AS teams and a Hunter-nin squad to the Forest of Death!!" He turned to Anko. "You're coming with me!!"
Izumo, Kotetsu and Mozuku. All three of them were the subordinates of Uchiha Itachi before their team was disbanded upon his promotion. They new the panicked look on Itachi's face. It meant that the situation was more serious than they could imagine.
"Hai!!" they replied, disappeared without question.
Before Anko could even put in a word, Itachi was already bounding at high-speed towards the Forest of Death. She gritted her teeth and followed. After a few moments, she finally caught up, or was allowed to catch up to her former teammate. She glared at him. "He's my responsibility! Piss off and let me handle it!!"
"Shut up, bitch." Itachi snapped. He had the most angered look Anko had even seen on him. A look that even the Hokage didn't wish to be under. "Orochimaru was your sensei, that is understandable why you wish to take the responsibility of ridding him from the face of this world, even at the loss if your own life."
Anko seemed shocked. Did he read my mind?
"But this is out of your hands, Anko-chan. Orochimaru's ambition was to learn all the techniques in the world. There is only one way he could do that." He gritted his teeth as the memory of a certain S-class solo mission. "Last year, I didn't report it, but I was confronted by Orochimaru in the northern part of the Mountain country near the Sound border. I managed to defeat him, but I didn't kill him because he had back-up I couldn't deal with because of injuries. But he revealed to me that he wanted something from me, my family to be specific..."
"What?! You mean..." She gritted her teeth. "The Sharingan."
"He knew he cannot defeat me, so now he's going after my little brother.."
"Damn!!" she cursed. "This is even worse than I imagined." He defeated Orochimaru?! She glanced at him as they bounded over the high security fence of the Forest of Death. How strong is this guy??
-----
Sasuke stared into the slitted eyes of his teammate, who with his own body and a pair of kunai, stopped the gigantic snake from having him as a meal.
"Hey... you... alright..." Naruto started saying between deep breaths. "... scaredy cat?"
"Are you alright, Scaredy cat?" Sasuke said to Naruto. The same words he said to Naruto on the first day they took that mission to the Wave Country. Sasuke could only stare at Naruto, realizing just how much those words effected him.
It was during this time that Sasuke watched the Grass-nin with the sickening long tongue wrap around Naruto and haul the blonde shinobi off his feet. He stared in horror as the enemy reared his open hand back and slam it into the blonde genin's exposed stomach making him cry out in agony. He watched the Grass ninja toss aside Naruto like he was a piece of trash. A worthless figment that didn't deserve to exist.
"NARUTO!!!" Sakura threw a kunai, catching the back of Naruto's sweater and pinning him to a tree to prevent him from falling to his death. She turned to yell at Sasuke, but she froze when Sasuke started to speak.
"You hurt my teammate. My companion, my friend..." came an cold, acidic voice from Sasuke's mouth. His hands were shaking from the force of his clenched fist, blood oozing out of his palms. His head was down, blocking the view of his face. "... you're going to pay..."
The Grass ninja seemed to smirk. The gigantic snake he stood on disappeared and he stood on a wide branch a level higher than Sasuke. Hehe.. The blood of the Uchiha clan is beginning to boil.
"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!!!!" Sasuke's head shot up, glaring hatefully at the enemy ninja. His visage was twisted into a snarl that promised pain. And his eyes, Sakura noticed, were not his usual black spheres. They were devil red with a pair of pins within the iris surrounding the black pupil. She had only seen those eyes once in her lifetime.
The eyes of the Sharingan.
Sasuke-kun has the Sharingan also?! Thought Sakura, utterly shocked. She never knew. He never told anyone.
I've been standing around here like an idiot for too long. Sasuke thought as he brought a kunai to his lips and held it between his teeth. How am I ever going to surpass my brother acting like such a coward? His eyes looked over and the prone form on Naruto and Sakura. Naruto. Sakura. How can someone who can't even risk their life for you be able to look you two in the eyes and call you family?
Kunai were held between Sasuke's fingers as he gave himself a running start. Leaping high into the air, he twisted around and flung a fan of knives at the shinobi, continuing his twist and sending another volley including the kunai held by his mouth. The Grass-nin simply bobbed and weaved between each volley, but his eyes widened when a single kunai in the last volley flew by with a burning hiss. The note around the handle exploded behind him, shocking the shinobi off of his feet just in time to meet Sasuke's foot after the Leaf genin bounded off of another tree. The Grass ninja blocked the kicked and it's follow up, regaining his footing on the ground to watch Sasuke flip and twist over him then back flip a good distance away.
The two of them ran at each other immediately. Sasuke leaped into the air and sent a flying roundhouse kick, then another with his other leg. Both were blocked and he flipped back bringing his arms up to block a pair of punches. He stepped back to avoid a low kick, then sent a right hook aimed at the ninja's jaw. It was blocked and he added a hook from his left, but that was blocked also. He stepped back to avoid a hook across his face then twisted his body to the right, planting his left foot and bringing his right leg into a high spinning heel kick, just in time to avoid an axe-kick by the Grass-nin. He stepped back and ducked under a roundhouse kick then caught the fist of his opponent. He leaned his head to the right to avoid a thrusting kick then turned his body to reply with his own roundhouse.
The Grass-nin jumped to avoid his attack and Sasuke's Sharingan eyes stayed locked onto him. He followed the ninja's path through the air until he landed behind him in a crouch. The serpent-like ninja blurred from vision and started moving at high-speed, but Sasuke's head continued to move and track his every movement no matter were he went. The Grass genin then closed into on Sasuke, but the younger Uchiha brother leaped out of the way just as the other genin crashed into the spot he just occupied. He landed several feet away on the same branch and formed the tiger seal. Fire spat forth from his mouth like a machine gun, burning and peppering the shinobi. His hands then formed the horse then tiger seals as he drew in a large breath. He exhaled and blew out a huge Grand Fireball, the largest he has ever used for a few years. The fire engulfed the shinobi, and swirled in a raging inferno.
A powerful burst of wind blew away the fire and Sasuke tracked the fore-image of the enemy. At the last second he jumped away and landed in a basic taijutsu stance, staring down his opponent.
"Koi." Come, Sasuke taunted.
A kunai embedded itself into the heavy bark were once stood. He flipped with his jump landing upside down on the underside of another huge branch. He pushed off, throwing a pair of shuriken while passing over the enemy ninja. Upon landing, he leaped backwards when his opponent turned around and shot a powerful column of air at him. He against leaped up to the same branch her came from and shot himself downward. Catching his opponent off guard, he grabbed him by the waist, forcing him along for the ride. Swinging his legs upward, he wrapped them around the shinobi, trapping his arms also.
"I got you!!!!!" Sasuke roared, pile-driving the Grass ninja's head into a dense tree branch. He immediately hopped off a good distance away and observed.
The Grass ninja twitched for a few second before turning into a melting doll of mud.
"A replacement?" He winced when something cut his cheek. Flipping backwards, he dodged and evaded many volleys of sharp kunai. Flipping off the edge he pulled out a spool of wire and caught a long, stub-like branch, swinging himself in the air around the tree he stood upon. He dropped down upon a lower branch, looking back briefly to see if he was followed. Where is he?
Just as he turned to look forward, he met the fist of the Grass shinobi face first. He grabbed his face with his hands only to have a pair of hits to the stomach double him over. Sasuke cried out when a knee was forcefully driven into his face and then flipped backwards from the force of a powerful hay-maker to the jaw.
"Ugh..."
"Sasuke-kun!!" Sakura shouted in worry.
The Grass-nin slowly approached Sasuke's downed form. "Hmph, that was too easy." Said the shinobi. "You're not living up to the name of Uchiha. Oh well, I'm going to slowly beat you, and then kill you..." He grinned maliciously. "Just like a bug."
"Why are you talking to a log?" came a voice from behind him. The Grass-nin turned around with a shocked expression just in time to see Sasuke pull on a wire. Behind him, the fake body of Sasuke disappeared and revealed his log replacement and cluster of mini explosive charges. "Boom."
BOOOOOM!!!
"Uaaahh!!" cried the Grass-nin as his ass was suddenly lit on fire. He stumbled forward and fell to one knee.
Sasuke jumped high and backwards, throwing his arms out as he released volleys of triple-bladed shuriken tied to wires at his opponent. He held onto the wires as his eyes moved around, seeming to control each shuriken's movements as it started to wrap around many trees and bind the Grass-nin in a very strong, restrictive hold. Seeing his opponent immobilized, he stabbed the kunai anchors into the ground and bit down on the wire leading directly to the shinobi's face while he formed hand seals.
Serpent, Dragon, Hare, Tiger. "KATON: RYUUKA NO JUTSU!!!" Fire Element: Dragon Fire Technique!!!
Fire exploded out of Sasuke's body and surrounded him in a raging inferno. With a simple blow of his breath, a huge pillar of fire raced down the wire in his mouth and engulfed the enemy and the tree he was tied down to. The screams coming from the bar-be-qued Grass-nin was music to his ears. After a long few second, Sasuke cut off the technique allowing the aura of fire around him to dissipate. He let out a long, deep breath, almost a sigh. His eyes looked up at the charred remains of the tree and the huge whole he punched through it using the technique. When he checked the status of his enemy, he gritted his teeth seeing that the bastards head was still there instead of a bubbling trail of boiled slag.
Something isn't right, he thought. A bad premonition suddenly came over him and he started to quickly mold chakra, placing his hands into the ram seal.
"Sasuke-kun!! You did it!" Sakura cheered, jumping down and running up to him. But a quick look from him worried her.
"Stay back!" he growled, turning his eyes back to his seemingly dead opponent. No, he's not dead.
And he assumed correctly. He watched the Grass ninja force himself out from the weakened wires and cup his fist into his free palm. When his eyes suddenly snapped open, he suddenly felt a restrictive force pushing down upon him. He gritted his teeth and narrowed his eyes. Taking a glance at Sakura, he noticed she was feeling the same thing seeing her also struggling against the technique.
"This this some sort of paralysis..?" he gasped.
"I'm impressed that you can use your Sharingan so well at your age." The shinobi began to speak. What was strange was his feminine voice changed into tone to one that is much deeper. "You live up to the name of Uchiha. I want you after all." The ninja moved his hand over his forehead protector, revealing the emblem of a Sound shinobi instead of the Grass. "You two are definitely brothers."
Sasuke's eyes stared at him. Aniki?
"Your eyes say that you carry more potential than Itachi."
"Who are you?!!" Sasuke screamed.
"My name is Orochimaru." Sasuke eyes widened. "It seems that you know who I am. Good. If you wish to see me again, get through this exam as if your life depended on it. In other words, you'll have to defeat my subordinates, the three Sound ninja." He held up a scroll of heaven and taunted the pair by allowing it to burn before their eyes.
The scroll!! Sakura thought in panic. She narrowed her eyes at this Orochimaru. "What nonsense are you talking about?! We never want to see your face anymore!!"
Orochimaru seemed amused. "It doesn't work that way." His hands formed a hybrid tiger seal, but the middle fingers were crossed over the index. His neck shot out and stretched over a long distance, his mouth clamping onto Sasuke's neck. He bit down, piercing the soft skin of Sasuke's neck. But there was one problem.
Sasuke tasted like wood.
"Wha----??!!!!" Sasuke's body suddenly turned into a log plastered with explosive notes. Orochimaru's eyes widened in complete shock, which was just a second too long allowing the log to be set off.
KAAAAAAAAAA-BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!
The explosion engulfed the entire section of forest creating a small dome of fire that was visible from the village. When the explosion finally ended after a couple seconds, a whole acre of forest was cleaned out leaving only burnt stumps and burning embers that gave signs that something did exist there previously.
From under those embers, Orochimaru slowly struggled to his feet, burned, battered and beaten to a pulp by the combined forces of a Dragon Fire technique and such a huge explosion. As he sunk into the ground using a technique, he couldn't help but compare Sasuke to Itachi in his thoughts.
They are definitely brothers.
-----
Sakura gently set down Naruto, watching Sasuke prop himself up against the darkest corner of the small habitat they found. He looked very weakened from all the chakra he had used in that single fight against that Orochimaru guy. Her gaze went from Sasuke to Naruto. Carefully, she lifted him and pulled him over to where Sasuke was located and set him back down. She looked at Sasuke's tired form. He needed rest.
"Sasuke-kun," She gently cupped his cheer to get his attention. He seemed really out of it. "Can you watch over Naruto for a short while? I have to gather some water and set traps. Can you deal with that?" He gave her a small nod.
The pink-haired kunoichi stood and walked out of the natural hut and headed towards the river as fast as she could. She had a determined look in her eyes as she traversed the land.
Naruto, Sasuke-kun. Both of you are so strong and have been protecting me. She clenched her fist tightly. It's my turn to protect you!
-----
Unknown to Team Seven, a long figure was observing the trio from afar. A feeling of relief came over Uchiha Itachi seeing his team was still alive and Sasuke wasn't missing. That explosion scared the shit out of me, he thought. But I'm glad they are alive. I'll have to wait until the end of the exam to check Sasuke out, but I'm sure he'll be okay.
He looked around. I wish Anko didn't ditch me and go off on her own. He was worried about her. Even if he was her master, Orochimaru wasn't someone to take lightly. That stupid, hot-headed idiot.
He pushed off his perch and bounded towards the Hokage tower. Hopefully he would happen to run into the ANBU squads along the way.
End of Chapter 13
Author's Notes:
I got the idea of the clicking device from the 101st Airborne Division of WW2. It was used when you wanted to gain an allies attention without calling them out. Also used to identify friendlies.
Why is Sasuke so good? When you ask that, then you have to think why is Naruto so good? Why is Sakura a better fighter than in the canon version? Itachi is like Gai in a sense that he stresses training whether it's group of individual. Hard work actually does make a difference, even for those considered geniuses.
What's the deal with all the explosive notes/tags? I believe that these items are under-rated in the anime/manga. I wanted to bring out their usefulness in a battle and I did.
Why didn't I let Orochimaru bite Sasuke? I believe that the canon Sasuke was weak because he was fighting only for himself when he fought Orochimaru. He wanted to prove he was strong by risking his life against a strong opponent. My Sasuke is not only fight for himself, but for Sakura and Naruto. Fighting for people you care about does make a big difference in strength. Something Masashi Kishimoto has stressed throughout the Naruto storyline.
Next is Chapter 14: Sound Effects