AN: Alas, Naruto is still not for sale, so I cannot buy it... If you did not see that this or the last chapter was posted (I did update last Saturday, if you missed it), I am sorry, but FF has been malfunctioning, and I do not think any of the email alerts for anything (Story/author alerts, review alerts, PM's, etc.) have been working. I had to look up reviews instead of receiving alerts, and I am not sure if my replies to some of those reviews ever got through. With any luck, you will receive word when this chapter is posted, but we can only hope. If you are wondering why I posted this on Friday, it is because I will be gone over the weekend, and out of the goodness of my heart, I decided not to keep you waiting. Enjoy this chapter!
-demonicnargles
"Speech"
thought / talking in mind
"Demon speech"
Demon thought / talking in mind
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Seeing his name on the board, Sasuke jumped down to the tiled arena. He saw a tall man in sunglasses drop onto the other side of the platform. That must be Yoroi. Yoroi wore a veil over his lower face. It matched the dark purple-black of the rest of his outfit.
Sasuke noticed the sunglasses. Does he have abilities like Shino? I don't think he is from the Aburame clan, but I can't be sure. Maybe he has some other problem.
The examiner, seeing that both ninjas were in place, shouted, "Hajime!" and immediately leapt over to the wall.
Sasuke remembered that he was not supposed to use chakra in this match. Kakashi had said that any use of chakra could activate the curse seal, because Sasuke was not yet used to the will necessary to keep it in check. Kakashi had also said that if for any reason the curse seal activated during a match, Kakashi would stop the match, disqualifying Sasuke, in order to fix the seal as soon as possible. Since Sasuke knew that genjutsu and ninjutsu required chakra, that left him only with taijutsu. Knowing that Yoroi would probably pick up on his weakness very soon, Sasuke charged, hoping to end the match quickly.
Yoroi smirked, though no one could see it through his veil. Close combat is my specialty. Yoroi's hands began to glow with blue chakra. Once he comes within range, I'll drain his chakra intil he is unable to fight. Not only will that secure the match, but it will also give me chakra in case the next fight is sometime in the next day or two.
Sasuke leapt at Yoroi, attempting a flying kick. Yoroi grabbed Sasuke's leg, draining chakra, and swing Sasuke around before flinging him back to the other side of the platform.
Sasuke landed in a heap. What was that technique? Why did it make me feel so tired? Shaking off a vague uneasiness, Sasuke stood up and charged again. Obviously it has to do with that technique he's using, but was does it actually do?
Yoroi rolled his eyes as he saw Sasuke charge again. This kid sure is thick. When Sasuke crouched suddenly and tried to sweep Yoroi's legs out from under him, the veiled man leaped over Sasuke, landing just behind him. He used his right arm to place Sasuke in a headlock, and placed his left hand on Sasuke's neck to drain the boy's chakra.
Yoroi had no idea that he was trying to drain chakra out of Sasuke's curse seal. Why can't I feel any chakra? I'm hardly getting any chakra at all, and it feels strange. Yoroi pulled harder, trying to overcome any resistance that Sasuke might be attempting.
An explosion of purple chakra blew Yoroi into the wall behind Sasuke. He would have survived, but because he was no longer needed in the story, he crashed into the wall head-first and broke his neck, killing him instantly. Yoroi's body flamed silently with purple chakra against the wall for a few seconds before falling to the ground, where it smouldered with occasional flickers of purple chakra.
Sasuke, who felt strangely better after that, stood up and walked over to the battered body of his opponent, which was lying on its back. Sasuke was startled to see a curse seal peeking through a charred hole of Yoroi's clothing, in the same place that Sasuke had his.
A sudden thought occurred to Sasuke. While the examiner came over to investigate, Sasuke molded some chakra. The chakra formed correctly, with no interference or reaction from the curse seal. Sasuke used the chakra to perform a henge. The curse seal did nothing. It was like it was not even there.
The examiner turned Yoroi over with his foot, and, upon seeing the unmistakable signs of death, raised his voice.
"Winner, Uchiha Sasuke!"
Medical-nin rushed over and carried the rapidly deteriorating body of Yoroi off the tiled platform. Sasuke, feeling more pleasant than he had in a long time, jumped up to the balcony to join Naruto in watching the next few matches.
The light-board displayed: "Inuzaka Kiba vs. Sabaku no Gaara"
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The match was short and brutal. Kiba charged Gaara, who swatted the dog-lover into a wall with his sand, and then crushed the mutt into the wall with a pillar of sand. Seeing Kiba's broken, unconscious body fall to the ground, the examiner cried, "Winner, Sabaku no Gaara!" before the sand-nin could do anything further.
Medical-nin rushed Kiba to the hospital.
Gaara walked dissolved into sand and reappeared by his siblings with the same stoic expression that he had worn before the match.
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After the shock from Gaara's match wore off, the board called for Shikamaru and Kin.
Ignoring the slow-paced match, Sasuke turned to face Naruto, who was wearing his mask, as was becoming his custom. Part of the mask was pulled down over his right eye. Sasuke smiled. Even if he tries to act all tough, the Naruto from long ago is still there somewhere, imitating his sensei with his own mask.
Surprising even himself with his sudden cheerfulness, Sasuke spoke up. "Hey, Naruto."
The masked boy looked over at him, but said nothing.
"Could you do a favor for me? Could you tell me what that mark on the back of my neck looks like?" Sasuke pulled the collar of his shirt down and turned away in order to give Naruto a better view.
"There is a thin circular mark around what looks like a white scar. The scar looks similar to the mark that you had there before."
Sasuke let out a breath that he did not know he had been holding. Some way, somehow, he had lost his curse seal. Sasuke was not sure how Kakashi's seal could exist after the thing that it sealed was removed, but it did not matter.
Sasuke's head snapped towards the center of the room when he heard the examiner announce, "Winner, Nara Shikamaru!"
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Kakashi walked up behind Sasuke. "What happened out there, Sasuke? I was about to end the match, but when I saw that Yoroi was in no condition to fight, I let the examiner end the match as usual. Did you activate the curse seal? You know how dangerous that could be."
"No. When Yoroi tried his technique that second time, he did so over the curse seal, which apparently reacted... badly."
Sasuke turned and pulled down his collar. "But it wasn't all bad. Whatever happened out there removed my curse seal and gave it to him. I saw it on his body after the fight."
Kakashi stared wide-eyed at Sasuke's neck. He saw the seal with which he had tried to contain the curse seal. But the curse seal was... gone. In its place was a small patch of faintly discolored skin, which looked like an ordinary scar.
After a moment, Kakashi snapped out of his amazement. "We need to inform the Hokage at once. Come with me, Sasuke."
Kakashi and Sasuke walked away, leaving Naruto alone on the balcony.
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Naruto/Kyuubi watched the next matches disinterestedly, never cheering. They were among the few who were not wildy cheering (or jeering) for or against one ninja or another. The semi-demon looked at Gaara, another quiet observer, who never moved from his original position, arms crossed, back straight, and an expression of passive disdain. The third silent spectator was a silver-haired genin who had quit the chuunin exam immediately after the Forest of Death. Naruto/Kyuubi occasionally saw him walking around the balcony, taking notes on the fights. The duo had noticed him especially especially after the surprising finale to Sasuke's match, which the silver-haired genin had watched with a mixture of unconcealed surprise and alarm, before scribbling furiously in his notes.
The half-demon recalled the last few matches. The sand-nin, Kankurou, had defeated the sound's Dosu by starting out impersonating his own puppet, then launching a vicious sneak attack, ending the fight before Dosu thought to use his special technique. Tenten had fought valiantly against Temari, but her projectile attacks were all but useless against someone who could blow every one of them away with a flick of the wrist.
There were only two people left, which meant there was only one pairing possible.
The board announced, "Uzamaki Naruto vs. Rock Lee"
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Naruto/Kyuubi faced the eccentric, fuzzy-browed boy who stood across the tiles. It will be... strange... to fight this human, since he was the inspiration for most of our training.
And he's been training like that for longer than we have. He will be faster and stronger than anyone we have ever met, and even if he sleeps more than we, our few extra hours every day cannot equal the extra years I heard that he has been using weights.
This should be... interesting.
The examiner glanced at each of them, and, seeing that they were both ready, shouted, "Hajime!" as he sprang back to the wall.
Rock Lee grinned. "Do your best, Naruto! The fires of youth burn within us both, so I expect you to be a difficult opponent!"
Naruto/Kyuubi placed his genjutsu over his right eye, then uncovered it for the match.
Both ninjas suddenly disappeared, then reappeared, sliding away from each other after exchanging lightning fast punches and kicks. They blurred out of sight again, and odd flickers of color appeared around the tiles, marking where they clashed again and again. Flecks of black and bits of green swirled around the tiles. Then, just as suddenly as they had begun, they reappeared where they had been standing only seconds before, breathing heavily.
"You are... a worthy opponent, Naruto! You are very fast! But the true test of your youthful strength will be to see how long you can keep that speed up!"
The demonic duo said nothing.
The two ninjas vanished again, and again only spots of random color hinted at their presence as they fought furiously. Then a loud clang echoed through the large room. Lee and Naruto/Kyuubi stood still in the pose of their last clash, the half-demon's forearm held up, the weight on his arm taking the brunt of Lee's weighted foot above him, preventing it from crushing him into the floor. They stood as stiff as statues for a moment, then jumped back from each other.
"You use weights, Naruto? You are even more full of the vibrance of youth than I thought! We are like brothers to each other, except we are not related! This shall be a test of both our skills and our training!"
"Lee!" Maito Gai shouted from the balcony. "Take off your weights!"
"But Gai-sensei, I thought that I was only to take them off when protecting others!"
"I will make an exception!"
Lee and Gai flashed each other their trademark smile and thumbs-up, temporarily blinding everyone in the room.
Lee began to take off his weights, starting with his legs.
This can't be too bad, since we can take ours off, too.
Naruto/Kyuubi pulled the cord for his weights, causing them to drop to the tiles with a horrid clanging, and cracking the tiles underneath them.
Then Lee, having taken all of his weights off, dropped them to the ground, where they crushed the tiles into powder and sprayed bits of rock everywhere. A loud boom reverberated in the room.
Or... this could be really, really bad.
Then both ninja disappeared. Naruto/Kyuubi spun around and blocked a kick, then turned and stopped a punch, then immediately twisted to dodge another kick.
Lee grinned while he fought. Naruto will be able to see what he can do if he trains hard enough! Although I am not a genius like Neji, I can be a genius of hard work! And perhaps I could teach Naruto this, as well!
Kyuubi was grateful that he and Naruto were splitting control of the body. There was no way that they would be able to dodge all of these if only one of them were in charge of the whole body. As it was, they were barely able to dodge and block what Lee was doing, and since every kick or punch from Lee threatened to break bones and shatter stones, it was just as well that they avoided them.
Then they failed to block a kick, which consequently sent them flying into the air. Lee leapt above them, and slammed them in the stomach, causing them to crash into the tiles below, creating a small crater where they landed.
Lee lighted upon the ground with the grace of a fawn, as if he had finished a ballet, and not a ferocious beat-down.
The dark ninja got to his/their feet, and looked at Lee. Their right eye was blood-red, and the pupil was slitted. The right side of Naruto's body began to steam, his sweat evaporating from the heat of the demonic chakra that was hidden just underneath his clothing. Naruto/Kyuubi's face was contorted in anger, their eyebrows forming a 'V' shape above their narrowed eyes.
Lee looked in confusion at Naruto. What is happening to Naruto? How did his eye change color? Why is he smoking like that? Putting his thoughts to the side for now, Lee sprang forward.
The two combatants phased out of existence as they attacked again. Lee aimed a punch at Naruto's right shoulder, which, curiously, the boy did not dodge. Lee struck home with his first strike, then recoiled as a spike of demonic chakra lanced into his hand upon contact.
Kyuubi/Naruto, still steaming but managing to hide his demonic chakra from sight, slammed his palm into the center of Lee's chest, allowing him to use his hand to hide the spike of evil chakra that was impaling the green-clad ninja and burning the green leotard in a large circle around the impact point.
Lee flew back and hit the far wall, his hand and chest already inflamed with the poison of Kyuubi's chakra. Lee fell to the ground, where he began coughing uncontrollably. The affected body parts began to burn with the pain of the demonic influence, and Lee curled into the fetal position, afraid to touch his hand or chest for fear of further pain. Already, he could not move his hand, and his coughing was becoming more pronounced, and blood came up with every hack.
Naruto/Kyuubi waited, with an almost maniacal grin pasted on their face, for Lee to attack or for the examiner to end the match.
The examiner walked over to Lee. Seeing his condition, he made a move to announce Naruto's victory, but Lee began to stand up, his face a mask of pain. Then he suddenly surged with chakra, his entire body turning a shade of red, though not the angry color that showed on his hand and his exposed chest. His eyes were almost pure white, his pupils barely visible as they shrunk. Then he disappeared.
Kyuubi immediately poured more chakra into the right side of his body, recharging the layer of demonic chakra that did not show outside of his clothing, but would still hurt Lee every time he hit it. Naruto pulled his left leg up and quickly dropped onto his left side. With any luck, Lee would now be able to hit only the right side.
Lee appeared above the demon duo and slammed his leg into their exposed right side, breaking ribs and damaging organs. Lee ignored the stabbing pain in his leg that accompanied his kick, unaware that he was absorbing Kyuubi's poisonous chakra. His foot immediately began to swell, rendering it useless in the fight, since any pain inflicted there would be magnified tenfold by the poison of Kyuubi's chakra, and since it was all but immobile from the swelling.
Lee suddenly appeared at Naruto's feet and tried to pick Naruto up to fling him into a wall, but upon grabbing Naruto's right leg, his good left hand was burned by even more demonic chakra.
Overwhelmed by the huge amount of demonic chakra now circulating in his body, Lee collapsed next to Naruto.
Naruto/Kyuubi stood up, his ribs and organs already beginning to heal. Kyuubi reduced his output of chakra to normal levels, removing the layer of chakra from his right side, and the duo subtly replaced the genjutsu over their right eye. They walked a few paces away from Rock Lee.
The examiner jumped to Lee's side, and seeing that the boy was unconscious, announced, "Winner, Uzamaki Naruto!"
Medical-nin came and took the red, swollen and feverish body of Rock Lee to the hospital for treatment.
Naruto/Kyuubi ignored the requests of the medical-nin and jumped back to the balcony after recovering his weights from where he had dropped them. Our wounds will heal soon enough. They pulled their mask over their face and released the genjutsu, then began to replace the weights into their places within his dark outfit.
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The Sandaime, though disturbed by what he had seen in Naruto's fight, retained his appearance of calm as he announce that the final section of the chuunin exam would begin in two weeks, to give the people who wanted to attend time to arrive, and to give the ninja still in the exam time to recover and train.
After making the announcement, he walked back to the side of the room, and watched as people filed out, talking about what they had seen and done.
Kakashi walked up beside the Hokage. "I know you saw it, too."
Sarutobi sighed. "Yes, I saw it. It is indeed troubling that he possesses such control over the... special... chakra," he mentally checked their surrounding for listeners, "and that he feels the need to hide it. It was painfully obvious to me that he was concealing the chakra within his clothing. Poorly, of course, because that chakra is not the sort of thing you can hide from someone who has felt it before. It is not a subtle thing."
The old man took a puff on his pipe. "And I noticed something strange about his face. I had passed over it before, because I did not expect that sort of thing from a genin, but I think he is using a genjutsu over at least one of his eyes."
Kakashi looked at the Hokage. "A genjutsu? Why?"
"I do not know. But I fear the worst. We already saw that he tries to conceal that chakra. What if... his guest... was affecting him in ways not foreseen by the Fourth? What if he is turning into something? What if his guest were influencing his conscious thought? There are so many things that could go wrong with such a complicated seal like the one the fourth tried so many years ago. We need to keep an eye on Naruto. And by we, I mean you, Kakashi. I will be busy preparing for the tournament, and the conclusion of the chuunin exams.
"Your mission, if you wish to call it that," the Sandaime continued, " is to monitor Naruto for these two weeks and see if he does anything out of the ordinary. If you see anything suspicious, tell me immediately. Do not, under any circumstances, confront Naruto or even talk to him."
"Of course, Hokage-sama. But who will teach my students?"
"I will find some temporary replacements for you. And Kakashi, try not to let Naruto see you."
"Very well, Hokage-sama."
Kakashi followed Naruto from a distance, and saw the boy walk out of the doors of the tower, and then begin to sprint down the only orad to the village. Kakashi exited the tower and jumped up to the trees, stealthily following the masked, black-clad genin.
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Naruto/Kyuubi sprinted back to the village as his ribs finished healing from Lee's powerful kick.
We still have a long way to go before we can even be the equal of all of the genin here. We're lucky that green guy collapsed when he did. Another one or two of those punches would have done us in.
Yeah. But I get the feeling that genin that strong are the exception and not the rule. Still, we have a lot of training before we'll be able to hold our own against a good jounin.
Before they got back to the village proper, Naruto/Kyuubi turned to the side and continued to his training area. Once there, he began running along the well-worn path he had made in the ground, using techniques occasionally, most of which were Kage Bunshins, and running back and forth along his trail.
Kyuubi was focused on the training, but was jolted out of his concentration when Naruto stumbled on a root that had been there since they had started using this seemingly abandoned training area.
What is wrong with you?! That root has been there forever!"
Something is wrong with the training area.
Naruto/Kyuubi sniffed the air, and indeed, they could taste a new scent, the scent of freshly dug dirt. They followed it to the place where they had buried those villagers from so long ago, who had followed him here to kill him. There was a large hole in the ground, and all of the villagers' bodies were missing.
That's bad.
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Sarutobi had hardly sat down in his office in Konoha after returning from the chuunin preliminaries, before two ANBU burst into the room. The Hokage looked up at them.
The man in the cat mask pointed to the ANBU in the dog mask. "Speak," said the Hokage.
The ANBU in the dog mask spoke hurriedly. "You recall those villagers that went missing months ago? We found them buried in a mass grave in the unused training ground. The bodies are too rotten to see what killed them, other than the fact that the weapons were sharp, but we are investigating who might have done this. The bodies have been returned to their families for burial."
The Sandaime furrowed his brow. This missing person case had just become a mass murder case.
"Use as many resources as you feel you need to find the perpetrator," Sarutobi said. "Is there anything else I should know?"
"Well, there were kunai marks all over the trees in that training area, some old, but most of them fresh. There also seemed to be a trail that was worn into the ground. It also seemed to have been used recently, but when we brought tracking dogs, they sniffed the trail, then refused to follow the scent. We tried to force them, but they seemed too frightened to even look at the trail after they had caught the scent of whatever it was. We will continue using other avenues to find out who might have been at that training area."
The Hokage sighed. "Kakashi is on a mission right now, but will be available after the chuunin exams are completed. Once that is over, he will be able to bring Pakkun out there, and even if he won't follow the trail, he should at least be able to tell us why. I do know that dogs can often sense a ninja's prowess from something in his or her scent, so if they smelled an incredibly strong ninja, they may have become frightened. If there is nothing else, you are dismissed."
The ANBU bowed and turned to leave the room
Sarutobi added, "If you see a man with long white hair outside, would you please send him in?"
The ANBU left the room. Shortly after, the legendary sannin Jiraiya entered.
"What do you want?"
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Naruto/Kyuubi returned to training, realizing that there was not much they could do about the bodies now. They kept training, trying not to worry about the bodies.
Kakashi watched from the branches of a tree about 50 yards from where Naruto was training. Does he ever stop? He's been sprinting for almost half an hour, and with those weights on, too. That must be why he was so skilled on the missions. I thought he was slacking off at home between missions, since I never saw him in the village, but it seems he was out here, training.
Hearing a noise, Kakashi turned, drawing a kunai.
Jiraiya landed next to Kakashi, who, upon recognizing the sannin, put away his kunai.
"Why are you hiding up here?" Jiraiya whispered.
"I'm supposed to keep an eye on Naruto. He's been using... his guest's chakra, and the Hokage wants to make sure that the seal is working properly."
Jiraiya smirked. "Doubting the Yondaime's work?"
"I only have to watch him until after the chuunin exams."
"That's fine. I was sent here to train Naruto. Unfortunately, I can't be around for very long at one time, since I have research to do."
Seeing Kakashi's perverted smile, Jiraiya added, "Not just that kind, either."
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Naruto/Kyuubi stopped the instant he saw the white-haired man drop from the trees. The half-demon immediately created twenty clones, all of whom drew a kunai. After checking to make sure that his genjutsu was in place, he mentally prompted one of the clones to speak. "Who are you?"
"What?! Do you not recognize the legendary frog-ninja, Jiraiya-sama?!"
The sannin face-faulted when the clones shook their heads. "I am here to train you, at the request of the Hokage. Kakashi was sent on a mission not long ago, and will not return for some time. So you shall receive the coveted position being of my student!"
Naruto/Kyuubi rolled his eyes. This guy is... strange.
Yeah, but we might be able to learn a lot from a sannin.
True.
Dispelling the clones, Naruto/Kyuubi said, "I am glad to meet you. I am Uzamaki Naruto."
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End of chapter. Tribute in the form of a review is a requirement, not an option! Mwahahahahaha! But seriously, review this chapter. The only reason I wrote this story was for reviews, and the only reason I write these longer chapters is to get more of them. Go ahead and take a few seconds, or even (heaven forbid) a minute or two and write a nice review! Nargles will be given in return for reviews!