Chapter 26: Chapter 26

Hello everyone! I am finally done! I graduated college and now, hopefully, I will be able to update more often! I gave myself a little me time before trying to update again, I hope you all understand!

And, to LilithiaRW, I pretty much died when I saw your review haha, I am so sorry I scarred you for life!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

Edited: 9/2/18

Sakura rolled her eyes as she healed the brown haired man in front of her; really, she had warned him not to touch any of the plants the three would be encountering…

She had half a mind to ignore his whining, but then again he wouldn't be much help if she did that. Sighing, Sakura collected the fox glove, skillfully avoiding the root that Genma had previously touched. It was almost like the male was trying to make it difficult for her…

"You're not purposefully being an idiot, are you Genma?" Sakura asked as she glared to her male teammate. Hearing Kakashi's warm chuckle caused her to turn her emerald eyes over to him.

"I don't think I'd give Genma that much credit, Sakura-Chan," Kakashi said with a shake of his head. "I think he's just trying to help… and Genma's way of trying to help is getting in the way."

Sakura snorted before placing the fox root in her backpack; two down, five more to go. "We should work our way over to Lightning's border," Sakura said as she put her backpack on her back. "The elderberry, moonseed, and nightshade will be in the Konoha's forests; we should head to grass and get the jimson weed and water hemlock."

"So Grass first and then Konoha?" Kakashi asked while he looked to the pinkette.

"Yeah," Sakura said with a determined nod. "We can head straight back from Fire Country after we get the plants; they shouldn't be that hard to find."

"It's a good thing you know where they are most likely to be, Sakura-Chan," Genma commented while he stood. "If I had to take these Jounin exams I would have failed."

Sakura just shook her head and started running. "We should be able to find the plants within two days, and then we can head back."

XxX

Hayate's sword was drawn as he glared at Kabuto. The silver haired male had almost killed him once, and Hayate knew that he needed to be ready for anything. Hayate believed his skill had grown over the past two years, but he assumed so had Kabuto's.

And while he tried desperately not to think about it, he was concerned for and pissed off at Sakura and Genma. Why the hell would the two of them go behind his back and apply for the Jounin exams? Why couldn't they at least tell him… Kami he was angry.

"You look a little mad Hayate," Kabuto taunted from across the clearing. The two had left the bridge and were currently fighting in an open clearing a quarter mile away. The two could still see Orochimaru, Naruto, Sai, and Yamato, but they had their own space to fight as well.

"Shut up," Hayate muttered as his eyes flickered over to the group of four fighting on the bridge and then back to his opponent.

"Touchy," Kabuto said with a smirk. "It really is amazing to me that Sakura didn't tell you she was trying out to become a jounin."

It amazed him too, but Hayate refused to ever agree out loud with the silver haired man that stood before him.

"Too bad she won't be able too though," Kabuto's lips curled up even more; it was obvious he was waiting for Hayate to react. "I'm going to make sure she never gets the chance to become one."

Hayate's feet were moving before he could stop himself; he would never allow Kabuto to take away Sakura's dream. The pinkette meant too much to him; he would stop at nothing to try and protect her.

Hayate side-stepped Kabuto's arm as he thrust his sword forward; Kabuto backed away swiftly from him before trying to slam his other hand down on Hayate's head. Seeing Kabuto's hand, Hayate swiftly ducked under Kabuto's arm before taking a step backward.

"Seems you're a little more focused this time around," the silver haired male mused as he too took a step back. "It's good you have no distractions here; I would like to beat you while you are at your full strength."

Hayate chose to ignore the silver haired male as he gripped his sword in one hand. Doing a few hand signs with another, Hayate watched as Kabuto's smirk increased. "That silly jutsu again? Well, I mean it was fairly impressive the first time, but Baki was able to defeat it fairly easily."

"Not the same move," Hayate grinned as he added a few more hand signs. "Dance of the full moon," he muttered under his breath as he stepped forward.

If he wasn't so focused on the move he had been trying to perfect over the last few years, he would have gloated more, but as it was, Hayate and his five clones launched themselves at Kabuto. One at a time, each of his clones raced forward and swung its sword in a circular motion; Kabuto was able to dodge the first three, but when Hayate stepped forward, he did something different.

Instead of doing a clockwise motion like the rest of his clones did, he did a counter clockwise motion; the difference in motion threw Kabuto off, and Hayate was able to connect a hit with the silver haired male's right thigh.

His two last clones charged forward then (all attacking at once now), and Hayate watched with a frown as Kabuto was able to dodge all five of the swords.

"Interesting twist," Kabuto muttered to himself while his thigh began to heal itself. Hayate's frown deepened, but he knew Kabuto wouldn't be able to heal himself every time he was attacked.

Adding chakra to his legs, Hayate attacked Kabuto again, though this time without the help of his clones. He slashed his sword downward, then to the left; Kabuto twisted his body down, and then to the right to dodge Hayate's attacks. In retaliation to Hayate's attacks, Kabuto flung both of his glowing arms forward. Flipping his body backward, Hayate was just able to dodge a blow that would have connected with his right arm; that had been closer than he had wanted it to be.

"And you seem to have learned from prior mistakes," Kabuto's smirk appeared again. "This fight will be a lot more interesting; I hope Orochimaru takes his time with Naruto-kun."

Hayate set his mouth into a grim line as he put his sword into his belt. He needed to rethink his strategy. It seemed Kabuto was very good at close combat, something Hayate himself was also very good at; so far it seemed to be a stale mate…

"Ninjutsu it is," Hayate said under his breath while he brought his hands together. He had not seen how Kabuto fought against ninjutsu; Hayate was hopeful it would be his weak spot.

Hayate dodged Kabuto as he tried to attack him head on. Racing through hand signs, Hayate brought his hands together before muttering, "Wind Release: Drilling air bullet."

Slamming his hands into his stomach, Hayate felt a rush of air flow through his throat and fly out of his mouth. Air bullet's the size of his fist flew out of his mouth and toward Kabuto. Kabuto's eyes widened slightly, and he was caught off guard.

Two of the bullets connect directly with Kabuto's torso, and Hayate watched in satisfaction as Kabuto's body was sent flying backward.

Landing on the ground, Hayate brought his hands to his pouch and quickly produced a handful of kunai; he knew the air bullets would not be enough to keep Kabuto down.

Firing a barrage of kunai, Hayate quickly took his sword out from his belt and raced forward. Watching Kabuto dodge most of the kunai, Hayate appeared just as Kabuto dodged the final kunai. Slashing his sword from left to right, Hayate was surprised to see Kabuto's glowing hand grip his sword tightly. Looking in Kabuto's eyes, Hayate watched as they filled with a form of madness.

"It was so fun playing with you," the silver haired male said as his blue glowing hand squeezed the sword tighter; blood began to dribble down his hand. "But I think I should be tending to Lord Orochimaru soon."

Hayate tried to wrench the sword out of Kabuto's grip, but the other male held fast. Cursing slightly, Hayate twisted his body to the left as he felt Kabuto's free hand try to connect with his torso; Hayate twisted again out of instinct, and his eyes widened as he watched Kabuto's hand fly over his head… It seemed Kabuto was a lot faster than he had first given him credit for.

"Fuck," Hayate said as he gripped his sword with two hands. Using all his strength, Hayate watched as the sharp blade cut through Kabuto's fingers. Flipping backwards as Kabuto's other hand shot out to grab him, Hayate watched as the fingers he had just cut off Kabuto's hand began to immediately grow back. "What the hell."

"It's a jutsu I developed," Kabuto said with a grin as he looked to his newly healed hand. "I am able to send chakra to a certain place on my body, and I can heal things even before you attack me there."

This fight against Kabuto got a little more complicated, Hayate realized. Hearing a loud crash caught Hayate's attention, and his eyes moved from the silver haired man in front of him, to the red glowing figure of Naruto Uzumaki, or what was once Naruto. It seemed the Kyuubi had taken over. Four red chakra tails were leaving Naruto's lower back, and the bridge was destroyed. Kami help them if they couldn't control the blond…

Out of instinct, Hayate ducked down, dodging Kabuto's kick to his head as the silver haired male rushed past him. "It seems Naruto-kun became out of control a little too soon; we will finish this match later, Hayate."

Hayate nodded as he followed behind the silver haired male; he wanted to kill the male, but he would rather ensure the safety of his teammates before he did that. He did not know how strong Sai was, and doubted the raven haired male would be able to protect himself from the Nine-tailed fox; Hayate himself doubted he could, but he would probably be able to protect himself a little more than the younger male.

Arriving on the opposite side of the action, Hayate's brown eyes swept over the situation; it did not look good from his end. Naruto had just dashed into the forest after, presumably Orochimaru, but Yamato and Sai were nowhere to be found.

Gathering his chakra, Hayate leapt after Naruto, trying to stay far enough away as to not get injured by the crimson red chakra demon, but close enough for comfort. Leaping through the trees, Hayate sighed in slight relief when he spotted Yamato. "What happened, Yamato?" Hayate questioned as the two brunettes began to run side-by-side.

"Orochimaru said something about Sasuke being stronger than Naruto, and Sasuke never coming back to Konoha," Yamato said as the two found the clearing Naruto had made. The trees had been swept away, seemingly by Naruto's tails.

"Where's Sai?" Hayate questioned as his eyes looked for the dark haired shinobi.

"He took off once the bridge had been destroyed. The little bastard saw me fall and didn't do anything to help me… I don't know what it means, but I don't like it one bit."

Hayate nodded at the new information but didn't say anything. It was not surprising to Hayate that Sai would not help a comrade when he was in trouble; the raven haired male seemed to have no emotions. He just wondered where the male had run off to.

XxxX

Sakura's stomach was doing surprisingly better as the group of three continued their journey through Lightning. They were actually making spectacular timing and were resting near the border between Lightning and Grass.

It had taken them all day to run there, though, and Sakura knew that she would have to start keeping her eyes open for the plants when they reached Grass. Sighing, Sakura looked over to her brunette teammate and felt a small ache in her chest; how was her other brunette teammate?

She had tried not to think about him too much while she was running throughout the day. She was trying to focus on this ridiculous mission the Raikage had given her; she had found it very hard though.

Thoughts of how angry Hayate would be when he found out about what she had done constantly plagued her mind as she ran, but so did thoughts of their possible relationship, and the answer to the feelings she had shared before she left. There was nothing she could do now. Hayate needed time and space to think, and Sakura needed to take the Jounin exams.

Even though Hayate was not comfortable letting her take the exam, Sakura knew just how important they would be, and how ready she was to become a jounin. She had four supportive people behind her that believed in her; knew she could do this. Sakura had no choice but to believe in herself.

Looking away from Genma, Sakura took in a deep breath before her eyes wandered to the sun that was beginning to set. The day had seemed like it had gone on forever, and she wished she had someone else in her company. She appreciated Kakashi for what he was trying to do for her (because he had failed miserably as her first sensei and he was trying to make it up to her), but she would much rather have her real sensei there.

Before Sakura had even realized her feelings for Hayate, she had respected him, appreciated him, and cared for him. Hayate had done so much for her compared to anyone else (besides Tsunade and Genma), and he really didn't owe her anything, at least she didn't think he did. What she had done all those years ago had been luck. No genin had the chakra control, or the medical knowledge to heal another person. It had been pure luck, a miracle, something she knew she would have never been able to repeat had it not been for the life or death instance her and Hayate were in.

Standing from her spot, Sakura shook her head and sighed quietly. She didn't like thinking back on those things. What would her life have been if she hadn't been able to save Hayate? Surely, she would still be on Team 7, and Sakura shuddered slightly to think about how weak she would be if she were still on that team.

"Are you cold Sakura?" Kakashi asked as his eye wandered to her form. Sakura's emerald eyes looked away from the sunset to her previous sensei; what would it have truly been like to be on his team for more than a few months? Would he have gotten better and fairer to each of his students, or would he still have favored one student over another? Sakura believed it would have been the latter of the two, and Sakura was once again thankful she had met Hayate and Genma.

"No, I'm fine," Sakura said as she shook away her thoughts; there was not time to reminisce in things that could have been. "I think we should head out, though."

"Why is that?" Kakashi questioned her. Sakura knew he was only doing this to ask her reasons; she was the leader in this mission, and the two men that were with her were to follow her lead.

"The sooner we leave, the sooner we can get back," Sakura said as she looked to Genma who was already packing up. "We should at least get into Grass Country before tomorrow morning if we run for a while. And, strategically, we have to be prepared for the other ninja who are also taking this test; I don't want to stay in one place for too long if I can help it."

"Solid reasoning," Kakashi nodded and threw his back onto his back. "Lead the way."

Nodding, Sakura took her place in front of the two jounin; the sooner they got back to Lightning the better.

XxxX

"So what is our next move?" Hayate asked quietly while the two Jounin watched over the healing Naruto.

It had taken the two of them an hour to finally distract Naruto enough to stop chasing Orochimaru. The blond had been rampaging through the forest when Hayate's wind bullets finally seemed to annoy him enough to stop. The look in the blonde's eyes as they connected with Hayate's was something Hayate never wanted to relive again; it was purely murderous with a mix of insanity and hatred.

Hayate had been very young when the Nine-tailed fox had attacked Konoha, but he remembered the destruction. The look in the boy's eyes reminded him of that destruction, and all that the fox inside the boy could cause.

"We'll let Naruto heal up for a bit," Yamato said as he leaned against a tree. The sun had set an hour ago, but Naruto was still unconscious. His skin had been burned off when he had transformed with the four tails. Naruto's skin looked much better than it had when the two brunettes had first got to him, but it was clear the blond wouldn't wake within the next few hours. "In the morning we will go after Sai and find Orochimaru's lair; our mission is still on."

"You placed some type of tracking device onto the boy?" Hayate questioned as he tried to recall when that had happened.

"Yes, actually," Yamato said. "I placed one on both of the boys actually. I had assumed Naruto would have gone off in search of Sasuke by himself, but a part of me didn't feel right about Sai… I put one on him just in case."

"Very smart," Hayate commented with a nod. "I assume it was in the delicious dessert you made the two last night."

This comment got a grin from the other brunette. "There was a reason I didn't offer you any."