Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or the characters in this story. If I did, then Naruto Part 1 would be a whole lot different.
More Than Just Comrades
Chapter 29
Normally, Ino Yamanaka was a headstrong girl who always had a hotheaded attitude toward everything. It was a rare event when she was ever nervous about something, and if she ever was nervous, she did a great job of hiding it. In fact Ino could count the number of times she'd been nervous on one hand. First, she'd been nervous about going to the Ninja Academy for the first time. Then she'd been nervous about going on her first mission a few weeks after meeting Asuma and the rest of Squad 10. And she'd been especially nervous about confessing her love to Sakura on that fateful day. However, none of that compared to how nervous she felt now. As she watched Zaku walk toward her and her team, it took all of her self control to prevent her knees from shaking. This guy had managed to withstand Sakura's fury, even though his team had now been incapacitated. However, Ino managed to calm herself down when she took notice of the fact that it was 3 against 1. That fact helped to calm her down a little so that she didn't visibly tremble as much.
However, a few moments after pointing out the difference in numbers, Kin emerged from the rubble of the destroyed tree that Sakura had launched her into. Honestly though, Kin should've just stayed in there. The female Sound ninja's clothes were torn all over the place with large tears, exposing part of her pink lacy bra underneath. Numerous deep cuts and scratches covered her body and dripped as they oozed large drops of fresh blood. Kin's hair had become as disheveled as Sakura's and she sported a slightly blackened eye as she panted after freeing herself from the wreckage. Blood dripped from her nose and from the corners of her mouth as she fixed her gaze on Sakura and scowled.
"You're going to regret ever doing that." Kin said in a low, threatening voice as she clenched her fist. She'd almost died a few moments ago and she wasn't about to let Sakura get away with it. Otherwise, she'd never be able to live it down. "And you're still a little bitch too."
Before Ino could bitch at Kin before calling Sakura a bitch, she heard groaning and whipped her head over to where Dosu was laying. The bandaged covered Sound ninja was slowly, VERY slowly, picking himself up from the ground while groaning in pain. The bandages that covered his mouth were now red from him coughing up blood. As he finally got to his feet, he clutched his chest in pain and let out a few more coughs before glaring at Sakura with his one visible eye. However, his glare turned to satisfaction as he took in Sakura's pitiful appearance.
"To think I was brought to the brink of death by the likes of you. After that display of power, I figured you might actually pose a threat." Dosu said before going into a fit of coughing from pressure on his lungs. "And look at you now. You're practically begging to be put out of your misery."
After glaring at Sakura with all of his hatred, Dosu finally took notice of Squad 10, who seemed to be trying to form a protective shield in front of Sakura. As Shikamaru moved to stand directly in front of Sakura, Dosu narrowed his eye in aggravation.
"And just who the hell are you three?" Dosu asked angrily. As if the pink haired brat wasn't annoying enough, these meddlesome bastards show up. Oh well, the more he got to kill, the better. It would help blow off some steam before getting back down to business.
'Damnit. So much for having a 3 on 1 advantage.' Ino thought. 'Although, their still in a weakened state, so we might still have a chance here.'
As Ino went over what she should do in this situation, she was brought out of her thoughts by the sound of Sakura's voice.
"Ino? But...why are you-"
"Because I'm tired of you showing off and always getting all of the credit." Ino interrupted. She wasn't going to tell Sakura the "real" reason why she'd interfered and she had to remain her old self so that Sakura wouldn't catch on.
As Dosu listened to Ino's response, his aggravation increased dramatically. So, these annoying bastards had stepped in because of jealousy? Dosu felt like slapping his hand to his face at that moment. Honestly, these rookies were such children.
"You Leaf Village worms will be sorry you got yourselves involved in something that doesn't even concern you!" Dosu said before grimacing and holding his chest in pain. In his present condition, raising his voice put too much strain on his lungs.
"Oh man, what are we doing here?" Choji whimpered after having second thoughts. " We can't really beat these guys."
"Choji! Get it together." Shikamaru advised. "I don't really wanna get involved either, but I can't just sit back and watch Sakura get wasted like this. It just ain't right. Besides, my conscience would nag me about it later, which would be a real pain in my ass."
"Yeah, we are a 3-Man team aren't we? All for one and one for all!" Ino agreed excitedly.
"Have you both gone completely nuts? This isn't teamwork, it's complete and utter suicide! I want out!" Choji said as he scrambled to get away. However, Shikamaru reached over and grabbed Choji's scarf, preventing his glutton of a teammate from escaping ad amusing Zaku greatly. These guys would be a piece of cake.
"Heh, the fear finally drove you mad, eh fatso?" Zaku teased with his arms crossed over his chest. The "fatso" part echoed, causing Zaku to look around in confusion. He then looked to Dosu and Kin, who only shrugged their shoulders as they were just as baffled as Zaku. 'That was...weird. I know I didn't say it that loud.' It was then that Zaku noticed the forest had grown strangely quiet.
"..."
Choji's ears twitched at hearing one of the taboo words exit Zaku's mouth. Instantly, a burning rage began to build up inside of Choji until it took all of the chubby Leaf Genin's inner strength to hold it back.
"What...did...you...just...say?" Choji said in a threatening voice, stressing each individual word slowly. An intent to kill began to radiate off of Choji in waves that continued to get bigger and bigger, which alarmed Ino and Shikamaru who then took a few steps away from their overweight teammate. "Could you repeat THAT!"
'Uh-oh. This guy has really pushed Choji's button BIG time.' Shikamaru thought as his eye twitched out of nervousness. He'd seen what happens when Choji gets like this and it wasn't pretty to say the least. In fact, Shikamaru still remembered what happened to that kid who'd made the same mistake as Zaku...poor guy never had a chance.
"You heard me. I said you're lucky to get out while you still can...fatass." Zaku repeated, the word "fatass" echoing.
That did it.
The rage Choji had been holding back exploded like fire igniting gasoline. The air became thick with chakra as Choji let the rage take over his mindset, causing Shikamaru and Ino to take a few more steps back. Choji saw red as he whipped back around with a glare powerful enough to make grown men wet themselves.
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING FAT, ASSHOLE?" Choji bellowed as chakra began to swirl around him in a powerful vortex. "CHUBBY'S RULE!"
The chakra swirling around Choji kicked up a cloud of dirt & leaves as it slowly dissipated, leaving Choji standing there, furious and his eyes literally burning with rage. Fortunately, he had the perfect outlet for his frustration and it was standing right in front of him.
"Great. Now we have to deal with this." Shikamaru said after a deep sigh.
"Well don't worry, you won't have to for very long." Zaku said as he cracked his knuckles in anticipation and began to walk forward.
"Squad 10 Battle Formation: Ino-Shika-Cho!" Ino called out. "Okay, take it away Choji!"
"With pleasure!" Choji said as he made a hand seal. "Ninja Art: Expansion Jutsu!"
Suddenly, there was a large puff of smoke that engulfed Choji's body, completely hiding it from view. When the smoke cleared after only a few seconds, there Choji stood, but looking a little different from before. His entire body had inflated and was now as big and rounded as a bowling ball. Wasting no time, Choji then sucked in his arms , legs and head before jumping into the air and spinning forward rapidly.
"Human Boulder Jutsu!" Choji yelled as he landed and shot forward like a bullet, kicking up a cloud of dust as he shot along toward Zaku. Choji was blasting forward so fast that he practically broke the sound barrier! Anything that he hit would be shattered to pieces upon impact, and the only thing in Choji's way right now, of course, was Zaku.
"Heh, you've gotta be kidding me. What am I supposed to do? Laugh myself to death?" Zaku said as he went through a series of hand seals quickly. "Slicing Air Wave!"
Zaku raised his hand toward Choji and blasted a concentrated stream of air from his palms. Instead of shattering Choji's bones to pieces like it was supposed to, the attack only succeeded in making Choji spin in place, kicking up a massive dust cloud. Oddly enough, Choji just picked up more speed and actually moved forward inch by inch, pushing Zaku's attack back! In response, Zaku increased the pressure of the air stream and managed to push Choji back a couple of inches. Seeing that he wasn't gonna be able to get anywhere at this rate, Choji instead bolted straight up into the air like a bat out hell only to shoot back down like a meteor!
"I don't believe it! That kid actually jumped the air stream!" Zaku exclaimed. 'That thing is spinning way too fast! My soundwave can't control it! And if I try going supersonic on it, it'll probably rip my arms clean off!
As Zaku stood there about to be smashed into the ground, Dosu decided that he had to do something and fast. Fighting through the pain in his chest, Dosu took off with a burst of speed by focusing chakra into his legs.
'Damnit! I'm having to save Zaku's ass again!' thought Dosu as he ran toward Zaku as fast as he could.
However, Dosu's attempt to save his comrade did not go unnoticed by Shikamaru, who was already making his move to subdue the speed demon Sound ninja.
'Oh no you don't asshole. It's time someone put you under wraps.' Shikamaru thought as he made a hand seal for his clan's exclusive technique.
"Ninja Art: Shadow Possession Jutsu!"
Shikamaru's shadow came to life at that moment and shot forward with speed that made Dosu look like he was running in slow motion. It easily caught up to Dosu and merged within his shadow, binding him to Shikamaru.
"W-What's happening?" Dosu said as he felt his body fail on him and become unresponsive. Turning around with great difficulty, Dosu saw that his shadow was now connected to Shikamaru's.
Meanwhile, Zaku was barely able to get out of the way as Choji smashed into the ground with bone crushing impact, creating a deep crater that was almost as wide as Choji's expanded body. As Zaku looked over at Dosu, he saw that said team leader was just standing there across from Shikamaru. As he opened his mouth to shout his displeasure, Choji shot forward from the crater and Zaku was forced to run for his life or risk being run over.
"Dosu what's the matter with you? Why are you just standing there like that?" Kin screamed, taking the words right out of Zaku's mouth.
"I'm not doing this! This...must be...s-some kind of...paralysis...j-jutsu." Dosu said, straining to get the words out as he fought for control of his body. But Shikamaru wasn't about to to have that. Instead, just to fuck with him, Shikamaru forced Dosu to strike a ridiculous pose. Which involved putting his hands on either side of his head and making them resemble deer antlers. With Dosu subdued, that now left Kin.
"Ino, I'll leave the girl to you." Shikamaru said in a lazy tone.
"You've got it. Just remember to take care of my body while I'm gone." Ino said as she made a square using her fingers, with Kin directly in the center. "Ninja Art: Mind Transfer Jutsu!"
At those words, Ino's soul left her body and entered the body of Kin. Kin visibly flinched as her mind was taken over and appeared to go limp a few seconds later, alarming her two other teammates. Fortunately, Shikamaru managed to catch Ino's body as it fell limp also, no longer inhabited by a soul. Meanwhile, Zaku managed to successfully move out of the way as Choji shot past him like a speeding train.
"Damnit, I've enough of this!" Zaku said angrily. Looking over his shoulder, he noticed that Kin was just standing there with her head down. "Kin! What's up with you?"
At first, Kin did not respond. However, a few seconds later, Kin seemed to come back to life again. Smirking, the female Sound ninja reached into her weapons pouch, pulled out a kunai, and poised it her at neck. Both Zaku and Dosu were further baffled when Kin began to chuckle excitedly. What had gotten into her?
"The party is over fellas! Make one wrong move, and your teammate here gets it in the neck!" Ino said, using Kin's body as a medium. To further prove her point, she pushed the kunai against Kin's neck a little firmer, but not hard enough to draw blood just yet. "I'm sure you don't want that to happen, so here's what you do: just drop the scroll and walk away. Once you're far enough away where I can't sense your chakras, I'll let her go."
As she spoke, Ino noticed that neither of her enemy's teammates were in the least bit concerned. In fact, they smirked as though they were the ones in control of the situation. Normally, someone would be alarmed if their teammate was being held hostage, but these guys obviously weren't doing that.
'What's with these guys? Somethings wrong?' Ino said as she waited for Zaku and Dosu to follow her orders. However, instead of following Ino's orders, Zaku raised his hand toward her and prepared to fire.
"Oh no! Choji!" Ino yelled.
"Coming!"
Choji managed to reach Kin (Ino) in the nick of time, just as Zaku shot out a concentrated stream of pressurized air that would've blown Kin/Ino away had Choji not arrived in time. The stream of air knocked Choji away and the resulting shockwave of the air stream hitting Choji slammed Kin/Ino against the tree behind her. Almost immediately, a thin line of blood slid down the corner of Ino's mouth back at her original body.
"Shit! This is bad!" Shikamaru exclaimed as he noticed the blood. He could already sense that this was the turning point in this battle. And right when they were doing so good too.
"Hey guys, I don't feel so good." Choji said as he walked over to rejoin his team, covering his mouth. His eyes had become swirls and it felt as though he would heave his lunch at any moment. It was a side effect of the jutsu, which is why Choji really hated using it sometimes.
Meanwhile, Kin/Ino struggled through the mind numbing pain and managed to prop herself up by her forearms.
"I don't get it. What kind of monsters would attack their own teammate?" Kin/Ino asked, struggling to get the words out.
"I guess monsters like us would." Zaku said with a sick smile on his face.
"You see, we don't play this game by your rules. We're not interested in the scrolls or passing this test. The only thing we're interested in is...Sasuke." Dosu explained in a dark voice, his visible eye going wide with excitement.
At that moment, Shikamaru's shadow possession wore off and his shadow returned to him, leaving Dosu free to move his body again.
'Damnit. I completely forgot about the time limit.' Shikamaru thought in frustration.
"Hmmm, it appears your paralysis jutsu has a pretty limited duration I see." Dosu said as he flexed his fingers.
"It's called Shadow Possession Jutsu. Get you jutsus right goddamn it." Shikamaru snapped.
"Whatever. Also, I see that your teammate has the ability to slip her soul into her opponent. That's very clever, but dangerous. Anything that happens to Kin happens to her too. So, if Kin were to die per say..." Dosu said, letting his voice trail off so that Shikamaru could put two & two together.
"Wait, so you're gonna kill your own teammate?" Shikamaru questioned incredulously.
"Well, if push comes to shove, yeah." Zaku said as he raised his hand at Kin/Ino again, causing Shikamaru and Choji to visibly tense. "What? Did you really think you could beat us? Face it, you Leaf shinobi are nothing but a bunch of wimps-"
"From a second rate village." Dosu said, finishing Zaku's sentence for him.
As Zaku was about to finish off Kin/Ino, a familiar and authoritative voice cut through the air, stopping Zaku before he could unleash the stream of air.
"That's pretty tough talk." Neji said from his position ontop of a tree branch that overlooked the entire clearing. "I guess that makes your village third rate. And I highly doubt any of you amateurs are ready to take on the real thing!"
"What did you just say punk?" Dosu asked threateningly as he looked up at Neji and Tenten. Looking up as well, all eyes were now on Neji as the Hyuga prodigy, along with Tenten, stared down at them all with his arms crossed confidently over his chest.
'Hmm, this one is different from the others. I can feel his power all the way from down here.' Dosu commented. This one actually did pose a real threat.
As Tenten skimmed over the ground below, she finally spotted Lee lying unconscious over by Naruto and Sasuke. The boy had was covered in scratches and bruises and he didn't appear to even be breathing as he laid on his stomach.
"Lee." Tenten gasped. "How could they do such a thing?"
Following Tenten's gaze, Neji spotted Lee also over by an unconscious Naruto and Sasuke. At seeing his teammate in a less-than-horrible condition, Neji didn't bother to control his anger and instead allowed it to course through his veins.
"I see someone used our teammate as a punching bag." Neji said calmly as he slowly closed his eyes, only to reopen them again and revealing the Byakugan to the onlookers below. "Nobody does that and gets away with it!"
Gasps could be heard as everyone gazed up at the enraged Hyuga. Never before had they seen such a look as intense as his. In fact, it rivaled that of Sasuke's Uchiha glare.
'His eyes...He's not just looking at us, he's looking right through us!' Dosu thought to himself in disbelief. Even though he wouldn't admit it out loud, this kid's eyes freaked him out more than the Rinnegan.
"Play time is over Tenten. We need to finish this quickly. After all, we still need to find the scroll we need." Neji said.
Tenten nodded as she reached into her weapons pouch and pulled out a handful of shuriken. Before she could hurl the projectiles at her opponents, she was stopped dead in her tracks when Neji let out a loud gasp.
"Neji? What is it?" Tenten asked.
'That chakra...' Neji thought to himself. Out of nowhere, Neji had detected an especially foul chakra that was coming from somewhere down below. This foul, menacing chakra gave off an ominous presence and it sent chills down Neji's spine. Worse yet, it was getting stronger and stronger by each passing second. As it grew stronger, Neji was able to pinpoint exactly where the foul chakra was coming from and his eyes widened in surprise, causing him to deactivate his Byakugan.
"Well? Are you gonna just stay up there all day or are you gonna come down here and do something about it? Dosu taunted from his position down below. This kid made all that fuss about going against the "real" thing and now he wasn't even going to do anything. 'I knew it. These Leaf ninja are all talk and no action. Hmph, pussies.'
"Actually, it looks like this situation has been taken out of my hands." Neji said with a smirk on his face. "And you're about to find out why."
Dosu gave Neji a dirty look and was about to make a smartass comment, when suddenly, he too sensed the foul chakra as well. His visible eye widened as he looked around, trying to pinpoint where this evil chakra was coming from. After stopping to think for a minute, Dosu whipped his head over to Sasuke's direction and his eye grew wider as he saw what appeared to be a dark purple mist emanating from Sasuke's body. Not only that, it was getting thicker and thicker by the second and floated high into the sky, almost going past the treetops. Now, all eyes were on Sasuke as the foul chakra became thick in the air, making it hard to breathe and chilling everyone to the bone. As the dark chakra became thicker, Sasuke bolted upright and slowly rose to his feet, the dark chakra now surrounding his body like dark purple flames. The air became even thicker as the dark, foul chakra became even more intense and Sasuke resembled a demon as he rose to his feet, his body nothing more than an ominous silhouette.
"Sasuke? That's Sasuke?" Kin/Ino said in horror. No, this wasn't Sasuke. This was...something else. Something...evil.
Finally, the dark chakra began to dissipate and Sasuke's features could finally be seen. However, Sasuke's appearance is what shocked everyone the most besides the dark chakra hovering around him. Black markings that resembled flames covered the entire left side of Sasuke's face, and most likely, the left side of his entire body. Sasuke opened his eyes to reveal the Sharingan and allowed his vision to come back into focus, after which he then took notice of everyone watching him. Sensing movement not far to his right, Sasuke looked over and saw that Naruto was stirring in his sleep, on the verge of waking up. Finally, Naruto's eyes slowly fluttered open, revealing his ocean blue eyes rather than the Rinnegan. Seeing that Naruto was okay, Sasuke then turned his attention to Sakura and took in her disheveled hair, black eye, bruises, and open wounds that were still oozing fresh blood, but in smaller drops this time since the blood was clotting.
"Sakura" Sasuke said in a dark and cold tone of voice. "Who did this to you? Tell me, who was it?
Even though it could not be visibly seen, Dosu was gaping at Sasuke in open mouth shock. Somehow, this seemed all too familiar, and was sure he'd seen it somewhere. However, it had been many years ago. A dark and ominous presence hung around Sasuke like a thick blanket that seemed to choke the very air from everyone in the clearing. The dark, foul chakra now swirled around Sasuke and began to pick up speed as swirled faster and faster like a typhoon.
'Those marking...their all over his body!' Dosu observed to himself.
"Sasuke? What's happened to you?" Sakura asked as he stared up at Sasuke from her position on the ground.
Sasuke took a moment to look at himself and noticed the black flame markings on his hands. Normally, he would be a little freaked at something like this, but the only thing Sasuke was aware of was the power coursing through his veins. He felt practically invincible and he was dying to see what he could with his strange new power.
"Don't worry, I'm alright." Sasuke said after flexing his fingers a few times. "I can feel the power flowing through me. In fact, I've never felt better."
A moment later, Naruto sat up and stretched his sore muscles. It felt as though he had been asleep for weeks and his body had grown stiff from being still for so long. After yawning and stretching a few more times, Naruto rose to his feet.
"Man, that nap felt awesome! I feel like a million bucks!" Naruto exclaimed while stretching his leg muscles. As Naruto took in his surroundings, his blue eyes landed on Sakura first and his jaw nearly dropped off in shock. "Sakura-chan! What the hell happened to you? How long have I been out? Who did this to you? What's going-"
"Give it a rest dobe." Sasuke said in an aggravated tone. Naruto's loud voice and questions were giving him a migraine.
Naruto was about to make a smart remark, but his words got stuck in his throat when he looked over at his boyfriend. At seeing the black markings all over Sasuke's body and sensing the dark chakra that had become thick in the air, Naruto's jaw dropped and his eyes grew to the size of dinner plates.
"Sasuke? What in the hell?" Naruto exclaimed.
"I'm fine Naruto." Sasuke replied. "I may look a little different, but I'm alright."
Dosu, meanwhile, was starting to put two & two together as he gazed at Sasuke in horror. He'd seen that kind of pattern before while back in Otogakure, The Village Hidden in the Sound. However, that had been a number of years ago. Now, he was seeing it again and in one of it's most powerful forms. How Sasuke managed to survive, Dosu would never know.
'I understand now. Those marks on his neck that the pink haired girl spoke of, it was a Curse Mark! Who would've thought that he'd survive the Curse Seal of Heaven, on of the rarest and most powerful Curse Marks in existence?' Dosu thought to himself in realization. 'No wonder Orochimaru wants this boy so badly.'
"Sakura, get over your shock and tell me which one of these people did this to you." Sasuke said in a heated tone. He was ready to make whoever did this pay. All this power was flowing through his body and he was ready to use it on someone, anyone.
Out of all of the people who stared in awe and horror at Sasuke's transformation, Zaku was the only one to regain his composure and the cocky Sound ninja now smirked at Sasuke with no fear at all. So this little punk woke up and made a dramatic entrance...big fucking deal! If this arrogant little Uchiha thought that he was going to scare anyone with his dark chakra and piercing gaze, he had had another thing bloody well coming.
"Yeah, that would be me." Zaku said with an arrogant sneer.
Immediately, Sasuke's Sharingan eyes snapped toward Zaku, and in a slow and eerie fashion, Sasuke turned to look him in the eye. Zaku faltered for a moment before regaining his composure and returning Sasuke's glare with a glare of his own. He wasn't going to back down, especially to some rookie. Ino, along with everyone else, could only stare at Sasuke as he and Zaku stared each other down. However, she was brought out of her trance by the sound of Shikamaru's voice.
"Ino!" Shikamaru yelled in a loud whisper within the bushes they had been hiding behind before. "Hurry up and get back in you body! You don't wanna get involved in this! You too Choji, c'mon and get out of there!"
Not needing to be told twice, Choji made a run for it and joined Shikamaru in the bushes. Ino quickly released the Mind Transfer Jutsu and her soul successfully returned to her original body. She was fatigued and in a little pain, but she'd be alright. Dosu, however, looked about ready to go off the edge as he began to take a few steps back. Needless to say, Zaku noticed the subtle movements.
"Yo, Dosu, you're not getting cold feet are ya?" Zaku asked as he went through a series of hand seals for his next attack.
"Wait Zaku! You don't understand!" Dosu hollered in alarm before being seized in a fit of coughing. Zaku just didn't understand what they were up against. The time to retreat was now while they still had a chance. Any second wasted still standing there could be their last. Why didn't Zaku understand that?
"Watch this Dosu! I'll take out the whole lot of them with one attack! My strongest one yet!" Zaku said as he raised both of his palms to Squad 7 and concentrated as much of his chakra as he possibly could. "Super Sonic Slicing Wave!"
No sooner were those words spoken when an unimaginably powerful gust of air blasted from Zaku's palms and seemed to hit Squad 7 dead on. The trees, bushes, and boulders that were in the way were literally ripped to pieces as the gust of air sliced through them with no effort whatsoever. A sonic boom reverberated through the air as the attack came into contact with it's targets. Most of the ground in front of Zaku was torn away by the explosion, which was so loud that everyone in the area was forced to cover their ears or risk going deaf for rest of their days. When the smoke finally cleared and the dust finally settled, all that was left was a large, deep trench that the explosion had carved out. However, that's not what got everyone's attention. What got everyone's attention was what appeared to be a yellow, conical cocoon that stood in the middle of the trench. It appeared to be made of steel since it shone in the sunlight, but strangely, it also appeared to be made of long, sharp needles.
'Interesting jutsu.' Neji thought to himself in appreciation. It had only been a few seconds, but he had seen when Naruto had successfully managed to go through the hand seals only moments before the attack hit. Impressive jutsu speed indeed.
"Huh? What the hell is that thing?" Zaku asked in confusion.
He soon got his answer when the cocoon began to recede, revealing Squad 7 to be safe and sound with not a scratch on them...other than the ones they already had. Anyway, as the cocoon receded, it is revealed that the long, sharp needles that the cocoon had been made out of was Naruto's hair that had been hardened with chakra! In only a few seconds, the cocoon had fully receded. However, as a side effect of the jutsu, Naruto's hair had lengthened tremendously. It now dropped down to his lower back. A few strands of blonde hair hung over his eyebrows and a couple hung down to his cheeks while the rest dropped down to his back. (AN: It resembles the hair of the First Hokage without his headband. Some pictures can be found on Google Images if you don't know what I mean.) After the jutsu had canceled itself, Sakura looked up at Naruto with a confused look.
"Uh...Naruto? What did you do just now?" Sakura asked.
"Like it Sakura-chan? It's called Wild Lion's Mane Technique. Although, because of this stupid seal, I can only focus my chakra for it for so long though." Naruto said as he pulled up his shirt, showing the extra seal placed on him by Shiore. Knowledge of seals, taught to him by Jiraiya, allowed Naruto to not only distinguish it as the Five Pronged Seal, but also it's effects too. Unless the seal was removed, he'd never be able to properly focus his chakra again. Luckily, he could remove it himself, but he would need time for that, which he didn't have right now. As he pulled his shirt back down, Naruto finally took notice of his much longer hair.
"Whoa, my hair! Pervy Sage didn't say this would happen!" Naruto exclaimed as he pulled a rubberband out of his pocket and tied his hair in a long shaggy ponytail that hung almost past his butt, similar to Jiraiya's. "I wonder if this is how Pervy Sage's hair got so lo-"
Naruto was cut off in mid sentence as Sasuke grabbed both him and Sakura and pulled them both out of harm's way as a powerful stream of pressurized air impacted the spot where they had been only moments before. Zaku let out a growl of frustration as he sensed Squad 7 reappear behind him. Before he could turn around to face them, however, Sasuke struck first and effortlessly slapped Zaku away with the back of his hand, sending the male Sound shinobi rolling across the ground toward a shocked Dosu.
"Zaku!" Dosu cried in alarm before coughing again. 'Such speed! He got both of his teammates out of harm's way in the blink of an eye! I thought only the Rinnegan Master was capable of such staggering speed!'
"Naruto, take care of Sakura while I deal with these two." Sasuke said in a dark tone before going through a set of hand seals, setting both Dosu and Zaku on edge. "Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!"
After inhaling air into his lungs, Sasuke shot a series of fireballs out from his mouth that flew toward Zaku like a series of cannonballs. Zaku, however, only smirked as the fireballs came closer and closer.
"Ha, I don't think so!" Zaku said as he blasted a gust of air at the flaming balls of death. However, as Zaku found out, the flames were only part of the attack, for after the flames were blown away, a series of shuriken took their place and continued their pace toward their target. Stunned, Zaku was unable to move out of the way in time as the shurikens reached him, slashing and cutting his body as they whizzed along, causing Zaku to holler out in pain.
"No Zaku! Get down!" Dosu warned, but his warning came too late, for in the next second, Sasuke now stood on Zaku's back with one foot and he had a firm grip on the boy's arms as he hoisted them up in the air, smirking with delight. Zaku struggled to stand up and throw Sasuke off of his back, but Sasuke only pushed down harder and easily overpowered Zaku with his new strength.
"You know, you seem to be very "attached" to these arms of yours." Sasuke said as he began to pull forcefully on Zaku's arms. Alarmed, Zaku looked back to stare Sasuke in the face with a look of horror.
"Stop! What're you doing?" Zaku cried. "Let me go!"
"Sasuke! That's enough! He's learned his lesson!" Naruto cried. "Stop this!"
Sasuke's only response was a sadistic smirk as he gave one final pull with inhuman strength, leaving everyone to watch in horror as Sasuke tore Zaku's arms from their sockets. Zaku screamed as loud as he possible could, his screams of pain and agony echoing throughout the entire forest. No word could describe the pain that rampaged through Zaku's body as the joints and tendons in his arms were shredded apart. In fact, the pain was so intense that Zaku passed out just before Sasuke let him go, sending his body tumbling across the ground almost lifelessly. After making Zaku suffer, Sasuke then turned his almost demonic gaze over to Dosu, who began to tremble. For the first time in his life, Dosu was experiencing what true fear felt like.
"Looks like you're the only one left. Hopefully, you'll make things more interesting than your friend did." Sasuke said with a wild look in his eye. With evil intentions in mind, Sasuke began to make his way over to Dosu slowly, wanting to enjoy every moment of Dosu's fear. He could practically smell it in the air.
Suddenly from out of nowhere, Naruto appeared in front of Sasuke within a fraction of a second and clotheslined the Uchiha to the ground after charging forward with a burst of speed. As Sasuke recovered from the blow, he stared up at a pissed off Naruto who now sported a pair of Rinnegan eyes instead of his normal blue ones.
"What the hell has gotten into you Sasuke?" Naruto hollered. "Have you completely lost your mind?"
"The only one who has lost their mind is you Naruto!" Sasuke snapped. "Do you realize your defending the enemy? That bastard got exactly what he deserved! Now move or suffer the same fate!"
"That's it! If I have to beat some sense into you, then so be it!"
With a grunt, Naruto threw himself onto Sasuke and began to pound him in the face with lefts and rights. Sasuke rolled over and, after delivering a few blows of his own, began to slam the back of Naruto's head into the ground before Naruto reversed their positions again and continued his assault. Meanwhile, all Sakura could do was watch from the sidelines as her two teammates beat the shit out of each other. Finally, Sasuke was able to punch Naruto off of him and began to stalk his way over to the blonde with a raised kunai he had pulled out of his weapons pouch. As she watched Sasuke make his way closer to Naruto, Sakura couldn't hold back her tears any longer and let them stream freely down her face.
'He's...out of control.' Sakura thought to herself as she picked herself up. ' No...it's not him. It can't be. Whoever that is...it's not Sasuke!'
"Noooo! Sasuke stop!" Sakura screamed as she ran forward as fast as her legs could carry her.
Sasuke had just raised the kunai high above his head and was about to bring it down on Naruto's body when Sakura wrapped her arms around him from behind and embraced the Uchiha in a tight hug, the tears falling down her cheeks like a downpour. Sasuke turned his head to the side and glared at her with a dangerous look, warning her to back off.
"Please Sasuke, stop. Don't do it." Sakura pleaded as she sobbed. "Stop, please. I know you're in there Sasuke. Please, think about what you're doing."
At seeing Sakura's tears and listening to her words, Sasuke finally began to regain control of himself. His mind became clearer, his Sharingan deactivated, and the curse mark began to recede back to the spot on his neck. As he finally came to his senses, Sasuke looked at the kunai raised above his head and then he looked down at Naruto. Instantly, Sasuke's eyes widened at what he had almost done and the resulting shock of realization knocked him off his feet and flat on his butt, breathing heavily.
"It's alright Sasuke. It's over now." Sakura said softly as Sasuke began to calm down a little. However, both Sasuke and Sakura snapped to attention when Dosu began to clap.
"Bravo. I must admit, you're strong Sasuke." Dosu said as he held out his team's "Earth" scroll. "In fact, you're too strong. Neither my team nor I can hope to defeat you the way you are now. So, I'll strike you a deal: I'll give you our "Earth"scroll in exchange for letting us go. I believe you've earned it."
With that, Dosu laid the blue scroll on the ground and turned his back as he walked over to retrieve his two unconscious teammates. As he gathered them, he turned to Squad 7 to deliver one final message.
"We may have underestimated you Sasuke, but at least we found out what we needed to know." Dosu said as he picked up Kin from the ground. "For the moment, we're even. However, if we should ever again meet in combat, I promise you that we will neither run nor hide."
With nothing else left to say, Dosu turned and began to walk away from the clearing with his two unconscious teammates. Before he could actually leave the clearing, he was stopped by Sakura. The pink haired kunoichi still had questions that she wanted answered.
"Wait a second! I still want answers! Who is Orochimaru, what has he done to Sasuke, and why only Sasuke?" Sakura hollered so that her questions could be heard. She wasn't going to let Dosu get off that easily.
"I don't know. All I know is that we were told to target Sasuke, and so we did." Dosu answered in an aggravated tone. "However, I don't know why he sent us to assassinate someone on whom he'd bestowed such powers. I don't even know how Sasuke managed to survive the Curse Seal of Heaven. It is one of the most powerful Curse Mark Seals ever created and surviving it is a rare case. Though, as I said, I don't know how Sasuke managed to survive. In fact, there are a lot of things I don't know."
With no more questions to ask, Sakura allowed Dosu to turn and walk safely out of the clearing. Seeing as how there was no more danger, Sasuke slowly rose to his feet and walked over towards Naruto.
"You okay?" Sasuke asked as he extended his hand.
"Yeah...just fine." Naruto said as he allowed Sasuke to help him up.
"Sorry about what happened. I don't know what came over me."
"Don't worry about it teme. Besides, I let you have that one anyway. I could've easily kicked your ass if I'd have wanted to, believe it!"
Sasuke let out a frustrated growl before letting out his usual "Hn" and turning his back. He wasn't about to stoop to Naruto's level and play that game again. However, Sasuke was caught off guard when Naruto turned him around and pulled him into a deep kiss, having pulled down his face mask only a second ago.
"I'm still glad you're okay though." Naruto said after breaking away and pulling his mask back up. Sasuke only looked at him for a moment before giving a smile, but genuine, smile.
Moments later, Squad 10 reemerged from the bushes and split up to check on everyone and make sure they were okay.
Meanwhile, Neji and Tenten continued to watch from overhead as Squad 10 scurried about below. Neji, specifically, had his eyes on Sasuke as he was looked over by Sakura, apparently their team's medical ninja. Naruto, meanwhile, had walked over to Team Dosu's "Earth" scroll where he used some kind of gravity technique to pull the scroll into the palm of his hand.
'That was no ordinary chakra. Most likely, Sasuke's Uchiha blood is what kept him alive.' Neji thought. 'I had no idea that the Uchiha Clan was so strong. Hmm, it seems Sasuke is a more powerful opponent than I could've imagined.'
As Neji and Tenten watched from above, one other person caught Neji's eye. It wasn't the boy with the Rinnegan, no. It was the boy who had his hair tied up in a spiky ponytail and who was currently talking to Naruto. Even though everyone thought that Neji and Tenten had shown up after Squad 10 had been backed into a corner, the two had actually arrived before then. Only, they had masked their chakra signatures so they wouldn't be detected, for Neji wanted to scope out their competition. Throughout the whole fight, however, Neji had only paid attention to the boy from the Nara Clan. The Hyuga genius had seen the boy around the village every now and then and, to be quite honest, he interested the Hyuga. The boy's laid back attitude and hidden talent drew Neji to him in ways that Neji himself could not explain. When Neji would see him, he would always feel this fluttering feeling in his stomach. So when Neji ran into him back at the clearing, his heart had almost skipped a beat when the boy had stepped out. Of course, Neji had to remain himself at that moment, and with the boy's team around, he could not approach the Nara Clan member like he had wanted to anyway.
Still, this fluttering feeling in his stomach perplexed Neji to no end. He'd never felt this feeling before and it only seemed to happen when that boy from the Nara Clan was around. At night, Neji would spend hours trying to figure out this feeling, but after not being able to come up with anything, he'd opted for watching the boy from afar. Still, Neji did wish he knew the boy's name, however, that would have to wait till later. Right now, they needed to retrieve Lee and get out of here.
"Tenten, lets hurry up and get Lee back to his feet. We need to get moving." Neji said in a commanding tone.
"Sure thing Neji. You wait here, and I'll be right back." Tenten replied as she stood up from one knee.
Moving with great agility, Tenten leaped from the tree branch that she and Neji had stood on and landed gracefully on the ground in front of Ino, who was carrying Lee on her shoulders. Startled, Ino looked up.
"Ino, thanks for looking after Lee. I can take it from here." Tenten said from her kneeled position on the ground.
"Uh...alright." Ino said reluctantly as she handed Lee over to his female team member.
At first, everything seemed normal as Tenten grabbed Lee from off of Ino's shoulders...that is until...
"C'mon Lee, pull it together! Snap out of it, alright?" Tenten yelled as she violently shook Lee back and forth until the green spandex wearing boy finally woke up with a groan.
"T-Tenten? Is that you? What are you doing here?" Lee asked groggily.
"I came to help you out. Why else would I be here?" Tenten replied.
"But...where are those Sound ninja guys?"
"Sasuke took care of them, but don't worry about him. He'll be okay. However, what I wanna know is, what were you thinking running into danger by yourself? Look at you Lee. You're a total mess!"
"Well, Sakura was in trouble so...I had to do something, right?"
'He's gotta be kidding. He had to know that we didn't stand a chance alone against all of those guys.' "That was pretty darn stupid, don't you think? You could've been killed."
"Yeah...I guess I cannot argue with that."
As Lee and Tenten conversed among themselves, they were interrupted by Sakura, who had walked over to give Lee her thanks. He'd risked his life to save, even when he didn't have to, and Sakura was eternally grateful. She honestly couldn't thank Lee enough, and a simple thank you just didn't seem good enough. Still, that was better than nothing.
"Lee...thank you. Because of you, I was able to stand up for myself and...I've also become a little stronger too." Sakura said in sincere thanks.
At first, Lee didn't not say anything, but after a minute, he smiled and seemed about ready to burst into tears.
"Thank you Sakura." Lee said as his voice cracked with emotion. "However, I guess my efforts alone were not good enough."
At that moment, Naruto and Sasuke walked up to rejoin the others, holding hands. Naruto had deactivated his Rinnegan since there was no more danger for the time being and Sasuke injuries from his battle against Shiore had fully healed, thanks to Sakura's medical skills.
"So Sasuke...it appears that you are as good as your reputation, just what I would expect of someone from the Uchiha Clan." Lee said to him after he and Naruto walked up. "To chase off those ninja, you must be very strong indeed. Not like me, however. I just got beaten to a pulp."
At hearing this news, Sasuke's eyes widened in shock. Instantly, the battle between Lee and Naruto back at the Ninja Academy flashed through his mind. Lee had been so powerful then, being able to keep up with Naruto's moves and moving in ways Sasuke thought impossible. For those guys to have beaten Lee must've meant that were insanely strong, however Sasuke had defeated them as though they were nothing.
'What's he talking about, "beaten to a pulp"? Is he serious? Were those guys really that strong?' Sasuke thought to himself. 'The power of the Curse Mark...it's unbelievable!'
Meanwhile, instead of joining the others, Ino stood outside of the crowd, watching Sakura with mixed emotions. One part of her, the small part of her, was happy that Sakura was alive and well while the other bigger part of her was still wishing that the pink haired girl would die. As she watched the girl who could've possibly been her lover, Ino decided that she and Sakura were better off as rivals. Knowing her, Sakura probably wouldn't return her feelings anyway. And even though it hurt, Ino had to let her feelings for the girl go. Otherwise, the heartache would never go away. Still, before she left, Ino wanted to be physically close to Sakura. She wanted to feel her wonderful body heat and inhale her intoxicating scent at least one more time. As she watched the pink haired girl, Ino noticed that Sakura's hair was still a complete mess. Suddenly, a lightbulb went off in Ino's head and she formed an idea.
"Hey Billboard Brow! Come over here and let me do something with that mess you call hair!"
Meanwhile, a few hours after overcoming Orochimaru and the almost unbearable pain of the Curse Seal of Heaven, Anko Mitarashi had managed to make her way to the tower in the center of the Forest of Death. Upon her arrival, she'd filled the Anbu Blacks Ops that were stationed there in on what had happened and Orochimaru's presence within the village. Now, her and two other Anbu were discussing about what they should do. If they were to stop the exams and put the village on high alert, it could possibly make things ten times as worse. So now, they were at a fork in the road and getting nowhere.
"This is turning into a real mess, but there's no way we can cancel the test at a time like this." Anko said in frustration as she banged her fist on the arm of the chair.
"What do you mean?" one of the Anbu asked her.
Before Anko could answer, one of the other Chunin within the tower appeared in the doorway looking frantic. The male Chunin had tan skin and dark blue hair, as well as a goatee. He was breathing heavily from having run all the way upstairs and he had to stop and catch his breath before speaking.
"Sorry to interrupt, Lady Anko." he said breathlessly.
"This had better be good. We were talking about something important you know!" Anko snapped. This was a dire situation and she didn't feel like being disturbed right now with something trivial.
"Uh...I'm sorry, but it's urgent. Anyway, you have to see this tape." the Chunin said as held up a mysterious black tape for all to see.
"What exactly is it?" the other Anbu ninja asked.
Instead of responding verbally, the male unnamed Chunin officer went to the television at the front of the room and slipped the tape into the VCR. At first, all that appeared was static before the male Chunin began to adjust the knobs and dials on the old fashioned television set.
"Now when you look at this, be sure to pay special attention to the time." the male Chunin instructed.
A moment, later, the tape began to play and Anko, the Anbu, and the male Chunin officer were looking at Gaara's team as they arrived at tower. Like the Chunin had instructed, the Anbu ninja and Anko looked at the time and almost gasped out loud in shock.
"No, that can't be right." Anko said in disbelief, her eyes wide.
"I'm afraid the time is right on the dot Anko. This was recorded from inside the tower, and even though this is my third time looking at it, I still can't believe it myself." The male Chunin said as he took a side glance at Anko and the others. "Those Sand ninja finished only an hour and thirty-seven minutes after the test started. They completely destroyed the record for finishing the second test."
"But...that's impossible." Anko said. First Orochimaru shows up from out of nowhere, and then these kids finish in record breaking time. Honestly, it was just one surprise after another!
"Well apparently, it really is possible. It took them only ninety-seven minutes." the male Chunin officer replied. "In all the years that the Chunin Exams have been going on, this has never happened before. In fact, no one has even come close. I don't know about you, but if you ask me, those ninja from Sunagakure are way above Genin level. I mean, they beat the old record by four hours!"
As Anko continued to watch the tape, she paid very close attention to Gaara's appearance and noticed something even more surprising than his record breaking time. It was something that was very...unusual to say the least.
"I'm afraid it's not just their time that's shocking." Anko said as she stood up and walked toward the television.
"Huh? What do you mean?" the male Chunin officer asked.
"Think about it. It's ten kilometers from the entrance gates to the tower, and in between are ferocious animals and poisonous insects, not to mention the other ninja. So...how could they have avoided all of those things, especially that red haired kid in the front?" Anko said as she walked over to the window to look out at the forest.
"Wait, I'm lost. What's so special about him?" the male Chunin officer asked.
"You mean you don't see it? Even after you've seen it three times?" Anko asked incredulously. How could he miss something so obvious? Hmph, and he was supposed to be a Chunin. "Rewind the tape and watch it again."
Doing as Anko said, the Chunin officer rewound the tape and watched it again with the two Anbu ninja. At first, they didn't notice anything wither, but after looking a little more closely, they finally saw what Anko was talking about.
"Interesting. Yeah, that is quite a surprise." on the Anbu said.
"Sorry, but I still don't get it. What exactly am I supposed to be looking at here?" the Chunin asked, starting to become a little annoyed.
"It's not what you see, it's what you're not seeing." Anko said, giving him a side glance. "Rewind it and watch it again, closely this time and pay attention to his body."
The Chunin officer did as he was told and rewinded tape once more. After pressing the play button, he made sure to pay close attention to Gaara when he stopped in front of the camera. So far, Gaara looked completely normal. He wasn't injured or anything and he appeared to be perfectly...
That's it!
"I see it now." the officer said. "He's...completely clean. There's not even a speck of dirt on him anywhere."
"That's right. Not even a scratch." Anko said. "And as you just said, there's not even a speck of dirt on his clothing. The kid is completely unharmed."
'This doesn't make any sense. Not even I nor the other Chunin could make it all the way here without so much as a scratch. I fact, it's damn near impossible!' the male Chunin officer thought to himself.
"That kid must have some kind of special ability, like a kekkei genkai or something." one of the Anbu suggested.
"Yeah, it's been a long time since we've had such a promising candidate." the other Anbu ninja agreed. "And either way you look at it, one thing is for sure: that kid has an evil glare in his eyes. It creeps me out just looking at him through a video."
After looking over the tape one more time to make sure they had not missed anything, Anko, the Anbu, and the Chunin officer cut off the tape and began to discuss the situation involving Orochimaru, as well as the mystery of how Gaara managed to get through the Forest of Death without so much as a grain of dirt staining his clothes.
Alright everyone, this is where this chapter ends. I'd like to thank all of you who have read it so far, and don't forget to review. I know there was very little yaoi in this one, but I'll still try and add it in whenever I can. In the next chapter, Naruto and his team begin their race to tower and run into Team Oboro along the way. Wanna know what happens. Stay tuned and find out! On a completely unrelated note, I finished my exams today! I wish all of you a happy summer and be sure to review, review, review!
