The Sharingan Revived, Dragon-Flame Jutsu!
The Sasuke I knew would never stand scared, he wasn't afraid of anything. After his clan was massacred those years ago, he's never shed a single tear. Not once has he cried, or shown any emotion since that night.
"Okay, say what you want about Naruto." Sakura yelled. "That he's a pest, that he gets in the way, that he's just a kid."
"But at least he's doing something." I added. I closed my eyes, suppressing the tears I felt coming. "At least, he's no coward!"
My hands clenched into fists. We weren't even in the forest ten minutes, and we were already made a target by one of the creepiest ninja in the Chūnin exams. One of my teammates is unconscious and looks like road kill, and the other is frozen stiff in the heat of battle. And the only thing Sakura and I can do is watch, and that killed me inside.
But then, I sensed a spike in chakra, and I looked up and saw Sasuke had activated his Sharingan, and suddenly, I wished I could retract the coward statement.
"Looks like our boy's back in the game." Helena chuckled.
I just hoped that we would survive this.
Sasuke whipped out a kunai knife and held it between his teeth, charging towards the Kusa demon. If the seal wasn't activated, I probably wouldn't have been able to see every attack that each ninja threw. Sasuke threw punches left and right, only to be blocked by the grass ninja.
But she was no slow poke either, her moves were quicker than the naked eye could follow. If it wasn't for Sasuke's Sharingan, than he might not be a match for her, but the two were fighting on nearly equal ground.
Once he got the visual he needed, Sasuke unleashed a barrage of fire attacks. The flames lit the forest in some areas, but the grass demon kept dodging them.
"Damn, she's fast." Helena thought. "I wonder if Sasuke can keep up with her."
I was wondering the exact same thing.
As the seconds past, the fight grew more and more intense. My eyes followed each and every move, focused on Sasuke. He dodged the grass ninja's attacks with precision, gaining upper advantages.
But the grass ninja had tricks of her own, like her powerful wind technique that could level the whole forest if she desired. She used that technique to try and catch Sasuke off guard, but since he had his Sharingan activated, that was damn near impossible.
"You do realize we'll be severed into pieces of that wind jutsu hits us, right?" Helena said.
The grass ninja used the technique once more. I blinked and suddenly felt a rush of power.
"Sakura, let's get to another spot, where we'll be safe." I told her, grabbing her wrist.
She nodded in agreement and we jumped from the branch, right before is was destroyed.
I followed Sasuke's movements as he swung to a different spot, catching the grass ninja off guard.
"Wow, amazing." Sakura sighed.
"No joke." I agreed.
In the midst of the fight, Sasuke caught the grass ninja off guard long enough to use a technique that I knew to be called the Peregrine Falcon Drop, a move I remember being discussed about in our taijutsu class at the Academy.
Judging from the impact made by the technique, it looked like Sasuke had won the fight. But, it ended up being a earth style substitution, meaning it wasn't the real ninja Sasuke had beaten.
"Sasuke!" Sakura called.
I gulped, "Just what kind of demon is she?" I asked aloud, not really expecting an answer.
I leaned against the trunk for support, and noticed I was leaning on something soft. I turned my head and gasped, my hands and arms were completely black, covered in fur.
"You seem to be affected by that paralysis more than normal, so I gave you some of my power to counteract it." Helena said. "So thank me for saving you ass, or now I guess, tail."
I glanced back and saw that I did indeed, have a tail. Judging from the form I was in, Helena advanced the seal to Stage Two, the half-beast stage. My senses were heightened, so I could hear, see, and smell things from a farther distance.
The grass ninja approached Sasuke, who was laying on the tree branch. "What a disappointment you turned out to be." she chuckled. "You're ancestors weep."
Sasuke's eyes opened, Sharingan still activated, and three little bombs went off behind the grass ninja, catching her off balance. Then, Sasuke jumped up, and threw shuriken at the enemy, with wire attached to them, making them easier to control. A technique that came to be known as the Windmill Triple Attack, a very simple technique really.
The user first attaches strings beforehand onto the tossed shuriken and the kunai thrown after it, then one shuriken is pulled back using a tree as an axis, based on the yo-yo's principle. The other shuriken and kunai are decoys, and the true attack is the shuriken that is pulled back using the force of the thrown kunai. The trick in making this technique successful is to somehow be able to read the enemy's movements, which normally would require the Sharingan.
"Cleaver move on Sasuke's part." Helena chuckled.
My tail wagged, "Nice one Sasuke." I muttered.
The wire tied our little grass demon to the tree trunk, keeping her there, right where Sasuke wanted her. He held the wire clenched in his teeth, and did a sequence if four signs, Snake → Dragon → Rabbit → Tiger, another powerful Fire technique.
"Fire Style: Dragon Flame Jutsu!" Sasuke yelled, as a powerful fire raced down the wire, right for the grass ninja. The flame was so intense it burned right through the tree itself, charring it.
"He did it." Sakura giggled.
I blinked, "Incredible." I gasped. "That was awesome."
"No one can beat Sasuke!" Sakura cheered. The two of us slapped a high five and laughed.
We joined Sasuke down where he was, as he was catching his breath.
"It's alright Sasuke, you defeated her." I told him. "That was great."
"Of course we never doubted you for a second." Sakura added.
However, the grass ninja was still alive, even after the Dragon Flame technique. I smelt the scent of rotting flesh and turned towards it, only to see a golden-yellow eye with a slit pupil a light purple marks around it. Then, I felt another paralyzing sensation, but I could still move, if only a little.
"What the hell?" Helena's voice came out of my mouth.
"Such mastery of the Sharingan at so young an age." said the grass ninja, only her voice became deeper as she continued to speak. "You are defiantly of the Uchiha blood." he continued.
"That voice." I shuddered.
"It can't be." Helena gasped.
"Yes you are defiantly his brother." he continued to say. "If anything, your eyes are even keener than Itatchi's."
I gasped, how could he know about him? Just who was this guy?
"Who are you!? What do you want?" Sasuke yelled.
The strange ninja, who's headband symbol had changed from the Kusa symbol, to the Oto symbol, the Hidden Sound symbol, held up the scroll he took from Naruto. "My name is Orochimaru." he introduced, igniting our Heaven scroll. "As for what I want, you'll figure it out when you finish this test with the best score of all."
"The scroll." Sakura and I gasped.
"First you will have to defeat the three Sound ninja who serve me." Orochimaru added.
"We have no idea what you're talking about!" I screamed.
"If you're finished with us, then beat it!" Sakura added.
I clenched my hands into fists, "If we ever meet again it'll be too soon." I growled.
"Oh I assure you, he and I will meet again." Orochimaru chuckled, forming a hand sign that was unfamiliar to me. Then, he neck became like rubber and he latched his fangs right into Sasuke's neck.
Sakura and I gasped in unison, "Sasuke!"
Orochimaru pulled away, smiling and licking his lips. I looked at Sasuke's neck and right above the two fang marks, appeared three black tomoe in a circle.
"The Cursed Seal of Heaven." Helena gasped, her spirit backing away into my subconscious mind.
"What?" I asked her, following her there.
I again found myself in my subconscious, speaking with Helena. She leaned against the dark wall, her arms folded around herself.
"Answer me!" I yelled at her. "What is this 'Cursed Seal of Heaven'?" I asked.
Helena shivered. "It's a high level technique, known as Juinjutsu, or 'Cursed Seal Techniques'." she answered, gulping. "It's a type of technique used to bring someone under the control of the user. By applying a seal to the victim's body, the user brings the victim's abilities and actions under his/her control. With a simple secret hand seal, the user can inflict great mental and physical torment on the victim. The exact workings of juinjutsu are kept secret."
Now it was my turn to gulp. "How do you know this?"
"Because it was juinjutsu that gave me the seal of the wolf demon." Helena answered.
"What's gonna happen to Sasuke now?" I asked, tears welling in my eyes.
Tears were also welling in Helena's, and she wouldn't answer me.
"What did you do to Sasuke?" Sakura's voice echoed.
As soon as I heard Orochimaru's chuckle, I snapped back to reality. "I just gave him a parting gift." he said. "Pretty soon, Sasuke will seek me out, desiring more power. In meantime, I enjoyed seeing the powers he already posses." and with that, Orochimaru disappeared.
Sasuke collapsed on his knees, gasping. I caught him, trying to sooth him. "Sasuke." I whimpered, tears falling down from my eyes.
He was yelling in pain, and he didn't look well either. It pained me to see my best friend like this, and there was nothing it could do.
"Wait, there might be something." I thought.
"Kristin, isn't there anything we can do?" Sakura asked, tearing up as well.
I nodded. "I have one idea, just don't hit me on the nose again." I told her, leaning my mouth closer to Sasuke neck.
"What are you gonna do?" Sakura asked.
"Maybe get some venom out." I answered, hoping it would work.
I bit down over the two puncture wounds from the fangs and began to suck, gathering a little bit of blood at a time, and from what else I tasted, some kind of venom. I spit out what I gathered and continued the routine.
After about five cycles, Sasuke collapsed in my arms.
"Sasuke!" Sakura screamed.
I placed two fingers, which were now technically claws, to the side of his neck, and felt a steady, if not rapid, pulse rate. "He's fine, for now anyway." I said.
Sakura began to cry. "What can we do? They're both hurt, how can we help them?" she asked, wiping her tears.
I did the same. "The only thing we can do right now is get the boys to a safe location and rest until they wake up." I told her, slipping Sasuke onto my back. I then focused my chakra and envisioned my final form, the Black Wolf. I positioned my hands and began the sequence, Snake-Dragon-Ox-Ram-Tiger-Dog-Snake-Rat-Dog. And then, I felt my skeletal system change into the full anatomy of the Wolf. My back slanted down, snout elongated, fangs sharpened, claws extended, and then, my senses were keener than ever before, but I was in complete control.
"Wow." was all Sakura had to say.
"Let's get the boys outta here." I said.
She followed me up to where Naruto was and slung him over my back like Sasuke was. And with the added weight, I believed I knew what a Camel felt like. Sakura picked up my backpack and carried it, and kept pace with me.
The sun had almost set when we came across a river and we stopped there to get a drink.
"Man, it's a good think Kakashi-sensei packed this for us." Sakura said, filling up the four thermoses.
I lapped up the water from the river, trying to get the taste of blood and acid out of my mouth. "I guess so." I replied. "I don't know if it was the sensei or the father in him that made him pack it."
"As long as it can help us get the boys back on their feet." Sakura sighed, screwing the lid onto the last thermos.
I lapped up a couple more gulps of water. "Come on, it'll be dark soon, and we want to at least have shelter before the moon rises." I advised.
We continued our walk until we came to a tree whose roots were above ground, forming a small dome to hide in.
"That looks good enough to me." Sakura said.
I nodded and ran towards it, ducking under the root to get inside. Sakura set my backpack down in the corner, and carefully took the boys from my back, Naruto first, then Sasuke, and laid them down on their backs.
I regressed the transformation and popped my knuckles and back, sighing in relief to be back in my human form.
"Feeling okay?" Sakura asked me.
I smiled back at her. "I'm okay, really." I turned to the boys. "It's them we need to worry about."
Sakura looked down at them too. "Guess it's up to us for the time being." she muttered.
"Appears so." I agreed.
The moon was full in the sky, and just because it was night, doesn't mean we're completely safe. I just hope that for the time being, no one attacks us.
I guess I was right when I said it was going to be a long five days. I glanced out into the night, "Shikamaru. Choji. I pray you both are alright out there." I thought. "Please stay alive out there, for me." tears fell from my eyes and hit the soft ground beneath my legs.
I gripped the cloth of my skirt and tried to catch my breath. I hope everyone was okay out there, us Thirteen Rookies, anyway.
Sakura and I had a plan to take turns guarding the boys, but we both just ended up falling asleep. I used the roots as a base to lean against, and the sun's rays hit me eyelids directly.
I rubbed my eyes and yawned. "Man, could it be any more brighter?" I asked.
I leaned forward and tapped Sakura's shoulder. "Hey girl, wake up." I whispered.
Her eyes gently opened, and she smiled at me. "Morning." she murmured.
"Morning." I replied, smiling.
We both glanced down at the boys, who were still out cold.
"Daybreak." I sighed, noticing the sun's rays coming through the tree roots.
Next time…
Helena: He was the last person I would expect to help us out.
Kristin: Perfect timing.
Sakura: Even though we're enemies on this test, he's still fighting his hardest to protect us. Maybe I was wrong about him before.
Kristin: Maybe I was too.
Helena: No matter what you two say, I still think he's a bit weird. Next time: Bushy Brow's Pledge: Undying Love and Protection!
Kristin and Sakura: Thank you, Rock Lee.
A/N: Well there you go guys, Orochimaru has officially been introduced, and you also learned a bit more about Helena's demon seal, that Kristin now bears. Hope you all are looking forward to the next exciting chapter^^ Review please.
XOXO~Cyber
