Chapter 29: And all hell broke loose, with candy canes and licorice sticks.
I don't own Naruto, any of its characters, or any references in this story. If I did, horrible things would happen. I do own all OCs and new jutsu in the story.
o. o. o.
With Gaara's team:
"Hey, Temari…" Kankuro whispered as they followed their brother through the massive forest. "Have you noticed something… off about Gaara lately? … Well, off for him, I mean?"
Temari snuck a glance at her red headed little brother before she turned her attention to Kankuro. "You mean aside the fact that he's actually listening to our advice from time to time and that he hasn't threatened to kill us nearly as much as he normally does? Seriously, if it weren't for the fact that we're vital pieces in the upcoming war on Konoha, I would be both jumping for joy and expecting mom to rise from the grave to eat us all at the same time…"
Kankuro shivered. "I know what you mean. Gaara is finally acting more… human, and we're both expecting the world to end because of it…"
"You know, I can hear everything you two are saying…" Gaara droned, nearly causing his siblings to shit themselves. Because he was in front, the two elder siblings did not see Gaara almost smirk. True, their reactions to his slightly adjusted behavior were a bit disheartening, but even though he appeared to have a no-nonsense attitude, it didn't mean he couldn't pull a small joke on people once in a while. Besides, it was a limited opportunity; after they got used to him acting like this, he wouldn't be able to pull this trick again. "… If you two really don't approve of my current behavior … I could always…" The cork of his gourd started to unscrew itself slowly.
"NO! NO! We like the new you! Don't we, Temari?!" Kankuro almost screamed franticly.
"YES! YES WE DO!" Agreed Temari in an almost hysterical manner. Gaara had to admit, if it weren't for the fact that they actually thought he was going to kill him and that they thought he was still a homicidal maniac, even he would be laughing to a small degree.
… He really needed to stop hanging around Naruto so much. He had only spent a few days with the blonde, and he was already pulling small jokes on his siblings… not that anyone noticed yet, of course. "We were just curious about your… change. It's… different from what we're used to…"
Gaara sighed as he pondered what his two elder siblings were thinking while ignoring Shukaku's drunken rants for blood. While Kankuro still needed a bit of work, Temari had always shown at least SOME concern for him, even when he was looking for blood. To know that she was concerned about him and actually saying it to him meant that his change in behavior was more apparent than he originally thought. True, he still threatened to kill them every once in a while – well, Kankuro more often than not - , but he was really just tired of saying it all the damn time. Honestly, did he really love to kill THAT much when he was this age? The thought of even potentially saving his father was less and less appealing, now more than ever.
"… It's nothing…" Gaara answered in a monotone voice. "... nothing you have to concern yourself with…"
o. o. o.
With Naruto's team:
"Wow." Naruto mused as he sniffed the air in the forest and ran through the tree branches with his team. "I never thought that I would find a place that smells naturally more threatening and lethal than Anko's apartment… or Kiba's laundry… but I was proven completely wrong. This place is completely filled with poisons, deadly animals, carcasses…"
"We get it dobe, this place is deadly. You can shut up now." Sasuke growled.
"Was Kiba's laundry really that bad?" Sakura asked curiously. "You would think that since he lived in the Inuzuka clan compound, they wouldn't mind that much…"
Naruto shook his head. "Hana-sensei told me that it's so bad that he had to do his own laundry by the time he was eight because no one else in the family would get near it anymore. At one point, he smelled so bad that they actually kicked him out of the compound until he did his laundry 'cause they couldn't wait for him to clean his clothes."
Sasuke smirked. "Thanks for the blackmail material, dobe."
Naruto nodded. "Anytime, teme."
Sakura hung her head down. "Ugh. Boys. Wait, how do you even know what Kiba's laundry smells like?"
Naruto sighed. "It involves a long story involving illegal betting, Ero-nii, Hana-sensei, several lessons on espionage, and a LOOOOOT of stolen panties. Do you really want to know?" His teammates shook their heads franticly, desiring to save themselves the mental images as Naruto paused for a moment as something caught both his sense of smell and his Seventh Sense. He continued on for a few seconds before landing on the ground. "Hold on a sec, guys. I gotta piss." He laughed a bit before brushing his thumb against his nose once and walking into the woods alone with his fingers laced behind his head. Sasuke and Sakura frowned a bit as he left their eyesight.
"Don't take too long, dobe…" Sasuke growled.
"I told you not to drink that much before the Exams started, dumbass!" Sakura yelled angrily.
The pair waited several minutes before Naruto came out of the bushes again. "Ahhh. Bladder's nice and empty, guys." He claimed as he walked towards the pair with a goofy grin. "Now let's get…" WHAM! Sasuke decked Naruto hard in the face, sending him into a tree, where he was momentarily stunned as Sakura pinned him in place with several kunai and shuriken. "What the hell!" Naruto shouted. "What the hell are you doing?!"
"Can it." Sakura growled as she canceled the transformation technique on the boy, revealing the Ame genin that, ironically enough, had attacked them in the same manner the previous time they took the Exams. "Naruto knew you were there in the first place and told us, as well as the fact that you didn't signal us that you were actually him…"
"Wow. I'm surprised." The real Naruto commented as he walked out of the bushes. "You guys actually managed to take him down before I could come back from my break." He laughed as he walked back with his fingers laced behind his head.
"What?!" The Ame-nin shouted. "But I tied you up!"
Naruto shrugged. "Shadow clone." He replied simply. "You know, it's pretty rude and risky to attack someone while they're taking a leak. What if they turn around? Then you have to spend the entire day smelling like…"
"Naruto!" Sasuke and Sakura shouted at once to shut up their teammate.
Naruto sheepishly chuckled. "Right. Sorry." He turned to Sasuke. "Did he have anything interesting?"
Sasuke smirked as he held up an earth scroll, exactly what they needed. "Yep…" He smirked as he tossed it to Naruto.
Naruto mimicked his teammate as he put the scroll in his pouch. "Nice. Take his other equipment too, just in case…"
"Unlucky…" The genin growled. "If you little kids think…"
Sakura interrupted the man quickly as she blazed through some hand signs. "Yeah, that's nice. Good night." As she finished speaking, the genin instantly fell asleep due to the genjutsu Sakura had put on him. Afterwards the team searched their unconscious victim for any equipment and useful items and promptly removed them from his possession.
The genin started towards the tower and were travelling for a few minutes when the conversation started again. "How long will the genjutsu that you put on him last?" Sasuke asked curiously.
Sakura shrugged. "Long enough, hopefully. If something happens to us we MIGHT end up seeing him again in the forest, but otherwise we'll have passed the test long before he wakes up…"
Naruto shrugged. "Sweet." He turned to Sasuke. "By the way, did you see any of those teams that were weak against genjutsu in this part of the exam, teme?"
Sasuke nodded. "Yeah, a few of them passed, but they were all walking to the other side of the training grounds when all the teams were sent to their gates, so I doubt we'll run into them. Not like we actually need to now, really."
Naruto smirked. "Ah, who cares? Anyways, we have both scrolls, so I guess this means…"
"NO!" Sasuke and Sakura shouted at once. "Don't even THINK along those lines! You know that when you do, something horrendously bad happens…"
Naruto was about to say something witty when he paled dramatically. "… shit…"
Sakura looked at Naruto nervously. "There's someone obscenely strong near us, isn't there?"
Naruto gulped in confirmation. "I hate you SO much right now, dobe…" Sasuke growled as the wind started to pick up near the three.
"GET DOWN!" Naruto roared as he formed the dragon sign and attempted to focus the air so that it wouldn't blow them all away. The other two immediately reacted by diving into some nearby bushes for cover. Despite Naruto's skill in air manipulation, he was having a hell of a time not getting blown away… not that he wasn't going to eventually let himself, mind you, but it was the first time that someone other than Ghost had actually proven to be more potent in large scale wind based attacks then he was.
Sasuke and Sakura gaped from the bushes as they actually saw Naruto's air defenses struggle against the massive gale assaulting him while blowing away nearby bushes and massive tree branches as if they were nothing. They had known that the blonde could control the air around him, of course, but this was the first time they could actually SEE it in action against something big. They saw Naruto holding his arms up in front of him while dust and other debris flashed by, curving around an invisible shield that was roughly 3 meters across. Naruto kept up this shield for roughly 15 seconds before he 'lost' control after getting hit in the head by a small rock and getting blown away.
"Naruto!" The remaining two members of Team 7 shouted as the blonde was launched deep into the forest. Soon afterwards, the wind died down.
"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura cried out. "We have to get to Naruto, quick!"
Sasuke frowned. "… I think there's a problem with that plan, Sakura…" He turned to the direction that the wind attack had originated from.
Sakura turned to where Sasuke was facing and stared intently. Within several moments, she could hear the footsteps of someone not even trying to hide their presence anymore. "Kukukuku…"
o. o. o.
With Naruto:
"God Damn It That Fucking Hurt!" Naruto shouted as he managed to crawl out of the debris he was temporarily part of. Shaking himself vigorously to get the shivers out of his system, he steadied himself and had a good look around while reaching out with his Seventh Sense. It took him almost no time to notice that something was seriously wrong. Yes, there was indeed a giant snake right behind him, but there were also two people hiding nearby and observing his every move. That did not bode well, as the snake took the initiative and snuck up behind the blonde.
Naruto thought frantically about what he should do as the snake closed in on him. He COULD go ape shit on the snake and try to take the two men out soon afterwards, but he had a sneaking suspicion that these two men were the guys that Orochimaru had snuck into the exam with him under the guise of the Kusa genin team. Ghost had told Naruto that he himself had no fucking clue as to what happened to the pair, and he should expect that, in a worst case scenario, they would move in as well. If that was the case, then showing off was definitely not the smart thing to do.
That being the case, the smart thing to do would be to kill the snake from the inside by getting eaten and blowing it up with a lot of shadow clones so that his opponents would still be left in the dark about his abilities. Hopefully, if he stayed long enough in the snake's stomach, the enemy would assume he's dead before busting his way out. Yeah… something was definitely wrong with that idea, for some odd reason.
Well then, it was time for plan C… improvise a cunning plan and distract with childish behavior. Deciding to get back into character moments later, Naruto looked around as if he couldn't tell he was surrounded. "Where the hell am I?" He mumbled to himself. "Oi Teme! Sakura! You guys there?!"
At this point the snake was right behind Naruto and rearing its giant head. Mentally sighing and weeping to himself, Naruto decided to finally act and turned around suspiciously. Just like last time, he dodged out of the way from the initial bite, only to be bitch slapped by the tail of the monstrosity and quickly eaten afterwards. He would spare the giant purse five minutes, then it would enjoy the rest of its existence as jambalaya.
o. o. o.
Outside the doomed reptile:
"Well. That was… fast." Grumbled the first crony.
"Yeah." Replied the second from another tree. "From what Orochimaru-sama told us, you would have assumed that the brat would completely butcher the summon … or at least lasted longer than five seconds."
The first chuckled. "Kabuto must be slipping. You can't really blame him, being a spy and Orochimaru-sama's right hand man for so long. I mean come on, a sensor, kage-level reserves, and a strong wind element at age 13? I mean, come on. We are shinobi, but there are limits, for crying out loud."
The second chuckled, agreeing with his partner. The pair of ninja that accompanied Orochimaru were handpicked for their stealth, espionage, and acting skills, both being ranked special jōnin due to their talents. Their combat skills were not the greatest in the Sound village, but that wasn't really needed considering that they were in the Chūnin Exams, of all things. The pair of them could easily take on some random chūnin hopeful.
It had been two minutes since Naruto had been swallowed by the snake when they heard the blonde's muffled cry from the snake's stomach. "I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!" The pair looked curiously at the snake as its stomach grew rapidly before exploding into several thousand meaty bits. The enemy ninja stared wide eyed as hundreds of Narutos appeared from the belly of the snake… then their eyes grew wider as wind element chakra blades erupted from their stomachs, piercing several vital organs and arteries.
"H-How…?" Stuttered the man who had somehow managed to cling onto life for a few more moments.
The clone behind him frowned. "I knew you two and the snake were there from the very beginning. I can make clones quite a distance away from my original body without seals. That being the case, I pretended to be dazed and confused and then let myself get eaten to provide a distraction while myself and the other clone took you two out."
The man spat out blood. "How did you know… the clones and the snake… would work…?"
The clone smirked. "Past experience." It got behind the man's ear and whispered to him. "Normally I would enjoy fighting you guys up front before humiliating you, but my teammates require my help. When you get to hell, tell the Shinigami that Orochimaru is coming by real soon…" Both assassinating clones then blew themselves, and thus their victims, up with the Exploding Clone technique, hiding the way that the two spies were actually killed. The real Naruto would have paused a moment to keep his lunch down from the sight and the memories, but he was already heading in the direction of Orochimaru and his hopefully still alive team.
o. o. o.
With said doomed team members:
'Fuck fuck fuck Fuck Fuck FUCK!' Were the thoughts of one Sasuke Uchiha as he and a very terrified Sakura Haruno raced through the forest at breakneck speed.
"S-Sasuke-kun." The pink haired girl stammered. "What t-the hell is she?"
Sasuke breathed heavily as he attempted to get his thoughts together. "Someone that is DEFINITELY not supposed to be here, Sakura. You felt that monstrous killing intent. That guy is on Ghost-sensei's level!" He shivered, trying not to think of who was more dangerous at the moment. "As much as I hate to admit it, we need the Dobe if we want to have even a chance of living through this…" Hell, to be honest, Sasuke and Sakura would have probably still been frozen in place if they hadn't already experienced killing intent on that level and been trained to somewhat perform under that particular brand of pressure.
"Hoooh?" Hissed a very familiar voice from right behind them. "Surely the mighty Uchiha doesn't need the aid of a common brat in order to fight someone stronger than himself?" Sasuke and Sakura panicked as they jumped off in different directions while spamming kunai and shuriken at the odd, seemingly-Kusa genin, who simply dodged all the attacks with ease and disappeared into the bushes.
"I wouldn't if I weren't up against someone ridiculous like you, lady!" Sasuke retorted. "I'm confident, not stupid!"
"Kukuku." The voice chuckled from the darkness. "Such humbling words… yet so weak. I wonder what your brother would say…"
"Teme! Sakura!" A familiar voice shouted from the woods.
"Naruto!" Sakura replied in relief. "We need your help! Now!"
Naruto's figure appeared next to Sakura. "Listen!" He hissed. "I'm just a clone! The original is busy fighting a huge ass snake and two ninja at once! He'll get here eventually, but it will take some time! Stall the bastard by any means necessary! I can tell how strong he is. Teme! Fight him! You'll waste less chakra if you keep your eyes on him instead of constantly running away like a pussy!" He turned to Sakura again, clearly ignoring the shocked look on Sasuke's face. "Back him up, but do it subtly and make sure you're well hidden. I'll do the same, but just in case, make sure to stay out of my blast range, if you know what I mean."
Sakura shivered a moment before steadying herself and looked at the clone with conviction. "Right. There's no point in cowering now." With that she dashed to hide herself in the woods.
Sasuke on the other hand was taking deep breaths. Damn it. Not only was the dobe lecturing him through a freaking CLONE now, but even Sakura was gathering herself faster than he was. He opened his eyes to reveal his three tomoe Sharingan eyes. "Dobe, you better get your ass here quick…" He growled.
The Kusa genin chuckled as she walked out of some nearby bushes confidently. "Kukukukuku. Three tomoe already, Sasuke-kun? You are becoming more and more interesting by the second." She licked her face. "Please don't disappoint me, my prey…"
"Don't think I'll be such an easy opponent to take down…" Sasuke growled before he rushed through some hand signs and blew out a giant fireball. The enemy dodged the conflagration rather quickly and rushed her opponent in what quickly became a pretty impressive taijutsu battle. Thanks to his Sharingan and his training sessions with Gai and Lee, the Uchiha had managed to fight his opponent to a stalemate for the time being, mainly focusing on countering and avoiding blows in order to save his stamina for when the time came.
"Kukukuku." The woman chuckled as she blocked several attacks. "Your taijutsu skills are marvelous, Sasuke-kun. You truly are a genius…"
"Not to be rude, but I'm far from flattered lady…" Sasuke growled as he barely dodged a kick to his head. 'Damn it Sakura, Dobe… hurry up with that bloody support already…'
Several moments later, his wish was answered in the form of his opponent's reaction time slowing down by barely a fraction of a second. Not much, but that was more than enough to reduce the pressure he was currently under. Sasuke smirked to himself as he guessed what Sakura had just done and was thanking the Dobe's luck that it was exactly what he needed at the moment.
Sakura was hiding in some bushes nearby and creating layer after layer of genjutsu in order to make sure that she was not detected and that the illusions that she was casting on the enemy would not go away with one flare of chakra. Thinking back, Sakura could only thank all that was holy that she spent more time with Kurenai after realizing that with Naruto and Sasuke on her team, medical ninjutsu would probably be less useful than genjutsu.
o. o. o.
Flashback:
"Alright guys, today we are going over the three main types of genjutsu." Kurenai lectured to the twelve genin in front of her.
"Three types?" Naruto asked curiously.
Kurenai nodded. "Yes. Outer illusions, inner illusions, and hypnosis based illusions." She listed. "Can any of you tell me what the difference between them are?"
Sakura raised her hand. "Outer illusions are genjutsu that are based on changing the appearance of something so that the outside world interprets it differently, similar to our transformation technique, or illusions that change what the surroundings look like to outsiders. They are commonly known to be the easiest and least restricting illusions to cast, but they are also rather simple to dispel and detect."
"Inner illusions are genjutsu that are cast on individuals that adjust how the targets interpret the world around them without alerting others. This can include making them see or hear things differently than everyone else. They are slightly more difficult to cast due to the larger number of senses they affect at once, but they are also harder to initially detect and dispel. They are frequently used to augment the caster mentally or secretly cripple the opponent in some manner."
"Hypnosis based genjutsu are often the most difficult type of illusion that a person can cast. They are capable of manipulating all of a person's senses at once and can, if used correctly, completely shatter the psyche of the victim, but are most commonly used for interrogation techniques and defeating strong shinobi. Some are also known to be capable of lasting a very long time, sometimes years after they are initially cast."
Kurenai nodded. "That is correct, Sakura. While there are of course some exceptions to what you have just said, the explanations you gave us were more than enough to give everyone a good idea of how they work." She turned to the rest of the class. "While studying under me, you will all learn to detect and dispel genjutsu up to the inner illusion level, which is roughly B-class level, with some exceptions. Those of you who are focusing in this field will, by the Chūnin Exams, become proficient in outer illusions and be able to cast some inner illusions as well. If possible, we will also be covering multiple layer genjutsu…"
o. o. o.
While the pink haired girl was thanking all the gods she could think of and several of the random deities that Ghost-sensei worshipped in his occasional insanity spasms that she took those extra lessons in advanced genjutsu layering, she was busy casting a third reaction delay illusion on her opponent after placing the fourth camouflage and stealth illusion on herself for good measure. Being not a complete idiot, she made sure that the reaction delay illusions she had cast would be so incredibly minor that even a speed demon like Lee would not notice them for a while. There was no way in hell she would risk using her stronger illusions, because this freak was likely strong enough that her stronger illusions would be quickly detected – and therefore become useless - , or worse, encourage the freak to target her instead. The woman's killing intent was enough to determine that her currently strongest illusions were almost useless against her.
Lucky for her and Sasuke, the monster was solely focused on the Uchiha, and likely would assume that the new 'increases' in his speed were either him becoming more confident in himself, or that he was using his Sharingan more. It was a major drain on her chakra pools, but she would rather be exhausted than dead.
Sasuke, on the other hand, was currently stuck between a battle frenzy and shitting himself. He had not been pushed this far in a fight since Haku, and even then it did not seem nearly as dangerous as the fight right now. While fighting the homicidal woman, the boy could only mentally bless his luck that he had his 3 tomoe Sharingan and his previous conditioning training with Lee and Gai, or else he doubted he would have lasted this long.
If he lived through this horrendous experience, he would never make fun of the pair's sense of fashion ever again. Well, maybe not never… but a massive reduction was in order, at least. With his eyes active, he could see Sakura's genjutsu in place and where his teammate was. Jumping back for a brief reprieve, he quickly unsheathed his blade.
"Oh? So our little Sasuke-kun fancies himself a swordsman…" The woman chuckled, withdrawing a kunai. "Well then, shall we dance?"
Sasuke roared as he charged his opponent and restarted the battle. Several times, their blades clashed and sparks erupted between the two of them as they danced around each other expertly. The woman seemed to be holding her own with little difficulty until Sasuke managed to slash her with a long but very shallow gash along her arm, which amused her at first until she registered the unusual burning sensation and noticed that the wound was completely burnt and wider than initially expected. Looking at her opponent, she noticed that his sword had a very low red glow to its edge. Sasuke smirked, recalling the lessons that Kakashi had told him about augmenting his weapons with fire chakra.
o. o. o.
Flashback:
"Sasuke…" Kakashi lectured as his student practiced his sword katas. "What do you think fire chakra acts like when it enters another person's body?"
Sasuke blinked at his teacher in a curious manner. "… I don't know… fire? How else is it supposed to act?"
Kakashi sighed. "Well, yes, but I meant other than fire." He looked at the boy seriously. "… It acts like poison."
Sasuke frowned at this new information. "Poison?"
Kakashi nodded. "Fire eats away at anything in its presence without pause, reducing whatever it's feeding on to a near useless form, regardless of how strong it was if given enough time." He let his words sink in for a moment before he continued.
"Lightning based chakra acts in a faster, similar manner, but the damage and side-effects do not last nearly as long. Wind based chakra simply cuts through with the least amount of resistance and can increase the length of the blade, water enhances the fluidity of the strikes and the cutting power, though not nearly as much as wind does, and earth enables the user to hit harder without breaking."
"The thing about fire enhanced weapons is that you want it to be in contact with your opponent for as long as possible. Make the chakra linger and deal wide spread damage. Make it eat away at your opponent's body after the blade has already left their flesh. It may seem a bit crude and merciless, but for a person like you, whose weakness is drawn out battles, this trait is your greatest ally…"
o. o. o.
"Fire element composition enforcement?!" The genin hissed as the red lingering glow of Sasuke's chakra shone in her arm and the skin near the wound grew more burnt and widened with each passing second. To say it looked painful would be an understatement. She frowned greatly as she focused her chakra to restrict the poisonous attack from spreading and cancel it out.
Sasuke smirked while breathing heavily and expertly twirling his sword, causing a dim red afterglow to shine in the air. "What? You looked surprised. Maybe you aren't so tough after all…" He was interrupted when he was blasted by a powerful wind that slammed him into a tree right behind him. The woman started to laugh.
"Kukukuku! I knew it was right to pick you, Sasuke-kun…" She hissed as she rose her killing intent again. "You are a genius of such a high caliber… you have so much potential… though you could do with some more focus training… I think I should play with you just a little more…"
Sasuke got a VERY bad feeling from how the woman was speaking to him… other than the massive pain in his back from slamming into that tree. "Dobe…!" He called out to the clone, praying that it was listening. "Get ready for a RED BRIDGE...!" He called out as he put away his sword and readied some kunai and shuriken. Half a moment later, he launched a flurry of said weapons at his overconfident opponent.
The enemy chuckled as she dodged the projectiles easily by leaning to the side. She was about to say something when the extremely fine and strong ninja wires that were laced between several of the weapons caught the woman and dragged her back until she hit the tree behind her. The connected kunai and shuriken then wrapped around the tree several times, ensuring that she wouldn't escape, while Sasuke channeled more fire chakra through the wires to burn and cut deep into the woman as he had managed to hold onto one end of the wires. Her screams of anguish and pain did not distract him as he formed the first hand sign. Naruto's clone appeared next to him and formed his first sign as well. "ETA 1.5 minutes!" It shouted.
"Right!" Sasuke replied as they flashed through their respective signs and took in a huge breath. The trapped genin's eyes widened as she realized that the burning sensation she was currently experiencing was soon going to be the least of her problems.
"FIRESTORM!" The pair shouted as the large flaming twister emerged with a thunderous roar and enveloped the enemy in an inferno. The clone had changed the nature of the technique so that while the shape of the twister was smaller than before, the sucking power and thus the heat of the attack increased, reducing the chance of the woman escaping the attack in case the wires failed at the last second. The twister engulfed the screaming woman completely and not only decimated the tree she was tied to, but sucked in anything that was within 10 meters of it.
Unfortunately, the technique only lasted ten seconds due to the fact that they were working with a clone of Naruto and not the real thing. That was still more than long enough to cause massive damage to a single person and the surrounding environment. After the clone popped out of existence, Sasuke quickly canceled his end of the attack as well to save what chakra he had left. Keeping his eyes active, he scanned the area damaged by the attack and prayed that they had done enough to at least make the homicidal woman retreat. To be honest, he didn't have that much chakra left and he was damn near exhausted from the constant running and then fighting he had just done.
His prayers were not answered, however, as he saw the woman's roasted body crack open and break the weakened wires to reveal yet another body inside, almost unscathed except for a few burn marks. "Kukuku." She chuckled darkly as she walked over to the stunned Uchiha. "Such a wonderfully destructive technique. Even I could not escape or repair all that damage…" She looked at Sasuke with a hungry look in her eye. "But I digress. It is time for us to depart, but allow me to give you a little parting gift…" Sasuke and Sakura both gaped as their enemy's neck elongated and her head launched towards the boy, her mouth wide open and her fangs shining in the dark.
At that moment, Sasuke did something that would be remembered for the rest of Team 7's life, and give Naruto more reasons to call Sasuke gay. As the head of the Kusa-nin approached the Uchiha, Sasuke channeled all the spontaneous and chaotic energy that he had absorbed from being around Naruto and Ghost for so long and instinctively exhaled quickly… creating a fast stream of burning fire… right down the attacking ninja's throat as she got close enough to bite him on the neck.
While Sasuke did still get bitten on the neck, it was safe to say that his opponent was not having a comfortable time either. Having a burnt raw throat is one thing, having an incinerated larynx that's over 30 feet long is a completely different story. One that is much more painful. It took everything that Orochimaru had in order to maintain his focus and give Sasuke the cursed seal before he quickly retracted his head and immediately performed another one of his personal replacement techniques, crawling out of his former body's mouth in front of Sasuke.
While most people would assume that the technique would immediately repair all damage dealt to the original body, there are some exceptions. Internal wounds get mostly healed, but damage involving invading chakra to internal organs still lingers in small amounts, as well as techniques that permanently alter the insides. What this meant was that while he appeared to be fine and without any injury, Orochimaru was still suffering from several minor burns in his throat, several scratches from where the wires had burned him, and a long second degree burn where Sasuke's sword scratched him. It was enough total damage that several pieces of his disguise were torn off and revealed a second, paler membrane underneath
"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura shouted as her idol screamed in agony and grabbed the spot where his opponent bit him. Throwing caution to the wind, the frantic girl hurled several kunai and shuriken at the snake… thing, and ran to her tortured crush.
Orochimaru coughed several times while laughing and jumping back to dodge the projectiles. "Such will (cough) and resourcefulness! I am glad (cough) I gave you this gift, Sasuke-kun. My name is Orochimaru… and if you desire more po- (cough) wer, you will seek me…"
"SASUKE!" Roared a very worried and pissed off Naruto as he and several hundred shadow clones landed in the area. It took everything the blonde had to not jump in earlier and join in the fight, but he had to make sure Sasuke had received the curse seal or else things could have spiraled out of control. What appeared to be the original looked over the agonizing Uchiha and saw the seal appear on his neck. Frowning, he and another clone ran up to Sasuke and Sakura and picked them up on their backs despite their pain and embarrassment. "Hold on tight." He growled as he tapped into the Kyūbi's chakra, making his eyes glow red.
"Dobe…?" Sasuke gasped as he clung on to his teammate in an attempt to distract himself from his pain.
"Naruto... Sasuke's… your eyes?" Sakura whimpered out in bits and pieces as what just happened proved to be rather traumatizing for her.
"I'll get us to the tower, just don't let go until then." Reducing his gravity seal to 1x, Naruto and his clone rocketed towards the tower at an insane speed while the other hundreds of clones barred Orochimaru's path. The three were out of sight in less than a second, and Orochimaru noted that they would probably make it to the tower within twenty minutes if they could keep up the speed they were going. (A/N: Gaara's team made it to the tower within an hour and a half at a leisurely pace, even with the temporary slaughter stop on the way. That being the case, I am assuming that this time frame is more than reasonable.)
"Kuku(cough)kuku." Orochimaru chuckled. "So many shadow clones… and those eyes. So you're the Kyūbi brat… I thought you had died… fascinating"
"Not as dead as you're gonna be soon." Growled one of the clones as several dozen others charged at the Snake Sannin with rage.
o. o. o.
At the Ōgakari compound:
"YESSSS!" Ghost shouted at the top of his lungs in his clearly empty home as he stored his valuable cargo in a storage seal inside of his cost. "With these I may have a chance of surviving Shadow's wrath after all! Muahahahaha…!" Ghost's outer monologue was interrupted as someone knocked on his front door.
"Ooooo! A worshipper!" The energetic man pranced to his front door and opened it, only to find Jiraiya on the other side. "Oh." Ghost sighed in a disappointed manner. "It's just you."
Jiraiya frowned, ignoring Ghost's reaction to his appearance. "The bodies were found like we thought they'd be. Anko and Hana have already been alerted and are most likely in the forest by now…"
Ghost returned the frown with one of his own. "Crap. Orochimaru isn't the type to take prisoners. I'll get moving right away." The immortal took a few steps past the toad sage after closing his door before he paused. "Just a reminder, don't forget your punishment. Everyone who knows has already been given a heads up about it, and will not say a word about the subject unless it is absolutely necessary." He said in a dead tone. "If he finds out and we discover you were somehow behind it, I will not protect you from HIS wrath…" Ghost let his words linger in the air for a few moments before disappearing instantly without making a sound.
Jiraiya stood in place as he hung in head. His eyes were closed tightly as a single tear fell down his cheek.
Moments later, the compound was empty again.
o. o. o.
In the forest:
"Troublesome." Shikamaru sighed as he and his team traveled through the forest.
"Will you stop saying that already?!" Ino shouted loudly. "I'm on edge enough as it is being back here!"
Chōji sighed. Over the months since they had graduated the academy, the Akimichi had changed the most out of everyone. His body had become more muscular with less fat, although there was still a large amount on him. His forehead protector, which before looked like it was situated on a pair of stolen panties, was now sewn on a bandanna that covered the top of his head so that only a few strands of hair emerged here or there.
However, his most apparent change was his clothing. He had finally completed his special technique a month ago, and his family had been more than impressed with the results. That being the case, they decided to make him a beginning set of armor due to the fact that he was still too young for an adult's set. Using his current clothes as a basis, the blacksmiths who create the Akimichi armor crafted small plates of armor to lace his current clothing while still giving him adequate space to breathe. He was also given a pair of plain looking bracers on his arms and his legs as well to increase his striking power. All of these were of course made in a secret way as to change size and shape, a necessity with the Akimichi style of fighting. Of course, this did nothing to change the peaceful boy's personality. "Guys, can we please focus on the exam? Having you two go like this isn't really helping."
Shikamaru looked at his friend curiously and smirked. "Sure, Chōji. Let's get this exam over with so we can rest."
Ino groaned and muttered a few choice words before she calmed down. "Well then, oh mighty leader, tell us. What are we to do?"
Shikamaru sighed. "Simple. We head for the tower and set some traps. Everyone will get there eventually, with or without the scrolls. If we control the area before the finish line, we're bound to come across a team that has a heaven scroll. Besides, with our team's fighting style and Ino's experience here training under Anko-sensei, we should be able to pull it off with only minor issues."
Chōji looked at Shikamaru curiously. "But what happens if we come across one of the other rookie teams, Shika? Even though we're strong, we're still the weakest of the four teams…"
Shikamaru smirked confidently, getting a raised eyebrow from his teammates. "Chōji, do you really think I haven't considered that scenario…?"
o. o. o.
Elsewhere in the massive forest:
"Man, those guys were easy!" Kiba chuckled loudly as Team 8 ran through the forest toward the tower in the center. They had just beaten a weak team from Konoha with a few jumping leeches that were in the forest and had barely had to lift a finger to knock them out. Luckily, they had an earth scroll, so now Hinata's team were on their way towards passing the test.
Shino frowned. "It would be advisable to be quiet now, Kiba. Now that we have both scrolls, we have become an even larger target for the other teams…"
Hinata nodded. "Shino's right, Kiba-kun. I would prefer to avoid any unnecessary battles for the rest of the exam…"
Kiba pouted. "Aww. You guys are no fun at all. Can't you just enjoy the moment for once?"
Shino frowned. "We all have our own ways of celebrating, Kiba. Unfortunately, it just so happens that yours is enough for all three of us…"
Hinata giggled as Kiba attempted to translate Shino's less than veiled insult. The team traveled for a few more minutes in silence as Kiba continued to hurt himself when he caught the scent of something. "Oi… wait up guys. I smell something." The team stopped a few moments so Kiba could focus more. "Hinata, could you look in that direction?" He pointed a bit to their left. "About one kilometer…"
Hinata nodded as she activated her bloodline without any seals and looked in the general direction Kiba was pointing to. It didn't take long for her to see what he had smelled. "There's a team from Ame standing in front of that team from Suna that Naruto-kun warned us about. It looks like they're going to fight soon…"
Kiba grinned. "Oh, we HAVE to check this out…"
Shino frowned. "That would be unadvisable, Kiba. What if they join forces and attack us?"
Kiba pouted. "Come on, Shino! This is a chance to see that guy with the gourd fight! That guy even has the dead last's attention, and that idiot only pays attention to ramen and jutsu. Besides, it's not like we're gonna jump in front of them and pick a fight, I just wanna watch…"
Hinata sighed as Kiba whined and Shino attempted to counter his teammate's moaning. "I think we should watch the fight…" Hinata stated, immediately getting an odd reaction from her teammates. "But ONLY to watch, and we will be a fair distance away from them to be safe. Is that agreeable?"
Kiba stuttered a bit while he just processed what Hinata just said. "Um… sure, I think."
Shino nodded slowly. "Those are… acceptable terms."
Hinata nodded as she still focused on the two teams staring each other down. "Right. Follow me and stay quiet. That means you, Kiba…"
"I get it, I yell a lot. Stop bringing that up already. Jeez." Kiba complained mostly to himself as the three went to witness the fight.
o. o. o.
With said circus performers… I mean ninja:
"Give us your scroll and we might just let you live, brats… You were pretty stupid to challenge us head on…" Smirked a confident Ame genin to the Suna genin, who just stared at the man in a bored manner.
"I have no intention of failing this exam…" Droned Gaara, causing his siblings to flinch. "Hurry up and fight me… old man from the Rain…"
The leader of the Rain team twitched at the comment and noted that everyone else listening to the conversation, including his teammates, were either trying to hold in their laughter or failing miserably. "Fine, then!" He roared as he withdrew his umbrellas from his back. With a flick of his wrists, all four of his umbrellas spun rapidly and launched themselves in the air. He immediately set up a hand sign and focused his chakra. "Die, you midget!" He shouted. "Raining Needles technique!" Needles launched themselves from the spinning umbrellas rapidly and converged above the uninterested Gaara, much to the watching Team 8's surprise. They had just arrived as the man whipped out his odd weapons. "There's no escape from this jutsu! All the needles are controlled by my chakra to strike their target!" He gloated as the needles impacted Gaara so rapidly that a large cloud of dust formed and impaired the observer's sight. "Heh. Too easy."
Hinata frowned as she activated her Byakugan. "No…" She whispered in a serious tone, getting her teammate's attention. "He's wrong…"
Shino and Kiba were about to ask what Hinata meant when the cloud settled down to reveal what she meant. There stood Gaara with the same expression on his face, surrounded by a shell of sand, littered with the metal needles that were supposed to have impaled him moments earlier. "Woah…" Kiba whispered. "Never saw something like that before… and that guy's chakra level is pretty damn big if I say so myself…" Shino nodded slowly in mute awe.
"Is that it?" Gaara asked in a bored tone.
"What?!" The shocked Ame genin shouted. "That's impossible! This attack can penetrate 5mm of steel!" The man panicked as he attempted to shoot several more of his needles in the gaps of the shell around Gaara. That proved to be futile as the shell surrounding Gaara rotated around him to block the attack. "What the hell is with that wall of sand?!"
Kankuro and Temari raised their eyebrows in curiosity. They had seen Gaara use his sand to protect him before, sure, but they had never seen him shift his shield in that manner before. That was new. Kankuro paused a moment before sighing and giving his opponent an explanation as to why he was going to supposedly die. "An attack like that won't work on Gaara. It's a sand based total defense. The sand is packed into the gourd with chakra… it protects his body and the surrounding area. It's something only Gaara can use, plus it all happens regardless of his will. It just happens automatically for some reason." He sighed. "Pretty much all attacks on him are useless. It was just your bad luck that you came across his path." He looked at the doomed man in the eyes. "You just can't beat him…"
Before anyone had any time to ponder what just happened, sand encompassed the entire team from Ame, freaking out anyone that was not familiar with the red head's style of attacking. "Desert Coffin…" Gaara mused as his shield sand retracted itself back into his gourd. Everyone watching the spectacle swallowed heavily as Gaara walked calmly to the three trapped Ame genin. "… Which scroll do you have?" He asked, to the mild shock of his siblings, who assumed he would kill first and ask questions later.
"Th-the heaven scroll!" The smallest Ame-nin replied hysterically.
Gaara looked at him intensely. "… If you value your lives…" Out of the corner of everyone's eyes, they saw Gaara lift up a log with his sand and crush it instantly without breaking a sweat. What they didn't hear was Shukaku's prayers in thanks for consuming a rare and delicious holy log. (Amen).
"You can have it!" The leading Ame-nin shouted. "We'll leave you alone! Just don't kill us!"
The spectators watched in shock as the Ame-nin were freed from the sand, with the exception of a small amount around each of their necks. The smallest one took out the heaven scroll and rolled it to the Suna team. Kankuro picked up the scroll and curiously looked at Gaara. Gaara sighed as the sand around his opponent's necks retreated back to the insomniac. "Go… unless you changed your minds about dying…" It took less than a second for the other team to disappear into the woods.
Temari looked at Gaara curiously. "Not that I'm complaining or anything… but why didn't you kill them, Gaara? You normally waste anyone that gets in your way."
Gaara closed his eyes for a moment before looking at his sister with something in his eyes that she couldn't recognize. "… Don't mistake my actions for generosity… I just happen to have developed specific… tastes recently. That is all."
Temari and Kankuro blinked several times while trying to translate what their younger brother had just said. "Well, okay then…" Kankuro grumbled. "Just as long as I don't fall into that category, you can do whatever you want …"
Gaara sighed before turning to a tree in the distance. "You three can come out now… you are Uzumaki's… friends… correct? I saw you talking to him before the Exams…"
There was a silence for several seconds before the Suna team heard someone yell "Oi, Hinata!" Moments later Hinata appeared from the bushes, quickly followed by a rather nervous Shino and a freaked out Kiba. "What the hell are you doing…!?" He hissed.
Hinata ignored her teammate and stared at Gaara for a few moments. "Yes, we are friends with Naruto-kun." She replied. "I apologize if we unnerved you. My teammate here sensed that there was a fight in this area and we were curious about our potential opponents and their abilities."
Gaara nodded slowly, getting odd look from his siblings. "Do you have your scrolls?" He asked.
Shino adjusted his glasses. "Y-Yes. We managed to procure our needed scroll several minutes ago, so we are in the same position as you are at the moment."
Temari frowned. "So then… what now?"
Gaara closed his eyes in thought before opening them and looking at Hinata. "… We both have a common goal…" He droned. "We both desire to get out of this forest as soon as possible without complications… I suggest a temporary truce." He let his words linger in the air before he continued, completely ignoring the looks his siblings were giving him. "You said you sensed us with the other team. I assume that means you are capable of finding the tower just as easily?" Kiba nodded slowly. "Then we shall follow you there." He continued. "Should we encounter any… obstacles, we shall deal with them. This way we get to the tower quickly, and you gain safe passage to the tower… is that reasonable?"
Kiba and Shino looked at each other nervously. Even though they had become more powerful through their training, they were confident that the red headed boy in front of them could absolutely waste them without a second thought. They also couldn't trust him much considering that they had just met him and the display of power. They were so caught up in their thoughts that they didn't notice Hinata walk forward with a small smile on her lips. "That is more than reasonable… Gaara-kun?"
Gaara nodded. "Yes. These are my… siblings, Temari and Kankuro…"
"Erm… hi…" Temari laughed nervously.
"I am very confused right now…" Kankuro muttered in a daze.
"Hinata… what are you doing?" Kiba hissed. "Did you see what that guy could do?! His scent reeks of blood, and his chakra doesn't smell much better!"
Hinata looked at her teammate with a tired expression. "Kiba-kun… maybe you should remember what I am capable of as well…" She let her words hang in the air for a few seconds. "…Besides, Naruto-kun told us that as long as we don't trouble him, we have nothing to worry about. I personally see this as a good opportunity to make sure we finish the test quickly without much issue. They have both their scrolls and we have both of ours. We have no reason to fight each other…"
"Unless we want to reduce the competition, of course…" Kankuro spoke out loud, getting looks from everyone around him. "What? It's true…"
"To be honest…" Shino mused while adjusting his glasses. "I am more surprised that you said it before Kiba did… although that probably means that you are only slightly smarter than our teammate…"
"Oi!" Shouted Kankuro and Kiba at once. "I'm not stupid. And don't compare me to him! Huh!? What did you say?! You wanna fight, you bastard!?"
The remaining four genin sweat dropped at the scene unraveling in front of them. "So you have one in your team, too?" Hinata sighed to Temari as she tried to drive away her headache.
Temari snorted. "Worse… I'm actually related to him."
o. o. o.
On the opposite side of the forest:
"OROCHIMARU!" Anko roared as she charged toward the fight in front of her in a blind rage.
As soon as Anko saw the three bodies in the cemetery, she knew what had happened. Without a moment's pause, she ordered the chūnin that had informed her of the bodies to get as many ANBU as they could find to the Forest of Death as soon as possible and then 'asked' Hana to get Orochimaru's scent and track him down. Needless to say, Hana knew who to fear more at the moment. From that moment on, the pair (and Hana's ninja hounds) dashed through the massive forest while tracking Orochimaru's scent. After roughly 30 minutes, they came to their destination.
Orochimaru had been fighting the army of Naruto clones for roughly 10 minutes already and he would be the first to admit that he had definitely underestimated them. With the Kyūbi's chakra flowing through them and their chakra blades, they were a formidable enough adversary, but throw in the fact that they would freaking BLOW UP whenever they knew they were about to dispel and he had an annoyance that was more irritating than his still literally inflamed throat. He had already wasted a fair amount of chakra with his two customized replacements against Sasuke, and the clones had already taken down three of his larger summons. True, their numbers were significantly less than before, probably no more than 50 clones were left, but no matter where he ran off to, they seemed to be able to find out where he was! It was becoming rather irritating.
"OROCHIMARU!" Roared a very familiar female voice, gaining the attention of everyone there, including the 50 clones. Orochimaru took this chance and quickly formed the hand signs for a wind technique that blasted wind out from his body in all directions. The resulting gale meant that only 5 clones were left as Anko made her appearance. "I'm gonna tear you to fucking pieces, you traitor!"
"Kuku(cough cough) kuku." Orochimaru chuckled. "Anko-chan… how long has it been since we last met? Are you still angry that I abandoned you?"
"Why YOU…!" Anko roared, about to attack.
"Anko!" Hana shouted, grabbing her partner's shoulder harshly. "Calm down! We can't make any mistakes when dealing with him…"
The remaining five clones landed near the two women. "That snake bastard bit Sasuke." The leading one growled. "The original is getting him and Sakura to the tower as fast as they can. We're the only ones left to hold him back… they should make it in a few more minutes, but Sasuke's in bad shape… You guys know who the hell he is?"
Anko frowned, knowing that she had to still play dumb to the fact that the blonde knew more about the situation than she did. "That's my old sensei… Orochimaru. He's an S-class missing-nin from Konoha, and he's beyond dangerous…" She smirked as she rose her two arms out in front of her and pointed them at her curious ex-sensei. "But then again… so am I. HIDDEN ART: NAPALM VIPERS!" Anko shouted as five red snakes emerged from each of her sleeves and opened their mouths at the same time, releasing a massive stream of corrosive, flammable, and very much on fire liquid right at Orochimaru. (A/N: I got this as well from another fanfic that I read a while ago… however I added a few extras to it…) At this point, Hana, her hounds, and the remaining clones took the opportunity to hide in the surrounding foliage while their enemy was still focused on Anko.
Orochimaru, while pondering why the hell he was being bombarded with all these fire techniques that he had never even heard of before that day, managed to jump out of the way of the attack just in time to see the streams of corrosive and flaming liquid melt through the branch he was on like a wind element chakra enhanced chakra blade through half melted butter (A/N: Yes, that puts the standard hot knife through butter phrase to utter shame. SHAME I SAY!). "Kukuku. That is an impressive technique Anko… mixing your elemental affinity with your snakes. Quite ingenious, really… but it's still useless against…"
"Hidden Inuzuka technique! Fūga (Wind fang)! Raiga (Thunder fang)! Honōga (Fire fang (Ed: Probably))!" Yelled out an already transformed Hana Inuzuka as she and her hounds drilled towards their opponent while channeling their respective elements. Orochimaru barely had any time to observe the new techniques as he quickly replaced himself with a mud clone. That did not give him much time, though, as the four had already caught onto his scent and were heading his way yet again. Each time they impacted a surface; it burnt to a crisp, was slashed up into hundreds of little pieces, or was blasted by the impact of lightning, depending on which attacking Inuzuka clan member it was.
"Kuku." He chuckled. "Wonderful. Simply marvelous. I had always wondered when clans would start to add elements to their personal techniques. It seemed like such a waste to simply stop with where they were and… oh?" Orochimaru paused as he looked up and for the first time since he entered the forest felt some concern for his well-being.
Right above him were two medium-large summon sized snakes, which normally wouldn't warrant any concern from the Sannin… except for the fact that these snakes were made of fire. Not on fire, but MADE of fire. Both of them were glowing amber inside and out with white hot fangs, scorching the trees that they were wrapped around. Standing between the two monstrosities was a smirking Anko. "Did I mention that Napalm Vipers is a multi-form technique?"
Orochimaru frowned. "It seems that you have been busy…"
Anko returned the glare. "Hell hath no fury like a woman's wrath, you bastard, and unfortunately for you, it seems like hell has decided to give me a hand in gutting you. Sic 'em." She commanded, and instantly the two enflamed snakes charged at Orochimaru.
Orochimaru was not stupid and knew that the technique Anko was using could easily cause him some concerning damage, and he would have dodged the attack, too… if his feet weren't ensnared by several large vines on the trunk a moment before he dodged. The man turned his attention down to see the vines disappear in a puff of smoke and reveal the five Naruto clones smirking at him with their red eyes. "You're not getting away this time…" One of them growled as the giant snakes enclosed on them with their mouths wide open.
"You little BRATS!" Orochimaru roared as he attempted to strike the clones in a frantic rage. This turned out to be a mistake, as the clones saw him move and had two explode in time before they were dispelled. The resulting explosion echoed throughout the forest and stalled Orochimaru long enough for Anko's snakes to cover the rest of the distance and collide with the tree branch he was on. Moments later the pair had wrapped their entire bodies around the entire section of the branch in a giant molten snake ball of death roughly 20 meters in diameter.
"I'd say burn in hell, but I don't think it's nearly as hot as my snakes are right now…" Growled Anko as she formed a tiger seal from her viewpoint several trees away. "… So just die instead. Hidden Art: Imploding Anaconda Bomb…"
As soon as she finished stating her attack, the snake ball that encompassed Orochimaru glowed white as the sphere shrunk in pulses. The process increased for a few more seconds before the ball shrunk to almost 1/5 of its original diameter before exploding with a massive intensity. It was clearly heard throughout the entire forest, and some surviving teams would later say that they even saw the explosion through the trees. Hana and her hounds, who knew the attack was coming, managed to get out of the blast radius and gain some cover behind a tree nearby. Anko did the same thing with the tree she was standing on.
It took several minutes for the attack's effects to settle down before Anko and Hana could step out of their cover safely. In front of them was a massive crater in the ground, easily 30 meters in radius. Several of the giant trees nearby had either been knocked down entirely, blasted apart, or at least been tilted to the side significantly, all with fires raging through their remains.
"Holy crap, Anko…" Hana gaped. "When the hell did you make THAT technique!?"
Anko breathed heavily. "Sorry. (pant). I secretly came up with that after I finished mastering Napalm Vipers about a month ago. Had to practice it in the basement training ground so no one would find me practicing it… it eats up pretty much all of my chakra though…"
"Kukuku." Chuckled a familiar and very unwelcome voice from above the two women, freezing their blood cold. "What a shame… I had hoped that you would entertain me more, Anko…" Before the two women could react, a large snake-summon slammed into Hana from below, launching her into the air and knocking her out cold. Her triplets charged after her in a frantic hurry to save their pack mate from the pursuing summon.
Anko would have followed, except at that moment the side of her neck exploded in pain. The woman instantly hunched over and grabbed at the source of the pain, knowing that it was the curse seal that he had tagged her with years ago. Grimacing to herself, she glared upward as she saw the bane of her life smirking right at her.
Despite his confident appearance, Orochimaru was exhausted. Between fighting Sasuke, taking unexpected (and surprisingly potent) fire damage, wasting an excessive amount of chakra on his two personal replacement techniques in the process, then fighting off hundreds of supercharged suicide bombing shadow clones at once, and THEN barely escaping that barrage of attacks from the remaining clones, Anko and Hana, the Snake Sannin was ready to call it a day… hell, he would gladly take a week off to recover from the day's activities.
Unfortunately, revealing such information to his current opponents was beyond foolish, so he continued to pretend as if he was unfazed. "You are said to be a special jōnin of this village… however, your skills say that you are clearly stronger than that. It makes you wonder… doesn't it?" He crooned on, trying to stoke Anko's fiery temper.
Anko spat out in disgust. "Why the hell are you here?! Are you going to kill Hokage-sama?!"
Orochimaru chuckled as he watched his summon 'play' with Hana's triplets as they attempted to drive it away from her. "Oh no (cough) no… not yet anyways. I don't have enough men to pull it off for now. I was really here to do some… recruiting."
Anko's eyes widened as she remembered what Naruto's clone had told her. "Sasuke Uchiha… you gave him a curse seal. You came all this way just to kill him?"
Orochimaru laughed. "… There may be a 10% chance of surviving the process… but I have a feeling that like you… he might not die…"
"You're a sick bastard…" Anko stated as she collapsed to her knees while grabbing her own cursed seal.
Orochimaru smirked. "Things will get interesting if he survives (cough). Please don't stop the exams prematurely. Three genin from my village are also participating, and I would be just crushed if their chances of becoming chūnin were cut short." He stated sarcastically. ""If you try to end my enjoyment… do not hesitate to believe that Konoha will fall…"
"Like we were going to cancel it because an asshole like you showed up…" Stated a very cocky voice from above Orochimaru, surprising the pair immensely. They looked up to see Ghost laying upside down on the bottom of the branch above Orochimaru. "Although I will relay the message to the old man, just to be polite. I mean, it would be quite rude to refuse such a request, don't you think?"
Orochimaru smirked as he analyzed the newcomer. "Ghost Ōgakari. I have heard many things about you…"
Ghost chuckled. "Likewise, snake boy. Speaking of which, I have a question to ask you. Are you really a gay pedophile, or are you simply one of those kinds of people that is inexplicably turned on by the concept of power?"
Orochimaru blinked a few times. "… why (cough) would you ask such a question in this sort of situation?"
Ghost shrugged. "The thing is, I make it a personal rule not to make fun of gay people for being gay. I have a bunch of buddies who are gay, and I would be disrespecting them if I made fun of a person because of their sexual preferences. I just wanna make sure for future reference so that I know how to mock you … and to be perfectly honest, with your looks, you don't exactly pass as someone that has never had an indecent thought about children, if you catch my drift."
Orochimaru's eyebrows twitched. "I have no need for sexual preferences. I am only dedicated to my work and my goals…"
Ghost smiled. "Okay. So you are the type that is power-hungry. Thanks for heads up, you pale ass evil pedophile gay freak of cock sucking nature." (A/N: I do have friends who are gay and bisexual, and I do not condone making fun of people due to their sexual preference for any reason. I DO, however, enjoy calling people things that they are clearly not, simply because they react to it in amusing ways.)
Orochimaru would have commented on that last insult, but he was too busy mentally pushing the hidden snake he had summoned to kill the man with every fiber of his being. The snake had just lunged for the back of Ghost's neck when the man simply disappeared. "What?!" Orochimaru sneered.
"Wind style…" A voice murmured from where Anko was, drawing Orochimaru's attention downwards. "… War Scars…" Orochimaru saw Ghost standing next to Anko with his hands making the dragon hand sign. Several seconds passed in silence as Orochimaru waited to see what the technique would do.
"It seems that your technique did not work…" The Snake Sannin sneered in amusement.
Ghost simply smiled and pointed in the direction that Hana and the snake summon were. Orochimaru glanced in the direction he was pointing to, to see his summon dead, lacerated beyond known measure and covered in almost as many deep cuts as it had scales on its body. He also saw that Hana and her dogs were being carried away by several clones of Ghost at a fast pace. "What…?" He mused as he turned to see Ghost carrying Anko bridal style, who disappeared again before he could react. The presumed genius would have pondered what had just happened and what techniques Ghost could have used to do what he just did, but he was almost immediately snapped out of his thoughts by hearing a massive commotion above him.
The man looked up to see a sight that he, and likely no one else, had ever seen before, as the entire canopy of the forest above him was collapsing onto him. Giant portions of the trees separated from their original positions, and splinters flew everywhere as the groans of the giants all around him slowly grew. As the larger pieces approached his elevation and the roar of the forest's collapse grew, the genius could see that there were deep, clean gouges on the pieces of wood everywhere and at nearly impossible angles.
Exactly the same as those that were on his summon.
o. o. o.
With Team 7:
Naruto spat out blood as he rushed his team into the tower. He had been practicing with the Kyūbi's chakra every once in a while, but this was the longest he had actually maintained control of it while moving his body at its fastest speed. Sasuke had somehow managed to stay awake and hold onto the blonde during the entire ordeal, and Sakura was too scared to say anything, thankfully. As soon as they had entered the main room, the boy and his clone collapsed on the ground in exhaustion, causing the clone to dispel immediately. Sasuke took the opportunity to finally pass out due to the pain he was experiencing, and Sakura was jolted out of her stupor.
"The scrolls…" Naruto gasped to Sakura as he coughed up more blood. "Open them… now…"
Sakura blinked a few times before nodding and searching Naruto's pouch for the earth and heaven scrolls he was carrying. Sakura grabbed them both and opened them in a hurry, and in turn chucked them across the room in fear when they started to smoke. Several seconds later, Kakashi appeared from the smoke with a curious expression on his face. "This can't be right… you guys passed the exam in 45 minutes?" He then dropped his façade and noted the condition of his team. "What happened?" He asked seriously.
"Some freak…" Coughed Naruto. "Bit Sasuke. Did something to him. Used clones to stall him. Anko and Hana-sensei (cough) came. Said his name was Orochimaru… I used Kyūbi's chakra to get here as fast (cough) as I could…"
Kakashi's eyes widened as he looked at Sasuke, and more importantly his neck. Moments later he had Sasuke over his right shoulder and his left arm on Sakura. "Naruto, I'll take Sasuke and Sakura to the medical bay. Rest here. Don't use the Kyūbi's chakra to heal you any more than it is right now. I'll send someone to see to you as soon as possible." He then disappeared with the two genin in a cloud of smoke, as Naruto continued to cough up blood on his hands and knees. If anyone could hear him moments later, they would have had sworn that the blonde was laughing between coughs.
o. o. o.
At the Konoha main gate several hours later:
Izumo and Kotetsu were once again relaxing at their guard post, having completed their duty of being proctors in the first part of the Chūnin Exams.
"Hey, Kotetsu…" Izumo asked. "You think those rookies have a chance of making it past the second exam? I mean, the Forest of Death is a pretty nasty place from what I've heard."
Kotetsu sighed. "Dunno. I think that Kakashi's team and Kurenai's team have a pretty decent shot of making it, but I'm having doubts about Asuma's team. They don't exactly pass as survival training experts…"
Izumo was about to respond when he developed a familiar shiver down his spine. "… Hey, you feel that?"
Kotetsu shivered. "Oh, yeah. I guess he's back…"
Izumo paused for a moment. "Wait… wasn't…" Whatever Izumo was about to say was interrupted as a human sized projectile flew past their booth at an incredible speed and crashed into the ground, creating a giant gouge in the ground at least 50 meters long.
"For the last time Crypt, you are NOT allowed to perform the happy fluffy pants and flamingo dance at our clan's inauguration party!" Roared a deep and gruff voice from a fair distance away outside the wall.
"I give that a 7.8." Commented a female voice. "You had the distance, but there was no skid mark and barely any blood trail to really give it that painful appearance. Here, let me show you how it's done…" Izumo and Kotetsu looked at each other nervously.
Crack-crack, BOOM! Another human sized projectile flew past the pair, this time crackling with electricity and making a trail over 70 meters long. "She should know better than to try that with me…" Mused a familiar monotone voice.
The elder voice chuckled. "Impressive. 8.7. The residual electricity was a nice touch."
"Thanks. I try to make my work look impressive from time to time…" Replied Scabbard.
Izumo and Kotetsu looked at the bodies that created the trenches in the ground. In the first was a man that was lying face down in the dirt, so his face was hidden, but his arms were clearly restrained by his trench coat, which had a red flame pattern on the bottom edges, and his ratty black hair was shoulder length. The other body was of that of a young woman whose appearance was entirely obscured due to being completely charred, sparking, and smoking from the electrical attack she had just received. She was also wearing a trench coat, but her sleeves were longer than her arms, somewhat like a priestess. Despite her current condition, it was apparent that she was fair of skin and hair, similar to nobility.
Both bodies were twitching frequently.
"Long time no see, you two…" Mused Scabbard as he approached the unnerved guards. The pair turned to the speaker to see the familiar short man standing next to a giant of an old man. Hunched over and still well over 2 meters tall, the old man leaned on a large wooden staff that had leaves growing out of it, and he had an enormous sword hanging off of his back. His hair, both normal and facial, were grizzly and grey with flecks of black, and both descended to at least mid-chest. His clothes were similar to those of his traveling companions, yet his trench coat seemed to be designed more as a priest's robe than a coat, and had a stone blue flame on the bottom of it that matched the color of his eyes. Despite his intimidating appearance, he carried a soothing aura around him, similar to being around a caring grandfather, and had a gentle smile to match. The pair of men were snapped out of their awe when Scabbard spoke again. "Can you please inform the Hokage that the rest of the Ōgakari clan has arrived?
o. o. o.
A/N:
Insert maniacal laughter here.
Okay. Had finals this week. Am back home. And had steak twice this week. I can proudly say that this is a good week.
Keep on reviewing people! We are this close to hitting 400! (You can't see it, but my fingers are pretty close together. Take my word for it.) And if we've already passed that mark, review anyway! Woo!
I had a lot of ideas for the Orochimaru fight. One that was in my head for a while was right before he gave Naruto the 5 Element Seal like last time, Naruto uses his fox talons to slice off parts of Orochimaru's tongue, then cross slash him to open his stomach and the scroll he swallowed falls out… but it was too hard to make that fit into the story, so I unfortunately had to drop it.
I, for one, am disappointed that no one (or at least the guys that I read) had thought up of the fire application of modifying tools to my extent yet. I mean, it was pretty much right there, and it makes SO much sense to make fire act like a poison, but no one had ever considered it, or thought of making Sasuke apply fire chakra to his sword before lightning. It kind of depresses me when that kind of potential is ignored like that.
Chojidude: I'm thinking of making a group here: The book of Log. For all log worshipping authors. Tell me what you think so we can exploit this idea to the fullest soon.
Anyways. Review. Draw. Worship the Log. And have an excellent Christmas vacation, folks.
