Chapter 26 Cursed Days
Laying Sasuke and Kiba down in a natural hollow created by large tree roots, Minato considered his options. He shuffled them around on the ground and lay their heads on their pouches. Minato knew Kiba would wake in time but until then, he would let the boy rest. He felt Sasuke's forehead and tsked. The boy was burning up. He took out a small towel and wet it with water from a canteen and placed it on Sasuke's forehead.
Minato cursed as he inspected the seal on Sasuke's neck. It was a nasty piece of work. He worried if Sasuke would even survive the implantation. He couldn't seal it away until it had settled into Sasuke. And wasn't that something to consider? The seal would no doubt have consequences on his psyche and chakra systems. He could only wait until Sasuke had woken up to fully seal it seal was disgusting and distorted nature energy in a way that made Minato want to puke just by probing it with his senses. The most disturbing thing about the seal was the fragment of a soul that he could feel in it. Orochimaru had really out done himself with this seal.
Minato sighed to himself, he was stuck in the forest of death with two deadweights. He stood and began to plaster the interior of the hollow with barrier seals. Then he walked out of the hollow and began planting traps all over the surrounding areas. He returned to Sasuke's side as the boy began groaning in pain again. Minato held onto his hand tightly. He wouldn't be able to face Itachi if his brother died like this. He wouldn't be able to face himself either.
Minato settled in to wait for both boys to wake up. He began to meditate as a way to rest and recover. Soon he sensed three chakra signatures appear near their hollow. He tensed, expecting them to attack right away. The three signatures were distinctly hostile and he recognized them as the three Sound nin who had attacked Kabuto.
However it seemed that they had decided to wait to attack instead of charging in. Minato began subtly drawing extra protection seals on the walls of the hollow. He didn't want to worry about his teammates if things got messy.
The Sound ninja waited until daybreak to make their move. Minato had spent the entire night on edge waiting. He was well aware of their actions as they sent a squirrel with a paper bomb attached to it towards him. He threw a kunai just in front of the squirrel and scared it off. The Sound nin appeared to reconsider their approach. They shifted positions to higher up into the surrounding trees.
"Hey. You. Wake up Sasuke for us. We want to take him on." The one in the fur cape called down to him.
"Why? What does this mark on Sasuke's neck mean? What does Orochimaru want from him?" Minato yelled back.
The three Sound nin paused for a second as they processed his words. The one in the fur wondered aloud, "I wonder what Orochimaru's up to?"
Minato tsked, they were throw away lackeys, that much he could tell. They didn't know anything and were simply blindly following orders. He readied himself, pulling out a pair of kunai.
The instant they leapt into the clearing surrounding the hollow Naruto was up and moving. He triggered several traps manually, not taking any chances with the Sound ninja's abilities still unknown.
The Sound nin reacted quickly, leaping above swinging logs and flying kunai. They ducked and weaved through sprung shuriken and barely dodged an exploding tag as they burst into the clearing. They looked a little worse for wear as they panted in a relatively safe area of the trap filled clearing.
Minato smirked. That was only a small demonstration of what he'd filled the clearing with. He held his hand over a set of seals made to set off another round of traps on the Sound Shinobi. He felt several other chakra signatures approaching the clearing but they didn't feel hostile. He idly wondered why Lee, Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji were here. He shrugged and lowered his hand on the seals, setting off the rest of the trapped clearing.
Several explosions rang out through the clearing. When the smoke cleared the Sound nin were riddled with senbon and smoking slightly. They coughed and angrily staggered towards Naruto. Naruto honestly had to commend them for their tenacity. He stood and casually made his way out of the hollow.
The Sound nin with the character for death on his shirt roared in anger at him, "I'll destroy you! You little brat!" He raised his arms up at Naruto and sent a huge blast of wind at him.
The trees behind Naruto were blasted to bits but Naruto was nowhere to be found. Naruto suddenly appeared behind him and chopped the back of his neck, knocking him out.
The fur clad Genin and his kunoichi teammate leapt backwards in shock at Naruto's speed. They barely had time to react before Naruto was upon them. He swiftly kicked the kunoichi to the side before he rushed the fur caped Genin. The male Genin bravely stood his ground, he swung at Naruto with a telegraphed right hook that Naruto avoided.
Recalling what had happened to Kabuto, Naruto had dodged the punch with an extreme prejudice and backed all the way up to the hollow. Taking advantage of the distance her teammate had created the Kunoichi threw a volley of senbon at Naruto. Naruto avoided them all easily and ran straight at her. He spun and kicked her high into the air and threw a brace of shuriken after her. Not even looking to see if he had hit his mark he turned back to the Genin in the fur cape and disappeared in a shunpo. The quick shunpo brought him behind the Genin and he dispatched him with a swift blow to the head.
In the bushes Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji gaped. Naruto had just taken on three Sound nin by himself without breaking a sweat!
"Ah, you four can come out now." Naruto called out to the surrounding forest as he finished tying up the unconscious Sound Shinobi.
Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji awkwardly stumbled out of the bushes laughing. "H-hi Naruto. Don't mind us we were just passing by…" Ino said.
"H-hey Naruto when'd you get so strong?" Choji asked hesitantly.
Naruto's only reply was a nonchalant shrug.
Lee burst out of the trees opposite to the Ino-Shika-Cho. "Yosh! Naruto-kun that was a very youthful fight! I commend you for taking on a three versus one and winning! Please fight me next!"
"Ahaha… No thanks Lee… Maybe next time."
"Lee! What are you doing?! You're late!" A voice called out from the trees.
The girl with the twin buns hopped down from the trees along with a boy that Minato recognized as a Hyuga.
"Lee come on! We gotta get going!" The girl scolded.
"Ah! My apologies Tenten!" Lee bowed deeply, "I was busy witnessing a most youthful fight!"
"Ah, well don't let us keep you…" Naruto said awkwardly. What was with this impromptu meeting in the woods?
The Hyuga boy pointed imperiously at Naruto and asked, "You. What is your name?"
Naruto pointed at himself, "Me? I'm Uzumaki Naruto…"
The Hyuga inclined his head slightly and then jumped away.
"Ah! Hey Neji! Wait for us!" Tenten yelled before jumping away after him.
"Yosh! Until next time Naruto-kun!" Lee gave a big thumbs up and a sparkling smile before he too vanished into the trees.
"So uh." Naruto turned to Ino's group. "You guys need anything?"
Ino shook her head slowly, "I uh. Eheh. Think we should get going too… But Sasuke's alright, right?" She asked awkwardly.
Naruto sighed and smiled weakly, "He's just taking a break. You know how it is…"
"Haha. Of course! Let's get going!" Ino said, slapping Shikamaru roughly on the shoulder.
Shikamaru whined pathetically before he took ahold of Choji's scarf and hauled him up to leave.
"What did we even come here for?" Choji asked as they too left.
Naruto sighed. That was all the spectators taken care of. Now he just had to wait until someone woke up so he could question them.
He settled in to wait. Again.
After several long minutes Kiba began stirring along with Akamaru. Naruto waited for Kiba to get his bearings before he asked, "Hey Kiba? What the hell happened when I was gone?"
"Huh? Wha-? Oh! Naruto! You're okay!" Kiba jumped up and began inspecting Naruto, patting him down and searching for injuries.
"Kiba! I'm fine!" Naruto pushed Kiba off of him. "Now explain what happened to you and Sasuke!"
Kiba sat back down and finally seemed to notice an unconscious Sasuke lying next to him.
"Oh shit! Sasuke! Is he alright Naruto?" Kiba asked worriedly. Naruto simply nodded in response, gesturing for Kiba to continue. "I don't really know what happened. We were attacked out of nowhere right? And this giant snake showed up and tried to eat me. But I killed it of course! Then I found Sasuke being attacked by this weird woman and she summoned a giant snake and... I don't remember much after that…"
"Bark."
"Oh yeah and Sasuke threw our scrolls at her."
Naruto sighed. That didn't really answer any of his questions. He would just have to wait for the Sound nin to wake up, or for Sasuke. Kiba stared in surprise at the bound up Sound nin and stuttered a few questioning noises but quieted down when Naruto glared at him.
Luckily he didn't have to wait long for answers as Sasuke began exuding a sinister chakra from all over his body.
Naruto stared at the boy in worry. Was this supposed to happen?
Sasuke woke up groaning with strange fiery black marks spreading all over his skin. He stood and inspected himself and grinned wickedly.
"Sasuke?" Naruto asked warily, "How are you feeling?"
Sasuke looked at Naruto with distant eyes and replied, "Fine. I feel like I'm bursting with power. I feel… Strong…" He clenched his fist tightly, "I understand now Naruto, I am an avenger. On the path that I walk. I have to do whatever it takes to gain power… Even if it means selling my flesh to the devil!"
Naruto slapped Sasuke hard in the face sending him to the ground.
"Woah! I get he's an asshole but is that really necessary!?" Kiba yelped. "And what the hell is up with those markings Sasuke?"
"Naruto?" Sasuke asked holding his face, "You want to fight me!? Good! This will be my chance to test out this new power!"
"Sasuke get a hold of yourself! Didn't you say you wanted to know the truth!? This isn't you! Wake up!" Naruto shouted.
Sasuke didn't say anything. He simply stood and took a fighting stance. Then he vanished in a cloud of dust.
Naruto blocked a hard kick to his face with his arms.
'Fast! Is this a bastardized sage mode using nature energy?!' Naruto thought as he released his resistance seals up to level six. Naruto backed away from Sasuke quickly but Sasuke sent a barrage of fire bullets trailing after him. Naruto shunpoed and dodged the fireballs by closing in on Sasuke. Sasuke grinned and charged at Naruto, engaging him in a high speed taijutsu battle. Naruto quickly noted that Sasuke's physical attributes had greatly increased but not his base skills. He still had the same holes in his defenses that he had before the seal. Taking advantage of his greater experience Minato tackled sasuke and began to grapple with him on the forest floor. He held Sasuke in an arm lock and shouted, "Are you yourself yet? I can do this all day you brat!"
Sasuke struggled in Naruto's hold futilely. Panting Sasuke roared, "You don't understand! I have to kill Itachi for what he did! I need more power!"
"Calm down Sasuke! You're not thinking straight! The curse mark is affecting your thoughts! I need to seal it away!"
"No! You don't understand! Its giving me power! I need this power!"
"No you don't! You're being consumed by the seal! Come back to yourself Sasuke!"
Kiba hurried over to the boys struggling on the ground, "Woah Naruto what's going on? What seal?"
"Orochimaru bit him and left a curse mark! It's what's driving him crazy right now!" Naruto yelled at Kiba impatiently.
Kiba tilted his head, "Wait who's Orochimaru?"
"Kiba! It's the one who attacked us! One of the great Sannin!'
"Oh Shit! Really? Damn! We survived him? Holy cow."
"If you could calm down, Sasuke! I can help you!" Naruto shouted in Sasuke's ear.
Sasuke slowly stopped struggling, the curse marks form his neck fading away as he lay on the ground inhaling deeply.
Judging that Sasuke had calmed enough, Naruto finally got off of the boy.
"Calmed down a bit? Think clearly. There's obviously something that Orochimaru wants from you. This isn't the first time sound ninja have come for you. The seal isn't anything good for you." Naruto scowled.
Sasuke sat up and nodded at Naruto, "Is there anything I can do about this mark?" He asked.
"You can do nothing. I can seal away the mark. Come back to the hollow and let me prepare a few things."
Sasuke nodded grumpily and followed Naruto back to the hollow.
Naruto pulled out his sealing supplies and gestured to Sasuke to take off his shirt. Sasuke quietly obeyed him and he was pushed to sit down in front of Naruto with his back facing him. Kiba leaned curiously over Sasuke's back as Naruto began painting various symbols in his own blood around the curse mark. Naruto swatted Kiba away and painted five complicated circles around the curse mark.
"This will hurt for a bit okay, Sasuke? After its done you won't have to worry about the mark. I'll be researching how to get it off of you in the meantime. So try not to worry too much about this."
Sasuke had a contemplative expression on as he nodded at Naruto and motioned for him to get on with it.
Naruto formed a few hand seals behind Sasuke and then slapped his hands on top of the mark, "Seal!" He shouted, activating the complicated array.
Sasuke screamed in pain as the symbols on his skin writhed and condensed into a solid black ring around the three tomoe mark. He collapsed forwards into Kiba's arms and gasped for breath.
"Sorry about that Sasuke. had to be done. You might encounter a few issues with your chakra control, but at least I made it so that you can still use chakra."
Sasuke nodded weakly at Naruto and gasped out a thanks.
Meanwhile the fur caped Sound nin had woken up. He had witnessed the fight between Sasuke and Naruot and knew that he wouldn't be able to defeat them, even with his teammates. He eyed Naruto warily as Naruto approached the bound up Sound nin.
"So my dear Sound nin." Naruto began sarcastically, "What exactly does Orochimaru want with Sasuke?"
The Genin shook his head, "I don't know. We were just following orders. We were ordered to kill uchiha Sasuke under the guise of the Exams but it appears that lord Orochimaru got to him first…"
Naruto nodded, it was as he'd suspected.
The Sound nin continued, "Please let us go. There is something afoot here that I would like to investigate. I will leave out scroll with you as a token of our admiration for your skills and as some reparation for your trouble."
Naruto turned to Kiba and Sasuke who was gingerly prodding at the skin of his neck. "What do you guys think?"
"Uh yeah. How'd you get them tied up and stuff?" Kiba asked.
Minato smiled back ominously, making Kiba shiver and reconsider his question.
"Let them go. It's not like they can do anything to us." Sasuke said.
"Sure. Let's leave them tied up here until we leave then." Naruto said. "Now let's get going. We have to make it to the tower. The Hokage needs to know what happened here."
"Yeah…" said Kiba.
The next day, after fishing at the river that crossed the Forest of Death, team seven set off towards the tower.
"Man we're lucky that Naruto made decoy scrolls." Kiba remarked as they leaped through the trees.
"Indeed…" Said Sasuke, still rather thoughtful.
'We're still rather early into the exams so there should only be a few ambushes near the tower. If we're lucky we will avoid them all. People will start getting desperate near the end and converge at the tower." Said Naruto.
"Yeah. Lucky us getting an earth scroll right off the bat huh, Akamaru!?"
"Bark!"
"You said it buddy!"
Naruto gestured to his teammates to stop for a minute. "Hold on." He said.
"What is it Naruto? Kiba asked.
"There a lone Genin up ahead. I think… it's Kabuto?"
"What's he doing by himself out here?" Sasuke asked.
"Who knows..." Said Naruto, "i think we should avoid him. What do you guys say?"
"What!? But we can see if he has his team's scrolls and take them out!"
"But they're a Konoha team as well. Isn't it better to leave them be?" Said Sasuke.
Kiba hmphed. "When you have to fight someone from his tea, I'll laugh at you Sasuke."
Naruto scratched his chin, "So I guess we're avoiding him then?"
"Yeah."
"Sure."
"Arf."
Thus team seven proceeded uneventfully to the tower.
Entering the tower the team was greeted by an empty room and an inscription on the wall.
The inscription read, "If qualities of Heaven are your desire. Acquire wisdom and knowledge to take your mind higher. If Earthly qualities are what you lack. Train you body in the fields and prepare to attack. When both Heaven and Earth are opened together, the path of peril will revert to the righteous path forever. This " " is the secret way… That guides us on from this place today. - Sandaime Hokage."
Naruto smiled at the inscription. He pulled out the scrolls and handed the heaven scroll to Sasuke. Sasuke nodded at him and opened the heaven scroll at the same time he opened the earth scroll.
Naruto looked down at the simplistic fuinjutsu drawn on the scrolls, deciphering its meaning immediately. The scroll was a basic summoning array with the character for 'human' drawn on the center. "Throw it away Sasuke!" He yelled tossing his own scroll to the ground.
Sasuke copied him and there was a puff of smoke from the scrolls. The smoke cleared to reveal Iruka standing proudly in front of them.
"It's been a while, huh?" He asked cheerfully.
"Ah hello Iruka-sensei." Naruto said bowing slightly.
"Iruka-sensei. What are you doing here?" Kiba asked.
"The scrolls were designed so that Chuunin could greet the applicants at the end of the second exam. It was luck that I ended up as the messenger for you three. Congratulations! I would like to take you out to Ichiraku's but maybe later hm?"
"Thank you Iruka-sensei," Naruto said smiling,
"Ne, ne. Iruka-sensei. What would you have done if we opened the scrolls in the forest?" Kiba asked.
"Ah I would have been required to knock you out until the exam had ended."
"Oh I see."
"I'm also here to explain the inscription to you. The blank space is for the character 'human' . It represents what all Chuunin should be."
"Thank you sensei but is there some way to contact the Hokage? We need to tell him something important."
"Huh? What's wrong, Naruto?"
"Orochimaru has infiltrated the exams and place a curse mark on Sasuke."
"What!?"
"Ah yeah the guy showed up out of nowhere and attacked us." Chirped Kiba.
"Damn. This is serious. I'll get the Hokage here right away, You guys just hang tight here." Iruka said as he walked over to a door at the side of the room and disappeared in a shunshin.
The team didn't wait long for the Hokage. They were soon called into an office where the Hokage sat with several ANBU surrounding him.
The Hokage had his fingers crossed in front of his face and an extremely grave expression on. "So, what was that about Sasuke and Orochimaru?"
"Yes sir. We were separated in the forest by a high level wind jutsu. When we tried to regroup a Kusa kunoichi had imitated Kiba. She attacked immediately after he was exposed and summoned a large snake to attack. Kiba was knocked out by the snake but saved by Naruto who had just arrived. I hit her with a fire jutsu that ruined her disguise slightly. She then declared that her name was Orochimaru. Naruto managed to dispel the summon but she bit me and left a mark on my neck that provided me with unimaginable power." Sasuke reported rubbing at his neck ruefully.
"I see… May I see this mark Sasuke-kun?" The Hokage asked.
Sasuke pulled down his collar and revealed the three tomoes encircled by a thick black ring.
"Hmm? Who performed this sealing jutsu on the curse mark?"
"I did Hokage-sama." Said Naruto.
"I see. I was not aware that you were so prodigious in the sealing arts. Good work Naruto."
"Thank you."
"I'm afraid I may be be in further need of your skills though Naruto."
Naruto tilted his head, "Huh?"
"I'm sorry Sasuke-kun, you may want to sit down for this." The Hokage gestured to a chair off to the side and waited for Sasuke to take a seat.
"Unfortunately we were only altered of Orochimaru's presence in the exams after Naruto informed Anko of the swap and the bodies of the real Kusa nin were discovered. While we were preoccupied with trying to apprehend Orochimaru in the Forest of Death, he had struck somewhere else."
Sasuke felt a pit form at the bottom of his stomach.
"Orochimaru targeted the survivors of the Uchiha clan. He has marked all fifteen members of the clan and we are still unsure if all members will survive. So far Uchiha Genki and Uchiha Yoichi have succumbed to the seal."
Sasuke's eyes widened at the news. He would have fallen to his knees if he hadn't already been sitting. He rested his head in his hands and swallowed past a lump in his throat.
"Konoha has currently declared a state of war due to Orochimaru's meddlings. We cannot cancel the exams due to a threat that he has issued as well as complicated relations with the foreign nations attending the exams."
"What… But what happened to the ANBU who were guarding the Uchiha clan?" Sasuke asked, head shooting back up to look desperately at the Hokage.
The Hokage sighed. "They were all killed in the line of duty defending the Uchiha clan. I understand if you want to back out of the exams to mourn Sasuke."
Sasuke choked… Orochimaru said he could meet him at the end of the exams…
Sasuke's eyes hardened. "N-no. Hokage-sama. I will be continuing these exams."
"I see… I wish you the best of luck. There are still three days before the final round of the exams so please rest up until then I'll have an ANBU direct you to your rooms. But if Naruto could stay behind to seal the curse marks..."
Naruto nodded then walked up and placed a hand on Sasuke's shoulder. "Sasuke…" he said softly, "Its okay to mourn. I'll what I can for your clan. In the meantime take it easy alright?"
Kiba walked up and placed his hand on Sasuke's other shoulder frowning, "We're here for you dude. Just… remember that okay?"
Sasuke nodded numbly and stood. He wobbled in place as Kiba and Naruto steadied him. He shakily followed the ANBU picked to lead them to their rooms.
Kiba and Naruto looked at each other in worry as they watched Sasuke's retreating back.