AN: Note that I do not own Naruto, Naruto Shippuden, or any of the characters from either Anime. This work is a fanfiction written out of my love for the series and not in any attempt to make a profit.
Proofread by: Me, as a result of both of my proofreaders being unavailable.
Hooray, managed to write this chapter in time with plenty to spare. It helps that this chapter was fun to write and a lot easier to do as well. Although I am not certain if I managed to get Shino's personality very well, hopefully, I didn't mess it up too much.
Chapter 22: Transformation, complete massacre
"This isn't going anywhere," Inner commented as Sakura strained to keep Shino's arms and legs occupied during their taijutsu duel. Originally, she had intended to gauge his defenses and exploit an opening in them to hit him with a genjutsu that would disrupt his balance, having gotten the idea from Dosu's explanation of his jutsu. Unfortunately, her earlier assessment had turned out to be correct, and Shino had turned out to not be a slacker in the taijutsu department, able to block or deflect any attack she threw at him, regardless of where she aimed. She had even begun to take hits from him before his approach had changed, and she realized he was for some reason trying to pull out of the taijutsu duel, prompting her to switch tactics and instead do everything she could to keep herself close to him, forcing him to defend against her attacks as she tried to hit his vital areas.
"I know it isn't, but what should I do? He's planning something, and if I let him back off now, he'll undoubtedly do it. I can barely keep him occupied, if he uses a justsu I can't counter, then its all over." Sakura replied, irritated as she focused on keeping Shino occupied. It was only all the more frustrating as Shino's face remained rather blank, betraying none of his emotions and making it feel as if she was falling for one of his traps.
"In that case, don't give him the chance. We should still have a smoke bomb from the corpses we searched, use it to our advantage. We won't be able to see, but neither will he, and we can feel where he is." Inner suggested smugly, as Sakura agreed and disengaged from Shino.
"I was wondering how long before you tire. Now, I will end this." Shino announced as Sakura stopped her attacks and put some distance between them.
Smirking, Sakura wordlessly reached into her weapons pouch and pulled out a smoke bomb, detonating it at her own feet, enveloping the area in a cloud of gray smoke. However, her confident smirk immediately disappeared as she felt Shino's form suddenly expand, seeming to disperse in all directions as if he was controlling his own energy like a swarm, searching for her in the cloud.
"The energy is different, it's not him, it's his bugs!" Inner suddenly exclaimed in revelation, letting Sakura make the right decision and stay away from him while preparing the energy inside of her for a counter-attack. As she felt the bugs moving through the smoke, about to pass over her form, Sakura began leaking the energy out of her body, projecting it outwards like spikes, ready to pierce and inject anything that got close with the energy, likely to the same effect as she had seen it have on Dosu.
As soon as the bugs that would have found her came within range, the room was suddenly filled with a distinct popping noise. Unable to see the bugs, Sakura could only speculate, but from what she could feel with her energy sense, the amount of energy she was putting out was way too much for the small bugs who seemed to swell up and explode as they came into contact with it.
A startled gasp from Shino's direction let her know he had realized her threat hadn't been an empty one, and she immediately began moving towards him. She didn't bother concealing her footsteps as the smoke had already begun to disperse, and Shino would be able to see her anyways. On top of it, there was no way to mask the popping noise and screeching of the dying bugs as she approached, crossing their path until they adapted and began avoiding her instead.
"Told you," Sakura told him as she stepped into view, drawing a gasp or two from the balconies this time as everyone looked at Sakura wide-eyed. While they had realized Sakura had done something under the concealment of the smoke, the sight before them was not what they had expected. Her skin, normally fair and pale, was now a dark gray, her hair had also darkened several shades, making it look as if it had lost its saturation.
As some more of the bugs accidentally brushed against the energy she was releasing. They popped in sight of the spectators, letting them know what the sound from earlier had been.
Sasuke and Naruto found themselves first surprised by Sakura's change in appearance, only to be followed by Kakashi suddenly leaning over the railing, watching Sakura with wide eyes, having uncovered his Sharingan to comprehend what it was he was seeing. Sasuke, taking the hint, activated his Sharingan as well, and frowned as he didn't really see any difference. "Impossible." His Sensei muttered next to him, utterly astonished as he realized what was going on.
"Wait, what's going on?" Naruto questioned Kakashi, as he seemed to understand. Sasuke turned his own Sharingan off while turning his attention to listen to Kakashi, hoping he would provide them an explanation.
"Somehow, Sakura is using pure Nature Energy to kill any bugs that come too close. It shouldn't be possible, but that's the only explanation I can come up with." Kakashi explained, stunned at the sight, never having thought Sakura had something so deadly at her disposal.
"Why shouldn't it be possible?" Sasuke inquired, a little confused by Kakashi's explanation, wondering if whatever Kakashi considered impossible was somehow possible due to her Kekkei Genkai. She had explained to them how she was able to use some kind of energy from her seal after all.
"It's not supposed to be possible, as anyone trying to contain that much Nature Energy without molding it into their chakra should by all means die, transformed into some form of abomination before turning to stone," Kakashi explained, still keeping his eyes trained on Sakura.
"Oh, like she did with Dosu?" Naruto asked for clarification, making Kakashi tear his gaze from Sakura to stare at Naruto.
"Come again?" He asked, confused by what Naruto meant.
"In the forest, we ran into some Otogakure Shinobi who were following Orochimaru's orders. Sakura managed to hit one of them, and his skin turned weird before he turned completely to stone." Sasuke clarified, while Lee, standing nearby and having overheard nodded in agreement.
"It was quite surprising, but she managed to take him down, even as I had trouble with him," Lee admitted, finding that it was now his turn to be stared at by Kakashi who was wondering if he had somehow become the victim of a very elaborate joke, or perhaps if he was dreaming. Discreetly, he even attempted to disrupt his chakra to escape a genjutsu, if it happened to be what was currently going on, only for nothing to happen.
"So you know what this energy is, Nature Energy?" Sasuke asked, hoping to probe Kakashi for information.
Recovering for a moment, before answering, Kakashi nodded. "Y-yeah. Nature Energy is a type of naturally occurring energy. It is necessary to mold Senjutsu chakra, which is a necessary step for anyone wishing to become a sage, but it normally requires a lot of talent and effort to do it safely. Many find it impossible and give up." Kakashi explained, deciding not to mention that he himself had never managed it. In fact, he couldn't even feel Nature Energy, he had only managed to learn how to recognize when it was being used.
"Wow, Sakura's Kekkei Genkai is really amazing then?" Naruto asked, smirking from eye to eye before he leaned over the railing, shouting. "You go Sakura!"
Sakura, standing in front of Shino, made no move to attack him. She hadn't noticed the changes to her body yet or realized how intimidating she looked to him. Untouchable by his bugs, and presumably himself, wearing a darker color pallet than before and staring right at him with a frown.
Sakura herself, on the other hand, had found herself stuck. She had the advantage, but she was conflicted. If she attacked Shino as she was now, there was a good chance that he would end up dying, much like his bugs had, but if she stopped doing what she was doing, she'd open herself up to his bugs and other attacks as well. She didn't know what she should do.
"Threaten him. Just tell him you'd rather not kill him and force him to give up." Inner suggested with a hint of urgency, making Sakura agree as she couldn't come up with anything better, and felt how their supply of energy was rapidly being depleted.
"If I attack you now, I might end up killing you. Your bugs can't touch me, right now, and neither can you. I suggest that you give up now, or I'll be forced to attack." Sakura threatened, taking a step towards him, only to suddenly have to dodge a kunai Shino had sent her way.
"There are other ways to harm you, however," Shino told her, calling his bugs back to form a cloud in front of him, obscuring him from Sakura's view, before kunai and shuriken began flying at her from within the swarm, forcing Sakura on the defensive.
"Fine, if that's how you want it," Sakura growled out, before leaping forward and sending her energy out to envelope the swarm, trying to keep it from hitting Shino as well. As soon as the bugs made contact with her energy, they exploded into chunks and revealed Shino, now with both his arms raised, as the remaining, surviving bugs returned to him.
"I give up," Shino said loud enough for Hayate to hear, coughing once before responding.
"Shino has given up, Sakura is the winner." He declared, coughing again as Sakura felt herself smile slightly and pulled her energy back, only to fall to her knees as her skin and hair turned back to normal, and fatigue immediately overtook her. She winced at the impact to her knees but remained where she was, trying to get her hastened breath under control as she felt exhausted and sweating from the entire ordeal.
"We need a bath," Inner stated in disgust, making Sakura nod as she became conscious of just how dirty her skin felt, and how much her muscles ached.
"Definitely," Sakura whispered under her breath, before managing to bring herself to stand up, groaning as she did so and felt her muscles ache from the movement.
"Sakura, that was awesome!" Naruto exclaimed as he was suddenly at her side, grinning at her like a loon. "You passed onto the third exam!"
"Naruto?" Sakura asked, surprised that he had suddenly appeared next to her. Behind him, she could see Sasuke and Kakashi having come down to see her as well.
"You looked like you might need some help there for a moment, so we came down to help you, but it seems you're alright. That was quite the performance you gave us there." Kakashi told her, eyeing the remnants of her curse mark with his one visible eye, happy to see no changes in it, and glad to know it hadn't reacted during her transformation either.
"I'm fine, just tired," Sakura explained, smiling at them, thankful for the gesture, before turning to look at Shino who was simply standing by the swarm of dead bugs. Walking over to him, Sakura spoke up. "Sorry to kill so many of them, I don't know what kind of relationship you have with your bugs, but I did try to warn you," Sakura told him, hoping he wouldn't hold it against her.
"Don't worry. It was my fault. You're stronger than I anticipated, and I was too stubborn to quit. Besides, the contract I have with them, this much is expected sooner or later." He told her, not turning to look at her until the end, giving her a quick glance before deciding to return to his teammates.
Sakura couldn't decide what to feel about his explanation and simply decided to ignore it, returning to her team instead, overhearing Naruto excitedly recounting the match from his perspective. "Wait, what's this about a transformation?" She asked them, as she joined them on the way to the stairs, while the next match was being decided behind them.
A glance back informed her of the next matchup. Kiba Inuzuka against Kabuto Yakushi.
AN: Hopefully you guys enjoy this chapter as much as I did. Now then, I wonder, what's this transformation of Sakura's, what causes it, what does it mean? Well, we'll have to find out later I suppose. Suffice to say, it has something to do with Nature Energy. Speaking of, team seven is now becoming aware of what Sakura is actually dealing with! Hurray.
I found it very entertaining to write Kakashi's reaction to what happened, and honestly, I would have enjoyed writing the reactions of every single person in the room, but it would have made the chapter drag on, and it isn't really necessary for the story. Besides, I believe most of you can imagine what they were anyways. The most important to focus on was her team and those nearby. I had originally intended for Sakura's feat of healing Karin to be mentioned here, as well, but it would have been too much for that one scene I believe, and either way, it will come up soon anyways.
For those of you wondering why Karin hasn't been mentioned much since they entered the building, I'll be honest, I kind of forgot. She's not currently one of the characters in focus, and while I imagine she'd love to be near team seven on the balcony, I imagine she would have ended up being told to remain by her teammates by her Jonin Sensei. Hopefully with her managing to deliver two scrolls for them to pass the second exam has them treat her better now that she has shown that she can pull her weight as well. I haven't really gotten to consider the implications and proper team dynamic for them yet, as I've been focusing on getting through with this for now.
I was also told in a review that a lot of fanfics tend to drag on around this part of the story. I'm hoping that won't end up happening here. I only really intend to properly write out the really important fights that change a lot from canon, while giving a summary of the less interesting ones, unfortunately, very few of the fights would qualify for something like that. Most of the matches will, after all, differ from canon, and contain at least one of the rookie nine or team 9. Also, I imagine people would be interested to read about Karin's fight, so there's also that.