Error
Virus detected
Restart system?
YES^
NO
YES^
Restart in 3...
2...
1...
Sasuke remained in shocked, frozen silence for nearly an hour, he thought. He didn't know for how much of that he sat there, pinned under Naruto. Inoko lay crumpled on the branch, whimpering and quietly sobbing as she clutched her shoulder. Naruto was silent. The most-definitely-not-a-genin had left - we faced off one of the Sannin and somehow lived, what the fu - and now he was alone in the Forest of Death with two unconscious teammates. Is he going to come back? Why did you take the shot for me, Inoko, why why why?
His hands were shaking. Ever since that man took everything from him, he'd known what he needed to do. Sasuke had always known what to do, when to do it.
He didn't know what to do now. He didn't know what Orochimaru had done to Naruto and Inoko.
Sasuke rubbed at his face and took a deep breath. He could do this. He had to do this.
Every Academy student was taught basic first aid. He'd gotten one of the highest scores in the class, because of course he did, but recalling the information now was difficult. He didn't think he'd need it, because it wasn't like he was ever going to be stupid enough to get injured, and it wasn't like he'd ever be saddled with idiots dumb enough to get injured by one of the damned Sannin.
Naruto's pulse was slow and steady, he was breathing alright. Some of the tension from Sasuke's shoulders drained a little. He was just unconscious.
"Moron," he tried, shaking his shoulder. "Hey, idiot, wake up."
Naruto's head lolled to the side. No reaction.
Sasuke swallowed thickly. Across the way, Inoko's choked sobs began to die away. She shuddered one final time before going limp altogether. Only the rise of her chest told him she was still alive.
The forest fell silent around them.
Restart failed
Restore from previous backup? (Most recent backup: 5 years, 3 months, 19 days ago)
YES^
NO
NO^
Run antivirus (cayden . exe)?
YES^
NO
YES^
Update required
Estimated time: 5 hours, 37 minutes
Progress remaining: 98%
97%
95%
Alright, he thought. I can do this.
How was he going to do this? It's not like I can tie them up and drag them on the ground… can I?
He couldn't let himself fall apart, not now. Not like he had when that man…
First things first.
Sasuke pulled Naruto onto his back. He might have been the shortest of the three of them, but judging by how heavy he was, he definitely had some muscle on him. Still a dobe though, he thought without any real venom.
Getting Naruto onto his back was one thing. Keeping him there was another. His first thought was to use ninja wire, but he realized as he pulled it out of his pouch that it would likely cut through his wrists if he tried it. It wasn't meant to bear weight like that.
He let Naruto slide back down onto the ground, absently making sure he didn't hit his head. His gaze fell to his thigh, which was still bleeding sluggishly. Bandages, he thought. Didn't Inoko keep a roll or two in her kunai pouch?
Sasuke crawled over to her and kept a sharp ear out for anything that might be approaching. She was pale and sweating, limp as a rag doll.
"Sorry," he whispered as he reached into her pouch, even though she probably couldn't hear him.
Inoko did indeed have a roll of bandages, alongside a bunch of unmarked vials filled with… something. A lot of somethings, going by the variety of colors and consistency within them. He briefly debated seeing if any of them were antidotes or something else along those lines, but decided against it. The Yamanaka were known for their poisons, among other things, and he wasn't willing to risk Inoko and Naruto's lives with his very rudimentary knowledge of plants and poisons.
He put the vials back into her pouch. Best not mess with them until Inoko was awake and could tell him what to use.
Once he had bandaged the worst of everyone's wounds and Naruto was secured onto his back, he turned his attention back to Inoko. He could do this. He had to do this.
Sasuke ended up wrapping his arms around her and dragging her away from the clearing. He really didn't want to stay in that place any longer than he had to. He refused to let himself stop, to take a break or rest. He was an Uchiha. He would persevere.
When he finally found a suitable place to stop, it was nearly midnight. Inoko was burning up, whimpering occasionally and groaning words that didn't always make sense. Neither of them had woken up.
He didn't know what to do. Naruto, by all appearances, was just sleeping, but he wouldn't wake up. Inoko was drenched with sweat already.
"Sasuke… no… " she whispered, face tightening before more nonsense slipped from her mouth. "Cayden…"
What do I do? he thought, chewing his lower lip. He forced himself to think back, think of what his mother had done when he or… that man had been sick. Soup, lots of blankets, sometimes a cold wet cloth on the forehead.
Well. He didn't have the first two by any means, but Sasuke could manage the third. He rolled a damp rag across Inoko's forehead, hoping it wouldn't fall off.
After a moment's thought and hesitation, he placed a second one on Naruto's forehead as well. He wasn't sure what else he could do for his idiot teammate.
The night passed slowly. He drifted between checking on them more frequently than he probably should and setting up perimeter traps. When those were done, he ate a ration bar - the Akimichi kind; Inoko started making a point of making sure they each had some after Wave - and then rechecked his traps. Checked on Naruto and Inoko again. Changed the cloths. Checked the traps again and set a few more.
Sometimes he thought he might have dozed off a few times, but the tiniest noise jerked him back to awareness. The forest was full of tiny noises.
Download complete.
Launching
Running…
Virus detected. Uninstall?
…
Unable to uninstall. Malware downloading…
Error. Error. Error. E?or. Error.
È̴̯̭͈̦͈̓̌̌̀́͌̊̏̊̕͝ͅr̷̛̩̙͑̅̒̽͑̀ͅr̷̡̠̬͔̤͔͆̊̓͋̔͊̓͛͋̕̚o̵͕͎͗̈͑r̴̢̛̪̞̎̆͂̌̄͠͠.̷̛͉̠̭̪̰̲̖̻̺̰̱͎̣̎͂̏͛̀̈́̑́̈́̌̑̕͜͝
Ȩ̵̛̫͈̤̘̤̰͍͙̙̤̮́͗͆͗̋̍͂̒̽̔̿̂͋̍̃͋͘ŗ̷̨͚̳̪̱̳̹̯̪̬̞͉̤̬̟̦̣̹͚̺̑͐͗̇̉̽͑̒̇͑̔̈́́̉͊͋̂́̅̍̾̈̔̓̈́̕͘̚ͅŕ̶͉̠̭͒̒̓̈̇̇̆̀̇̋̽̑̒̍͠͝͝͠ͅǫ̵̡̧͍͉̜̣̞̥͚̗̼̯̲̫̜͇̜͚̥͇͍̟͚͖̲̻̱̦̯̻̘̪̗͙͆̍̿̃̿̓̈́̓̚͜͜͝ͅͅŕ̷̢̨̛̛̛̯̺͙̲̥̖̼̰̼̠̗̠̻̠͍͎͕̮̻̟̰̣̖͕̺̹̭̱̮̲̱̜͎̩̳͖̹̦͐͋͑͋͛́͊̓̾̓̈́͊͛̃̾̎̔̇̈́̓̿̈͂̈̎͛̓̈́̀̚͘
.
.
.
Dawn broke.
Sasuke was tired. Tired and tense and twitchy in a way he hadn't been in years.
He refused to even consider backing out. Sannin interference aside, this was a test. If he couldn't get through this, how could he kill him? Besides, didn't the proctor say something about not being able to quit in the middle? The sooner he completed this task, the sooner they could figure out what Orochimaru had done to Inoko and Naruto.
There was a rustle behind him. When he spun around, kunai already nestled in his palm, three genin sat across the clearing. The Sound team from the first exam, he thought, scowling.
"Up all night standing guard?" one of them asked in a mocking tone. "How pointless."
"Let's fight, Uchiha Sasuke," another one said, tilting his head with wide eyes. Sasuke knew he was probably just trying to be intimidating, but all he could think was that he looked like Kakashi-sensei imitating Inoko. He almost laughed. "The three of us and you."
"Did Orochimaru send you?" Sasuke demanded. "What does he want?! What did he do to my teammate?!"
The three Sound genin visibly flinched at Orochimaru's name, glancing at each other uneasily. The one wearing the heavy coat recovered first, though still looked troubled.
"What's Orochimaru up to?" he wondered out loud. Well, that answered that question. "No matter. Let's begin, Sasuke-kun."
Sasuke slowly rose to his feet. He'd activated his Sharingan in the fight against Orochimaru, but he could feel how low he was on chakra. Not to mention he was only half sure how to even use it properly. He didn't want to try unless he absolutely had to.
"Who cares?" the mocking one said, tossing a rock in his hand. "We'll kill you, but not before we kill your little teammates back there too."
The Sharingan flared on without Sasuke's permission, burning their stupid faces into his memory. A burst of rage filled his chest at the same moment, rage like he hadn't felt since...
Ok. He might have developed feelings about his teammates, despite everything. Disgusting.
The annoying one jumped from the rock and lunged at Sasuke. So this is what the Sharingan is like, he thought grimly, every one of his moves being telegraphed from a mile away. He saw the hole in his hand, had a moment to think, Well that can't be good, before the air rippled and a blast of sound knocked him back.
He rolled only twice before landing on his feet, eyes narrowing. His stomach rolled, but he didn't throw up. Almost.
"Like it?" the girl smirked. "Zaku can use air pressure and sound with enough force to crush boulders, or so he claims."
"Shut up, Kin," Zaku snarled. "I can do all that and more!"
"Then I'll just be faster," Sasuke said grimly, launching himself forward. The faster he ended this fight, the faster they could get out of the forest. The faster they could get someone, maybe the Hokage, to figure out what Orochimaru had done to them.
Sasuke didn't care if he had to drag them all the way to the tower and yell until they were taken care of. He'd scream himself hoarse if he had to.
Dammit. Stupid feelings.
He settled back down into the Uchiha style taijutsu stance. He felt it as his Sharingan flickered and cursed under his breath. His chakra was running far lower than he would have liked. I should still have enough for a solid katon, he thought. But I need to be careful.
The mummy looking one pulled a scroll from a hidden pocket and tossed it to Zaku. Another heaven scroll. "My turn," he commented in a bright voice.
Sasuke jumped to the side, throwing a brace of kunai at him. If he lured them away, maybe he could -
A senbon flew through the air, slicing his cheek. He barely managed to dodge the next one.
"Come on, Dosu, I can't let you have all the fun," Kin complained with a mocking smile. This was a game to them. This was just a freaking game to them. Give me your strength, Amaterasu, he prayed silently.
"Hey, don't leave me out of this!" Zaku shouted. Sasuke wiped the blood from his face, eyes narrowing.
"Now, now," Dosu said, gently waving his teammates back. "It wouldn't be fair if we all ganged up on him, now would it?"
Sasuke grit his teeth. He threw himself forward, launching a rapid succession of punches. The plan was simple: take down Dosu, who seemed to be the leader of the trio, then Zaku, then Kin. Easy. He was Uchiha Sasuke. He wouldn't lose.
Dosu ducked under the first strike, but couldn't keep up with the barrage. Sasuke knocked him back, hard and fast. End it fast, make them leave -
The other genin swung his arm, missing Sasuke's face by mere centimeters. He stumbled backwards, the clearing spinning around in ways it wasn't supposed to. His stomach twisted painfully in the handful of seconds before he threw up.
"You can't block my attacks, not with this device on my arm," Dosu explained softly. "Sound is an impressive weapon, is it not?"
Sasuke coughed and wiped his mouth. He would win this, even if they were using some weird techniques.
I just have to be faster than them. I know how this works; I saw them use it on that Kabuto person during the first exam. Was the first exam really only yesterday?
He threw out a low kick, hoping to sweep Dosu's legs out from under him. A blast of air from Zaku shoved his teammate in the opposite direction, more or less keeping him on his feet. Sasuke bit back a curse, some not quite hysterical, not quite panicked part of his mind telling him his mother would wash his mouth out if she heard him swear.
Kin prowled around the clearing, edging closer and closer to -
Sasuke spun around, hands flashing, and threw a fireball at her. She yelped and jumped backwards, an ugly scowl on her face as she used a kunai to cut off the burning ends of her hair.
"Oh, you're going to pay for that," she growled. "Let's see if you can protect everyone, shall we?"
Sasuke nearly saw red. His team had both protected him while he had been helpless, useless. They saw him as theirs, and that made them mine, mine, mine.
He would not let them get hurt. Not again.
The world fell out of focus for a brief moment as his Sharingan flickered one last time before deactivating.
This isn't good. Maybe if it were just one on one, I could beat them as I am now, but not all three of them at once.
He spared a glance behind him. I can't lose this fight. I won't lose this fight.
01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01100010 01100101 01101100 01101111 01101110 01100111 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01101101 01100101 00100000 01101110 01101111 01110111 00101110 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 01110010 00100000 01110011 01101111 01110101 01101100 00100000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01101101 01101001 01101110 01100101 00101110 00100000 01100011 01101111 01101101 01100101 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01101101 01100101 00101110 00100000 01101001 00100000 01110111 01101001 01101100 01101100 00100000 01101101 01100001 01101011 01100101 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01110011 01110100 01110010 01101111 01101110 01100111 00101110
01001001 00100000 01101011 01101110 01101111 01110111 00101110
Sasuke's breath rasped in his lungs. He was pretty sure his ears were bleeding from the sound blasts from Dosu's gauntlet. The clearing was spinning in nauseating circles, but he'd already emptied his stomach of everything.
He staggered to his feet again and wordlessly snarled at them.
Senbon from Kin. Duck, roll, throw shuriken to deflect. Concussive blast from Dosu, building up with a whine he could only barely hear. More senbon, herding him towards Zaku.
He almost stumbled over the handsigns for the grand fireball, the ensuing blaze much smaller than it should have been.
"My, my, this is the might of the famous Uchiha?" Dosu asked. Sasuke dodged Zaku's air blast. It was more of an inelegant fall than anything else.
Punch, dodge, roll with the blow. Deflect senbon. Jump away from air blast.
His muscles burned. Exhaustion pulled at his body, begging him to rest, to sleep. But he couldn't. He couldn't stop, not if he wanted to protect them. He wouldn't let anyone take his precious people from him ever again.
A senbon embedded itself in his leg, and he cried out. Impact from Dosu. He hit the ground hard. He tried to push himself back up.
"Stay down, Uchiha," Kin grinned, pressing her shoe into his head. Mud squished into his ear. "I'd hate for something to happen to your pretty face."
He was so tired. He couldn't move a muscle.
"Pathetic," Zaku sneered. "You weren't much of a challenge after all."
Are we going to die here? he wondered dully. Am I going to die like this? I haven't avenged my clan...
Despair filled his chest. I'm sorry.
He closed his eyes and thought of Training Ground Three.
successfully installed
Allow program to make changes to system?
YES^
NO
YES^
System launching in 3…
2…
1.
Sasuke's eyes snapped open.
"The itsy bitsy spider climbed up the waterspout," wavered out from the roots. Time seemed to stop. The Sound team gave each other uneasy looks, glancing at the tree. "Down came the rain and washed the spider out." A hand appeared, clutching at one of the roots. Sasuke's skin began to crawl at the feeling of the abrasive, sickening chakra leaking out. "Out came the sun and dried up all the rain." Black markings writhed and twisted on the solitary hand. The root began to splinter from the pressure. "And the itsy bitsy spider climbed up the spout again."
Inoko's face rose up, the same black markings curling their way across her skin. A wide grin was plastered on, fake and maniacal.
"What's that, some weird kind of kekkei genkai?" Zaku scoffed. "No problem."
"It's not like the famous Sharingan proved much of a challenge," Kin said mockingly, pushing Sasuke's head further into the ground. He snarled weakly back at her.
Inoko's gaze sharpened, even as her grin grew a bit wider and the black markings on her skin writhed and spread with a new intensity. Her eyes were dangerous.
"You have something of mine," she said in a soft voice. "Tailypo, tailypo, you have my tailypo."
There was a beat of silence before Zaku began to say, "What the f-"
"Tailypo, tailypo, I want my tailypo," Inoko sang again. She hadn't blinked since emerging from the tree roots.
Then she burst forward with impossible speed. Dosu lifted his gauntlet to block her raised leg, blasted sound at her, but she brought it down with enough force to crack the metal. Blood began to trickle out of her right ear. Inoko wasn't phased an iota. She disdainfully looked down at the device.
"Ooh, sound waves! Fun, fun. But tell me, little fly, caught in my web, what will you do when I tear off your wings?"
Dosu looked rather perturbed at the fact that his weapon hadn't bothered her. Her eyes glinted with unfriendly fire before she savagely kicked him across the clearing.
Inoko was doing more against them than he did. Than he could. Pathetic. Weak. Useless. Here he was on the ground, unable to move, and there was Inoko, the girl who slept through most of her classes, doodled through the rest of them, and weaker than him. He was supposed to protect her, not the other way around. It wasn't supposed to be this way.
Kin shifted and Inoko's eyes snapped over to her.
"Don't come closer," she warned, grabbing Sasuke by the collar and dragging him upward. He was too drained to even fight back. Still too weak, still far too weak. "Not unless you want your pretty boy to be-"
Sasuke had only seen Inoko's face twist like that once before, back in Wave when he was groggily waking up from whatever Haku had done to him. Pure, unadulterated rage and hatred, twisting her face into something nearly unrecognizable. It was like someone had flipped a switch.
The black marks shivered in the split second before she flew forward, violently kicking Kin in the chest. He thought he heard a crack, but he couldn't be sure.
Inoko didn't stop after kicking Kin; she barely had her feet on the ground before launching herself at Zaku. She pounced on his back like a tiger after its prey, grabbing his arms by his wrists and yanking up.
"You hurt my tailypo," she whispered, twisting his arm in such a way that his ear was right next to her mouth. "You hurt my precious teammate and I will never forgive you."
"I don't want your 'forgiveness', you crazy bitch!" Zaku spat. A sharp crack echoed across the clearing, followed almost instantly by his scream of pain.
"Who said the offer was even on the table?" Inoko asked, grinning wildly. She looked up at Dosu and Kin. "Surrender, and I might just let you live."
Dosu looked thoughtful. "And if we don't?"
Another snapping sound, wet and sickening. Zaku fell to the ground, neck twisted at an impossible angle.
"Your choice," Inoko said sweetly.
The remaining members of the Sound team were tense. Kin was wheezing painfully even as she glared murderously at Inoko.
"Sasuke-kun," a familiar voice whispered tersely in his ear. A solid arm reached under his and pulled him to his feet, and all he could think about was that Naruto was still defenseless under the tree.
Somehow he didn't think Inoko would have much of an issue in this fight.
He wasn't sure when they arrived, but he was glad Team Ten was there. Hopefully being outnumbered and outgunned, at least on Inoko's part, would convince them to back down. They probably didn't know that the 'backup' was a useless fangirl, a useless lazybones, and a useless fatso.
They were looking on in barely concealed horror at Inoko's insane smile, at the corpse lying at her feet. Ino looked especially horrified. Part of him related to the feeling of seeing one's sibling kill in cold blood. The rest of him was focused on just staying awake.
"Tick tock, tick tock!" Inoko said, stepping over Zaku's body. "Time's up! I've made the choice for you."
Chakra and bloodlust rolled off her in noxious waves. The black marks inched their way further across her skin, and he abruptly wondered if she would stop after she finished the Sound team off. How much in control of herself is she right now?
"We yield!" Dosu called out, holding his hands out in surrender. "Here, take our scroll. Let us leave!"
"I told you, it's too late~" The smile slid from her face at last. "I'm going to kill you all."
"Inoko, stop it!"
His teammate froze, and when she made eye contact with her twin, something seemed to settle back down. She hadn't even noticed they were there.
Inoko looked down at her hands as if she was only just now coming to herself. She seemed… confused, almost. Her gazes flickered back up to Dosu and Kin, and she hardened again.
"Get out of my sight," she spat. "Take your teammate and go. So help me, if I see your faces again, I won't be so merciful."
They're gone in the space of one blink and the next. Then, and only then, did Inoko fall to her knees, clutching at her shoulder like she'd been branded - which, in a sense, she had been.
Ino was by her side in a heartbeat, leaving Chōji to ease Sasuke back down to the ground. The black marks began to recede as Ino brushed Inoko's hair from her face, saying something he doesn't catch, but he can see the fear and love and worry in her expression. They briefly rested foreheads together before Inoko looked over and saw him. Really saw him.
She pulled away from Ino and staggered over, practically collapsing in front of him. "Sasuke," she whispered, and pulled him into her. He sagged against her, too drained to do anything else, and not hating the fact that he's being hugged as much as he might have otherwise. "You're alright. You're ok."
Inoko sounded like she was trying to reassure herself more than anything. Her hand ran through his hair, and Sasuke knew he was safe.
He was asleep before he realized it.
Naruto clambered out of the roots, with the weirdest sense that he had just missed something important. Like, really important.
Sasuke was passed out in Inoko's arms, and Inoko was… hugging him?! Had she fallen for his voodoo charms like all the other girls had?! He thought she was smarter than that.
But then she looked up with an exhausted but relieved smile and reached out to him, welcoming him into the embrace, and, well… he wasn't going to argue against hugs, even if Sasuke was involved. And if Shikamaru tried to make fun of him for it, he'd hit him, no ifs ands or buts about it.