Chapter 02 : Hope
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Code Lyoko
X.A.N.A. had to adapt to its current situation.
On one part, Franz Hopper's creation had managed to survive by taking over a cursed seal. On another, X.A.N.A. was prisoner of a boy mentally strong enough to submit it to his will. That was both surprising and problematic.
Surprising because for the third time, X.A.N.A. was a prisoner. The body being organic instead of being a supercomputer, X.A.N.A. deduced that it couldn't just find some keys like back in Lyoko or steal codes like in the Cortex. It had to find another way to escape and possess a more subservient individual.
Problematic because X.A.N.A. had little to no experience with mental struggles. The only one who mentally fought against its control was Dunbar, who failed despite his best efforts.
Observing its current predicament, X.A.N.A. concluded that it needed to adapt to the situation. The first issue to deal with was the resources. It was the biggest one, as X.A.N.A. had little to no resources : no technology to take advantage of, and imprisoned inside a kid. It couldn't even try to scan the boy's memories : if his love for his teammate allowed the boy to regain control of his body, his mental strength also prevented X.A.N.A. from accessing his memories. That would be a problem, as X.A.N.A. needed to mimic the Uchiha's personality to mend in society.
The second issue was the boy's teammates. X.A.N.A. learned when fighting the Lyoko-warriors how valuable their friendship was. Any immediate attempt to mimic the boy's personality with little information could quickly lead to suspicions.
The best thing to do, X.A.N.A. concluded, was to observe the boy, his personality and mannerisms, and upon gaining the chance to possess him, imitate his behavior.
To say Sakura Haruno was worried and traumatized was an understatement. Beneath the smile she gave to Sasuke, nothing but worry filled her mind.
She remembered how he killed the Oto ninjas. As she remembered the charred, black faces, her own turned green. The chillingly calm, polite tone Sasuke had adopted only highlighted the sheer brutality of his deeds. What was stranger, was that Sasuke didn't remember a thing.
She had heard of a few possessions stories, but they had reasons that couldn't explain what happened to Sasuke. True, Dan Kato was able to possess someone else's body, but Kato was long dead since. It couldn't be Ino, who not only was just as horrified as her, but was already exhausted after possessing the Oto girl. She was aware of the stories surrounding the Jinchuurikis, human sacrifices hosting the Tailed Beasts. However, whatever was possessing Sasuke had a behavior unlike any Tailed Beast, and thus it couldn't count. And it seemed have it's own plans, and it wasn't looking good. Not for her. Not for Sasuke. Not for Naruto.
« Yeah. Just, no one else. Not even Naruto. »
« Sorry Sasuke. I'll have to renege on our promise. » The Haruno whispered to herself.
An unexpected voice interrupted her.
« What are you talking about, Sakura ? »
Sakura turned toward Naruto, who just regained consciousness and looked at her, puzzled.
« It's nothing Naruto. » Sakura gave a reassuring, fake smile to her friend. « Nothing. »
Naruto still looked puzzled, but nodded.
« I'm grateful for what you did to protect me. From now on, I'll protect you guys. » Sakura thought, looking at her crush.
« Even if you don't want me to. »
There was a lot of things that confused the naive Naruto Uzumaki, who kept watch as his teammates slept in the depths of the Forest of Death.
The 12-year old kid had only a rudimentary understanding of the ninja world, was an overly-idealistic kid, and these views clashed with what he actually heard. Apparently, the bunch of Oto Ninjas who attacked them earlier got their asses whooped by Sasuke. That, in itself, wasn't a problem in the slightest. In fact, Naruto enjoyed « awesome » tales, and while considering the Uchiha as a rival, he asked Sakura what happened when he was unconscious, already wishing to pull off one day something just as awesome.
This leads us to the actual problem : Sakura's tale of Sasuke kicking butt was… Lacking. As if she didn't told him all the details about what happened. It didn't sounds like even a quick retelling. Just a small, unclear, statement. She'd have normally gushed about how awesome Sasuke was. Here… It wasn't the case.
Sasuke woke up, turning his back at Naruto for some reason. The tattoos on him didn't go unnoticed, however.
« Keep an eye on Sakura. I need to deal with… Personal stuff. »
His voice was raspy, low, for some reason. Naruto wondered why. Hoarse voice, perhaps?
« Sasuke… Are you sick ?
— No need to worry about me. I'll be back in a few minutes.»
The Uzumaki nodded dumbly, puzzled.
The blonde reminded X.A.N.A. of Della Robbia, Dunbar and Belpois. Same mind-boggling stupidity. He was no less easier to manipulate and fool. In spite of his respectable intelligence, all X.A.N.A. needed to trick Belpois was to use Aélita in some form. If X.A.N.A. was human, it would have made a joke about blondes.
Nevertheless, X.A.N.A. knew not to underestimate the enemy. The Uzumaki still looked suspicious. For all we know, he could try to investigate later. X.A.N.A. had to take him seriously. Not doing so with Della Robbia, Belpois and Dunbar proved to be X.A.N.A.'s undoing.
X.A.N.A. remembered one particular team. Or, more accurately, one particular particular individual.
Said person was one of the few people looking fine when X.A.N.A. slaughtered the Oto ninjas. They could pose a problem, if X.A.N.A.'s understanding of the situation was of any indication. While berating the blonde, the pinkette mentioned that during that exams, even teams from the same village could try and screw each other over. While the people X.A.N.A. saw to this point were of no threat, given that they struggled against the Sound Duo, that one specific person looked like he could easily take on the Sound Duo. For all we know, he could come back as an enemy later.
However, said person had similar metal plates and insignas to X.A.N.A.'s host and said host's teammates. X.A.N.A. didn't knew much about these leaf symbols, but it probably meant a belonging to a specific element. Thus, killing the target could be problematic in the long run.
However, putting him out of commission… Wasn't an issue at all.
As Neji Hyuuga was about to find out to his dismay.
« Hey, Naruto, do you know how we got these scrolls ? » Sakura asked, as they woke up as early as they could, looking at the two aforementioned Heaven and Earth scrolls in front of them. Normally, they would be happy to have them, but here ? They came out of nowhere, and who knows ? It could be a trap. The best course of action would be to have a Naruto clone keep them, just in case it turned out to be a trap indeed.
The Uzumaki nodded, pouting : « Yeah, that jerk Sasuke went solo again and kicked ass all alone. He just told me it was about dealing with personal stuff. There goes the teamwork stuff… »
The Uchiha looked puzzled. He slept all night. : « Usuratonkashi, are you sure you didn't fall asleep as well ? »
The blonde fiercely shook his head : « No ! I was awake all night ! You woke up, told me you were about to deal with personal stuff, kicked ass while leaving me behind, came back and then you fell face first on the ground ! » A small grin appeared on the Uzumaki as he told the last part.
The pink-haired girl's mood darkened as she listened to her teammates' bickering. Then, she spoke up : « Naruto, how was Sasuke when he woke up ?
— He had these black weird tattoos all over his face and he spoke like these evil emperors, as if trying to look cool. »
Sakura's eyes widened in horror.
« Guys, to the tower. Now. »
The longer they stayed around, the more the entity possessing Sasuke was going to needlessly hurt people.
X.A.N.A. watched the new developments. It seems the pink-haired girl knew of its presence inside Sasuke. She is likely going to ask for help. On one part, X.A.N.A. could learn more about this new world, and thus learn how to function in that new society. On another, there was chances she planned to reveal its presence inside the Uchiha. While she promised she wouldn't, X.A.N.A. deduced that she was likely not going to keep that promise.
Things weren't looking good.
Author's note : I apologize for the two-month wait. While school started, I have no excuse and humbly apologize. I, nevertheless, hope you will enjoy this chapter.