Hey! Welcome once again!
So, after the updates are ready, we continue on with this chapter, catching up with AO3! Which means that the story here is now up to date. I'll try to be posting two chapters a week, as I'll be on vacation this two upcoming weeks and I'm quite excited about the story, ngl, so there'll be plenty of this fic!
Anyway, I hope you enjoy the chapter and remember to leave any opinion, feedback and/or support in the review section! On we go!
Disclaimer: I do not own DB nor do I own Naruto, all the credits go to Akira Toriyama (DB, DBZ, DBS) and Masashi Kishimoto (Naruto, Boruto).
The Genin that had succeeded to get both the sky and earth scrolls had been able to enter the tower that was located inside the Forest of Death. In there, the Hokage and respective Jounin of each team, all of them gathering inside the tower, where an arena was located. The arena had the peculiarity of having two platforms at separate sides of the arena, as well as a giant statue of two hands gesturing a jutsu. In front of this statue, the Third Hokage stood as in front of him the successful genin also stood, giving him a respectful look, even the ones that came from foreign villages. At the side of the gathered Genin, each of the Jounin of the teams that had succeeded stood, with an even more serious look than the one their students possessed.
For the first time in years, maybe decades or maybe ever, the rookie teams got to reach the third phase of the exams after the bloody and harsh Forest of Death. Although even in spite of this, one of the five Genin teams participating, died at the hands of unknown shinobi. The remaining rookie teams knew they hadn't succeeded as they were nowhere to be seen, yet they remained ignorant about their deads. Sasuke, who had just recovered two hours before arriving at the tower, was rubbing the back of his neck, as pain annoyed him.
After the fight against Orochimaru, Sakura had checked the Uchiha while Naruto covered them as they were still in the middle of the forest. At that moment, the pink-haired girl noticed a bite in his neck, and next to it, a seal-like black mark, which concerned the girl. She decided not to tell her blonde teammate, fearing that he could get concerned and get distracted from his current objective of covering her while she checked Sasuke. Sakura has told Sasuke about the mysterious mark, although he didn't seem to care much about it. Naruto, totally ignorant about the weird mark the Uchiha has in his neck, watched him curiously, raising one of his eyebrows in the process. On the other hand, Haruno had mentioned to the Uchiha about the mark, as it was really inevitable for him to notice, although even she didn't had a mere idea of what the seal's properties were.
The Hokage stood down in the arena, his silver-haired assistant on his right side, with his crossed hands hanging in his lower back, looking at the successful Genin. His assistant had part of his face covered with bandages, as well as his left arm, which was covered almost entirely. His legs struggled more than they normally did to hold his weight, as the effort he had realized just the day before to arrive at the village as soon as possible had just gotten all of him. The Jounin, who were standing firmly in the platforms that where the public was going to see the battles from. To his left side, a sick looking Jounin, already familiar for Team 10, was standing as firmly as he could, although he still had his typical sick-looking face.
"Congratulations, young Genin, you have achieved what very little shinobi of your level do, making you already exceptional for making it up to this phase." Sarutobi kept his typical calm tone as he spoke. "Unfortunately, due to there being more of you than there should be, we'll have to make some preliminary matches to reduce the number of participants. Hayate Gekko will explain the rules in detail." The Third beckoned the Jounin to step forward and continue with the explanation, which he did without hesitation.
Something got Gohan during the speech, and it was the use of certain word. More of you than there should be... Gohan's teeth clenched as he remembered the way the leader of the village talked about the dead of kids as if it was nothing. Gohan already knew that the world he was currently at needed reforms, and quick, but he never imagined that a beloved leader like the Hokage would be able to talk about such things as if it was nothing and yet still be as loved and respected as he was.
"Alright," Hayate coughed a couple of times before starting. "Whoever wins the battle qualifies for the next and final phase of the Chunin Exams." He coughed once more before continuing. "This matches will be 1v1 battles in which things such as injuring badly and killing are allowed." Gohan clenched his teeth once more, now making his teammates notice his fury. "And that's for the rules, we'll now proceed to the matches themselves." Hayate pointed at a screen that was at the left side of the statue, where several names started to pop up.
The first two names that appeared in the screen were Sasuke Uchiha and Yoroi Akado. "The two named Genin, please stay in the arena, the rest of you, please go to the platforms alongside your techers." Sasuke was pretty confident of himself, as usual, but his opponent also seemed to have a lot of self confidence. The rest of the Genin left for their respective places in the plaftorms alongside their Genin, being the shinobi of the Leaf on one side, and the ones from the Sand and the Sound on the opposite platform.
Kakashi received his students with a smile, although they were only able to tell thanks to his only visible eye, as well as an innocent and seemingly calm wave. Naruto replied with another wave, making Sakura do the same. Meanwhile, Asuma just received his own students with a nod, as he was getting his cigarette ready. Might Guy, probably the one who got the most attention, congratulated his students and began to cry along with Lee, as both were proud of themselves and the rest of the team. Kurenai congratulated her students to, but in a colder way than Guy did. Genma received his students with a cold and serious expression, making his students uneasy, but finally gave up to his laugh, congratulating his students, Team 5, for their splendid performance to have reached that point.
Hayate positioned himself in the center of the arena as Yuichi and the Hokage left the place, surprising Gohan as he expected the old man to watch the matches. "I'll be the referee." The lizard expert announced as he beckoned the Genin two get ready, and as soon as they were in their respective fighting stances, he raised his voice once again. "Go!"
The Uchiha quickly threw a kunai he had already grabbed from his pocket, getting some time as his opponent had to move the upper part of his body to save his body. Sasuke gave the man a low kick on his feet, causing him to fall down, making him fall above the Uchiha, with his hands pointing to him. His black eyes quickly turned to an intense red as he saw that his opponent's hands covered in chakra. He got his hands in the floor and quickly lifted his entire body, successfully dodging the chakra-covered hands of his opponent, taking advantage of his positions and aiming a kick to Yoroi's face as he tried to stand up, being dodged by him and quickly counter attacked. Thanks to his Sharingan, he was able to jump back as soon as he saw a kunai aiming at his ribs.
Red eyes now looked right at him, causing him to inevitably feel intimidated, although he still went closer to proceed with his plan. The Sharingan remained an advantage for Sasuke, as he once again was able to dodge without much effort the attempts of Yoroi of engaging a close range battle. On the other hand, Sasuke insisted in pressuring him from long distance, throwing kunai and groups of shuriken at the other shinobi, hoping for one to hit him, although it would just be a plus to his main objective: earn some extra time to see if he was able to burn his energies down.
Kakashi had been concentrated in his pupil's fight from the start, and he was surprised of his abilities to keep the enemy away, he truly made his teacher quite proud. On the other hand, Naruto was already starting to get desperate at the lack of offensive movement from his friend, which even Sakura identified as an effective strategy. "Come on, Sasuke! Do something!" The blonde desperately yelled at his teammate, who struggled not to get distracted from the screams. Kakashi turned to look at his other two pupils, witnessing as Sakura hit Naruto in the of his head, finally shutting him up.
Yoroi continued his efforts on engaging short range combat, although this time, he was able to hit his opponent's abdomen as he had late reaction due to the screams of his teammate. Sasuke was hit as he was still in the air, which sent him away and made him receive more damage due to the fall. He stood up without many problems, but if it wasn't enough, his neck's mark started to give him a stinging pain, which caused him to fall on his knee. Yoroi took the opportunity and ,without hesitation, jumped on his opponent, getting one of his hands on the neck of the Uchiha, and the other one on his face, blocking his sight. The man's hands were once again covered with chakra as Sasuke felt his energy being drained at an alarming pace.
Sakura glared at the blonde kid, to which he responded with a nervous smile, then turning to true fear as the green eyes of his friend filled with fury. Naruto turned to his master, who just shrugged at him before turning back to the battle. The pink-haired girl gave Naruto such a strong hit in his forehead, that the sound of it called even Gaara's attention.
The Uchiha was desperately trying to get the hands off of him, but he just wasn't strong enough to do it, his desperation increasing as time went by, his strength reducing and his body starting to give up. The black mark of his neck, which had been hurting Sasuke more and more as Yoroi kept absorbing his energy, suddenly spread through his body, leaving half of it covered with black spots in his skin. His grip suddenly got stronger, actually so strong that he broke his enemy's wrist, getting rid of the hands that was grabbing his neck and now being able to focus on just one hand.
Kakashi noticed this and instantly figured out what was happening, as he had heard about Anko's story before, turning to his students to see if there was any interesting reaction. As Ino's cheers for Sasuke were heard in the background, Sakura had a concerned expression, even though the copy-nin knew that she should be cheering the Uchiha up just as her rival was doing. Although those two weren't the only ones concerned about the situation, as Gohan felt an evil energy take over the Uchiha's, joining Sakura and the Jounin from the Leaf. Naruto was absolutely clueless of what was happening, turning to Sakura, too, becoming afraid as soon as he noticed the expression the pink-haired girl had.
As this happened, Sasuke had already the man's other wrist, making him unable to fight. Yoroi was know practically unable to realize any jutsu, as well as being menaced by the red-eyed's maniac expression glaring directly at his soul. He tried to stand up, but the Uchiha increased his speed and gave him a direct kick in the chest that caused him to lose his respiration for a while. Then, the young avenger got a kunai and threw it to his opponent, nailing it directly in his forehead, and therefore, killing him. Ino's cheers stopped as silence and concerned and horrified expressions filled the room. Kakashi disappeared and reappeared at Sasuke's side.
The lizard expert checked on the man's pulse, confirming his dead to Kakashi by shaking his head. "Yoroi Akudo is dead, which leaves Sasuke Uchiha as the winner of the battle." Naruto's face was now filled by utter horror as he had seen his friend commit such an atrocity. Sasuke collapsed down to the floor as the effects of the seal passed, being raised by Kakashi, disappearing right after having the Uchiha in his arms.
Kakashi had taken his pupil to a dark room that was within the tower, a secret room used for sealing practices as well as actual important seals, just as the seal for the jinchuriki. Inside the room, a circular seal-like symbol decorated the floor, in which the silver-haired Jounin left the now unconscious Sasuke. The copy-nin made some gestures with his hand before getting his right hand and pressing it against the mark the boy had in his neck. Some steam went out of the mark as the seal started to make effect, this caused Sasuke to suddenly wake up and start screaming. Kakashi used his other arm to keep the pressure going against the mark until the seal was done.
As another mark appeared around the original one, steam stopped coming out of the mark, although the pain caused from before had caused the Uchiha to fell unconscious once more. Kakashi stood up as he gave his pupil a look, sighing as he felt a bit bad of having caused so much damage to him. Although as he was about to take him to leave him in the nursery, he felt the sudden appearance of someone. He turned without hesitation, ready to fight, but he lost his composure as soon as he noticed the man's face, his visible eye as widened as it could be.
"You've grown a lot, Kakashi." Orochimaru said with a creepy tone, smiling maniacally as he noticed the legs of the copy-nin, which were trembling.
Kakashi made several hand gestures and got his hands in a position every shinobi that knew about the copy-nin could recognize. Orochimaru laughed maniacally as sparks covered the silver-haired Jounin's hand, which only made him even more scared than he already was. "Get away or die, I won't even hesitate to do it and I don't care if you're a Sannin or not."
"Come on, Kakashi, you know there is no way you can defeat me." Orochimaru answered with an arrogant tone in his voice, a confident smile decorating his face. "There's no need to be so violent, I just wanted to check on my Sasuke."
"Your Sasuke?" The silver-haired ninja got ready to attack the Sannin at any moment, although the snake-like man had already noticed it.
Orochimaru laughed confidently at the question. "You know he'll come to me for power." He said before turning around towards the exit of the room, disappearing as soon as Kakashi was about to nail his Raikiri in the Sannin's chest.
The Jounin ignored this and took Sasuke to the nursery, where he ordered for ANBU guards to take care of him, which was granted to him.
Kabuto turned to his side, noticing that Misumi, his other teammate, was back at the arena, meaning that the plan had been successful. Misumi noticed the absence of Yoroi, and as Kabuto shook his head, he figured what had happened to him. Kabuto decided to surrender in his match, his job was done for now. Suddenly, a Jounin from the Sound appeared behind him, nodding at them as a way of greeting them.
Kakashi suddenly appeared behind his pupils as the names of the chosen Genin for the next match. "Shiho Hisajima and Kabuto Yakushi, please come down here to go ahead with the next battle." Hayate announced as both Genin went down to the arena, quickly getting in the same spots where Sasuke and Yoroi had been standing just some minutes ago.
Naruto was quite curious of what Kabuto was really able to do, as well as Gohan was about Shiho, although this last one was clearly scared about fighting after seeing what had happened to Yoroi. Her glasses trembled as Hayate bent over to give the signal. The half-saiyan joined Shiho's team in the cheers for Shiho , catching her by surprise, just as the same time as Naruto started to support Kabuto. Both turned to look at each other, deciding just with their looks that they would compete to see which one of the two would win.
"Go!" Hayate announced, causing Shiho to jump back and get her hands on the pockets hanging in each side of her shorts.
"I surrender." Kabuto coldly said with his right hand raised, noddind at Hayate as he received a confused look from the lizard expert.
Hayate raised one of his eyebrows, then sighing in disappointment before standing straight once again. "Then... the winner of this match is Shiho Hisajima... I guess?" Naruto fell back out of disappointment as Gohan's jaw dropped down to the floor. Kabuto left the arena uninterestedly before waving Hayate out, which only made the lizard expert more confused as this was supposed to actually try.
So that was it for now! Although I'll be posting the next chapter soon. And oh man, I sure I'm excited! So expect more from now on, I have a lot of ideas and I want to go full on writing now that I'll have more time!
Anyway, have a nice day and see you soon!