Naruto – The SERIES
Disclaimer: Naruto owns us all!!! But, heck, we don't own him, it, or them…
A/N: Ok, when I'm writing this Author's Note I haven't typed down a single word for the fic itself. I just have to say I'm utterly enjoying writing it, and I thank all the readers for the reviews. I'm happy to see that people are reading my fic. Anyway, I'm going to enjoy writing this one, I'm going to make Shigeru Sarutobi average, he's just very good at Genjutsu, a little better in Ninjutsu than Sakura and has one Kinjutsu skill, hehe… Of course Kinjutsu is Forbidden Jutsu. Anyway, to respond to a few reviewers: Orochimaru didn't die against the Third and even if he did move to another body, his arms will still be rendered useless, that's the point of the Third's special Jutsu. I've got a whole program figured out of who's gonna fight who in the Third Test of the Chuunin Exam. Still have a bit of a problem, though, since I will use 12 contestants for the Third Test, so, you'll just have to read which team will pass the Forest Trial. Oh, by the way, this chapter is going to be a little longer than usual, I just wanted to finish he Forest Trial in this chapter. And there are other things too that have to happen in the Forest, not to mention Orochimaru.
There Where When is Now
Chapter 10: Sand Vs. Stone!!
- by TokehGecko
Raindrops…
It was raining a bit as the Sand Team slowly walked through the trees, bushes and all alike. Gaara wasn't getting wet because of his Shield, while Temari and Kankurou were soaked. Gaara watched the raindrops around him and also watched Temari and Kankurou try to hide under several tree branches.
Kankurou groaned as a massive waterfall came down from a tree as it was apparently hit. 'Freaking … !! We've been at it for over twenty minutes.. Where's the enemy.' It seemed Kankurou didn't bother ask himself why the waterfall came down on him, the tree was hit, after all.
Temari was a little more perceptive, as she narrowed her eyes to the top of the tree. 'An enemy?' She watched more carefully upwards, as she saw something approaching them in high speed. After coming closer, her eyes widened a great deal. "Spread!! A gigantic stone is falling down on us!!"
Gaara, with his arms folded, didn't move an inch as he saw the huge stone coming to claim his life. Kankurou and Temari had already jumped to the side. The Stone, of course, landed on Gaara's Shield of Sand. If one took a closer look at Gaara, you would say he was extremely bored and was about to roll his eyes. As the Boulder rolled away from Gaara, it seemed to split in several parts… three to be exact.. And those changed as well, in three Genins..
One male, Who had shoulder length grey hair, pitch black eyes and great armour on his body, which seemed to be very heavy. A female, with long dark brown hair, green, mean eyes and she was wearing a coat which just seemed too big for her. The third, also female, light brown hair, in a bun and what seemed very off was, her hands were… stone.
"Admirable. Your technique is very impressive.. It seems a challenge for us to get past it. But I have to say, I think you need a lot more than that to stop us." The female with the Stone hands said. "Well, let's begin.."
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The trees went by them like they were just small leafs, that's how fast they were moving. Well, occasionally they slowed down, but not much. Neji and Lee hadn't expected Ten-Ten to have improved that much and were genuinely happy they could move in a much higher speed now.
Neji had his Byakugan activated, he actually saw Naruto fighting a mile and a half to his left. His Byakugan couldn't reach far enough to see Gaara also, but now he could at least see where they should go to get the good scroll. Right now, they were heading for a Lightning Genin Team. And they had the exact opposite scroll they had.. 'This is just too easy..' Neji thought.
Lee was curious to see how much Neji had improved. He was rather withdrawn at the moment, for he wasn't satisfied with the fact he was unable to train for such a long time. It was clear Neji is a lot stronger now. But no matter, he will try and surpass him now even harder than before. For Lee was the ultimate Genius of Hard Work. In the past few days, before the Chuunin Exam had begun, he had trained harder than ever before. But now, he had a little pain in some of his muscles, but he felt he was a little stronger now than before, but not as much as he wanted.
Ten-Ten was following Neji and Lee and she was really trying her best. 'I bet they're not even moving at their highest speed now… and I still have trouble keeping up with them.' Ten-Ten had perfected her moves in the past few days and made sure nothing would go wrong when she would be attacked. Now was her time to shine among all those others who shunned before.
"We're close. Be on guard, even though this shouldn't take too long." Neji announced as he slowed down and came to a stop.
"So, are they good?" Lee asked.
Neji sighed inwards. "Hmm, let's see, I don't think my Byakugan can detect their powers, Lee. I thought you knew that?" He answered mockingly.
Lee nodded. "I knew, but I just thought, maybe you know, you know?"
"I don't know." Neji paused. "Ten-Ten, I want to finish this quickly, so I want you to go about fifty meters to the left, then go straight ahead for two hundred meters. Rest at the tree and wait for them pass you. Lee will be on the opposite side." Neji closed his eyes and made himself clear a little better for Lee. "So, Lee, you go to the right fifty meters, than straight ahead two hundred meters. Ten-Ten will arrive before they arrive at that point as will you, Lee."
Ten-Ten and Lee both nodded their head, but remained silent as they knew Neji was about to continue.
"It is important to be as silent as ever. Ten-Ten, when you arrive at the point, immediately prepare your attack, your SouShouryu. And Lee, just to be safe, maybe you should take off the weights.. When the attack begins, I'll attack from behind."
Lee smiled. "Roger!" Although he hesitated in taking off the weights, since he only took those off for protecting precious people to him.
Ten-Ten agreed with a "Ok!" and left immediately. Shortly after, Lee also left.
Neji chuckled. "Now, let's get this over with.."
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"It's….. It's so silent…" Sakura said. 'I wonder how Sasuke-kun is doing…'
"Don't tell me you're scared, Wide Forehead girl, besides, we've all gotten stronger, right? I just hope we don't have to fight Sasuke-kun."
"A..Anno.. "
"What's wrong, Hinata-kun?" Ino asked, turning to Hinata, who happened to have her Byakugan activated.
Hinata swallowed before speaking. "They're trying to sneak up on us.. They… They have already surrounded us."
Sakura's and Ino's eyes suddenly widened. Hinata continued. "They're not using Genjutsu… They seem to be good in just hand-to-hand combat."
Sakura swallowed carefully. "I… I know some Genjutsu skills… I can trick them…"
'What? She has Genjutsu skills? How come? I have to be careful, maybe she's gotten stronger than me… but that can't be… I mean, it's Sakura..' Ino carefully and nervously smiled. "You… can you trick all three of them? I'll try and invade one of their minds. But two more are left then."
"I will…. I will fight another then." Hinata suggested.
And then, Sakura began to concentrate, focusing Chakra all around her to create objects similar to the ones around her. 'This.. I can do this.. I hope this will work…'
Ino and Hinata, waited for Sakura to say something.
"Ok, I have completely copied this situation, they won't notice if you two hide now… Now Go!!"
Hinata and Ino immediately hid in two different bushes.
After waiting for a little while, three Grass Genins descended upon Sakura and entered her fake world. The only person in her own world was Sakura herself, she just hoped Ino and Hinata will choose the right moment to attack.
As the three Genins landed before Sakura, Sakura changed the entire environment around them into trees that were falling on them. She made it appear like they were all really falling upon them. The Grass Ninja, a little puzzled by the situation, weren't afraid of trees. But they were distracted at the moment, so Sakura chose to use another technique, this time.. "Sutetasu: Taiyuu Doku no Jutsu!!"
The Grass Ninja smiled at the attack Sakura launched at them. All of them used a single hand seal to…. Catch… the attack..
"Heh. It surprises me you own a Jutsu which originated from our Village." One of the Grass nins said.
Sakura was surprised… very surprised.. which made the entire Genjutsu creation disappear… Thankfully, Ino chose that moment to enter one of the Grass Genin's minds. Hinata leaped from out of a bush and stopped right next to Sakura.
"Byakugan!!"
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The big eruption of fireballs in the air and all that were flying around them didn't go unnoticed by Naruto and his opponent. The look on the Mist Genin's face showed fear and concern for his Team mate. Naruto chose to take this time to prepare an attack.
'Ok, he's watching the fireworks above us and he's hearing his team mate's scream… This must be a new attack of Sasuke's. It's pretty powerful… But this attack is the exact opposite and takes a few seals…'
The Mist Genin focused his attention back on Naruto and saw him perform many fast seals. But, he also saw Naruto had finished a second after, his eyes widened as he prepared himself for an attack…
"Buriza Do no Jutsu!!"
Big shards of ice surrounded Naruto's body. It looked like Naruto's own body was all Ice, but that was because of the Ice's reflection around him. Naruto grinned as he spoke up. "You'd better run…"
The Mist Genin gritted his teeth as he saw the Ice Shards rip apart and form into spiky, slightly smaller ones, yet still big enough to split open a head. And then….. they were launched at him, many of them. The Mist Genin didn't run and chose to try and avoid them all. By the seconds, shards scratched his face, arms, legs, his clothes, but he managed.
Naruto screamed harder as he formed more ice shards and threw them harder at him. 'Damn, he's pretty good… The attack's almost done and he's still not down..'
Taking the scene upwards, Sasuke was getting tired; he had just performed a very Chakra consuming attack. And he was upset that his opponent actually survived his attack. Probably because she used some kind of Water Technique to protect herself, she is, after all, from the Mist Country. So he had a pretty good opponent. And on top of that, Sarutobi wasn't faring that good either.
Sasuke chose to continue his assault on the Mist girl. He grabbed several Kunai, threw them down on the tree branch he was standing on and immediately grasped them with his Chakra. He grabbed a new set of Kunai and one Shuriken. "Sharingan!!" Sasuke looked determined to win. "This time, you will go down.."
He threw the Shuriken and let three Kunai's follow it, in the Mist girl's direction. After seeing her leap up into the air, he kicked the Kunai that were enveloped with his Chakra at his feet straight at her too. And seeing she deflected those with her own Kunai, he jumped up to meet her in mid-air.
That's when the Mist Girl saw that all the weapons Sasuke had thrown at her, were connected with very thin strings. She couldn't do anything about it however, as Sasuke brought down his foot, aiming straight for her shoulder. She dodged, which Sasuke knew, as Sasuke pulled a string and made a Kunai slash past her, scratching her hip. He pulled another string that was going for her face, but she leaned backwards. Sasuke in the meantime, had used her shoulders to turn in the air they were both still in and kick her hard on the left leg with his right foot. She paused to wince from the pain and therefore couldn't dodge Sasuke's fist, so she plummeted down to another tree branch. Sasuke also landed shortly afterwards. 'All strings are still attached… I will win this..'
Sarutobi was using his best efforts to create Genjutsu barriers around him to keep him from getting hurt. Thankfully, his opponent kept falling in his traps. Unfortunately his traps weren't lethal at all.. His Lethal Genjutsu skills just took too long to prepare and right now he could only perform the 'Escape'-Genjutsu's. It didn't matter much if his opponent was strong in Ninjutsu or Genjutsu, because his own Genjutsu was very good, especially for running away.. He would occasionally throw a Kunai, but to no avail, it was clear his opponent had the upper hand.
His opponent was badly wounded, and the attack had stopped for about a minute now. Naruto chose to wait and see how his opponent fared. His opponent was dripping blood on the ground from all the cuts on his body. And it was apparent he was exhausted from the constant avoiding of sharp shards.
"Do you have the scroll?" Naruto asked.
After receiving no answer but the heavy breathing, he asked again. "Look, do you, or don't you, have the scroll?"
Naruto rolled his eyes but very short after, his eyes widened and he had to avoid several knifes, so he just made himself drop down on the ground on his back. He quickly rolled backwards and didn't have time to do anything but avoid the sword his opponent suddenly had in his hands.
'Damnit….'
Naruto grimaced from pain as the Mist Genin touched his cheek with the top of his sword. After that, Naruto upper leg got slashed. He yelped a short yelp of pain and that gave his opponent the time to kick him in the face. Naruto fell backwards on his back, but quickly rolled back up. Both young men were breathing heavily as they were both exhausted. Or that's how it seemed. 'What a strong opponent.. I didn't expect to be pushed this far..'
Naruto performed his favourite seal… "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!!"
Ten Naruto's, he had created ten of them. Naruto's satisfactory smile was short-lived as his opponent moved out in great speed and already slashed down three of them. Now, the seven of them were all jumping and ducking away. The tables turned, as Naruto went in the attack as well. Now, all that could be seen was a man surrounded by seven blonde boys in orange suits. A bystander would look totally confused, if he wasn't killed, that is.
Sasuke definitely had the upper hand as his opponent was trying his best to just remain standing. Sasuke paused his assault and spoke up. "You don't have the scroll. I can see that with my Sharingan. But, I suggest telling your team mate to hand it over if you don't want to die."
Sasuke frowned at the newborn chuckle coming from his female opponent. "You're strong, I give you that. But your blonde-haired friend down there," She pointed downwards. "should be dead by now. He's facing the strongest in our team. And I think your friend over there," She motioned behind Sasuke, where Shigeru was trying his best to avoid all attacks. "Is not going to live very long either. I'm the weakest in my team, your friend behind you is lucky he's good in Genjutsu. I think I should be the one threatening you.."
Now it was Sasuke's turn to chuckle. "Heh. You should know never to underestimate your opponent. Besides, I don't think my team mate down there is dead, I think YOUR team mate is dead."
"I don't think."
She was cut off as Sasuke appeared beside her and kicked her down to the ground, flailing helplessly towards her team mate and Naruto.
Sasuke smiled. "Let's see who's correct.." And he followed her down, leaving Shigeru Sarutobi all by himself.
What the female Mist Genin saw as she landed harshly on the ground, terrified her to no end. She saw this half-beast, half-man disappear right before he had kicked her team mate's ass. Then, as she saw her team mate losing consciousness, she saw Naruto grin like a little child as he walked over to her team mate and grab the scroll. Then, she saw Sasuke land right before her. She coughed up some blood before also fainting.
"So, you have the scroll?" Sasuke asked.
Naruto nodded enthusiastically. "Ha! Of course!! He was so easy!!"
Sasuke narrowed his eyes and remembered his own opponent telling him Naruto's opponent was the strongest in the Mist Team they just fought. And he had trouble beating his own opponent, while she was the weakest. Sasuke's eyes widened as he looked up to the sky. "Naruto! It's Shigeru!! We still have to help him out!"
Naruto's eyes widened also. "Shit!!"
They both leaped upwards. Both were grinning as they knew of each other that they had grown so much.
They both laughed as they saw Shigeru create one Genjutsu after another. For Naruto and Sasuke, it was quite comical to see Shigeru perform one crazy thing after another, and he got away with it as well.
"Hey!! What are you looking at!? Are you crazy?! I need freaking help here!!" Sarutobi screamed. "Hurry UP!!"
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The female Stone Genin leaped with a thundering roar as she stamped with her feet, running towards Gaara. She hung her fist backwards and rammed it hard towards Gaara. Of course Gaara's Shield of Sand appeared, but what seemed off, was, her blow was so hard that her fist penetrated the Gaara's shield and came awfully close to Gaara's face. Gaara's eyes narrowed. This couldn't be a good sign..
Temari and Kankurou quickly prepared themselves for battle. Temari already had her fan clutched, while Kankurou triple-checked his Chakra strings.
The Male Stone Genin suddenly jumped up, paused in the air, changed into a boulder, and skyrocketed towards Kankurou. Kankurou quickly rolled to the side and wasn't touched. 'This could get difficult..'
The female with the long coat ran towards Temari, jumped, opened her coat in the air and hurled dozens of stones towards Temari. Temari tried to blow them away with her fan, but the stones seemed to be too heavy, so she used two stars. And still, they were a little heavy, but she managed. 'Ok… We've got ourselves a tough match here.. But.. we won't lose.. '
Gaara seemed to snarl, but in truth didn't change facial expressions at all. As he and his female opponent had a staring contest, he calmly spoke up. "Sabaku… Kyuu…"
The female vanished, dodging the attack and appeared next to Gaara, immediately trying to attack him, but still finding the Shield of Sand as a great defence, though not unbreakable. "Looks like all you can do, is stand still, little brat." The female said as she again, vanished.
Gaara didn't change facial expressions.
The female approached Gaara from a unexpected angle, but Gaara chose this time to also, disappear from sight, which surprised the girl. And now, the girl was the one trying to pinpoint Gaara's presence.
Temari was using her Kamaitachi more often than ever before, but it seemed that her opponent had something that stopped it. Temari had to use a different kind of attack. She stepped on her own fan and floated in the air, performing several seals. "Gufuu no Jutsu!!" The huge wind-attack she had used against Naruto before, she had now released towards her opponent. "Let's see her withstand this!"
Kankurou snarled and just didn't like overheated battles like these. He just wanted to finish this quickly, but his opponent didn't make that very easy. So he decided to just go all out. "Taiyuu Suna Kyanonbo!!" And he let the massive sand balls fly..
Gaara was a little surprised his opponent could match his own speed. Gaara never bothered to move during a fight because he didn't think it would be necessarily, but well, this way he would be even harder to beat. His eyes widened as his adversary suddenly attacked him and thus his Shield was activated. 'Impossible… How can she still keep up with this?'
Gaara came to a stop. 'This is as far as I will allow her.. ' Gaara looked calmly as she landed right before him. 'Foolish girl..' Gaara almost seemed to smile as he moved his right hand a little up. "Sabaku Shuurajou.." He spoke as the sand around him and his opponent began to rise and harden. Gaara's cold eyes were directed straight through his opponent. "Die…"
The sand then turned into sharp blade-like figures and in an instant they danced through the area Gaara and his opponent were standing in. All of them were moving very fast and they were slowly shredding his opponent's clothes and skin. Gaara's eyes closed as he made the sharp sand blades all enter his opponents' body, totally ripping it apart.
"How stupid."
Temari and her opponent were about equal as they were fighting hand-to-hand, both receiving blows and kicks as they jumped to avoid each other's weapons. Temari's opponent was a tough one. Temari's bigger wind effect had its effect against her, but she was still standing. Temari knew now all of the weapons that were hidden beneath the big coat. But she also knew all of Temari's attacks. They were both now fighting with no trump card or anything of the sort.
Kankurou meanwhile had trouble with his opponent. His Sand balls were having no effect even after they hit him. 'Damn, why isn't he showing me a weakness?' Suddenly a big hand of sand embraced Kankurou.
Kankurou was totally terrified as he saw Gaara to his left. 'Gaara…! Why..?' Temari, too, had noticed Gaara just attacked his own brother.
And then she saw that dozens of Kunai were about to hit Kankurou but now they hit the sand. As soon as no more Kunai came, the hand returned to its owner, and Kankurou was puzzled.
'Gaara… saved him?' Temari thought as she jumped up to avoid the leg of her opponent. Then she saw Gaara perform the same seal he used against his previous opponent. He easily defeated Kankurou's opponent the same way.. Though he dodged for a little time… He was also killed.
"I… I'll hand over the scroll!"
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"Ibiki, you sense that?"
"Yes, The ANBU are assembling it seems, it seems they've caught something. Shall we follow?" Ibiki responded.
Anko shook her head. "No, maybe it's a distraction or something, I think we should stay here to make sure everything's okay."
"It's fine by me." Morino sighed as he leaned back against a tree. "It's just… so boring.. We've been here for quite some time. I don't think Orochimaru is coming, and his Sound Guards have lost a member, thanks to you."
Anko smirked. "Well, it's best to be sure. Besides, this Chuunin Exam has to be finished this time. I don't want any interruptions."
"Fine." Ibiki closed his eyes. "I'm taking a nap, can you hold guard?"
"You lazy bum.." was Anko's answer.
Suddenly, something tingled throughout Anko's senses. "Ibiki, do you sense that?"
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"Hehe, he's getting psyched, Orochimaru-sama.." The Akatsuki girl said with a playful tone. "I'm surprised you can control him…"
Kabuto was ready to go all out at these two Akatsuki members who were standing before him and Orochimaru. "Yakushi-kun.. It's all right, they're on our side.. I suspected you hid your true powers from me, but now I know them. These two are on our side, actual spies from us at Akatsuki. We will try to fight them off together. Kabuto, I need you to go all out."
Kabuto, his eyes blood red chuckled as he jumped out of the window and ran straight for Itachi and the others. Orochimaru shook his head. 'I guess he doesn't have much control when he's in that state… oh well.' Orochimaru sighed before he turned to Teri and Hatsu. "Let's follow him and try and defeat them. We don't have much choice.."
Teri and Hatsu nodded as the three of them jumped out of the window, in hot pursuit of Kabuto.
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A hit, a direct hit. And another. She was trying her best at her opponent and she could feel the muscles of her opponent beginning to shut down as she touched another spot on her body. All three Grass nins Sakura, Ino and Hinata were fighting were female. Now, Hinata had a rough opponent but she was slowly winning, occasionally touching her opponent and stopping her Chakra flow.
Ino just watched the others while she was inside the Grass Nin's body. She could now stay inside a body for a much longer time.
Sakura was having way more trouble with her opponent and was getting more hit than her opponent. Her own Jutsu's weren't of much use as they were all slow attacks. Her opponent was just too fast and easily dodged them. Sakura was blown backwards with a kick and saw that Hinata's opponent fainted. She landed on her back and breathed heavily. Her opponent was about to finish her off as she grabbed several Kunai.
"Stop right there!!"
Sakura's opponent turned to watch who had just spoken and saw that the voice belonged to Ino in her team mate's body.
"If you want your friend here" She pointed at herself. "to survive today, you better give up and hand over the scroll!" Ino screamed.
The Grass Female Nin sighed and threw the Scroll right in Sakura's face. "Fine." She picked up her fallen comrade as Ino released her other team mate, who fainted, another by-effect Ino had created.
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Itachi looked calmly at the approaching Kabuto. He looked to his left as Kisame commented on the situation. "Looks like we've got ourselves an opponent."
"Actually.. Opponents." Dareda reacted as he motioned behind the running Kabuto. "Look. Traitors…"
Mokito sighed. "What? They're really betraying us? This is just stupid…"
"Teri Kinuta and Hatsu Heishou. They're Sound and Grass Nins, very annoying to fight." Dareda said. "There's no shortcut to win this battle.
"But… it seems something's wrong with our little Orochimaru." Raidou said as he chuckled.
"So it seems.." Dareda said. "Senshin Byakugan!!"
Kabuto suddenly appeared beside Itachi and immediately had to dodge Kisame's big sword by jumping. Kisame pursued him immediately.
"Hmm… His arms… they won't be of much use in a battle… what on earth does that seal mean?" Dareda wondered. "I've never seen a seal like that before."
"Well, let's begin.." Sinobi said as he ran towards his opponents, with behind him, following him, Mokito. Itachi and Dareda just remained standing.
"Say, what do you think?" Dareda asked. "Should we kill those traitors? I think Orochimaru somehow persuaded them to join him."
"It doesn't matter. The fact they got persuaded at all shows that they shouldn't be allowed to live any longer. The answer is very obvious, we kill them, except Orochimaru." Itachi looked behind him as he saw Kisame having trouble with his opponent. "Who is that?"
Dareda shook his head as he analyzed the grey-haired Kabuto. "I don't know.." He turned towards Sinobi and Mokito, who had trouble fending off their three opponents. "But, they could use our help, Kisame-san can take care of himself."
Itachi vanished. Dareda smiled. 'Strange fellow.. Very mysterious… He's got one of those pasts alright.' He sighed and disappeared from sight as well.
"Jeezz…. You guys aren't really fast!" Mokito commented as she easily ran around Teri and Hatsu. She planned on planting her fist right in Hatsu's face but was surprised to find some weird dust linger around Hatsu. "Wha… What's this?"
Hatsu grinned as he spoke up. "Heh. You just walked into my Shield of Disorientation. The dust around me comes from a flower which produces a sort of chemical… very dangerous, though not lethal, unfortunately. I never did like you, foolish girl.." He said as he rammed his fist in her abdomen, grabbed her chin and then he performed a single-hand seal. "Hatsuiku Karamiau!"
Dareda watching it all unfold, narrowed his eyes. "Interesting Jutsu… Mokito is out for the count.."
Out of Hatsu's leaves came thin long branches which completely entangled Mokito. With Mokito in his grasp he rose her to the air using the branches and tightened his grip. Then the branches stopped growing from his leaves and Mokito was rendered useless in battle, falling to the ground, unable to move, being totally entangled and she could barely breathe.
Itachi looked down on Mokito and than looked up to the Sound and Grass Nins. And then Raidou attacked, in combination with Dareda. "Dareda! Stop their flow!" Raidou smirked as he attacked. "Dendou Bouffuu!!" Around his hands yellow sparks began to form and began to grow, he then balled his hands into fists as he concentrated the Chakra within his palm. He then opened his hands and pointed both his palms at Teri and Hatsu. Long lightning bolts surrounded the two nins and more bolts were to follow as Raidou screamed and began to form more deadly bolts.
Dareda, in the meantime, grinned as it all went as planned. "Hmm.. let's see how they will get out of that." Suddenly, he saw that Orochimaru, who was standing still until now, moved quickly towards him. But he could focus on the other two as Itachi appeared between him and Orochimaru. "The Hakke Field… You will falter here…" Dareda said to Teri and Hatsu.
Teri and Hatsu both grinned as Hatsu suddenly performed a similar seal to the one he had used on Mokito. "Hatsuiku Nankan!" And they were both surrounded by green branches and even small trees, what negated Raidou's electricity's effect. What was weird was there were small holes at certain spots, which exactly pointed towards Dareda and Raidou.
'Shit..' Both Dareda and Raidou thought as they knew what was going on. 'It's useless, even Kaunta-Kaiten doesn't work against this attack. She will hurt me..'
Raidou's thought patterns were almost the same. 'Damn, we should've known they would do something like this…'
Inside the Grass Barrier Hatsu had created, Teri was whispering a scream, a scream that couldn't even be heard by the keenest ears. "Teishuuha!" Thanks to Hatsu's barrier and the small precise holes in it her sound attack was multiplied a few times and thus stronger. The sound waves would be sent directly towards Dareda and Raidou.
"Orochimaru…." Itachi began. "We have certain things to discuss.."
Orochimaru chuckled nervously. "Shouldn't you worry about them?" He asked as he motioned towards Dareda, Kisame and Raidou.
"I thought you knew me better than that… Now, tell me.. What do you want with my brother?"
Orochimaru's eyes narrowed as he wanted to jump and kick Itachi in the face and then his plans were to run. But Itachi vanished and appeared to Orochimaru's left. "Do not bother; in your current condition you shouldn't attack me, I thought you were smart.. But for now, just answer the question." Itachi said, a bit annoyed at Orochimaru's attitude.
"I…. want him to be stronger.."
Itachi didn't change facial expressions. "You gave him a Curse Seal… and you probably want his body, right? It isn't that hard to figure out."
Orochimaru narrowed his eyes at Itachi. 'Damn him… He's going to ruin it all…'
"His hatred has grown, though not much. Make him hate me even more." Itachi ordered. "And one more thing, if you take his body… I will kill you." Orochimaru's eyes widened and then he narrowed his eyes at Itachi. 'Damn.. no matter, when I have Sasuke's body, I have the Sharingan as well, and I will be stronger too..'
And then Itachi turned his back to Orochimaru, but his eyes widened as he saw Kisame being hit hard in the jaw by Kabuto. 'What? That kid… how can he hit Kisame like that?'
The Sound waves entered Dareda's and Raidou's body. They both stammered on their feet and landed on their knees as blood poured down from their ears. Itachi frowned at them. 'What.. What are they doing? They underestimated their enemy… Fools..' Itachi swiftly approached Kabuto and came to a halt before him.
"Who are you?" Itachi asked as he watched the unconscious Kisame.
Kabuto evilly chuckled and tilted his head to the side. "Kabuto Yakushi, nice to meet your acquaintance. You must be Uchiha Itachi… I've dreamed of meeting you.."
"Must be some dream." Itachi said. "You want to fight me?" Kabuto reacted with a greed nod. "Very well…"
Another Kabuto appeared behind Itachi, or that's how it seemed as Kabuto moved so fast that the after-image of Kabuto remained there for a second. The knife Kabuto wanted to stick in Itachi's back was stuck in nothing but air as Itachi now stood behind Kabuto. "Is this your speed?" Itachi asked.
Kabuto growled as he swivelled around to meet Itachi head-on and begin a hand-to-hand combat. But Itachi was long gone and performed a seal, that wasn't directed towards him. "Katon, Kuroi Bakufuu no Jutsu!!" Kabuto looked terrified as he saw the attack being formed. Itachi's own Chakra colour that surrounded his body turned completely black for an instant and then he released it all with a deadly speed towards Hatsu's Grass Barrier. Hatsu and Teri, of course, didn't have a clue.
Kabuto looked completely stupefied as he saw how Itachi ignored him in a battle where he fought at his best. 'I'm lacking… How can he be this good?'
The big black fire blast hit the Grass Barrier straight on and it was completely burned down. Teri and Hatsu looked confused and slightly scared as they saw Itachi focusing his attention completely on them.
To the right of Teri and Hatsu.. Seeing that they were being distracted, Dareda quickly prepared his attack created a Bunshin and then announced: "Hey! You two! You are both within my Hakke Field."
Teri and Hatsu both sighed at Dareda. "Fine.. we give.." Teri wanted to perform a seal, while Hatsu also wanted to attack, Dareda did attack, but not before Hatsu threw a kunai at Raidou.
Itachi turned around to see Kabuto was hesitating in attacking him. 'Disappointing… I would have at least thought he'd attack me while I performed my attack at them… '
Itachi calmly looked Kabuto run at him, only to run past him, straight for the exhausted Raidou. Dareda's eyes widened and he moved at high speed to prevent Kabuto from attacking Kabuto.
Kabuto grabbed another knife from his pocket and planned on shoving it right in Raidou's face. But his wrist suddenly was grabbed by Dareda and Dareda's knee connected with Kabuto's stomach as Kabuto flew backwards.
Orochimaru just watched it all. 'If I try to do something they will easily kill me…'
Kabuto landed on his back and continued to slide on the ground.
"Sinobi-kun, you ok?" Dareda asked. Sinobi gave a smile as he stammered to his feet. "Well, did you do what you needed to do, Itachi-kun?"
Itachi slowly nodded as he stared down at Kabuto. 'What did Orochimaru do with this guy?' Itachi then grabbed Kisame and put him over his shoulder. "We're leaving.."
Dareda pulled the kunai Hatsu had thrown out of his shoulder. "Ok…" Dareda and Itachi both turned to watch at Orochimaru. But both chose to say nothing and just leave. Dareda had Mokito and Raidou on his shoulders, after Itachi released Mokito with a fire attack and Itachi had Kisame over his shoulder.
Kabuto and Orochimaru watched them leave. Teri and Hatsu were both unconsciousness. "Well… we should consider ourselves lucky… Usually Itachi has his Sharingan activated all day, back in the old days" Orochimaru suddenly spoke up. "Yet today, he hadn't activated it once. You're lucky he didn't kill you in your fight, Kabuto-kun."
Kabuto stood up and sighed. "Well….. I didn't expect Itachi to be like this… and he's this good without the Sharingan… How strong are you when you go all out, Orochimaru?"
Orochimaru sighed and shook his head. "Right now.. weaker than you when you're at your best, but not much. When I can use my hands again.. I will probably be close to where Itachi Uchiha and Dareda Hyuga are."
Kabuto nodded. "I see.."
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"Uhm, we've got a problem here…" Naruto spoke up nervously.
Sasuke and Shigeru both turned at Naruto, who picked the newfound scroll out of his pocket. "What is it, Naruto-kun?" Sarutobi asked.
Naruto scratched the back of his head and coughed shamefully. "Well….. this new scroll we got…. It's exactly the same as the one we already had."
Sasuke groaned, while Shigeru hung his head low. "Jeez, you Idiot!! And you say that now?'
"Hey wait. I hear something." Shigeru said as he came to a stop and looked to his left, carefully shoving some small branches aside to see three females walk forward.
Sasuke and Naruto's eyes widened. "We… we can't attack them, right?"
Sasuke closed his eyes. "This is no time to act friendly, Naruto. We have to get the scroll, even if it means defeating an ex-team mate."
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"Konoha Senpuu!!" Lee screamed as he easily defeated his opponent. Another opponent was stuck to a tree by many Kunais, Shurikens and Knifes. The third was just sitting on the ground, completely tired as Neji had easily used his Hakke attack.
"This is the good scroll." Ten-Ten said. As the three of them left the scenery and went straight for the tower.
"Neji, don't you think we were a little fast?" Lee asked as they already saw the tower up ahead.
"Why are you complaining? This is perfect; we've already made it through to The Third Test." Neji responded. "This is all good." Neji smiled. 'I wonder how Naruto is doing.. He's out of my sight, I can see Gaara.. he's also approaching the Tower..'
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"We use Henge… and then we attack them…" Sasuke proposed. "That way, we can see what they can do and they don't know it was really us who attacked them."
Naruto and Sarutobi nodded as they both transformed. Naruto in a blonde girl and Sarutobi in a slightly older guy with a young beard.. Sasuke slapped his forehead. "Naruto… no Sexy no Jutsu today…" He complained while Sarutobi drooled over the nude body Naruto had transformed in.
Naruto sweat dropped and used Henge again.
After hesitating for a pretty long time, already in their new form, they looked at each other and nodded.
"Ok, here we go." And the three descended straight for Sakura, Ino and Hinata.
After landing, the three of them looked around and found that there was no longer a Sakura, Ino or Hinata close by.
"Uh… They're not here.." Naruto nervously said.
Sarutobi laughed, but shortly as he saw Sasuke and Naruto glaring. "This is a Genjutsu, I know this one too, it isn't really hard. It creates a repeat of what happened moments before, sometimes a few moments, sometimes a lot."
Sasuke looked towards the ground as Naruto and Shigeru scanned the area. 'Damn.. I should have activated my Sharingan to see this..'
Sarutobi, using a counter Genjutsu, knew at least which way they went. "I know where they went. Follow me."
And they set off.
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"Ok, we go now! They're all totally focused on their enemy." Sakon said as he left the place he was standing on. Jiroubou and Kidoumaru followed.
'Now we will get Uchiha Sasuke and there's no one that can stop us here. Well, not now the all of the ANBU are totally focused on the Sound Jounins that entered the Forest with us yesterday..' Sakon thought as she was leaping through the trees, trying to pinpoint Sasuke's location.
And then, two people stopped their movements. Sakon's eyes widened, as did Jiroubou's and Kidoumaru's. "Mitarashi Anko… so we meet again." Sakon stated.
Anko looked determined as she responded. "Don't talk like you're strong! We intend to finish you guys off this time!"
Ibiki shook his head. "This is exactly like the previous time. I get ignored and they all focus on you, Anko-san."
And then, three sound Gates activated their Curse seals and began the battle.
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"So, Hinata, are they still after us?" Ino asked.
"They… figured it out…. Your Genjutsu… and they're now close behind." Hinata said.
Hinata had spotted them, though after they had transformed, so even Hinata didn't know it was Sasuke, Naruto and Shigeru. Sakura immediately made a Genjutsu creation, though it was very vexing for her part. But now they had to move fast as they were following them. "We're not fast enough.. They're gaining on us. I think… we should fight them.."
The three of them stopped and turned around, ready to face their three pursuers. 'This is not going well… this just had to happen when we already had the two scrolls!' Ino thought.
Sasuke, Naruto and Sarutobi landed in front of them, though in another form. Naruto as blonde girl, Sarutobi as a tall guy with glasses and Sasuke as a guy with long, black hair.
"Hand over your scroll." Sasuke said.
"HELL NO!!" Inner Sakura yelled, but Sakura remained silent.
"What if we say no?" Ino said.
"Then we just take them." Sasuke answered coldly.
Sasuke quickly tried to figure out who held the scroll. Naruto looked sideways and whispered something in Sarutobi's ears. "Don't use Genjutsu, cause that girl will see right through it anyway." He said as he motioned towards Hinata.
Sarutobi nodded. 'It's nice to know your enemies.'
In what she expected to be a sudden moment for them, Ino performed her Jutsu on the Blonde girl, or Naruto. "Shintenshin no Jutsu!!"
Naruto sidestepped and easily dodged the attack. "It's not smart to use such a slow attack." Naruto said. 'Man, that's so NOT what I really would say!! Damn it!!'
Sasuke chose this time to knock out Ino since she was totally unstable for a few moments after her attack, grabbed her body, jumped away from Hinata and Sakura and checked if she had the scroll on her. He found two. "Got it."
Sasuke was caught off guard as Hinata suddenly appeared to his left and began to assault him Gentle Fist style. Sasuke chose to dodge the attacks and talk while doing so. "Oy! What are you two idiots doing?! We have to get out of here." Then his eyes widened as he was attacked by a small gust of Chakra. 'What?'
Sakura had just performed the Sakuran no Jutsu… on Sasuke.
Hinata smiled as she saw Sasuke stumble on his feet and drop to his knees. The Sakuran no Jutsu was the Confusion attack. Sasuke's senses were all messed up and will be so for some time. Hinata looked at Sakura. 'She's gotten better than in the previous Chuunin Exam..'
Naruto and Sarutobi looked surprised. 'What was that?' Naruto asked himself.
Thankfully, for them, they prepared themselves if they would be hit and were to lose their transformation and change back to themselves. So Shigeru was using a certain Genjutsu which influenced the eyes of Sakura, Ino and Hinata. Although it proved very hard to delude Hinata's Byakugan eyes.
Hinata had stopped her assault as she thought Sasuke was no longer a threat and planned on taking both scrolls back. Naruto quickly stepped between Hinata and Sasuke and prevented it. He grabbed Sasuke's body and quickly jumped back. "Shigeru, I think we have to be leaving now.." His eyes were totally focused, as he was prepared for another unexpected attack. Like the one Sasuke had just received.
Shigeru and Naruto with Sasuke over his shoulder, quickly jumped away from them. 'Sakura has improved.. That attack on Sasuke had to come from her, since Ino was out and Hinata was already attacking him. Interesting…'
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TBC…
A/N: Well, I've got this whole idea for the last Test of the Chuunin Exam… Oh well… The next chapter will probably be very similar to this one.. I will let the Special Jounin Aoba explain how the new Chuunin Exam works. And then there's the Anko & Ibiki Vs. Three Sound Guard fight. Oh well…. Please tell me what you thought of this chapter…
