Chapter 11 - Minor Setback
A/N: I do not own the Naruto Franchise!
I do however own Mari Kaede and any other OCs mentioned.
God it's been a while since my last chapter, hasn't it?! I didn't realize that I should split the 11th chapter into three sections because it would have been too long otherwise. So honestly, this could have been finished months ago.
I'm so smart!
Warnings: Contains dark themes, such as depression, murder, experimentation, emotional, mental and physical torture, possible attempted suicide and mentions of sexual activities!
Please read responsibly.
Also, I am in the middle of planning a Manga version of this story! I think doing this might reawaken my love for it, while helping me towards my own dream of becoming a mangaka! What better way to follow your dream, than to practice with your best story, and material that inspired your very reason for wanting to be a Mangaka in the first place!
Enjoy!
Pain was the first thing Akari felt, even though the world remained black and empty, the burning sensation on the back of her head was too much to ignore. It throbbed, like a searing ache and slowly roused her to consciousness.
Managing to open her eyes with a groan, everything looked blurred and she could see a figure crouched beside her, awaiting her cloud of dizziness to pass so she would recognize them.
"You're finally up..."
Akari knew that scratchy voice well from their recent mission, the blurred figure was Dosu. She let out a pained grunt as she slowly sat up, using a hand to steady herself by planting it into the grass behind her. She felt nautious, concussed and completely frustrated that she had been defeated so easily.
The expert Jounin remembered the fight with Sasuke well, she had used her best Chuunin level combo and it had done nothing. "How did we get here?" She asked as she rubbed the back of her head, hissing when she touched a sore spot.
"That Sakura girl managed to calm Sasuke down, and we made a deal, in exchange for one of our Earth Scrolls, he'd allow us to escape..." Dosu told her, looking back at Zaku, who was still unconscious and had no use of his arms. "Of course, not without breaking Zaku's arms first."
"So I wasn't the only one who got their ass kicked." Akari said with a slight snarl, that power was far too much for a Genin to handle. "What was that weird mark, Dosu?"
"That was Orochimaru's Curse Mark, it's a special jutsu he only uses on a select few." He told her, narrowing his eyes, he too wanted answers. "Only Orochimaru can use it, so there's no doubt who gave Sasuke-kun that power."
"That bastard...!" She growled, slowly standing and stumbling forward as she lost her balance. "Ugh!" She grabbed the trunk of a nearby tree and dug her nails into it to regain her footing. Her concussion was taking effect, just the slightest shift of her balance made her want to vomit.
Orochimaru had purposely given Sasuke that mark, knowing they would soon attempt to kill him. What the hell was he planning? Why go this far just to force them to fail?!
Grinding her teeth slightly, she ignored all the sickening sensations that came with turning back to Dosu. She raised her hand out as if asking for him to place something in her palm. "The scrolls." She ordered with a serious gleam in her once confused eyes.
The younger shinobi didn't argue, pulling the two scrolls out of his jacket and tossing them at her, watching as she caught them without effort and held them in both her closed palms. With only a slight flick of both wrists, her sleeves fell over her hands and concealed the two unique rolls of parchment from view.
"Once Zaku wakes up, we're heading to the tower, we've got our scrolls and our mission was a failure, right now that's all we can do."
"Agreed."
Akari would find out exactly what Orochimaru was thinking, even if it meant putting her plan into action a little earlier than she originally planned.
~BHBL~
When Zaku awoke, all they heard were curses for at least an hour before they were able to start moving. Akari lead the group through the trees with Dosu and Zaku following behind, the injured Genin being assisted by his bandaged teammate towards the tower.
Right now, it was Akari's job to protect them, even with her injury she had the most power out of the three of them and would be the most useful in the face of battle. However even now her mind was elsewhere, trying to calculate everything that had gone on over the past few hours and come up with a solid conclusion.
The only one she could think of was that Orochimaru had planned to give Sasuke this mark from the start, and had used them to test out it's power. That thought alone made her teeth lock tightly together with a grinding sound echoing in her own ears.
If that was true, she was going to make him pay, one way or another.
Her thoughts were broken when the tower came into view and they were assaulted by a three-man cell of Amegakure Shinobi. Akari wasn't in the mood for their games, so disposed of them quickly, only just able to keep herself from killing them due her heightened emotional state.
Watching the Genin fall to the ground, charred and bleeding, she spared them a softened frown before steeling herself and continuing on her way. "Don't let anything stop you." She told her two teammates, who were just as irritated and furious as she was. "We reach the tower and report t'Orochimaru, that's our mission now."
"Yeah." Zaku ground out, his eyes sharp with a desire for revenge. "And after that, I'm going to find that Sasuke asshole and break his arms the same way he broke mine!"
"Calm down." Dosu scolded him, the three of them nearing the doors to the tower now, the sky tinting a deep orange from their long travel. "We'll pay them back later, right now the mission takes priority."
"Whatever."
The three of them hopped down from the final tree onto the stone platform where the tower was situated. Before them were several doors, some sealed, whereas others had their parchment locks ripped open. Akari knew from past experience that the unsealed doors had been entered by other teams.
"Stay alert." The redheaded woman told her two younger comrades as she walked towards a sealed set of doors and pushed them open, tearing the worded parchment against the metal surfaces in half as she did so. Inside was a small room with a framed quote on the wall.
The three of them looked around for anything that would shed some light on what they had to do next as the door slowly slid shut behind them, sealing them in with a loud jarring noise.
"Hm, hm, hm...I'm surprised you made it back alive..."
The three Oto Shinobi made noises of surprise and looked up quickly to see a shadowy figure on the second floor, staring down at them with his hands in his pockets. By the shape of his form and the tone of his voice, Akari knew it was Orochimaru without a doubt.
Slowly the anger she had managed to force down until now began to rise to the surface once again as the Snake Sannin climbed onto the railing and dropped down, landing in front of them. "Though not in one piece, it seems." He taunted them, straightening up with a sinster smirk and a gleeful cheer in those yellow snake-like eyes. "I'll praise you for your excellent survival skills, however. Most who face up against someone powered by a Curse Mark, never see the light of day again. You have done well."
Akari ground her teeth as a mixture of anger and discomfort began to swirl within the empty pit of her stomach, both from his words and his praise, a man that sinister and cruel should not praise them for failure. "Why the hell did y'set us up t'fail?" She asked, glaring at him as her skin began to take on a soft glow. "We could've died!"
Orochimaru chuckled and stuffed his hands into his pockets, looking down at her like she was nothing compared to him. "That was the plan all along, dear little Firecracker." He told her shamelessly, his teeth glinting in the light of the late afternoon sun. "You were mere pawns to test Sasuke-kun's newfound strength."
"So y'chose not to tell us and used us as lab rats for your screwed up experiments?!" She had, had enough of the goddamn experiments!
"Precisely, it wasn't something I felt the need to share with you."
The glow on Akari's skin only intensified with his arrogant words, small sparks crackling around her tanned flesh, shocking Zaku and Dosu in the background, but the one man she wanted to intimidate didn't even flinch. "You asshole!" She snapped, storming over and grabbing his collar, dragging him down to her height.
"Akari!" Her bandaged teammate called out, stepping forward, holding his hand out as a reaction to her sudden display of hostility. "Are you insane?!"
"Listen to your juniors...Akari-chan." Orochimaru sneered, doing nothing to fight her grip. He knew she wouldn't harm him, he surpassed her twice over. "You know how fighting me will end."
Akari didn't let go, her breathing heavy as Dosu actually tried to pry her away from their leader. However that only ended with her arm swinging round and her fist colliding with the pre-teen's bandaged cheek, sending him tumbling back onto his ass. "Akari, he's our leader!"
That seemed to bring the feiry redhead back to a sense of realization, her plans flooding through her mind until she tugged her lip between her teeth and shoved Orochimaru away from her. He only had to step back once to regain his balance and his mouth curled up into a satisfied smirk at the sight of the usually stubborn woman holding back all the anger she felt. Her fists were clenched tightly at her sides, head dropped, her entire body trembling as she tried her best to dim down the bright glow her skin had taken on.
"That's better..." The powerful Sannin sneered, pulling a hand from his pocket to gesture to her with an open palm. "Remember your place, and perhaps I will let your actions slide just this once..."
The Ninjutsu Expert tsked sharply, turning her head to the side to show how much she detested her need to remain loyal to the man. If it were up to her, and she had the necessary strength needed to surpass him, Orochimaru would have died mere seconds ago, when she had the chance.
"Now. I'll explain your roles in the next part of the exam." He turned his head to Zaku and Dosu, their postures stiffening in fear at his dangerous gaze. "You will both continue the exams, as usual, try to rise through the ranks as far as you can to show Konoha that we Oto shinobi are not weak because of our numbers..."
Zaku smirked with the same arrogance Akari had seen on Orochimaru's face many times before. He liked the idea of that, and though she couldn't see Dosu's face, she knew he too had some apprehensions about their 'leader's' orders as much as she did.
Well, not as much as she did, otherwise he'd have offered to join forces and take him out as a team.
Like that would make a difference.
"And Kaede..."
Akari hummed and looked back at Orochimaru, a displeased frown very apparent on her features as she did so. It was obvious she didn't care for her role, but that wouldn't stop the amused villain from sharing anyway. "You will fight for a fair amount of time to intimidate some of the other participants, however halfway through your first battle, withdraw with whatever excuse you feel is necessary at that moment."
His grin widened and she could see his fangs visible along with the glee he felt in his next words. "I want you to reserve your best jutsu for the final duel between ourselves and the Third Hokage."
Bile rose in her throat when she remembered their original goal, to destroy Konoha and to rid the world of Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage and the one responsible for the alliance built between Sunagakure and Konohagakure.
"Fine." Was the harsh, bitten response he received, which both irked and amused him at the same time. Though she didn't treat him with the respect he desired, her reactions were quite entertaining.
She knew she was no match for him, and she hated it, and that just made him feel even more superior to her. She was like a wild horse, chained to a post and refused to be tamed.
A challenge worth conquering.
"Very well..." Orochimaru said, stuffing his hand into his pocket again. "Dismissed." With that final word, he vanished into a puff of smoke, nothing but a chilling laugh left behind.
'One day, I'm going t'wipe that smug smile off your face...' Akari vowed, glaring at the dissipating smoke. 'Just you wait...'
It was then that the three of them headed into the tower to recieve medical attention, before spending the rest of the day formulating their individual plans for the upcoming battles.
~BHBL~
For the first time in a long time, Kaede felt truly peaceful.
Standing in a field of nothing but white space, she was surrounded by the familiar figures of her family and friends growing up, all the same as they were when she was in Sunagakure. While she herself had somehow reverted back to her original appearance, her Jounin outfit and forehead protecter in place as she lifted her arms to inspect the long sleeves.
"I'm glad you're back, Kaede..." Her mother spoke, stepping forward and placing her hand on her daughter's shoulder with a warm smile she hadn't seen in many years. "We've all missed you so much."
Kaede was stunned, completely dumbfounded by her mother's attitude after their last encounter. Tears pooled in her eyes and she ground her teeth as she hugged her mother tightly. "I missed y'too...Mother, Father...Everyone."
However as she looked up, her eyes widened and her blood ran cold when she saw all their loving smiles had warped into cruel, twisted smirks. What the hell?!
Her mother's arms tightened around her with a dark laugh and Kaede panicked, trying to pull herself away without harming Ayame, but it was futile. She could only watch as the white expanse around them began to taint with the leaking black shadows of her close friends and family, and her mother melted down into nothing but a shade with a liquid-like quality.
Her expression only intensified with horror as the black substance began to climb over her entire form and drag her down into the dark area surrounding her, leaving her completely alone, no one around to help her. Without hesitation, a scream left Kaede's lungs, and though she felt the vibrations and the hoarse pain caused by her high pitched wail, no sound left her.
With a mercilessly slow pace, she was dragged into the darkness and silence filled the void that had once been filled with only love and care.
But the horrors didn't end there, Kaede knew she was viewing the world in the third person when she saw two familiar figures become visible in the darkness. Orochimaru to the right, and herself, after her experimentation, to the left.
The only sound heard within the void of emotionless darkness was a deep laughter that sounded so much like the one she heard from the Snake-like Sannin whenever she did something to amuse him.
However it wasn't Orochimaru that was laughing, getting a closer view, Kaede could see that he was not moving or showing any indication of sound, at all. He was just stood there, grinning maliciously as he kept his arms crossed and watched the mirror Kaede's every move.
When she woman's eyes locked onto the entity she knew was herself, her blood went cold once again, eyes widening as she watched her own form shake with dark laughter before lifting her head. She wore the same sinister, dangerous grin that her worst nightmare always wore and her eyes spoke volumes.
She was no longer Kaede, but a monster who wouldn't think twice about killing.
Akari let out a sharp scream as she sat up involunterily, staring at the wall with wide eyes as she gasped for air after her long and startling nightmare.
She covered her mouth as she choked on the bile she felt rise with each part of the dream she relived and cataloged in her permanent memory. She would never be able to forget the looks she saw in her family's eyes and the evil she felt from herself in that shadowy abyss she never wanted to see again.
Taking deep breaths, Akari tried to calm herself, staring at the wall as she repeated the mantra 'it was just a dream' in her head. Usually, she wasn't so freaked out over such trivialities, but that dream had hit her where it hurt.
Closing her eyes, Akari began to regain control of her emotions, gently coaxing herself into a calmer state. For now, she wouldn't dwell on the disturbing dream, she had, had many nightmares over the years. This one was no different.
The middle-aged kunoichi disguised as a young adult tossed the blanket off her legs and stood up. With brisk steps, she walked over to the window and opened it with a hard tug. All she had to do now was focus on the task at hand, the destruction of Konoha itself. She was one step closer to killing an innocent old man, to gain the trust of a venomous monster.
Akari watched with a relaxed frown as a small green leaf fluttered into view as a soft breeze brushed her hot cheeks, her eyes trained on the small, delicate object in the wind.
Only then would she realize just how real the dream would become.
~BHBL~
Near the end of the exam, another Oto spy made it to the tower, one Orochimaru trusted more than any other. The Snake Sannin leaned against the back wall of the room with his arms crossed as the doors opened and three of his men walked in, the most faithful in the middle of the group.
"Got anything?" Orochimaru asked, looking at Kabuto with a sinister grin and an evil gleam in those snake-like eyes. Kabuto was given the job of gaining Sasuke's trust and getting as much intel as he could on the Curse Mark and how their little ginuea pig was taking to it.
"Yes, more than I expected." The glasses clad spy let his grin widen maliciously to match his superior's. "I've written down all the data pertaining to him from the Second Exam." Without wasting a breath, a small orange card was lifted to the teen's eye level. "You need this, right?"
Orochimaru watched as Kabuto held out the card, and the cold, Snake Sannin reached out and took it. "So, how was he?"
"Hm, looks like you're fond of him, Orochimaru-sama."
"I want to hear your opinion..." The Otokage said, his yellow eyes scanning the thick parchment with little effort. "As a spy from Otogakure."
Kabuto didn't respond at first, his eyes hidden by the light bouncing off his black frames from the bulb above. "You don't need that..." Lifting his hand, the spy gave his wrist a quick flick to the right and the scar across his nose from a previous fight vanished without any trace left behind. "Since you're the one who will determine everything."
A dark chuckle left the pale leader as he pushed off the wall and met the black, empty eyes of his subordinate. "Your cunningness is what I like." He said, obviously praising the young man. Suddenly a swirling vortex of smoke surrounded Orochimaru, and he disappeared without a trace, only his voice remaining in the air where he once stood.
"Good job."
A/N: Okay, there's nothing to translate here, so I'm just going to ask people to review instead. All comments and criticism help me become a better writer, as long as you're not being cruel for the sake of being cruel, I'll listen to you and respond accordingly.
Thank you for reading!
