Kakashi met team seven at the hospital where for once Naruto wasn't the patient. Sakura had gone first, being with the most serious of their injuries and Sasuke lay in a bed, looking relieved to be off his feet even if he tried to hide it.
Kakashi's face was unreadable as per usual and the only tells he gave were that he didn't take his single eye off of Sasuke since entering the room. It was starting to make Naruto feel out of place and slightly awkward. "Do you need me to leave, sensei?" he asked, resigning himself to waiting outside.
Kakashi's head darted to Naruto, his expression tense. He relaxed a moment later however. "I said I would teach you the nature chakra siphoning seal if you passed the first two exams, didn't I?"
Naruto nodded slowly, not entirely sure where this was going.
"Well you're about to have your first lesson," Kakashi said, beckoning Naruto to follow him as he approached Sasuke's bed. "Are you in pain?" he directed to Sasuke who tried to shake his head. A wince at the movement told anyone watching that to deny it would be a lie. "Show him the seal," he gestured to Naruto to move in closer and look at the small black marks that dotted his neck. "This is a specialized nature chakra seal of Orochimaru's creation. With something like this a ninja can tap into the natural chakra around him without having to use up their own reserves, thus staying at full fighting power constantly. Now tell me why would you want something like this on a barrier seal, for example."
Naruto frowned for a moment then nodded in understanding. "To get around the need to feed constant chakra into it. With a seal like that it would last indefinitely," Naruto answered while smiling proudly.
"Correct. Not about the indefinite part, but good enough. A well made seal could last months, years even. You might be wondering at this point why we don't just put this type of seal on all shinobi and make them much stronger," he prompted and Naruto nodded eagerly. "It's because nature chakra is poison to a ninja in even the smallest amounts. That is why Sasuke is in a huge amount of pain right now, even though he's hiding it very well. Isn't that right, Sasuke?" he asked, turning to catch Sasuke's eyes.
Sasuke grit his teeth and met Kakashi's eye.
"Did your Sharingan activate?" Kakashi asked, making Sasuke flinch before nodding. Kakashi sighed. "I can take the pain away, but I can't remove the seal. You won't be able to use as much chakra every day otherwise it will break through whatever I do for you. You'll have to get stronger, to use less chakra and do more with your abilities."
Sasuke's eyes moved away from Kakashi's own and he looked guilty, almost reluctant. "I need this," he said looking down at his hands.
"The seal is killing you," Kakashi affirmed. "Don't think for even a second that it's not. It might make you stronger, it might make you faster. But I guarantee that it will kill you before you can accomplish your goal. On the other hand, if you take my offer and let me seal it off I'll give you something else that is just as good." With that he raised his headband until his other eye was uncovered, revealing a deep scar running vertically along an eye of deep red with three inky black marks suspended in balance. "I can teach you how to use your sharingan."
Sasuke's eyes widened at the sight of Kakashi's eye, not in surprise but in recognition. "You're- You're an Uchiha?" he stammered.
Kakashi shook his head, lowering the headband in place. "No. This eye was a gift from a friend."
Naruto didn't like the sound of that. Who gave an eye as a gift? Wouldn't it just leave the friend with one eye less.
"Do it," Sasuke said finally and Kakashi nodded in turn.
"You may want to leave for this Naruto. I'll teach you this seal later. But for now I need privacy. Go tell the doctors and nurses that I'm not to be disturbed," Kakashi instructed Naruto.
Naruto wasn't insulted. It had been a good lesson. He slipped out of the room, closing the door behind him and pretending he didn't hear the lock click into place. He had kept himself under control while Kakashi had been speaking but as soon as he heard the lock click into place his composure broke and he slumped against the floor, eyes wide as he stared at the clear white wall facing him. If what he had heard was correct, Sasuke had gotten the seal from Orochimaru, one of the three legendary Sannin and classes as S rank only because there wasn't a level higher than S. Sakura hadn't spoken about the incident ever since her giggly personality had taken over and Sasuke was his usual quiet self. He had been sure that if it was something serious Sasuke would have told him about it. Not unless. . .not unless he knew that Naruto was going to fight him about it.
Kakashi had known about it before even seeing Sasuke, which meant that the village knew about Orochimaru being there. In which case why wasn't the entire village in a state of lockdown? Why had one of the strongest shinobi in existence targeted Sasuke of all people? And most importantly, why was he still alive?
Shaking his head, Naruto tried to gather his thoughts and focus on something else. Sealing, that's right, he could think about sealing, about how good he was going to get so that nobody was ever able to touch Sasuke or Sakura again. Small goals, right? He could think about the big stuff after he'd had a full night of sleep.
Making his way to the front desk he advised the lady sitting at the front to avoid the room Kakashi was in and tell everyone else to do the same. The secretary nodded, her nose wrinkling at Naruto's scent before pointing out the waiting room. He thanked her and tried to ignore the disgusted look on her face as he walked away. He needed a bath. No, he needed much more than a bath. He would have to wash himself in a river before risking the communal baths. He didn't want to make the water turn brown from snake guts. He would also need to burn his clothes.
He was relieved to find that the waiting room wasn't packed with people, allowing him to find a small corner where people wouldn't be able to smell him very well. The people there were mostly shinobi that had undergone the second task though and were very understanding about his smell and appearance if not looking and smelling the same. At least they didn't have particularly strong noses unlike himself. In fact he was sure that his smelling ability had gotten stronger since the forest of death as he was still able to smell the toasted corpse of that snake from within the hospital. Admittedly that could have been because some of it was stuffed up his nose.
If he had known he was going to be forced to wait so long he would have gone home. He was sat in the waiting room for nearly two hours before a nurse came in to tell him he could visit Sakura while standing far enough away from him to mostly avoid his smell. When he found Sakura she was asleep, the toll of the second exam apparently having finally taken it's due. A doctor was standing over Sakura, shaking his head and muttering to himself as he stared at Sakura's prone form.
"Thanks for taking care of her," Naruto said, slipping onto a chair. "Is she going to be alright?"
The doctor jumped at Naruto's voice, having not heard him enter. "Hmm, yes, she's going to be fine. Aside from a little scarring from what you told me was your efforts to stop the blood," he trailed off. "Your friend is one lucky girl. Whatever stabbed through her managed to miss every single organ, both vital and not. It's simply incredible."
Naruto smiled widely, trying not to show the shiver running down his spine. A ninja like Orochimaru didn't miss, not like that. If it had been any other ninja Naruto would have written it off as being a stroke of luck or a mistake, but not this.
"She'll be out of here quite soon, not to worry," the doctor said, having apparently misread the reason for Naruto's anxiety.
"How about her head?" Naruto asked, pushing aside the Orochimaru topic for later.
"Her head? There's nothing wrong with her head," the doctor replied.
"Can you please check," Naruto asked. "I think she may have a concussion."
The doctor frowned but conceded, moving over to Sakura and laying his hands on her head while he performed a diagnostic jutsu. After a few moments he removed his hands from her and let his shoulders slump. "There's nothing wrong with her head. If she's displaying mental issues I can bring it up with the psychology department. But save for that wound on her stomach she's healthy and sound."
Naruto smiled. "Thank you for trying," he said and turned to leave with another question on his mind, one that bothered him more still. What was wrong with Sakura?
(O_O)
Sasuke didn't return to the Uchiha compound that night, leaving Naruto to sleep alone. He might have cared more if he had the energy. But after bathing, then bathing again, then avoiding the murderous troupe of girls in towels chasing down some old dude, he was too tired to care.
The next morning he went to visit his teammates where they were being confined. Both were still asleep however and after sitting around for a few minutes, he grew impatient and left, heading to their regular training ground in the hope that Kakashi might be there. He found the training ground empty, but didn't let it dissuade him and he pulled out a scroll from his backpack then started tracing the seal he had seen on Sasuke's neck from memory.
It wasn't like a seal he had ever seen before. Most seals were comprised of chakra infused words and runes, they meant something in general. This wasn't a word though, not in any language he'd ever seen. Maybe Orochimaru had discovered it, but that seemed unlikely. Kakashi had said it was a seal of Orochimaru's own creation, did that mean he had invented the seal? How did that make sense or even work? Weren't the letters just beholden to chakra?
Naruto channeled some chakra into the seal and waited. Nothing happened. Strange. Maybe he hadn't copied it exactly. He tried a few more variants, all with the same result. He would have to get a look at Sasuke's neck later. He rolled up his scroll and sighed. He was bored, so very bored. He supposed that he could've gotten started on replenishing his seal supply but that was tedious and boring, he wanted to do something fun for once as opposed to just thinking about surviving all the time. He supposed that he could go hang out with Shikamaru or Choji but he could guess that Shikamaru wouldn't be waking until just before they needed to regroup and Choji was probably putting on all the weight he had lost in the exam and so wouldn't be able to talk much. He could go check on Sasuke and Sakura, but he had a feeling that even if they were awake he would probably just stress them out. He could go visit Kakashi and get more instructions on sealing but there was no guarantee he would be able to find him at this time of the day if he was even around. There was one person though, who could be found easily enough. With a spring in his step, Naruto headed off to find the redheaded sand kid who was clearly an Uzumaki.
For a team with such distinctive features, the sand team wasn't easily found. Admittedly Konoha was a big place and it made sense that he wouldn't just bump into them like he had the first time, but still there should have been some trace. When asking around barely anyone even remembered them at all and it had gotten to the point that Naruto wasn't even sure if he had actually seen them. How had they disappeared so effectively? There was one person that would allow him to find people although he was won't to use such a valuable resource. Then again the Lord Hokage was old and would probably be kicking the bucket soon anyways, so he may as well get what benefit he could while he was able.
The Hokage's tower had upgraded their security since he'd last visited. He wasn't able to just walk in this time and he actually had to make a request from the secretary for the Hokage's time before being allowed in. He only had to wait a little while but as he got the go ahead to visit he found himself meeting an unlikely pair on their way out. "Hey sensei," he greeted Kakashi, then scowled at Anko next to him. Anko scowled back dutifully. "I'm glad to see you're over Zabuza. But I think you could have picked someone better," he said, brushing past them as Anko turned to Kakashi with a half confused and half insulted look on her face and Kakashi responded with a sigh.
The Lord Hokage seemed more tired than usual, his hat was off for once and he was slumped in his seat in a less than regal position. Naruto chose not to comment. Although the Hokage did brighten upon seeing Naruto. "Young Uzumaki. I'm happy to see you took my advice on your hair. The color suits you," he said, smiling. "Now how can I help you?"
Naruto opened his mouth to ask where he could find the sand team but a stray thought took its place. Why had Kakashi been visiting the Hokage now and with Anko no less? They wouldn't have gone to the Hokage whilst on their date. This must have been about the second exam and Sasuke. "I was hoping you could tell me about Orochimaru?" he asked before he could think to regret the words.
The Hokage's grandfatherly smiled faded and he flinched almost imperceptibly. "Why would one such as yourself need to know about Orochimaru?"
Naruto shrugged. "If I'm not wrong he attacked two of my teammates and left them both alive. Sasuke won't tell me anything, Sakura is off her rocker and Kakashi doesn't know how to give anything more than a vague answer. Also. . ." he trailed off. "I heard that you were their teacher. I don't need to know anything about him per say. I just need to know why he left my teammates alive," he finished breathily, trying not to wince at his own words.
The Hokage nodded sagely. "I was his teacher. You probably heard about that when you heard I taught Jiraiya?" he prompted and Naruto nodded his confirmation. "Orochimaru was always hard to understand and kept his feelings close. Even in the midst of battle he was always calm and collected, killing with little empathy for his enemies, unlike his two teammates. His parents died when he was still a child and he seemed to handle it well. I'm only seeing now that perhaps he didn't handle it at all," he said regretfully before shaking his head and continuing. "He always claimed that his motivations were to learn all the jutsu in the world, to be like me. I had thought it was just a child looking up to his elders but now I'm beginning to wonder if that too was a lie, meant to divert my attention from what he really wanted. The only time he truly showed his displeasure was when I made Minato the fourth Hokage instead of himself, but even then he reined in his temper quickly and got back to work. Even to this day I can't say much of his motivations. He wants to be immortal and has killed hundreds that we know of in the pursuit of this immortality. Possibly hundreds more that we don't know about," he finished.
Naruto had never thought of the Hokage as an old man, maybe he liked to joke about it, but until then the Hokage had always been a strong, vibrant personality able to carry the world on his shoulders. Now the Hokage looked his years, crushed by the weight of the world and barely able to maintain his stance. For the first time since Naruto had known the old man did he actually look old. He would've ended it there, but he did need to know one last thing. "So why would he be hunting Sasuke?"
"It's hard to say. It could be for his eyes, but more likely he marked him because he wants him. He maintains a semblance of immortality by shifting from body to body. I've no doubt that he intends for Sasuke to be his next host."
Naruto shuddered at the thought. But something still bothered him, why hadn't Orochimaru just taken Sasuke then and there? Why reveal himself only to throw away all of his advantages? An image of Sasuke decimating the sound ninjas flickered in his mind, of the joyful grin that Sasuke wore all the while and he thought he understood even if he wished he didn't. Grimacing, he looked around the Hokage's small office, his eyes alighting on three weathered anbu masks. Slowly he approached them and raised one of them off the wall to scrutinize it. Much like the few anbu masks he had seen before an animal's face was depicted on the front and if he wasn't incorrect this one depicted a fox. Turning to face the Hokage while still holding the mask he met the Hokage's eyes. "Can I borrow these?" he asked, indicating the other two masks.
The Hokage scrutinized Naruto suspiciously before smiling sadly. "Your team reminds me much of the team I trained. You'll be great if the world lets you and fearsome if the world demands it. I can only hope that you don't make the same mistakes as they did."
Naruto didn't hear a 'no' and removed the other two masks, stuffing them in his backpack while looking over his shoulder suspiciously. "I don't intend on being great or fearsome, Lord Hokage. I just want to be me," Naruto responded sagely then dropped into a bow. "Thank you for your time Lord Hokage." He frowned, pausing just as he turned to go. "Why didn't you make Orochimaru the Hokage?" he asked.
The Hokage took a long drag of his pipe before answering. "Orochimaru was a warrior, but Minato wanted peace. I thought that the Hokage should be a symbol of peace than of war."
"But isn't war all for the sake of peace?" Naruto asked.
The Hokage nodded again. "Perhaps that was my mistake."
Naruto looked at him for a few moments more then realized the conversation was over. Was he just supposed to leave the Hokage looking old and regretful? That was just rude. He needed to say something to cheer him up. "You're too old to be worrying about mistakes and stuff like that Lord Hokage. Let us worry so that you can just stick to your pipe and paperwork." Naruto cringed at the words as he said them. He shouldn't have called the Lord Hokage old, that was very rude, possibly even ruder than leaving him depressed.
The Lord Hokage glared at Naruto fiercely. "Calling me an old man huh?"
Naruto stammered an apology, bowing and taking his leave while scrambling for the door behind him. Only, just before he managed to extricate himself he thought that he may have seen the Lord Hokage smiling with a faraway look in his eyes. It lasted less than a second however and he was being shoved out by one of the anbu guards while being told to stop stalling. Naruto scowled at the guard and then blanched upon realizing that he had forgotten to ask about the Sand ninja. It was too late to go back now, maybe he would take Kakashi up on those sealing lessons after all, assuming he wasn't on a date with Anko right then.
(O_O)
"The third task is to promote blah blah blah, blah blah blah, blah blah blah. But, blah blah blah blah blah. Only blah blah blah. . .Naruto are you listening?" Asked the Lord Hokage, interrupting his boring speech to make sure that everyone was listening.
"Uh huh," Naruto managed, slurping up a little bit of drool that had almost landed on Sasuke's shirt. "Hokage, duty, Chunin exams, will of fire, precious people, Sasuke's so cool. I got it. Don't worry," he said, giving the Hokage to enthusiastic thumbs up.
The Lord Hokage glared at Naruto, harrumphed and carried on with his long boring speech, while Naruto tried to hide the fact that he was trying to get some shut eye. Sasuke didn't seem to mind Naruto leaning on him but he would definitely get annoyed if he started drooling on him. He might have considered leaning on Sakura but she was still giving off the crazy vibes, if a little less than earlier, but that may have just been because she wasn't burning up and delirious.
They had all gathered at the academy to commence the end of the second exam and were surprised to find that most of their old class had arrived as well. Naruto had assumed it would just be a congratulations, a tap on the back, some warnings about the next exam, then sending them off. What he hadn't expected was a long speech about what the chunin exams represented that was open to questions from everyone. It was almost a relief when one of the jonin interrupted to announce a prelim round. Almost.
"If anyone wants to back out now they should feel more than welcome," the jonin announced, waking Naruto from his slumber entirely.
Kabuto backed out almost immediately as if expecting the offer. And why would he back out when he had a perfectly viable option of continuing. There wasn't even a hint of regret in his eyes. It was like he didn't want to pass. But then why would he enter the exams?
"Anyone else?" the jonin offered, and Naruto felt himself walking forward and moving to raise his hand.
A hand fell on his own, stopping its ascent. "If you continue into the third task I'll tell Jiraiya to teach you sealing to help you prepare," Kakashi muttered in his ear.
Naruto's eyes widened. "Of the Sannin?" he asked, trying to keep from squealing.
Kakashi nodded and Naruto lowered his hand, suddenly feeling all fired up. "Knock 'em dead," Kakashi sighed, then moved away to go stand by his fellow jonin while Naruto took his place again next to Sasuke.
"Nobody else? Alright. Let the preliminaries commence. These will be one on one matches, everything goes. A match ends when one of the combatants is incapacitated or resigns. Good luck." With that said, the jonin jumped away and called for everyone to clear the room to allow the combatants space to fight. Sasuke was chosen first to fight some Leaf ninja named Yoroi that Naruto had never seen before. He seemed to be much older than them and he didn't appear to have any eyes. Not that he had anything against blind people, but Yoroi still appeared to be able to see it was just that his eyes looked like they were bottomless pits without end. Probably a genjutsu. As Sasuke moved to head down, Naruto surreptitiously handed him a roll of various tags, receiving a grateful nod in turn.
"Deception and forethought will win the day. There's no need to show your strength now," Naruto muttered, then pushed Sasuke past him, allowing him to head down and face his opponent. Naruto took a place in the stands next to Sakura who was watching the standoff eagerly and quelled the anxiety in his stomach. Sasuke would make it, if anyone deserved to pass it was him. Shaking his head he leaned on the banister and got ready to watch the fight, with only a vague feeling that things were happening too quickly.
(O_O)
Sasuke was so cool. First he was like Bam! And then Whoosh! Then Slam-Kabaam! And he looked totally calm while doing everything. First the guy was like "I'm going to suck out all your chakra," like some weirdo and I really thought that my dear beautiful Sasuke was going to get hurt but then Sasuke gave him a really coooool smirk and suddenly the other ninja was caught in some ninja wire that had explosive tags all around him like a spiderweb. Sasuke was like a spider, a spider man, but he was so much cooler than any spider could be. Then at the end of the match he looked right at me and held his thumb up to me. I wanted to die. Oh my god! He acknowledged me. Naruto might have been giving me funny looks when I started screaming my cheers but he just doesn't understand my love for Sasuke.
We're not in love with Sasuke, he is our teammate, it is unprofessional to love either of our teammates.
Who invited you?
I am you.
Oh.
Are you planning on letting me out any time soon?
If I let you out are you going to have lots of fun and give Sasuke smooches?
No.
Then no.
You can't keep me down here forever.
You're not my mom. You can't tell me what to do.
No, I'm you.
Oh look, Shino's about to start his fight.
Don't ignore me damnit.
Shush, you're distracting me.
Good.
Oh I bet he's going to use all of his super gross bugs and cover that sound dude. Shino would've been cool like Sasuke but those bugs bring his coolness level down so much that it's not worth it.
Stop ignoring me.
I wonder where sensei is going. He looked like he was very scared and in a hurry.
Maybe he heard that you were in charge.
It's probably nothing. Oh did he just blow his own arms up? Wow! Shino's bugs have gotten much scarier. I hope that I won't have to fight him.
Maybe you should.
Oh look that Sand kid turned into a puppet. I should learn how to do that. Wouldn't it be fun to be a puppet?
Isn't that what you've made our body?
These fights are so boring. I can't wait until I can smash someone's face in. I'll get Naruto to lend me some tags then Boom! Bye bye. It'll be so cool. Maybe I can get some fireworks from him as well. Does he even have fireworks?
Don't get distracted, it's your turn.
Huh, so it is.
Naruto shook her shoulder, waking her from her inner ramblings. Sakura looked at Naruto for a few moments before grabbing Naruto into a hug. "Naruto, you're my favorite teammate, do you know that?"
"Isn't Sasuke your favorite teammate?" Naruto asked confusedly.
"Hush. My favorite teammate would totally give me tons of explodey stuff to make me look cool," Sakura gushed.
Naruto frowned. "I don't know about tons, but here's the one I prepared for you," he said handing her a scroll.
"Does it have fireworks?"
"Why would it have fireworks?"
Sakura sniffed, grabbing the scroll. "You don't have to be so mean."
"I wasn't- I didn't," Naruto grumbled. "Never mind. Good luck on your fight."
Sakura beamed and flipped herself over the railing to walk down the wall and then to skip across the arena, until she was facing her opponent.
Oh no. We need to stop now. Back out, abort. You can't fight her, not now.
Sakura scowled inwardly then sent a friendly smile Ino's way. "Hey Ino. Your hair looks nice today," she said, fluttering her fingers in a wave.
Ino gave Sakura a suspicious look, resting her weight on her back leg. "Sakura," she greeted. "I don't need to tell you that the winner of this match is the assured Hokage," Ino said. "I hope you plan on taking me seriously."
Sakura giggled. "You're always so calm Ino. That's one of the things I love about you. Even when you stopped being friends with me you were so cool and collected, like you didn't feel anything. Me on the other hand. I broke down and cried like a baby," Sakura said, her smile still wide and almost genuine. "I wonder how calm you'll look when your skull is cracked open dripping your brains out onto the floor," she said gleefully, only loud enough for Ino and the match announcer to hear.
Ino blinked at Sakura, shaking her head as if to clear it. The match announcer hadn't taken the threat seriously as he rolled his eyes. "Are you two ready?" They both nodded, Sakura more eagerly than Ino. "Begin," the announcer called and darted away.
Immediately Sakura created three clones, and sent them after Ino, then tossed a kunai through the middle one that Ino had decided to attack. Ino dodged. Sakura flared her chakra and the kunai exploded. Ino was caught in the explosion and was sent stumbling head over heels, skidding to a stop near the arena wall.
"Make it fun for me, Ino," Sakura called out. "It's not fun if you're fighting like a little genin. Show me the Hokage or quit."
When Ino didn't get up Sakura rushed forward with another kunai held ready to strike. As she closed the distance, Ino suddenly raised her head and pulled her arms together stopping Sakura mid stride with a crisscrossing of wire that she hadn't seen. While Sakura struggled against the bonds Ino held her hands out in an unfamiliar hand seal and looked through her hands at Sakura. She caught Sakura's eyes then collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut.
Outside nothing happened but on the inside Sakura was in turmoil.
"Ino, get out," Inner Sakura demanded. "We don't want you here."
"Ino, help, please," Outer Sakura pleaded. "She's power hungry."
"What the hell is wrong with your brain Sakura?" Ino screamed as Inner Sakura attacked her while Outer Sakura reached out for her.
"No please don't go," Outer Sakura pleaded professionally. "She's going to kill you if you don't let me out."
Ino shook her head, jumping away from Inner Sakura and tossing a few shuriken her way. "It's your mind, help yourself," she screeched as Inner Sakura's kunai narrowly missed her throat. "How could I help you out anyway?"
"Hurt her," Outer Sakura cried nodding at Inner Sakura who looked furious at the interactions.
"Don't listen to her Ino. I'm your friend, not her."
"Then why are you trying to stab me?"
"It's my kunai of love."
Ino growled and threw a few more conjured kunai at Inner Sakura. Most of them found their mark and Inner Sakura cried out in pain.
"I take it back Ino. I'm going to kill you and I'm going to laugh while I do it. I'm going to bathe in your blood. I'm going to use your skull as a cup and-,"
Ino disappeared, leaving Inner Sakura to rant to the inside of her head where she quickly realized she wasn't talking to anyone important. She resurfaced in the waking world, raising her head slowly to see Ino approaching her suspended body slowly, kunai held out wearily. Sakura struggled against the bonds halfheartedly, knowing she couldn't break them in her position and waited for the inevitable.
Ino eventually reached Sakura and held her kunai to her neck. "Yield," she demanded. "The match is over. I won."
Sakura smiled. The inevitable had happened. She flared her chakra and Ino didn't get a chance to wipe that victorious smirk off her face before the ground exploded beneath her feet. Ino was sent flying as was Sakura, both in opposite directions.
For a moment it appeared as if there would be no winner but some coughing from Sakura's direction and a groan as she rose indicated that wasn't the guaranteed outcome. Ino had hit the wall this time and she didn't look like she was getting up anytime soon. The match hadn't been called though, not that Sakura noticed as she stalked slowly towards Ino's prone form, kunai held ready. She was limping but she was also putting the limp on, making it appear worse than it actually was if Ino was actually faking he unconsciousness. Regardless, as she got closer, it became clear that Ino wasn't faking, and when Sakura dragged Ino's form up against a wall and pressed her kunai against her throat, the match was called, Sakura the winner. But Sakura didn't move, or rather she did, moving her kunai slowly across Ino's neck and drawing a thin trail of blood.
"Wake up Ino. I want to see your eyes when I kill you," Sakura muttered in an undertone. "I want you to see what it feels like when your friends abandon you and leave you to rot."
Maybe Ino heard her, or maybe the pain drew her out of her slumber, but Ino opened her eyes and blinked at Sakura, her confused expression changing to that of horror. "No, stop, don't. Sakura," she pleaded.
Sakura wasn't hearing her however and she pushed her kunai against her throat, or she at least tried to, for some reason her arm wouldn't move.
What are you doing?
Stopping you from killing your best friend.
We don't need friends. We never have and we never will.
That's a lie and you know it.
Don't tell me what to think.
Can you imagine a life without Ino?
Yes, it's easy.
Then try it.
Sakura stood over a terrified Ino for a long while before slowly removing the kunai, taking care to brush the blood off against her sleeve and replace it in her pack. She walked away from Ino without another word, walking up the steps and moving to enclose herself in a bathroom. She tested the chakra in the air, making sure that no one was around. Then, when she was finally sure that no one would be bothering her, she slumped against a wall, sliding to the floor where she began to sob.
(O_O)
Naruto would have followed Sakura, but she had gone into the lady's bathroom and he knew that going there was a bad idea if he wanted to stay alive. Her fight had been confusing and he found that he more he learned about his team the less he really knew. Sure, Sakura the shallow pink haired girl that got the best marks was apparently also sometimes a psychotic killer. Or she might be, what little he could gather from Ino's garbled story was hard to put together.
Right now he was there for Sasuke and more importantly for himself. He wouldn't have been interested in all the violence if it wasn't a testing ground for what he might have to face. First there was Temari who could apparently kick butt but wasn't very nice about it. Her fight was boring though and over too quickly which just meant that she was someone to be careful of. Shikamaru's fight was also pretty short but that was more just because he was a genius and he outsmarted the sound girl before she could do much of anything.
Then it was finally his turn and he was more nervous than he should have been. Making his way down to greet Kiba he felt his stomach take a few flips that he hadn't intended. Maybe he shouldn't have eaten lunch that day. "Hey Kiba. You look. . .well," he said, trailing off.
Kiba nodded to him. "Akamaru says you smell like death."
"That's probably just Sasuke's cooking," Naruto said, wincing when he heard Sasuke growl from the bannister. "So uh before we fight, I realize that you're probably going to beat me, so I'd like to say no hard feelings. I know that we weren't so close in the academy, but I won't see you as an enemy or anything if you beat me."
Kiba smiled toothily. "I wish I could say the same but Akamaru hates you." As if prompted by the conversation, the small dog hiding in Kiba's jacket growled fiercely at Naruto.
"Heh, yeah. Tell him to go easy on me, yeah," he said, channeling a little bit of Hinata.
Kiba smirked but didn't do as Naruto asked, making him sigh. The announcer called for them to begin and then the match was underway.
Kiba watched Naruto expectantly. "Aren't you going to blow me up or something?" he called.
"Why would I do that?" he asked.
"Your other two teammates did it."
"That's because they don't have any imagination," Naruto answered, once again hearing Sasuke's growl from the sidelines. "I prefer to stay away from the more lethal approaches if I can help it."
Kiba snarled. "You're not going to beat me if you don't go all out. Go lethal, I can take it."
Naruto raised an eyebrow. "If you're sure. . .?"
"I'm sure."
Naruto sighed. "Fine." Pulling his backpack off, he rummaged through it slowly and retrieved a scroll, then left the backpack on the floor while Kiba stood ready. He sent a glance Kiba's way to make sure that he hadn't moved then started pacing back and forth around the arena placing tags down in various locations.
"What are you doing?" Kiba snarled. "Fight me." He darted toward Naruto, forcing him to jump back and drop his scroll in doing so.
"I thought you wanted lethal," Naruto shouted, dodging under a fist that had been on collision with his face.
"I wanted you to come at me properly with your full strength, not to walk around putting explosive tags everywhere."
"Oh."
"Yeah."
Naruto spun and dodged a kick, then an Akamaru that had been aiming for his crotch. "So what now?"
"Just fight me already."
"Okay," Naruto said, stopping suddenly, holding back a flinch when Kiba's fist missed his head slightly and standing strong as he was knocked into. Then he pulled Kiba into a bear hug. "Don't make this weird Kiba," Naruto whispered then jumped forward and flared his chakra. Nothing happened besides for Kiba crunching against Naruto's body.
Naruto let go of Kiba and jumped away, eyeing the ground wearily. There he saw Akamaru digging up one of his explosive tags, ripping it to shreds. It looked like that wasn't going to work, he was fighting on two fronts. It looked like he would have to divide his attention which was a bad thing to do while fighting Kiba who was no doubt really strong. He really needed to find some way of battling on two fronts at once. Maybe he could ask Jiraiya about it when he met him. A fuuinjutsu master like him no doubt had some tricks up his sleeve. Until then he would have to make do with what he had.
He hadn't wanted to use this contingency but he had set the foundations in place, it wouldn't do to waste his teammates' efforts.
He lowered his goggles and flared his chakra, leaping across the room to circle Kiba, then did so again, trying to get a good angle. Seeing his chance he charged and was almost impaled by Kiba's kunai that was suddenly pointed in his direction. How had he. . .? He saw Kiba sniff the air and sighed. Oh yeah, Kiba could smell him and Akamaru no doubt. Well that wasn't terribly brilliant. He supposed that he did have one more trick up his sleeve, but he was won't to use it immediately. Maybe he would see how the fight panned out and then if his fate seemed hopeless he would use it. Only as a last resort however.
Backing away from Kiba he raised his goggles again and did his best to appear annoyed by Kiba's ability to diffuse his attacks. He needed Kiba to think that he was out of options so that he wouldn't expect the finish.
"Ready to fight?" he asked and Naruto nodded. "Good. I was getting bored."
With that he formed a hand-seal and got down on all fours, snarling at Naruto but more dog like. Had he just turned himself into a dog? That was oddly fitting. Before he could even think Kiba had charged at him, barely giving Naruto a chance to dodge as he roared past him. With the speed he was going it should have taken him to the edge of the arena, but Kiba caught himself on long claws, pivoting almost immediately for a follow up attack, forcing Naruto to stay on defense.
He needed to get out of the way, and where was Akamaru. Were all of his tags being torn to shreds at that very moment? The thought made him shudder, he had spent a lot of time making those. Looking back at Kiba he sighed in relief upon seeing Akamaru stood beside him, eating a small pellet out of Kiba's hand, then Kiba ate one himself. Was that poop? He hoped not.
Kiba leaned over and let a now red Akamaru hop onto his back where Akamaru then changed into Kiba. This was getting confusing and Naruto didn't like where it was going. Naruto hurriedly retrieved a scroll from his pack and held it out, releasing it as he saw what looked like a Kiba tornado heading his way. At least he didn't have to regret bringing this anymore.
Kiba and Akamaru should have burrowed into Naruto, possibly rearranging his ribs in the process, instead they burrowed into the carcass of a giant toasted snake. Naruto jumped out of the way in time to avoid the attack but not to avoid the spray of juice that was blended snake. In fact nowhere he could have gone would have saved him as the spray managed to coat most of the arena and some of the audience. Naruto didn't feel guilty as it had technically not been him.
When Kiba and Akamaru found their balance they immediately started gagging and retching. Naruto knew that their noses were much stronger than his and they wouldn't enjoy the smell of dead snake one bit. This was his chance. His goggles were already lowered to prevent the spray from hitting his eyes and he started flaring his chakra, setting off flash tag after flash tag. He had hundreds spread across the room as per his request, Sasuke and Sakura had placed them around randomly during their own fights, and now he could take his time.
He approached Kiba cautiously, making sure to take a large detour around Akamaru. He only had to incapacitate Kiba, he didn't need to drag the puppy into the fight. Very slowly and carefully he made sure Kiba wasn't expecting him, pulling out his kunai, he bent down to wrap his arm around Kiba's neck. Only Kiba sniffed something and rounded on him, planting a kunai in his shoulder. Naruto gritted his teeth and fought through the pain, bringing the handle of his kunai onto Kiba's head. Then, when Kiba didn't stop struggling, doing so again and again until Kiba finally fell to the floor. Naruto stood ready over the unconscious Kiba, listening to the retching of his dog. Waiting until the announcer called the match. "No hard feelings," Naruto muttered, sniffing himself and wondering why he brought clean clothes to this shindig.
Making his way up to the stands he received the evil eye from Hinata who brushed past him to go help Kiba. Sakura still hadn't returned from her trip to the bathroom and Naruto was looking very unimpressed. "You brought a dead snake?" he asked exasperatedly.
Naruto nodded dazedly, eyeing the wound in his shoulder which still had a kunai sticking out of it. "I suppose I did. It wasn't too hard to carry and it seemed a shame to waste it. Are there any showers around here?"
Sasuke shook his head sadly. Naruto was sure the pity was entirely selfish as he knew that he had to stand next to Naruto for the rest of the preliminaries. Admittedly everyone smelled similar to him after that fight and if he suddenly cleaned himself up he may have been the victim of some death threats.
Who was fighting next? Oh Hinata. And she was going against that annoying Neji who had ruined all of Naruto's plans. It would be an interesting yet boring fight, if only because they were both Hyugas.
Although this fight seemed like it was a battle of words because neither of them had made any moves yet and were both just prattling away. Naruto could respect psychological warfare but he was pretty pissed with Neji from earlier and felt that revenge was warranted.
"Oy Neji. Are you trying to talk her to death? Your match is with her not the rest of us, can you skip the boring parts and get to the fun stuff," Naruto groaned, interrupting Neji's speech about fate and destiny and boring.
Neji bristled at the comment. "I wouldn't expect you to know anything about true shinobi if it was handed right to you," he directed to Naruto, still talking for some reason.
"I wouldn't expect you to see an explosive tag if it was shoved up your butt. We don't have all night. You can gloat afterwards. Some of us want to get washed up and go to sleep. Unless you're trying to put us to sleep," he trailed off. "Whatever. Can you two just fight already?"
Neji turned to face Naruto furiously and started prattling on and on about destiny and fate and- Hinata took the opportunity of Neji's distracted state to begin her attack catching Neji by surprise and landing a few good hits. She lost eventually after some more boring banter but she was smiling at the end so maybe that had been her plan. Maybe she didn't want to reveal her strength or maybe she was a masochist. Naruto didn't judge.
Finally it was the fight Naruto had been waiting for. Gaara Uzumaki against Rock Lee. Or just Gaara, but honestly, they weren't fooling anyone.
"Whoo. Gaara. Kick his butt," Naruto cheered, receiving a glare from Gaara. He probably needed to concentrate which was why he was so cranky, Naruto could understand that. The fight started soon after the two combatants were down in the ring, although it was very one sided. Gaara stood in the middle, looking casual while Rock attacked from every imaginable angle at speeds that Naruto was sure Sasuke would have a very hard time matching. Then Rock took off the weights wrapped around his legs and was somehow able to fight faster, Naruto's eyes being far too slow to follow the fight. All he knew was that as fast as Rock was, Gaara's sand was faster. Naruto wondered vaguely if he could do that. It was probably an Uzumaki thing what with having massive chakra stores. If he could find out his element he could probably do something similar. He hoped it was fire, or maybe lightning. Having a lightning coat would look amazing and if he could get it to be red they would call him the Red Flash of the Leaf.
In his daydreaming he had lost track of the fight but getting back into it he could see sand wrapping around Rock's body, latching onto his arm and leg and figured this was the right time to cheer. "Go Gaara. Show that green leotard what Uzumakis are made of," Naruto cheered again, receiving confused and annoyed looks from those around him. The sand that had latched around Rock faltered then fell back, leaving Rock lying on the floor, dazed and exhausted. The match was called, Gaara the winner and Rock was led off, limping while aided by his sensei while Naruto held out a thumbs up and beamed at Gaara. That Rock guy had deserved the loss if only because he tried to Sasuke while he had been trying to find the toilet. Gaara didn't look like he was in a good mood and was clutching his head like he had the worst of headaches. Naruto knew the feeling well. He clearly had a concussion from the fight. Although like the Uzumaki that he was, he probably healed quickly. Gaara glanced at Naruto strangely before shuffling off to join his team, taking his sand with him and revealing how damaged the arena was. Ouch.
Finally Choji fought the Sound ninja that had attacked them earlier, Dosu was his name, and Choji lost badly, it was kind of embarrassing as he allowed himself to be led on. If he'd just had a good strategy the fight could have been very different but he didn't. Maybe that was why he was on Shikamaru's team. Shika was the brains, Choji the brawn and Ino the feminine touch.
Now that the fights were over, the winners of the fights were called down to face the Hokage who started to give a speech about the will of fire again, making Naruto liable to fall asleep again. Only Sasuke wasn't letting him lean on his shoulder while he smelled bad and Sakura still hadn't shown up. He could have just told them to come and fight in a month and be done with it, but no, the old man had to lecture them all about points they had grown up with already. Maybe it was for the benefit of the Sand and Sound ninja but they looked just as bored as Naruto. Naruto sent Gaara a meaningful look when he noticed that Gaara was staring at him and mimed snoring.
"Naruto Uzumaki. I can and will remove you from the exams if you fall asleep while I'm talking again," the Hokage barked making Naruto stand to attention.
"Sorry Lord Hokage sir. That fight was just so tiring that I can barely stand. Kiba was a tough opponent." Not entirely false but not entirely true either.
AS the Hokage droned on and Naruto tried to look interested he found himself smiling. He was going to meet Jiraiya and learn the tricks of the trade. Finally he would be on the track to becoming a sealing master and restarting his clan. With Gaara and his team at his side, things were looking up.
(O_O)
Sakura washed her face and looked in the mirror. She looked the same as she had always done, maybe with a little less baby fat and her hair had grown a little longer, but besides for that she was still Sakura. So when had everything gotten so complicated?
We can't carry on like this.
So leave me in charge and we'll have lots of fun.
What about becoming Hokage?
Why not both?
Don't be ridiculous.
Maybe you're right, we can't keep going like this.
Silence.
Let's meet halfway, work together.
You're acting as if its so easy.
It's not, but we have to try. We need this.
Silence.
Fine.
We also need to apologize to Ino.
Fine.
Sakura tried a smile in the mirror and failed miserably. Maybe it wasn't the right time. She hoped the preliminaries hadn't ended already, watching the fights were entertaining and Naruto would most likely be fighting at some point. She hoped that he won his match, team seven should stick together. She bit her lip, looking herself over once more, then used a henge to cover up her tear marks, making herself look happy. It wasn't amazing but it would do.
She moved to leave the bathroom, opening the door slowly to make sure the coast was clear, then slipping out and closing it behind her with barely a sound. She took on a stance that proclaimed she belonged where she was standing and started making her way back to the arena.
". . .going to fight me Hatake? Really? Do you think you'll win this time? If so then please, try," said a familiar voice coming from a classroom.
Sakura paused to shudder, not recognizing the pitch of the voice but rather the speech patterns. It was the girl from Grass that had attacked them there was no doubt about it, but for some reason she now sounded more like a boy.
Sakura shuddered and pressed herself against a wall while she tried not to give into the irrational terror she felt around that individual.
"I didn't think so," the Grass ninja said.
"What are you doing here Orochimaru," Kakashi asked in a very tired voice.
"Haven't you guessed? I'm here for Sasuke. I would think it's obvious. I did mark him after all."
Sakura quailed. Orochimaru of the Sannin? The Grass ninja was Orochimaru? Wasn't Orochimaru a man? Had it been a henge? If it had then that spoke volumes of his ability to layer henges and keep them going while in a fight. Truly terrifying. Why did he want Sasuke though? She wouldn't let him take Sasuke, Sasuke was hers. She stood a little straighter and channeled chakra to her ears so as to hear better.
"The sharingan," Kakashi responded.
"The one and only. I had the misfortune to meet his older brother and it made me ever so jealous. I just had to have his eyes."
"We won't let you have him. Konoha won't let you have him," Kakashi said, not sounding as confident as his words portrayed.
"Let?" Orochimaru laughed. "You are mistaken little Hatake. I'm not going to do anything. Sasuke will come to me."
"He wouldn't-," Kakashi started.
"He has a darkness Hatake. You have seen it, you cannot deny that part of him. It will consume him and he will come to me. There is nothing you can do."
"We'll see."
"I suppose we will," Orochimaru chuckled, then started walking towards the door.
Sakura felt her heart beat faster. Orochimaru was heading her way, she needed to hide, somewhere, anywhere. Looking up and down the hall didn't reveal any hiding places. It looked like it was time to pull a Naruto. Taking a deep gulp she walked forward, hands in her pockets as if she was just walking along casually, then bumped directly into Orochimaru, stumbling and falling into a sitting position. "Sorry sir, wasn't looking where I was going," she murmured, lifting herself up and dusting herself off, all while avoiding his gaze.
"It's no trouble," Orochimaru said, smiling knowingly. "I'm sure you didn't mean to walk right into me." He turned to Kakashi. "Your brats are all so interesting. Until next time, Hatake." With that he walked off, leaving Kakashi to glare at him and Sakura to watch fearfully as he walked through the halls like he owned the place. Sakura clenched her fists in an attempt to stop the shaking. He had seen through her deception, maybe he had even known she was listening. But he had let her go, why had he let her go?
Glancing to Kakashi she saw his façade fall into place almost instantaneously. "Uh sensei, I think we should go. They'll be waiting for us."
Kakashi nodded hurriedly. "That would be for the best."
