CRITICAL AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Sorry for the delay, but I HAVE THE FINAL EDIT OF MY BOOK BACK UP ON SALE! You can find everything about it on my own website, envoyofkairos .com! I really need sales to pick up as I've been unemployed and broke for over a year (not for a lack of trying), and helping me succeed with that will mean less stress and more time for me, so you can expect chapters to come along a lot faster! But for now, on with the show.
Chapter 34
Curses, Blessings, and Bombs
Kiba backflips off a sideways stalagmite and away from a volley of kunai, while Akamaru remains barely contained in his hood. "H-Hey, come on, Tenten! Why me?!"
She laughs and throws exploding kunai at a few of the other spires. "Hey, it is a competition!" With on quick handsign, the tags explode and several spires collapse into the bottom of the canyon.
Kiba growls a bit as he peeks back to the competitors catching up. Damnit, no time to lag. Akamaru, let's go! GATSUGA!" They leap into action and start tunneling along the walls to catch up, leaving tunnels and outcroppings for those behind them in the process.
Some distance behind Kiba, Kurotsuchi vaults off a spike to avoid a vicious blast of wind fired by Zaku. Another blast is aimed perfectly to hit her as she falls, but she spits a line of mud onto the wall that rises to her defense. She quickly grips the wall and stands on it, letting it take the brunt of the blast and toss her further down the path. "Thanks for the lift, runt!"
"Oh, that fucking bi-!" Zaku's cut short as Haku overtakes him on a platform of ice between some of the largest spikes, making that path far less viable for those behind her as they're left slick and hazardous. She can only smile unapologetically as she peeks back, then sink into an ice mirror to dodge an air cannon before launching herself from another jutting from the cliff above to soar overhead and far ahead.
A short distance behind him, Gaara is riding a sand platform along the wall as impassively as ever, as his shield rises to catch a few kunai thrown by one of the Ame genin. Said Ame genin then gets knocked in the head by falling rocks as Chouji passes overhead just atop the cliff, rolling past in boulder form.
But all the way back at the start, well past Misumi from Kabuto's squad, Sakura remains dead-last and kneeling beside Sasuke's unconscious form. Her hands glow as her diagnostic jutsu runs across every inch of his body, healing what few injuries she can find.
Whatever happened here was a complete shutout, leaving only a single snake bite and a few bruises, and not even any traces of poison to remove. There were signs of a poison that already passed through his system and metabolized completely, but nothing that could be extracted and treated.
The most worrying part by far was the cursemark of three tomoe formed on the back of his neck, right by the bite mark. Someone wanted to leave a lasting effect on Sasuke, but she can't even begin to fathom what it could be.
"That's definitely my old teammate's work."
She almost jumps back at the sudden voice, but peeks up to find Jiraiya kneeling across from her, barely visibly through his transparency jutsu.
"Settle down pinkie, it's just me." He grumbles and holds a hand out towards the mark. "Yeah… thought as much. Not quite as foul as the last sample I encountered, there's something more balanced about it. He's advanced his formula, and Sasuke's adapting to it quickly." He peeks up to Sakura. "How's his chakra feel to you?"
"O-oh, um…" She lowers her gaze to her teammate and focuses her diagnostic jutsu. "I-it was a lot more erratic a few minutes ago. It's still a lot more active than it should be in someone unconscious, b-but it's movements are getting more fluid and evenly-paced. More like his coils are poised for combat, and reacting to something foreign, like a genjutsu." Her eyes narrow. "Wait, no, there's… there's something more to it. There is something foreign in there, b-but it's blended so evenly. In v-very small amounts, but it's there. But I have no clue what it is…"
Jiraiya nods. "Astute observations. I'll have to introduce you to my other old squadmate. As for what, I'm sensing nature energy being passively drawn to this cursemark. Some component of it is similar to the toad oil of Mount Miyoboku. It's an incredibly small amount, but it does work. The downside though is that it appears to convert it into usable sage chakra, in very diluted amounts, by processing it through the mutated cells of the cursemark and creating a form of taijutsu-focused senjutsu that's fused directly with the user's cellular metabolism." He grumbles and clenches his fist. "The more of it you use, the more of your life is drained away. I've heard tale of a few jutsu that directly burn the user's lifespan, and usually that's something reserved to jinchuuriki."
Sakura scowls. "B-but… what could Orochimaru possibly want with Sasuke that would involve branding him with something like that?"
He shrugs. "My best two guesses are some form of manipulation through the promise of power, or there's some secondary function to the cursemark that he's waiting to take advantage of. I'm no good with genjutsu. Can you tell if there's any part of it that's impacting his mind directly?"
Sakura focuses her hands on Sasuke's neck and head. "Hm.. there's something, but it's not very strong. The way this chakra's moving feels similar to the Magen: Narakumi no Jutsu, but it's weaker. It can probably only reach him subconsciously, or unconsciously."
"Some form of mental conditioning to weaken his will and manipulate him later, then. Orochi-teme's always been the type to play the long game."
"Do you think the mental impact can be sealed off?"
"Possibly, but that's really far from my area of expertise."
"Ask Inoichi-san then, Naruto did and it worked wonders."
"Can and will do." He hums and crosses his arms. "I need to get going. Keep this between us, the Anbu shouldn't even know I was here. The less of a clue Orochimaru can get that I'm anywhere near Konoha, the better."
"A-Alright. Should I tell Naruto and Sasuke?"
"They'll know, I'll speak with them about this directly later. For now, keep quiet, and defer to Sasuke's judgement when he wakes. I don't think it'll burn much away at first, and frankly, every shinobi Elite Jonin and up has some kind of life-threatening jutsu." He slowly fades form view, and in seconds, there's no trace of him having ever been there.
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Hiruzen hums as he watches his crystal ball. With Danzo kicked out, and his anbu having left to search, he's now certain only he and Sakura know Jiraiya was there.
"Excellent work, Jiraiya. I suppose now may be an excellent time for me to follow through with one of my predecessor's old strategies." His crystal ball starts to sort through images of many elite shinobi and various other citizens throughout the city. "If Orochimaru believes proving he can infiltrate us so easily is enough to scare us into submission, then he's completely forgotten the unerring Will of Fire."
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Across the expanse of the second leg of the relay, Naruto remains seated as he watches to the sun begin to set. The land is bathed in his favorite color, and high above it, a gentle purple graces it that he can't help but find comforting. Every color of the sunset means something to him, really.
The orange is certainly himself, and his ambitions. The reds right at the horizon recall his mother's hair in the singular photo Hiruzen shared with him.
The gold of the sun is his father, the brilliant Yellow Flash, a beacon and goal for him to follow and mirror.
The pinks that drifts from there into the ether are Sakura, whose grown to feel much like a sister to him. She's a constant presence anymore, almost as much of family to him as Iruka has grown to be.
Sasuke is most certainly the navy blues of twilight, a comforting darkness with just enough light to feel welcoming, exact opposite of his orange on the western horizon.
For a moment, he wonders who that gentle purple is. The first thing it reminds him of is lilacs, and from there, a familiar scent, and a single hug he cherishes almost as much as when Iruka adopted him.
He hums as he hears someone approaching and peeks back to see Hinata stepping up the wall and onto the roof he's perched on.
Most look into the eyes of the Hyuuga clan and just see stark white, but there's always some hint of whatever color their eyes may have taken if they didn't carry that illustrious bloodline. It's most visible in lower lights, a faint trace of something that speaks of the person behind those eyes. Neji's are slightly teal, sharp and analytical. Hanabi's eyes have a hint of amber, depicting a bright spark beneath, waiting to ignite a raging fire.
Hinata's are a gentle, comforting lilac; passionate, yet poised.
"O-Oh, uh, Hinata, what's up? Still no sign of Kiba?"
She shakes her head and takes a seat beside him, looking out into the distance. "No, it's too soon for that. He's fast, but others are faster, and someone's probably slowing him down."
He scratches his head. "Yeah, probably. I know Neji's here, so Lee was probably in round one, and Tenten's the cause of the explosions I keep hearing out that way."
She giggles. "Definitely. I think she has a bit too much fun with those exploding tags you made for her."
"Hey, it's a quality product, I can't exactly blame her."
A comfortable silence falls between them and they watch the sunset, this moment of peace providing all they could ask for, yet leaving them both somehow craving more.
"H-Hey, um… H-Hinata-chan? I've been, uh… m-meaning to ask you something."
"W-What would that be, Naruto-kun?" She's already starting to blush just from the simple use of -chan, a formality he rarely uses. He developed quite the habit of calling Sakura that, after all his years of mindless pining, but now…
"It's just… we've been spending a-a lot of time together just t-training, and catching up between missions, and I… I-I really cherish that time, y-you know?" He turns away and rubs the back of his neck, hunching slightly as he struggles to put this to words. "E-Especially, well… that one session where we first shared our futon jutsu, and you… y-you told me you really b-believe I could be Hokage."
Hinata can't keep the smile off her face as she recalls that day, how he cheered and collapsed into the grass with the goofiest smile on his face. "A-And I still do. You're i-incredible, Naruto-kun. And it's natural talent and skill like Sasuke, or Neji-nii-san. It's all your own hard work that made you what you are now." She looks to him with a wide smile. "And how great I know you're going to be one day."
Their hearts race as they both feel what's coming. Naruto knows what he's about to do, but he still has his doubts as to whether it'll work. Hinata hopes, but she can't truly believe it's going to happen.
"I-I really can't thank you enough for believing in me, Hinata-chan." Naruto's voice is just a tad shaky, and just barely loud enough to hear clearly- without shinobi training, anyway. "But… I-I wanna try to. I-I know this might be kinda s-sudden, but, uh.." He rubs his neck again and takes a deep breath as he steels himself for this leap. "D-Do you, maybe, wanna go see a movie and g-get some dinner after the exams? A d-day or two after probably, s-so we have some time to heal."
"N… N-Naruto-kun…" Hinata's eyes slowly widen and tears begin to flow. "Are you.. a-asking me on a d-date?" She can feel the blush coming, and almost overwhelming her, but she fights to remain conscious. If this is real, she sure as hell can't pass out now.
She has a few moments to wait, but Naruto finally gains the courage to look to her and nod. "Y-Yeah, I am. Will you go out with me, Hinata-chan?"
It's merely a second, but it feels like hours before a Hinata gives him a wide, teary smile and a shaky, but eager nod. "Y-Yes, o-of course I will!" She giggles and curls up on herself, hiding her face in her hands. "I… I-I've wanted to, for s-so long! I just, I-I never had the courage to s-say anything…"
"R-Really?" Naruto's jaw slacks in shock, but he scoots closer and gently places a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, i-it's ok, I get it! I'm n-not exactly the most liked guy in the village, a-a lot of people probably really won't like seeing you out with me." He grumbles as he looks away. "I-It's one of the biggest reasons I was scared to ask, but… then I remembered what you said in the field that day, about Kurama…"
Hinata slowly peeks up to him as she lowers her hands. ".. I… I-I don't care what the village, or anyone, thinks about you. Most of them are just… idiots, a-and not worth our time."
He grins and chuckles softly. "Wow, to get you of all people insulting them, they must have done something wrong." He sighs and finally starts to relax. "… Ok. I trust you. I know this won't be easy, but…if you still wanna take a chance with me, even with what people are gonna say…"
"Naruto-kun?"
"Y-Yeah, Hinata-chan?"
He blushes deeply as she leans in and looks him right in the eyes. "B-Be sure to catch me in a second after I do this, o-ok? As for what everyone else thinks… t-they can all go to hell for all I care." She grins, then kisses his cheek, and half a second later, her adrenaline rush fails against her anxiety, and she passes right out.
Naruto catches her and stares for a moment, mind reeling, but then he props her up against his shoulder to let her rest for a while, until whenever Sasuke or Kiba start getting close.
He'll know, anyway. He's got a clone waiting further ahead to watch, and many more scattered around the training ground further north.
They all get a bit of a shock when Naruto makes another clone and disperses it quickly so they can all see what just happened.
Kurama just watches in content silence, glad to see his tenant finding a little more joy in his grim life. The world around the seal grows just a bit brighter, and some of the lights above become the gentle lilac of sunset.
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Sakura barely peeks up when the anbu arrive. She keeps her eyes on Sasuke, with her hands focused on his head and heart. "I have him stable. Don't pull him out of the exam just yet, he's starting to show signs of waking, and soon."
The three anbu look to one another, before focusing on their squad leader- wearing a cat mask- as he addresses Sakura in a deep, throaty voice. "Are you certain he'll be able to participate?"
She nods. "Very. He'd be pissed if you pulled him out now. Besides, I think when he wakes-" She pulls back in a hurry as the cursemark begins to glow.
The black ink gives way to searing orange, slowly spreading across his skin, around his shoulders and up onto his face, in a pattern akin to fire. Sasuke slowly rises, eyes closed for a few moments, until opening them to unveil two tomoe each, surrounded by clusters of them across his face. "Hmm… so this is what he meant." His usual scowl is slowly replaced by a sadistic grin. "I could get used to this…"
He finally notices the Anbu on his left and Sakura on his right. "Sakura… you kept me stable while I was adjusting to this, didn't you?"
"Y-Yes, I did. But… S-Sasuke, you need to be careful about this, whatever it is."
He nods. "I'll think about it. For now though, everyone else has a pretty huge head start, don't they?"
She nods. "I've been here stabilizing you for about half an hour."
"Good." He grins once more and turns towards the canyon. "It'll be fair for them, then."
He's gone before any but the anbu captain can register. He hums as he watches Sasuke go. "I suppose he is in good enough shape for this. Although I doubt he would have been if you hadn't been here to keep his heart rate under control."
Sakura sighs and collapses. "I need a few before I can move on to the next stage."
"That's alright, take your time. We've prepared a summoning array to get you there whenever you are able."
"T-Thanks…" Sakura sighs and closes her eyes for a moment. "I'll be fine in a few minutes. Not sure if I'll beat Sasuke there, though."
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Kiba rushes back to ground level and drops for a moment, as Akamaru drops his transformation and collapses. "H-Holy shit, I don't think we've ever use Gatsuga so long..."
Akamaru whimpers and stumbles as he tries to stand.
"Yeah, yeah, I hear ya. Ugh." He struggles to his own feet and almost falls, but Naruto catches him. "W-What?"
"Hey, take it easy. You're the first one here, you'll be fine." Naruto hefts him up and helps him find some balance. "Hinata-chan's just up this way on that rooftop with the real me. I'll make sure she's ready for ya when ya get there."
He raises an eyebrow and snorts. "Yeah, she would be distracted by you." He pauses and scrutinizes the wide grin and rapidly-developing blush on the clone's face. "Dude, did one of you finally make a move?"
"Yeeeaaah." He chuckles and laces his fingers behind his head. "We're having dinner and a movie next week after we recover from this."
"Well damn, congrats, man!" He reaches up and Naruto gladly high-fives him. "Knew my honorary packmate had to get there eventually. She pass out again?"
"Yeah, the real me will have her up in a minute. See ya up here!" He waves and pops, leaving Kiba to head up alone.
The real Naruto meanwhile gently shakes Hinata awake. "Hinata-chan, Kiba's almost here."
"Hmm?..." She wearily opens her eyes and peeks up, then turns crimson and bolts upright as she realizes her head was on his shoulder. "O-Oh, um.. t... t-thank you, N-Naruto-kun." She yawns and stumbles as Naruto helps her to her feet. "Um… w.. w-was I just…"
Naruto nods faintly. "Y-yeah, you were sleeping on me for a while there. I-it's fine though, I k-kinda enjoyed it…"
Hinata turns crimson and stumbles away. "O-Oh, um… o-ok! I suppose I'll try to be less, um.. d-distant, from now on." She giggles nervously.
Kiba vaults up onto the roof beside them and huffs as he hands her the scroll. "G-Get moving, we've got a lead but you've gotta keep it." He groans and drops onto his back. "Your cousin's the only one ahead of us right now."
"Got it." She takes the scroll with a smile. "S-See you after the exam, N-Naruto-kun!" She backs away slowly before backflipping over the ledge and running along the wall.
Naruto sighs contently as he turns to gaze south. "Of course she scouted my trap-free routes already."
"Uh…" Kiba stares at him from the ground. "How much of the third leg did you trap?"
He grows increasingly nervous as Naruto drifts off into a laughing fit.
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The gas-masked Ame genin growls to himself at the back of the pack, watching Zaku, Misumi, and even Chouji pull further ahead of him. In a fit of desperation, he shifts through handsigns to rain oil down on the stone spires and throw them all off.
Oil rain falls over a surprisingly wide area, but only spreading a thin layer of it. It only takes a little to make someone moving at these speeds slip up, so Misumi almost careens off. He dislocates his left arm and wraps it around the spire to keep himself there, before uncovering his mouth and attempting a small water jutsu to wash away enough of the oil to climb back up.
Zaku sees it coming and aims himself to fall just short of the end of a spire. He grabs it and swings under, letting the oil carry his momentum through to vault over to the next spire.
The Ame 'nin grits his teeth as he catches up to Misumi, but freezes at a sudden oppressive sensation behind him.
"Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu."
Several small fireballs tear through the canyon and light the oil ablaze all throughout the patch the Ame 'nin soaked. Misumi shrieks and drops from his spire, disappearing into the darkness below.
Thankfully, a river waits there to catch him, as well as several anbu in hideaways carved from the cliff face.
It takes little time at all for the Ame 'nin to join him as he receives a swift kick to the back of his head.
Sasuke passes right by Zaku in a blur of dark, violet chakra, followed by Chouji.
Zaku punches his own gauntlet to set it off and fire a sound jutsu at both Sasuke and Chouji, but Sasuke simply rushes out of his short range before he can get it off. Chouji barely falters and sways, proving the thick layer of fat produced by his oversized torso insulates his ears too much when his head is retracted as it is.
Far ahead, Gaara and Kurotsuchi are neck-and-neck, each on opposite sides of the canyon and progressing with their own earthen jutsu to manipulate the terrain. Occasionally, Gaara fires a sand bullet or Kurotsuchi will fling a kunai, but neither manages to land a hit, nor quite cares to when what matters is the race.
Both of them are stunned as Sasuke rushes right between and past them, kicking off spires and breaking them in the process.
Gaara has just enough time to witness the marks on Sasuke's face and arms, to which Shukaku screams in indignation. "THAT SON OF A BITCH STOLE MY JUTSU!"
"Shukaku, I think we have bigger problems than that right now, so just focus already."
"The Iwa woman is of no concern to me, that Uchiha bastard needs to be ground to a fine pulp!"
"I thought getting your seal fixed was supposed to make you less murderous."
"Hey, I don't wanna kill everyone nowadays! Just that bitch in particular! And your dad! And that old bat who put me in you. And that one merchant on Saboten Avenue, and…"
Well past the two of them, Haku skates along on short-lived ice constructs, but hears Sasuke catching up and peeks back well ahead of time. She runs through handsigns and aims her fingers, firing a collection of five icicles at him.
Sasuke rolls through them and catches one, using it to stab into a weak point in the cliff face and pull himself forward.
He completely ignores the few senbon that are now sticking out of his shoulder and thigh. He's high on the rush of the cursemark, riding it to victory with an uncharacteristic grin plastered on his face.
The moment the mock city is in sight, Sasuke pulls his flare and fires it off, producing a trail of blue smoke. The real Naruto follows suit with his orange flare, and Sasuke tracks him down in under a minute.
He skids to a stop atop the roof, huffing as he hands over the scroll. "Get moving, dobe."
"Uh… no, hold on a sec." Naruto's eyes narrow at the sight of the cursemark, which is now shimmering and receding back to his neck. "What the fuck happened to you?"
He groans and drops down to take a seat. "Snake bastard bit me. Cursed me with something." He grabs his neck as the cursemark finishes receding and shudders at a spike of pain. "Was useful to get here, but damn does the aftermath hurt." He peeks up with a scowl as his sharingan fades. "Get moving already, I don't wanna lose because you decided to slack off."
Naruto eyes him up for a moment, but sighs and rolls his eyes. "Fine, I'll go. We'll talk about this after. But what the hell makes you think I've been slacking?" He grins wildly as a blast echoes somewhere to the east, followed by the shrill shriek of a very startled Choujuro. "Nobody's catching up to me."
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REPEAT CRITICAL AUTHOR'S NOTE:
CRITICAL AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Sorry for the delay, but I HAVE THE FINAL EDIT OF MY BOOK BACK UP ON SALE! You can find everything about it on my own website, envoyofkairos .com! I really need sales to pick up as I've been unemployed and broke for over a year (not for a lack of trying), and helping me succeed with that will mean less stress and more time for me, so you can expect chapters to come along a lot faster!
For now though, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter, I certainly enjoyed writing it, and now only one stretch of the 2nd exam remains! Just how terrifying did Naruto make it?