Disclaimer: Refer to chapter 1.
AN: Chapter Title: The Day Before the Finals
"Caesar once more sends his apologies for not being able to come to see you personally in the past month." Sasuke stood before Tenten's bed, the girl more lucid than normal mainly because he had ordered her medication be reduced for the day. He refused to speak to someone who would not even remember the conversation. "His presence has been requested by the Hokage this morning but he will be arriving at some point in the future today to speak with you."
"So he sends you in his place?" Despite the pain it no doubt caused, Tenten snorted and rolled her eyes. "I feel honored. I thought for a second he'll only send more of his Praetorians for company."
"I've been told I have that type of effect on people. As for your 'company', they are here for your protection above all else." Sasuke moved over to a chair placed at her bedside and dropped into it. "I'm sure you know why I'm really here so I won't waste your time with pointless niceties."
"I never expected you to." Tenten did not bother trying to turn her head to get a clearer picture of the somewhat blur that sat in the corner of her eyes. The doctor had told her to keep her movements to a minimum today for good reason. The sharp spikes of pain that ripped through her body the moment she tried to move more than the act of simply laying down required was enough for her to take his words to heart. Medical-nin would be arriving later to continue healing her as best they could.
"Before the Finals begin, Caesar wants to know if you desire Gaara of the Sand to suffer before he kills him for doing this to you." Sasuke's Sharingan observed Tenten without her notice. The chair was placed where it was for a reason. "It is no secret the men of his Legion adore you. The death of Gaara is inevitable but he wishes to know if you wish for anything specific."
"I want to do it myself." Sasuke was glad he was mostly hidden from her sight. He didn't want to deal with a girl like Tenten, her eyes enough to rival his own from her training, seeing his shock.
"Are you that certain you'll be healed?" He quickly schooled his features.
"Naruto promised to heal me, right?" She actually smiled. "I can wait for however long it takes as long as I get to give him a taste of his little obsession with blood when I force his down his throat."
'Maybe she should have remained drugged.'
"Caesar is a man of his word." Sasuke rose from his chair as he spoke. It was suddenly uncomfortable. He moved to stand in front of Tenten's bed instead. "Is that what you really wish for?"
"Yes." The resolution in her eyes, the determination that shined in them, made him understand why the Legion cared for the girl he had only ever met right now.
'It's her eyes.' He was staring into eyes that looked the same as those of Caesar. It was no wonder the Legion adored her with eyes like that. 'This could be dangerous.' He could always see past adoration through.
Adoration had let his heart be torn out on a night he would like to forget but never could. Adoration had let him be rendered powerless to the man he had sworn to kill since then. Adoration would never blind him from seeing threats like that again.
He was certain of it now. Tenten Ken was a threat to the Uzumaki Empire and the Orange Legion. It was his duty as Legate to end such problems.
"Should we go try and see him again?" The two Genin from Sunagakure had ceased their last minute training for the finals, Kankuro's Crow drawn back and Temari's fan folded and driven into the ground in front of her. She had been the one to voice the question that had filled both their minds for nearly the entire month.
"I don't know about you but I never want to go to that place again." He shivered. "Those clones…they were always watching us. I liked meeting that Uchiha more. We at least knew he was watching us the entire time."
"We need an answer from him before the finals. We need to go back." Temari looked into the polished surface of her fan, smudges from her hold on it clear to her eyes. "You saw what he could do in the Forest of Death and you saw him take on Zaku like it was nothing. He wasn't as strong as us but he wasn't some pushover after that surgery. We need to know what he's going to do."
"And what does it even change when we have It loose in the middle of the village?" Kankuro wouldn't admit to the fear that shot down his spine the moment he mentioned the weapon. "So what if he can summon an army? We have a monster on our side."
"That doesn't matter you idiot!" Temari drew her fan out of the ground. "Don't you see what he can do? Didn't you hear about what happened to Gato? How angry father was when he heard about it? He can throw every plan we made into chaos."
"Gato wasn't a Shinobi." Kankuro didn't sound as confident as he knew he should. "He hired enough and paid plenty but we all knew he would be dead sooner or later with the way he acted."
"What about what he's doing there? He has his army there and all reports show its growing every day!" He wished she didn't mention that. You'd have to be dead not to know what was happening in Waves.
"Just drop it already Temari." Kankuro turned away from her, Crow moving to hang its body on his back with a twitch of his fingers as he began walking away. "We don't need to talk to him anymore. We don't need to worry about anything. We have the perfect plan, we have the perfect time, and we have the perfect weapon to start everything. We don't need to think about some kid who has an army. We have It."
"Kankuro." It wasn't his name that stopped him midstep, it was the way his sister spoke it. Her voice was empty of the anger that had tinged it, the worry that had been there just a moment ago, the near panic she had been feeling thanks to a growing anxiety both of them would never admit to sharing. It was empty beyond one thing that he never thought his older sister would have.
She was afraid.
He should just ignore it and keep walking.
He knows he should just ignore it and keep walking.
He wants to take the next step, tries all he can to just move one foot in front of the other, but he can't.
His sister, the only member of his family he actually cared for even if he would never admit it, needed him.
"Kankuro, can you at least answer one question for me? If you do, I promise I'll drop this." She was speaking again. He should walk away but he didn't, he couldn't. He only gave her a terse nod. Crow's head moved with his own. "Are you as afraid as I am?"
"I don't see why I should be. We're not even going to be the focus once everything really starts." He was going to ramble. He knew it. "The Kazekage will be there too. Once we set off the weapon he's going to start and we've both seen him in action. This place isn't going to last long enough for anything to happen to either of us. We've got each other too. We can get out with Baki and be safe and sound far away before anything major happens. So what if this place has some powerful fighters? We'll be fine. What's going to happen? We're going to be followed by the Genin? We can kill any but a few of the stronger ones and they'll be gone. Their heirs to clans after all, they'll be running from It and the Kazekage won't be able to s-"
He didn't know when she moved but she must have to turn him around. Crow must have fallen off his shoulder because he lost his focus, when he nodded his head he must have knocked it off. It wasn't because he was shaking. It wasn't because he was scared out of his mind of dying in the chaos he would be so close to. He wasn't scared at all.
He didn't need his sister to hug him like this. He didn't need to hug his sister like he was.
He wasn't scared of anything. He wasn't terrified of what could happen to him in the carnage, he wasn't scared that It would be loose, and he wasn't worried that his own father probably didn't give a damn about him.
"It's okay if you are Kankuro. I am too."
He didn't need his big sister. He didn't need the closest thing he had to a mother.
He was fine.
"You know…when I said I was paying, I never thought you would invite everyone." Kakashi glanced at the Genin gathered at the table with his sole visible eye, talking and laughing without a single worry. He shrugged his shoulders. "That's hindsight I guess."
"Indeed my rival." Gai stood with the silver haired Jonin. "Hindsight is indeed quite the adversary to us all."
"You don't need to be here if you don't want to Gai." Kakashi could catch on to one of his oldest friend's distraction. It was also obvious. "You can go to Tenten if you want."
"She is heavily medicated to rest as she prepares for tomorrow." Gai's smile was gone the moment he began to think on his student's condition. "She also spoke with one of your students today."
"Naruto was at the hospital?"
"No, his second in command paid Tenten a visit."
"Is she alright?"
"She is as alright as she can be given the circumstances but I managed to overhear their conversation." Gai sighed. He looked at Kakashi with eyes that didn't belong to the normally energetic Jonin. He was conflicted, trapped between the danger known as Naruto Uzumaki and his love for his student. "She believes in your student Kakashi. She does not seem to have any doubt that he can't heal her like he promised to do."
"You need to talk to her Gai, tell her to stop listening to Naruto. I don't know why but he's lying to her for whatever reason. All I know is that it can't be good."
"You're not unbiased towards all this Kakashi."
"I'm being realistic. You heard what the doctors at the hospital said, read the same medical reports you showed me, and we both saw the state she was in. There's doubt even a legendary medic like Tsunade could heal Tenten if she returned to the village. How is he supposed to do it when he doesn't even have a tenth of her experience, half her knowledge, or a fraction of her skills?"
"He seems to be a fast learner."
The conversation between the two Jonin wasn't heard by the Genin that had gathered for a celebration before the Chunin Exams were to start. They were focused on their own merriment. The growing conflict between Jonin could be ignored just like the future was.
"I still can't believe you're walking after the training you did Lee. I wouldn't be able to do anything but sleep for a week if I had to do even half of that stuff." Shikamaru sat next to the older Genin who only responded with a thumbs up and a smile.
"My Ninja Way drives me to push past my limits every day. Training is just another limit to push past to better oneself as Gai-sensei would say." Lee returned to his food, his appetite massive, as the lazy Nara only shook his head.
"I can still hardly believe it." He returned to his own plate, miniscule when compared to the two on either side of him. Lee and Choji seemed to either be having an eating contest or both simply had massive appetites that put everyone else's to shame. Most of the table combined could hardly match half of how much either of the two boys ate.
"So, Sakura, you've been training with Kakashi all month, right?" Ino sat next to the pink haired girl and received a shy nod. She hadn't been prepared to see so many people and she didn't think her presence was that wanted among them.
Her teammates were noticeable absent after all.
"So, you have to tell us, Asuma-sensei would beat Kakashi right?" Ino had been the one to drag her into the conversations going on around the two.
"I don't think Kakashi-sensei would go that easy on Asuma even if he asked him to." She was coming out of her shell at last. "Kakashi-sensei would definitely win."
"No way!" Ino's smile told her she wasn't upset. "Asuma-sensei is one of the Twelve Guardian Ninja and the son of the Third Hokage, no matter what Kakashi tried he couldn't beat him."
"He knows just as many Jutsu as the Third Hokage does and he's one of the smartest Jonin in the world. Asuma won't beat Kakashi-sensei."
"Ino has a point." Shikamaru agreed with Ino when she glanced over to him with a look in her eyes he had learned to dread over the past month. "Asuma-sensei can take us on and we have some pretty powerful Jutsu when we work together, at least close to some of the stronger ones Kakashi uses. If he can take us down without breaking a sweat, he'll be able to take on Kakashi and win."
"What do you think Neji?" Sakura turned to one of the two Hyuga at the table, sat right next to her actually, and his pale eyes focused on her for a moment. A ghost of a smile played across his face.
"Gai would beat both of them." Neji turned back to his food without another word.
"And then Kurenai-sensei would beat both of them!" Kiba threw in his own opinion and Shino nodded along with the loud Inuzuka.
"K-Kurenai-sensei is one of the best Genjutsu users in the village." Hinata looked across the table to her teammates from where she sat next to Neji. "She would be able to beat them without any of them knowing she was even there."
"Kakashi-sensei has his Sharingan. He can see through any Genjutsu."
"Doesn't change the fact that Asuma-sensei is stronger than him! He'll beat him even with his Sharingan out."
"Gai-sensei would triumph over any foe! If he could not, I would perform five thousand pushups on top of the Hokage Monument while proclaiming so all may hear: 'Gai-sensei's youthful flames have died!'."
"Kurenai-sensei would be victorious. Why? Because she is one of the strongest Jonin in the village."
"HA!" An unwelcomed presence was suddenly at the door. They were thrown open during the good natured argument and two figures stepped inside. One remained at the door, rose a fist over an armored heart and bowed his head as the other continued forward. He rose his arms out to his side, a mocking smile crossing his face. "You all speak of such nonsensical things. All of it is not even fit to be fiction to entertain a babe."
Naruto Uzumaki's eyes traveled around the table before his vision was filled with Kakashi's Flak Jacket.
"Yo." He rose two fingers in greeting. His eye focused on Naruto with nothing in it. "What are you doing here?"
"I am not here to dine with company such as this Silver Fang." Naruto did not bother doing anything but crossing his arms over his armored chest. His Praetorians were outside from the shouts that came from people who found their path blocked and several more figures entered the restaurant after him.
The Legate stood at his side after he must have finished giving his orders at the door. The Centurion of the First Cohort looked around the restaurant with a curious eye. The Centurion of the Fifth Cohort came to stand at Naruto's side opposite the Legate. All three laid a hand on their swords and their eyes watched the Jonin closely. The Praefectus Castrorum remained by the door, his back to the restaurant.
"If you're not here to eat than you don't need to be here." Kakashi didn't move from in front of the blonde despite the very real possibility of any of the others with him drawing their swords.
"Do you honestly believe you can command me to do anything I do not already wish for, Silver Fang?" Naruto did not step away. He took a step closer actually. "Get out of my way or you will be removed."
"I would move if I could but a black cat crossed the floor behind me a while back." Kakashi yawned underneath his mask. "If anyone's going to move, it's you."
"A Caesar does not retreat." The two silently stared at each other. Neither would be moving anytime soon because neither planned to move for the other. "Step aside or I will be forced to show you the fruits of my training with the Toad Sage."
"Jiraiya-sama taught you?" Kakashi's visible eyebrow rose. "I guess I should be worried about you being a pervert like him now?"
"I would never fall to such foolishness. I am no cretin like so many others who falls so easily to the pleasures of the flesh." Naruto showed his first true emotion since arriving with the disgust that crossed over his face at the mere thought of copying the less desirable habits of the Toad Sage, habits he had kept in check during his training. "Such actions are pathetic and far beneath a Caesar such as myself."
"Well-"
"Giving yourself titles won't change what will happen to you Naruto Uzumaki." Neji interrupted whatever Kakashi was going to say. "You won't go past the first rounds in the Chunin Exams."
"You think too highly of yourself Hyuga." Naruto sneered at the pale eyes Genin. He lifted one hand towards where Sasuke stood at his side. "Whatever you may say of your eyes, I know of a Dojutsu far stronger than the Byakugan could ever hope to be. My history is quite clear, it was the Uchiha and Senju and not the Hyuga that were the strongest clans and founded this village. Your eyes are nothing compared to the eyes my Legate possess."
"You honor me with such words Caesar." Sasuke's Sharingan appeared in the blink of his eyes. They focused on the Hyuga just as the Byakugan appeared in his own. "Do you wish to fight me again Hyuga or have you forgotten how our last contest ended?"
"I remember you being a coward and summoning an army to fight me." Neji rose from his seat. His eyes were only for the Uchiha. "Do you want to see how fate would have ended that battle now Uchiha?"
"I have no problem killing you Hyuga but that is an honor reserved for Caesar. I would not dare to intrude on his right to make you suffer." Naruto's eyebrows rose. Sasuke's words seemed to be the first time he had heard of his opponent in the Chunin Exams.
"I am fighting the Hyuga?" Naruto sounded disappointed. He received a nod from his Legate when he turned to him. "I expected my opponent to be Sunagakure's Jinchuriki. The Hokage brought me to his office, gave me the Toad Sage as my instructor, and asked of the fruits of my training this day for the Hyuga? He dares to think I required any aid when it came to defeating a boy like him?"
Naruto brought a hand up to his forehead and his shoulders dropped when he sighed.
"My focus is leaving the true reason I am here the longer I allow your fools to spew your pointless drivel." Naruto drew his hand away and leveled two fingers at Sakura. "Sakura-chan, things I have not had the time for during my training can be managed now. Your dealings with Silver Fang will cease."
"Who do you think you are ordering her around?" Ino rose out of her seat, blocking Sakura from Naruto's sight and he let his hand fall. He folded his arms over his chest and smoke enshrouded where Sakura sat.
"Step away." Blades were drawn from the soldiers of the Orange Legion suddenly behind Sakura as she clutched at the mark on her arm. It burned bright red as Naruto looked at the scene with red slit eyes. He ignored them all in favor of focusing on Sakura alone.
"Your attempts to weaken my gift were worthless Sakura-chan." A vile Chakra leaked from Naruto in that moment. It was like nothing any of them had ever felt but it was painfully familiar to the Jonin. The night they had felt that Chakra run wild in the air, powerless to do anything but watch, was forever ingrained into their minds.
'The Kyubi.' All four of them thought together and they could barely keep themselves from moving. They did not attack the reminder of the nightmarish night of over a decade ago. They somehow controlled themselves and didn't kill the Jinchuriki that flaunted that same power now.
'He came here just for this.' Naruto was no fool. He knew he was not well liked among his fellow Genin but he seemed to want a confrontation. He merely wanted an excuse to give them all a taste of his power, show them all how hopeless challenging him had become before the finals of the Chunin Exams.
He simply wanted them all to know the results of his training.
"Come with me Sakura-chan." Naruto stepped forward, ignored the looks sent his way by the Jonin, the barely withheld Killing Intent, and stopped next to a shaking Sakura. His red eyes held nothing, indistinguishable from his normal blue in that regard. His voice was the same. He demanded obedience to his every whim. He expected nothing less. "We have much to speak about."
He held out his hand.
Sakura did not look away from the ground when she took it. She did not look at any of the others as she slowly rose from her seat at Naruto's gentle urgings. She could not stand to see the disgust they all no doubt had for her as Naruto walked with her towards the door.
"Sakura." Kakashi stopped the two from leaving in the end. He only spoke her name, his hands in his pockets.
"Silver Fang." Naruto spoke the name he had given the Jonin with a growl and his red eyes looked into the single eye of Kakashi as Sasuke walked up behind him.
"It time for our departure." Kakashi's eyes widened when Sasuke laid a hand on Naruto's back and the same seal he had used to summon the army let them all vanish.
'Reverse Summoning.' Kakashi could only curse his own carelessness. He didn't bother making a pointless lunge towards Sakura. He already knew where they were going, where the entire part of Naruto's army he had summoned was going. He didn't let his rage blind him as he turned and began walking from the restaurant.
"This isn't good." Asuma was already following after him. The other two Jonin exchanged a look before Gai stepped towards the silent Genin and Kurenai followed after Asuma.
He would keep the Genin from following. The less they saw of what Kakashi would do to Naruto the better. He had seen the rage burning in his rival's eye and could only hope he knew when to stop.
"What do you want Naruto?" She pulled her hand away after the disorienting experience of whatever technique Naruto had used to abruptly move them to the Uchiha district.
"I simply wish to speak to you Sakura-chan, help you remain safe as you know I desire." Naruto's eyes returned to their normal blue in the blink of an eye. He moved a hand through his hair, smoothing it back after his method of travel had regressed it into its previous unkempt style. "You must know that by now Sakura-chan."
"The only thing I know is that you've taken me to…the Uchiha district and expect me to thank you." Sakura stepped back from Naruto but he stepped forward, keeping her from creating any distance.
"Seeing your beauty unmarred is thanks enough Sakura-chan." One hand reached out to her and she jerked her head away. Naruto's hand stilled for a moment before he retracted it and a smile crossed his face.
"Don't look at me like that." Sakura turned away from him, crossed her arms over her chest.
"I will do as I please." An edge entered his voice and Sakura knew he was in front of her.
"Naruto." She tried to step past him but couldn't.
"You still do not understand how things work, Sakura-chan but I will be kind enough to inform you, remove the unfitting stain of ignorance you hold." He grabbed hold of her wrist. He kept her from leaving the territory he had claimed for his own without question, leave his all-seeing sight within such a place. "You have had the audacity to disgrace my Legion with defeat, to believe yourself as one able to disobey me, a Caesar of the Uzumaki Empire and Praetor of the Orange Legion, without consequence." His grip tightened but she didn't allow the pain to show. "I must tell you how dangerous such a belief is."
"Naruto, let go of me. I want to leave." Her eyes met his. They did not turn away from the blue eyes of a madman. They held firm and something came to those eyes. The madness within was suppressed, forced away to the depths where it stayed. They did not soften, his eyes themselves seemed to wear a mask instead. They took on the guise of sanity to all who hadn't already seen what lurked underneath like a shark craving the blood it could smell in the water.
"I am ordering you to stay." A soft smile crossed his face, an attempt to be charming but it failed. She had already seen what lurked beneath, what he hid behind speeches and smiles. It was enough to leave her feeling nothing but disgusted of him, of the hand that held her. "But, ignoring your actions so far, do you not want to deliver your belated thanks to me Sakura-chan? Did you not see how I gave you the keys to a glorious victory you squandered with such folly as compassion for a foe?"
"I said let go of me. I'm leaving." She pulled against him, looking away from those eyes that showed nothing but layer after layer of falsehoods, all designed to hide the truth that laid buried beneath. The true Naruto was deranged beneath all the masks he wore. She knew that with a certainty now.
She did not see the fury that crossed his face but she did feel it. His grip on her arm became tighter, not enough to bruise but it was enough to gain her attention when he did so.
"You arrogant girl!" He did not scream those words at her but instead he whispered them with madness taking hold of his voice. He pressed her against the wall, a maniacal gleam taking hold of his eyes. His face drew close to her, emerald eyes wide as she saw the blonde in a way she had never seen him before, saw something in his eyes that made her shiver. "You dare, you honestly dare, to think you may question me? You dare to think you can disobey me?"
"You. Are. Mine." A hand, a claw, took hold of her face and forced her to meet crimson eyes. "You would be nothing if not for me, if not for my Legion. You would be dead if I did not assign you a guard of such loyalty that they would gladly throw themselves upon any blade, you would be as harmless as an insect if I did not give you training, and you would be of no interest to anyone if not for my presence. If you were not of such interest to me you would be thrown into the gutter by the fools who oppose my right to rule! You are made into something only because I have called your beauty as a thing belonging to my sight only. You are of interest to so many because I have shown you as a prize unobtainable by any of the fools who are no better than filthy mutts."
His grip was suddenly gone, replaced by his fingers slowly trailing down her cheek, blue eyes returning as his face softened.
"Do not cry my sweet Sakura-chan, I speak such harsh words, I tell you these things I wish I did not have to, because I worry for you. I seek to preserve you while Silver Fang, the vile dog he is, seeks to see you destroyed by his hands. He seeks to hurt you, tarnish your wonderful beauty with marks that will not heal, because he finds himself envious of the one who has such a great love for you. He sees my power, he sees my wealth, he sees my accomplishments, and he is driven mad by them, rabid like a hound. He does not want to help you, he only wants to hurt you because he knows doing so will strike at me as well. He cares not for you but for the pain he can deliver upon me through you."
His hand trailed down, left her flesh to lay over his armored heart.
"He cannot strike me anywhere but where I am most vulnerable, where my heart is unarmored to the grief you being taken from me would bring."
"Do not make me endure such pain."
She shouldn't even bother listening to him. He was insane.
"Naruto…"
"I love you Sakura-chan. Know this no matter what shadows doubt may cast."
He drew close. Her eyes hardened. Her hands balled into fists.
'No more.' She felt something break. Both physically and literally when her punch met Naruto's jaw.
"Caesar!"
Naruto hit the unforgiving ground and he didn't stop, her punch had enough force to send him rolling. He only reached such a point because his Praetorians were frozen where they stood. Their minds could not even begin to comprehend what their eyes had seen. They could not begin to fathom the sight before them. None of them could understand why Sakura-chan had struck Caesar. Only Sasuke raced forward and dropped to a knee next to the now groaning blonde. One of the blonde's hands rested on his face now, Naruto's blue eyes bleeding into red. Sakura didn't stay and see him get up or even bother with humoring whatever speech he would give her. She tore off the armor that had been forced on her without turning to look at him.
She had never thought a single breath could feel so good. Or punching someone in the face could make her feel so great. She thought her day was ruined thanks to him but it was the opposite. She had never felt so liberated since the day Kakashi had passed Team 7.
'That was priceless.'
She couldn't wait to tell Kakashi all about it.
She should have looked back as she ran from the Uchiha district, eager to tell her teacher of what she had done. If she did, she would have hurried back with the Jonin.
"That…" His entire body was tense, his rage consumed him. The Chakra of the Kyubi leaked from his flesh and his Legate stepped away. "That…" His voice never rose above a whisper as his Praetorians at last moved forward and fell to a knee before him. The Legate did not join them. He only stared at Naruto. "That…" Words did not do his rage justice, rage was truly a poor term for what he felt at the moment. His being was consumed by malice, the piece of himself he had foolishly exposed expelled with hate taking its place.
No. It wasn't hate. Hate was nothing to what he now felt. Hate was like comparing the light of a match to the light of the sun hidden by the night. Hate did not do the growing blackness in his heart justice. Hate was nothing to what he now felt for what he had once loved, once he had once strived to own like all other things in the world. Hate could not compare to what he now felt.
It could not be named. Disgust, betrayal, loathing, rage, hatred, and so much more was what made up the blackness that took hold of him in that moment. It tore away the rawness that covered his heart, hardened it, and he could at last vocalize.
"THAT BITCH!"
AN: Nothing yet.