Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. It belongs to Masashi Kishimoto and I am making no profit from this story, it is only for entertainment.
Chapter Summary: In which Naruto is not having a good time and Rio almost gets eaten by a snake
Chapter 32: I Want to Break Free
Naruto sat out a mouthful of blood onto the cold, dirt floor, smiling through his reddened teeth at the tall man in front of him.
"Go fuck yourself."
The man snarled and punched him in the face once again. Naruto's head snapped to the side but he refused to show the pain on his face. His loose, red hair fell across his eyes and he turned his glare back onto the nin.
"I don't know what Orochimaru-sama wants with you but if you ask me, it's not worth it," His brown eyes flashed with fury. "You're out of the way; you're useless."
"Then kill me," Naruto taunted, tasting metallic on his tongue. "If you know better than Orochimaru-sama."
The man's fists tightened but he held back, his broad frame bristling. The only door to the shed opened and Naruto had to squint at the sudden onslaught of light.
"Fuji, leave him," another male voice called out. "Orochimaru-sama wants him alive and beating him isn't going to bring the others back."
Fuji scoffed but backed down, throwing one last venomous look behind him. The door slammed shut and Naruto could hear them locking him in once again. He blinked a few times to readjust to the dark room, hacking up another mouthful of blood. He pulled against his restraints as he tried to get the coughing under control and his stomach attempted to expel its contents. He hadn't eaten for ages so he was at least spared the vomit. His chest heaved as the coughing fit finally subsided and he could think again.
He didn't know how long he had been trapped here. There were no windows and the only time he saw daylight was when the door was opened. His arms had long since gone numb secured above his head and his hands had been encased in a metal cage so he couldn't even move his fingers. They'd added that restraint after the first day when he'd managed to take down another one of their number. He was then stripped down to only his trousers so all his tattoos and wounds were on display. They even took his brace.
His long hair had come free of its bindings and hung around his face, resting on his bare shoulders and almost reaching his waist. He'd tried to blow it out of his face but was met with various degrees of success. He could feel his chest tightening with every day that passed and he knew that when he eventually got out of here, Yakushi-sensei would confine him to a bed for as long as he could get away with. The damp Kiri air hadn't helped in the first place.
They did give him water and food but it was sporadic. He had long gotten used to the indignity of using the bathroom; they loosed his chains just enough for him to reach a corner, but left the hand restraints on. The small shed stank with the combination of all the bodily fluids he had expelled during his time here. That was something they failed to mention at the academy; the reality of being captured. He felt disgusting and humiliated and he swore he would murder the rest of them the second he broke free.
The worst part of this whole ordeal was the lack of chakra sensing. They had slapped a couple of chakra-cancelling on his shackles, which voided his sensing ability and his ability to use chakra. It was as horrifying and constricting as he'd imagined; being trapped in his own head was far worse than any of the beatings. He felt adrift, everything around him was so quiet, and he felt limited. He'd never had to focus so much on his physical senses before. They were much weaker and rustier than he remembered.
There were four of them left. He had managed to kill most of them during the initial battle and he'd gotten another one when they chained him up. The last one died just before they slapped the iron restraints on. He knew that wasn't helping his case, Fuji came in at least twice daily to make him pay for that, but he at least knew they couldn't kill him. They feared Orochimaru too much for that.
During his time here, he'd managed to piece some of the puzzle together. The Oto nin weren't subtle and never tried to keep their voices down. They thought he was no threat and that it didn't matter if he heard some things. Fuji had stated so repeatedly.
The first discovery was that they were members of Otogakure; it explained why they had a music note on their hitai-ate. There had been rumours of a new village establishing itself in recent years but other than the Suna incident, they'd been unable to get any further information on the place. He had also learned that the leader of this new village was one of the Sannin, Orochimaru. He had never met the man but he'd heard about the experiments he conducted on the village kids before he'd fled. He still hadn't figured out how the Sannin had known where'd he'd be accurately enough to set up an ambush, but that was a problem for when he got back to Konoha.
He scowled as the sound of laughter reached him from beyond the dirty wooden walls. Otogakure had been involved in the Suna incident a year and a half ago; they had exchanged messages with Takeyama's blackmailer. He and Shikaku hadn't been able to find definitive proof of their involvement but after this mess, he was confident that they could start to build a real case.
Apparently, the Sannin had plans to infiltrate Konoha during the Chunin Exams but he'd needed Naruto out of the way. Ren, one of his current guards, had been particularly vocal on this topic; from what Naruto could glean, he was annoyed that he missed out on messing with Konoha. Naruto had to give it to the Sannin; he wouldn't have been able to get near the village walls if Naruto had been present. Not even the chakra-concealing seals they'd used to ambush him could have hidden someone like the Sannin. Now he was aware of them, he would never be taken off guard again. He cursed Kumo again for updating the Bingo Book; he knew it would come back to bite him in the ass, but not this bad.
There was also word that Orochimaru wanted him for his Uzumaki genes, but the woman's voice had been too faint for him to make it out. She probably spoke the least of the four.
Most concerning was Orochimaru's true target. Naruto eyed the seals attached to his shackles, a grim satisfaction emerging as he noted the seal was almost broken. He had not seen this particular version of chakra-cancelling seals before; his own looked quite different. However, all seals shared the same fundamentals. He was close; he had to get out of here. Every time Sasuke's name passed one of their lips the sense of urgency grew; Orochimaru could not get his slimy hands on his kid. Fortunately, his guards didn't know enough about fūinjutsu to notice the failing seals.
Relief crashed over him like a wave as he finally broke the last one and his senses were flooded with the chakra around him. Three signatures just outside shone brightly and Naruto closed his eyes, taking in the overwhelming amount of information. When it finally settled down, he opened his eyes and began to twist his hands. He channeled as much fūton jutsu as he dared into his right arm and let out a breath as it finally fell apart. He opened and closed his fingers to try and get some feeling back into them. He channeled more fūton jutsu into his right fingers and lowered it onto the shackles on his left hand, wincing as it cracked loudly. He was finally free! He walked up to the door, monitoring the signatures carefully.
He only had one chance at this; the plan had been forming in his head since he was captured. He might have been able to take four times the number of shinobi but that was before he'd been starved, beaten and sleep-deprived for however long it had been. He also didn't have any of his tools or seals; his chakra levels were lower than he'd like but he had a chance. Digging his fingers into a swallow stab wound in his left chest, he smeared the fresh blood onto the door, carefully marking out the seal.
He took a moment to breathe before he kicked down the door, channelling chakra into the seal and lighting the wood on fire. The burning slab landed among the group of three and he finished the sequence of seals before they could react.
"Fūton: Tatsumaki Torappu!"
The tornado appeared quickly and soon the three were obscured from view. The swirling, high-speed wind would prevent them from escaping the eye of the tornado and he pushed more chakra into the technique, gritting his teeth as he felt the strength leave his limbs. The massive wind technique suddenly whooshed up into flames and Naruto didn't flinch at the excruciating screams that emerged from the centre of the tornado. It was a nasty combination, wind and fire, but he didn't have time or the chakra to take them down one at a time. He was acutely aware that this plan had only worked due to the element of surprise; he could feel the last one rushing towards them.
He dropped the technique and swallowed harshly as the charred, unrecognisable heaps of flesh and bone crumpled to the ground. He looked up in time to meet the horrified gaze of the final Oto nin, already moving for his next technique. He couldn't dodge the kunai that buried itself into his gut but he managed to fire out the last seal.
"Fūton: Shinkū!"
He'd hoped he would never have to use this jutsu. He hadn't even meant to learn it; it was on a scroll of jutsu he pulled from the library a couple years ago. He watched the dome of hardened air settle over the final enemy and kept watching as the man started to scratch at his throat, gasping for even a single breath of oxygen. Katon and Raiton jutsu were useless against this technique; there was no oxygen in the dome to fuel the fire. He waited until the man fell and his chest stopped moving, before he dared to break off the technique, falling to his knees as he grasped the kunai in his side.
Slumping to sit on his ass, he tried and failed to catch his breath. He was one E-rank jutsu away from chakra exhaustion on top of everything else but he couldn't feel anyone else. He was free. He started to look around for his stuff but his heart fell as he spotted a hint of orange surrounded by black. He managed to crawl towards the pile, holding the kunai embedded in his stomach steady. He let out a vehement 'fuck'; the jacket Kazuya made for him was beyond saving, as was Tenjirou's brace.
He dug through the rest of the pile and found odds and ends that the Oto nin had obviously deemed not worthy of stealing. He did not have success in finding wearable clothes. He looked back to the dead Oto nin and sighed, accepting his fate.
He had to get back to Konoha; he had to help Sasuke.
Rio bounced on the balls of his feet as Sakura went to hand in the consent forms to the temporary tent on the other side of the field. Finally, he would get to do something practical. He felt far more confident about this portion of the exam than he did the last one. All they had to do was keep their scroll, steal someone else's and get to the Tower. Sasuke stood to the left of him, arms folded and glowering at anyone that looked their way.
"C'mon Sasuke, we're finally going to get to do something," Rio grinned.
The Uchiha shot him an unimpressed look before he continued surveying his surroundings.
"We're going to be the targets," he said flatly. "At least four teams have been eyeing us since the exam was announced."
"Seriously?" Rio started to look around before he was lightly slapped in the back of the head. "Ow, what the fuck, Sasuke?"
"You have the subtlety of one of Naruto's explosive seals," he rolled his eyes, re-crossing his arms. "We don't need them knowing that we know. It'll make it harder to subvert their surprise attacks."
"This is the 'look underneath the underneath' stuff that Kashi-sensei likes to talk about, isn't it?" Rio groaned.
Sasuke didn't even bother to respond as Sakura came up to them.
"I got it," she said, brandishing a scroll in her right hand. "I don't know if we got Heaven or Earth but I figured we could check in the forest. We don't want people seeing what we have."
Sasuke threw her an almost approving look and Rio ruffled his hair in frustration. He was by no means dumb but his teammates were always thinking and planning. He just liked to get stuff done.
"Proceed to your assigned gates!"
Rio led the way and soon they were in front of the tall metal gate, the equally tall mesh fence stretching out on either side. He took a deep breath and picked up on the different scents coming from the forest. It was similar to the forests they trained in but there was an undertone of metallic. It made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, but he squared his shoulders. There was probably a reason it was called the Forest of Death.
"BEGIN!"
Rio set off and led the way, pushing chakra to his feet and running up the side of the closest tree. He reached some of the middle branches and switched from the trunk, jumping between the branches until the sight of the metal gate had disappeared from view. He stopped on a particularly wide branch and almost immediately after, the sound of both his teammates landing on the wood followed. He cocked his head as he listened to his surroundings, deeming them alone after a long moment.
"Okay, we're good."
Sakura pulled out the scroll from her pouch and revealed the Heaven kanji.
"So we need an Earth scroll," Rio stated. "We can't open it, right?"
Sakura shook her head.
"That would get us disqualified," she answered. She proceeded to shove the scroll into Sasuke's arms. "Sasuke-kun, you're the strongest so you have to protect the scroll. Rio and I can be the defence."
Sasuke looked at her silently before switching his gaze to Rio. Rio smiled; he had long mastered Sasuke's silent methods of communication.
"She's right, Sasuke," he nodded. "I'm strong but I have more brute strength and chakra supply. You're the one who could come up with a plan as a last resort plus you are way better at controlling your jutsu. Not that anyone is going to get past me to fight you."
He smiled cockily at his friend and caught the small huff of amusement that Sasuke released. The Uchiha shoved the scroll into the pouch secured at his waist.
"Sakura, do you have a plan?"
She looked up at him in surprise and Rio joined her. While the relationship between them had improved since Sakura had stopped with her fangirl nonsense and moved into Sasuke's spare room, there was still something stilted in their relationship. Rio was satisfied that Sakura had changed and proved herself ages ago but Sasuke still seemed to be holding back some reservations.
"Yeah," she smiled gently, before her features hardened in determination. "We have five days. Some of the teams might try to run straight to the tower and find a scroll on the way, but I think that's going to be harder than they think. Most will probably roam the forest and ambush other teams, then make their way to the Tower. Some might even try to take down more teams than necessary to cut down the competition for the next portion of the exam."
She paused to take a breath.
"I think the first two days, we should try to avoid fights, but if the chance arises we should grab it. We have enough food and this way we'll have the energy and stamina that the other teams who have been fighting might not have. On the third day, we should hide around the Tower and ambush anyone that tries to go inside. I think we can finish the exam by the fourth day but it still gives us a whole day in case anything goes wrong."
She finished her speech and Rio couldn't help but be impressed. His plan was to find the first team he could and keep fighting until they got a scroll. Her plan sounded like it would work better in the long term; he would be the first to admit that he sucked at looking at the bigger picture. Nii-san said he got it from Kazu-nee.
"I agree," Sasuke said quietly.
His friend looked at Rio and he nodded. He was always the scout; his heightened senses, similar to the Inuzuka, meant he was hard to sneak up on. It also made him an excellent tracker which also meant he was good at avoiding people when required. People had compared it to Nii-san's sensing ability, but they were fundamentally different. Kashi-sensei liked to joke that Nii-san couldn't smell the ramen in front of him.
They set off and soon settled into a steady pace.
Rio huffed as he shoved the body into the large bush. Taking a step back, he scanned the shrubbery; he couldn't see any limbs poking out so it should be good. Someone would eventually find the body…or it would be eaten. Either way it would work itself out. He turned to the rest of his teammates.
Sakura was trying to wipe the blood out of her hair and Sasuke had just finished hiding the other bodies. It was the second day and another team had finally found them. Their hitai-ate had indicated they were from Ame and the weird umbrella one of them had used had only reinforced that conclusion.
"You know," he quirked an eyebrow at Sakura. "I didn't think you had it in you."
She sent him an annoyed look as she gave up on her attempt to clean her hair.
"They underestimated me," she rolled her eyes. "It's not hard to surprise someone who isn't expecting anything. There's a reason they went for Sasuke first."
They looked over to their last teammate and Sasuke looked up from examining the wound on his arm.
"I could have handled it," he said grumpily, although there was no heat behind it. "I got the other two."
"While they were freaking out about Sakura slitting the big guy's throat," Rio chuckled.
He knew he probably shouldn't be this nonchalant about the death of three people but he grew up with this reality. They were shinobi; they were always going to get their hands bloody at some point. Nii-san had kept him mostly shielded growing up but he'd seen a lot since he'd graduated. If they hadn't taken out the Ame team, then they would have been the ones being shoved into a bush. Maybe they didn't have to kill them but he had to admit, in the long run, it was better not to have potentially hostile opponents running around.
His mind flickered back to Wave, Haku's kind face flashing through his mind. That was what he tried to tell himself but secretly he was glad that he hadn't had to kill the Ame team himself. It was their reality, but that didn't mean he had to like it.
"They don't even have the right scroll," Sakura frowned, picking up the Ame team's Heaven scroll. "We were doing so well to avoid everyone."
"They were bound to find us eventually," Sasuke walked over to them. "You weren't much use, Rio."
"Not my problem that they decided to attack you when I was taking a leak," he huffed. "Imagine coming back and finding your teammates covered in blood."
"If we find another Konoha team, maybe we can trade if they have a spare Earth scroll," Sakura interrupted, shoving the spare into her pocket. "We should stick to the plan."
"Hn."
"What he said."
"Most impressive; I did not expect Konoha genin to be so…bloodthirsty."
Rio snapped around towards the voice and spotted a figure emerging from the edge of the clearing. He hadn't heard or smelt her at all; where did she come from? She wore a long beige tunic over a black turtleneck, with a hefty purple rope acting as a belt. Her hitai-ate had the symbol for Kusa but Rio could help the sinking feeling that there was something more to this.
A wave of killing intent rolled over the clearing and Rio was forced to his knees, gasping for breath as the panic welled up inside him. His heart sped up and he could feel the sweat pooling into his palms. He had never felt anything like this before; like if he made one wrong move he'd die on the spot. He struggled to lift his head and watched as the enemy licked her lips.
"I wanted you to entertain me more but Ame proved far more disappointing. It looks like I will have to test you myself."
She pulled out several kunai and Rio screamed inside his head for his limbs to move. He managed to look over to his teammates and share a glance with Sasuke. The Sharingan was activated and Rio nodded, still choking on the strong killing intent. As the Kusa nin let forth a barrage of kunai, Rio finally managed to move, stumbling just out of the way as the kunai landed in the spot where he had been with a loud thunk. He frantically snapped his head to his teammates and let out a shaky breath as he saw they'd managed to avoid the attack.
"W-who are you?" he yelled.
The enemy looked at him with amused brown eyes.
"Aren't you the brave one, Uzumaki Rio?"
The amusement turned sharp as she grinned.
"Let's see how the brave handle this."
Rio didn't have time to process the confusion before a massive snake burst out of the tree next to him. A shriek escaped him as he dove out of the way, narrowly avoiding being eaten. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Sasuke dancing around an identical snake but he couldn't help his friend. He had to survive his own reptile. He tried to gather his thoughts, reaching for the massive well of chakra inside of him.
"Suiton: Suidan no Jutsu!"
A large stream of water was expelled from his mouth, hitting the snake directly in the face. He kept it up until the point where he needed to take a breath; as he released it, the snake shook its head wildly.
"The eyes! Go for the eyes!"
He was already moving before Sasuke had finished speaking. He pulled out a kunai and sank it into the reptile's right eye and tried not to scream as the creature began to thrash around. He could barely hang on. He drove it in deeper, feeling something give, and suddenly the snake stopped. The breath was driven from him as the giant head hit the ground, dragging him along with it. He extracted his arm from the eye socket with a loud squelch, turning to see the other snake's head filled with kunai. As one he and Sasuke faced the Kusa nin, Sakura on her feet just behind them.
"Very unexpected," the enemy drawled, licking her lips. "I would have expected little genin to run and hide but you have decided to stand your ground. There might be hope for you yet."
Rio's eyes widened as her torso began to elongate until it resembled a snake's. She began to move towards them but paused as Sasuke brandished their scroll.
"If it's the scroll you want, I'll give it to you," he said loudly. "I'm asking you to just take it and go."
The initial tiny voice in Rio's head that protested giving away their ticket to the next round was promptly squashed by the more rational side of his brain that was still shaken from the intense killing intent. He internally prayed that the woman would take up the offer and leave them alone. He knew enough to know this was a fight they would not win.
"Giving up so easily, Sasuke?" the woman chuckled. "That's not like the Uchiha Clan I knew."
Sasuke stiffened.
"Picking on little kids? Seems beneath you, Orochimaru."
Rio knew that voice. He stared, mouth open, as Nii-san dropped down in front of them, facing the woman head on. As Nii-san turned his head slightly to smile at him, shock reverberated through Rio's entire being.
Nii-san was not wearing his mission gear or anything that Rio had seen him wear before. He wore the same plain clothes as the woman, minus the massive purple belt and his hair was loose and matted down to his waist. Bruises and small cuts covered his face and Rio had no doubt that they went below the line of the turtleneck. He was filthy with dirt and blood and whatever else covering him from head to toe, with a massive blood stain covering most of his abdomen. Rio prayed it wasn't his blood. His brilliant blue eyes still shone beneath the layers of filth but there was hollowness to his cheeks Rio really didn't like. Sweat beaded down his forehead and as he turned back to face the women, Rio could see he was favouring his right leg.
For the first time, the woman's face cracked. Her calm, amused façade faded into annoyance.
"You are not meant to be here, Uzumaki."
"Yeah, well, your minions were so chatty about your goals here that I felt like I didn't want to miss out," Nii-san's voice was cheerful but Rio hated it. It didn't sound like Nii-san at all; it was too cold. "After all, you went to such lengths to get me away from the village. I felt I should come and show you how much I appreciated that."
"You are weak," Orochimaru spat. "You cannot stop me; a fight between us would last less time than if I fought the genin."
"You wound me," Nii-san sighed dramatically, clutching his chest. "I would think I could last a little longer than that."
Rio eyed his brother suspiciously. What was his game? He was acting so carefree but Rio could see the tension lining his back. What was Nii-san doing?
Naruto kept his breathing under control as he faced the Sannin. He couldn't let the kids see how much he was hurting right now. He just had to buy time.
He had stolen the clothes of the asphyxiated Oto nin and managed to drag himself to the nearest town. Fortunately he was still in Fire Country and once he'd managed to track down some soldier pills and bandages, he'd run for Konoha as fast as his wounded body could take him. It had still taken hours longer than he would have liked and on arrival, he'd immediately pinpointed Orochimaru's chakra signature. When he found it in the Forest of Death, he went directly towards it. He'd run into Anko on the way so she should be alerting the ANBU by now. He felt the strong signatures enter the forest and let out a shaky breath.
He wouldn't be able to last long. He was frankly amazed that he had even made it here. Adrenaline, protective instincts and a small overdose of soldier pills were a hell of a combination.
"I should have had you killed," Orochimaru glared, still disguised in the visage of a Kusa nin. "My curiosity got the better of me. It is not often such a pure Uzumaki comes along, especially with such a strong sensing ability like yours. You would have been invaluable to my experiments."
A shudder ran through Naruto. He didn't even want to think about what could have happened to him if he hadn't escaped. He had to stay strong though; the kids could not see him falter and neither could the Sannin.
"Well, maybe if you'd asked nicely…" Naruto pouted.
He pointedly ignored the incredulous look from Sasuke.
"You cannot stop me, Uzumaki." Brown eyes faded into yellow slits. "I will have the Uchiha."
"You have two choices, Orochimaru," Naruto stood taller, trying not to wince at the pain that erupted from the movement. "You can try and go for Sasuke right now. I will be here to stop you; sure, I probably wouldn't last long but just long enough for the teams of ANBU to get here. They will fight and win and you will die."
He met the yellow eyes of his enemy head on.
"Or you can leave Sasuke alone and escape before the ANBU get here. I am not going to leave Konoha so your chances of getting back into the villages are practically none. You were right to get me out of the way before you tried something like this; you wouldn't have even gotten through the front gate and you know that."
Orochimaru, through his kidnapping, had acknowledged that Naruto was a threat; one big enough that he had to get him entirely out of the way. He may not win in a direct fight with the Sannin, even on a good day, but he was powerful in other ways.
Naruto could feel his legs begin to shake and as a cough worked its way up his throat, he firmly closed his mouth, only hacking slightly though sheer willpower. A drop of red still escaped his lips and he felt it run down his chin. He wouldn't even be able to slow Orochimaru down if he tried something now. He begged whatever gods were out there that he would take the bluff.
The man's gaze followed that droplet before snapping up to stare Naruto down once again. The ANBU teams raced ever closer and Naruto could feel the tension rise to breaking point. Orochimaru finally shed the disguise, his true face mostly hidden by the curtain of black, greasy hair. One yellow eye still watched him. Naruto lifted his hand to form the first seal of a fūton technique, trying to drive home the threat.
The leaves rustled in the far distance and Naruto took a defensive stance. Orochimaru held his own position for a second longer before he smirked.
"You cannot be a guardian forever, Uzumaki," he said casually. "I've claimed the excellent young shinobi in this village and if you deprive me of my prize, I will end the village of Konoha."
He turned his back and walked off, fading into a purple haze until it was as if he had never been there at all. Naruto closed his eyes and expanded his range as far as it would go. When he couldn't find the Sannin's signature he sighed heavily, sagging into himself. He felt the signatures land behind the genin and he turned, smiling at the shocked and terrified faces of his kids.
"You can continue the exam; this won't count as outside interference since no one could have expected you to face one of the Sannin," he patted Rio's head gently, fighting the light-headedness that was emerging as the adrenaline drained from his body. "An ANBU team will follow you discreetly in case Orochimaru tries again."
"Nii-san, what…?"
Naruto shook his head, silencing his little brother.
"You'll be briefed after the exam. Just focus on passing, okay?"
He took his hand off and shoved it in his pocket, trying to hide the shaking.
"Go and make me proud."
The three genin exchanged unreadable looks as one of the ANBU teams herded them from the clearing, promptly disappearing from view. Rio threw one last look over his shoulder, something lurking in those violet eyes, before he turned back, marching forward. Naruto waited until they had left the area, the shaking increasing in severity.
"Naruto-san?"
Naruto tried to focus on the blurry image of the porcelain mask, just barely able to make out the design.
"Fukuro?"
What the ANBU said next was lost, as Naruto found himself staring at the canopy above. He wasn't sure when or if he'd fallen; he hadn't felt himself hit the ground. Another mask appeared in his view, a sense of urgency in their voice. Naruto looked dopily back up at them.
In the next moment he blinked, but his eyes didn't reopen.
Rio stared into the canopy, watching the world wake up around him. He jolted as he felt a hand on his shoulder, looking up to see Sasuke sitting himself down beside him. They passed the time in silence for a while, Rio's inner turmoil preventing him from speaking.
"He's going to be okay."
He looked over at the Uchiha and despite his words, Sasuke's face was pinched.
"He has to be okay."
Rio nodded and resumed staring into the leaves. He knew Sasuke would be as affected as him if anything happened to Nii-san. He just couldn't process the image of his brother from the day before. That hadn't been a shinobi fresh back from an easy mission. They way they had talked, Nii-san had been held captive and broke free. Kazu-nee hadn't been with him either; where was he? Was he in a similar state?
No one had told him. His own brother had apparently been missing and no one had rescued him. Nii-san had to rescue himself. No one had told him.
"Hey."
He didn't look at Sasuke.
"The sooner we're done with this exam, the sooner we can go see him. Both him and Kazuya are waiting for us; probably to tell us what we could improve and how to prepare for the next one. They fuss like that."
The leaves began to rustle on the other side of the clearing where they'd made camp. Sasuke stood abruptly beside him but Rio couldn't bring himself to move. Nii-san had been captured, probably tortured, and he hadn't known. He had just been going about his life, having fun, training, while his brother was fighting to come back alive. No one had told him.
"Rio, snap the fuck out of it! Sakura, wake up!"
He finally hauled himself to his feet but there was no sense of urgency behind it. Sasuke threw a kunai as Sakura roused herself.
"What the fuck?" an annoyed voice came from the bush Sasuke had aimed at and something stirred in Rio at the sound.
"Shikamaru?"
The Nara popped his head over the bush, soon followed by his teammates. They emerged fully and walked over to them. Ino broke off from the pair, making a beeline for Sakura.
"Why are you throwing kunai at us?" Shikamaru scratched the back of head. "So damn troublesome."
"I didn't know it was you," was Sasuke's curt reply.
"Well now you know," the Nara said irritably.
"How are you guys doing?" Chouji asked quietly, munching on a bag of snacks.
"Two Heaven scrolls," Rio said dully.
This brought attention from the pair and they stared. Rio shifted uncomfortably, some of the heaviness leaving his thoughts, as he was distracted from thoughts of Nii-san and Kazu-nee.
"Shut the fuck up, Ino-pig!"
"Go die in a hole, Forehead!"
As a collective, the four boys turned to watch the squabbling girls. Rio had noticed since Sakura had changed, her and Ino's rivalry over Sasuke had switched to just general bickering. While their language and creativity had come along in leaps and bounds, anyone could tell that they had fun during these exchanges. He couldn't understand it himself; he'd once seen Ino punch another genin for insulting Sakura, only to use that same insult a minute later. Ino flicked her long, blonde ponytail over her shoulder.
"So are you guys anywhere near passing?" she asked flippantly, but her pale blue eyes were attentive.
"Actually, about that…"
All eyes turned to Shikamaru. He reached into a pouch and pulled out two scrolls, both with the Earth kanji painted on. There was a brief moment of silence.
"No way could it be that easy," Sakura said quietly and Rio scoffed.
They'd barely escaped with their lives yesterday from some random after Sasuke. He wouldn't call anything about the past two days easy. His thoughts flashed back to that image of a wounded Nii-san, but he was prevented from falling back into that train of thought by Chouji.
"So we just trade, right?"
"I guess so."
Sasuke handed over one of theirs and took the spare out of Shikamaru's hands. They respectively stored them away before Rio spoke for the first time since he'd identified Shikamaru.
"We could stick together as we go to the Tower," he suggested. "Strength in numbers and all that."
There was a round of nods but Shikamaru was still looking at him strangely. Rio moved to take point, stopping as Shikamaru followed him.
"I'll join you up front," his friend drawled.
Rio shrugged and set off, pushing his way past stray branches and leave, keeping one ear out for any approaching teams. They walked in silence for a while, Rio becoming tenser with every glance Shikamaru shot at him.
"Just fucking spit it out," he snapped.
"What's wrong?" Shikamaru answered calmly.
Rio huffed and took a few more steps, before he allowed his form to slump.
"We got attacked yesterday," he began quietly. "Some guy called Orochimaru; he wasn't meant to be in the exam. He was super strong, like stronger than anyone I've ever seen. Nii-san appeared and drove him off."
"What was Naruto doing there?" Shikamaru's gaze was sharp, his brilliant brain turning over the information. "I thought he was out on a mission."
"Yeah, he was supposed to be," Rio shrugged, kicking at a loose leaf beneath their feet. "He was hurt so bad, Shika. There was so much blood and dirt and I didn't even see all the damage. Him and Orochimaru talked like Nii-san had been held captive or something, but someone would have noticed right?"
He turned desperate eyes to Shikamaru.
"They would have told me if Nii-san and Kazu-nee went missing, right?"
The Nara went silent and Rio's gut twisted.
"Tou-san has been acting weird for the past week," his friend admitted. "I figured it was just stress from the exams or something since he's been so busy. He hasn't even touched the shogi board…"
Rio knew that Shikamaru's father and Nii-san worked closely together. They even had dinner and stuff together and last he heard, the Jounin Commander was teaching Nii-san how to play shogi, like Shikamaru did for him.
"I mentioned Naruto's name once, just to tease him that his other half was leaving him with all the work. They work together so much and jounin follow Naruto's word like it's Tou-san's."
Rio looked over to his friend.
"I've never seen him react like that," Shikamaru frowned. "He looked like I'd just stabbed him or something."
He had known. Shikamaru's father had known Nii-san was missing, captured and tortured somewhere. He hadn't told Rio.
"Anything on Kazuya-san?"
"He wasn't with Nii-san," he answered quietly. "They didn't mention him or anything."
Another silence descended on them and he jolted slightly as he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Let's just get this exam over with and you can go see him," Shikamaru said calmly, but there was a tightness around his eyes.
Rio nodded and increased his pace, the Nara for once not complaining about the exercise.
"Congratulations on making it through the second exam," the Hokage announced from the front of the room. "The next and final part of the Konoha Chunin Exams will be held a month today, in the form of a tournament. This is the last hurdle to your promotions so give it your all."
Rio glared at the village leader; he needed to go and find Nii-san and Kazu-nee. He didn't have time to waste here.
"Please see the board for your first opponent."
Rio barely glanced at it, picking up the name Hyūga Neji. There were a lot less participants that passed the second stage than he would have thought. There was no sign of the Oto team or the Kusa team; he knew what happened to the team from Ame. Some guy from Konoha had bowed out at the beginning but Rio didn't pay attention.
"We will see you back here in one month. Good luck."
Rio was about to run off when Kashi-sensei appeared.
"Rio, Sasuke, Sakura, come with me."
"Kashi-sensei, I don't have time, I have to get to…" Rio tried to argue but his teacher cut him off.
"I'm taking you to them," he said quickly and Rio's mouth snapped shut.
He nodded, immediately following his godfather to the hospital.
Fūton: Tatsumaki Torappu – Wind Release: Tornado Trap
Fūton: Shinkū – Wind Release: Vacuum
Suiton: Suidan no Jutsu – Water Release: Water Bullet Technique
Thanks for reading!
