Tale of the Setting Sun
Chapter 33: "Evening Moon"
As the various genin teams were herded to their assigned gates, Team Ajisai found themselves starting the second exam at Gate 3, putting them deep in the northeastern sector of the exam site. According to their team's sensor, Suiren, that also put them well within striking range of the monster from Sand.
"You're sure that's the jinchūriki Tenshi-sama was talking about?" Ajisai asked for the fifth time that day.
"Who else could the Lady have been speaking of?" said Suiren. "It was so monstrous, the moment I felt it, I almost threw up."
Haku resisted the urge to scowl, forcibly maintaining his usual serene smile: 'Almost' was an understatement. The oily stain on his sash from when she'd dribbled on him could attest to that.
Suiren cast him an anxious look. "Given his level of chakra, I don't know if even Haku could win in a one-on-one against him..."
Haku wasn't a sensor, but he thought he could have figured that much out for himself. He had gotten a passing look at the Suna genin in question during the first exam, and his immediate impression was that with his bloodshot eyes and uncontrolled bloodthirst, the shinobi looked downright unhinged. While Haku was confident in his ability to hold his own in a confrontation, he was not quite willing to stake his life on it.
"It's a good thing, then, that Tenshi-sama's orders were merely to bring back information," he replied neutrally.
Ajisai's face cleared, as it tended to do whenever the Lady's name was mentioned. "That's right. For now, our focus is on passing the second round."
According to the second exam proctor, this would not just be a test of their offensive abilities, but also of their survival and endurance skills. The exam had a time limit of five days, and required at least two members of your team to reach the tower in the center of the forest while in possession of both the Heaven and Earth scrolls.
It was a simple exam, where the weak would be weeded out and the strong would prevail. While Haku's teammates were not exactly prodigies, they were more than capable of carrying their own weight, and he had little doubt they would pass.
Unfortunately, it seemed that the exam had other plans for Team Ajisai.
Just as they had divided up their roles, Suiren suddenly stiffened, her face turning ashen. "There's something coming! Run - " She broke off as with a flash, a thin line of red appeared on her neck—and then her head twisting at an unnatural angle, she crumpled to the ground.
Haku had already started to move the moment he saw the look of horror on Suiren's face. Just as he dodged backwards, he managed to catch sight of a long and narrow blade slashing right through where his head had been.
"Suiren!" he heard Ajisai cry out in anguish. Good—she had survived, too.
No longer caught under the element of surprise, it was a simple matter for Haku to detect the shrill sound of metal flying through air. Easily deflecting the kunai with his senbon, he backed up against Ajisai, who had drawn out her armamentarium of sealing tags.
"Not bad," an unfamiliar voice breathed. It belonged to a genin that had suddenly appeared, dangling upside down on a nearby tree branch. His long black hair hung to the ground, revealing his Kusa hitai-ate. "Now… Why don't you show me what else you've got?"
Haku raised his left hand in a seal. "Gladly."
The air rapidly dropped in temperature and the forest around them filled with thick white mist. Though he didn't wear the hunter-nin mask anymore, Haku could feel his emotions receding, and his face glazed over. It felt more natural that way, than the smiles he always wore in public. It told him that he hadn't forgotten his roots.
"Hyōton: Hyōsō (Ice Release: Ice Spears)."
In an instant, ice crackled out of midair into deadly spears that exploded into the tree the genin hung from. With inhuman speed, the genin leaped away, letting loose a ghostly laugh of delight. Not to be forgotten, Ajisai jumped in, sending a barrage of summoned shuriken after the genin.
However, the genin was proving himself slippier than he'd appeared, as with apparent ease, he weaved between their combined attacks. Eyes narrowing, Haku sped up and matched the shinobi's movements.
In a match of speed, he would not lose.
Mother was screaming again.
Gripping his head, feeling as though it would split in his agony, Gaara staggered. His sister shouted his name, but he shoved her aside.
RIP HER HEAD OFF, CRUSH HER INTO PIECES, GIVE ME BLOOD, FEED HER TO ME, SLICE HER UP, RIP OUT HER HEART, GIVE ME BLOOD, GIVE ME BLOOD -
The screaming always began at night. It was strongest when the moon took up the entire sky. Gaara knew that a single moment's lapse of consciousness would lead to Mother taking over his body, and he couldn't let that happen. He wasn't sure why, but he knew he had to stay alert.
When its blood began to boil, and he felt his eyes starting to roll back, Gaara knew he had to do something to appease it. If he didn't, he would implode.
RIP HER BODY APART, CRUSH HER INNARDS, BLOOD, GIVE ME BLOOD -
It must've been the fault of the full moon, but Mother had not been satiated by the three Gaara had killed earlier that day. He inhaled, looking out at the world through a red haze.
His sister—currently shouting something indiscernible at him—was the closest to Gaara, but he moved on; as annoying as she was, he couldn't kill her. That left their other teammate—the girl, whose name he still didn't know.
There was no point, when he always ended up killing them.
GIVE ME BLOOD, I CAN'T TAKE IT, CRUSH, SLAUGHTER, KILL -
"Don't worry, Mother," he snarled, his voice twisting gutturally in his throat. "I'll get you what you want soon enough."
At his bidding, his sand rose out of his gourd.
The spy he had planted in Amegakure had not been lying in his reports when it came to the mysterious boy.
It was with increasing delight that Orochimaru watched the battle unfold before his eyes. The boy's every movement, in its speed and gracefulness, was a work of art; the way he effortlessly obliterated their surroundings with cold, single-minded efficiency sent a shiver tingling down his spine. Given the way he wielded ice as though it was an extension of his body, it must have been a powerful kekkei genkai.
Best of all, however, was his face.
A host candidate could have had the rarest kekkei genkai in the entire world; if the face was not to Orochimaru's liking, he wouldn't have given it a second glance -
Cutting short his internal monologue, Orochimaru leaped away from a barrage of water needles, each one as deadly as a blade. Despite his efforts, one cut through his cheek, shredding the skin of his borrowed face. He could feel the cold air brush against his actual host body's flesh, and he let out a hiss, half pain, half pleasure.
This boy made coming back to this pathetic village all the more worthwhile, even if the Uchiha boy was off-limits.
Making up his mind, Orochimaru decided it was time to stop playing with his food. Dropping low to the ground, his neck elongated, and his head shot forward through the air. Before the boy could react, he bit his neck, leaving behind a small piece of himself—his cursed seal. Drawing back, he tasted the blood in his mouth, and felt satisfaction spread like wildfire through his body.
Oh, this boy would serve very well as his next host.
"Come find me when your own strength can take you no further," he hissed.
As the boy fell to his knees, screaming, Orochimaru disappeared.
Given the lethal nature of the second exam and the stage that it took place in, Sakura had been more than prepared to see the dead bodies that would inevitably crop up. As Izumo and Kotetsu made the report, however, the sight before her eyes made even her legendarily tough stomach turn.
"Judging from their belongings and the papers we found, they were all shinobi from the Hidden Grass, and were registered to take part in the chūnin exams. And as you can see… their features are completely gone… the faces as smooth as if they'd been melted away."
"Show me the photos from the dead shinobis' I.D."
"At once."
Sakura scanned the photos, her brow furrowed in thought. She could only vaguely recall the faces from the crowd of genin that'd lined up for their consent forms and scrolls. It was difficult to say whether this team had been killed before or after the exam had started—and what kind of ninjutsu could do this to the bodies?
"Izumo and Kotetsu, please report what's happened to the Lord Third," she instructed, before turning to her teammate, who was eyeing the bodies in an appalled but curious sort of way. "Menma, review whatever security footage we have within the vicinity for me. I want to know what exactly happened here."
With her orders, the three chūnin disappeared, leaving Sakura alone to grimly regard the forest. Something about the faceless bodies at her feet had her wondering what other horrors could possibly be occurring in there, and the words she'd uttered sarcastically to herself earlier came to mind:
And if thou gaze long into an abyss the abyss will also gaze into thee.
Their eyes had met—Karin was sure of it. Naruto had seen her, and recognized her. That had to have been what had happened, because otherwise, she would have been nearly completely drained of her chakra and thrown against the side of their makeshift shelter for no good reason.
As predicted, Burami and Kazami hadn't taken it well when she suddenly stopped and told them she had lost track of the chakra. They hadn't been able to catch sight of the ninja that blitzed past them, and were still under the impression it was Shiore's ghost that they'd been chasing.
Karin wasn't stupid. She didn't tell them that Shiore was long dead. Instead, she let them bite her arms and guzzle down her chakra, before snoring away on a full stomach while she kept watch.
It was a full moon; her whole body ached. And yet, somehow, the light seemed to ease the aching in her chest just a little bit.
As the first day of the exams drew to a close, an ANBU black op approached Naruto and traded off with him for the night: "The Lord Third apologizes for putting you to work so soon after your return, and bids that you get some rest before resuming duties in the morning."
Both he and Naruto knew that he would be leaving his clones overnight, but he obligingly inclined his head before leaving the forest.
It had been quite some time since he'd returned home. Stepping inside his apartment, Naruto turned on the light. Flickering once, and then twice, it turned on, illuminating the area in a stark, fluorescent light.
The first thing Naruto noticed was that someone must have recently cleaned it, for instead of the thick layers of dust he'd been expecting, it was spotless and smelled vaguely of detergent. For a split second, he wondered whether Kakashi could have had the foresight to clean it beforehand for him… but the very thought of the jōnin even picking up a mop was so ridiculous, Naruto dismissed it outright.
More likely, the Hokage had gotten it cleaned in order to curry some favor or to invoke whatever feelings of nostalgia Naruto may have had for the village.
Unfortunately, if such shrewd calculations had indeed been at play, they may not have been entirely off the mark.
In the three years since he had last been there, the space seemed smaller than he remembered. He knew, however, that the only thing that had changed was himself.
His apartment had always been plainly furnished, with little to no personal effects. The few items he'd once valued—his tantō, his hitai-ate—he'd always kept on himself. And yet, here and there, from the markings of use and wear, he could see bits of his past flash through his mind.
There, that armchair—that was where Kakashi had once preferred to sit in their discussions of chakra application, and there was a resultant dent in the cushion from the constant use.
There, that crack in the wall by the entryway—that was from all the times Rai had slammed the door open when Naruto didn't answer on the first knock.
And there, in the kitchen...it was hidden away, but Naruto knew that if he opened the first drawer to the right of the sink, he would find the waxy stubs of eleven candles.
In a way, it felt as though his apartment had been frozen in time, waiting for him to return. But now that he finally had, he almost felt like an intruder, as though he was not quite the Naruto the space had been waiting for.
Silently, Naruto looked outside his window. Somewhere in the neighborhood, a lone dog whined.
All of a sudden, a sharp knock rapped at his front door—and at the same time, memories of one of his shadow clones began to flash through his mind.
He made for the door, simultaneously reviewing the information the clone had obtained. To his disappointment, there wasn't much he didn't already know, as all it confirmed was that the Hidden Rock was participating in the exams for less than amicable reasons. Though it was nothing the Hokage wouldn't already be fully aware of, he made a mental note to send along a messenger clone later on.
The door swung open to reveal yet another familiar face.
"...Sasuke," said Naruto, not entirely surprised, but still taken aback. "What brings you here?"
Though they had once helped the other put away his futon in Wave country, Naruto could not for the life of him remember ever having a proper conversation with Sasuke. All he really knew about Sasuke was that he was the lone survivor of the infamous Uchiha clan, and that Kakashi seemed to hold him in high regard.
For his part, Sasuke seemed rather confused himself as to what he was doing there outside of Naruto's apartment. "I...had some questions regarding your journey. About what you found, out there."
Naruto paused, and then stepped back. "Come on in."
He could have turned him away, and the faint look of surprise on Sasuke's face as he crossed over the threshold suggested that had been his expected outcome.
While that may have been the case three years ago, after everything that had happened, the sanctity of his private quarters no longer seemed quite so important to Naruto.
He couldn't even feel the entire right side of his body anymore, but Kakashi was still pushing at the boulder in a futile attempt to roll it away.
"Don't...it's okay, Kakashi. I don't think… I can make it," he mumbled, before coughing out blood.
"Obito!" he heard Rin cry out.
Something about that seemed to break Kakashi, who stopped, and fell to his knees. "Dammit! If… if only I'd listened to you from the start and we'd come to save Rin, this never would've happened!" His voice broke into a raw cry. "So what if I'm a captain? So what if I made jōnin?!"
Kakashi's words cut through the dense fog that had become Obito's mind, and with his last fleetingly cohesive thoughts, he made his decision. "Oh yeah… I had forgotten. I was the only one who didn't give you a gift for becoming a jōnin, Kakashi. I was wondering what to give you…and I just had a thought." It was getting harder and harder for Obito to talk, but somehow, he pushed through. "I'm giving you...my Sharingan. Whatever the village may say...Kakashi, you are…a great jōnin."
His lone eye visible through the mask flew open. Breathing hard, Tobi sat up.
It was dark in the hideout, and as his breathing evened, he could make out the dark outlines of the various Sound operatives scattered throughout the cave. Near the entrance, the pair on guard duty glanced at him before returning to their game of cards.
Putting some distance between himself and the hideout, Tobi eventually found himself at the edge of a cliff. He exhaled, and looked up at the sky.
It had been a long time since he had last seen that dream.
The night was still, and the moon was full.
A/N: Another transitional type chapter. Things are gonna get real crazy, real soon though.
Multiple people have been commenting on this, and I wanted to clear something up. Just because Karin is getting more focus in recent chapters doesn't mean this story is shifting genre to romance (definitely not) or that she's going to be Naruto's life partner (no comment). I'm not going to suddenly shoehorn a ship into a story that has no place for it, so…..don't worry.
Thanks for reading and commenting, and another big thanks to my beta, blueandgold. May she eventually write her own stories. (Namu.)