Hey guys. This is chapter 15. Guest-questioner, you made a really good point. I know, I messed up... but, after the Chuunin exam arc, I'm planning on letting Kirito with less 'screen time' and focusing more on Asuna, Suguha and Sinon.

By the way, I don't know, but shouldn't the title give away that Kirito is gonna be the MC of focus here? I mean the idea was to have Kirito, who cannot use chakra (the normal way), wanting to protect someone but cannot become a ninja.

Regardless, I did make quite some mistakes with the proportions of focus. So yeah, lets go.

XXX

With teams 7 and 11, they were resting in the tree-cave. Sasuke was still unconscious and the girls were all tired, falling asleep.

Meanwhile, above on the trees, the team from Otogakure were looking down at the teams. Dosu sighed, "They outnumber us two to one, at this rate I don't think we can even touch the Uchiha."

Zaku nodded, "Yeah, but, they're now resting, maybe we could surprise them?"

Kin nodded, "Good idea, if we do not try, Orochimaru-sama will be pissed."

The two nodded as they jumped down. As soon as they landed, several cats jumped onto them and started to bite and scratch them.

Dosu yelled, "What the fuck?!"

Zaku screamed as the the cats started ripping his hair off and threw his mask away, biting him everywhere.

As for Kin, she was screaming her head off as the cats bit her head, arms and legs while messing up her hair, scratching her face all over with their claws.

The screams alerted the girls as Hikari quickly conjured up chains and tied the three up.

Suguha grinned and looked at Sinon, "Nice job, Sinon-chan."

The brunette smiled, "Yeah, thanks guys."

The cats stood at attention and nodded, the head cat smiled, "Of course, Sinon. We aim to please."

The archer nodded smiling, "Thank you, you can go now."

The cats nodded and vanished in a puff of smoke. The girls then turned to the three Oto gennin.

Asuna asked, "So, what should we do to the three of you?"

Kin glared at the girls, "You can let us kill the Uchiha and let us be on our way."

The Oto kunoichi was miffed and jealous of them. Compared to the group of girls in front of them, Kin was inferior in terms of looks and maybe even skill.

Sakura glared at the girl, "Why would you wanna kill him?"

Dosu shrugged, "Who knows?"

Zaku looked at them, "So, what will you do now? Kill us?"

Sinon pondered, "Well, its not forbidden. But, it'd leave a bad taste in my mouth is we just killed you here and now."

Suguha then spoke, "How about we just leave them here? I mean they did say that they'd collect those who didn't reach the tower in time once the time was up."

Kin asked with widened eyes, "You're just gonna leave us here?!"

Sakura stared at her, "Why not? I mean you said you were targetting Sasuke-kun."

Before they could continue however, a black figure landed in front of them. Kirito sighed in relief, "Okay good, you're all fine."

Hikari, Asuna, Suguha and Sinon said in surprise, "Kirito-kun?"

The swordsman grinned, "Yo, I see you've just dealt with some enemies... with some interesting ways..."

Kirito saw the scratch marks and decided not to ask before he asked, "So, did you encounter Orochimaru?"

Hikari blinked, "Orochimaru?"

Kirito nodded, "I'm here because a while ago, we encountered him, and he said something about Sasuke and you girls."

Asuna's eyes widened, "A while ago, we fought a man with a snake summon... that's Orochimaru..."

Sakura's eyes widened and she spoke, "He also bit Sasuke-kun at the neck, now he has a Sharingan-like mark."

Kirito blinked, "A Sharingan-like mark? Where is he anyways?'

Suguha pointed to the tree-cave, "In there. He's been unconscious since he got bit."

Kirito nodded and started to walk towards the tree before a huge purple chakra exploded out of the tree, sending them flying back a bit.

As the dust cleared, Sasuke could be seen standing there, purple chakra oozing out of his body, with seals all over his body.

The Uchiha grinned, "This power, it feels awesome. This is what I need to kill Itachi."

The crazed Uchiha looked out of the tree-cave and saw everyone else there. Sasuke smirked, "Hikari, with this power, will you come with me? I will promise you, we can be happy, we will reform the Uchiha clan, and you will be by my side."

Hikari narrowed her eyes at him, "He's acting weird..."

Kirito thought but didn't say, 'When is he not weird...'

Sasuke narrowed his eyes as Hikari didn't reply, "I see. Its because of him, right? If I kill him and Itachi, you will be mine, right?"

Sakura stared at the crazed Uchiha fearfully, feeling the malicious chakra, "Sasuke-kun..."

The other girls started to reach for their weapons as Sasuke walked towards them. The Uchiha smirked, "Very well, I will kill you, Kirito. I still need to try out this new power!"

Instantly, Sasuke appeared in front of Kirito and swung his fist at the swordsman. But Kirito was ready and judo flipped Sasuke into a tree.

Kirito quickly drew his swords to block another punch from the Uchiha. Sasuke growled, "I WILL KILL YOU!"

Kirito's eyes widened as Sasuke suddenly spat fireballs at him. It was only due to pure instinct that Kirito managed to dodge the fireballs by ducking while pushing Sasuke away.

Kirito thought, 'I need to knock him out. As much as I hate him, I can't kill him yet.'

Kirito sheathed his swords and chanted, "Ek skýt tuttugu smár striða, go, Wind Needles!"

Instantly, twenty barely visible wind needles formed and pierced Sasuke's limbs, especially his legs, causing him to fall to the ground.

Not giving Sasuke a chance to recover, Kirito activated his Acceleration to its fullest and appeared behind Sasuke, neck chopping him hard and knocking him out.

Kirito let out a breath, "This proves that Orochimari has got him. I need to tell Anko-san and Hokage-sama."

He turned to the two teams, "So, are you done with the scrolls?"

Sinon nodded, "Yeah... but you're an examiner... shouldn't you be... not helping?"

Kirito shook his head, "The circumstances have changed. Of course, I'll guide you to the tower, but unless its anything related to Orochimaru, I can't intervene. If someone attacks me, I won't stand still too of course."

The girls nodded and Sakura asked, "So... we're moving out now?"

Kirito nodded, "Its better to get to the tower now. You're all winded quite a bit and Orochimaru is out for Sasuke... possibly all of you too. I can't leave you all be here."

They nodded and Hikari looked at Sakura, "Can you carry Sasuke? You're not exactly combat ready now."

The pinkette nodded and picked up Sasuke, grunting a bit at his weight and her lack of physical training. Kirito blinked and asked Suguha, "Suguha-chan, can you summon birds to carry them? I think it'd be better, at this rate, Sakura will burn out before we can reach the tower."

Suguha nodded and bit her thumb, smearing her palm with the blood as she flashed through handseals, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

Instantly, three horse sized eagles appeared. The eagle in the middle asked, "Suguha-sama, what do you need of us?"

Suguha asked reluctantly, "Umm, is it okay if you give us a ride, Talon?"

The eagle hmph'd, "Of course, there are seven of you though, we can only carry two each."

Kirito then spoke, "Its fine. I can fly on my own."

The eagle raised an eyebrow before he nodded as Kirito spread his wings, "I see, very well. Do keep up with us."

Soon, Asuna and Sinon sat on one eagle, Hikari and Suguha sat on one eagle while Sakura and Sasuke sat on the final one. Kirito rose above the air as the eagles took flight.

Talon asked, "So where to?"

Suguha pointed to the tower some distance from them, "That tower."

Talon nodded, "Got it."

As they flew, they could see several gennin in the forest fighting. They also spotted Kabuto and his team fighting off two tigers while several other teams were wandering around.

Soon, they arrived at the entrance of the tower. Kirito landed as the girls got off the eagles. Suguha smiled at the birds, "Thank you, Talon."

The eagle gave a small smile and nodded, "A pleasure to help. That right boys?"

The two other eagles nodded before they returned to their realm. Kirito then spoke, "Okay, this is as far as I can bring you, get into the tower and meet me at the cafeteria. That's your hint."

He pointed at a sign before Kirito vanished in a flash of red. Hikari pouted, "He could have at least brought us in..."

Asuna sighed and went to the sign (a bit tired to rewrite the poem. So if you haven't watched Naruto or read any Naruto fics... which I doubt... go search it online). She stared at it and deadpanned, "This is Hokage-sama's work no doubt. I think I got it."

She took out the scrolls and gave one to Hikari, "I think we're supposed to open them at the same time."

The Uzumaki nodded as the two long haired girls pulled open the scrolls. Then, as soon as they unrolled the scrolls, they saw two seals that started to release smoke.

Sinon yelled, "Throw them, now!"

The two girls quickly threw the scroll to the floor as the smoke increased. The smoke quickly cleared to reveal Iruka standing there.

The Chunnin instructor grinned, "Oh, so you're the ones who summoned me. Congrats on passing the second part, I'm pretty sure you understand what that sign was talking about, right?"

Asuna nodded, "Yes, Iruka-sensei."

Sinon and Suguha just stayed silent. They understood what it meant, but they didn't want Iruka to go Full-lecture mode.

The Chunnin chuckled, "I guess I'll spare you the lectures. Come on, you can go in."

The girls nodded as Sakura hauled Sasuke into the tower. As they entered, they saw Kirito waiting for them by the door. Asuna glared lightly at him, "Kirito-kun, that was mean, ya know?"

The swordsman chuckled, "Sorry, but not bad, I mean you're not the first ones here, but you all made it in one day. Even though its evening now.".

Suguha then asked, "So, are you going to explain why are you one of the proctors?"

Kirito chuckled nervously under the stern gazes of the four girls, "Ermm, well, Hokage-sama asked me to do it, I saw no harm in closing my shop a few days for an S-rank pay. So..."

Sinon sighed, "I see. I guess it can't be helped. You're already here."

Kirito sighed in relief as the other three girls nodded before they glared at him slightly. The brunette spoke, "But, you could've at least told us."

Kirito smiled nervously, thinking of a response until Anko came to save the day. The snake user grinned and slung an arm over Sinon, "Hey, secrecy and fairness, all those shit. Don't blame him much, its Hokage-sama's work after all."

Asuna sighed, "Fine."

Kirito sighed in relief, "Sorry, I'll make it up to you. But before that, I'll bring you to your rooms. There're rooms for you to rest up for the remaining four days after all."

The girls nodded as Anko picked Sasuke up. The woman grinned, "I'll help throw this lil bastard into his room too. Lezz go."

The next day, Hikari, Kirito, Anko and Kakashi were in the Hokage's spare office in the tower.

Hiruzen spoke, "So, Orochimaru attacked your teams, right?"

Hikari nodded, "Yes, he left a seal on Sasuke's neck. I looked at it, but I still probably haven't reached that level yet."

Anko narrowed her eyes, "A cursed mark then."

Hiruzen nodded, "Yeah, Kakashi, seal the mark. We can't let him be influenced by it. I'll increase the Anbu patrols around the area in case he comes back."

Anko then spoke, "Hokage-sama, I request we stop the Chunnin Exams, or at least disqualify Sasuke."

Hiruzen shook his head, "Denied. If we stop it, he'll take this as a sign of weakness. If we disqualify Sasuke, it'll push the boy to him. We can't act recklessly."

Anko sighed and clenched her fists. The Hokage spoke, "Anko, I know you hate him. But its not the time yet. We need to see why he wants Sasuke, or any of the girls for that matter. Kirito, he did say something like that, didn't he?"

Kirito nodded, "Yeah, something about a body."

Hiruzen thought, 'That'd mean he's completed it. No, or maybe he's up to something else.'

The old Sarutobi spoke, "Then, Kakashi, go seal Sasuke's seal. Anko, Kirito, I want you two to increase the security around the tower, and tell Asuna, Suguha and Sinon to stay alert, as well as Sakura and Sasuke. Hikari, I want to speak to you in private."

The aforementioned three nodded and turned to leave the room, with Hikari in the office with the old Hokage.

Hiruzen said, "Hikari, I know you found out about your parents. You must have questions for me."

Hikari nodded and stared at him neutrally, "Of course."

Hiruzen stared at the girl as she asked, "Why did you hide it? Why did you reveal my status as a Jinchurikii instead?"

The Hokage sighed, "You should know that Minato and Kushina had a lot of enemies. After the Kyuubi attack, the village was weak. We wouldn't survive a war. If I told them about your lineage, they'd stop at nothing to kill you. But, if I told them our village had a Jinchurikii, they wouldn't dare attack us."

Hikari realized the old man was far more than the grandfather-like figure she knew. The girl glared at him, "So, you hid it, because of the village? And you revealed it to show the world you have a weapon that can destroy them?"

Hiruzen sighed, "If you put it that way, yes. But, I never saw you as a weapon, Hikari. It was required for the village's safety."

Hikari glared at him coldly, "So you used me to protect the village, while the village was having fun hurting me?"

Hiruzen looked at her, "What do you mean? The worst they did was just sell you bad food."

Hikari glared at him, "That was after I met Kirito-kun, Asuna-chan, Suguha-chan and Sinon-chan. Before that, I had no one, everyone hated me, they called me a demon. And selling me bad food is not the worst they did."

Hiruzen stayed silent, he knew she wasn't lying. He could hear it, he could see it. The girl continued, "Before I met them, once in a while, some of the villagers would pull into an alley and beat me up. I always healed from the wounds because of the Kyuubi's chakra, leaving no scars."

Hiruzen closed his eyes, not daring to look at Hikari. He knew the village did a lot of harm to her, and he had done nothing to help. It was a miracle no one had raped her, and he was thankful for that.

Hikari continued, "I don't hate them now, but at times I really wanted die. I thought my parents abandoned me because I really was a demon."

Hiruzen opened his eyes and said, "Minato and Kushina wouldn't do that."

Hikari glared at him, "Yeah, I know now. But, did I know who my parents were at that time?"

Hiruzen fell silent. The blonde continued, "I can understand why Kirito-kun didn't tell me. I can understand why Kakashi-sensei didn't tell me. But at least, they both did do their best to protect me. Hokage-sama, I saw you as a grandfather, but I guess I'm just a weapon."

Hiruzen tried to defend himself, "I never saw you as a weapon! You're like a granddaughter to me, you know that!"

Hikari snapped, "But that doesn't change the fact that you used me as a weapon! You basically told the world Konoha had the Kyuubi as a weapon!"

The girl let out a breath, "I always wanted to know who my parents were. But, Hokage-sama, you manipulated me for the village. I always respected you, but not anymore."

Hikari turned and left the office. Hiruzen sighed and thought, 'I messed up. Minato, what should I do? If she finds out Jiraiya and Tsunade are her godparents and I sent Jiraiya on a long term spy mission and lied to Tsunade about her, I'm dead.'

With Hikari, she was angry. She knew she would snap at him, but she didn't care. At the end, the Hokage just saw her as a weapon for the village, he had hid everything from her for the village. Now that she thought about it, even her parents had sacrificed themselves and her childhood for the village.

The girl clenched her fists and went back to her room to sleep and calm down.

Later, Asuna and Hikari were sitting beside in the training area. Suguha and Sinon were in the cafeteria eating and the two long haired girls didn't feel like eating.

Asuna asked, "So, what did Hokage-sama want?"

Hikari replied, "He wanted to talk about Orochimaru and Sasuke. Please just don't mention him, I don't want to talk about him now."

Asuna nodded, she guessed Hiruzen probably told her about his reasons for not telling Hikari about her parents and stuff.

The rapier user then asked, "By the way, don't you think its weird? Kirito-kun suddenly being a proctor. I mean he's not a ninja."

Hikari nodded, "And with Orochimaru here, I think something is going on."

Asuna nodded before she asked, "So, how are you doing with the Rasengan and your chains?"

Hikari smiled slightly, "I'm almost done with the Rasengan, I just need to try without the balloon. As for my chains, I'm getting the hang of it. I'm also starting level 3 for my seals."

Asuna nodded, "I see. Good then."

Hikari then asked, "What about you?"

Asuna smiled, "I'm trying to learn several water kenjutsu techniques. Yugao-sensei has given us quite some sword techniques."

Hikari nodded before Asuna spoke, "Come to think of it, since you're the Yondaime Hokage's daughter, shouldn't you have some inheritance?"

The daughter of the Fourth Hokage nodded, "I guess, I'll have to ask Kirito-kun to see if he knows."

Asuna nodded, "Okay. But we won't see him for the next three days, since he's one of the proctors."

Hikari shrugged, "Eh, I don't mind waiting."

Three days later, everyone was on the top floor of the tower with an arena. Teams 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 from Konoha were all there. Kabuto's team, Gaara's team and the Oto team had passed and they all stood there. The Jounin sensei were all standing at the side.

Hiruzen looked at the Gennin in front of him, "Congratulations for passing the second part of the test. You all did well. But, before we move on to the third part, I want to tell you about the truth of the exams."

Everyone stayed silent, those who had taken the test before like Kabuto knew what he was talking about. Hiruzen continued, "The exams are a way to let you advance in rank, but its also a simulation of war."

The gennin started to mummer among themselves as Hiruzen coughed, gaining their attention, "Let me explain. You all know about the third shinobi war. Things like hate from war just don't vanish. So we decided to use the Chunnin Exams for that. The exams are a way to show off a village's power. If you win and advance, then it shows your village is strong, and more clients will hire ninja from that village."

Hiruzen paused, allowing everyone to digest what they heard. He then continued, "You can say that the world is in a peace slash cold war situation. We're not exactly in a peaceful era, but we're not in a wartime either. Its a grey area. But that's beyond the point."

The Hokage looked at Kirito and nodded. The swordsman stepped forward, "Okay, so with that aside, we'll be having a little set of preliminary matches. Too many of you passed the second exam and since the third exam is tournament style, with an audience, it'd be too time consuming."

Kiba yelled, "But some of us just got here!"

Kirito stared at his friend, "Then if you want, drop out. You were given 5 days to get the scrolls and get to the tower. So I'll only give you all one chance, if you want to leave, leave now."

Kabuto raised his arm, "I'm out. I just got here, my chakra is low and I'm tired as hell."

Kirito nodded as Kabuto left the arena. The blacksmith then looked at the others, "Anyone else?"

Sakura looked at Sasuke who was obviously tired. The girl was about to get Kirito to let Sasuke rest but the Uchiha seemed to know what she was thinking and shook his head at her.

The pinkette sighed and nodded.

Kirito looked around before he nodded, "Fine. So, we'll be having matches at random, all single matches. We'll determine to see who fights with that."

He snapped his fingers and on cue, a huge monitor appeared on the walls. Kirito grinned as the monitor started to run through several names until it reached, Akado Yoroi vs Uchiha Sasuke.

Kirito nodded, "Okay, everyone else, go up to the stands, except the two mentioned above."

Everyone walked up, with Sakura looking worriedly at Sasuke. As they stood by the stands, Kakashi spoke, "Don't worry, Sasuke will win. They're both tired."

Hikari just stared at them. She didn't like Sasuke, but as a teammate, she still wanted him to win. The others just looked on passively.

Below in the ring, Kirito said, "Are you two ready?"

Sasuke and Yoroi both nodded, not taking their eyes off of each other. Kirito raised his arm and swung it down, "Then, HAJIME!"

Quickly Sasuke charges and gave Yoroi a hard punch. The man managed to cross his arms to block the punch but it sent him skidding a few feet back.

Yoroi smirked, "Oh, not bad."

Sasuke just stared at the man as he activated his Sharingan, now with two tomoe. The teen flashed through handseals and yelled, "Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!"

He spat out a massive fireball that charged the man. Yoroi quickly leaped away and dogdged the attack before he charged Sasuke.

Yoroi swung his fist and managed to graze Sasuke's cheek as he leaned to the side. As Sasuke regained his footing, he thought, 'What was that? It felt like I just lost some chakra...'

Yoroi smirked, "What's wrong? Lost a bit of chakra?"

Sasuke stared at the man, 'He did something to me. Just now his fist barely touched me, and I lost a bit of chakra.'

The masked man asked, "Why are you standing there?"

Sasuke didn't reply and just charged in. The Uchiha saw the man's every move and managed to judo flip the man into the ground. But at the same time, he lost some chakra whenever he touched Yoroi.

Sasuke quickly leaped away as Yoroi tried to sweeped him off his feet. The Uchiha glared at the man, "You're absorbing my chakra, aren't you?"

Yoroi chuckled, "Bingo. Everywhere I touch you, or vice versa, I can absorb chakra, but my hands work better at that."

Sasuke tch'd, 'If I lose chakra again, I might lose control.'

He could feel the seal trying to get him to use it. It was honestly tempting, but he knew better than that. Sasuke couldn't rely on power like that to beat Itachi, not if it meant losing his sanity, he still had to get Hikari for himself after all. (Or so he thinks)

Sasuke composed himself as Yoroi charged. The man sent a punch at him, but Sasuke saw it coming and gave him a cross counter that sent Yoroi flying into the wall.

Kirito raised an eyebrow at that, he vaguely remembered doing the exact same thing to Sasuke before. The others looked on, slightly impressed that the punch packed that much power.

But unfortunately, Yoroi wasn't done. The man stood up and glared at the teen. Yoroi growled, "Now you've done it."

The man sent chakra to his legs and charged, throwing a fist at Sasuke. The speed slightly surprised Sasuke and the teen instinctively raised his arms to block. That was his mistake.

The Uchiha blocked the punch easily, but he wasn't ready for what happened next. As soon as the fist connected, Sasuke lost considerably quite some chakra before Yoroi grabbed his face and pinned him to the ground, mounting him at the same time.

The man used his legs to hold the teen down while grabbing Sasuke's face, absorbing his chakra. Yoroi smirked, "How's this? I will suck you dry if you don't give up."

Sasuke struggled to push the man away but because he was constantly losing chakra, he was getting weaker every second. The teen could feel his chakra flowing out of his body every second as his efforts weakened.

As the fight went on everyone had similar thoughts, 'What the fuck? This looks straight out of a gay hentai scene...'

Sakura spoke in disbelief, "Sasuke-kun is being raped by a man..."

Hikari facepalmed while Asuna, Suguha and Sinon just sighed. Kakashi however had other thoughts, 'If this goes on, the cursed mark might activate. I hope Kirito knows what he's doing.'

Everyone had heard Sakura's comment and started to laugh. Yoroi wanted to end this quickly as he knew Orochimaru was watching somewhere and will probably kill him or laugh his ass off.

The man sighed and lessened his grip, and that was all the chance Sasuke needed. The Uchiha was furious when he heard that comment and now, he would unleash his fury upon the man.

Unknown to anyone, his cursed mark glowed slightly and Sasuke received a burst of normal chakra. The Uchiha swung his right leg and kicked Yoroi hard, his knee coincidentally crushing Yoroi's crotch.

The man yelled in pain before Sasuke quickly got up, pushing the man away before giving him a hard uppercut. Sasuke then vanished in a burst of speed and appeared under Yoroi.

Kakashi, Gai and Lee's eyes widened as they recognized the move. Lee thought, 'Kage Buyo?!'

Kakashi thought, 'He must have copied it from Lee. But, he didn't show any signs of being hit by the Omote Renge.'

Sasuke glanced at Lee for a brief second, 'I don't know what happens after this, so I'll improvise, I'll borrow your technique, Rock Lee!'

Sasuke threw a punch with his right hand but was blocked by Yoroi. However, Sasuke wasn't done. He quickly spun and kicked Yoroi upwards before he landed on the ground and jumped up high.

Sasuke gave Yoroi a series of kicks and punches as they fell. Then, right before they touched the ground, Sasuke spun and gave a devastating kick to Yoroi's gut as he yelled, "Shishi Rendan!"

The man had fallen unconscious halfway through the barrage and fell limp. Kirito saw this and spoke, "Winner, Uchiha Sasuke. Medics!"

A group of medics came and carried Yoroi away on a stretcher. The Jounin all sighed. While Sasuke's win was mostly out of luck, one of the main reasons Yoroi lost was due to him revealing his powers like a third rate villain. Though they had to admit, that barrage was quite impressive.

As Sasuke walked up to the stands, Sakura beamed, "Nice fight, Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke nodded as he sat down against the wall. Kakashi spoke, "Sasuke, are you fine?"

The Uchiha nodded, "Yeah, the mark didn't activate. I'm fine now."

Kakashi nodded as they continued to watch. Hikari didn't say anything and just nodded to the Uchiha, acknowledging his victory.

Kirito cleared his throat, "Okay, so the next set of names please."

The monitor started to go through several names until it ended with, Uzumaki Hikari vs Inuzuka Kiba.

XXX

Done. Review please.