Orochimaru wasn't one to get sentimental, but the fact that the proctor for this part of the Exam was Anko pleased him. She'd grown into such an interesting little thing, even after he'd put the curse mark on her. From a young age, she'd always been tenacious, and the fact that she was here grinning instead of buried like the others proved she hadn't lost any of that. He looked forward to breaking her eventually.

Sasuke and Kaze had separated and were now standing with their respective squads, so it was harder to keep an eye on both of them at once. He'd decided to go after Sasuke, but his eyes kept straying to Kaze. Even his teammates were odd, standing beside him with their heads bowed as they listened to Anko explain about the heaven and earth scrolls.

"Now we'll start sending you into the forest," Anko called, and Orochimaru was lucky enough to be sent in before Sasuke. For now, he'd ignore Kaze and focus entirely on Sasuke. By the time Team 7 had gotten their bearings and decided who to go after, Orochimaru's trap would be laid. His tongue writhed excitedly in his mouth as he began building up his chakra. He couldn't wait.

He didn't notice the way Kaze's eyes widened then narrowed in recognition, or the smallest spike of a familiar chakra before it was quickly hushed.


It was a relief when Team 7 finally grabbed their scroll and left the crowd behind to take to the forest, leaving the wrath of Kaze's gaze. The redhead had seemed exceptionally tense, and he kept looking at Sasuke with a warning that Sasuke couldn't quite interpret. It wasn't threatening exactly, but it was as if he were trying to tell Sasuke that danger was inevitable. Sasuke did his best to ignore the look, and had searched every genin face left to see if his rival was among them. He wasn't.

Now, a hush had fallen over the forest, and Sakura, Sasuke, and Sai were all gathered at the base of a tree to discuss their plans. Sai's powers were invaluable on a mission like this, because he could create ink monsters they could fly on and search the ground from without having to put themselves in much danger. They'd decided that was exactly what they were going to do, and they'd try to find a weaker looking team to conserve their energy for whatever the next part of the Exam would be.

They were flying over the leaves, Sasuke using his Sharingan to look for any sign of movement, when the attack came. He was on an ink beast, and then he wasn't. Suddenly, he was falling, and so were Sai and Sakura. Sakura was the first one to recover, yelling for Sai and Sasuke to stop themselves with kunai, and the three ninja took out kunai and dug them into the trees they were falling past to stop their fall.

Sakura stopped first, Sai second, and Sasuke third, landing on a branch in a crouch. He leapt up immediately as three shuriken hit the spot where he'd been a moment before. Standing on the trunk of the tree using his chakra control technique, he searched the trees until he found their attacker. It was a woman; the Grass ninja that he'd noticed staring at him creepily throughout the Exam.

"What do you want?" Sasuke called as she laughed delightedly at his reflexes. Then she released a killing intent strong enough to rival the one Kaze had released the first time Team 7 had encountered him. If he hadn't encountered something like this before, Sasuke would've been unable to move. As it was, his breath still felt heavy in his lungs, but he managed to dodge when the Grass ninja threw a few more shuriken.

"Impressive," the Grass ninja cooed as she dodged some of Sai's birds. Before she could say whatever else she was going to say, they exploded, throwing her forward until she almost hit a tree. She shook her head, then turned and looked up at Sai with snakelike eyes, her smile never leaving her face.

"Aren't you a fiery one," she giggled, and Sai's distraction was just enough for Sakura to get behind the Grass ninja and aim a fistful of dense chakra at her. The snakelike woman huffed and dodged it with an ease that shouldn't be possible, her tongue snaking out impossibly long and whipping Sakura back against a tree.

Sakura hit the tree hard, unable to slow herself in midair, and coughed up a mouthful of blood as something was damaged. Sai leapt from his perch and began running towards where Sakura was, and Sasuke joined him so they could regroup to take on the snake woman together. But the snake woman had other ideas; she made a multitude of hand signs in just a few seconds, then bit into her hand and slammed it down on the tree. There was a huge explosion, and all three genin were thrown in opposite directions as the air was filled with a thick, white cloud.

When it cleared, the Grass ninja stood on the most massive snake Sasuke had ever seen. It was the most massive animal he'd ever seen, period. The amount of chakra it must've taken to summon that was insane, and Sasuke could see in that moment that there was absolutely nothing any of the three genin could do against this one ninja. He held up the scroll his team had entrusted to him.

"If this is what you're after, I'll give it to you!" he yelled, because the explosion had sent Sakura against the tree for a second time and now she was barely conscious. Sai watched the scene from his own tree, but he didn't object with Sasuke's decision. They couldn't make it out of this battle alive.

"Oh Sasuke, silly boy, that's not what I'm after," the Grass ninja hissed, and then she reached up and pulled off her face. Or rather, the face she'd been wearing, because underneath was her real face. And it wasn't a her—it was a him. Sasuke remembered what Kaze had said when they'd been sitting together, and the name was off his lips before he could stop it.

"Orochimaru?"

The snakelike man giggled again, and coming from a man made it a hundred times more disturbing.

"I'm impressed, Sasuke," Orochimaru said, as if speaking to a child. "You've done your research."

Sai's reaction was much bigger than Sasuke had expected, for someone who shouldn't know who Orochimaru was. He reeled back, pressing his back into the tree as a look of disgust came over his face. There was something conflicted there too, as if he had to do something he didn't want to, but Sasuke didn't have time to pay attention to him. The giant snake was swaying mesmerizingly before him as if it was planning to attack at any time, and Orochimaru was watching him with almost the exact same expression as the snake. Sasuke couldn't decide who the bigger threat was.

"Well then, I don't want any interferences, so before we have our chat I'll take care of anything that could hinder it," Orochimaru said. His head swivelled impossibly around to look at Sakura, and suddenly he began to cough. It was a disgusting, wet sound, as if he were trying to bring up a fur ball or the half-digested body of some animal. Sasuke felt like he was going to be sick as something swelled up in Orochimaru's throat, and the head of a snake came out from between his lips.

The snake's mouth opened then and it puked up a sword. Orochimaru pulled the sword from the snake's mouth as if it were the most natural thing in the world to do, then threw it at Sakura. Sasuke needed to move, but at the same time he threw the sword, Orochimaru also leapt off the snake towards Sasuke, and the snake lunged towards Sai. He was planning to kill all three genin within a few seconds.

Sasuke found his hands doing the signs before his mind had caught up to what he was doing, and he cupped his hand up to his mouth to do a fireball jutsu. He knew even before he blew that it would be too late, because Orochimaru was so fast he'd be able to dodge around it in a second. It was all over. In one second, they'd all be—

There were four loud cracks, like the snapping of bones, and Orochimaru's slitlike pupils widened before his arm elongated and he grabbed a branch in front of Sasuke, jerking himself up onto it and away from the person who had just appeared on the battlefield.

A black cloak billowed in front of Sasuke's eyes, as he looked at the back of the man standing in front of him. Familiar red hair stood on end, and both of the man's arms were stretched out as if he was ready to embrace Orochimaru, or try to hold the world together. Four of his fingers were bent at unnatural angles, and odd glittery strings were visible from each of them with Sasuke's Sharingan. Sasuke followed the strings and was shocked to see Hira standing in front of Sakura, a sword through her midsection. When his eyes tracked the strings from the other hand, they landed on Hikami, whose hand was dug into the head of Orochimaru's giant snake, somehow stopping it.

"Kaze?" Sasuke whispered, not understanding what he was seeing. The fingers on Kaze's right hand twitched, and Hira reached down to pull the sword from her midsection, dropping it over the side of the tree. The fingers on Kaze's left hand twitched, and Hikami started pushing the snake away from Sai, one small step after another. There was a loud snap as one of Kaze's fingers bent until it broke, but Kaze only let out a small grunt and kept moving the hands that controlled his two teammates. Or his two… puppets?

"Y-you," Orochimaru said, his smile disappearing for the first time as Kaze looked up at him. Kaze's presence was now somehow completely overshadowing Orochimaru's, and as Sasuke watched, sweat gathered at Orochimaru's temples. "Impossible. How are you here?"

"Orochimaruuuuu," Kaze snarled, but his voice had completely changed. It was rougher than Sasuke had ever heard it, and it was dripping with darkness and malice beyond comprehension. Sasuke started trembling, and as he watched, Kaze's face started to crack. What the hell was going on? The bigger the cracks grew, the more concerned Orochimaru got, and he leapt away as if Kaze could hit him from the huge length of space between them.

With one final pull that broke all the bones in his left fingers, Kaze's puppet threw the snake away. Then Kaze's entire arm shattered, as if it were made of glass. Or wood. Beneath the wood, there was another, smaller arm, and Sasuke felt like he was breathing in ice. Black nails and a wrapped hand had appeared, more tanned than Kaze's paled skin.

"You can't," Orochimaru snapped, but he was beginning to sound desperate as Kaze broke all the fingers in his right hand to send Hira after the snake, ripping through the delicate skin of its underbelly and digging deeper and deeper until the snake let out a long, pained hiss and disappeared. With his fingers broken and his puppets useless, Kaze closed his fists and the strings abruptly cut off, leaving Hira and Hikami flopping down where they stood.

"Sasuke," Kaze growled as more pieces of his face started to crack. Shining through the cracks was… chakra? It was impossible, that there was such a thing as visible chakra, but that's what the red, dense thing leaking from Kaze's face was. "Take your squad and leave."

There was so much malevolence under those words that Sasuke could do nothing more than obey, scrambling up to get out from behind Kaze and go to Sakura. Orochimaru watched him in frustration, but the snake man didn't even try to go for him. He got to Sakura and scooped her up, then turned to see Sai making his way over. Holding Sakura close to his chest, Sasuke watched as Orochimaru and Kaze squared off.

"Little jinchuuriki," Orochimaru spat as the sweat on his temple began to run down his face. Kaze crouched, his back arching as he did so, and his entire body shattered around him. Splinters of wood went in all directions, and the body that had once belonged to Kaze was no more. Kaze's face was the last to break, the chakra-infused carving falling away to reveal a familiar face.

Sasuke suddenly understood everything. The tapping of the fingers on the desk, the reason 'Hey, you' had sounded familiar, the broken fingers, what Kiba had meant by disgusting—Hikami and Hira were nothing more than dead bodies modified into puppets. And Kaze was no one other than the boy Sasuke had chosen to become the rival of, the one he'd spent the day training and trading banter with.

"You're—" Sasuke began, but then Sai was there, grabbing Sasuke's arm and urging him to bring Sakura and leave. As Sasuke watched, the red chakra bubbled even denser around his trainer, and it seemed that actual tails of red chakra were growing from his body. Blue eyes were overtaken by red, friendly pupils turning into catlike slits, broken fingers cracking painfully as the nails on them elongated into claws.

"We need to leave now," Sai yelled into Sasuke's ear as Sasuke watched the horrific scene, unable to look away. Kaze—if that was even his real name—was transforming into something terrifying. His face had been broken once, and Sasuke had thought the face under it was real, but even this one was disappearing. Skin was bubbling away under chakra, burning to reveal red underneath it. When Kaze spoke next, it wasn't a real word. It was a wordless howl that carried years of pain, decades of rage, horror, and untold tortures. It was hatred made sound, and Kaze was the personification of that sound. Except he wasn't a person. He was a monster.

"Will you let Sakura die out of curiosity?" Sai yelled, and Sasuke finally dragged his eyes away from the scene long enough to look Sai in the eye. Sai was terrified, his pupils engulfing his dark eyes and trembling out of white skin. With one teammate scared out of his wits and the other unconscious, Sasuke had no choice but to leave Kaze behind. He shook his head quickly and let Sai lead him away from a battle that was beyond the level of a Hokage.


Sai didn't know what to think anymore. Danzo had given him the mission of watching Sasuke to determine how strong he was, then reporting it back. Sai had been doing the mission, and after learning that Sasuke could awaken the Sharingan, Danzo had told Sai his real intentions. Danzo had allied with Orochimaru and had been feeding the snake man information so Orochimaru could make a decision about whether or not he wanted Sasuke's body. In return, Orochimaru was going to try and figure out a way to clone Uchiha eyes to give to Danzo.

Sai's new mission was to make sure Orochimaru was successful. He hadn't questioned Danzo when he'd been the mission, but he'd questioned himself ever since. Sasuke had become more than just a mission to him now, and so had Sakura. Somehow, risking his life alongside the two of them had made him form bonds with them. He knew he should've done something to distract Kaze so Orochimaru could place a curse mark on Sasuke, but he was worried about Sakura and he couldn't imagine betraying Sasuke at that moment. In fact, he couldn't imagine ever betraying one of them now.

"Sakura," Sasuke was saying softly now, and Sai joined him to watch the kunoichi sit up, looking annoyed that she'd been knocked out. It wasn't like there was anything she could've done though; even Sai's skills would've been useless against one of the Sannin. Sasuke explained what had happened in a low voice, and Sakura looked a little shell shocked.

"Kaze saved us?" she asked, and Sai couldn't help but share her surprise. Sasuke closed his eyes, inhaling deeply, then nodded.

"I have to tell you both something," Sasuke said, and the three of them sat under a leafy canopy as Sasuke told them everything that had happened in the Land of the Waves. Even with all of his underground knowledge, Sai still couldn't figure out who Kaze was. He didn't sound like anyone Danzo had ever mentioned, but the Root should have knowledge of all shinobi with powers like that.

Sai sighed, knowing that he needed to make a decision now. Betray his team, or betray Danzo. He'd spent the majority of his childhood trying to live up to Danzo's expectations, always with the feeling that somehow he couldn't. Now he understood why; he couldn't completely rid himself of emotions.

"I also have something to confess," Sai said quietly, and Sakura and Sasuke gave him their undivided attention. He told them everything—his betrayal, Danzo's orders, and who Orochimaru was. When he was finished, Sasuke's eyes were tight with anger and Sakura looked like she was going to hit someone. Sai bowed his head, accepting whatever judgements they'd lay on him.

"When this is over, I'm gunna kill Danzo," Sakura growled, smacking her fist into her palm.

"Not by yourself," Sasuke answered, his eyes glinting crimson. "We'll do it together."

"Aren't you—aren't you angry with me?" Sai asked, surprised. This wasn't the reaction he'd been expecting; he'd expected them to leave him there and continue on without him. To call him a multitude of rude things then never speak to him again. He was struck with the odd feeling he always got when he didn't understand human emotions, a feeling he got less and less now.

"Why? It isn't like you told him something the rest of the village doesn't know already," Sasuke muttered with a shrug. "Besides feeding him obvious information, you haven't actually done anything really bad."

"Yeah, it's that asshole who's in the wrong!" Sakura yelled, getting fired up. "Taking children and manipulating them to his ends, who does he think he is?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes, but Sai was truly touched. People, bonds, emotions… they weren't so bad, after all.

BOOM.

The explosion rocked the entire forest, throwing everyone to the ground and shaking the trees for miles. Sai could feel the aftereffects chattering through his teeth, and his hearing seemed dulled, like the explosion had damaged his eardrums. He brought his hands up to his ears and found wet, pulling his hand away to see his fingertips stained with red. He looked up to see Sakura and Sasuke looking dazed, crimson trails also trickling from their ears. When he turned, he could barely believe what he was seeing.

Besides a small copse of charred trees in front of them, the landscape had been completely flattened back the way they'd left Orochimaru and Kaze. Sasuke struggled to his feet, his mouth opening and moving, but Sai couldn't hear what he was saying, and after a moment, Sasuke touched his throat in confusion as if wondering why there were no sounds coming out.

Sakura pointed to her ears and shook her head, and the other two understood; their hearing was too damaged right now. Sasuke looked annoyed, but he grabbed their arms and started physically dragging them towards where the explosion had just happened. Sai decided Sasuke was completely out of his mind from the blast and shook his head vigorously, but Sasuke angrily mouthed words, forcing Sai to stop and read his lips.

He saved our lives. We should help him.

How could we help him? Sai mouthed back, a high-pitched ringing beginning in his head, bringing muted sounds with it. They're too strong.

We have to try.

Sai didn't understand Sasuke's obsession with Kaze and what being 'rivals' really meant, but if this was that important he supposed he'd go along with it. Sakura mouthed He's crazy at Sai, and Sai nodded but shrugged to say What can we do?

Sounds were coming back more rapidly now, making Sai dizzy, but he stumbled after Sasuke regardless. The ground beneath their feet was charred, but there were still some recognizable stains and gouges in the earth. Splashes of blood were everywhere, and claw marks were raked into the ground like someone had been dragged.

Team 7 struggled on, leaning on each other so they could still stand to make it to the center of the crater that had been created. The battle was already over, but the aftermath they found had Sakura pressing her hand against her mouth to hold back vomit, and bile rising in Sai's throat. He looked at Sasuke, the one who'd wanted to see Kaze in the first place.

Sasuke shoved Sai and Sakura away before Sai could see his expression, stumbling and tripping over the uneven ground then crawling the rest of the way to kneel beside his rival. His rival who was no longer a person anymore. Heat radiated off the thing that lay there, and six massive tails of black and red thrashed as it opened its mouth and let out a horrifying roar.

"Sasuke, get back!" Sai hissed, his voice hoarse, but Sasuke didn't seem to hear him. The thing writhing on the ground suddenly flipped over and grabbed Sasuke by the throat pulling him close and screaming wordlessly into his face. Sasuke gasped, then gripped the thing's hand, looking it steadily in the eyes. Slowly, Sasuke's Sharingan rose to tinge his eyes red, and everything paused.