(Twin1 scurries into view with a podium, plants it in centre stage, then scurries off again. She returns a couple of seconds later with a bunch of cords and begins to attach them to the mike set into the stand, seemingly at random. Someone hits her from under the stage, rearranges the cords, then drops back out of sight, dragging Twin1 with him.)
(Twin2 walks onto the stage, to surprised applause, and settles a handful of notes on the podium.)
Twin2: Well, people, I seem to have been getting a lot of questions – only it's mostly the same questions, over and over, and some of them have difficult answers – so I called up this meeting to explain them briefly. If you feel you have an acceptable knowledge of the situation, feel free to skip this and go straight to the story.
Now, the most common question: How was Naruto blinded?
This is important to the plot, and I've been feeding you hints already. Don't worry, it WILL be fully revealed later on, but it's going to be a bit of a wait. In the meantime, guys, have a little faith. You've stuck with me this far, haven't you?
Why has no one figured out Naruto is blind? Don't his eyes and mannerisms give him away?
Okay, that is a very legitimate question, one that took me ages to sort out, and it's not gonna be touched on for a while (or even very well) so I'll explain it straight.
He's been trained to mimic 'normal' gestures, which camouflages the less-than-normal ones, and though his eyes do look different, he knows and hides the lack of reaction. (Yay for Itachi.) In canon, Naruto usually smiles with his eyes closed. I was pulling from that - and yes, I know using canon as a basis for this seems like a bad idea - and also from the fact that people see what they expect to see. Plus, Naruto's not on his own - Sasuke helps, and Itachi made him practise, so he's got a little bit of an edge.
And for the record, Kakashi HAS noticed something's wrong, he's just drawing the wrong conclusions. Because of Naruto's obvious independence, he rules out the 'blind' theory straight away, and goes looking in the wrong places.
Will Naruto ever regain his sight? How?
Look, can we just shove all plot-related questions off to moulder in a corner? I'm working on it, dammit.
Those who are worried about Super!Naruto, too competent, etc, please remember he's got Sasuke covering his tracks and a lucky streak the size of Tsunade's – just in the opposite direction. Those of you complaining about Naruto's incompetence, he's blind.
Oh, and one last thing before I go – why did Naruto not tell, and continues to not tell, anyone about his blindness?
HE'S TWELVE.
Thankyou. Have a nice chapter.
(Twin2 bows and leaves the stage; Twin1 struggles with the guy under the stage for a moment. She wins, and escapes with the podium, dragging the cords behind it.)
Chapter Thirteen: A Test of Nerve
I woke up in a warm, soft bed that was definitely not the lump of stone in my apartment or the grass of the training fields I occasionally zonked out in. Had I stayed over at Sasuke's house or something…?
No, we were midway through the Chuunin Exams. We were in the tower in the centre, and would be staying here, recuperating, until the exam finished, in… three days' time, including today.
I smiled slightly, and sat up, wondering what time it was. Sakura was still asleep, in a bed across the room, and Sasuke's light breathing came from above me – must be a bunk bed.
I yawned, and then swung myself off the bed and stood up. A mistake, I discovered, as strained, exhausted muscles took my weight for half a second and then collapsed. I winced as I crumpled to the floor heavily, narrowly missing a new head injury, my limbs stiff from the violent exertions of the last few days. Now, most people would expect to be rather stiff and sore, but not me. The Kyuubi generally doesn't tolerate any form of injury. Which meant whatever Orochi-freak had done to my system was serious.
"You okay?" Sasuke's voice made me twitch, and with a rustle of paper, I realised he'd been reading.
"Yeah…" I slowly stood up and backed onto the bed carefully, falling onto it with a soft thump. "Just stiff."
There was a frown projected through a slight elevation in his faintly quicker breathing. "What about…"
"Orochi-freak did something funny to me, and now the furball's gone quiet. I can't touch his chakra, he hasn't even growled in days, the killer intent has vanished, hell, even – y'know, I think snake-guy may have put another seal on. Sure felt like one; damn, those things hurt."
Sasuke was quiet for a moment, before he asked, "So what are you going to do?"
I shrugged. "Rest for the day, get ready for part three, make some more poison tags, work on the freeze tags, track down that formula for the Leaf Explosion 'cos that was a cool bang when it went off… oh, and find a few scrolls on making smoke distractions – I've got a few ideas on making my own."
Sasuke gave a long-suffering sigh. "I meant the seal, you idiot."
I laughed a little at his exasperated elaboration, but quieted quickly. "I can't do anything about it on my own – this thing has messed up my system, made my chakra go weird. I could probably release it on my own – I know enough about sealing to maybe be able to, I could figure it out – but I can't risk messing with the fox's seal. One flare at the wrong time and I could rip myself apart."
The bed above me creaked as Sasuke shifted his weight uneasily. "If your chakra's not cooperating how will you fight?"
"I'll be fine as long as the jutsu doesn't need precision," I explained. "A flare in the middle of, say, Kage Bunshin would just create an extra dozen or so."
"Or they could come out as random mutant freaks like your normal bunshin, but that's beside the point."
I tilted my head upwards in a combination of horror and astonishment, surprised Sasuke would say that aloud with Sakura in the room – would speak with her in the room – but then again, she was currently asleep. "That doesn't happen, Sasuke."
"How'd'you know?" he argued.
"Sasuke, I've had random flares in the middle of that jutsu often enough to know: that won't happen. It's just the nature of Kage Bunshin."
"Che. If you say so. Watch your back while you're fighting, though – without controllable chakra you'd be at a major disadvantage." My friend sounded vaguely anxious, but he didn't try to talk me out of it. I smiled. Sasuke was the best friend you could ask for, once you chipped your way through the walls of ice that guarded his heart.
I'd gotten lucky. I was already through before he could pull those walls up.
"Don't worry. I'll be careful."
"Are you just saying that to make me feel better, or do you actually mean that you'll be careful?"
I sighed faintly, smiling just a little, and repeated, "Don't worry. I never go back on my word."
Sasuke breathed out in relief, and then pushed himself off the top bunk, landing lightly beside my bed and touching my arm. "Come on, then. I'll take you to the library to look for your scrolls."
"There's a library in here?" I raised an eyebrow at the thought.
"Yeah." Sasuke put my hand on his arm and started to move, the door sliding open and then closing again with a faint screech as we began to walk down the corridors. "Apparently some jounin like to train here, so there's a small library in the tower, although I was warned not to expect much – and to expect it to be a mess."
I shrugged, instead beginning to refocus my dulled, tired senses, letting the faint tickle of foreign chakras pinpoint a dozen or so other people, maybe half of them vaguely familiar.
Another door hissed open, the sound sharp to my concentrated mind, the metal slipping to the left, the lock not quite catching properly, and I then sneezed, hit with the heavy, thick scent of dust and something else I so did not want to identify. I coughed slightly, hearing Sasuke rasping beside me and covered my mouth with my arm. "Kami, when did they last dust in here?" I choked out.
Sasuke wheezed and spluttered, obviously not enjoying having his airways blocked with cloying particles of dust as he gasped out, "Wait here, I'll see if I can dig up some trap scrolls…"
"Teme!" I grumbled, but he was already gone, and I leaned against the wall for support while I listened to him shuffling through the dusty room, papers rustling sporadically as he went through whatever shelves there were. I sneezed twice more, and I could hear Sasuke muttering murder under his breath, in between hacking coughs.
About ten minutes later a pair of dirty-feeling scrolls was shoved into my hand, and my friend gasped, "Let's go, already."
Just a little while later, I sat on my bed, running my fingers over the first scroll, reading the inked text and scowling whenever the dust got too thick to sense the ink through it. I had a cloth beside me that was being used to wipe the paper clean whenever that happened, but it was still annoying. Sasuke had gone back to reading his book, still coughing under his breath every now and then.
"Hey, Naruto, when Sakura wakes up… you'll have to put the scrolls away." At my indignant noise of complaint Sasuke continued, "Dobe, blind people can't read. I personally have no idea how you managed to learn to do it."
"Ink sensing is kind of hard," I admitted, "but then I'll be bored!"
"Would you rather be bored or found out?"
That harsh comment made me shut up, and I went back to reading on the production of smoke bombs with a scowl. The trouble with those was that the smoke was usually traceable; you couldn't use them in assassinations or you could give away your supplier and then get it tracked back to you. Plus, you yourself could get directly tracked if you were sloppy – the smoke clung to hair and clothing, a dangerous scent trail for a decent tracker to follow. My frown melted away as I thought, reading the scroll slowly. I'd never had it happen to me, but I'd read of an ANBU team tracking down a missing-nin that way. If there were hunter teams good enough to do that, then smoke bombs were only good for low-level missions. What you really needed was untraceable smoke…
I frowned crossly. But that wasn't possible. Smoke bombs were obvious distractions. They were basically made to be traced.
Sakura stirred, and I shot a scowl at the bed above me before tucking the two scrolls we had borrowed into my bag and leaning against the wall, wishing I could at least look through my sealing notebook – I wanted to double check what had made that one freeze tag go blizzard-style. At the moment all I had was guesswork. I was going to be so bored.
Bang! Smack! CRASH!
"Dogbreath's here," Sasuke announced as he turned a page, somewhat unnecessarily.
"I noticed," I grumbled, as I sat up from the floor, where I'd tumbled in fright at the minor catastrophe happening just outside the door. "Oi, dogbreath, go take a shower! You reek, more than usual, and that's really saying something!"
"Naruto! You made it after all!" Kiba shouted, ignoring the shower quip. "Ha, but we got here before you! Guess we're the better team this time around!"
"Yes, well, we ran into a spot of trouble," Sasuke said darkly, snapping his book shut. He knew he wouldn't be getting much reading in after this.
"HaHA! We – holy hell, Naruto, what happened to you?" Kiba sounded horrified.
I was thoroughly confused. "I fell off the bed when you ran into the door, moron."
"Not that! I meant – I meant, you know!" His clothes flapped – he was obviously making some violent gesture that I couldn't see. I glanced up at Sasuke for clarification, and he sighed.
"Your eyes, dobe."
"Oh, that." I grinned sheepishly. "Yeah, there was this nutjob called Orochimaru in the forest… he came after us and tried to cut me in half. I didn't dodge him quite fast enough, and he got my eyes instead of my heart or neck. Kind of a pain – he took me and teme out and we barely got away. Stupid bastard, it hurt, too!"
"Geez, that's… that's too bad," Kiba muttered. A heavy warmth clambered onto my lap, and as Akamaru sniffed my face I wrinkled my nose in protest.
"Eww, serious dogbreath! Worse than Kiba's!"
"Oi!"
I grinned, then yelped and shoved the puppy away. "Ew! Akamaru, you can't lick the blood off my face! That's just gross! Dog slobber! Ew!"
"Has it started bleeding again? I'll get the medic," Sasuke said instantly.
"God – Sasuke, don't!" I snapped. "I was joking, sheesh. Leave the medic in peace, he's seen me enough already."
"Which reminds me, I have to take you to get your bandages changed later."
"Hey, Shino and Hinata are coming," I said as I sensed out their chakra approaching.
"It's about time, man, they're so slow!"
"You better not be trying to get out of seeing the medic, dobe."
"Wha?"
"Um, excuse me?"
"Can't a girl get some sleep around here?"
"Hey guys, finally!"
"What are you doing in here, Kiba?"
"Good morning to you too, Saku–"
"Um –"
"Hey, are you lis–"
"SHUT UP!" I bellowed at the top of my lungs, and there was instant, blessed silence. I could track where people were, hear Hinata's rapid heartbeat, sense Sasuke moving over to me, a silent question in his footsteps. "Sorry, just – not so loud, ok? My head still hurts." I was surprised to find that it still did. I leaned backwards, wincing as my head made contact with the edge of the bed, suddenly feeling tired out all over again.
Sasuke's hand rested on my shoulder gently. "Hey, maybe you should lie down."
I scowled in his direction, lifting my head off the metal bedframe. "Aw, what? I only just got up!"
"Not to sleep, Naruto. Just lie down for a while on the bed; you can stay awake and talk or whatever, but I really think you should lie down."
Before I could put together a coherent argument – or even really care enough to think about doing so – Sasuke had gently lifted me, far more easily than he should have been able to, and as he set me down on the soft bed I felt like the floor had dropped out from under me, and groaned quietly as the dizziness spun my senses into a disconcerting mess. "Make it stop," I moaned, clinging weakly to his shirt and feeling sick as his hands lifted away, leaving me with no anchor points as my own hands let go, just a void that felt as if it was shifting and spinning around me.
"I'm not going anywhere, and the room's not spinning," Sasuke said calmly, gently pushing me back against the pillow and keeping one hand on my shoulder, knowing I wanted the reference point.
"It feels like it is," I grumbled, but the world was steadying; I didn't feel quite as dizzy.
"How are you feeling this morning?" Sakura asked, a little nervously, from her bed.
"Che," I grunted irritably, annoyed by my weakness. "Been better, that's for sure." A warm deadweight dropped onto my stomach and I winced, before patting the small dog absently. That's right, Team Eight's here… "How did you guys go in that exam, anyway?"
"Um… w-we got an easy t-time of it," Hinata stammered out, and I mentally locked her position next to the tickling, buzzing chakra source that was Shino. Wow… I never noticed that about his chakra before…
"Yeah? When did you guys get in?" Sakura asked.
"We were the second team in," Kiba explained. "Got off easy, a team of loser Rain-nin attacked us, but we overpowered 'em and nicked their scroll. After that it was child's play to make it to the tower. We didn't have to fight much at all."
"Lucky you," I mumbled, starting to feel sleepy, only to yelp and jerk away slightly as Sasuke yanked a blanket up to my chest. "What the hell, teme! I can still put myself to bed! Sheesh! What am I, completely retarded? Don't answer that, Sasuke." I lay back again, muttering curses under my breath and curling up under the nice warm blanket – although I wouldn't tell Sasuke that.
"W-what's wrong with him?" Hinata asked softly. "He looks so pale… and the dizzy spell…"
"Nothin's wrong," I grumbled. "Just tired. Really… tired…" I felt ready to drop off at any second, and my breathing was starting to slow, but I clung to consciousness, listening to the continued conversation.
"You guys may have gotten it easy, but we sure didn't," Sasuke said grimly, but quietly. "We got separated early on, and after getting banged up a bit we rejoined, only to get attacked by a ninja who was way out of our league – we guessed A-rank plus." Team Eight all inhaled sharply, quick startled hisses of air. We, being a team who'd encountered A-rank ninja before, would be more likely to be able to tell than some of the other teams. "We barely got away, and we were all badly hurt. I got knocked out, and Naruto…" He huffed wordlessly. "Well, you can see the bandage. On our way here we got ambushed again, and if Team Nine hadn't found us, we would probably have been killed."
Sasuke took a shuddering breath and continued, "By the time we made it here, Naruto was definitely in the worst condition. He'd lost a lot of blood, and was very low on energy, going into shock, other assorted injuries – not to mention the blade he was cut with was poisoned, which didn't help matters. The medics did what they could, but he's still very weak from blood loss, hence the paleness and dizziness."
There was a long pause, probably partially from shock – it was rare for Sasuke to speak for so long at one time. I half-smiled absently. "His eyes?" Shino asked, speaking for the first time since his team had arrived.
There was another pause, and I sighed faintly. Why was that such a hard question to answer, every time?
"He was blinded," Sasuke said quietly. "The sword – it was poisoned, there was too much damage. The medics can't do anything. He was permanently blinded. There's nothing anyone can do."
Talk about… defeatist… I thought sleepily. Even if he is right…
Hinata squeaked, sounding horrified and appalled. "B-but – what about… he can't… doesn't… mean… can't… but…?"
The voices faded away and I sank into sleep.
I was dragged from my nice warm quiet sleep by a loud scream.
"God! Quit screaming, already!" I yelled, pulling the covers over my head and then burying my head under the pillow for good measure. I could still hear the scream, and it didn't stop. There was a thump as Sasuke hit the floor, having jumped off his bed, and then there was a yelp and the scream cut off as he smacked whoever it was over the head.
"Who is it this time?" I mumbled, letting my nose peek out from under the pillow.
"NARUTO! OH MY GOD, WHAT HAPPENED?"
"WHAT THE HELL, INO-PIG! HE WAS ASLEEP!"
"Oh, it's just Ino." I curled up a little, hoping I could fall asleep again, but whimpered and covered my head as the pillow was abruptly yanked off.
"Ino, stop it," said Sasuke flatly.
"Sasuke-kun – what – he's hurt – what happened?"
"Troublesome…" Oh, wonderful, the rest of Team Ten is here…
Forgoing any attempt at sleep, I sat up and made to rub my eyes, only to stop as I touched the rough bandages. As far as I could tell, it wasn't bleeding again, but my eyes were throbbing, and I was still slightly disoriented.
"Hey," Sasuke asked, touching my arm. "You feeling any better?"
"My head still hurts," I reported, "but I don't feel like the floor's warped into another dimension under my feet without my knowledge, so that's an improvement."
"That's good, you're recovering. Do you want to lie down again?"
"Godammit, I have been lying here since – since – what time is it?"
Silence, punctuated only by the harsh breathing of Team Ten and Sasuke's quieter, calmer life signs.
"What day is it?"
Silence.
"Oh, for fuck's sake, what month is it?"
"Naruto, calm down, it's still July," my friend said quickly. "It's the fourth day of the exam, late afternoon."
"Right. Thankyou. Now what was my point… oh, yeah, I've been lying down for too long! I'm bored! Seriously, Shika, how do you do this all day?"
"Troublesome…"
I rolled my eyes, laughing, only to wince and put one hand to my forehead as the action made my eyeballs burn with pain. "Ow! Mental note, don't do that again."
"What's wrong?" Sasuke asked instantly, and I scowled in annoyance, both at his hovering and my own stupidity in forgetting about my injury.
"I'm fine, I just tried to roll my eyes. Bad idea."
Ino sniffed. "So, Forehead Girl, when did your team come in? What did you do to your hair – that's an awful trim. And why is Naruto wearing a blindfold?"
I snorted and stood up. "I'm sick of listening to this explanation. I'm outta here."
I darted out the door before anyone could regain enough mental composure to stop me. "Naruto!" I heard Sasuke shout, and half-grinned as I touched the wall and turned to run down the hallway. I'd let Sasuke explain the situation, but in the meantime, I was hungry.
I sniffed at the air, managing to catch a whiff of sushi, and moved in that direction, belatedly remembering the medic telling Sasuke there was a mess hall downstairs as I stumbled down the first step. It only took me a second to figure out how deep the steps were, and then I was skipping down them happily towards the food-smell. I hit the bottom sooner than expected and the recoil pitched me forward onto my knees.
"Oops," I grinned, standing up and feeling for the wall, trotting down the corridor and keeping my hand against the metal, following the straight corridor.
Within a few minutes the wall fell away from my hand with the quick jar that usually indicated the edge of a doorway, and the food smell tripled in strength. Aha. Hello, mess hall.
The moral: always follow your nose.
I was happily chewing through a handful of onigiri when a hand landed on my shoulder, and I stiffened briefly and glanced up with a smile, saying through a mouthful of rice, "Hi, Kakashi-sensei!"
"Hi, Naruto," he said, sounding vaguely amused. "Where's Sasuke?"
"Oh, he's upstairs," I replied, losing interest as I figured he just needed to ask my friend something. "Team Ten came in to bother us, and I got bored and hungry so I came down here to get some food. They – they being Ino – were asking too many questions, so I left Sasuke to explain on his own. Haha, sucks to be him!"
"So you came down here on your own?" he asked calmly.
"Um, yeah," I said, vaguely confused. "Aaaand I was coordinated enough to only walk into two walls, one door and to fall down the stairs only once! And it was off the bottom step anyway."
He sighed in response, and I found myself being steered over to the side of the room. "There's a bench here; take a seat, Naruto."
I shrugged, tapped the bench with my shin to be sure of exactly how far away it was, and then sat down, taking another bite of rice. Kakashi-sensei sat down beside me quietly, and for several seconds there was silence between us, just the clatters from around the mess hall and me chewing contentedly.
I swallowed my last mouthful and listened impassively to the vague echoes of Ino screeching loudly from upstairs. "Ne, sensei?"
"Yes, Naruto?"
"Why…" I frowned slowly. "Why is everyone making such a big deal out of this? I mean, it's not like I'm dead… I don't mind half as much as everyone else. I mean, Ino screamed. Sakura screamed. You nearly swore. Kiba kind of flipped, but not really – out of everyone he probably had the best reaction, except Sasuke or Shino. But they're ice cubes, so they don't count. Hinata nearly fainted… I mean, what's all the fuss? It's just one more injury…"
There was a short silence before my sensei sighed a little. "Naruto, I understand what you're going through."
I tilted my head to look up at him silently, confused.
"When I was thirteen, I lost my left eye in a fight. Readjusting was difficult…" he let out a bark of dark laughter. "Obviously you got it worse than I did. But I didn't want to think about it. I avoided it for a long time, blocked it out, focused on other things. It was hard to think about, especially after…" he trailed off, and I noted the unfinished sentence with interest. Maybe it was time to finally get around to reading Sensei's file…
"But I got used to it, and I accepted it," Kakashi continued. "Your friends are just worried about you. Even if you're avoiding it, you were badly hurt. It was a bit of a shock realising that they and their friends could get hurt – possibly even killed."
I blew a lock of hair off my face. "I know. But they don't have to treat me like I'm totally helpless! I mean, it's like I can't do anything for myself anymore! It's annoying! It's like I'm – I'm – like I'm useless." My voice went quiet at the end and I slumped back onto the bench weakly.
"They're worried," Kakashi said quietly. "They don't want you to get hurt any worse, and they're scared you'll end up doing yourself even more damage. They just don't want you to get hurt."
I shrugged, not entirely appeased. "I'm still not helpless."
Kakashi chuckled sadly. "I understand, Naruto. Now what say we go back upstairs? Sasuke is probably wondering where you've gotten to."
"Che," I grumbled, but I stood up anyway, licking my fingers to make sure I hadn't missed any of the rice. Kakashi-sensei gave a longsuffering sigh.
"Come here."
"Wha?" I went still as Sensei began to brush gently at my face, getting rid of sticky rice grains I hadn't even known were there, dusting off the front of my shirt as well with obvious (if silent) amusement. I pouted at him. "So I'm a messy eater!"
Kakashi just sighed and took hold of my wrist. "Let's just head back upstairs, okay?"
I managed not to walk into the doorway, and Kakashi-sensei told me when we came up to the stairs, so I didn't end up tripping over those. At the top, I was expecting another step, and stumbled, but not too much – it looked like I'd just tripped slightly, tripping over air itself like I was infamous for.
"Sorry, Naruto, I should have warned you about that."
"Huh? Kaka-sensei, I trip over everything. Telling me it's there is probably not going to help."
Kakashi only sighed again and led me back to the room Team Seven was staying in.
"Hey, Sasuke!" I said cheerfully as I was steered inside. Ino was sitting on Sakura's bed, doing something with a kunai, and Shikamaru was leaning against a wall – I was surprised he wasn't sprawled on the floor, the lazy bum. "There's food downstairs, if anyone wants it – hey!"
Sasuke had grabbed me almost instantly and dragged me over to my bed. "You moron, are you trying to kill yourself?" he growled, shoving me down and only tightening his grip when I complained. "No, just lie down! You're tired and hurt and if you pass out from blood loss again I will be very upset!"
"Okay, okay, geez!" I yelped, lying back on the pillows again. "Calm down, Sasuke; OCD much?"
He just sighed and slumped down beside the bed. "Thanks for bringing him back, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura said quietly.
"What am I, a lost puppy?" I snarled, sitting up only to jerk back down as Sasuke made to cuff my ear. "Okay, okay, I'll go to sleep!"
"Idiot," he grumbled, but I could tell he'd actually been worried as he pulled the blanket over me again.
Why is everyone always so damn worried? I thought crossly, tugging the blanket hem up to my chin. I can take care of my damn self! I've been doing it since I was four years old! And now – it's like I'm back at that age where everything had to be done for me because I was too young and stupid to do anything! Like I'm too useless to do anything on my own!
My silent fuming was interrupted by Kakashi saying quietly, "How are you guys all holding up?"
Sakura answered first. "I… I'm fine."
Ino followed straight after. "No worries at all."
"Troublesome…" Which translated to a 'situation normal' from Shika.
Munch, munch, munch… said everything you needed to know about Chouji. I grinned slightly, sleepily.
"Sasuke?" Kakashi-sensei prompted gently.
For several seconds my friend didn't answer, before he said quietly, "I'm okay as long as Naruto is okay."
I flinched awake at a vague flicker of chakra, reaching for a weapon instinctively and tracking my teammates – they were both in the room, Sasuke near my bed, Sakura on her own. As I recognised our sensei's chakra I relaxed, tracking my memories back and trying to work out when I had fallen asleep. I wasn't even sure what day it was now, let alone what time…
I was starting to pull myself up when my breath caught in my throat and I coughed, almost falling flat back on the bed and catching myself on my elbow instead. Sasuke's voice caught my attention almost instantly: "You're awake!"
"Nothing escapes this boy," I grumbled in between coughs, gasping for breath as I forced the choking feeling in my chest away and inhaled deeply. "Hey, Sensei!" I managed to call with some volume as Kakashi opened the door, grinning at him energetically.
"Good morning, Naruto," he returned politely. "Did you sleep well?"
I shrugged. "I dunno. I was unconscious. What day is it?"
"Last day of the exams," Sasuke told me. "Neji's team – the Hyuuga, remember him? – came in about ten o'clock last night after you fell asleep. The rest of the teams have until midday to make it here before they're disqualified."
"Really? Who's in?" I asked, finding myself interested. I was starting to recover from the blood loss problem, I decided.
"Well, there's our team, Teams Eight and Ten – all the rookies made it, huh. Didn't notice that before," Sasuke mused, before shaking himself quickly. "Neji, Tenten and Lee. That Sand team was the first one in. Another Leaf team showed up about three a.m. – that Kabuto guy you didn't like, his team. The three Oto ninja who ambushed us turned up about twenty minutes ago, and none of the others have been sighted yet."
"Seven teams," I mused. "That's still a fairly big pool."
"What if the other teams show up?" Sakura ventured, and I immediately shook my head.
"No way. I can account for the death or incapacitation of at least nine other teams, and I know of three scrolls that were destroyed. Did you know they give off flares of energy when you set them on fire?" I added, frowning a little. "Anyway, that means there's a top of twelve teams that can make it. …No… wait… eleven. Maybe ten. I doubt four teams are even left alive in the forest right now, or at least whole teams, and it's even less likely they'll make it before time up."
"Naruto, what do you mean by 'account for'?" Kakashi asked, sounding curious. I shrugged in response, slightly confused.
"Heard them dying at various intervals in the forest. Most of them forgot about the man-eating plants Anko-san warned us about, and there were a couple of incidents involving tigers… there was definitely one with the wolves…"
"I heard someone falling in the river," Sasuke offered.
"I'm pretty sure no one but us was chased by the giant snakes, though," I nodded, agreeing with Sasuke's river thought. "Hey, about what time is it?"
"Um, seven thirty," Sakura replied, piping up nervously from her bed.
"Hmm," I mused quietly to myself. "I wonder what else these guys have in store for us?"
I tried to listen to the explanation – I really did – but I kept getting distracted. The rising bloodlust from that Gaara guy caught my attention every time it shifted, and nervous movement scattered around the open room made my mind try to log everyone's positions on a mental map – and their chakras had started to feel familiar, scarily fast, so that it was actual chakra recognition that let me pinpoint Hinata and Shino and Kiba instead of their voices. And the random interspersions of coughing fits meant that my attention had plenty of chances to wander.
It was actually kind of odd, how hard it was to concentrate, although Sasuke was unconcerned.
"This kind of blood loss will affect you for a while," he said quietly as we stood in our positions. "Just do your best to focus, and trust your instincts while you recover." The way he said it made me smirk a little: like there was no question I'd be fine. He was right, of course, but after listening to all of the rest of the doom-and-gloom rookies, a bit of sunshine was good.
Even if it came from the Ice Prince himself.
I nodded, then shook my head as the proctor – I think someone introduced him as Hayate? – coughed again and asked if anyone wanted to forfeit. Only the snake Yakushi Kabuto did, and I muttered to Sasuke in a low voice, "Well, that makes eight times failed, huh?"
My friend chuckled faintly.
"No one else wants to forfeit?" the proctor coughed out, amid deafening silence, and there was a long, expectant pause. "No one else at all?"
"I think they're waiting for you to forfeit, dobe," Sasuke said quietly.
I scowled with a sharp, angry twist of the mouth, and grumbled back, "They're just gonna have to be disappointed, teme."
"No one else going to forfeit?" Hayate pressed.
Long silence.
"Anybody at all?"
Silence.
"Last chance, guys."
Silence.
"Are you all totally sure?"
Silence.
"Nobody else wants to forfeit?"
Silence.
"There's no shame in conceding defeat. This has been a very trying exam."
Silence.
"This is your final decision?"
Silence.
"Anybody who's not quite sure? If you don't feel quite up to it –"
"OH, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! I AM NOT GOING TO FORFEIT! CAN WE MOVE ON ALREADY?" I bellowed in frustration.
Hayate dropped all pretences at speaking to all of the genin at this stage and spoke directly to me. "Are you sure? If you don't think you're up to it, it's okay to give up."
"Kakashi-senseeeeeeii…" I whined, before abruptly changing my tone as a suspicion hit me, "wait, did you put him up to this?"
"Would I do that?" Sensei asked innocently from – a balcony thing that was supposed to act like a grandstand, I think.
I scowled, wanting to roll my eyes, but not daring. Once had been enough of a warning. "Look, I'm not giving up, so can we just move on? Please?"
Hayate coughed once more, and there was the faint buzz of electricity in the air, before someone said, loudly, "First match is Uchiha Sasuke versus Akado Yoroi! Clear the arena, except for the two fighters."
I nodded, frowning as I tried to remember everything I had on this 'Yoroi'. I couldn't recall anything straight away – but I did have his chakra essence, right now, and a skill that seemed to be developing as fast as it fucking could to try and keep me alive.
"Sasuke?" I said quietly, before the proctors could try to make me leave. "I don't know much about this guy, but… his chakra's a little funny. I don't think you should let him get too close, or hit you with chakra-based attacks, at least until you work out what he can do. His chakra… it's Konohan, yes, but only just. There's just something not normal there. Watch your back."
He nodded slightly, and I patted him lightly on the shoulder, and skipped out of range of a chuunin trying to grab me, darting away and up the stairs. Honestly, it's not like I'm a total idiot, I remember where the stairs are that we climbed down… okay, half an hour of speech-crap earlier. Maybe some people would have to look around, but not me.
I settled onto the railing near the stairs, focusing intently on the two remaining chakras still in the arena. Sakura and the rest of the Rookie Nine were all standing fairly close to me as Hayate called, "The fight will continue until one of the fighters is unable to continue for any reason, or forfeits the match. A participant can forfeit at any time. Killing is allowed, although I reserve the right to intervene at any time to prevent death if the opponent is already incapacitated. Now BEGIN!"
Yoroi started with a straight leap at Sasuke – stupid in any other situation, but with them so close together, it would have been difficult to dodge. Fortunately, Sasuke darted away, fast on his feet as ever, and I strained my focus to zero in on Yoroi's chakra. It was shifting slightly, pulsing in time with his overexcited heartbeat, but whatever jutsu he was using – if it was even a jutsu – wasn't a familiar one. I couldn't even guess at what it might do – it was totally beyond anything I'd sensed before.
I couldn't help the triumphant grin as Sasuke sprang all over the arena as he dodged Yoroi's every attack – he was a quick little bastard, sometimes. His opponent was getting more and more frustrated as he chased my friend around, and it was obvious that whatever tactic he was going for wasn't working.
I wasn't sure if anyone else had noticed the faint, chittering whirr of Sasuke fiddling with his ninja wire whenever he hit a wall, but I was getting curious as to what my friend was up to.
Chit-chit-whiiiir.
Whiiir-chank-chink-whiiiiir-whiiiiiiiiiir–
Chink-chink-whiir-chit-whiiir-whiiir-chank-chank-chink-whiiir-chit-chit-whiiir-chank-whiiir-chink-click-shreeeeeee-
A sharp yelp, and a soft huff of – was that laughter from my buddy down there? – and then Sasuke called with a casual air, "You might want to stop moving. Spider's Web is pretty tricky to work out of when it's inactive, and you've already tripped it twice. And if you ask me really nicely, I might be able to get you loose and let you keep the leg you've gotten wrapped in the wire."
His opponent spat a fairly nasty curse, punctuated with a rising yelp of pain that finally reminded me of where I'd heard all this before.
"Naruto - Naruto, are you okay?" Sakura was asking in that still-too-anxious voice, but I just laughed harder and waved her off. Over my own hilarity I could year Yoroi struggling, or rather the results of attempts to as Sasuke tugged on his strands of razor wire to adjust them and their grip. He was still good at this – always had been, perfect Uchiha brat – even though it'd been a long time since we'd played the trap game Spider's Web. It'd been a favourite of Itachi's.
In fact it had usually been him doing this to Sasuke.
Hanging over the railing, I bellowed, "Copycat!"
"And proud of it, too," he quipped, as the proctor pronounced his opponent thoroughly incapacitated.
While two jounin and a couple of chuunin struggled to get the guy loose without tearing him apart, I trotted unerringly down the stairs, Sensei catching my shoulder halfway down and making me yelp as he all but jerked me off my feet by the collar. He set me down again on the step carefully, and said in a sing-song voice that nearly hid the strain therein, "Be careful, Naruto – you don't want to trip with everyone watching!"
I tilted my head up in a mockery of looking at him, nonplussed. "Yeah, like that'd be anything new," I said, but humoured Sensei by moving down the last four stairs at a slower pace.
Then I paused to compose myself, straightening my jacket and even running tidying fingers through my hair, before I cleared my throat, pinpointed Sasuke's position relative to me in my mind, and launched myself at him.
I got him, too, right around the middle, sending us both tumbling to the ground with a yelp.
"Naruto, you retard!" he snarled without venom, shoving at me.
"Copycat, copycat!" I taunted back, and together we rolled over and over in a mock-brawl that served no purpose except to amuse us both.
One half-roll later and our odd pilgrimage of the broken floor was stopped as my back hit a pair of shins. Curious as to who wouldn't step out of the way of two brawling genin, I pushed out my chakra to try and guess who it was. The comforting feel of Sensei's startlingly dense chakra greeted me, muted as he shielded the most of it out of what I guessed was habit (that or Sensei was more paranoid than me, and that was saying something) and made a token protest as the man wrenched Sasuke and me apart.
"Okay, that's enough. Naruto, you shouldn't push yourself too hard, especially with your own fight coming up. Sasuke, we've wasted enough time. I need to take you now, before that curse contaminates you even more."
I stiffened in surprise and twisted in Kakashi-sensei's grip – when had he found out about what Orochi-freak did to Sasuke? It was news to me that he knew, but Sasuke drew in a soft breath with a stubbornness that told me this was an argument that had been started at an earlier date – maybe this morning, when Sensei had come to our room to herd us back here, wherever we were now. Sasuke had been half-dressed, and I had been shooed into the bathroom quickly enough, so I suppose I could have lost the clash in the shower water.
I knew that if I put up my hand and traced Sasuke's chin, I would find it raised at a stubborn, defiant angle.
"I won't go," he said clearly.
"What did you say?" Sensei asked dangerously, sounding beyond annoyed now. I was given a little (unconscious) shake and set aside. "Sasuke, do you realise what –"
"I know it perfectly well, Kakashi-sensei," he growled back, "but I'm not going until Naruto's fought. I'm not leaving until then. Don't even try to force me otherwise."
Kakashi-sensei gave a very long-suffering sigh, growled out a 'fine', and then shunshin-ed up to the balcony where the Third Hokage was sitting – holy shit, when did he get here? I had no idea the Sandaime was here! Wait… he was talking earlier, wasn't he? Ummm...
Sasuke and I made it to the stairs before the electric buzz ran through me again and I tipped my head up and around, searching blindly for the source. A faint, computerised 'ping' sounded, and then the proctor called, "Next match is between Inuzuka Kiba and Uzumaki Naruto!"
I grinned, delighted, and clapped Sasuke on his back just below his armpit – I missed the shoulder. "Sounds like I'm up, teme," I said cheerfully.
"Yeah. Good luck, dobe," he said gruffly, patting my shoulder in return. "Be careful."
I waved him off, unconcerned as I jogged back to the middle of the arena. "Scram, you! I got a match to win!"
Kiba had vaulted over the railing and now stood, shifting nervously from foot to foot, as Hayate reiterated the same rules as before (was it my imagination or did he put more emphasis on the 'you can forfeit at any time' rule?), and said in a low voice, "Listen, Naruto, no hard feelings? I don't wanna hurt you."
I regarded him coolly, ignoring the faint throb still tugging at my head. "Don't you dare go easy on me, Kiba."
"BEGIN!"
My opponent was still hesitating slightly and I took advantage of that split-second, darting forwards in a zigzag and dodging Kiba's surprised counter. He got me hard in the stomach with his next shot, though, and I dropped to the floor, making him freeze for the moment I needed to knock his feet out from under him. I followed the force of my spin to throw him away from me with a second striking kick, and on the third spin I hurled two shuriken after the still-flying dog user. I had little hope they'd hit him, but the quick succession of attacks would keep him off balance, hopefully long enough for me to get at my tag pocket.
I had worked out what went wrong with the freeze tag in the Forest of Death: I'd gotten the glyph order wrong. The tag had exploded and then the elements combined, in the midst of the blast, causing the blizzard-style reaction instead of a solid block of ice. They were an option, but only just. I didn't want to really hurt Kiba, so the volatile shock, explosive and failed leaf tags were out. Ditto for the tranquilliser tags – I was really starting to suspect the drug they simulated was fatal – and the nerve tags… no. Let's not go there.
Kiba sprang at me and my planning time was over: I blocked three punches, let a fourth graze my shoulder and was totally unprepared for the foot that drove into the base of my chest, making me crumple backwards as I fought to breathe again. I rolled away from a fresh blow and scrambled to my knees, still gasping for air, and hit the deck again in time to avoid – a weapon? – not sure – only to spring up again in Kiba's face, and the dog-user narrowly missed a retaliatory elbow in the gut. We backed away from each other, both panting, and I forced in a deep breath, waiting for the Inuzuka to make the next move.
The biting whir of shuriken announced Kiba's unwillingness to get into close contact again, and I bared my teeth in a grin.
Time to get busy.
I dodged the metal weapons by just falling backwards, at the same time reaching into my pockets for the things I'd need to pull this off. I felt oddly calm, now that I had a plan. I was the only one in this arena aside from Kiba: no one else to worry about getting hit by one of my blows, or tripping over them when I was trying to dodge. I was calm and collected: I could do this.
Okay. First things first.
I let a careful burst of chakra stream from my fingers and as I leaped back to my feet I let fly, sending a handful of stones skimming towards Kiba, counting silently in my head. Two… one…
There was no explosion – one of several reasons I considered these seals fails – but there was a sound like a large amount of mud had just splattered the arena.
Funny. That's exactly what had happened.
I didn't waste time laughing at Kiba's outraged bellowing, the startled shouts of the spectators fading to the back of my awareness; I was halfway through Kage Bunshin when the tag went off. Now I was half-surrounded by a wavering sea of familiar chakra – oops, chakra flare – and we spread out in the sea of mud, which would hopefully confuse Kiba's sense of smell. The thick swamp scent was certainly bothering me, and I don't have a specialised sense of smell like the Inuzukas.
The dog-user snarled and spun around, feet slipping and splattering in the heavy mud, no doubt trying to identify which of the clones was actually me. I mentally wished him luck: apparently even Sasuke, having known me for years and with his Sharingan, had trouble telling if it was a shadow clone or me he was fighting. Anyone else was pretty much stuffed except for the 'guess and check' method. Or 'guess and poke', that works, too.
"Alright then," Kiba snarled, shaking himself roughly. "First things first: get rid of the lightweights!"
I got ready to a) dodge and b) implement the next stage, but couldn't help wondering if Kiba was aware how easily I could make more clones.
Probably not.
"Gatsuuga!" Kiba roared, and I winced, then bounded quickly away from the harsh whoosh the spin of the technique created, not wanting to get caught in its impact. The clones did their best but were mostly dispelled, resulting in a large cloud of smoke, and I grinned to myself as I and a handful of remaining clones shot after him.
Little known fact: Kage Bunshin smoke can make people sneeze.
Another, slightly better known fact: It is really hard to concentrate on where your enemy is springing from when sneezing. Especially repeatedly.
Overall effect: Kiba, flat on his back in the mud, with half a dozen mes sitting on his chest.
I, the real me, put a kunai to the dog-user's throat and said calmly, "Surrender."
There was a stunned, shocked silence, and as my mind let itself relax and return to focusing generally on the outside world, instead of the close-knit concentration on a single opponent, I quickly found Sasuke and Sakura, both close to the top of where I remembered the stairs to be. Sensei was moving towards them rapidly, and now I could sense the proctor, Hayate, hovering at the edge of the arena. There was a long pause, and I was starting to worry that I might have to actually hurt Kiba, before Hayate called solemnly, "Winner of match two: Uzumaki Naruto!"
I breathed a sigh of relief and my clones all dispelled as I got off the Inuzuka's ribs. I held out a hand to the muddy dog-user, saying calmly, "Good fight, Kiba."
He could have taken the loss badly. He could have refused the hand and snarled at me. He instead just took the offered hand and stood up, shaking himself off a little, and I heard Akamaru yelp from inside his jacket, suddenly remembering the puppy had refused to come out since they got here – I didn't know why. "Is Akamaru okay?" I asked, suddenly a bit worried. "I didn't hurt him while I was sitting on you, did I?"
Kiba paused, sizing me up, before I sensed his mood lightening considerably. "He's okay; you were placed so you didn't have your weight on him," he explained. "Good… good fight, Naruto. …Hey, where the hell did you get that much mud from, anyway?" he demanded. "I'll be smelling this for weeks…"
I laughed. "Me too."
Our friendly chat was interrupted by my sensei suddenly appearing nearby and saying cheerfully, "Hey, Naruto, could you come with me for a minute?" He put his hand on my shoulder and forcibly steered me off the arena and towards the stairs.
I frowned, trying and failing to wriggle free. "You better not be taking me to the hospital, Kakashi-sensei," I warned him, and suddenly found myself held slightly off the ground by the back of my jacket as he went up the stairs. "Hey!"
"No, Naruto, I just need to do something with Sasuke, and he won't go anywhere without you," Sensei explained.
"Oh… You better not be taking him to the hospital either, sensei. I won't help you with that."
He chuckled, sounding slightly irritated, but it was a weird sort of tone – not quite annoyed, more… what was the word? Exasperated, that's it. "You don't really have a choice here, kid."
I was set gently back on my feet next to my Uchiha friend, and beamed at the rest of Team 7. "What was all the worrying for, huh?" I said cheerfully.
"What worrying? I knew you'd beat the crap out of dogbreath," Sasuke grumbled. "Quit doubting me, or I'll drop you."
"Promises, promises."
"Boys," Sensei intervened, his voice slightly strained, as if he was trying very hard to make sure his voice was as light and lackadaisically carefree as always. I cocked my head at him, wondering what his hangup was – he wasn't taking us to the hospital, so he couldn't be afraid of our impending deaths, so what was…
Our previous conversation came back to me in a flash, what Sensei had said about Orochi-freak's cutting out my eyes rattling my peers – perhaps it rattled him as well? I guessed if one of my students came back from an in-village test that I assigned them with a disfiguring injury, I'd feel a little bad.
I smiled sympathetically and patted Sensei's arm. He hesitated a beat, and I got the feeling he was looking at me funnily.
"Let's go."
What followed was a very, very, very boring evening. I was guided over-carefully (with a hand on my elbow directing me that irritated the crap out of me) into a large, drafty place with stone walls and pillars, and an echo following every breath. I shivered inside, even as Sensei explained that this dusty place was a temple, and that the holy setting would help the seal take. Somehow. Placebo effect, maybe?
I was settled out of the way in a dark corner (ha) on a coarse bit of material that took me a moment to recognise as Sensei's vest.
"Naruto, we're going to just be over there," Sensei said softly to me, his hand on my head as he stood in front of me. "Whatever you hear, I need you to stay on this spot, okay? This might hurt Sasuke just a little, but if you smudge the seal by accident it will all be for nothing."
I heard Sasuke swallow in a way I knew preceded his stoic 'determined' face. I sucked in air rapidly, the dank chill making me shiver again. "Hurt him?" I repeated anxiously. "Why are you going to hurt him? Some creep just bit him – give him a bit of antiseptic and a stitch or two."
"Orochimaru did something a little more than just bite him, Naruto," Sensei was saying patiently. "I need to seal away the damage, or it will spread through Sasuke's whole body. It's like if someone stabs you with a kunai, if you want to recover you must pull the blade out even if it hurts when you do. Okay?"
I hesitated, wishing for the nth time I could see what was going on, could glean some clue from visual aids. Sasuke rustled as he shifted, his sandals sliding along stone. "It's okay, Naruto," he muttered. I chewed my lip doubtfully, but nodded.
"I'll stay here," I promised.
And there was another long, long pause, in which I grew very bored once more. From the sound of it, Sensei had Sasuke strip down to his boxers and sit in the middle of a clearing. The sharp smell of blood reached me a moment later, and I realised Sensei was bleeding himself to ink the seal in his own powerful, chakra-infused sanguine fluid.
I itched to see the seal, and wondered if Sensei would consent to teaching me how to draw it later – it would be cool to have some real instruction in my seals, rather than the 'hit and miss' method, which often resulted in unplanned explosions.
Finally, all noise stilled, and I perked up, sensing that something was about to happen.
"That's it!" Sensei declared. He raised his voice a bit, presumably to call back to me: his clothes rustled like he was turning in my direction. "Naruto, I'm going to start now. You stay right there, whatever happens, alright?"
I nodded, resisting the urge to roll my eyes, knowing from the last time I tried that how much it would hurt.
"Just a few more moments and this will all be over, Sasuke," Kakashi said to my friend. "Grit your teeth."
Sasuke took a shaky breath – he sounded cold – and I heard his teeth knock together as he followed our teacher's command. The sound of flesh brushing flesh and soft claps told me Sensei was creating handseals at an incredibly rapid rate. I sat up straighter anxiously.
"Fujahoin! The sealing of the curse!" Kakashi-sensei said, accompanied by a sharp thump (planting his hand on Sasuke?) and a surge of chakra.
There was a 'mm' sound as Sasuke instinctively tried to scream but managed to cut it back just before it burst out of his lips. It seemed to catch in his mouth, bubbling just below the surface for slow seconds. It still wasn't over when his resolve cracked and he cried out, low and hoarse. Sensei was unrelenting, his chakra a steady stream as he forced his seal to brand to Sasuke's shoulder. I whimpered, but remembered my promise and stayed put. Still, I resolved to kick Kakashi-sensei's shins hard when this was over.
It seemed like forever, but it was probably only ten seconds later that the chakra stopped and Sasuke let out a low moan before collapsing forwards. I think he managed to catch himself on his hands, arms propping him up, and I listened to his laboured, irregular breathing with concern, chewing my lip.
"Hmm," said Kakashi, clothing rustling as he wiped off his hands. "Even if that curse reawakens, my seal should keep it contained. But you have to remember, Sasuke… the foundation of the spell's power is in the strength of your will. You have to want it to work, or it won't. If you doubt your own power to resist the curse, the seal will crumble. Understand?"
Sasuke made a noise that could have been a 'Yes, Sensei' or could have been a death rattle, and his arms gave out. I winced at the sound of his bare torso impacting the stone floor, and wondered if he was unconscious. He'd have to be.
"He's exhausted," Kakashi said before I could ask. "Nothing to worry about. He'll be fine."
I nearly collapsed myself from relief, and felt the tension melt out of me. I had no doubt that Sasuke would be able to keep the seal in place – he was going to be okay. We were going to be okay.
Then, a shiver that had nothing to do with the temperature passed over me and I felt a terribly familiar chakra. The moment I identified it, though, the owner was already speaking up.
"Well, well, well. So you've mastered sealing too, have you, Kakashi?" The sound of sliding footsteps informed me that the speaker was approaching Kakashi and Sasuke. "Looks like you're all grown up. Pardon my rudeness, Kakashi, but I have no use for you. I'm here for the Uchiha boy behind you."
Ice flooded me, and I moved before I realised it. In an instant, I was standing in front of Sensei, a kunai in each hand and a toothy snarl on my face. "Naruto!" Kakashi said in choked surprise. Orochimaru sniffed.
"Oh, it's you, is it?" he said distastefully. "You're quite resilient, aren't you? Turning up in the most irritating places. You've caused me quite a few annoyances, little one."
"Get used to it," I sneered. "I'm gonna stand between you and Sasuke as long as you want him, you pedo-bastard!"
There was a furious burst of noise that sounded kinda like a raspberry, and the snake spat disdainfully at me, "Guttersnipe of a child! I have no interest in your teammate's weak body! His kekkei genkai is far more valuable to my goals!"
Sensei sucked in air through his mask, the sound a dull whoosh. "The Sharingan!" he hissed. "You want to steal his eyes!" I twitched in horror at the thought of Sasuke, whose vision meant so much, being plunged into the darkness that was my universe. I tightened my grip on my kunai determinedly. Body or eyes, this freak wasn't touching my friend. Then, a large, warm hand grabbed my shoulder and jerked me backwards in a circular movement, sending me crashing to the ground behind Kakashi. His chakra surged, and an odd twittering filled the air.
"Don't you dare come near my students!" Sensei hissed. "You will not damage them anymore, Orochimaru!"
The snake-smelling freak clucked his tongue. "Now, that's not very nice," he said in a baby voice. "You're not averse to sharing, are you? What if I just have one eye – hypocritical of you to say 'no', isn't it?" Kakashi-sensei actually flinched at that, the movement conveyed through sound and fluttering charka, and I wondered what on earth Orochi-freak was talking about. After a moment, Sensei drew himself up and spat two words that I'd never heard him say before.
"Fuck you."
Orochimaru chuckled. "Always so fractious, Kakashi," he crooned. "It's all moot, in any case. That pathetic little party trick you've put on Sasuke won't hold more than a day, and then he'll come to me all on his own. So long."
Footsteps echoed and grew quieter, and I realised that the bastard had just walked away. There was a pause, before Sensei's hand was on my back, guiding me to sit up. "Come on, Naruto," he said, a wobble in his voice that I don't think I was supposed to hear, "Now it's time for the hospital."
I didn't argue, choosing to meekly follow as he scooped Sasuke into his arms and took my wrist to lead me.
Kakashi's Log
How horrifying. Somehow, things have gotten worse.
Sasuke and Naruto both won their preliminary matches. I left before Sakura's fight, but I would be surprised if she advanced to the next level. Still, there's always the chance…
Orochimaru interrupted the sealing of Sasuke's curse mark. He told me he wanted Sasuke's eyes. His EYES! What am I going to do? First Naruto, then Sasuke? Am I going to get to the hospital to be informed that Sakura got her eyes scratched out in a catfight over Sasuke now?
This is a nightmare.
Twin2: And before I forget, this chapter is dedicated to Y.U.K.K. and Anonymous-is-a-pretty-bad-name. You guys prodded Twin1 into kicking (and blackmailing) me into finishing this chapter.