An Eye For An Eye
Chapter 10
Hey guys! I have to say I'm glad to be able to write again. Well I'll pretty much explain what happened…even if you don't care at all. Ok well I got my old laptop back after the whole Kroger incident, and then the battery died. But it turns out that my parents were going to help me get a laptop for college anyway…so now I have a laptop that's 5,000 times better, and I'm loving life! Anyway I hope you guys missed me, and are excited about this chapter, because I'm sure as hell ready to get going with this story again. And I don't think I ever explained this, but yeah back in chapter 8…well first off if you don't read the manga then don't read this part! But yeah I was saying that they were Oro's failed curse seal experiments that you saw invading Konaha. So anyway! Now I guess I should get on with this story right!? Let's do it then!
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Sakura was just lying on her bed staring at the ceiling thinking about her and Naruto's encounter with the kid from yesterday. The one that went by the name of 'Gaara.' It wasn't the kid that scared her the most, however. No, the person who had her lying awake on her bed, when she should be sleeping, was none other than Naruto. Ever since Sakura had seen Naruto's reaction to Gaara she had been worried about what would happen between the two.
Sakura rolled over so she was lying on her side, and looked out the window nearest to her, to see the sun starting to come up, which meant that she only had about an hour before she would have to get up, and get ready for the Chuunin Exams.
Sakura sighed as she continued to ponder on about her blond teammate, and what was the come with the introduction of the Chuunin Exams. Sakura knew that she wouldn't be able to fall asleep so she decided to just get up, and get ready for the upcoming day. She once again sighed to herself as she stripped out of nightclothes, and walked into her bathroom. Sakura grabbed her usual pink towel, and quickly jumped into the shower. She immediately let out a shriek of surprise when the cold water hit her back. After a couple seconds of Sakura being pressed up against the wall, the water was hot, and Sakura quickly washed her body and hair.
Sakura had made it a habit to take a shower after her daily ninja activities, but had nothing better to do this morning, and didn't even know if she would get a chance to come back home to take said shower or not.
After a good ten minutes Sakura turned the water off, and stepped out of the shower. She quickly wrapped her towel around her body. After a couple more minutes of drying off Sakura stepped out of her bathroom, and looked through her closet for what to wear, but decided to not try to make any change to her outfit, for the simple reason that she hadn't had any trouble with her usual attire, and figured it would stay that way. Sakura grabbed her usual clothes, but did make one change. Her usual red one piece dress was now black. Sakura had decided it would help her blend in with things if need be.
Other than that, everything that Sakura was wearing was exactly the same. After another few minutes of Sakura combing her hair, and adding a few makeup touches to herself, she was finally ready, and started walking downstairs.
Sakura heard the fan still running in her mother's room, and tried to keep the noise to a minimum, just so that her mother wouldn't wake up. Sakura had learned long ago that her mother was not a morning person, and she held dear to that fact. She would always try as best as she could to not wake her mother up before her mother's body feels it's time for her to get up.
She crept down the stairs, and after what, to her, seemed like hours she arrived at the bottom of the stairs, and knew she was safe. Sakura silently let out a sigh of relief, and grabbed an apple from her refrigerator. She was about to walk out the door when she realized that she was missing both her kunai pouch and her hitaiate. She quickly turned around, and made her way back up the steps. She walked into her room, and taped her kunai pouch around her leg, while grabbing her hitaiate. Sakura smiled to herself as she turned to leave her room only to find a red haired woman standing in the doorway.
"Where are you going dear? You got a mission today or something?" Sakura smiled up at her mom, and nodded.
"Yeah mom! Today Naruto, Sasuke, and I are going to be entering the Chuunin Exams!"
Sakura's mom smiled, and was about to walk away when last night's thoughts came to her. She instantly spun around, and she looked a lot more pale than usual. Sakura was beginning to worry, because her mom seemed to be freaking out about something.
Just when Sakura was about to ask her mother what was going on she turned, and her face turned red from anger out of absolutely nowhere.
"Sakura! I refuse for you to take the Chuunin Exams while on the same team as that beast! I'm actually going to go, and request that you be taken off the same team as him!"
Sakura was totally confused. She didn't know who her mother was talking about. She had Sasuke and Naruto on her team, and there was even a slight chance her mother was talking about Kakashi, but she never mentioned his name so she highly doubted that.
"Who are you talking about mom?"
Sakura's mother seemed to be taken back by what she heard come from her daughter.
"The Uzumaki kid of course! He's a demon, and you need to keep as far away from him as possible!"
It was now Sakura's turn to be taken back by her mother's comment.
"What are you talking about mom!? Naruto-kun isn't a demon! He's just had a very bad past, and needs to have some people actually there for him, and-"
Sakura's mother had heard enough, and cut Sakura off,
"ENOUGH! Sakura! You're not allowed to be on the same team as that boy, and I'll make sure that you'' be on a different team by this time tomorrow!"
Sakura simply could not believe what her mother was saying. Her being on a different team!? There was just no way! Sakura didn't think that she would be put on another team without her being ok with it, but she still had a slight fear that the Third would agree with her mother, and place her on another team. Sakura knew she wouldn't be able to win this battle so she just simply walked out the door, closing it behind her. Soon after, however, she heard it open again, and then heard her mother from behind her.
"Sakura Haruno! You are not allowed to meet that boy! Get back here!"
Sakura shook her head without looking back,
"Sorry mom, but Naruto-kun or no Naruto-kun I still need to report for the Chuunin Exams. We've already been signed up."
Sakura's mother was in an uproar, and marched off towards the Hokage Tower. She was going to make her daughter separate from that demon one way or another.
-With Sakura-
Sakura had heard her mother's footsteps go in a different direction then her own, and she smiled to herself slightly. She knew that she would get to see Naruto at least one last time.
She continued to walk until she had arrived at the Uchiha District, where she knew Sasuke would be. She waited a good 5 minutes, all while eating some of her apple until it was almost gone, and then heard a door open in the distance. Sakura started to walk back towards Sasuke's house, which she knew because of her early obsession with the boy, until she noticed Sasuke walking towards her with a smirk on his face.
Sakura waved slightly, which got a wave in return.
"You excited Sasuke-kun?" Sasuke just continued to smirk,
"You have no idea…I get to move up in the ranks, while showing everyone how great I am…I'm looking forward to it big time."
Sakura smiled, and nodded at Sasuke, while starting to walk towards Naruto's apartment. Sakura continued to walk until yesterday's encounter with Gaara came to mind.
"Hey Sasuke-kun…did you happen to see a group of ninja from Suna? One of them had red hair."
Sasuke thought for a couple of seconds before shaking his head,
"No…why?"
Sakura sighed and shook her head,
"No reason…"
Sasuke wanted to ask Sakura a lot of questions, but decided against it. He figured he would get the information at one point or another, and plus if he started talking to Sakura she would never shut up. Sasuke just decided he would nod, and head towards Naruto's, and that's exactly what he did.
-With Naruto-
Naruto, much like Sakura, hadn't slept a wink through the night. It was also, shockingly enough, about the same person. The only difference about himself and Sakura was the fact that Naruto wasn't afraid. He was actually thinking of ways he could make the total inflicted pain to Gaara even worse then he knew it was going to be. Naruto chuckled to himself as he finally sat up, and walked over to his bathroom.
It didn't take him long to strip down, and take a shower, seeing as he only slept in his green and orange boxers. He was in and out of the shower rather quickly. He didn't bother combing his hair, as he tended to just shake it, and leave it at that. He sighed to himself, and walked into his room. He then picked out an all black outfit, and taped his kunai pouch to his leg. Naruto didn't need to look for his Hitaiate simply because he always wore it. He smirked to himself as he started to walk towards his front door to head out. Naruto then heard the one thing he didn't want to hear this early in the morning.
"Naruto-kun! Come on, and wake up! You, Sasuke-kun, and I have to get over to the Chuunin Exams!"
Naruto nodded to himself in defeat. He knew he would have had to see Sakura eventually, and this seemed to be as good a time as any.
When Naruto opened his front door he was immediately attacked by his pink haired teammate.
"You ready Naruto-kun!?" Sakura was currently looking down at Naruto from her seat on his stomach.
Naruto just sighed slightly, and nodded.
"Yeah…if I want to be able to move up in the ranks then I need to take this Exam. So I guess I don't have much of a choice now do I?"
Sakura just shook her head to answer Naruto, while Sasuke nodded in agreement.
They all continued walking until they arrived at the bridge Kakashi had told them to meet him at a while ago. Naruto, and Sasuke leaned against the railing, while Sakura paced around, sick with worry.
Sakura was worried about more than one thing. One thing was the fact that she didn't even know if she would live through this exam, let alone be promoted. The second thing was the fact that her mother was most likely going to kill her when she arrived back at the house. And the third, well the third was all because of none other than Naruto. Even though Sakura had done everything in her power to think otherwise, she couldn't help thinking that Naruto was going to do something that he would regret for the rest of his life.
Naruto and Sasuke just shrugged off Sakura's attitude seeing as she did things of this nature all the time. It didn't take too long before Kakashi appeared on a nearby arch.
"Yo! You guys ready to take the exams?"
Naruto and Sasuke didn't respond, but the smirks on their faces were evidence enough. Sakura however hesitantly nodded. Kakashi noticed it, and decided to speak up.
"Sakura you know you don't have to take the Chuunin Exams right?" Sakura didn't respond as she looked at the ground. Kakashi just shrugged it off as he pulled out three sheets of paper.
"Ok you guys…here are the forms you need to be able to get into the Chuunin Exams. If you end up not wanting to go then just forget it, and don't even bother going."
Sakura still didn't look up, and Kakashi just sighed,
"Well I'll see you guys after the Exams are over I guess." With that, Kakashi was gone.
Sasuke had noticed Sakura's action, and decided to see if he could help her out some.
"Hey Sakura...are you ok? You don't have to take the Chuunin Exams if you don't want to."
Sakura's head instantly shot up, as she looked at Sasuke with wide eyes, which in turn worried Sasuke a lot.
"Oh yeah….don't worry about it Sasuke…it's nothing…I'll be fine." Sasuke wanted to keep pressing the matter at hand, but once again decided against it.
Naruto was looking at his slip of paper that had his name, along with various other important things involving the Chuunin Exams, and was stunned to see there was a wolf with one eye in the top right hand corner.
Naruto knew what it meant, but his reaction was different then he had first thought it would be. It was easy to tell what the reaction was, by the slight shaking of Naruto's hands, and his wide eyes. Yes…Naruto Uzumaki was terrified, and he hated it. Just looking at the wolf brought back the exact memories he had been keeping in the depths of his mind all this time. He remembered the pain running through his face, and how scared he had actually been. He remembered the smirk on the man's face, and how happy the man seemed to be that he was causing harm to him. He also remembered how scared he had been when he first met the Kyuubi, and the anger that engulfed him when he saw Azami's dead body lying on the ground.
Naruto was close to a breakdown so he shoved the slip of paper into his pocket, and stormed off towards the Academy for the Exams.
Sasuke and Sakura weren't really sure why Naruto had taken off out of nowhere, but decided to follow him regardless. It didn't take long before they had all arrived at said Academy. They soon ascended into
the Academy, and moved around lots of people to see a kid in a green spandex suit get thrown back, and land before a group of kids.
Naruto stepped up to see two kids standing in front of the door that everyone was supposed to go through. One of them had his face taped in certain places, accompanied by the fact that he didn't seem to open his eyes. He had spiky black hair, and was from Konaha apparently. The other one had his hitaiate covering his entire head, but his brown hair shot out from below it. Unlike his friend, he had his eyes open, and was smirking proudly.
A girl with her brown hair up in two buns ran over to the kid in green spandex, and looked up at the two Genin.
"What was that for!? Why can't you just let us in!? We just want to go take the Chuunin Exams like everyone else here!"
One of the two scoffed, and shook his head,
"Yeah right! If you can't get past us then we're doing you losers a favor! If you somehow managed to get into the Chuunin Exams you wouldn't stand a chance!"
Naruto sighed to himself as he started walking away from the group, and down a hallway. Sasuke was confused for a couple of seconds, but soon caught on, and started following the blond. Sakura however didn't catch on, but followed her teammates regardless. After a couple steps Naruto heard a voice calling from behind him,
"Where the hell are you guys going!? The Exam's this way!"
Without turning around Naruto just chuckled,
"You think that some stupid Genjutsu would work on us? It may have worked on the rest of these losers, but it's easy to tell that this isn't even the right floor. We went up two floors, and you need to go up three. I don't even think you guys are Genin. Now stop messing with us, and get back to your job you damn Chuunin."
Sakura's eyes widened as Sasuke just smirked. Sakura felt so stupid for not realizing that they were only on the second floor. She was looking at the floor until she heard Naruto chuckle a little. She looked up at him to see him still looking at the two kids from earlier.
"I mean honestly! You thought that would fool anyone? Sakura mentioned it to me, as soon as we walked in the door. That's a really lame Genjutsu, by the way."
Sakura smiled to herself as Naruto complimented her, but her attention was seized by one of the two kids from before charging at Naruto.
"You think you're funny!? Don't mess with me!"
Naruto quickly turned around, and was about to kick when the same weird kid from before appeared, and blocked the first kids kick. Naruto, however, saw this coming, and spun around to avoid the weird kid. In, not even, a second Naruto's foot was connecting with the side of the kids face. He was sent flying back, as everyone looked at Naruto in shock. The one person Naruto noticed, who seemed to be in the most shock, was the kid in the spandex. Naruto stopped for a second, and looked at the weird kid.
'He's pretty fast.'
A second later Naruto just turned back around, and started walking away, before he was once again stopped by a voice.
"What's your name?"
Naruto turned around, and almost burst out laughing on the spot. He was staring at none other than, Neji Hyuuga, the one who gave him the gift of the Byakugan.
Naruto didn't show any emotion; however, he just stared at Neji before shaking his head, and turning back around,
"You don't need to know that information. You'll learn it later when I become a Chuunin."
Naruto kept walking, and heard two pairs of footsteps behind him, which he guessed belonged to his teammates. He would have kept walking if he wouldn't have heard another voice, but this one wasn't calling out to him.
"What is your name my angel!?"
Naruto looked back to see the weird kid from before holding Sakura's hand, while Sakura seemed to be backing away slowly.
"Umm it's Sakura…but I have to get going."
The kid's eyes seemed to brighten when he heard Sakura's name.
"Just as I should have guessed! You're as pretty as a Cherry Blossom! Sakura! Would you go out with me!?"
Naruto once again almost burst out laughing, but it wasn't because of what the kid asked, no, it was because of Sakura's face. After a couple seconds of recovering Sakura looked at the kid's pleading eyes,
Sakura just slowly shook her head,
"Umm sorry…wait what's your name?"
The weird kid's eyes widened as he realized something,
"Oh I'm sorry Sakura-Chan! My name is Rock Lee!"
Sakura once again slowly nodded, and looked at Rock Lee,
"Well sorry Rock Lee, but I don't think you're my type."
Instantly Lee's head went downcast as he leaned against a wall for support.
Naruto finally noticed Sakura was walking his way again, and started down the hall one last time.
-With Team Gai-
Neji was still staring at Naruto's back as he turned to walk away,
'I need to fight him…maybe someone will know his name…'
Neji then looked back at his two teammates,
"Come on, Tenten, Lee, let's go!"
The girl, known as Tenten nodded, and started to walk away before she noticed Lee wasn't following them.
"Come on Lee! Let's go get ready for the Exam!"
Lee just waved his arm at them.
"You two go…I have to go see something."
Tenten nodded along with Neji, and they both walked away leaving Lee to himself.
-With Team 7-
Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura were all walking side by side, through what looked like a giant gymnasium.
Naruto was looking around when he heard a familiar voice from above him.
"You! The one who avoided my block earlier!"
Naruto quickly turned around, and was staring up at Rock Lee once more.
"I would like to challenge you to a fight!"
Naruto just sighed to himself, and turned to Sasuke.
"Would you mind doing this for me Sasuke?"
Sasuke just smirked at Naruto,
"What? Afraid you can't take him on?"
Naruto just rolled his eyes accompanied by a sigh,
"Yep Sasuke…that's exactly why."
Sasuke chuckled slightly as he stepped forward.
"Sorry, but I think you want someone a little more your level like me."
Rock Lee just raised one of his busy eyebrows as he stared at Sasuke,
"What do you mean my 'level'?"
Sasuke just smirked, and laughed slightly,
"It means I can kick Naruto's ass any time I want to."
Lee's eyes widened as he nodded,
"Very well! If you are better than…Naruto you said? Then I shall fight you!"
Naruto was about to go out, and beat the hell out of Sasuke, but at the same time he was happy he was able to see some of this Rock Lee kid's moves. He seemed really good if Naruto was basing everything on his speed.
Rock Lee jumped down to meet Sasuke, and quickly got into a stance. Before Sasuke even realized what happened he felt a great force on his face, and went flying back into a wall.
After a couple of seconds the cloud of debris that had formed from the collision faded, and Sasuke was standing on shaky legs.
'What the hell!? I don't know what Jutsu he's using but he's really fast!'
Sasuke got back into a stance, and activated his Sharingan. He watched Lee running at him, but his reaction time wasn't enough as he was effectively kicked up into the air, and the bandages on Lee's arms started to unravel.
Sasuke was looking down at Lee with his Sharingan eyes before he appeared behind the Uchiha.
"You may be able to see my movements but your body is not fast enough to match it. Now watch what hard work can do for you as I finish off this fight!"
Sasuke's eyes widened as the bandages started wrapping around his body.
"W-What the hell is this!?"
Lee's eyes widened as he smiled to himself,
"I win!"
Naruto shot into action as he took off towards Sasuke and Lee. Within a second he was right up with both of them. Naruto noticed Lee's eyes widen once more as he pulled out a kunai, and slit Lee's
bandages open letting Sasuke fall safely. Naruto was about to attack Lee when he heard someone appear on the ground below them.
"Lee! Stop right there!"
Naruto turned around, and saw something he couldn't believe. A giant red and gold tortoise with a Konaha hitaiate wrapped around its neck was sitting there looking at Lee.
Lee instantly jumped back, and landed softly on his feet, while looking at the ground.
"I'm sorry…I didn't mean to…"
The giant tortoise didn't seem to care as he growled slightly,
"Lee…you know that technique is forbidden!"
Lee's head stayed downcast as he nodded slightly.
No one on team 7 could believe what was going on. Naruto just stared at the two seemingly not caring at all, but inside he wanted to find out how good this 'Rock Lee' kid actually was.
Sasuke was gritting his teeth staring at Lee,
'I can't believe I lost to that freak! What the hell is wrong with me!? I have to get stronger!'
While Sakura just stared at the two in disbelief.
'I-Is he really talking…to a turtle…'
After a couple seconds the tortoise spoke up,
"Are you ready for your consequences?"
Lee swallowed, and slowly nodded,
"Yes…"
The tortoise just nodded, and stared at Lee,
"Ok…I'll let Gai-sensei take it from here."
Then out of nowhere in a cloud of smoke a man that looked almost identical to Lee, except for his Chuunin vest, appeared. Sasuke's eyes instantly widened,
'I-It's that weird guy from before! ...He did say he was Kakashi's rival, which would explain why that Rock Lee kid is so good…'
Sasuke was snapped out of his thoughts by the sound of footsteps fading away from him. He quickly turned around to see Naruto and Sakura walking away. Sasuke then looked back over at Lee and his weird sensei to see them hugging, and crying.
Sasuke slowly backed away and made his way over to his team.
In a short amount of time all three Genin of Team 7 were walking down a hallway towards the first meeting room.
Naruto smirked to himself as he continued walking down the hall, and turned ever so slightly to look at his teammates. He scratched the back of his head, and walked towards the room with his team.
'This is going to be fun.'
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Ok well sorry for how short this chapter was but I wanted to get up to the part with Kabuto and the written portion without actually going into it. So yeah…I hope you didn't mind that chapter and the next one should be out pretty soon…until next time bye guys!