Chapter Fifteen – 'The Forest of Death, Part II'
Woops, heh-heh. I say "Don't expect another chapter for a few weeks." Technically I was correct, but I didn't expect that to become a few months :/
To be a ninja meant to blend into the shadows. That was a phrase Sasuke had heard many times in his life. It was not meant to be taken literally, but instead looked at as a metaphor. Deception was a ninja's lifeblood, simple as that. There were so many little things that involved deception, however, and Sasuke ignored a large part of them: being able to go undercover as the opposite gender, for one, would not help him kill Itachi. There were other mannerisms that he did pick up, though. One was the way he woke up: his body stayed perfectly still, while his breathing patterns and heart beats continued to be uniform. This allowed him to survey his surroundings before he alerted a possible enemy to his being up.
At least, under normal circumstances he would do that. However, he had just been subjected to a dangerous juinjutsu that had forcibly modified his body, making him more susceptible to rage as well as the influence of a snake's whispers. In the process, he had been exhausted in simply trying to live while adjusting to the changes: as a result, his mental fatigue was such that he did not adhere to his normal process of surveying his surroundings first.
"Up, Uchiha," a voice came from above him. Grunting, Sasuke covered his eyes with his hand, the light piercing his eyelids to give him a minor headache. Pushing his upper body off the ground, he slowly let the sun filter through his fingers, before his hand gave way. Looking over to the voice that had called him, he saw a purple-haired lady sitting on top of a rock. Where had he seen her before? Oh yeah, she was the exam proctor for the second exam. What was she doing here?
"You might be wondering why I'm here, Uchiha!" The lady said in an annoyed tone. Damn. It was like she could read his mind. "As you may or may not recall, you were waylaid by Orochimaru in the forest earlier."
Sasuke snapped up abruptly at Anko's words. Now he remembered: that creepy Suna kunoichi had attacked his team, and then revealed herself to be Orochimaru, the Snake Sannin, before biting him.
"That girl-!" Sasuke growled, before turning to face Anko. "Where did she-he go?"
Having been cleaning her fingernails with a kunai, Anko put her weapon away before focusing on Sasuke. "Orochimaru ran away before we had a chance to intercept him." She let her own little growl out at that thought. "I know you might be tempted to chase after him, having your pride wounded like that. However, you will not under any circumstances try to chase after him, do you understand me Uchiha?"
The black-haired boy made to protest, before letting it die out in his throat. He was not so foolish to think that he could beat a Sannin, or even track one down. Besides, he still had to think over the offer the Snake Sannin had made to him. Yes, he would lay back and wait for Orochimaru's spy to contact him, and see what the man had to offer him.
Anko only knew of Sasuke biting his protest, and moved in to fill the silence with some more one-sided conversation. "What you need to know Uchiha, is that Orochimaru gave you a juinjutsu, a Curse Seal." At the confused expression on Sasuke's face, she elaborated. "What he gave you allows you to, in a sense, overdraw on your body's energy from a cellular level, not quite unlike the Hachimon (Eight Gates)." Here, she scowled. "But it is a lot more damaging than the Hachimon. While Hachimon releases your body's limits..." She brushed her hand over the three-tomoed seal on Sasuke's shoulder, causing the avenger in question to wince at the contact, "The Tenshi no Juin (Cursed Seal of Heaven) forcibly draws out energy and converts it into chakra. That..." Anko trailed off again, "And every subsequent usage of the Curse Seal allows Orochimaru to influence you mentally, and he can even cause you pain with but a single hand seal if he is within range."
Standing up, Anko gave him a pointed stare again. "The last intel that Konoha had on Orochimaru's Cursed Seal, only one in ten recipients survived its application." She paused, her eyes glazing out as she lost herself temporarily in memories. "I was the only one to survive out of the last lot."
Thatgot Sasuke's attention. "W-what...But then that m-means-"
"Yes," Anko replied in a calm manner, pulling her trench jacket down from her shoulders, unveiling her bare shoulders. On her left shoulder was the same three-tomoed seal that was on Sasuke's shoulder. "I, too, was unfortunate enough to receive this curse." Looking back at Sasuke again, she didn't hesitate to stare harder than before, forcing Sasuke into visibly gulping in his nervousness. "I had enough sense not to use it, which was fortunate: Tsunade of the Sannin later diagnosed its medical side-effects, of which I told you. Had I used it too long even once, I would have become barren."
That hit Sasuke right at home. Sure, there were other Uchiha around who could help contribute to rebuilding their clan: Uchiha Raika had just recently had a son. However, he was clan heir, and would take the post soon upon his sixteenth birthday. He had to continue the main blood line, and he would not risk the possibility of becoming sterile, no matter whether Orochimaru had improved his curse seal in the last while or not to avoid such a condition.
"But, enough of that," Anko said, feeling that she had laid on the dangers of using the Curse Seal enough that Sasuke would have enough sense not to use it. "Under most circumstances, you would be unable to use chakra for many days. I'm surprised that you even are up already, even with a chakra and stamina infusion" she admitted, before adding, "It has been twenty-two hours since Orochimaru attacked you." Pacing back and forth, she remembered what else she had to talk about. "What you need to know is that by the rules of the Chunin exams, I am not allowed to interfere at all while it is progressing. That I am here, even talking to you about topics that lie outside of the exam itself, is in direct violation. ANBU has helped to collect your other two teammates, and have nursed them back to strength. You are the Uchiha heir: it is imperative that you make it through this exam and into the final exam. If you do, and you perform well, the prestige of the Uchiha shall increase, and so will Konohagakure's."
"I...see," was all that Sasuke had to say at first. Once he finished fully comprehending what Anko had told him, however, he quickly turned his head around, looking to either side as an unconscious reaction. "Where exactly did your ANBU take my teammates?"
Taking out her kunai again, Anko twirled it by the hilt, seemingly bored, though Sasuke wasn't fooled. She was tense and alert, and most of all, paranoid. She was also nervous, if her fingers gripping the kunai turning a ghastly white were of any indication. "We moved your teammates down the river a bit once we came upon you three. Your male teammate was still conscious, as Orochimaru distracted him with a snake summon, while the girl was unconscious from a heavy dose of tranquilizer. I don't know how long she will still be out for, but it should be soon. Ookami almost immediately extracted all the drug that she could from your teammate's body, but whatever it was, it apparently acted fast." Of course it would, having been a tranquilizer: Anko was merely saying it for Sasuke's sake.
"Hnn," Sasuke responded, rubbing the new seal on his neck. "Is there any way to seal this off?"
"There is," Anko admitted. "There are a couple of methods that can be used, but they all take a lot of time, and it is preferred for the sealing to be done in a sterile, flat environment. None of us here are qualified to do it, in any case, but I know that your former sensei and new sensei both are."
The clearing was silent after that. Eventually, Anko decided to break the quiet again. "We are currently two kilometres out away from the tower at the center of the Forest of Death. The snake left behind a Heaven Scroll for your team. My squad checked it out: it is legit, and it has no traps installed on it. The plan is for you and your two friends to make your way to the tower once you reunite. It has already been twenty-eight hours since the beginning of the exam, so that leaves you with just under four days once you make it to the tower, certainly more rest time than most of the other teams will have."
"Hnn." Was all that Sasuke had to say. He definitely wasn't pleased that he would miss out on fighting others in the Forest of Death, but that was the way the cookie crumbled for him. He wasn't foolish enough either to try fighting for the next little while if what Anko had said about the Tenshi no Juin was true.
On the other hand, once he got out of this damned forest, perhaps he should consider taking up some of the training offers he had received in the past and rejected out of hand. Getting beaten down like a fool had crushed his pride, and pride and honour was what drove him through his life, the both of them forming a part of his ego that felt the need to avenge the deaths of most of the clan at the hands of Uchiha Itachi.
"Oi, Sasuke-teme," Naruto said, making sure not to overdo the volume on his voice. "Are you alright? That girl...guy...thing looked like she...he...it... did a number on you earlier." He was actually confused himself as to what pronoun to use for Orochimaru, after all, one didn't get a body-hopping mad scientist every day to set precedent for gender usage.
Of course, that left him in a bit of a conundrum. One of the conditions that Itachi had mandated before joining Akatsuki that his brother was to be left unharmed, and had only recently changed the condition so that if Sasuke turned traitor, as was a possibility, he could be killed. It seemed even after having killed off most of his clan, Itachi still believed heavily in clan honour. Naruto owed Itachi respect, and he sympathised with Sasuke, even if he still didn't like him. He would do his best to convince Sasuke not to follow Orochimaru. To be truthful, if Anko had not shown up, Naruto would have been right with Sasuke as soon as he woke up, and try to prevent him from using the Tenshi no Juin once he woke up. To hear it from Kabuto, the first use of the seal was the most addictive, and allowed Orochimaru to gain a foothold into the user's psyche.
That Anko had been around to dissuade Sasuke from using it even once was a bonus, and they were now in a situation where they wouldn't have to use it. The ANBU and proctors had cameras set up near the tower entrance, and the spot they had indicated to Naruto to enter the tower from was free of any genin teams who had made a base to try and trap incoming teams.
"Naruto-baka, don't call Sasuke-kun that!" Sakura said, but she refrained from punching him, while also making sure to keep her voice low. She had taken quite some time to get the fact that they were ninja now, and that to make it as a kunoichi, she would need to change. She had finally gotten it only recently, but had been making strides to do it. Keeping a low voice while in territory surrounded by enemies and not punching her ally in the head was just two of those accomplishments.
"Hnn," was all Sasuke had to say. He didn't really feel like telling his two teammates about the seal for a while, but he knew that he had to at least inform them of his current one key weakness just in case. "You know that I can't use chakra for a while, right dobe?"
Naruto looked slightly downcast at that, before getting hyper again. "Yeah, ANBU filled us in. Said something about how using chakra too soon makes that hickey the snake gave you more dangerous than if you wait a while for it to stabilise."
Hickey? Sasuke thought, before twitching uncontrollably.
Thankfully, his need to apply righteous fury to Naruto's choice of words was denied, as an ANBU jumped into the clearing. Anko had told him a little bit earlier about her ANBU team. If he was to guess, this one was Kawauso, given the inclination of the mask to look somewhat like an otter.
"Haruno-san, Uchiha-san, Uzumaki-san," the ANBU member said monotonously. "We have scouted out the way to the tower. There are currently no teams in between. We cannot guarantee another team will not set up a trap from that side of the hour in the time it takes you to get there, so we recommend you hurry up, and remember, this encounter never happened." Breaking from his standard monotone, the last four words were spoken in a hiss, causing Sakura to jump slightly.
"Hai, hai, we'll do our best, proctor-san," Naruto said, nodding quickly. Kawauso, feeling the situation was in control, left. Naruto turned back to his two teammates, and prodded them along. "Well, what are you waiting for? Let's get going!"
Incredibly, they made it to the base of the tower without running into any other teams. Naruto was pleased that they hadn't invoked Murphy's Law, though who the Murphy was who created the law he didn't know.
Inside, they were met with a predicament: on the wall hung a scroll, with two lines of kanji missing. Pooling their heads together for a solution, Sakura was the first to speak up. "Do you think it has to do with the two scrolls?"
Sasuked 'hnned', "Could be." Despite having progressed somewhat from her fangirl archetype, Sakura still swooned slightly at the light amount of praise.
"Well, what are we waiting for?" Naruto asked. Taking out the Heaven Scroll he had pocketed, he waited for Sasuke to take out his Earth Scroll. Together, the two unfurled the scrolls at the same time.
A bunch of smoke came as the scrolls summoned something forth, forcing Naruto to choke on the sudden intrusion into the clean air. As the smoke died down, however, he saw the figure who had appeared, and jumped forth, grabbing the figure in a hug. "Iruka-sensei!" He exclaimed with glee.
"Woah woah!" Iruka said, stumbling back a step before regaining balance. Setting Naruto down, he ruffled the blond's hair, and looked at Sasuke and Sakura. "It's been a while, you three. I heard about your mission to Nami, and the whole situation with Kakashi. You've had a rather eventful year, haven't you?" Sighing, he dispersed with the pleasantries. "I requested to be the chunin summoned for you guys, and Teams 8 and 10. Team 8 was disqualified earlier, and Team 10 still hasn't shown up. In fact," he lamented, rubbing his head idly, "You guys are the second team here after a Suna team!"
"Really?" Naruto asked, before pumping his fist into the air. "Oh, we're so awesome!"
"Calm down, Naruto!" Iruka reprimanded him, thankful when Naruto ceased his excessive motion. "Now, there is another reason I am here." Seeing the confused looks, he sighed again, before pointing at the scroll behind him. "That is a chunin motto written by Hokage-sama, with the missing words being 'Heaven' and 'Earth'. The full motto is 'If you lack Heaven, seek wisdom, be prepared. If you lack Earth, run in the field, seek advantages'. So, for example, you Naruto, would have to brush up on your knowledge to increase your strategic skills. Not everything can be won with brute force and sheer stamina." Turning to Sakura, he continued. "You have the opposite problem, Sakura. You are smart, but you must continue to train your body hard. A smart person cannot dodge a kunai if she cannot move fast enough."
"What about Sasuke-teme?" Naruto asked angrily, pointed at the Uchiha, who had up until then stayed out of the conversation.
"Sasuke...well, Sasuke fulfills both requirements," Iruka commented. "He might not be as good as either of you in your respective extremes, but he comes close in both, presenting a balanced shinobi. If you want to be a chunin, Naruto, you must be able to plan ahead. I know you think well on the fly, but a prepared shinobi could trap you in ways that split-second thinking cannot save you from. Even the mightiest have their weakness, such as perversion."
Naruto sat down, arms crossed, and nodded sagely at that last bit. He understood of course, but he had to put on the deception of having just understood what Iruka meant and gaining profound realisation from that. "Hmmm..." he said, before pumping out hand and jumping back up. "Yosh! I promise you Iruka-sensei, I'll try to study some more after this exam is over."
"You're a good kid, Naruto," Iruka said, rubbing the blonde's hair again. "You'll go far." Looking over at Sakura and Sasuke again, he nodded at both of them, "The two of you as well. You are the first Konoha genin rookie team to make it this far in five years." Putting his hands down, he figured that that was the end of the conversation in this room. "Come, you three. You have a little under four days left, let me show you to your rooms. Oh, and Sasuke," Here, he got a 'Hnn?' in response, "You'll be needed later on. I've been informed about the situation, and you'll need that sealed off." Another 'Hnn' was all he got in response, and Iruka sighed at the lack of enthusiasm at conversation of his past Rookie of the Year.
At last, one hundred and twenty hours had passed since the beginning of the second exam. Looking around at the floor of the battling arena, Naruto was curious to see just who had made it. Only five teams had made it. There was his team of course, and then there was Maito Gai's genin team, consisting of Rock Lee, Hyuga Neji and Higurashi Tenten. There were two teams from Suna that had passed as well. One of them consisted of the three children of Sabaku no Akira, which were Sabaku no Temari, Sabaku no Kankuro, and Sabaku no Gaara. There was also his team. Finally, there was an Iwa team. So one of them had made it through, Naruto mused. Well, hopefully at least one member made it into the finals as well.
Up top on one side of the viewing area, Mitarashi Anko was conversing with Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Sandaime Hokage. "Hokage-sama," she made a graceful bow, "The danger period has passed for Uchiha Sasuke. We are unsure if Orochimaru tried to infiltrate the tower to get at the Uchiha again: if he did, he was unsuccessful. As more than three days have passed since the application of the seal, it should have since stabilised, and so Sasuke can use his chakra freely without the seal controlling it."
"Hmmm..." Sarutobi stroked his beard. There really wasn't that much to think about. Kakashi had just earlier sealed off the Curse Seal as a precaution, making it even less worrisome. Sasuke could beat most of the genin here easily. He would have to rig a match though to build up the momentum of excitement into the real finals. It would be all and well if he managed to beat someone from his own village or from Suna, but the civilian audience a month from now would be going wild with excitement and anticipation if the Uchiha heir was to beat an Iwa genin here.
Of course, it was rather disappointing that only one out of the three rookie Leaf teams that were nominated had made it this far. He had been hoping for a breakout this year, even if there hadn't been a single such team to make it this far in five years. "Very well, Mitarashi-san, thank you for reporting."
"As is the Hokage's will," Anko said, giving another bow before using the Shunshin to flicker away.
With several ANBU and jonin around to give him guard, Sarutobi stood up. "Ahem." With the audience quieting down at the clearing of this throat, he stood up and looked over them, lord of all that he surveyed. "Before we begin, there is something you should all know." Looking at the Iwa ninja specifically, he was surprised that they didn't try to heckle them. Most likely they didn't care to risk getting booted out over such a trivial act. Repressing a frown, he let his voice boom out again, leaving an echo behind in the enclosed stadium. "Have you ever wondered why we hold Chunin Exams between different villages?"
Seeing the perplexed expressions on most faces, even that of two of the Iwa genin, he continued, "We say it is in 'promoting friendship'. The truth is that the chunin exam is a substitute for war." Holding his hand up at the bursts of exclamation and indignation that sprung up, he continued to speak up over their protests. "Shinobi villages do not fight for land; rather, that is the purview of the daimyos. Villages fight for influence. Each village wants the most missions, which would give us the most money. War," he stopped for a second, before resuming again, manipulating the audience so keenly that they waited on his next few words with baited breath, "War causes influence to be lost and gained. But war also causes the deaths of hundreds, if not thousands."
Sweeping his eyes over his audience again, he once more proceeded to hypnotise them with his tale. "During the last great war, approximately twenty percent of all active shinobi on this continent were slain, and another fifteen percent forced to retire from war wounds. Notice that I said on this continent." The next words would of course set the Iwa ninja off, though they would have to keep from yelling back. "Those who actually were the major players in the war suffered the most casualties, with the defeated losing spectacular numbers."
"War is one way that villages can gain missions, but if they do not have the numbers to fill out all the missions that are requested, they will lose money overall. This is especially true when taking into account the costs of replacing the fallen shinobi. The Chunin Exams were designed as a substitute for this. Clients who request many missions from the shinobi villages can look at the future talents that each village is raising. If they think one village's chunin hopefuls is particularly strong, then surely their actual chunins and jonins must also be strong, and so they choose to direct more business to that village."
It was amazing, the wizened leader thought, how straightforward and honest he could be, and yet still have his audience hanging off his every word, his own subjects bound to be more loyal to Konoha. It always had worked. "This is why in eighty years, there have only been three great shinobi wars, and seven minor ones. Through this system, each village that is on the rise can attract more business without having to pay knee-deep in blood, while those in decline will realise that they must work doubly hard to gain back clients. A genin who performs well in his exam sends a message, a political one. That 'This village has great power'. That is why as representatives of your villages, you must fight as hard as you can, for the value and strength of a village is only as great as its shinobis."
"In this exam, you can kill, and you can maim. The proctor will step in if he thinks it has gone on far enough, but if you kill right away instead of toying with a wounded opponent, he cannot stop you in time." Here, he let a small smile take over his face. "Clients sometimes like a shinobi who is ruthless and merciless to his enemies. Now," he let his lips move back into his normal calm expression, "Go forth, and prove yourself to be the best!"
While all fifteen genins were thinking over what he had said, a small area on the floor in front of them suddenly filled up with smoke, quickly dispersing, revealing a black-haired Konoha-ninja. Standing up, those who were on the viewing floor could see the regal features of the tall man. Besides the black hair, he had that shade of brown eyes so dark that they were commonly referred to as onyx black, prominent crease lines down his face, and a daunting height of over six feet. The star on his uniform with a fan inside it only confirmed it: this man was a member of the Konoha Military Police Force, and an Uchiha one at that. Looking around to his back side, the man asked aloud, "Hokage-sama, if I may?"
Receiving a nod from Sarutobi, he turned around back to face his audience. "Greetings, genins. I am Uchiha Raika, a member of the Konoha Military Police Force. I am here today as your referee for the tournament preliminaries." Expecting a protest, he looked around at all fifteen chunin hopefuls. "Good, none of you are upset. Let me explain: our clients do not always have sufficient time. If we were to allow all fifteen of you into a tournament, it would require fourteen matches for a single-elimination knockout format. Even counting those who would inevitably format, there would still be too many matches. As a result, we must cut that number in half."
"There are only fifteen of us here," Neji mused, "But eight participants would be the best fit for a tournament. Will one of us be getting a bye, then?"
"That is correct," Raika nodded. "Look over there," he said, and the genins looked to where he was pointing to see a screen. "We have here a computer screen that will randomise the names of the genins to get each match. Seven matches will go through, and the lone shinobi or kunoichi left after that will be the lucky one to make it to the finals." He paused, taking a deep breath. "I say lucky, not only because you are guaranteed a spot to the finals, but because all the other genin here will be watching your battle. You must make a balance here: you need to show off enough to win, but you cannot show everything lest your opponent in the final plans for ways to negate everything you can do."
Looking over the genin again, he decided to finish up quickly. "As Hokage-sama has said before, killing and maiming are permitted in this exam. Of course, if I see a killing blow, I will interfere, but if you happen to be either crafty enough or quick enough to kill before I can stop you, that will not be held against you. That said," he craned his head back around, "The first match pairing may now be decided."
That was that, and the computer screen began to turn on. As the first block of text quickly scrolled through all fifteen names, many of the genin again held their breath. Finally, the name settled on Higurashi Tenten.
"Yosh!" Lee said from where he was standing next to Tenten. "Let your flames of youth burn brightly, Tenten-chan!"
Glad that Lee was only somewhat enthusiastic as opposed to crazy enthusiastic when he got in the mood, Tenten replied, "Thanks Lee." On her opposite side, she saw Neji give a nod of support. "But I want to see who my opponent is first."
Lazily, the computer screen scrolled through the second name, before finally stopping on Awai Yattoko. Raika looked up at it, and shouted, "Alright, everyone except for Tenten and Yattoko, please head up to the viewing area."
Maito Gai suddenly paled, and quickly appeared next to Tenten. "Tenten-san, I wish I could ask you to forfeit, but I know your pride will refuse it. Nevertheless, I must ask you to be very careful in this match."
Tenten, used to her sensei spouting off various eccentric sayings, was taken off guard by her sensei's request. Looking around, she saw many of the other jonins up next to the Hokage begin to buzz. "What? But why?"
"It is because of who Yattoko is," Gai told her. "The Awai name is not commonly known, but it is a dangerous family from Suna that has produced many prodigies, of which Yattoko may very well be the latest. Yattoko...he is..."
Naruto mused from above. If Tenten was strong enough to draw out any of Yattoko's moves and techniques that he had developed, then this would be an interesting match. Naruto had struck up a friendship with Yattoko, who had been privy to some of Suna and Akatsuki's dealings. However, Yattoko had refused to show him much of his self-developed repertoire. Whatever it was, it was bound to be deadly. The red-headed lean Yattoko, who had just stepped up to face off with Tenten, was, after all-
The son of Akasuna no Sasori, the Yondaime Kazekage.
Wow, I bet I hit you with a whammy of a cliffhanger at the end there!
In any case, I finally made it over 80k words! That's at the rate of over 10,000 words a month! The story also hit over 50k hits a few days ago, so that's good news to me I guess. Sorry about the hiatus, but I'm back in action now, so hopefully I'll get some more chapters out fairly quickly.
Again with Anko development: I don't give a crap about fanon. She is a cold, efficient, loyal tokubetsu jonin of Konoha who did her best to intimidate the genin teams who made it to the second test. She is NOT an introvert who acts crazy and bloodthirsty on the outside to scare people off.
A bit with the Cursed Seal: I talk about the seal 'stabilising' a lot throughout the chapter. Basically, my belief is that for certain powerful seals, they take a while to get into full force. For example, with say the Shiki Fuin, the Kyuubi isn't instantly trapped, but has a few hours after being sealed away where he still has a little bit of power to influence his surroundings, but after that is completely blocked off. In the Cursed Seal's case, while the seal is stabilising, any use of chakra is dangerous as Sasuke is at his most vulnerable to being influenced by Orochimaru voice or whatever then, so here Sasuke has to refrain from using chakra. After the seal has stabilised he can use chakra again.
Other than that, I realise this chapter isn't too exciting, and I probably ended the Forest of Death sequence too quickly, but it should hopefully help to tie a few things up for later. Next chapter is the preliminary fights so that should be more interesting. I only have five teams instead of seven so they should go by a lot quicker. Hopefully you enjoyed the revised Sarutobi speech. I hate dialogue that copies canon word-for-word o_o.
In any case
Warslasher: I think I might have messaged you about this, but as I noted in the top, the last chapter is from _Naruto_'s point of view. He might think that Orochimaru didn't know that he was the Kyuubi container. It's more like Orochimaru knew, but just didn't care.
KitsuneOverlord: You don't see right in front of you, you can see about sixty degrees up and down from your position, but you can't see right underneath you or right above you. The idea is that this is the same vertical range that the Byakugan can see, but it can see horizontally around it in a 360 degree. If it had a total sphere of projection, then that would just completely screw up the Neji vs. Naruto fight in canon.