AvatarUzumaki: Thanks for the review! Also, the contract seal is only able to terminate a genjutsu placed on targets/sever their chakra from their contracted summons, which in turn immediately sends the summons back home unless their edo tenseis. It cannot cancel out someone's fuinjutsu or kinjutsu which is what the curse mark is.

Chapter 24: Betrayal

Naruto and Sasuke stood across from each other in the Uchiha's training ground. Both were smirking at one another, anxious to test the other and themselves.

"Normal sparring rules right?" Naruto yelled so Sasuke could hear him. "No maiming or killing blows, just beating the shit out of one another right?"

Sasuke slapped a smug grin on his face as he nodded his head. "Yeah, I'll try not to beat you badly enough to where you'll need a few weeks to recover."

Naruto rolled his eyes as he began to bounce on the heel of his feet while making the seal of confrontation. "Yeah, I promise to not bang you up too badly to the point where you need several days to recover. After all, you're in the finals and I want to bet on you and Hinata."

Sasuke rolled his eyes as he brought his hand up and made the same seal as his friend. From her position in the middle of the two boys, Hinata rolled her eyes before she brought her hand up. "Are both participants ready? Begin!"

Hinata lept back just in time to avoid Naruto as he used the body flicker jutsu to appear in front of Sasuke suddenly. With his sharingan activated, Sasuke was able to dodge Naruto's punch that was aimed at his face and retaliated by delivering a kick into Naruto's diaphragm. The blonde managed to block the kick with his other arm but had to jump away when Sasuke tried to kick him with the other leg.

"Damn, you're still flexible as hell Sasuke."

"That… sounded wrong." Sasuke commented with a sweatdrop.

Naruto rolled his eyes before he lowered his center of gravity, preparing to make the next move. "You know what I meant."

Naruto pulled out a handful of shuriken before he threw them at Sasuke, only for his rival to mimic him. However, before they clashed, Naruto ran through a few hand signs before the shuriken he threw multiplied.

"Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

"Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

"What?!" Naruto yelled as Sasuke shouted the jutsus name at the same time before he witnessed the same amount of shurikens cancel each other out. "You bastard!" Naruto laughed. "You copied my jutsu!"

"What can I say, it's a useful one."

This time it was Sasuke's turn to charge at Naruto, who barely had enough time to pull out a kunai to deflect Sasuke's strike. "You're getting fast," Naruto grunted as he forcibly threw Sasuke back.

"Thanks, and you're getting stronger." Sasuke ducked out of the way of Naruto's sweeping strike before he used his hands to deliver a strong donkey kick to Naruto's gut, sending him flying back.

The Uzumaki let out a cough of pain before he made a cross hand sign, making five shadow clones appear. Each brandished their kunai before they all charged at Sasuke, leaving the original to stay back and watch.

Sasuke clicked his tongue in irritation before he pulled out another kunai and held both in a reverse grip. He stayed rooted in where he was standing until the first clone arrived and tried a downward slash at Sasuke's chest. The Uchiha pivoted out of the way towards the left before he threw his right arm out in a circle, driving his kunai directly into the shadow clone's skull. His attack was immediately followed up by jumping out of range from the second clone and driving his kunai into the chest of the third one before the fourth clone managed to kick the Uchiha. Or rather the original thought the clone did.

Sasuke backflipped just in time to be in sync with the clone's kick before landing and throwing one of his kunai into the clone's chest, dispelling it before doing the same to clone number 2. With one clone remaining, Sasuke blurred over to it before dispelling it with a punch to the face.

Naruto let out a whistle of approval and surprise at Sasuke's efficiency in taking out his clones. "Damn Sasuke looks like I'm going to have to try."

Sasuke frowned at hearing Naruto's statement. "You didn't think that your clones would be able to take me out, did you? All I need is one good hit or cut and they're gone."

"Guess you're right." Naruto cracked his fingers before he let a grin cross his face. "Let's step it up a bit, yeah?" Naruto ran through a quick sequence of hand seals before taking a deep breath in. "Great Fireball Jutsu!"

Sasuke smirked as he ran through the same hand signs and threw out a fireball the same size as Naruto's. When both giant fireballs collided, a brief battle of dominance occurred before both fireballs gave out, sending a large cloud of smoke as well as a few stray fire streaks.

Sasuke decided to use the smoke screen the collided jutsus caused to get closer to Naruto while being concealed. Just as he was about to burst out of the smoke, he quickly tilted his head to the left, narrowly avoiding a kunai that whizzed by his head. He jumped away and back out of the smoke before he felt his right cheek becoming cold. He raised two fingers to touch his cheek before he felt the sting that accompanied when he would handle a cut.

"I thought you said not maiming or killing blows." Sasuke teased loudly so Naruto could hear him.

"Are you missing a limb?"

"No."

"Are you dead?"

"No."

"Well then, we're good."

Sasuke rolled his eyes before he spat out multiple fireballs after making the hand signs for the Phoenix Fire Jutsu. As soon as the jutsu was cast, Sasuke made a shadow clone and tossed it a soldier pill before taking one himself. He sent his clone to flank Naruto from the left while he came in from the right.

Naruto heard the fireballs coming before he could see them so he ran through hand signs before he slammed his hands to the ground, causing a large mud wall to sprout from the earth. After he was done, Naruto crossed his fingers and was about to create shadow clones, but was interrupted by two Sasuke's suddenly appearing by his sides.

The blonde dodged one's swipe by crouching down and had to roll back to avoid the second's attack. When he properly got to his feet, he jumped back and pulled out a kunai for each hand. He held the kunai in a defensive x shape with both arms in front of his face, waiting for Sasuke to make a move.

Sasuke smirked as he pulled his arm warmer, exposing the sealing formula Naruto had placed there a while back, and unsealed his chokuto, with his clone doing the same.

"God dammit Sasuke, always gotta make it harder for me huh?"

"Why not use your clones to help?"

"I'd rather challenge myself more by fighting a two-on-one."

The three boys smirked at one another before they ran at each other. The Sasuke clone jumped up and tried to deliver a downward slash, but it was parried by one of Naruto's kunai while the second kunai blocked the real Sasuke's horizontal slash. He pivoted his body to try and slash at the real Sasuke but that just earned him a slash on the back from the clone. The blonde winced but managed to back-kick the clone's weapon away before he threw one of his kunai at the clone, dispelling it once it struck.

The remaining Sasuke jumped back while throwing a handful of kunai at Naruto, who deflected the thrown projectiles. With some distance put between them, the two boys were catching their breaths while trying to think of their next plan of attack.

"I think that's enough for tonight."

All three genin turned and saw Kakashi eye smiling at them. "It's getting pretty late, don't you think? Sasuke~, we still have training in the morning."

The Uchiha grimaced before he nodded. "Yeah, guess I shouldn't push myself any further."

"Glad you agree."

"Naruto, bring your teammates and Kakashi back to the mindscape," Minato called out to his son.

"Hey Kakashi, Dad said he wanted to talk to everyone."

"He can do that?"

"Yeah, we all just have to enter my mindscape."

"Great. How do we do that."

"Bump my fist."

"You only have two fists."

"Oh."

"Have the Hatake use his sharingan to get in the mindscape."

"Kurama said to use your sharingan to enter my mindscape."

"Great, because I know exactly how to do that."

"Ok, I'm not a fan of your sarcasm Kakashi-sensei."

Kakashi rolled his eyes as he squatted in front of the blonde while Naruto was fist-bumping his teammates. After a second of staring into the boy's mismatched eyes, he suddenly found himself within a sewer.

"What the hell?"

"This way Kakashi-sensei."

The jonin turned around and saw Naruto walking away with his other two genin following him. "Naruto, is this your mindscape?" The blonde nodded to his question which made Kakashi hesitate before he decided he wouldn't ask his other question.

After they rounded the corner, Kakashi came face to face with his sensei and his wife.

"Sensei, Kushina-san."

"Hmph." Kushina pouted while crossing her arms. "I thought I told you to just call me Kushina."

Kakashi eye smiled at her before he nodded his head. He would finally get closure on one of the most haunting failures in his life.

He would finally apologize to his sensei for all his failures in his life.

He would finally get to make amends and be able to look toward the future instead of being perpetually stuck in the past.

And would earn a smack to the back of the head from both Minato and Kushina for being a moron for thinking it was his fault.

"Urgh!"

"Get up Lee! We still have a long way to go! Your training has just begun!"

"Yes, Gai-sensei!"

Neji Hyuga was sitting cross-legged while watching his sensei and teammate, Rock Lee, from the side of the clearing as a way to pass time. His training wouldn't begin until later in the day when his father and uncle had finished the meeting they were both in, so he decided to just watch his sensei and his friend train. It was something the boy did whenever he had free time.

Some would say that he was crazy for wanting to be around the two while they were training, but to him, it was something that he enjoyed. He enjoyed watching the two move around at high speeds for two reasons.

One, it was great training for his eyes to see such fast movements. They weren't going all out yet, but they were still ridiculously fast. Fast enough that just watching them spar was a form of training.

Two, he came from a clan of Taijutsu users. Of course, he would be impressed and would want to watch in awe of one of Konoha's top Taijutsu masters and his protege.

"Neji."

The boy turned around and saw Tenten standing there with her hair styled into a ponytail, catching him off guard. "Tenten, your hair…"

"Hmm? Oh, you like it?" She spoke with a smirk crossing her lips as she caressed her hair over her shoulder.

"...Compared to your usual twin buns, it looks just as good but still alluring."

The girl blushed slightly but hadn't dropped the smirk from her face. "Watching Lee and sensei spar again?"

The boy nodded while turning back to watch the two. "Yes. No matter how many times I've watched them before, it still fascinates me."

The girl giggled before she sat down next to him and nudged his shoulder with her own. "Are you sure you're not gay?"

Neji rolled his eyes before he nudged her back. "I'm quite certain."

The girl's smile widened. "Oh yeah? How come?"

"Because otherwise I would not be attracted to you."

Tenten's blush intensified but so had her smirk. She leaned her head on his for a few seconds before she let out a reluctant sigh. "I have to go help out my dad at the store today so I won't be here for training later. Sorry."

"It's fine. I won't be here for long regardless, my father and uncle had taken my training for the finals in their own hands. However, I'm set to train with sensei on Tuesdays, I just came here because I had time to kill."

"Mmm."

Tenten closed her eyes and relaxed her body, letting out a contented sigh before she dropped herself onto the boy's lap. The two stared into each other's eyes before she giggled and played with a strand of his hair. "You know, I kinda want to know what you would look like with short hair."

Neji frowned slightly at his teammate's statement. "You dislike my long hair?"

"No, I think it looks good on you. It was just a random thought."

"Mm." Neji closed his eyes and imagined how he would look with short hair before he formed a ram hand sign and transformed into a short-haired version of himself. "How do I look?"

Tenten stared at him for a few seconds in silence before she sat herself up and began to run her fingers through his hair. "I think this is a good look for you. I love your long hair, but your short hair looks more-"

"Attractive?" Neji finished for her with a smirk. He had at first taken her comment about him with short hair as a small jab to his ego, but with Tenten reacting this much to how he looked with short hair, it was fair to say that his ego went up a few notches.

"Oh yeah."

Neji's resolve to change his haircut was now set in stone.*1

Shino walked down his house's stairs, on his way to eat some breakfast before he headed out to go train in a move that he had been theorizing for a while. The excitement of finally having time to try and create the jutsu was radiating off of Shino in his own Shino way.

"My my, someone's excited for today if all that buzzing coming from your hive is any indicator." His mother joked.

Shino pushed his glasses up as a sign that he was slightly embarrassed by getting read from his mother so easily. "Yes, well that's because I finally have enough free time to work on the jutsu that I have been theorizing about how to create."

"Oh? Care to tell me about it?"

"Yes, but I will do so after I perform it correctly."

"Ahhh, you won't even let me know what it's supposed to do?"

"Stop teasing the boy Kawashima."

The two turned to face the new speaker and saw that Shino's father, Shibi Aburame, was walking into the kitchen from around the corner. "Hmph. I was just curious." The now-named Kawashima playful pouted.

"Shino, I'll be overseeing your training for the chunin exams finals, so why don't you tell me what the jutsu is?"

"Ah Ha! I knew you were curious as well!"

Shibi rolled his eyes behind his glasses before he sat down at the table and began to eat.

After the family finished eating their breakfast, Shibi took his son to the clan's training grounds.

"Alright Shino, what should we work on?"

"I need to increase my speed. I noticed that against faster foes, I'd be quickly disposed of so I need to increase my speed to stand a better chance."

"Good, I'm glad to hear that you've noticed that. I would've had to point that out to you if you hadn't noticed."

Shino tilted his head forward before he pushed his glasses up. "I also need something that can deal a large amount of damage to my opponents, as my insects can't drain stronger opponents as fast."

"What do you have planned?"

Shino felt the slightest tug on his lips before he explained what he had planned.

"Hngh!"

"Harder!"

Reo clenched her teeth as she tightened her already torn fist and punched the training log in front of her. She fell on her knees, gasping for air while her sensei walked closer and inspected the log.

"You've gotten stronger. Our training is making some progress, but I'm still not sure if you can beat the Hyuga Heiress."

"I… I know that… I know that she's way better than me…"

"It's not just that though Reo, if it was just a matter of that, then you could eventually catch up. No, it's that Hinata Hyuga is a bad match-up for a brawler type like you. Her clan was raised from birth to be taijutsu masters."

Reo just nodded, knowing all about the Hyuga clan from the academy. She sat down and leaned back on the log that she had just been punching earlier. She heard her sensei dismiss her from training and watched him leave the training ground. Reo let out a long yawn as she felt the fatigue build up inside her body.

"Here, drink up."

Reo opened her eyes and was met with a serious look on Maaravi's face. Her face quickly dropped to match her teammate's. "Again?" She harshly whispered.

"Yeah. I don't know what he wants, but he sent someone to tell me we have to meet at the same place and same time as last time." He whispered back in a defeated tone.

"I thought we weren't working for him anymore."

"I thought so too. But I guess he still needs us for something."

"...I'm not going."

Maaravi's eyes bore into hers with an intense glare. "You have to."

"No. I. Don't."

"Yes. You. Do. Do you think I want to do this? News flash Reo, I don't."

"Then why are you going to go to the meet-up place tonight?"

"Because I have people I want to protect. You do too unless you stopped caring about your mother."

Reo flinched as her teammate brought that up. He knew she loved her mother more than anything, but she didn't want to go.

"If you don't go, imagine what he'd do to her before he kills you."

Reo drooped her head down, nodding after a couple of seconds. Maaravi nodded as well before he placed a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, all we have to do is pray that whatever he plans would fail. Maybe we can fake our deaths or find a way out of his grasp."

"Ok."

The boy stood up and looked down at Reo one last time before he walked away.

The girl was left on the ground, alone. Tears ran down her face as memories she forcibly buried came crawling back.

'I'm so sorry Naruto."

Reo, Taavi, and Maaravi all walked down a dark staircase that was only illuminated by a single candle that was currently held by Taavi. Their hearts were racing, beating a mile a minute. They didn't want to be here, but they had to be if they wanted those closest to them to stay safe.

When they reached the bottom, all three genin's hearts sank.

Right in front of them, was the person in charge. The person that had saved them from their hell and thrown them into another.

"Kukuku, hello Team 11. Glad you could make it."

The three genin kneeled, bowed their heads, and uttered the words that were engraved into their minds from long ago. "You humble us with your presence, Orochimaru-sama."

1- post / 613275468931760128 / sandglass - art - the - idea - of - cutting - off - nejis - hair. The way the artist drew Neji in this picture makes him look attractive, and I'm a guy. If Neji with that haircut flirted with me, I'd be acting like canon Hinata, no homo. Just remove the spaces.