An Extra Edge
Welcome back to An Extra Edge. Last time, the teams entered the Forest of Death after completing the written portion. And Anko got her favored "scary bitch" image detracted from by Rin, a little girl who follows Ling around, but will listen to what he says. Anyway, a weird grass ninja has attacked Team 7, let's see how it goes.
Legal Stuff: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters. Just my fic and ocs.
"Wind Style: Slicing Whirlwind," the grass ninja said, launching a powerful gust of wind at Team 7, which Sasuke and Sakura dodged, but Naruto got hit head on with it.
"Naruto!" Sakura called. "Naruto, are you alright?"
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Naruto vaguely heard Sakura as he stood up. "Oh man that was not fun," he groaned as he looked around before a giant snake constricted him, looking at him. "Oh crap!" he muttered before it ate him.
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Sakura quickly found Sasuke. "Sasuke, do you see Naruto?"
"Wait!" Sasuke snapped, holding his hand up. "When does a ninja strike?"
"A ninja waits until the time is right. When the enemy lowers his guard and his weapons lay forgotten in the stillness of the night. That is the time for a ninja to strike," Sakura said immediately.
Sasuke nodded. "Alright. Let's find Naruto."
"I'm right here," Naruto said from behind them.
"When does a ninja strike?" Sasuke asked.
"A ninja waits until the time is right. When the enemy lowers his guard and his weapons lay forgotten in the stillness of the night. That is the time for a ninja to strike," Naruto said, making Sasuke smirk.
"Correct," Sasuke said before attacking Naruto.
"Sasuke what are you doing?" Sakura asked, alarmed. "He answered it correctly, word for word!"
"Exactly," Sasuke said. "The Naruto I know could never commit that to memory in such a short amount of time."
"Yeah, that's true," Sakura said, pulling out a kunai. "Who are you? And where's Naruto?"
"Naruto" licked his lips slowly. "Well, aren't you clever?" he asked in a female voice before dropping his transformation, revealing himself to actually be the grass ninja from earlier. "Tell me, if you knew he'd never memorize the answer, why did you set that question?"
"It was a trap for anyone who might be listening in," Sasuke said with a smirk.
"Clever," the grass ninja said, letting off a wave of murderous intent.
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"Let me out of here!" Naruto yelled as he tried to stab holes in the snake's stomach with a kunai, only to fail, as the stomach walls were more durable than they looked. "Damn it!" he yelled, putting the kunai away and making a hand sign. "Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!" he yelled, making shadow clones until the number caused the snake to explode like an overloaded balloon. "I'm not dieing yet! Not until I become Hokage!"
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Sasuke and Sakura had managed to get away from the grass ninja, only to be ambushed by a giant snake.
"Get away!" Sasuke yelled, killing it with a volley of shuriken down its throat.
"Good," the grass ninja said, emerging from the snake's head. "The prey must never let down its guard, not even for a moment, in the presence of its predator."
Sasuke gulped. This woman scared the hell out of him. Trembling, he pulled their scroll from his hip pouch. "Our scroll! This is what you want right?"
"Sasuke no!" Sakura pleaded.
"To escape, the prey sometimes attempts to entice the predator with another prize," the grass ninja said as Sasuke tossed the scroll toward her, only for Naruto to snatch it out of the air as he passed.
"Naruto! What are you doing?" Sasuke asked. "We have to hand over the scroll to survive!" he snapped before Naruto jumped over to him and punched him in the face.
"You're just a damn coward," Naruto said coldly, his eyes becoming red with slitted pupils and the whisker marks on his cheeks becoming more pronounced.
"Congratulations besting the snake, Nine Tails brat," the grass ninja said, making Naruto's eyes widen and causing Sasuke and Sakura to look at Naruto in confusion.
"Nine Tails?" Sakura asked. "Naruto, what does she mean?"
"How do you know about that?" Naruto asked the grass ninja.
"I have my ways," the grass ninja said.
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Anko was enjoying some dumplings and red bean soup while Rin had run off to play. "Nothing quite like these dumplings," she said, throwing the skewer at a tree, where it formed the Leaf's symbol with a bunch of other skewers. "Perfect."
"Hey, Shirtless!" Rin called, running up. "Come look! I found dead people!"
"I'm trying to eat here," Anko said, annoyed at the kid.
"Come on! They don't have faces!" Rin said, making Anko's eyes widen.
"Lead the way!" Anko said, jumping down to her.
"This way!" Rin said, leading Anko to a line of Buddhas, where the bodies were, along with some ANBU.
"We had to check their cards to get positive ids," one of the ANBU said as Rin poked one of the bodies with a stick.
"Stop that! It's disrespectful!" Anko snapped at Rin, who climbed onto her shoulder. "Show me their pictures," Anko said.
"Yes ma'am," the ANBU said, handing Anko three files, the first of which showed the grass ninja from earlier.
"He's here!" Anko gasped. "Report this to Lord Hokage right away! I'm going to find this guy!" she said before heading into the forest, Rin still hanging from her shoulder.
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The grass ninja reached up to her face and pulled it off like a mask, revealing a white face with purple markings around the eyes, and yellow eyes with snake like pupils.
"Who are you?" Naruto asked, freaked out.
"My name is Orochimaru," the ninja said in a man's voice.
"I've heard of you!" Sakura said, now very scared. "You're an S-class criminal at the top of the most wanted list! And you're one of the Legendary Sannin!"
"Glad to see that my reputation precedes me," Orochimaru said, letting out a chuckle that sent cold chills down the genins' spines. "Now, to do what I came here to do," he said before stretching out his neck and biting Sasuke on his neck, quickly releasing him.
Sasuke screamed as pain shot through his neck and a mark in the shape of three tomoe in a ring appeared near where he had been bitten.
"What the?" Naruto gasped as Orochimaru escaped. "Sasuke, are you okay?" he asked as Sasuke passed out from pain.
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Anko had been searching for hours, and finally noticed something, landing on a tree branch. "I know you're there!"
"Excellent job finding me, little Anko," Orochimaru said as he emerged from the tree trunk.
"Cut the chit chat!" Anko snapped. "It's only fitting that I'm the one to take you down. Since you taught me everything. Right, sensei?" she asked as she readied some senbon.
"Not quite," Orochimaru said as Anko made to throw the senbon while Rin jumped off her shoulder, though his tongue shot out of his mouth and grabbed Anko's wrist, knocking the senbon from her hand.
Anko raised her free arm. "Striking Shadow Snakes!" she exclaimed, several snakes coming from her sleeve and grabbing Orochimaru. "Get outta there!" Anko yelled as she pulled him from the trunk and slammed him into another before pinning her hand and his to it with a kunai, closing her eyes from the pain before opening them. "Got ya! Now then, let me borrow your left hand," she said, making a hand sign with her hand and his.
"That hand sign!" Orochimaru said.
"Right," Anko said. "It's over. You and I are going to die here."
"I'm afraid you will die alone, Anko," Orochimaru said as he appeared behind Anko and the one Anko pinned was revealed to be a clone.
Anko pulled the kunai from her hand and threw it at Orochimaru, who caught it and dropped it into the tree branch as he made a hand sign. Anko felt a shooting pain in her neck as she fell to her knees, clutching a spot on her neck.
"Aw, it's the mark, isn't it?" Orochimaru asked as he knelt down in front of Anko. "I put that same curse mark on a young boy just a little while ago. He's a very promising prospect. He may even have more potential than you."
"You haven't changed," Anko sneered. "He'll die before he serves you!"
"Quite possibly," Orochimaru agreed. "I'd say the odds are 1 in 10 against him. But the kid may survive, as you did."
"You monster!" Anko snarled as Orochimaru started rubbing her cheek.
"Aw, jealous? Is that it?" Orochimaru asked. "You can't forgive me, can you? For using you and then tossing you aside." He removed his hand from her cheek and stood, right before one of his arms was severed. "What?" he gasped as the other one was severed.
"Leave Snake Lady alone!" Rin said, brandishing her katana and tanto.
'My nickname is Snake Lady now?' Anko thought.
Orochimaru turned to Rin. "This brat cut my arms off?" he asked.
"Yup yup!" Rin said, smiling despite the situation.
Orochimaru turned his head up as a hand shot out of his mouth, which was followed by the rest of his body, the old one being discarded like empty snake skin. "Impressive. Catching me by surprise and infusing your blades with wind chakra to increase their cutting power and range."
Rin jumped at him again, slashing at his neck, though Orochimaru escaped since he was prepared now.
Rin put her blades away and went over to Anko. "Did Snake Man hurt you, Snake Lady?"
Anko shook her head as the pain dulled. "I'm fine," she said as she stood. "We need to get to the tower."
"Okay, Snake Lady!" Rin said, climbing onto Anko's shoulder before Anko took off toward the tower.
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Naruto and Sakura had found a tree with space beneath its roots that made good cover for them, and they were tending to Sasuke.
"His fever still hasn't broken," Sakura said, worried about Sasuke.
"What did that guy do to him?" Naruto asked.
"I don't know," Sakura said. "But Naruto, I have a question."
"What is it, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked, looking at her.
"Orochimaru called you Nine Tails brat," Sakura said. "What did he mean?"
Naruto looked at the ground. "I guess there's no point hiding it. I've got the spirit of the Nine Tailed Fox sealed inside me."
"The Nine Tailed Fox?" Sakura asked, gasping. "The one that attacked the village twelve years ago?"
"Yeah. The fourth Hokage couldn't beat it, so he sealed it inside me," Naruto said. "My entire life, I've been mistreated and abused. And I didn't know why. Until that bastard Mezuki tricked me into stealing the first Hokage's Scroll of Sealing. That's how I learned how to make Shadow Clones. He told me about the fox, and now I wonder why I was mistreated. I'm not the fox, but that's all people see when they look at me." As he said that, Sakura wrapped her arms around him in a gentle hug.
"I don't see you as the fox, Naruto," Sakura said.
"You don't?" Naruto asked, shocked that she was hugging him.
"No. When I look at you, I see a sweet knucklehead who just wants to make people happy and protect his friends."
"Not just any knucklehead! He's our knucklehead!" Inner Sakura yelled.
"Really?" Naruto asked, blushing darkly.
"Yes, really, Naruto," Sakura said, letting go of him. "At first I thought you were just an annoying brat who wanted to make my life miserable. But now I see the kind of person you really are, and you're a very dear friend."
"Friend? Aw man! I'm stuck in the friend zone!" Naruto thought.
"How sweet," Dosu said, revealing himself along with Zaku and Kin.
"Hey, aren't they the ones from before the exams?" Naruto asked.
"Yeah, the one that Ling knocked away without even looking at him," Sakura said, making Dosu scowl under the bandages covering his entire face, save for his left eye.
Ling and his team watched from a hiding spot. "Let's see how they fare," he muttered, wanting some entertainment after he and his team had easily procured an Earth scroll.
Naruto stood in front of Sasuke and Sakura. "I'll handle this, Sakura-chan. You keep an eye on Sasuke."
"Taking all three of us on by yourself?" Zaku asked. "You got guts. I'll give you that."
"I won't let you near my friends," Naruto said, drawing the Kubikiri Hocho and readying it for battle.
"Pretty big sword for such a little kid," Kin said.
"Don't underestimate me," Naruto said, charging at Dosu with a slash that was barely avoided.
"He's fast!" Dosu noted, though Naruto was quickly blasted into a tree by Zaku and knocked out.
"Naruto!" Sakura yelled, drawing a kunai and standing in front of Sasuke as the sound genin jumped at her, only to be knocked away by a green blur, which landed in front of her.
"Do not worry, Sakura," Lee said, taking a stance. "I will protect you with my life."
"Who the hell are you?" Zaku asked.
"I am the Leaf Village's Handsome Devil, Rock Lee!" Lee said.
"This could prove interesting," Fu muttered. "The guy looks like a close combat specialist."
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As soon as he was knocked out, Naruto found himself in a sewer like place in front of a huge cage with a piece of paper with the word seal written on it holding the cage closed.
"What the hell is that?" Naruto asked, only for a set of claws to strike from within the cage, though could not reach Naruto.
"This is my prison, boy," a deep, menacing voice said as it revealed itself to be a giant fox with nine tails.
"Are you, the Nine Tailed Fox" Naruto asked.
"Yes, I am," the Nine Tails said. "We don't have much time, so I'll get straight to the point. Our fates are intertwined. If I am extracted from you, you will die. And if you die, then I die with you. To survive this situation, you will need my power."
"Why do I need your help?" Naruto asked, only for Sakura's scream to echo through the sewer tunnels. "Sakura-chan!" Naruto yelled.
"She needs help, or she will die," the Nine Tails said. "Use my power!" it said, forcing its chakra onto Naruto.
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Sakura lay on the ground, bloodied and beaten from Zaku's efforts to get her off him, as she had fought after Lee had been defeated, and couldn't fight any longer, until they all felt a tremor of chakra. Looking behind them, they saw that Naruto had risen, red chakra rising around him in circles, his eyes blood red with slitted pupils and brimming with fury, his whisker marks thicker and darker, and his nails extended into claws.
"Naruto?" Sakura asked, a bit scared.
"Sakura-chan," Naruto said, looking at her. "Who did this to you? Who hurt you?"
"That would be me," Zaku said, laughing as he said it, only to be silenced when he felt murderous intent coming off Naruto in waves.
Ling trembled slightly.
"Ling, what's wrong?" Lan Fan asked.
"I... I've never felt such malevolent chakra," Ling breathed. "It's got me so worked up, I'm actually trembling. That boy, could he be what I think he is?"
Naruto turned toward Zaku and started walking toward him, his very posture and gait promising no pain, only death.
Zaku held up his hands to attack, only for Naruto to disappear from sight. "Where'd he go?" he asked before he was pinned down with his arms held behind him.
"You seem to like these arms," Naruto said, his foot in Zaku's back. "So, what if I rip them off?" he asked before doing just that, ripping Zaku's arms clean off, relishing in Zaku's screams of agony, his usual happy grin being replaced by a dark, sadistic one. "Who's next?" he asked as he tossed Zaku's arms aside and appeared behind Kin, who could only gasp before he started beating her without mercy, finally snapping her neck and throwing her on top of Zaku.
Dosu stared wide eyed, and began trembling when Naruto looked at him with those eyes. That gaze made him want to scream like a little girl, piss his pants, and run crying for his mommy.
As Naruto prepared to attack Dosu, he was grabbed from behind.
"Stop it! Stop it!" Sakura begged, hugging Naruto. "This isn't like you, Naruto! You've gotta stop!"
"He hurt you, Sakura-chan," Naruto said. "He has to pay for that, just like his teammates."
"Naruto, I'll be fine. Just some cuts and bruises," Sakura said. "Please, just stop."
Dosu was still trembling. This guy didn't look like much, but he had just killed Zaku and Kin in cold blood one after another. Dosu was out of the exam because of that, so he pulled his Earth scroll from his hip pouch and laid it on the ground before fleeing.
"Get back here!" Naruto snarled, though Sakura kept hold of him.
"Naruto, please! Just let it go!" Sakura begged.
Sakura's voice had an effect, making Naruto's features go back to normal. When he turned to look at her, his eyes were their normal shade of sapphire blue. "Sorry, Sakura-chan."
"It's alright, Naruto," Sakura said, smiling at the sight of his eyes, which were radiating kindness rather than malice. "It's alright," she muttered, hugging him again, burying her face in the crook of his neck, happy that he was back to normal, though a groan of discomfort broke the moment.
"Sasuke's waking up!" Naruto said.
Sakura let go of Naruto so they could check on him. "Are you alright, Sasuke?"
Sasuke cracked some stiff joints. "Aside from aches and pains and serious burning in my neck, I'm fine."
"There's Lee!" a girl said as she and her teammate landed in the clearing.
"See if he's injured, Tenten," the boy said.
"Sure thing, Neji," Tenten said, looking Lee over as Neji looked around using his Byakugan.
"You can come out, I see you," Neji said to the air, which prompted Ling and his team to show themselves.
"So that's the Byakugan," Ling said. "I've heard tell of its glory."
Sakura stared at Ling, getting Naruto's attention.
"Something wrong, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked.
"That guy Ling," Sakura said. "I feel like I've met him before, but I don't know where."
"Really?" Naruto asked.
"Yeah," Sakura said with a nod as Sasuke went and picked up the Earth scroll.
"If neither of these other teams have tried taking this scroll, then they either already have both, or need a Heaven scroll.
"We have both scrolls, and were on our way to the tower when Ling insisted on watching that fight," Lan Fan said.
"We have both scrolls as well," Neji said.
"LEE WAKE UP! THIS IS NO TIME TO BE NAPPING!" Tenten yelled at Lee while shaking him rapidly, making the others sweatdrop.
"So, if we've all got both scrolls, why not stick together the rest of the way?" Naruto asked as he picked up the Kubikiri Hocho and put it away.
"Good idea," Lee said, shaking his head, the yelling and shaking having worked.
"Indeed, it is a good idea, tactically speaking," Ling said.
"Then it's decided," Sasuke said, putting the Earth scroll away. "We stick together."
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After few hours, they reached the tower and headed to separate areas.
"Look at that!" Naruto said, pointing to a mural that held a riddle. "What does that mean?"
"I think we're supposed to open the scrolls now," Sakura said.
Sasuke nodded and pulled out the scrolls, handing one of them to Naruto.
"Let's do it," Naruto said before he and Sasuke opened the scrolls at the same time.
For a moment, nothing happened. Then the scrolls started smoking.
"It's a summoning jutsu!" Sasuke said. "Throw the scrolls down!" he said as he and Naruto threw them on the floor, where the summon occurred.
"Congratulations," Iruka said as the smoke cleared to reveal him. "You passed the second exam."
"Alright!" Naruto near yelled. "We did it!" he exclaimed, grabbing Sakura in an impromptu hug, swinging her around a couple of times even.
"We made it!" Sakura said. Before the mission in the Land of Waves, she would have hit him long before his arms got around her, but now she couldn't figure out why she had no problem hugging him back.
"It's cause we're so in love! Cha!" Inner Sakura yelled.
'No we're not!' Sakura snapped back in her thoughts. 'I'm just being nicer to him.'
"Denial is always the first step," Inner Sakura said confidently. "Or was I imagining things when you hugged him in the forest?"
'Shut up!' Sakura snapped in thought, making her other side leave her alone as she and Naruto let go of each other.
"So what now, Iruka-sensei?" Naruto asked.
"Well, there's still about three and a half days before the second exam ends, so you have this remaining time to rest," Iruka said.
"That's good," Sakura said. "We'll need to be at our best for the third exam."
"Yes, you will," Iruka said. "I need to get back to the academy, see you three later." With that, Iruka left in a puff of smoke.
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"Ah, good to be able to get some R&R for the third exam," Fu said, lounging on a couch.
"Yeah, of course Ling is gonna be doing who knows what," Lan Fan said, sharpening her shuriken.
Ling ignored them, staring at the wall. "Sakura," he muttered.
"What was that, Ling?" Fu asked. "Did you just say that pink haired girl's name? Bout time you started looking for a girl." No sooner did the last statement leave his mouth that Ling's stinger tail was at Fu's throat.
"You assume too much, Fu. It could get you killed," Ling said as he retracted his tail.
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Once the last of the passing teams arrived, the genin were gathered in a large room with stairways to balconies on either side of the entrance, and a large statue of two hands making a hand sign, at the base of which stood the Hokage, the previous two proctors, Anko still having Rin hanging from her shoulder, and all the teams' jonin instructors.
"Congratulations to all of you on reaching the final exam," Sarutobi said before a jonin landed in front of him.
"Please, Lord Hokage, allow me, Hayate Gecko, proctor of the third exam, to speak," Hayate said.
"Of course," Sarutobi said, letting Hayate have the floor.
"Before the final exam begins, because there are so many of you remaining, we will need to have a preliminary round to reduce the number," Hayate said before going into a small coughing fit. Once he got it under control, he continued. "As of this moment, it's every man for himself. So if you want to quit now, your teammates will remain. Do any of you wish to drop out?"
The only one to drop out was Kabuto Yakushi, who found the task of fighting so soon without a break, as he had arrived on the final day, to be too daunting.
"All right, let's begin," Hayate said as a wall panel retracted to reveal a screen. "Match ups will be decided completely at random. Let's see who fights first." With that, the screen started flashing through names until it stopped on two.
Sasuke Uchiha vs Yorai Akado
"Alright, the two that are fighting will remain down here. The rest of you go up to the balconies," Hayate said.
As all but Sasuke and Yorai headed to the balconies, Kakashi stopped next to Sasuke and whispered to him. "If that mark gets out of control, I'll stop the match. Don't use Sharingan or any jutsu."
Sasuke stood across from Yorai with Hayate a bit away from them, noting Kakashi's warning as Hayate spoke up.
"Alright, the rules are simple, anything goes," Hayate said. "The match will continue until one of you gives up, dies, or is unable to continue. In addition, I can step in and stop the match if I deem it necessary."
Sasuke and Yorai nodded.
"Alright, begin!" Hayate said, jumping back to avoid getting caught in the crossfire.
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Another chapter done. What connection do Ling and Sakura have? All will be revealed in due time. But not yet. I thank you for your patience.