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Last time: The moment everyone's waited for! Gohan's transformation!
This time: The continuation of the battle
Sakura bounded through the trees, moving much more slowly that she had at the start of the exam. Maybe it was the fact that she was lugging both Sasuke and Naruto on her back as she struggled away from the duel that was still in progress behind her.
Sweating, she touched down on a branch, then turned around to watch what she could see of the clash of titans happening behind her. Rapid-fire condensation bubbles were erupting in the distance, accompanied by claps of thunder. Every now and again, a particularly vicious clap of thunder would roll over the Forest of Death and the shockwave from the battle would roll over the kunoichi, rustling leaves and whipping her long hair all over the place.
"Unreal," she murmured to herself. "Just unreal. Even Sasuke-kun couldn't stand up to that Orochimaru guy, and yet Gohan-kun is going toe-to-toe with him and he didn't even think twice!" Sakura looked at her two other teammates, still out like a pair of babies, both slumped on her shoulders, tied together with wire to make them easier to carry. Sasuke was starting to look flushed, as if he'd developed a fever, probably from that crazy bruise on his neck.
Naruto was snoring gently, as if he was asleep, but his expression was anything but peaceful. His right hand kept twitching in her grip, and the kunoichi wondered if it had something to do with what that guy had slammed into the genin's stomach. It certainly looked like he was trying to clutch at something.
All in all, Sakura was worried about all her teammates, but none more so than Gohan. He was engaged in mortal combat, even now, with a man that was more sadistic than anyone had ever met, even with that Zabuza guy from the Wave Country.
Another burst from the battle, more than two miles away, rolled over her, this one more powerful than the last. The pink-haired kunoichi gulped then decided to move on. She had to find a bolt-hole for the night. Besides, she told herself, Gohan was the one who told you to take Sasuke and Naruto and go.
'He wouldn't have done that if he didn't think he could win…right?' Sakura began to doubt herself right then, and she wanted to dump Sasuke and Naruto in a hidey hole and dash right back toward the warring pair and lend a hand anyway she could.
Still, the way Gohan had acted, it really inspired confidence and hope. He had…it had no word. It had been simply incredible, the portion of the battle she had seen.
"Now, Orochimaru," Gohan said, keeping his iron grip on the snake's shoulder, "you and I have some unfinished business." He drew back right as the Sannin twisted to look back at the teen who had boosted his power exponentially, right as Gohan's aura-shrouded fist drilled right into his cheek, snapping Orochimaru's head back around with a sickening crunch of bone on bone, blood mixed with saliva flying everywhere.
The moment his fist hit, Gohan released his other hand and the snake went flying, drilling straight into the ground in a massive spray of earth. The young Super Saiyan didn't hesitate, he clasped his hands, palm out, in front of his forehead, and a sparking ball of yellow ki appeared in the warrior's palms.
Sakura gulped. If this thing was anything like his Kamehameha, then there would be a tremendous explosion in a moment.
"Masenko…" Gohan's voice echoed around the clearing. The dirt cloud faded, revealing Orochimaru, buried up to his neck in the earth at the end of a long furrow, and he extracted himself right as the golden warrior fired his attack. "HAAAAAA!"
"What!?" The snake had no time to doge and was lost in the explosion that shook the earth and made an even bigger explosion, strong enough that the shockwave from it was able to send deep cracks through most of the trees in the clearing.
The smoke cleared and the debris finally settled, allowing the kunoichi and Z fighter to see the results. Orochimaru lay spread eagle on the ground below, blood running from the corners of his rolled-back eyes and covering his chin, the source being the gaping mouth.
Gohan leapt easily into the air and landed next to Sakura who flinched away from him.
"I-Is he dead?" She asked.
The blond smirked. "I wish it was that easy."
"Huh?"
"Orochimaru's one of those guys whose harder to kill than a cockroach." His smirk vanished. "Look." The snake's 'corpse' was moving. The mouth was opening larger and larger, until a pair of pale white hands emerged with a sickening noise, grasped the jaw, and forced it even further out, giving the impression of a snake devouring a bird or mouse.
Sakura shivered. "Gross!"
Despite the seriousness of the situation, Gohan had to laugh. There was a megalomaniac pulling himself out of his own body and all Sakura could say was 'Gross?' She should've been there when he blew Cell in half.
Now he had to do something about Orochimaru, who had fully extricated himself from himself and was soaking wet with slime or some other viscous fluid as he reached down and tugged Kusanagi out of his double's lifeless fingers.
Both warriors stared each other down, then without any spoken signal, they lanced at one another and clashed in a thunderous boom that chewed up the ground and made a sizeable crater, though neither noticed, since they were busy trading blows on the tree above it.
Fists and swords flashed, neither scoring any significant hits. Gohan had spent some of the time after the Cell games sparring with Trunks, and the other demi-saiyan hadn't given any quarter with that blade of his, which Bulma had fixed, as the two fought in the gravity room that sat underneath Capsule Corps.
Sakura was amazed. Gohan's transformation had been more than cosmetic. He was faster, stronger, tougher, his swaying and twisting form a mere blur to her eyes, as was Orochimaru's. The two sprang apart and began prepping for chakra attacks, Orochimaru wiping a trickle of blood from his lip to smear the tattoo on his arm again.
"Kamehame…"
"Ninpou!"
"HAAAAAAAA!" The streak of blue energy shot from Gohan's outstretched hands and sped for the snake man, who finished his technique in the nick of time.
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" A massive iron gate with a demonic face etched into the double doors sprang from the ground in a shower of rocks, which the Kamehameha slammed into with a noise like a gong then broke through, at which Orochimaru blinked, surprised, then slammed his hands into the ground again, making two more gates pop up.
Master Roshi's technique blasted through the second gate, but was significantly smaller when it did, and the result was the weakened beam slamming into the other gate, deforming the door and bowing it outward, but not destroying it.
"What?" Gohan's voice was surprised, and the other man began laughing outright at the younger fighter's shock.
"Surprised? Well, I am too, Gohan-kun." The third Sannin said with a cackle. "Who would've thought that this increase would mean you could break two of the Rashoumon gates with that one technique? That attack is simply sublime." His gold eyes lit greedily. "What's it called?"
Gohan smirked, knowing he had to put up a brave front, even though he wasn't so sure he could beat Orochimaru, even as a Super Saiyan. This guy was looking to be the Broly of his dimension, and Broly was a guy Gohan never wanted to fight again. "It's called the Kamehameha."
"Turtle Destructive Wave?" The pale man repeated, shaking his head in dismay. "It sounds like something that bumbling idiot Jiraiya would come up with."
Gohan appeared in front of the snake, who took a step back at the sudden appearance.
"I still have my fists!" He shouted, burying a fist into the other man's gut so hard that blood sprayed from his mouth, his back bulged outward and the back of his robes was blown to shreds from the force of the hit.
Orochimaru slammed into a tree, splintering wood and bark, though he didn't stay down for long, walking casually out a moment or two later. The robes covering his chest were gone, hanging limply from the rope belt around his waist, showing the man's torso.
The snake was thin and wiry, so thin in fact, that the Super Saiyan could see his ribs, along with bruises that marred his white skin, a particularly nasty one already blooming on his stomach where Gohan had just blasted him.
"You still have your fists?" He repeated, laughing again. "Yes, I supposed that's true, but if that's the best you have, then I suggest that you give up. With attacks like that," he smirked confidently, "you won't be able to kill me."
Gohan let out a noise akin to a hiss and his aura flashed into being again, the chirping noise the only thing that filled the suddenly silent clearing.
"Interesting. Your chakra spiked the moment that aura came back," The Sannin said. "Does this mean that you're at one hundred percent right now?"
"Why don't you attack and find out. Or are you too afraid?" The blond-haired fighter said, smirking again. The snake wasn't stupid. He knew that this young and impudent boy was trying to goad him. He was afraid of something. Was it Orochimaru himself? No. This kid had already proven that he would rush a much stronger adversary with no hesitation at all and fight viciously to hold his own.
Was it killing? That wasn't it either. Gohan-kun's so-called "Kamehameha" and his "Masenko" had both been fired to kill. What was really interesting was that the Kamehameha was almost exponentially stronger than the Masenko. The yellow beam had wouldn't have broken one Rashoumon, much less two and dent a third. That meant the Kamehameha was an amplification of some kind.
So what was Gohan-kun's fear? The answer came to Orochimaru as if the Kami themselves had sent it to him. For all his power, speed and strength, Gohan-kun was like all the tree huggers in Konohagakure, which meant that he was bound by those troublesome morals that no shinobi should have, and that he would preach about protecting his friends. That was it, that was Gohan-kun's weakness.
Any one of those three in the trees would be good targets. Even Sasuke-kun could be attacked. Orochimaru was gambling, though, if he decided to go after the last Uchiha. If he was wrong about Gohan, then he would lose a prospective body, though the fierce warrior in front of him would make a fine replacement. That hair-change was very intriguing, since it seemed to do more than be a cosmetic change.
His predatory gaze fell on the kunoichi, Sakura, was that her name? Either way, he'd attacked her twice and failed because of Gohan's fierce drive to defend his 'precious people'. The Sannin didn't like to set store by superstitions, but in this case he'd make an exception. He hoped that phrase 'the third time's the charm' would hold true for him.
Gohan's eyes widened when Orochimaru drew back the hand that held the Kusanagi and hurled it at Sakura, who looked paralyzed at the sudden attack on her.
"Sakura! Get out of the way!" Gohan shouted, but the kunoichi just crouched down and clutched at her head, even screaming in fear. "Damn!"
The Super Saiyan vanished and Orochimaru smirked triumphantly. That fool was playing right into his…
There was a scream, a pulse of ki that fractured every tree in the area and blew away Kusanagi, sending the blade spinning away to stick into a tree with a dull thunk. The snake's face went blank. That kid was really starting to piss him off.
Sakura opened her eyes, and Gohan was standing over her, panting from expelling so much ki so fast.
"Sakura, are you alright?" He asked, though it sounded like there was disapproval in his voice. Was he ashamed of her for her conduct when the sword was coming for her? She lowered her eyes. Even if Gohan-kun wasn't ashamed of her, she sure as hell was. What kind of shinobi screams like a child when under fire? A not very good one, that's what. "Sakura, listen." She looked up, wondering what Gohan wanted.
"Yeah?"
"Take Naruto and Sasuke and get out of here."
"What!?" She shouted. "Get real! I'm not about to leave you! Not with that maniac down there!"
"I can take care of myself, now go!" He sounded adamant, but Sakura wasn't about to do it.
"I..but…Gohan-kun, I just can't!"
Gohan felt a bubble of anger erupt in his chest like an explosion. "Sakura!" He shouted, sounding very much like his father the first time he'd transformed, "Just do as I say and get the hell out!"
Sakura flinched, surprised. Gohan had never shouted, except when he was increasing his power, nor had the kunoichi ever heard him swear. Too surprised to argue, she gathered Sasuke in her arms, jumped to Naruto's tree, where the blond was in big trouble of falling since the kunai that held him was mere inches from a fissure right below it. She pulled him out, bound the two boys together and jumped away, moving away from the battle and keeping Gohan between her and the snake man on the ground below.
Gohan watched his friend until she was beyond his sight, then turned his attention to Orochimaru, who had retrieved Kusanagi and was watching patiently from the sidelines.
"You didn't have to wait." Gohan said, putting one hand on his neck and cracking it, keeping up his mask of confidence.
"I'm not interested in some cowardly girl," the pale man answered with a sneer. "I'm more interested…" Gohan blinked and Orochimaru was gone. "In you!" His emerald eyes tightened as the snake's mouth opened wide and descended toward his neck.
Anko stood at the fence to the forest of death, looking in with an apprehensive expression.
'Just what the hell is going on in there?' She wondered as another series of faint thunderclaps or explosions reached her ears. It had started about ten minutes ago, right after that weird light shaft, and had been continuing off and on ever since, along with some brilliant flashes. A hissing ripple filled her ears and she saw a ripple of leaves heading straight for her.
Anko braced and grunted as a shockwave rolled over her, sending her miniskirt and trench coat flapping as she shielded her face from the biting bits of debris that laced the wind. It passed and all was quiet for a second, then the thunderclaps started up again.
"Holy shit." She murmured.
"That's the understatement of a lifetime," said a voice from behind her. The interrogator turned and saw Hatake Kakashi standing there with a grim look in his visible eye.
"You know what's going on in there?" She asked roughly, trying to hide her nervousness at the situation. Something about this clash of powers had her unsettled.
"I have an idea," Kakashi replied cryptically. "I need to get into the forest."
"Can't do that. No one aside from the genin and the proctors are allowed in once the exam starts."
"I know that." There was an edge to the masked jounin's voice. Something was up, and the way the Scarecrow was acting told Anko that he didn't have an idea. He knew exactly what was happening in there. "But I really need to get in."
"What's going on in there, Hatake?" Anko demanded.
"I already told you, I don't really-"
"Don't give me that bullshit," the other snapped. "You know exactly what's happening. If you didn't, you wouldn't be so damn tense." She smirked. "So, how about a deal?"
"Fine, I agree to whatever it is," Kakashi said hurriedly, not really caring what happened at this point. He sprinted forward, planted one hand on the ground and vaulted himself over the barbed wire atop the fence, rushing off into the trees, getting swallowed by the dank foliage in a heartbeat.
Anko watched him go, then chuckled. "You know, I could disqualify you're team, Kakashi," she murmured to the air before shaking her head, "but I think I'll have to come up with something more exotic for you." She grinned sadistically, until her Curse Seal, dormant for years, suddenly came alive with its classic burning pain, driving her to her knees and her hand to her neck.
"Shit!" She grunted through gritted teeth, her free hand clawing at the ground until she managed to force down the pain and stand up. Without another word, she vaulted into the trees and chased after Kakashi, knowing exactly what the reason was for the Seal's sudden activation.
He was here. Here in Konoha. Her pulse quickened as she approached the thunderous booms that echoed all over the forest. Orochimaru. He would pay!
Gohan's yells filled the clearing, his aura flaring like a wild flame, the tops of the trees already reduced to so many splinters, held aloft by nothing but his ki's strength.
Clinging to the shattered remains of another of the massive trees, Orochimaru watched with greedy fascination as the boy's power continued to spiral higher and higher. He was much stronger than he let on, but he still couldn't defeat the Sannin, they both knew that. That was the whole reason they'd let the kunoichi go.
As long as she was there, Gohan would hold back to protect her. Gohan had let her go to protect her from himself, and Orochimaru had let her go to see this interesting young lad at his full power. Now that power had done interesting things to the environment around them. The tops of the trees were shattered, the trunks nothing but splintered shafts, on top of which the Sannin stood.
The boy finished and let of a massive pulse of power that resonated through the whole forest, and the snake man knew that this would be interesting. The boy's ferocity on the attack was most of the reason that he was still alive, but his reflexes were excellent, as he'd proven just a few minutes ago.
When Orochimaru had tried to mark the boy, he'd reacted faster than should've been humanly possible, bringing his right elbow up in a hard blow to Orochimaru's jaw, lifting him off his feet, from which he'd spun and driven his left palm into his enemy's stomach, throwing him through a few trees, and following up with a huge blast of ki that'd lit the area like a second sun.
He'd been forced to do another one of his special Kawarimi Jutsu to avoid it. The boy hadn't hesitated and had begun his power up. The winds had been so fierce that Orochimaru hadn't been able to get close, so he'd decided to wait it out and see what the kid had up his sleeve.
Gohan felt a visceral pleasure flood his system. His Saiyan blood was coming to a boil. He was getting embroiled in the fight, as all Saiyans were prone to doing. The teen tried to fight it, but it was hard. If he got tied up fighting now, then he wouldn't be able to even survive. It was clear to him that Orochimaru was indeed the Broly of his dimension. No matter how hard or how many times Gohan struck him, that snake found a way around it or just brushed it off. There was a prime example in when Orochimaru had tried to mark him like he'd done to Sasuke.
Despite the increase granted by his transformation, Gohan was still behind Orochimaru by a very wide margin. He scowled. If he wanted to defeat or kill this man, then he'd need his all. He'd need the power Super Saiyan Two granted. He scowled deeper. The last time he'd tried to transform, he'd been blown off his feet and knocked out. If that happened this time, he'd be killed or marked. Orochimaru wouldn't be as kind as Haku was.
'Better not risk it. I hope I've bought Sakura enough time to get away and find a place to hide.' Gohan began running through options to figure out how he could get away without getting killed. To do that, he'd need to distract Orochimaru. He smirked. The young demi-saiyan had an idea.
Orochimaru cocked an eyebrow as Gohan fazed out, reappearing on the forest floor and scooped something up, slinging it over his head. When he pulled his arms away, he vanished again and reappeared right in front of the Snake Sannin, his cape billowing from his shoulders.
The Sannin grinned malevolently. "Oh? Are you so confident that you're putting your cape back on?" He snorted. "Quite the ego you have there, Gohan-kun."
Gohan just grinned and put his hands to his temples, palms inward, fingers spread. "Sorry, but it's clear that I can't defeat you like I am now," he said, "so I think it's time to say goodbye."
"You're going to kill me, Gohan-kun? What attack do you have up your sleeve now?"
"As much as I wish I could, I can't, and Sakura's waiting for me. So, see you later!" He grinned the Son grin and shut his eyes. "TAIYOKEN!"
Orochimaru screamed in shock and anger as a massive flash shot from nowhere and made the world go dark with the gray-green afterimage of Gohan with his hands next to his face burned into his brain. He, for several seconds, was totally blind and, in his surprise, didn't pay attention to his other senses.
Finally, mercifully, and after a seeming eternity, the world, very blurry and out of focus, swam into view, then gradually sharpened until he could see well again. He looked around, cast out his senses, listened for any small hint, but he couldn't feel, hear, smell, sense or see anything.
Gohan-kun had given him the slip.
The snake was alone on the ravaged battleground, which was littered with fractured trees, the tops of which were gone, laying as just so much mulch on the forest floor below, which was littered with craters and sections of ravaged ground where the Rashoumon gates had appeared, where the Masenko and Kamehameha attacks had struck, along with just impacts from the blows they had thrown.
Rage erupted in him. A kid had stood up to him, Orochimaru, and not only held his own, but got away. His scream of anger pierced the now-quiet forest and sent a flock of birds into flight. Night was coming fast and he had to get away. Anko-chan was in the area and her Seal would've activated with the surges in his chakra.
She would alert Konoha's ANBU units and, even as powerful as he was, would be overwhelmed by their sheer numbers. He had to get out and hide. Sasuke-kun was marked by a seal, and as long as Team Seven stayed together, Gohan-kun be found nearby the Uchiha.
He cackled evilly. "I'll mark you eventually, Gohan-kun," he promised as he melted into a shattered stump that had been a tree earlier that day. "I swear it!"
Kakashi and Anko bounded from limb to limb with an urgency that spoke of unseen dangers and a potential for a big emergency. Soon, they began to see signs of the battle between Gohan and Orochimaru. They burst through a copse of trees and felt their stomachs rise into their throats as the two jounin stepped into thin air and plummeted towards the ground as they simply ran out of branches.
Both twisted and landed cat-like as silently as they could. The duo stood, gaping at the destruction. Craters, shredded trees and leaves, and fissures surrounded them and the canopy was simply gone. Kakashi thought it was probably lying at their feet as just so much saw dust.
Anko whistled. "Damn. What happened here?" She asked. Kakashi's answer was to raise one hand to his hirai-ate and tug it upward, baring his Sharingan. He closed his normal eye and noted the residual chakra that laced the area.
"This was no genin-level battle. Whoever fought here had massive amounts of chakra or something more destructive that hasn't been seen before."
"Orochimaru was here, I know it," Anko said, massaging her jacket's shoulder, which hid the Curse Seal. "And what do you mean something else?"
The Sharingan-wielding shinobi next to her stepped forward and began sniffing. Someone might think that it was stupid, but Anko knew that Kakashi was the best tracker outside of the Inuzuka, and some would say even better.
"There's a whole myriad of scents here. Most of it is from explosions and the wood being split, but there're human scents here."
"Can you ID them?"
"Oh yeah. It's my team."
"You're team?" Anko asked, disbelief clear in her tone. "You're telling me your team went toe-to-toe with one of the Sannin and there're no bodies here? You're slipping Kakashi, there's no way that could happen."
"I never said my entire team, Anko. I'm thinking of one person."
Anko jolted. "You're kidding. One genin had enough power to go against a Sannin!?"
"Yeah. I'm sure it's Gohan."
"Gohan? You mean that fourth kid that you got the waiver for?"
"That's him."
Anko shook her head. "I still say it's impossible."
"Not if he uses ki it's not."
"Ki? You really are going senile. It's impossible to use ki."
Kakashi's eyes curled. "Well, I'll explain later as best I can. I'm still not clear on the specifics myself. Anyway, I'm sure Gohan was able to get the other three out with no serious injuries. I'm going ahead to the tower, so you can come with me or look for Orochimaru."
"Do you have his scent?"
"Yeah, but it's faded. I really think your chances of finding him are slim now that the sun's down." It was true. Night had set some time earlier and the shadows were deep. A Sannin like Orochimaru would be able to all but turn invisible with this kind of darkness.
Anko nodded reluctantly. "I guess. I'm sure he'll stick around too. He never did anything with no reason, so until he's satisfied with the results, he'll be nearby."
"Right."
A pair of nods and the two were off in a set of blurs.
Sakura flinched as an owl hooted nearby. It was very late and she was jumpy. The kunoichi felt very naked here in the Forest of Death without anyone watching her back. Sasuke and Naruto were both still out cold inside the hollow she'd found in a tree's roots. A quick few cuts of a kunai on some moss and she had a covering for the opening that mimicked the hanging curtains of the moss in the forest rather nicely. Now she was hidden in the shadows and keeping a vigilant watch for both enemies and Gohan, who still wasn't back from his battle with Orochimaru, and that was starting to worry her.
Even as far from the battle as they were, Sakura had still been able to hear the thunderous claps of blows, the flash of ki attacks, and the occasional huge shockwave. For almost half an hour, the forest had been silent and the wildlife, recognizing that their domain was quiet for the time being, had begun to make their discordant racket again.
'Gohan-kun, where are you?' She wondered. Sakura didn't think he was dead. Somehow that just didn't seem possible. Gohan seemed leagues ahead of any shinobi in the world. It just didn't seem possible that he could potentially die, even if he'd looked tense during the battle. Something had changed with the other teen and it had nothing to do with that hair change of his. It was the way he carried himself. Even during the battle with Zabuza, he'd been relaxed, confident. With Orochimaru, all that had changed. He'd been tense, as if he wasn't sure of the outcome.
A chill that had nothing to do with the dank cold that clung to the forest washed over her. Gohan was the strongest person she knew. Even Kakashi-sensei was weaker. Something just told her that even the legendary Copy-Nin was weaker than Son Gohan. To think that Orochimaru was stronger was…frightening to say the least.
Sakura jumped when she realized that the forest around her had gone eerily quiet. There was no sign of a chirp or hoot anywhere. That screamed that someone was near her.
The bushes shuffled and a shadow stumbled out. Sakura slipped a kunai from her holster and got ready to throw it at the intruder. Then the shadow stumbled into the wan moonlight and the kunoichi let out a cry of surprise before running towards the intruder.
"So, Kakashi, you think that one participant in the battle was Gohan-kun and the other was Orochimaru?" The Sandaime said, puffing speculatively on his pipe.
Kakashi nodded at the Hokage. After he and Anko had returned to the tower in the center of the forest, he'd summoned Pakkun and sent the little pug puppy off to fetch the elderly leader. Once Sarutobi had arrived, he'd demanded to hear the story, which Kakashi had lost no time in relaying, until he'd finished and the Hokage has asked his questing.
"Yeah. I'm almost sure it was Gohan. This forest is filled with genin and I can't think of one who'd have the power to stand against Orochimaru."
"Do you suspect as I do that he's broken the seal?"
Kakashi rubbed his spiky silver hair. "I think it's highly possible. That pillar of light earlier seems to point to that fact."
"What!?" Anko said, sitting bolt upright on the couch where she'd been lounging. "One kid was responsible for that?"
"We think so," Sarutobi replied, sending a smoke ring towards the ceiling. "Gohan-kun certainly has the strength. If he's broken the seal that holds back his real power, then it's highly likely."
Anko shook her head. "I can't believe it."
"Neither can I," Kakashi admitted. "But then, you didn't see him wipe the floor with Zabuza or how he arrived in this world."
"That's the other thing I don't get," Anko added. "Another dimension? You're pulling my leg." She crossed her arms. "And I don't like it when that happens!"
The Hokage chuckled at the kunoichi's anger. "Until you've seen Gohan-kun fight, you never will." He walked to the bank of video cameras and found the one that watched the area where Gohan had been fighting. He rewound the tape to the point when the pillar of light shot into the sky, but the moment the light cleared, the camera went blank.
"I thought these cameras were resistant against stuff like chakra overload?" Anko asked.
"They are," Kakashi said, looking at the screen with a pensive look in his eye. "That should tell you what kind of power was being slung around there."
"I think we should continue the exams. If we do that, then the answer of just what Gohan-kun's breaking of the seal means should be revealed in time," the Sandaime said, also looking solemn.
The two jounin had nothing to say to that and silence fell as they looked at the static-filled monitors. Both Sandaime and Kakashi had suspicions, but no concrete proof about Gohan, aside from they knew he was behind it.
For them, only time would tell.
Gohan almost shot a ki blast at the shadow that lunged from him from the roots of the tree where he'd sensed Sakura's ki, but he stopped short when he was enveloped in a tight hug from the kunoichi herself, who was bawling her eyes out into his shoulder.
"Uh, Sakura? Are you okay?"
It seemed to bring her around and she looked up at him, green eyes watery with unshed tears. "I was worried about you, you jerk!" She said, her tone suddenly carrying the undercurrents of anger. The longer she looked at him, the angrier she seemed to get. "You throw me out of the battle then don't come back all day, while I'm here with two injured teammates and wondering if the other one's okay!"
She took a deep breath, then she cracked him over the head with enough force to plant the demi-saiyan face first into the dirt. "Do you have any idea how worried I've been!?" She shrieked the best she could while still whispering.
Gohan gave a muffled apology from where he was. He really didn't feel like standing up. He was exhausted from his skirmish with Orochimaru. After using the Taiyoken, he fazed into the foliage, knowing he was too weak to kill the Sannin right then, and dropped Super Saiyan before squashing his ki as low as it would go. From there, he'd snuck his way over the forest floor like any common civilian. That's why it'd taken him 'till after dark to reach the campsite because he'd had to sneak past other examinees, through thorny bushes and other pointy-type plants.
Needless to say, he looked a little worse for wear, in addition to the bruises and scrapes he'd accumulated against Orochimaru. It was odd. He'd gone against the biggest megalomaniac in this world and both of them had come out of it with only minor bruises and wounds, though Gohan knew that Orochimaru had underestimated him and that was the reason he wasn't more grievously injured.
He stood and felt the implications of the day's events simply wash over him, making him slump, his eyes drooping, as his body screamed at him to fall asleep right there.
"Gohan-kun? Are you alright?" Sakura's voice was coming as if from a great distance.
"I think I overdid it a little," Gohan answered with a weak laugh and a watery smile. "Don't worry," he added, stumbling through the moss curtain, the pink-haired kunoichi beside him as she helped him inside the little hollow and found a place that wasn't taken up by the forms of Naruto and Sasuke. "I'm not hurt. Just really tired." He yawned as if on cue. He glanced over the two unconscious boys. "No change?"
Sakura shook her head. "No, but Sasuke-kun's fever has gotten more intense." Even in the moonlight, a thin sheen of sweat could be seen beading on the Uchiha's face. His slightly gasping breaths were the only thing in the hollow for a moment. Sakura jumped when Gohan gave an abrupt snore and scared her. She smiled when she saw him curled up and sounding like he was trying to saw down the entire forest again.
The kunoichi left the hollow with a slight twinge of apprehension. They had one scroll, no sign of a second one and both Sasuke and Naruto were both out cold and Gohan was out like a light for the foreseeable future. Sakura had no idea how long it took ki to come back. Chakra could take anywhere from a few minutes to a few months, depending on how much you used and how much you had. Ki was completely unknown to her.
'Stop,' she commanded herself. 'You're the one they're depending on right now, so you have to defend them. So get to work Haruno Sakura.'
With that, she dug out a kunai and some wire, then got to work setting traps and building other fortifications.
Well that's that. Sorry this took so long. The other stories gave me a hard time, and I'm home and taking summer courses until sometime in August, whereupon I return to AZ for normal college. Long story short, the updates may be a little slow in coming, but they WILL come, that I promise. Sorry if this seemed a little short, but the next one should wrap up the Exams and get into the Prelims, so therefore longer. Pairing: It's a tie between Ino and Sakura, and since Sakura already seems to be developing feelings for Gohan, I think it'll be her. Sorry to whoever doesn't like this, but don't worry, I'll toughen her up and make her not so whiny.
-Edit: Changed something to make the story flow better. Nothing major though.
Glossary
Rashoumon: These are the gates that Orochimaru summons to block and nullify attacks. These weren't even seen until Shippuden, but against a Kamehameha, hey, I would've used them.
Masenko: Gohan's other major ki attack. Taught to him by Piccolo during the Saiyan Arc.
Taiyoken: Literally 'Fist of the Sun', though it's translated by Funimation as Solar Flare. It's essentially a bright flash of light that blinds the enemies. Goku's blocked it before with Master Roshi's sunglasses. Tien's technique initially, but both Goku and Krillin have copied it with seemingly no training, so I would imagine that it's easy to duplicate.