Chapter XXIII
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
Oscar and Sakura laid Naruto and Sasuke out side-by-side under the arching roots of the nearest tree, seeking what meager protection they offered. Muttering to himself as he did so, Oscar preformed a cursory examination on each of his unconscious teammates.
"Naruto's out cold and Sasuke is feverish, but they both appear stable for now," he reported.
"What did that woman do to them?" Sakura asked, trying to keep the shake out of her voice as she cradled her useless arm.
"I have no idea, but there's no time to lose on a thorough diagnosis. The first order of business is to deal with your injury."
"But why? I can wait a while. Sasuke-kun and Naruto-kun-" But Oscar cut her off.
"Sakura, we are incredibly exposed here, and the two of us may have to fight off any number of enemy shinobi at any moment. Remember, those enemies will want what we have, and, not sure how to break this to you, but you and I are possibly the two least-skilled and least-prepared members of our team. My first priority is to get your arm in working condition so you can start laying some traps and then assist me when I examine them. We have no idea what we're dealing with and if the two of us are not prepared for a surprise-attack when it comes because we decided to take care of our unconscious teammates first, all four of us could be in grave, possibly fatal, danger. Do you understand?"
Sakura nodded. Everything the dark boy said made sense, no matter how much she hated the prospect of leaving Sasuke-kun unconscious and uncared for, even for a few minutes. And Naruto-kun too, of course. "What do you need me to do?"
Oscar seemed to consider for a moment. "Before I do anything, let me look at your shoulder. Hold still." Oscar gently took hold of either side of the split at the edge of Sakura's sleeve and, before she could protest, wrenched the sleeve in two down the seam with a loud ripping noise. Sakura bit back a shriek of pain as the movement jarred her injured shoulder. Oscar laid back the halves of the sleeve and inspected the unnatural bone structure that was deforming and stretching the luckily unbroken skin painfully. "Hmm," was his only comment. He probed the dislocation was one finger and Sakura resisted the urge to scream at him or to slap his hand away. "Alright, fairly straightforward, but do both of us a favor and kneel down and make sure you're steady, because this is going to hurt more than you'd expect, though the pain should recede fairly quickly once it's realigned."
Sakura knelt down as Oscar had requested and the dark boy imitated her, kneeling before her and tentatively placing a hand on each of her shoulders. Sakura winced when he touched her right one, but he took no notice, cupping the ball joint in the palm of his left hand. "Hold onto my arm with your left hand," Oscar advised, and Sakura followed suit unquestioningly, gripping Oscar's right arm tightly with her uninjured left. "Here we go." Oscar took a breath, then acted, simultaneously bracing his right hand against Sakura's left shoulder and wrenching with his left hand.
The ball-joint ground painfully over the cusp of the socket before snapping into place. Sakura let out a strangled cry and released Oscar's arm to quickly wipe the stinging tears from her eyes and the blood from her lip where she had bitten it.
Oscar sat back on his heels. "There. Now don't try anything too strenuous with that arm for a while. I would try to take some of the pain away with chakra, but I have to save what I've got left to focus on Sasuke and Naruto and on not passing out. In any case, can you work on setting up a couple of traps?"
Sakura swallowed, rubbing her bare shoulder tenderly with her other hand. "Yes, Oscar-kun. When I'm finished, do you need help examining them?"
"That would be appreciated." Sakura stood up and Oscar followed suit. After exchanging a single look, which seemed to communicate the hectic, rather dubious, determination that they both shared, Sakura left, pacing off the perimeter at which she would begin setting traps. She was allowing them room to maneuver in the clearing without setting off their own traps.
Oscar watched her go for a moment, before shaking his head. They were in so much shit. They could try to make it to the tower when their reserves of chakra had been replenished, but that meant defending the clearing at least for the night, and then carrying Sasuke and Naruto all the way to the tower if they hadn't woken up by then. It was a good thing they already had both of the scrolls. That ought to save time, as they wouldn't need to go looking for other groups to fight.
By that time, Oscar was already crouched at Sasuke's side. Unsure of what exactly was wrong with either of the boys, the dark boy had decided to start with bringing Sasuke's temperature down and work from there.
Stripping off his own shirt, Oscar got to work, every so often pausing to listen for the rustle of Sakura moving in the nearby foliage.
Oscar ripped his shirt into strips and dribbled some of their precious drinking water onto one of the strips, using it to bathe Sasuke's face and clean the semi-congealed blood from the savage puncture wounds on the side of the Uchiha's neck. Oscar stared at the strange seal surrounding the wound but was unable to decipher it, never having learned much about fuinjutsu. He probed it with gentle sparks of chakra-induced electricity, none of a higher or more intense level than that of a minor static shock, but neither the seal nor the dark-haired boy reacted.
Finally, dissatisfied but helpless, Oscar stood, leaving a fresh, damp rag on Sasuke's forehead and another covering the wound, and picked his way around the prone forms until he could kneel beside Naruto. Sakura joined him there, having completed her task for the time being. Oscar relayed to her the little he could deduce about Sasuke's condition, before asking what she could tell him about Naruto's.
"Well, before she threw him, that kunoichi hit Naruto in the stomach," Sakura recalled, screwing up her eyes in concentration.
"Some kind of jutsu?"
"I think so." Sakura watched as Oscar lifted the hem of Naruto's shirt, revealing his stomach. "Hang on, where's the Kyuubi's seal?" Sakura asked, instantly worried by the unmarked skin.
"It only appears when Naruto is consciously channeling chakra," Oscar explained absently. With difficulty, he stopped himself from adding the word 'dumbass.' Tension was already running high. No need for him to take it out on Sakura, who, after all, was the reason that Naruto was still breathing and not lying dead with a broken neck and a crushed skull.
He prodded Naruto's stomach, glancing at the blonde boy's face for a reaction. However, none was forthcoming. Oscar sat back and ran a hand through his spiky brown hair. "Well, I have no idea what that woman did to him. From what I can see, there don't appear to any signs of damage from that last strike. Hopefully it's just that Shujin already healed him. When he wakes up, we'll have to ask. Meanwhile, can you keep that rag on Sasuke's forehead wet? If we get some sleep tonight, we may be able to move on tomorrow."
Sakura glanced upward, eyes anxiously probing the canopy for the telltale signs of sunset above. "I really wish we had a few of Naruto's clones right about now," she commented.
"I really wish we were already at the tower talking to a subterranean tribe of native blue-scaled dwarves, but you can't have everything in life," Oscar said. "I vote we sleep in shifts. I'll take first watch and wake you in a few hours. All in favor?"
"Aye," Sakura said, raising her good hand.
"Aye. All opposed? None? Motion carried. Now get to sleep. Although if you hear screaming, please do me a favor and try your best to wake up, as that will be me and I may require assistance at that point."
Sakura nodded, not even bothering to comment on her teammate's dark humor. She lay back in the drifts of fallen leaves, resting her head on her good arm and cradling her still-aching right arm to her chest.
Oscar drew out one of his few remaining kunai. It was going to be a long night.
The next morning, Sakura awoke and immediately looked around for the rest of her team. To her disappointment, though not surprise, Sasuke and Naruto were still out cold, lying side-by-side beneath the arching roots of the mighty tree that towered above. Oscar had only woken her once during the night, and after her shift had ended and she had woken him again, he had not disturbed her for the rest of the night.
Sakura stood, turning slowly as she stretched and squinted against the bright, washed-out looking sunlight that pierced through the chinks in the canopy above, lancing down to the leaf-strewn ground below. Where was- ah. There he was.
Oscar was sitting hunched over with his back to the enormous tree behind them. His forehead almost brushed his knees, but his grip on his kunai was strong and steady. Sakura approached him and laid a hand on his shoulder, forgetting that he no longer wore a shirt until her fingertips met his skin, which was slightly sticky and clammy with cold sweat.
Oscar sat up with a start, kunai at the ready and Sakura had to back away quickly to keep from being skewered.
The dark boy's eyes were slightly unfocused for a moment, as though he was trying to remember who she was and whether or not he was supposed to be attacking her. Finally, her identity seemed to register with him and he lowered the knife, slumping back against the tree trunk and regarding her balefully. He ran a hand through his already messy, tangled hair. Sakura noticed the dark circles under his eyes, as his skin seemed a few shades paler than usual.
"Good morning, Sakura. Sleep alright?"
"Well enough," Sakura replied, deciding not to mention that she had kept waking up, disturbed by rustling in the nearby shrubbery. "What about you? Did you sleep at all?"
"A bit between shifts, but that's about it. I just didn't hear you when you woke up, which is why I didn't react." He let out a humorless chuckle. "Shit, I really hope no one decides to take us on today. I'm not entirely sure if it would end in our immediate deaths at their hands or if they would just leave us here without the scrolls to starve. Either way sounds equally appealing."
"Are you alright?" Sakura asked, wincing in sympathy as Oscar stood up, arching his spine and eliciting a symphony of cracks and groans.
"Yeah, I'll be fine. Just having a nice little whine. Sitting it the dark alone in this forest is not only really stress-inducing, it's boring as all hell." Oscar paused for a moment, mid-stretch, considering. "Now that I think about it, I'd never have really believed before that it was possible to be both scared shitless and bored to tears at the same time. Oh well, you learn something new every day."
As Sakura watched, Oscar stowed his kunai carefully in one of his pouches. The action seemed to remind him of something. "Hm. What did you use to set those traps last night?" he asked, turning to where Naruto and Sasuke lay, motionless.
"Weapons from the fight with that woman that were left lying around or buried or lodged in trees," Sakura admitted, watching as Oscar bent over Sasuke.
"Resourceful," Oscar commented, pulling back the pale boy's eyelid, and removing the rag from his forehead. He held the rag out behind him until Sakura came forward and took it. "Soak that in water, will you?" Oscar requested as he lifted the Uchiha's wrist, taking his pulse.
Sakura did as she was told while Oscar, seemingly satisfied in a dissatisfied kind of way, crawled around Sasuke's head to kneel by Naruto instead. As Sakura laid the damp cloth on Sasuke's head once more, Oscar examined Naruto as he had examined the Uchiha, as well as checking Naruto's stomach to see if anything had changed visibly. It hadn't, so Oscar lowered Naruto's shirt with a shrug.
"When do you suggest we start heading for the tower?" Sakura asked. "You know, the longer we stay in one place, the longer all four of us have to recover. On the other hand, the sooner we leave, the sooner we can all get real medical care, though we may be exposed as we travel, if we're not careful."
"All true, not to mention that the longer we stay here, the easier we are to target for an ambush." Oscar paused, deliberating. "How about we leave in, say, an hour. That should give us time to salvage some of the weapons and such that you used to set the traps. Sound good?"
"You're the boss," Sakura said, making to move away. However, at the sound of Oscar's voice, she stopped and looked back.
"Not the boss. We're a team, and that's even more important than ever, seeing as half of our team is out of action," Oscar said seriously. "You need to know that."
"I know." Sakura departed and Oscar took the opportunity to sit down again and rest. And think. With his eyes closed he could hear rustling in the nearby bushes. "Geez Sakura, are you trying to alert every shinobi within a half-mile radius to our position? I'll help in a minute, just try to keep it quiet."
"Oh, you don't have to worry about being quiet. Just wake up your Uchiha friend so we can fight him and we may leave you relatively intact." Oscar's eyes snapped open and he shot bolt upright as three shinobi forced their way through the bushes.
He studied them for the moment t took him to fumble his remaining kunai from his weapon pouch, but as soon as he had the knife in hand and was standing before the invaders, relaxed somewhat, adopting a lounging posture. "Oh, you're nin from Oto, just like the lady with the snakes. Just as a matter of interest, what was the fuinjutsu that she did to Sasuke? The seal appeared when she bit him."
The three nin looked startled, exchanging glances that were not wasted on the dark boy. "Why should you care about the nature of that jutsu," the leader of the group, a boy whose head was almost entirely concealed by bandages, asked aggressively.
"My purposes are threefold. Firstly, as the amateur, self-proclaimed medic of the group, it's good for me to find out any secret techniques that that the enemy may use in battle that could potentially incapacitate my teammates so that I can find a medical jutsu that counters them. Secondly, you come here asking to fight Sasuke, and yet he was knocked out in the first place by a ninja of your own village. I want to know if that was just poor coordination in the information web of the Oto nin or if you did that on purpose so that I can exploit the situation accordingly."
"And what's the third reason?" The other boy of the group asked, seemly unable to help himself.
"Well, thirdly, if you three actually take the time to explain this unknown fuinjutsu to me, it might just waste enough time so that you either lose the will to fight me, are convinced that I am actually a much better ninja than you officially thought and decide to retreat, or backup comes to help me out." Oscar grinned confidently.
"That's your big plan? Just stall?" the only kunoichi of the group asked.
"Well… yes. Give me some credit, it's the best I could come up with on the fly," Oscar pouted.
Zaku, the tall, dark-haired Oto nin covered his eyes with one hand. "God, he is so annoying. Can I kill him before I kill the others, Dosu?"
"Be my guest with this Kumo-nin, though I insist on being the one to kill Sasuke," The boy swathed in bandages replied.
"Excellent." Zaku took a step forward and Oscar readied himself for a fight.
Just then, a figure pushed her way through the bushes, speaking as she came. "Alright, I got most of the traps, but we'd better be careful because there may still be a few-" Sakura's voice was cut off as she dodged to her left, out of the path of the senbon that had been thrown her way. "What?" It was then that she spotted the headbands of the interlopers. "Oto-nin? Oscar! Are they here for Sasuke-kun?"
"Got it in one," the girl, Kin, said, smirking. "And, by the way, you should fire the one who's been teaching you to set traps. Those things were glaringly obvious, even at night."
Zaku gave Sakura a disparaging once-over, dismissing her as a possible challenge. "You said you wanted her, Kin. Do you still?"
"Oh yes. This one thinks far too well of herself," Kin said, baring her teeth in a grin as she withdrew several more kunai. "Killing her should be fun, even if it's not too hard."
"Alright then. Come here, Kumo-brat." Zaku took another step forward, only stopping reluctantly at the command of Dosu.
"Stop, Zaku. You should know better than that."
"What, are you talking about that girl's pathetic trap? Don't make me laugh! I could avoid that if I was sleep-walking blindfold."
"Er, doesn't the sleepwalking part of that kind of render the blindfold redundant?" Oscar asked, not moving from his fighters' crouch.
"What?"
"Well, if you're asleep, you're not seeing where you're going anyway, so there's really no point in the blindfold in that comparison. I mean, I understand where that must have stemmed from, but-"
Zaku cut the darker boy off. "Oh, I'm so going to enjoy killing you."
"I'm so glad. Everyone ought to have a hobby in which they can take pleasure and enjoyment. Y'know, to relieve the stress of being a ninja, somewhat. However, if I may, I would suggest you cast around for a different-" But Oscar broke off as he instinctively ducked the shuriken that came his way. The star spun through the air, lodging in the trunk of the tree behind him, severing the rope that was fastened through the loop of a kunai driven into the tree trunk.
There was a loud, cracking, sliding noise from above and as the Sound nin looked up, distracted, Oscar stepped aside and Sakura quickly shoved Kin in front of her, both members of team seven making prayerful gestures.
Not missing a beat, however, Dosu leapt up, placing the fingertips of one hand on the log as it fell and making a handseal with the other hand. The log exploded, showering the forest floor with woodchips. Oscar was heard to mutter something about a 'demonic playground of sin,' as he covered his head with his bare arms.
Sakura, seeing an opening in the proceedings, as the exploding log seemed to have made Kin momentarily forget about her, pulled out one of her salvaged weapons, thought better of it, and pulled out one of Kin's few shuriken from the dark-haired girl's pouch fastened to the back of her belt. Before Kin could grab Sakura's hand, she threw the shuriken, aiming for the tendon above Zaku's heel, which was only protected by the cloth of his ninja-sandal.
Kin shouted a warning and Zaku dodged instantly, leaping into the air as the projectile missing him and imbedding itself in the pliant, woodchip-strewn ground.
In mid-flight, Zaku raised his arms, aiming the palms of his hands at Oscar. Oscar immediately ducked, so fast that he fell forward unto his front. Oscar scrambled forward awkwardly as fast as he could on his front using his elbows and knees just before Zaku landed just where the dark boy had been standing before. Zaku swung around to face Oscar, who slipped, trying to stand.
While Zaku was engaged with Oscar and Kin with Sakura, Dosu made his way over to Sasuke, weaving between the fighters. He examined the seal on the side of Sasuke's neck, wondering what on earth his master had intended for the boy. Sitting down slowly and leisurely, Dosu turned his exposed eye toward his comrades, watching their fights. Really, the Konoha ninjas were putting up a better fight than he would have expected. Not that this amounted to much.
Sakura dodged yet another set of senbon, moving in close and trying to grab Kin's arm. However, Kin leapt back, throwing two sets of senbon at Sakura, who moved in front of the attacks by following Kin, who, she noticed had been aiming at her feet. In the light, Sakura noticed a dull gleam. "Wires? Are you trying to tie me up?" She asked mockingly. Kin clicked her tongue in annoyance and dived forward, a move that Sakura hadn't been expecting. She raised her kunai, leveling it at Kin's heart, but the dark-haired girl brushed it aside, grabbing Sakura by the hair with the same movement.
"I don't need to tie you up to trap you, you flaming amateur," Kin smirked, tightening her grip so that Sakura's hair was pulled fiercely. Gritting her teeth against the pain, Sakura slashed as Kin's ankles, but the dark-haired girl stepped on her hand, seizing the other and twisting it up behind Sakura's back so that if she tried to move, she would tear the muscles in her arm. "Give up, princess?"
Meanwhile, Oscar had finally gotten to his feet, kunai in hand. He wove and ducked, trying to get closer to Zaku, who fended him off with one raised palm and drew out a kunai of his own with the other hand. Before he could either throw the knife or fire another blast of air, Oscar threw his own kunai and ducked. The knife flew true and the tip entered the opening in Zaku's hand, glancing off the inner wall of the pipe. Zaku yelled in surprise and pain as all of the lightning chakra in the kunai was discharged by contact with the metal pipe, dispersing throughout his body. Zaku was momentarily immobilized, there being no wind chakra already formed in his arms to counteract the lightning chakra.
In that moment, Oscar bent his knees, channeling a small amount of chakra to his legs, and leapt, lashing out with one foot and catching Zaku in the side of the head. Zaku twisted as he fell, getting his hands up in front of him in time to break his fall. However, Oscar was on him in an instant, panting, his ear bleeding from an earlier blast of air that had clipped the side of his head. He brought an elbow down between Zaku's shoulder blades and forcing the taller boy's hands beneath his body as he collapsed. Oscar pulled a kunai from Zaku's pouch and shoved the tip down between Zaku's shoulder blades. As the first inch of the blade entered his back, Zaku stopped struggling. Oscar's breathing was ragged and gasping as he leaned forward. "You try using your air attacks and you'll just blow yourself up. You try moving and I'll cut your spinal column. So just lie there very, very still," he whispered.
Both Sakura and Oscar looked up, startled, at the sound of slow clapping. Dosu stood up and took a step away from Sasuke and Naruto's bodies. "Well done," he said. "You two put up more a fight than I expected based on how little rest you got last night. But all the same," Dosu's one visible eye narrowed. "If my teammates hadn't been playing with you, you wouldn't have lasted this long."
Kin shifted in anticipation, unintentionally removing her foot from pinning down Sakura's hand and dragging Sakura up into a kneeling position by her hair. Sakura narrowed her eyes against the pain but didn't otherwise move, not wanting to draw attention to the fact that one of her hands was free.
At the same time, Zaku acted, using his wind chakra to propel himself and sitting up so fast that Oscar was thrown back onto the ground before he could have a chance to use the kunai in Zaku's back. Zaku kicked him in the exposed ribs and Oscar curled up, wheezing, trying to regain his breath. Dosu took another step forward toward Zaku, away from Sasuke and Naruto.
Sakura saw Dosu and decided that Oscar, who was still trying to catch his breath, finally needed her help. Hesitating only for the briefest of moments, Sakura raised the kunai she held in her free hand and slashed it through her hair, severing one of Kin's remaining holds on her. Before Kin could either regain her balance or recover from her surprise, Sakura took the same knife and stabbed it down through Kin's closest foot. Kin screamed and released Sakura's arm. Sakura took off running towards Dosu. Kin sent a hail of senbon after her, but Sakura Kawirimi'd before the needles could reach her. She appeared behind Dosu, another kunai already raised, but he heard her and whipped around, his speed astonishing her, and fired a blast from his sound gauntlets. Sakura Kawirimi'd again, appearing behind Zaku this time. She threw a few shuriken at his back, but he has already turned and blasted a wave of air that sent them spinning back toward her before they reached him.
Before she could be hit by her own shuriken, Sakura Kawirimi'd again, appearing above Zaku and Dosu. Smirking, they each sent a handful of shuriken into the air, before looking around for where she would appear next. "There!" Dosu said, pointing his sound gauntlets toward the pink-haired figure. She was sitting in a tree, forming a handseal that was unfamiliar to the sound nin. As both readied their respective attacks, they heard a warning cry from Kin, just before Zaku was knocked to the ground and Dosu was slammed in the back. "What?"
The clone in the tree vanished and Dosu spun around to see Sakura who was in the act of hauling Oscar to his feet. Sakura's skin was pierced in several places and blood ran freely from her wounds, some of which still had weapons lodged in them. Now Sakura and Oscar froze, both panting heavily, as all three of the sound nin closed in, Zaku getting to his feet once more and Kin limping forward, having taken the kunai out of her foot. "Right! I'm going to kill that little bitch!" Kin said, seizing Sakura by her shoulder. "And don't think you can get out of this by Kawirimi'ing. I saw you before and you must be nearly out of chakra by now." On the other side, Zaku grabbed hold of Oscar, wrapping his arm around him in a headlock and placing the palm of his other hand against the dark boy's temple. Oscar struggled, but space was really too confined to allow much movement.
It was then that Dosu felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned in time to meet Naruto's oncoming fist head-on. He reeled, staggering between his teammates. Naruto moved in close, batting aside Dosu's sound gauntlet and grabbing the front of his shirt. Naruto knocked Dosu's feet out from under him, lifting him by the front of his shirt as he did so and throwing him down. Dosu twisted as he fell, landing on his side and immediately aiming his hand at Naruto. However, Naruto stepped on the gauntlet, pinning down that arm and kicking Dosu hard, right in the face, breaking his nose.
Dosu channeled chakra through the gauntlet on which Naruto stood, and nothing seemed to happen for a moment. Then Naruto vanished in a puff of smoke. A shadow clone. Before Dosu could get to his feet and locate the real Naruto, He was lifted from behind and slung forward, into the path of several small fireballs. To his right and left, Kin and Zaku appeared. The genin whom they had been holding had been substituted by kawirimi'ing shadow clones who had been quick to gain the upper and hand and shove the sound nin into the path of the fireballs.
Wasting no time, Zaku attempted to blast back the fireballs, only for the flames to disperse and reveal the shuriken at their cores. The shuriken peppered Zaku and Kin, who had automatically moved in front of their leader, piercing them.
As the flames and lingering smoke from the shadow clones cleared, a new figure was revealed. Sasuke stood, his sharingan active and arms raised before him, ready should he need to make the handseals for a new jutsu. But there was something radically different about him. Even his teammates, all three of whom were crouched some way behind Sasuke, noticed it. Emanating from the mysterious seal on the side of Sasuke's neck, black, flame-like markings spread across his skin, already covering his left arm and half of his face.
Naruto made to join Sasuke, but the latter held up a hand, not turning around. "It's alright, I feel fine. I don't need any help. Just take care of Sakura and Oscar while I deal with these guys."
Zaku snorted derisively. "Fine? Deal with us? You're half-dead! This should be easy." Despite his teammates' warnings, Zaku sent a blast of air in Sasuke's direction, but before the attack could reach him, Sasuke was gone and Naruto had to move fast to get his injured teammates out of the way.
Sasuke first appeared behind Kin, quickly knocking her out with a heavy blow to the side of the head. Then, before Zaku or Dosu could attack him again, Sasuke appeared behind Zaku, grabbing him by the wrists and forcing his down. "You're proud of your abilities, aren't you?" Sasuke placed a foot just below the place where Oscar had stabbed Zaku before. "I don't mind. Proud enemies make mistakes. But the mistake you've made is going to cost you." The level of KI around the Uchiha rose and the black markings seemed to pour faster from the seal on the side of his neck, covering his face and making his left arm seem almost solid black. "You attacked my friends. That's worth breaking your pride a little, I think. Don't you agree?" Sasuke simultaneously stamped down with the foot on Zaku's back and pulled back on his wrists.
Zaku let out a hoarse yell as the crack of his shoulders dislocating rang through the relative quiet of the clearing. Sakura winced in sympathy as Sasuke tossed the tall boy aside. Zaku, seizing a golden opportunity, passed out.
That left Dosu, and as Sasuke turned his sights on the bandaged boy, Dosu was acutely aware of his injuries, his broken nose, and his unconscious teammates. And, of course of the pair of bright, furious sharingans that were currently surveying him with a sort of detached focus, as though killing him would be the easiest thing in the world and the only thing that remained was for the Uchiha to decide which method would be the quickest.
Dosu decided a tactical retreat would be best. Then perhaps he could ask Orochimaru-sama what the hell he had been thinking. He cleared his throat a bit to break Sasuke from any thoughts he might have been having about killing him. "I see we underestimated the strength of your team as a whole. Take this for your troubles." Dosu drew out the scroll his team had received at the beginning of the test, a black earth scroll, and placed it on the ground.
Sasuke's eyes followed the scroll as Dosu set it down, but as soon as Dosu released it, his eyes moved back up, making eye contact once more. "Keep it and maybe we'll fight again in a later test, when you're better prepared. We don't need your appeasements." Sasuke half turned away, still not breaking eye contact, not yet letting Dosu off the hook. "Hey Oscar," Sasuke called over one shoulder, "Do you still have both of our scrolls?"
Sakura and Naruto turned to the dark boy, who had frozen at those words. He let out a whispered curse and smacked himself in the forehead. At that sound, Sasuke turned around completely, the confidant smirk dying on his lips and his sharingan automatically deactivating, though his skin still bore the marks of the seal. "You're kidding me," he said hoarsely. "You lost them?"
Oscar shook his head, cradling it in his hands, refusing to look up. Sasuke turned back to Dosu, who had already gathered his teammates and was in the act of taking the earth scroll he had offered. "On second thought, can you leave us that?" Sasuke asked.
"No offense, but if there's a chance you're not going to kill me now, I'd rather not help you guys pass on to the next round," Dosu said. "So no, I think I'll take this now, if it's all the same to you." He turned and bent his knees preparing to depart with the bodies of his teammates.
"You-!" Sasuke took a step forward, plunging his hand into his weapons pouch as he went, as though thinking of fighting Dosu again. However, he was brought up short by Naruto's voice.
"Let him go, Sasuke. We'll get the scrolls we need." Sasuke did not turn around to acknowledge Naruto, but he heeded his words, watching as Dosu departed with the black scroll. Once the Oto nin had vanished from sight, everyone rounded on Oscar.
"Oscar-kun, you'd better had a damn good reason for loosing those scrolls," Sakura said warningly.
"And even if you do, we may just have to kill you anyway," Naruto added. Sasuke walked over to join them.
Oscar raised his face from where he had been holding it in his hands. He looked surprised. "Who said I lost the scrolls?" he asked.
"Well, didn't you?" Sasuke asked.
"Ye of little faith," Oscar sighed. "I didn't loose them, I just hid them." Oscar reached over and pulled something out of Naruto's weapon pouch, eliciting a squawk from the blonde boy.
"Here you go," Oscar said, handing the earth scroll to Sasuke and the heaven scroll to Sakura. "Now the Sound nin won't be expecting us to pass because they won't think that we'll be able to gather both scrolls in the remaining time. It's the perfect plan!"
"Yeah, except for the fact that as soon as we get to the tower, they'll realize that we must have passed," Sasuke pointed out, handing the earth scroll to Naruto. No sooner had the scroll left his hand than he collapsed, the black markings adorning his skin swirling back into the seal on his neck and vanishing. Sakura shoved the heaven scroll into Naruto's hands as well and caught Sasuke, redirecting his fall so that his head rested in her lap.
"Sasuke-kun?" she asked tentatively. She touched the seal on the dark-haired boy's neck and hastily withdrew her hand. "The seal is hot," she told Oscar and Naruto.
Just then, Sasuke opened his eyes again and, seeing his teammates' anxious faces above him, hastily sat up again. He frowned at Sakura. "Sakura, your hair…"
"You mean this? It's nothing. I'm just experimenting," Sakura said, tossing her hair.
"Oh. Well, good for you." Sasuke looked at Naruto. "You okay? Before I passed out, you were unconscious in a tree, and once I woke up you were already fighting."
"Yeah, I'm fine," Naruto said.
"And you, Oscar," Sasuke said, turning to the dark boy, "Where the hell is your shirt? It makes it look weird for you to have your hitai-ate around your neck like that."
"Hey, it's hard to be a medic if you don't have any supplies! I needed bandages and I didn't have any…"
"Sasuke, what happened to you? What did that seal on your neck do?" Naruto asked.
"I'm not entirely sure. I don't feel tired or anything, but while it was active, my whole mindset seemed to change. The idea of killing the ninjas seemed really appealing and just knocking them out felt kind of docile and… unsatisfying. I felt incredibly powerful, but kind of like I was on a hair trigger. My actions became less about protecting you guys and more about the act of fighting and killing." Sasuke shivered a little.
Oscar looked at him consideringly. "That doesn't sound very good, although it's probably thanks to that seal you were able to fight at all so soon after facing that other kunoichi from Oto."
Sasuke shrugged. "In any case, I feel fine now, and unless you guys are too tired, I'd suggest that we press on to the tower while we've still got hours of daylight."
"I second that," Oscar said. "Even if we walk all day, we probably won't reach the tower until tomorrow morning, so we might as well make a start."
As they set out, Oscar fell into step with Naruto. "Hey, are you alright?" he asked.
"Yeah, I guess so. Just kind of tired. And I keep feeling like there's something I forgot about," Naruto admitted.
"I may have the solution to that," Oscar said. "Remember, that woman hit you with some jutsu in the place right over Shujin's seal. I did a cursory examination, but keep in mind that I couldn't see the seal while you were unconscious. I didn't see anything off, but I really don't know anything about Jinchuriki or sealing, so my examination doesn't really count for anything. I just basically made sure you weren't seriously injured or dead or anything and left it at that."
"What are you getting at?" Naruto asked, frowning.
"Maybe nothing, but I think you ought to try and talk to Shujin. He might have a clearer idea of what if anything is happening on the inside of the seal. We can stop if it's easier for you contact him while you're not walking."
"No, that's okay. The mindlink means that I don't actually have to enter my mindscape to talk to Shujin. Hang on; I'll try to talk to him." Naruto fell silent and Oscar watched him closely.
Oi, Shujin! Are you all right? I'm kind of worried about you, since that woman attacked me. You've been pretty quiet lately. How are things in there?
'…'
There was no reply.
Shujin?
No response.
Kyuubi no Yoko?
"Log damn it!" Naruto swore loudly. Not waiting to answer his teammates' questions, he drew out a kunai and slashed it across the palm of his hand, gasping at the sting. He had stopped walking, staring at his wound. Bright blood welled up from the shallow cut and dripped over the edge of his hand, spattering on the ground. After ten seconds or so, the cut slowly began to heal, the edges of the severed skin slowly drawing together, zipping closed and leaving behind a patchy scab. After about a minute the scab flaked off, leaving a pinkish, irritated-looking scar. Naruto prodded it dubiously, and winced a little. It still stung, but it didn't seem to be healing any further.
"That's… not good," he said. The rest of team seven, who had stayed quiet throughout the entire scene, exchanged looks. "That took way longer than something that small ever has before. I hope Shujin's okay."
"Shujin is the Kyuubi, right?" Sakura asked.
"Yeah, but he's a pretty good guy now. Actually, the change was mostly my fault, and I'm afraid it might have made the form he manifests as inside of my mindscape a lot weaker than it should be." Naruto glanced up from his hand and caught Sasuke's eye. He couldn't quite read the dark boy's expression. Naruto clenched his fist, concealing the new scar.
"But the fact that the cut healed at all means that the Kyuubi is still inside of you, right? I mean, he hasn't escaped, right?" Sakura asked.
"When the Kyuubi escapes, you'll probably be able to tell," Oscar said grimly.
"In any case, I can try to make contact through the mindscape once we stop for the night," Naruto said. "But for now, we ought to make as much progress as we can, like Oscar said."
When the four stopped for lunch they ate fish provided by Naruto through dint of the rest of the team electing that he be the one who went swimming. Naruto, shivering a bit, water dripping from the tips of his hair, asked to see the scrolls again while the fish were cooking. After making sure Naruto's hands were dry, Sasuke handed them over.
Naruto accepted them and stared at them for a long time, not speaking. Eventually, the chatter amongst the other three died out and they all sat in silence until Sasuke spoke.
"What're you thinking about?"
"Hm?" Naruto looked up. "Nothing. Just wondering how the other teams are doing. It's only the second day, after all. A lot of teams won't have their second scrolls yet."
"Even so, you guys should get a move on and get to the tower as soon as possible," came a voice from the nearby trees. Oscar leapt to his feet and Sakura and Sasuke half-rose, ready to put up a fight. However, Naruto spoke.
"It's alright, he won't hurt us. Or at least, I assume he won't." From the trees emerged a boy with a long silver ponytail and a pair of round glasses perched on his nose.
"How did you know who it was?" Kabuto asked interestedly.
Naruto shrugged offhandedly. He was finding it hard to forget the suspicions Shujin had had the day before about the older boy. "I recognized your voice. What do you want?"
Kabuto joined them, sitting by the makeshift fire pit. "Just to give you guys a bit of advice, that's all."
"Why would you want to do that?" Sakura asked.
"No reason, really. This is your first chunin exam, and to tell you the truth, I don't really think you have much of a chance at passing, so I don't see you as much of a competition. On the other hand, we're all from Konoha, and it would be a shame if you guys got killed before you were even made chunin."
"Where's you team?" Oscar asked.
"Oh, they're waiting for me to bring our scrolls to them. They said they'd hang around the tower until I got there, because we got separated a few hours ago. A few more hours of waiting won't kill them."
No one bothered to point out that a few hours of staying in one spot had almost gotten them killed. Instead, Naruto started to ask what Kabuto's advice was, when Sakura interrupted him.
"Do you want any fish, Kabuto-san?"
Naruto shot Sakura a confused look. "But there are only four fish."
"Well, yes, Naruto-kun, there are." Sakura gave him a meaningful look. He got the gist at once.
"Oh no! No offence, Kabuto, but I am not going swimming again!"
"That's alright, I don't need anything," Kabuto said quickly, "Though I would suggest that you finish quickly and put out this fire. The smell of it and the smoke will attract all kinds of animals, as well as enemy shinobi. Once you're done and we can get going, I'll tell some things that you may find interesting."
The five of them moved off, travelling ninja-style and leaping from branch to branch instead of walking. None of the members of team seven really trusted Kabuto, but they hadn't had a chance to discuss it, and anyway, they were willing to accept any help they could get while they were still on the outside of the tower.
"If you guys already have both of your scrolls, it may be good in that you can concentrate on avoiding any groups you pass instead of challenging them, but you still have to be careful. Any groups who have lost their scrolls already may target those who have two scrolls. In addition, after the first couple of days, particularly on the fourth day or so, people begin to get desperate. They will figure that since everyone is heading for the tower anyway, they may as well lie in wait there and ambush groups that already have two scrolls."
"Seeing as it's only the second day, albeit nearing sunset, I don't see how that's a problem," Oscar said, brushing a leafy branch out of his way.
"True, it isn't that much of a problem now, but if you wait to long, I'm just telling you what you can expect to see," Kabuto clarified.
Naruto was not paying attention to this conversation. He was trying to get in touch with Shujin again. The fact that he couldn't so much as make contact was definitely more worrying than he had told his teammates. In addition, he kept sending covert glances Sasuke's way. The Uchiha had seemed to gloss over his condition rather, and Naruto wasn't sure that he should have been travelling yet.
Naruto's inattentiveness cost him when he made he next leap to a branch some distance away and his foot slipped. He let out a startled shout and saved himself by jamming a kunai into the branch and hanging on until he could pull himself up. His teammates stopped and waited and Naruto stood, embarrassed, forgetting to withdraw his kunai from the branch. Not that it really mattered, his shadow clones could always stand in for weapons, either by henge'ing or by simply throwing themselves at the enemy.
The small group moved on. Every once in a while, they caught sight of the tower that was their destination through the branches of the trees. Finally, after a long stretch of silence, Sakura voiced what they had all been thinking for a long time.
"The tower doesn't seem any closer than it did a while ago."
Just then, Naruto stumbled on his landing. He automatically looked down, only to see a kunai lodged in the branch he was standing on. "Um," he said, stooping and drawing the knife from the branch. "I put this here less than an hour ago. Have we been going in circles?"
Everyone looked at Kabuto accusingly. He calmly pushed his glasses up higher on his nose. "It seems we've fallen into someone's genjutsu. They've been leading us in circles for who-knows-how-long, tiring us out. And now that it's getting dark, they're probably about to spring their trap."
There was the sound of low chuckling. The genin looked around, trying to pinpoint the source of the sound. From all around them, heads began to emerge from the tree branches and trunks. "Lucky for us you're already tired. We were getting bored just leading you around and around."
A/N: Just so you guys know, I won't be withing spitting distance of a computer for the next four weeks, so updates will not start happening again until after both that and I update my Perfection fic.
About the chapter: For those who will think that this chapter is the start of a beautiful OscarxSakura relationship... I'm sorry. I WILL NEVER PAIR OSCAR AND SAKURA! My only explanation for this chapter is that everyone else was unconscious...
So yeah, read, review (yes, when I say review, I do mean review this,) and do something fun with your summer. Peace!