Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Eighteen
Battle Formation: Ino-Shika-Cho!
Blood poured from a wound on Sakura's arm where the bone was forced through the skin. She just gritted her teeth as Zaku's fist came down on her face once again. He picked her up by her collar and kicked her in the stomach, sending her to the ground once again.
"Oh man…this is bad." Choji cried out when he saw Zaku punch Sakura in the nose, probably breaking it and causing blood to trickle out.
"Well, Ino? Do we help now?" Shikamaru asked.
"Say so long, brat!" Zaku growled, facing his palm as her and preparing to cut her to ribbons.
'I guess…that this is finally it. No more Akatsuki to worry about. No more regrets. No more pain…I never did get to tell Naruto how much I...like him.' She thought, closing her eyes and waiting for her end.
Just before set lose his attack, Ino, Shikamaru and Choji—who Ino and Shikamaru had pulled out using his scarf—were in front of her. Behind the pinkette were Hinata, Kiba and Shino, along with Akamaru, who ran to her side and growled in Zaku's direction. Zaku straightened a bit.
"Huh?" He grunted breathlessly, probably a little tired from beating Sakura in her weakened state. "Heh, so what's this? The second and third strings?" Zaku asked in amusement.
"Ino…Hinata-chan." Sakura panted, not even trying to get up again.
"Surprised? I told you that I'd never let you show me up, didn't I?" The blonde stated.
'That consequence…I wonder if it'll come back to haunt me.' Sakura mused as she looked at team ten.
'Probably.' Inner sighed.
'Losing the Kanjoo Jiyuu forever isn't that bad…right?'
--
'What is this?' Sasuke asked himself mentally as he looked around the golden leaves surrounding him. 'Where am I?' He wondered, his eyes finding a small figure in black. Sasuke's eyes narrowed. 'I wonder; who's this?' He mused before realisation fell on him. 'It's me…from a long time ago.'
"Otou-san and Okaa-chan shouldn't have died." Younger Sasuke stated in a grated, hate-filled voice. "It didn't have to happen." He said as a tear fell from his eye and to the ground.
The scene changed and they were now in a dark room. A woman lay motionless on the ground with blood covering her. A man lay over her, his blood also pooling on both her body and the floor.
Sasuke's eyes widened as he recalled the memory.
"They're all dead," Spat little Sasuke, "Because I wasn't strong enough to save them. My whole clan has been destroyed."
--
Sasuke twitched on the forest floor as purple chakra seemed to rise from his body. Not far from him, Naruto also lay motionless, not even a breath heavy enough to lift his chest, although he was breathing. Then there was the final member of team seven, laying between teams ten and eight, with the former in front of her and the latter behind. Her bones were broken and her blood was covering her form, but she still managed to smirk.
"Oh, Zaku…looks like you're going down." She hummed, finding humour in her situation due to deliriousness as a result of blood loss. Hinata seemed to notice this.
"These Leaf Village worms will be sorry they squirmed into something that doesn't concern them." Dosu smirked, looking between his opponents. As a result of his stare, Choji shook.
"Are you two crazy? What are we doing here?" Choji asked his team mates, who both looked at him. "These guys are bad news, man."
"Don't look at me; it was Ino's idea." Shikamaru stated. "But what are we supposed to do? Just sit back and let Haruno prove that to be a great Konoha ninja you have to come from somewhere other than Konoha? It's troublesome, but you know it's true."
"Ahehehe." Ino laughed fakely. "Sorry for dragging you both into this, but we are a three-man-squad, right? All for one and one for all!"
"Yeah, what's meant to happen, will." Shikamaru agreed with a smirk.
"This ain't teamwork! I call this suicide!" Choji whined, looked very scared. "Lemme outta here! Please! Lemme go!" He yelled, struggling on the grip Shikamaru had on his scarf.
"Stop it, man; you're getting on my nerves." The lazy genius warned.
"Ne, Choji-san…if you want a suicidal view of teamwork…you could always join team seven." Sakura grinned. Choji paled.
"N-No thanks." He turned it down, gulping when she laughed. Hinata kneeled by her friend and placed a hand on her forehead. She was burning up.
"Heheheheh; better a live sheep than a dead lion." Zaku mused with a chuckle. "Eh, fatso?" He asked. Choji's ear twitched.
"Did I just hear that right?" He asked in a dark tone. "What did that guy just say?"
"Huh?" Zaku looked confused by Choji's sudden turnaround from wimpy to almost threatening.
'Uh oh; he just pushed Choji's button, big time.' Shikamaru thought with his eyebrows twitching.
"You wanna try saying that again?" Choji asked, not turning at all to face the Sound-nin.
"I said you were smart to get out while you still can…fatty." He repeated, not stopping once in his 'add insult to insult and screw the injury for now' campaign. Choji suddenly turned with his teeth clenched and his eyes wide with anger.
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING FAT?! I'M JUST A LITTLE CHUBBY, OKAY?!" He screamed. Sakura raised a brow. "That does it! Now this is personal! It's a fight to the death between Leaf and Sound!" Choji declared with fire burning in his eyes.
'Hmm, excellent.' Ino thought with a smile as she watched Choji. 'He's totally lost it.'
"Good job." Shikamaru droned to the Sound ninja. "Thanks a lot; now we gotta live with him." He sighed.
"Don't worry. It won't be for long." Zaku assured, narrowing his eyes. 'Ah, now we've gotta get rid of these clowns. Sasuke's the main target.'
Hinata observed everything going on. She saw that, although Ino was probably best suited to take control, the blonde girl was too busy keeping an eye on the enemy. Gulping down her fear, she stood up and took a deep breath.
"Ino-san; you and your team fight them off. Kiba-kun and Shino-kun; you two lift Sakura-chan carefully between you and carry her to Sasuke-san and Naruto-kun. Once there, I will assess her injuries and determine whether or not she will be okay." She ordered. No one moved, for they were all in shock at her lack of stuttering. "NOW!" Hinata yelled. That was all it took. Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji sunk into battle stances while Kiba held Sakura's upper body and Shino took her lower body.
"Right, Hinata-san! Okay, team Ino; let's show them who here is really the boss!" Ino demanded.
"Right." Her male team mates replied simultaneously.
"Formation!" She called. "Ino!"
"Shika!"
"Cho!"
"Okay! Take it away, Choji." The blonde permitted. Choji spread his legs into a strong stance.
"My pleasure!" He said, his seriousness not leaving his face. "Baika no Jutsu!" As soon as the jutsu was complete, Choji looked more like a large ball with a head and limbs. "Followed by Leaf-style taijutsu." With a grunt, he pulled his left arm in. This also happened to his right arm, both of his legs and his head. "Nikudan Sensha!" Choji lifted off the ground for a moment before his body began to turn rapidly. It hit the ground and went barrelling towards Zaku at an incredible speed.
"You've gotta be kidding." Zaku scoffed with a smirk. "Maybe I'm supposed to laugh myself to death. Slicing Sound Waves!" He yelled, pointing his air holes at the Cho-ball.
'Come on, Choji!' Ino cheered mentally, biting her lip and eying her team mate. Everyone watched closely as the sound waves kept Choji in place, even though the Genin's larger body was still rolling. Zaku clenched his teeth, feeling the pressure of Choji's speed weighing down on his technique. He growled and increased the waves, but Choji shifted his weight and jumped up into the air. Zaku gasped.
'He jumped the air stream!' He realised, looking up at the green ball above him. 'This thing's spinning way too fast. My sound wave can't control it…and if I try going supersonic on it…it's liable to rip my arms right off!' The Sound-nin frowned and his face consorted into a glare at the ever nearing Choji.
"Huh? Zaku!" Dosu voiced, running towards his vulnerable team mate as fast as he could.
'Oh no you don't, mummy-man.' Shikamaru though, sinking into position to perform his own jutsu. 'Time to put you under wraps.' He mused, gathering chakra. "Kagemane no Jutsu!" The boy yelled as his shadow stretched and twisted its way towards Dosu. The latter froze when the shadow met its target, holding him in place by joining with Dosu's shadow.
"What's happening?" Dosu growled, looking down. "Huh?" He cried in shock, seeing the joined shadows.
"Just me and my shadow." Shikamaru chuckled with a smirk after seeing the Sound-nin's panicked face. Meanwhile, Choji crashed to the ground and Zaku only just managed to jump to the side. He growled.
"What!" Dosu snapped as he was forced to do as Shikamaru did, putting his hands above his head and curling his arms to an arch.
"What is it?!" Kin demanded in her shrill voice. "Why are you just standing there like that?" She looked over and Shikamaru and saw him doing the same as realisation dawned on her. The Nara smirked and, for once in his life, looked like he was genuinely having fun, no traces of boredom anywhere on his face or in that amused smirk of his.
"Ugh…it's some kind of paralysis jutsu." Dosu noticed. Shikamaru moved his hands, forcing Dosu to do the same and they now both looked like a pair of toddlers using their hands as ears on the sides of their heads.
"Ino." Shikamaru called, his amusement fading. "I'll leave the girl to you."
"Okay, you got it." Ino smiled. "Just take care of my body while I'm gone." She said, resting her hands in a seal.
"Sure." He drawled back. Kin looked at them in shock.
"Shintenshin no Jutsu!" She called, looking Kin dead in the eye. The Sound-nin's pupil shrank before her eyelids drooped and Ino's body fell against Shikamaru. Choji was still rolling around, trying to flatten Zaku, but the Abumi boy just wouldn't stay still.
"Enough of this!" He growled. "Kin!" Zaku called to the girl, who was standing perfectly still with her eyes closed.
"What's wrong with you?" Dosu, still held in Shikamaru's jutsu, asked gruffly. Her eyes opened and she smirked, hold a kunai up to her own throat.
"Party's over, fellas." Kin/Ino said in a more girly voice than usual. The boys were shocked. "Take it easy. One false move from either of you and your team mate here gets it in the neck. You don't want that to happen, so here's what you do; just drop the scroll and walk away." She threatened. The males smirked. "When you're far enough away that I can't sense your chakras, I'll let her go."
"Sakura-chan, a-are you o-okay?" Hinata stuttered as she knelt next to her pink-haired friend. Sakura winced and looked over to where Naruto was.
"Is he okay?" She asked. Hinata also looked over to the blonde and frowned slightly on the inside, but outwardly smiled.
"He's fine." She assured.
"Then I'm happy." Sakura told her.
'Happy when he's okay…but what if that was me?' Hinata had to wonder.
'I don't get these guys…something's wrong.' Ino thought. "Hey, Choji!"
"Coming!" Choji called, rolling down from above them.
'What's going on?' Sakura thought to herself. 'What're they up to?' She asked Inner as Zaku raised his arm.
'These guys…are worse than scum.' Inner scowled. A blast of air was shot from Zaku's arm towards Kin's body, but Choji got there in time to lessen the impact. She was still sent back into the tree though, and hit it with a grunt. Shikamaru looked down on Ino's body as a trail of blood seeped out of the corner of her mouth.
"This is bad!" Shikamaru stated, looking at the blood with wide eyes.
"I don't feel so good." A back-to-normal Choji stated as he got up from the ground, hold a hand over his mouth. Ino, still in Kin's body, shakily raised her upper half with her forearms.
"I…I don't understand you guys." She admitted. "What kind of monsters would attack their own team mate?"
"I guess…monsters like us." Zaku mused as he got ready to fight her.
"You see, we don't play this game by your rules. It's not the scrolls we're after, or even passing this test." Dosu added. Team ten's eyes all widened.
"What then?" Ino/Kin asked.
"Sasuke." He told her darkly as Sakura's eye twitched. Purple chakra continued to flow from Sakura's entire body.
"Ah ha." Dosu smirked when he saw Shikamaru's jutsu weaken and the younger boy's shadow shrink back to normal size.
"I hate it when that happens." He grumbled.
"So, your paralysis jutsu has a pretty limited duration, I see." The mummy-man laughed, moving his arms.
"It's Shadow Possession. Get your jutsus right." The Nara scolded for lack of anything else to saw. He was rather annoyed by his lack of stamina when that jutsu was concerned.
"Whatever." Dosu hummed. "And I see that your team mate is able to slip her soul into her opponent. Very clever, but dangerous. Anything that happens to Kin, happens to her too. So if, say, Kin were to die…"
"What're you going to do?" Shikamaru interrupted. "Kill your team mate?"
"Well, if push comes to shove…yeah." Zaku stated, holding his hand up in Kin/Ino's direction again. The girl's eyes narrowed. Shikamaru growled before his face became long and tired.
"Oh man, this is troublesome." He groaned.
"Yeah, I don't get it." Choji whined.
"Did you really think you could beat us? Face it, you ninja are a bunch of hacks." Zaku snorted.
"From a second rate village." Dosu added.
"Huh." Another voice joined in from up in the trees. "That's pretty tough talk." Everyone looked up towards the voice. Standing on a branch, looking very proud, was Hyuuga Neji. Tenten stood slightly behind him, assessing the scene. No one noticed Hinata wince as she and her team silently left after she bid ado to Sakura. "I guess that makes your village third-rate. I wonder if any of you amateurs are ready to take on the real thing."
"What?" Dosu growled.
"That voice…" Sakura whispered. "Lee's team mates…finally." She realised, trying to get up. The more fighters there were, the more chances they had of winning. Team ten could use more help after Hinata bailed on them.
"Lee." Tenten bit her lip, seeing her team mate unconscious. She then looked over to Sakura, whose movement had caught her attention, and her eyes widened upon seeing bone piercing skin.
"You blew it." Neji told them.
"Heh. The little Leaf Village Genin keep popping up out of the woods like cockroaches." Dosu mused unhappily.
"We're not cockroaches." Sakura panted as she stood shakily on her feet.
"Sakura!" Ino called through Kin's mouth. "Why isn't Hinata-san keeping you still?"
"She bailed." The pinkette sighed. "Now, as I was saying. We're not cockroaches."
"Oh? That please, what are you?" Dosu humoured her.
"Leaves." She smiled. Neji raised a brow before looking at his team mate.
"It looks like someone used Lee as a punching bag." He acknowledged calmly before he exploded, activating his Byakugan. "No one does that and gets away with it!" The boy yelled. Everyone looked in shock as the normally cool and collected prodigy gritted his teeth.
'Those eyes! He's not just looking at us, he's seeing through us.' Dosu thought in shock as Neji looked at them through his Byakugan.
"No more playing around, Tenten." Neji told the girl. "Full power!" He stated. Tenten nodded, taking her weapons to hand. Suddenly, Neji dropped his bloodline and looked in shock at the battle.
"What's the matter, Neji?" Tenten asked in concern.
'That chakra.' Neji thought.
"Well? Are you going to stand up there all day, or are you going to come down here and do something about it?" Dosu mocked.
"Actually, it looks like it may have been taken out of my hands." He smirked. Dosu looked confused until he too felt the pull of chakra from Sasuke's direction. The purple chakra was leaking off of him in waves and his body was twitching. It consumed him entirely.
--
Sasuke looked upon his younger self, who was holding his head in his hands and crying over the loss of his mother and father. Older Sasuke was in shock at seeing himself looking so weak and pitiful.
"They're all dead." Little Sasuke said sourly. "It because I wasn't strong enough to save them. My whole clan has been destroyed. If only I was stronger…if only I had more power…" The boy suddenly gripped one side of his face and looked up at his older counterpart, who gasped. "Instead, you stood by and watched them die. So helpless. Like lambs to the slaughter. If only you were stronger…if only you had more power."
He pulled back the skin around his eye to reveal the eye of Orochimaru.
--
Sasuke stood up with the purple chakra spiralling around him, turning up rocks. His body was shadowed and an evil aura surrounded the Uchiha heir. It was so foul that even Sakura winced away from him, stepping back in what could only be described as shock. She knew this had something to do with the curse seal, but her seal hadn't offered such a strong boost in chakra and power. Everyone else looked at him, deathly afraid of the dark Uchiha.
"Sasuke…?" Ino/Kin whispered, fear in her voice. "That's Sasuke?" She wondered as half of his body was covered in marks that glowed red.
"Sakura…" Sasuke began. The girl's eyes narrowed and she tried to step away from him, but she fell to the ground after putting weight of her more injured leg.
"What do you want?" Sakura asked with a snarl.
"Tell me…" He said. "Tell me who hurt you."
"Like I'm telling you! You're crazy!" She yelled at him.
"Who was it?!" Sasuke demanded.
'Those marks…they're all over his body.' Dosu thought in shock.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" The pinkette asked as Sasuke lifted a hand and looked at the palm through his Sharingan eyes.
"Don't worry, I'm alright. It's only the power flowing through me." He assured her, to which Sakura rolled her eyes.
'When did I ever say I was worried? Stupid little brat.' She scoffed mentally.
"In fact, I've never felt better. He gave me this gift, and he made me understand what I am." Sasuke said, obviously speaking to everyone who was listening of Orochimaru. "I am an avenger. To follow my path, I must have power. At any price, even if it means being consumed by evil."
'Now I see.' Dosu thought in shock. 'The girl didn't lie. He has the curse seal.'
"Now…tell me. Which one of these people did this to you?" He asked.
"Feh! That would be me." Zaku stated in pride, his smirk sat firmly on his face as Sasuke turned towards him.
"Huh?" Neji hummed as he looked towards a bush that had moved slightly just moments ago. He focused his Byakugan on it and saw three people crouched there, none of which he recognised. One of them had a similar chakra flow to Sakura, though, so he left them.
"Ino!" Shikamaru, who had dragged Ino's body to a bush for cover, yelled to the girl. "Hurry up and get back in your body! You don't wanna get involved in this! You too, Choji! Come on! Get outta there!"
"I'm coming!" Choji called back, running to the bush his best friend was hiding in.
"Shintenshin no Jutsu: KAI!" Ino called, releasing her jutsu. Kin's body fell limb at the purple-loving girl's soul was pulled back. The blonde groaned as she re-entered her body and Shikamaru smiled.
"There you go. Good to have you back." He said reassuringly.
"Shikamaru!" Choji voiced, getting the genius's attention to go from Ino to him. "What's this all about? What's going on?"
"How should I know?" Shikamaru retorted.
Sasuke glared viciously as Zaku as the marks on his body continued to grow and cover more skin. Dosu looked on his shock and fear as the boy's aura turned darker and more menacing by the second.
"Wh-What is this?" He voiced. 'This changes everything. His chakra is too big. He's too powerful! We can't fight that! Only a complete idiot would dare to go up against him!'
--
"You're a complete idiot!" Tsuki and Taiyoo yelled at the older boy, who was laughing nervously.
"I'm telling you, we're lost." The sun-named twin sighed.
"And I'm telling you, I know where we are!" Juhi defended himself. "The tower is in a general…er…that way direction!" He stated, pointing off in a random direction. Suddenly, he felt as if a pin was stuck in his chest and he frowned, dropping his arm. "Something is very wrong." He mumbled.
"Like what?" The Moon twin frowned. Three figures burst through a bush and one of them fell into Juhi, who instinctively threw the ninja towards a tree. When the smoke cleared, he saw Kiba slumped at the foot of the tree, a goofy smile of his dizzy-looking face.
"You're S-Sakura-chan's b-brother, r-right?" A timid voice squeaked.
"Yeah." Juhi grunted coldly, looking towards Hinata. "What about it."
"G-Go that w-way…" Hinata said, pointing behind them. "Sh-She's hurt r-really b-badly."
"Let's go!" Tsuki ordered, heading in the direction Hinata told them to go, soon followed by his twin and the healer.
"Good luck." Hinata whispered as she and Shino helped Kiba up and the three of them carried on in the opposite direction.
--
"Dosu! What's wrong, you're not getting cold feet, are ya?" Zaku asked, getting his hands ready for his jutsu.
"NO!" Dosu cried out too late. "Zaku! You don't understand!"
"Watch this!" Zaku said boastingly. "I'll take care of the whole bunch of them in one fell swoop! Supersonic slicing wave!" He called. A great sound wave escaped his palms, covering the whole area. Everyone—his team, Neji and Tenten in the tree, team ten in the bush—felt the pressure of the attack. As the pressure dropped, he panted, seeing only a long ditch in the ground where Sasuke once stood. "Heh. What do ya know? I blew them all away."
"Not quite." Sasuke said as he punched Zaku across the clearing to Dosu's feet. He had somehow moved himself, Sakura and Naruto behind the black-haired Genin in the time it took Zaku's jutsu to reach them.
"Zaku!" Dosu called. 'Such speed. He got both of his team mates out of harm's way in the blink of an eye!'
"Nighty night!" A voice called.
"Sleep tight!" A similar one followed. All of the purple chakra was pulled back into his curse mark and his eyes widened before he fell to the ground in a heap, unconscious.
"Take a nap, you stupid little brat." A snowy-haired teen murmured to the boy as he kicked him to the side. Juhi dropped a piece of paper with the kanji for 'chakra block' on it as the twins ran out from either side of him and hurried over to Sakura.
"You okay?" Tsuki asked while everyone—minus him, Taiyoo and Sakura—looked a Juhi in shock.
"Who's that?" Ino wondered to herself.
"Don't know." Shikamaru replied. "But I think we're about to find out."
"Alright! Which one of you basterds hurt my baby sister?! Huh?!" Juhi snarled viciously. Taiyoo joined him, glaring at every person who moved even the tiniest bit which Tsuki lifted Sakura onto his back.
"I did." Zaku growled, getting up and wiping away a trail of blood from his mouth.
"Juhi-niisan! How did you do that?" Sakura asked, looking at the unconscious Sasuke. Juhi shrugged.
"Taiyoo made a chakra sealing jutsu, and we were just hoping it would work on him. I mean, the stuffing pooling around him was just chakra, right?" Juhi grinned. "Now…what's your name?" He asked Zaku mockingly, as if he were talking to a child.
"Abumi Zaku." The boy stated with a sneer. "Yourself?"
"Haruno Juhi. Or, as you can call me…your WORST NIGHTMARE!" He screamed charging at the Sound-nin, hurling a barrage of weapons in his direction. Zaku managed to send them back with his sound wave, but Juhi was nowhere to be seen. A foot landing in the middle of his back was felt before Zaku was sent towards Taiyoo, who punched him in the face.
"I'm Taiyoo! Hoshi Taiyoo!" He stated cheerfully. "I, along with Juhi and my brother, Tsuki, will be your ass-kickers today. I sincerely hope you're happy with our work!"
"Cha! We tend to be very thorough!" Tsuki yelled as he ran, with Sakura still on his back, towards Zaku and kicked him to Juhi. The older boy picked Zaku up by his neck and punched him in the face, but didn't let go.
"She may be a Leaf now, but Sakura-chan is still my imouto and the true ruler of the Haruno clan. Those who dare beat a clan leader into the ground or even make one bleed are forced to deal with the consequences of such." Juhi stated darkly. Ino gulped slightly, seeing his hands glow with a light blue chakra. "Kanashibari no Jutsu." He muttered.
"I…can't…move." Zaku grunted out. Shikamaru smirked a little.
"Now that is a paralysis jutsu." He said quietly, feeling a little smug and wanting to say that to Dosu's face.
"Heh…and now…Chakra no Mesu!" He called. The blue glow around Juhi's hand sharpened slightly. "Your arms…you seem rather proud of them, and not to mention attached." The boy grinned, moving his free, chakra-covered hand down the joint of Zaku's shoulder. "Now it would be a shame if I severed the joints of your shoulder. It's fixable, eventually, but very painful."
"AAAAHHHHH!" Zaku cried out as his joints was cut right through by Juhi's chakra scalpel. The snowy-haired teen did the same to the other side and then threw him to Dosu, snarling.
"Now…drop your scroll and pick up your team mates." He ordered. Dosu put the scroll down slowly and picked up Zaku, lifting one of his useless arms over his shoulder and supporting him with one arm as he tucked Kin under the other. "Get out of here!"
"Yes, sir." Dosu bowed, running away with his team mates. As soon as he was out of view, Juhi relaxed and ran to his sister.
"Hey, put her down." He told Tsuki. The boy nodded and rested Sakura on the ground. She was lying on her back, biting on her bottom lip as if she was bored. "You okay, squirt?"
"I've been better." Sakura sighed.
"Hey…you guys okay?!" Choji called as he ran out of the bush.
"Ino, you go see Lee. Choji and I will check on the kid." The lazy genius said as he too joined his chubby friend.
"Okay." Ino nodded, going to help the green boy. Neji and Tenten watched from the tree as Shikamaru and Choji slowly moved towards the orange-clad ninja. The brunette then switched his gaze to Sasuke's limp body and his eyes narrowed slightly.
'That was no normal chakra.' Neji thought. 'I had no idea the Uchiha clan was so strong…and if they're that strong, how powerful would the Haruno and Hoshi clans have to be to take him down so easily?'
"Sakura-chan's in danger…I'll protect her." Naruto muttered in his sleep with a blush and a goofy expression on his face. "Don't worry Sakura-chan, it'll be okay, I'll save you."
"Whoa, somebody ought to kick him and wake him up." Shikamaru stated lazily as he looked down at Naruto. "This guy's embarrassing; I don't know how Sakura can stand him."
"Can I kick him first?" Choji requested slyly.
"Hey, what're you doing?" Ino asked, looking up from Lee to Juhi, who was holding his palm over one of Sakura's more serious injuries.
"Shosen Jutsu." He said, his palm glowing green. The bone slid itself back into Sakura's skin as she winced and it then reattached to the correct joints. The skin patched up too and Juhi moved onto the next area.
"Is he…?" Ino whispered.
"He's healing her." Taiyoo told her, smiling a little. "No big deal, really, since Juhi's been healing since he was seven. Sakura can perform this one too, but only to heal minor stuff like a sprain or a paper cut."
"I've never seen healing jutsus used before." The blonde explained in awe and slight jealousy. She looked to the Star-named twin and blushed a little at his handsomeness. True, he was no Sasuke, but his look was manlier than Sasuke's feminine face.
"Thanks, Juhi." Sakura nodded when all of her serious injuries were healed. She looked over to Sasuke and walked to him, kicking the boy in the side. He grunted and sat up, rubbing his head.
"What happened?" Sasuke asked.
"My brother knocked you out and got rid of the ninja." Sakura explained, walking to the scroll and picking it up before slotting it into her pouch.
"Your injuries…" He noticed.
"Yeah. Juhi-niisan healed them." She told him, frowning at the curse mark on his neck. 'Why him…Why the hell would Orochimaru pick him?'
"Sakura…what did your brother mean when he called you the true clan leader?" Shikamaru asked, eyeing her reaction. Sakura sighed and rubbed the back of her head.
"In my clan, there are two ways to become leader. You can be left leadership by the old clan leader when he or she dies of old age, or you can kill the current one. Let me tell you, my father wasn't all that old when he died." Sakura smirked, seeing their faces.
Akamaru Trembles: Gaara's Cruel Strength!
Naruto screamed as he sat up from a nightmare, a large bump on his head. Shikamaru and Choji were sniggering on either side of him as the Akimichi boy put down his large stick. I'm sure you can guess where the bump came from. The blonde then looked out and saw Sakura and Sasuke sitting together with three people he really didn't like—Juhi, Tsuki and Taiyoo. He then turned and saw Ino helping Lee to his feet.
'The Grass Ninja!' He remembered. "Everybody hide!" Naruto yelled, jumping to the ground. "Quick, get down! That ninja…where could she be hiding?"
"Naruto?" Sakura asked, turning and looking at the boy. Her choppy hair was ruffled slightly by the wind and she batted one of her long bangs out of her face.
'It's about time the lazy fool woke up.' Ino thought with a sigh and an annoyed look. Naruto's eyes widened as he felt something poking his bump; Choji had come back with his stick.
"You really are one of a kind; that's for sure." Shikamaru told him with anything but a complimenting tone. "And I mean…your kind gets on my nerves."
"Mmhmm." Choji agreed with a nod. Naruto, now annoyed, looked back to Sakura and the others and noticed, for the first time, her new haircut.
"Oh no! Sakura-chan!" He called, getting up and running to her.
"What?" She asked in annoyance.
"Sakura-chan! Sakura-chan! Sakura-chan!" He said over and over again, further increasing her annoyance. "What happened to your-? I mean, something serious happened to you…to your hair!" He told her, kneeling down in between her and Sasuke.
"Oh, that's all." She smiled a little. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I fool you not! Sakura smiled and the consequence was; blushing Naruto, gulping Sasuke, smiling Yuki-nin, confused Ino, and Choji and Shikamaru weren't looking.
"What happened?" Naruto asked.
"I just wanted to…change my look." She lied, not wanting to tell Naruto of how she got beaten. The girl didn't notice the frowns over the faces of Ino, Sasuke, the twins and her brother. "I liked it better long, but when I'm out in the wilderness and moving around all the time; it gets in the way too much." She told him as Shikamaru and Choji walked up to them.
"So, what's your story?" Naruto asked them. "Why've you guys come here in the first place? What's going on around here?" He wondered. Both boys sighed.
"Explaining everything to you is going to be such a pain." Shikamaru said, not really wanting to bother. Luckily for him, Sakura saved him the trouble.
"Everyone just showed up to help." She stated sadly.
"What?" Naruto asked, turning back to her. Ino smiled.
'Sakura's sure showing a lot of emotion. Maybe she found comfort in Naruto or something. I don't exactly approve of him, but if he can open her up…he's gotta be some kind of guy.' The blonde though in surprise, but the real shock came when Tenten suddenly jumped down in front of her.
"I'll take care of him now, Ino." She said, looking at Lee and really ignoring the weaker kunoichi.
"Uhh, okay." Ino permitted, handing her the boy. Tenten smiled sweetly at him for a moment before…
"COME ON, LEE! PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER!" She yelled, shaking him roughly by the shoulders. "SNAP OUT OF IT ALREADY! ALRIGHT?!" She finished, dropping him to his knees. Lee groaned and looked up at her.
"Tenten, is that you?" He asked. "What are you doing here?"
"I came to help you out." She explained. "What do you think?"
"Wha-? Where are those Sound ninja guys?" He wondered, looking around.
"Sakura's brother took care of them. He may look kinda cute and sweet, but when he saw her injured he just snapped. Scarier than those B-rank ninja we encountered on that C-ranked mission out of the village." She shuddered.
"Really?" He said, looking to the white-haired, blue-eyed seventeen-year-old. Tenten sighed and crouched down in front of him as he fell back and sat on ground.
"Just what were you thinking? Rushing in there all by yourself; you're a total mess." Tenten sighed.
"Well…Sakura-san was in trouble so…I had to do something, right?" He replied meekly and slightly unsurely. It had felt like the right thing to do at the time, at least.
'He got to be kidding! He had to know he didn't stand a chance alone in here against all those guys.' Tenten thought to herself with a frown, concerned about Lee. "That was pretty darn stupid, don't you think?" She scolded.
"Well, I guess I cannot really argue with that." Lee admitted pitifully as he drew his knees up to his chin.
"Ah ha!" Naruto said in 'great' realisation. "I know you, bushy-brow!" He mocked. Sakura looked at him and glared viciously.
"HEY!" She yelled. Everyone stopped and looked at her as she snarled in Naruto's direction. "You're my friend, Naruto, but you better stop bad-mouthing Lee." The girl said. "Once more comment like that and I'll pound you into the ground, you got that?"
"Y-Yes, ma'am." He muttered in fear. 'What in the world happened while I was asleep? Everything's gone all crazy and upside-down!'
"Ugh, that Naruto's completely out of the loop." Shikamaru sighed.
"So far out that he doesn't even know there is a loop." Choji added with a pitying look on his face.
"Lee." Sakura called to the boy, who was still staring at her in shock of her defence over him. "…Okay, I'm gonna put it to you this way; I suck at thanking people. I've never really done this before so…thanks. For helping me out. If it wasn't for you…I'd have been dead. Thank you." She said, getting on her knees. From her kneeling position, Sakura bent forward from the waist, placing the hands palms down on the floor in front of the body, with the fingers facing. Lee gasped at the shin bow, for it was only supposed to be performed to teachers and superiors.
"S-Sakura-san…I…" He stuttered. Everyone else looked positively amazed by her show of respect to a boy she had seemed disgusted with only days before. "I...I guess my efforts alone were not good enough."
"Don't worry about it." She said with a slight tilt of her head. "I couldn't defeat them either. So, it was a good think my big brother showed up in time, right Juhi-niisan?"
"Yeah, yeah." Juhi waved off with a big grin. "It would have been easy to leave it to the overconfident Uchiha."
"Hn." Sasuke grunted, but he acknowledged the subtle glare the white-haired Haruno sent him that told him to back up off his sister.
"To chase off those ninja, you must be very strong." Lee realised, looking down in disappointment. "I was not strong at all. I just got beaten to a pulp."
'What's he talking about? Beaten to a pulp?' Sasuke wondered, looking in shock at Juhi, who had knocked him out and beaten them up in less than five minutes. 'Were those guys really that strong? But…If Sakura is stronger than her brother…just how strong is she?'
"Sakura." Lee called.
"Hmm?" Sakura asked when he had her attention.
"The lotus of the Leaf Village blooms twice." He riddled. "When we meet again, I will have become a stronger ninja!" The boy smiled. "I promise."
"Yeah…me too." Sakura agreed.
"HEY SAKURA!" Ino called from across the clearing.
"What?" Sakura questioned back.
"Come over here! I wanna fix your hair for you, okay?" She offered as Sakura regarded her with a suspicious look.
"…Sure." She shrugged, walking over and kneeling in front of Ino as the girl made the back of her choppy hair neater. It was still very short, the same length as Kiba's.
"Turn around so that I can do the bangs." Ino said, but gasped in shock when Sakura just stood up and ran her fingers through the collar-bone-length locks. She smiled slightly.
"Nah! I like this look." Sakura told her, smirking and sorting her bangs out so that they would frame her face rather than fall over her eyes. Neji looked down on all of them from his branch and he frowned.
'Uchiha Sasuke…he must a stronger opponent than I could have imagined for him to emit that chakra.' The Hyuuga boy admitted to himself. 'But the Haruno boy…and those Hoshi twins…they must be much more advanced in power than I realised for them to have taken down Sasuke and defeated the Sound ninja so easily.'
--
Somewhere else in the forest, Team Ten were crouched around a trembling puppy as Akamaru covered his head with his paws. He looked terrified and Kiba was really worried about his friend. Hinata, being her usual caring self, was trying to cover the guilt she felt for leaving Sakura behind by thinking up ways to comfort Akamaru. Shino was just looking at the puppy, wondering why he was shaking.
"Hey, Akamaru, you okay?" Kiba asked softly as he rubbed his hand gently over the puppy's head. Akamaru just whimpered more.
"Is he still shaking? He's been at it for half a day already." Shino noted, looking down on Akamaru.
"Akamaru." Hinata whispered soothingly, but it was in vain as the pup continued to tremble.
"I don't blame him. It's because of what he saw when we left those ninja to find Sakura and the others." Kiba remembered.
--
Team Ten was jumping through the forest at top speed, aiming to be at the tower as soon as possible.
"Aha! I knew we'd be the ones to survive this! Right, Akamaru?" Kiba stated confidently.
"Arf!" The little puppy by his side agreed.
"Of course, it's luck for us that the people caught in that trap had an Earth scroll. And now, we're going to be the first ones to reach the tower." He howled in joy.
"Don't get overconfident. That's a dangerous mistake to make." Shino warned him. "No matter how small a bug is, it still has to guard itself at all times. We have to make sure that we don't encounter any enemies. That's the only way to be safe."
"Yeah, I know that, Shino." Kiba huffed. "But, as usual, you've got to say it in a vague, weird way. Bug nerd!" He insulted. Shino growled and Hinata knew she had to stop the upcoming fight.
"Y-Yeah, but…Kiba-kun…Wh-What Sh-Shino-kun said…h-he does k-kind of h-have a point, y-you know?" She told him.
"Yeah, I know, just come on!" Kiba sighed in an irritated voice.
'I sure hope that Naruto-kun and Sakura-chan are okay.' Hinata thought to herself through her guilt. Akamaru smelt something and, not a second later, Kiba picked it up as well. The boy landed on a branch with his canine companion and signalled to the other to stop.
"Hold on, you guys. We have to stop." He told them. Shino landed to his left and Hinata to his right, both of them wondering what had caused the hold up.
"Why?" Shino asked, still sore from the 'Bug nerd' comment.
"We're being careful not to encounter any enemies, right?" Kiba questioned. "Alright, Hinata, I want you to check out a kilometre ahead in that direction." He ordered, pointed in front of them and slightly to the left.
"Right." Hinata nodded. "Here goes…Byakugan!" She called, charka veins appearing around her eyes. She looked ahead and frowned. "Yes. I s-see somebody th-there a-alright."
"Hmm." Shino hummed in thought. He lowered himself to the wood of the tree branch and placed his ear on the bark.
"It sounds like there are…six people there." Shino told them.
"Alright…let's check it out!" Kiba cheered.
"Wh-What?" Hinata stuttered in concern.
"Kiba!" Shino said in a scolding tone. "What're you talking about? We're not going to do that." He told the boy, not noticing Hinata's sign of relief.
"Why not?" The dog-nin mused. "The administrator said we had to get a Heaven and an Earth scroll, right? But she didn't say we couldn't take more than that. If we have more scrolls, that'll mean that there're fewer to go around and more teams will be cut out of the competition. Ha!"
"B-But-" Hinata began, pleadingly.
"Look, first we'll just check it out, okay?" Kiba assured her. "If it looks too dangerous, we won't battle them. Now come on! Let's go!" He cheered, jumping in the direction of the six enemy ninja.
"He's the kind of guy that even the hungriest insects would avoid." The bug-nin sighed, going after his team mate.
"O-Oh…" Hinata muttered, seeing that her opinion wasn't wanted. She jumped after the boys and they all landed in a bush overlooking the six ninja, but as soon as they touched down, Akamaru began to shake.
"What's wrong, Akamaru?" Kiba asked.
"Wh-What happened?" Hinata questioned in a concerned voice. "Y-You just st-stopped a-all of a s-sudden." She noted as Akamaru got up and crawled inside Kiba's jacket, popping his head out at the neck.
"Yeah; something just spooked the little guy." Kiba said, worried about his dog.
"Wh-What…s-scared him?" She asked, looking at Akamaru.
"I don't know." Kiba admitted. "Akamaru has the ability to sniff out chakra, and the only time I've seen him back up a bit was when Sakura first entered Konoha. But...even then, I've never seen him this scared before. Whoever those ninja up ahead are…they aren't normal guys."
"Do you believe the nerve of these Sand Village ninja, Shigure, Baiu; challenging up head-on?" The ninja to the left of Shigure asked in an annoyed tone.
"Yeah, Midari is right!" Baiu, standing to the right of Shigure, agreed with a sneer. "They're a bunch of fools." He added. Shigure observed the three as Gaara, Temari and Kankuro did the same to him and his team.
"What's he thinking?" Kiba asked aloud, looking at Gaara. "That kid's way too little to take on an opponent that big." He then noticed that Akamaru's whimpering had grown and he listened to what his dog said before he clenched his teeth.
"Wh-What…did A-Akamaru s-say?" Hinata asked, unable to understand dog.
"That the big guy…he is big trouble." Kiba translated.
'They all look like they're bad news to me…like they're all really strong.' Hinata thought mournfully.
"Too bad, kids." Shigure hummed. "You should learn to pick your opponents better. Now you're all gonna die!"
"I've heard enough out of you." Gaara sighed, clearly bored. "Let's make this quick, I don't wanna waste any more time. There's someone I want to talk to in the tower, and this is pointless."
'We don't even know what scroll these guys have.' Kankuro realised with a frown. "Hey, Gaara!" He called.
"What is it?" The younger boy asked, not turning around.
"Well…doesn't it make more sense to follow these punks and gather information first?" He suggested, even though it was much too late for that. "I mean, if they have the same scroll as us, we're just fighting an unnecessary battle."
"I don't care." Gaara stated. "They looked at me the wrong way…so they're gonna die."
'This is exactly why I didn't want to be stuck in a forest with him for any amount of time.' Kankuro thought with a wince.
"If you think you can kill us…" Shigure trailed off, pulling six wooden umbrellas off of his back. "Just try it!" He dared before he threw all six of them into the air. "And now…Joro Senbon!" He called as the umbrellas spunk, releasing senbon by the thousand.
'A rainstorm of needles!' Hinata realised in shock. Gaara just blinked.
"Up, down, left, right…no matter where you go, I can get you." Shigure smirked. "There's no blind-spot in this jutsu. And it's deadly accurate! So try to escape!" He called as the needles landed on Gaara, lifting up a cloud of dirt from the force of the impact. 'Hah! Child's play.' The man smirked as the dirt cloud began to fall. His uninjured eye widened upon seeing Gaara unscratched, covered in a cocoon of sand.
"Is that all you've got?" He asked mockingly.
"It…can't be! Not one wound!" Shigure said in shock, only just realising what he was up against. "Impossible! ...Alright." He put his hands in the tiger seal and directed more needles at the gap in Gaara's armour. Sand just rose and defended him again.
"A senbon rainstorm, huh?" Gaara mused with a frown. "I have an good idea. Let's make it rain blood instead."
"Man, his chakra's so powerful…" Kiba trailed off in awe. "And his sand…do you smell that odour? It stinks."
"Odour?" Shino repeated in question as he and Hinata turned to Kiba.
"…It smells like blood." Kiba told them.
"He's created a wall of sand!" Shigure noted in shock.
"That's right." Kankuro nodded. "It's a defence, and nothing can get through it. He carries around all that sand in the gourd he has on his back, and when he's attacked, he uses the power of his chakra to harden the sand. It's a jutsu that only Gaara can do, and somehow it happens automatically, independent of his will. So those who attack against him are doomed to fail." As Kankuro spoke, Gaara's sand fell into grains around his feet.
"Yeah?" Shigure growled. "Well, we'll see!"
"Just face it; you guys can't hope to defeat Gaara." He yawned.
"Yeah right." He denied, running forwards. Gaara brought his hands together and Temari and Kankuro smirked.
'That punk's a dead man.' Kankuro thought.
'He was warned about not fighting Gaara.' Temari sighed.
"Sabaku Kyu!" Gaara called, holding one hand out towards the approaching Rain-nin. His sand leapt up and covered Shigure from head to toe, leaving only his face visible.
"I…can't move." He admitted, struggling to no avail. The ninja of his team and of team ten were shocked and Shigure's umbrellas, now without his chakra, fell to the ground.
"Hey…lemme go!" He demanded. Gaara walked to one of the umbrellas and held the handle firmly.
"All I have to do is cover your big mouth and you're dead." He told the fearful man. The boy pulled the umbrella out of the ground and opened it, holding it above his head as he used the other hand to control the sand around the man's body. "But that would be too easy and too boring." He added as he moved his hand, causing the sand around the man to lift Shigure into the air.
"NO! Let me go!" The man screamed when he stopped moving. He looked at Gaara's hand and saw it clench.
"Sabaku Sousou." He said. The sand tightened suddenly, not even giving the man enough time to scream before his body was crush by the sand until all that was left of him was equal sized grains. His team and team ten were scared to death of what Gaara was capable of. The blood rained and Gaara was protected from it by the umbrella, but the other Rain ninja weren't.
"Oh, Kami-sama." One muttered as they were covered in the remnants of their team mate.
"There wasn't any pain. I crushed him with more force than necessary, so it was over quickly. The corpse is bitter crimson tears flowing in with the endless sand, feeding the chaos within me; making me stronger." He said calmly. The ninja back off in fear.
"Just take the scroll." Midari permitted, placing a Heaven scroll on the ground and backing away. "Go on, here."
"Yes, take it!" Baiu agreed. "Please spare us!" He begged. Gaara tossed aside the umbrella and held out both of his hands, covering the two ninja in sand in the same way as he did with Shigure. They whimpered and pleaded to be set free, but Gaara showed no remorse as he activated his Sabaku Sousou.
"Man, this is bad." Kiba realised as he turned. Shino turned too, but Hinata was paralyzed in her couched position, her eyes closed tightly and her hands over her ears. "We'd better get out of here, before he finds and kills us!" He said, breaking Hinata out of her trance. She turned too and the three of them began to crawl away.
"We got lucky, it's a Heaven scroll." Kankuro smiled as he picked it up and pocketed it. "Alright, now let's head to the tower."
"Just shut up." Gaara growled. "It's not…" He turned towards the bush Kiba, Shino and Hinata were slowly fleeing from. "It's still not enough for me." He said as they froze, feeling him staring in their direction.
'Oh no, did he see us?!' Kiba panicked. 'If he did, we're done for!'
"Come on, Gaara, let's go." Kankuro said with a casual smile.
"What are you, scared? Coward." Gaara accused.
"Look, Gaara. I know this test is no problem for you, but it's dangerous for Temari and me." He informed the younger boy. "One set of scrolls is good enough. It's all we need to pass."
"Losers…can't tell me what to do." Gaara said as he lifted his hand. The older boy glared at Gaara as he grabbed him by the collar and lifted him off the ground slightly.
"Alright, that's enough." He growled, his pride getting the better of him as he continued to glare. "Sometimes, you have to listen to what your big brother says."
"It's too bad I don't think of you as my big brother at all." Gaara told him, never loosing his calmness. "If you get in my way, I'll kill you." He said as he batted Kankuro's hand away from him. He lifted his hand again to the bush team ten were in.
"Wait." Temari cut in, holding up her hands. "Just hold on, Gaara. You don't have to treat us as if we're the enemy. Look, do it as a favour for your sister." She smiled, putting her hands together. "Please?" She begged, but Gaara did nothing more than move his hand towards Kankuro, then back towards the bush. Sand started collecting near his hand.
Hinata whimpered, hearing the sand move. Shino gritted his teeth and gulped slightly. The sand around Gaara's hand got thicker. Kiba turned in shock.
"Gaara!" Temari called as Gaara clenched his hand. Kankuro had his eyes closed, but all that had happened was Gaara finding his cork for his gourd.
"Alright, this time." Gaara said, sounding bored again. He reached behind him and put the cork into his gourd and turned away from the bush, walking away.
'Yeah…that's why I hate brats.' Kankuro revealed as he and Temari breathed a sigh of relief. Just before they followed him, a stream of sand shot out between them and into the bush. As it came back, Hinata was frozen in it's grasp. Kiba and Shino shot out of the bush, but stopped when Gaara released the sand and turned.
"You know a girl with pink hair." He stated, even though it was probably supposed to be a question. Neither Kiba nor Shino replied, for it was obvious he was speaking to Hinata.
"Y-Y-Yes." She squeaked, nodding rapidly.
"Tell me…what do you know of her?" He questioned.
"Her name is Haruno Sakura." Shino answered for her, seeing as Hinata's words had been lost in her throat.
"She came to Konoha when she was ten." Kiba added. "Judging from the way she smelt, I'd say she lived in Yukigakure before then, and moved around a bit too before she came to the Hidden Leaf Village."
"H-H-He-Herr brother a-an-and old t-t-team mates a-are-are in t-th-the Chunin e-ex-exa-ams." Hinata concluded.
"I see." Gaara sighed, turning again and walking away, his brother and sister following after him. Team ten were left behind, all relieved that they had been spared.
"I guess we know now why you were so freaked out." Kiba said to his puppy, who was still hiding in his coat. "I just wish you would have said something sooner."
--
"No…No one's here." Hinata realised, looking around the tower.
"Haha!" Kiba laughed with a wide grin. "We're the first!"
"No…I'm sure that I sensed someone here a little while ago." Shino told him. Hinata bent slightly to look at Akamaru, who hadn't moved from Kiba's jacket. She stroked his cheek.
"More importantly…I-Is A-Akamaru o-okay?" The Hyuuga heiress asked her dog-nin team mate. "The poor little guy's been so scared for so long."
"Come to think of it, what did Akamaru say before?" Shino asked.
"Well…I guess he must have been saying that the bigger ninja was in trouble because the pipsqueak was going to kill him." Kiba told them.
"Just like I thought, there's no other place to go!" They heard someone's voice echo from the hallway.
"We've already been here half a day; how much longer are they going to make us wait?" A girl asked. Three ninja entered the room team ten were in, showing themselves to be Gaara, Temari and Kankuro. As the three ninja passed them, Temari and Kankuro smirked at their stiffened forms in pride. Gaara glanced at them briefly out of the corner of his eye and all of them stiffened even more out of fear. He looked away and they relaxed slightly, but were still afraid.
'I don't know what that Suna squirt is, but whatever he is, he's way too dangerous to mess with.' Kiba frowned as he watched Gaara and his team leave. 'He's bad news…and I hope he's not interested in Sakura only for a fight, because I don't think even she can beat him.'
--
"This is turning into a real mess." Anko sighed from her room at the top of the tower. There were two ANBU in the room with her. "But, there's no way we can cancel the test." She bit her lip.
"What do you mean?" One of the ANBU asked. The door slid open and a Chunin in a grey uniform entered.
"Sorry to interrupt." He apologised.
"Huh? What do you want?" Anko frowned at him. "We're talking about something important."
"Uhh, I'm sorry…but…it's this tape. You have to see it." He said, walking in with a tape in his hand. He put it into the player and turned on the TV, watching the screen. "Okay, now, when you watch this, pay special attention to the time." The screen changed and they saw Gaara, Temari and Kankuro walking around the tower. At the bottom, the time read 16:07. Anko frowned and gasped in realisation.
"Huh? But that means…" She trailed off.
"That's right, Anko-san." The Chunin said. "This was recorded from inside the tower. It's unbelievable. Those ninja finished only an hour and thirty-seven minutes after the test started. They completely destroyed the record for finishing the second test."
"Wha..?" Anko whispered breathlessly. "That's impossible."
"It took just ninety-seven minutes. Nothing like this has ever happened before." He acknowledged. "No one's even come close. Those ninja, from the Sand Village…are way above Genin level. They beat the record by four hours."
"I'm afraid it's not just that." Anko, who was now standing in between the two ANBU, said. The man looked at her over his shoulder.
"I don't get it…what do you mean?" He asked.
"It's ten kilometres from the test entrance gates to the tower, and in between are ferocious animals, poisonous insects, and not to mention the other ninja. Could they really have avoided all those things?" She asked, but mostly herself. "Especially the red-haired kid in the front."
"What's so special about him?" The Chunin asked, looking back at the tape while Anko moved to look out of her window.
"You mean you didn't see?" She questioned.
"Interesting." One ANBU mused.
"That is quite a surprise." The other agreed.
"I still don't get it. What am I supposed to be seeing here?" The Chunin asked, looking again at Anko.
"It's what you're not seeing. Look closely at his body." She informed him, looking at the man out of the corner of her eye for a reaction. He looked back to the screen and observed Gaara completely before smiling.
"I see it now." He realised.
"Not a single scratch, and I haven't even been able to spot one little spec of dirt on his clothing." Anko frowned again.
'Not even I…no, none of the Chunin could make it back to the tower without a scratch.' He thought to himself, his eyes widening. 'It's impossible.'
"He must have some kind of special ability." One ANBU remarked.
"It's been a long time since we've had such a promising candidate." The other commented. "But his eyes are pure evil."
A/N: Sorry that I haven't updates, but I've been busy with coursework and my GCSE exams. So, for at least another five weeks, updates will be slow. Don't give up, becasue I promise that when the Summer Holidays come, I'll update faster! Enjoy the story and tell me if you want to see a picture of Sakura's new look :D