Hi! Shadow Quil here! I am so sorry that this update took so long. I wanted to get one up before my first mocks in Year 11, so here it is! I'll try to update as soon as possible, but don't expect them as quickly as I did at the beginning. Hopefully, there won't be more than a month between update, and if there is all someone needs to do is yell at me or send me a PM and I'll try to write more. I will not be giving tiny, five-page chapters that take five minutes to write, becasue then the quality is generally lacking. So, sorry again for taking so long and I hope you enjoy the chapter!
Bye!
P.S. Thanks to all the readers who have stayed with me through all of this waiting! You guys rock!
Chapter Nineteen
The Scroll's Secrets; No Peeking Allowed
Naruto grinned as he looked down on the calm river, full of peaceful fish just minding their own business. Behind the blonde were three Kage bunshins, all donned in what he was wearing; green boxers. The blonde had created them in hopes of catching more fish.
"Breakfast time." The four Narutos chimed together. "Kage Bunshin fishing jutsu!" He called. "Bombs away!" And with that, the four jumped down from the small ledge above the river and made a big splash. Sasuke was stood on the edge, kunai in hand.
The Narutos swam through the water, as quickly as they could without disturbing the fish too badly. He caught one and threw it up, where Sasuke noticed it. The Uchiha's eyes narrowed and he threw a kunai at it, nailing it to a tree. This happened again with two more fish before Naruto popped out of the water, gasping for breath and glaring at the pompous boy on land.
"Well?" Sasuke asked, putting a hand on his hip. "Come on. Is that it? I only got three. Now, go and do it again."
"What?!" Naruto screamed at him, his hair spiking more in anger.
"I could eat three fish myself." He told the fuming blonde.
"Well, if you think it's so easy, why don't you get wet and I'll stand on the shore?!" Naruto yelled. The boys heard a splash and turned to see one of the twins, they weren't sure which, diving into the water. The other one was on shore, just like Sasuke, with kunai. Five fish came flying up and the twin pinned them to the tree. The two them switched, so that the other one was on shore, and they caught another five.
"You've only got three, huh?" One twin asked as he got out of the water with a grin. Both twins were wet, with water dripping down their bare chests.
"Well, that should be enough for one of you." The other twin laughed. "I don't know which. But, we Yuki-nin—Sakura-chan included—will be having our fill." He smirked.
"Taiyoo-kun! Tsuki-kun!" Sakura called from further up. "What's taking you two so long? I've already got the fire up and Juhi-niisan set up a spit for us to cook the fish." She told them. Sakura had decided that a baggy jumper and lots of black wasn't suitable for the heat, apparently, and had used a kunai to cut her shorts and top into a sport-bra-style top and shorts that were still slightly baggy, but only just reached past mid-thigh.
"Sa-Sakura-chan!" Naruto gaped. She had only just done these modifications to her clothes, after all, and he only just saw.
"What, Naruto?" She asked in a bored. Naruto didn't say anything, but noticed that she called the twins with a '-kun' and gave him no suffix. He was pouting now.
"We've got the fish, Sakura-chan." Tsuki smiled.
"Yeah, ten of them! And your team mates only caught three!" Taiyoo added with another laugh.
"We have to do everything around here." The other twin sighed, walking with Sakura and Taiyoo back to camp. Naruto and Sasuke were both glaring at him.
"Grrrrr! Those stupid twins!" Naruto growled. "What do they think we've been doing?! Work! That's what!"
--
There were three fires going. Two of the fires had five fish surrounding them, and the last only had three. Juhi laughed when he noticed that, but said nothing after Sakura glared at him. She was, after all, the one in charge of cooking said fish, and he wanted one that wasn't burnt, or dirty, or undercooked, or just plain gross.
"It's already been four days since the second exam began." Sasuke stated in his you-all-suck-for-making-me-wait-to-win voice. Sakura rolled her eyes.
"You think we don't know that?" She asked, frowning at him and poking the fire to keep it alight.
"Well, we're sure not gonna break any records, and we've only got twenty four hours left." He went on.
"I wonder how many other teams have already gotten through and finished." Juhi thought aloud. He was sat behind his sister, so she was in between his legs. At first, Naruto was going to complain, but then thought how sad he would seem if he acted jealous of her brother of all people.
'I wonder when my fish is going to be done! I'm starving!' The blonde thought with a hungry grin.
'If we don't get a miracle or something soon, we're finished.' Sasuke frowned, looking at his earth scroll and then at the forest.
'Almost done…if I'm fast, I can grab the biggest one before any of the others get it.' Naruto continued his greedy thoughts.
--
Everyone was eating a fish slowly, keeping it going for as long a possible; they had no clue when they might eat next. Sasuke and Juhi noticed that Sakura's eyes flicked towards the forest every now and again, but other than that everything was normal. Taiyoo was on his second fish, and Tsuki was on his third. Naruto had been given Sakura's second fish, while Sasuke, Juhi and the pinkette herself settled for one each.
"We have to face it. Maybe there's not any more heaven scrolls left." The girl of the group stated, lowering her half-eaten fish.
"Well, that's a cheerful thought." Sasuke rolled his eyes, taking another bite of his own fish and looking towards Naruto with jealousy for receiving another water-breather to satisfy his appetite.
"It may be pessimistic, but it's true." Sakura sighed. "Look, you said it yourself, Uchiha. This is the fourth day we've been out here and still, all we've done is fight and get nothing. That means we've already used up 80 percent of the time we were given for the exam."
"Only thirteen teams can pass, because there are only thirteen pairs of heaven and earth scrolls." Taiyoo picked up.
"Right. And you've got twenty six teams, seventy eight candidates, out looking for them." She frowned. Naruto stopped eating and looked at her uncertainly. "And if those odds weren't bad enough, you've got that creepy he-she who burnt the heaven scroll we had and ate his…or her own scroll."
"Only twelve full pairs." Naruto calculated. Sakura looked at him and smiled briefly.
"Yeah…not to mention all the pairs that have been found and secured by other teams since then." She rubbed her eyes and shook her head, working out their chanced.
"Maybe we gave ourselves too much time to rest and recover from our last fight." Sasuke thought out-loud. "I don't know. What I do know, is that we've got to try harder than ever to pass this thing now."
"Wait…don't you guys have a heaven scroll?" Naruto asked, eying the Yuki-nin across the fire from him, Tsuki glared and ripped off the last bit of his fish from the bones before standing up.
"Yeah, we do. And if it was just Sakura with some other people, we'd happily give her the scroll. However, I don't like you guys." He snarled.
"I think we should leave. All we're doing is holding you back." Taiyoo acknowledged.
"Yeah. See ya later, sis." Juhi smiled. Sakura nodded back and the Yuki-nin jumped off in the direction of the tower.
"Now that they're gone, we can make up for lost time." Sasuke said, glad to be rid of those 'foreign ninja scum', as he called them. "The next enemy we face could be our last chance." He got up, holding their water canteen in his hand. "I'm gonna get water." The boy stated, walking away from his team. Sakura frowned as his back before looking at Naruto, who sighed and looked at the scroll. He picked it up and turned to the pinkette.
"Hey, Sakura-chan." He said. "I know how we can do this without having to fight anyone."
"How?" She asked, humouring him. Naruto pulled his hip-pouch round in front of him and dug through it, before tipping at least seven scrolls onto the ground between him and Sakura.
"Look." Naruto said, holding up for her to see.
"Look a what?" Sakura huffed.
"What do you mean, 'look at what'?" He grinned. "Scrolls. I've got tons of them! You know, like manuals on ninjutsu and stuff like that."
"So?" She twitched, getting an idea of where this was going.
"We could change one of these to look like the heaven scroll." He told her.
"Stop!" Sakura warned, holding her hand out. "Don't even think about doing something so stupid."
"Huh?" Naruto whined. He thought it was a brilliant plan.
"Even if you could fake the outside, how do you fake what's written inside of it, baka?" She growled, glaring at him. "You couldn't know without reading it, and that's against the rules."
"I've got it all figured out!" Naruto cheered. "I've got a feeling that they've got a secret code written in that that would only make sense when they're put together. Yeah…and that secret code it what you need to get into the tower at the end of the exam." He realised, getting closer to her so that their faces were almost touching. "Get it?"
"I…uhh…" Sakura stuttered, noticing how close they were.
'Kiss him!' Inner cheered.
"What's wrong?" Naruto asked, getting even closer to her slightly reddening face. "Are you sick?"
"No." Sakura said bluntly, pushing him away. 'I will not kiss him, and that's final.' She concluded. "We've just never even had a heaven scroll, so I don't get how we're going to fake what's inside the damn thing."
"Well…I…oh…" Naruto mumbled in disappointment, not quite having thought the whole thing through. "But wait…we do have the earth scroll."
"So what?" She frowned, seeing seriousness all over his face. 'He actually looks…kinda cute when he's being serious.' Sakura almost smiled, but then mentally slapped herself.
'And look at his chest! Muscles like you wouldn't believe for a ramen-lover like him!' Inner drooled.
"We could open it and…" He trailing off, seeing her glare.
"You wouldn't." She dared.
"It's our only chance. I'm gonna open and read this scroll." He said in a determined voice.
"No!" She said, 'gently' hitting him on the head. "Don't you know what forbidden means?"
"I know, but…" He didn't finish, looking at her with water eyes and a goofy pleading look on his face.
'Forget serious. That's the face I fell in love with.' Sakura realised, but then her eyes widened. 'Uhh, I mean-'
'I heard you! You love him! You love him!' Inner Sakura chanted happily.
'Oh! Shut up! I admit it. Okay?!' She blushed. Naruto saw this, but didn't comment. Sakura snapped at him last time.
"If we don't do anything, we'll never make it!" Naruto said as an excuse while nursing his sore head. Sakura looked down at the ground in deep thought, though Naruto believed that she was considering his plan. He looked at a blank scroll that looked a lot like the heaven scroll.
--
Elsewhere in the Forest of Death, a team of true cheaters were looking at their earth scroll, while one held it with shaking hands. Two boys, both Konoha ninja, nodded at each other and one moved his thumb to slick open the scroll.
"Careful." His friend warned. "It might be booby trapped or something."
"Yeah." The other agreed shakily. "I thought of that." And without another word, he flicked open the scroll.
--
Back with Naruto and Sakura, the blonde had picked up the earth scroll, ready to open it. He didn't, though, until he got some kind of confirmation from Sakura. She was glaring at him, telling him not to do it. However, Naruto truly believed this to be his only option. His thumb travelled over the opening.
"Wait." Sakura said calmly, walking over to him.
"What is it, Sakura-chan?" He asked, turning and seeing that she was right next to him.
"I don't want you doing that, and I don't want to be around for the aftermath of such a mistake." She sighed.
"Okay, fine. Whatever." Naruto glared, thinking she was betraying him somehow by not supporting what he wanted to do. "Then just go away and-" He was cut off by something on his lips. Something soft. His eyes widened when he realised that it was Sakura's lips, and that she was kissing him. Naruto's eyes then closed and his mind soared with the feeling of kissing the girl of his dreams. Suddenly and much too abruptly, the feeling was over and Sakura was pulling away.
"I…I think I like you, Naruto-kun." She told him, her face frowning.
"Yeah…me too…" Naruto said confused. "But, Sakura-chan!" However, before he got his question out, she was running into the woods. The boy felt his lips and then looked down at the scroll. "She wouldn't want me to." He decided, putting it back down.
"Good choice." A voice from the woods commended.
--
The team opened their scroll.
Their screams could be heard by their third team mate, who dropped the food he had gathered and ran to their aid. When he got there, they were both unconscious. After looking around, the teenager ran forwards to check on them.
"Hey, guys! What's wrong? Guys?" He asked in concern, but received no answer. Looking to the side, he saw the scroll on the ground and slightly open. "Wh-What's the scroll doing here? If it was a ninja attack, they would've taken it. What happened? What did you guys do?!"
--
"Who's there?!" Naruto demanded, standing up and tightening his grip on the scroll. Kabuto stepped out of the shadows of the trees, a smirk on his face as he adjusted his glasses. He walked towards Naruto and stared at him, as if mentally scolding the younger boy for even thinking about trying to open the scroll.
Sasuke was walking back at that point, and saw Kabuto with Naruto. He also saw that Sakura was no where near them and jumped to the wrong conclusions.
'An enemy!' He thought. So, the boy ran forwards, throwing the water canteen to the side.
--
"Little Saku, Little Saku, where are you?" A voice sang out mockingly to the young pinkette as she walked into a clearing. She frowned and didn't reply, getting a playful whine from the other person. "You're supposed to reply; 'Here I am! Here I am! How do you do?', Sakura-chan!"
"I don't do singing, or rhyming." She growled as a blonde and a redhead stepped out of the trees.
"But you do seem to lip-lock, un!" Deidara grinned, although it seemed a bit forced. She glared harshly at him and huffed as she crossed her arms over her chest. "How about one for your good pal Dei-chan, un?" He asked, puckering up and pointing to his mouth.
"Good pal? I don't think so." Sakura rejected.
"Aww, but the Kyuubi brat got one." He pouted. "It's only fair that everyone gets one. Or, if you want, you could just give me Sasori-danna's, and Itachi-teme's, and Kisame-san's, etc."
"That's none of your business!" Sakura stated with a sneer. Sasori stepped forwards and shook his head.
"Actually, it is. You remember your mission?" He asked coldly.
"…To capture the Kyuubi's host and deliver the Jinchuuriki to Itachi and Kisame, ready for the extraction of the Bijuu." Sakura muttered, spitting the words as if they were poison in her mouth.
"Now, you want that seal removed, right?" Deidara asked darkly.
"I…Yes." She admitted.
"Then you'll do as you're told." The redhead smirked. Sakura growled under her breath and glared up at them.
"Fuck you." She said quietly.
"Care to repeat that, un?" Deidara asked in warning.
"I said; Fuck YOU!" She screamed, throwing kunai and shuriken at them, but both dodged easily.
"Let's see here, un." The blonde said as he grabbed her arms and held them behind her back. Sasori appeared in front of her and created a clone, which he used the Henge jutsu on to change into a mirror image of herself. The redhead then created another clone that Henged into Naruto.
"Dattebayo!" Sasori made the clone call out mockingly.
"First, you protect him from those in the Hokage's council who wanted to kill him, un." The blonde recounted. Sasori's female clone puffed out her chest, making her looking like some kind of hero.
"Freedom for the filthy monster." 'She' said. Sakura growled. That had happened before she knew Naruto had the Kyuubi inside him. She had met him in the academy before she went to the Hokage to report how she liked the village so far. The council was in there, discussing the 'Naruto problem', as they said, and she basically defended him.
"Then, you grow up a little and help him with Mizuki, un." He continued.
"Naruto-kun! I'll save you!" The Sakura in front of her said as she scooped 'Naruto' into her arms and skipped around, before dropping him.
"Then you befriend the beast." He spat. "And go on a date with him, un?"
"Sakura-chan! Date me!" The Naruto Henge called in joy.
"Of course, Naruto-kun!" Her look-alike said with glee.
"It wasn't a date." She muttered, but Sakura was ignored.
"Next, you train with him, un." Deidara carried on. The clones fought a little, with Sakura coming out victorious. "I'm not even gonna bother with the rest, un, but the kiss just wraps it up nicely." He glared at her as the clones leaned in to kiss, but disappeared at the last second.
"Why, Sakura-chan?" Sasori asked. "Are we not good enough?" He added sarcastically.
"You never were." She sneered at him, struggling in Deidara's grip.
"It's pointless, Saku-chan." He whispered in her ear. "Stop with this foolish rebellion of yours and get the job done, un."
"NO! I won't hurt Naruto-kun!" She told them. Deidara's eyes widened at what she called him and his face darkened.
"Don't call him that!" He roared, pushing her to the ground and kicking her in the stomach. Sakura whimpered, feeling his foot hit one of her old wounds. "I…Just do what you're told, un."
With that, the two Akatsuki members left her alone.
'What was that all about?' Sakura wondered as she got up to go back to Naruto. She spat a small bit of blood from her mouth and looked at where Deidara once stood.
'You think he's…jealous?'
--
"You actually considered opening it?" Sasuke asked the blonde, glaring daggers at him.
"I didn't, though." Naruto growled back. That was when Sakura decided to come back, and saw both boys there with Kabuto.
"Did I…miss something?" She asked. "Did Naruto open the scroll?"
"No." Kabuto told her. "What makes you think he did?"
"Well, I thought the scroll was booby trapped." She shrugged. "I was just wondering if the trap brought the most annoying person in the exam to bug you. If not, why're you here?"
"Cool it, hot-lips." Kabuto mocked, seeing Sakura's eyes widened and a blush spread on her face.
"Y-You saw that?" She asked.
"Yeah." He nodded.
"Saw what?" Sasuke, ever oblivious, questioned. He didn't want to miss out on it if a nickname like that was involved.
"It doesn't matter." Naruto said quickly, before Kabuto could reply. "Just tell me, what would have happened if I opened the scroll?"
"Well, others who try to cheat and peak at the scrolls…" He trailed off, looked at all of the younger Genin before him. "The scrolls are protected by some sort of hypnosis booby trap for anyone stupid enough to try and read them. It'll knock you senseless, and by the time you wake up; the exam will already be over."
"Kabuto, right? We met at the registration." Sasuke remembered. "What are you doing wandering around all be yourself?"
"Don't worry. I'm not after your Earth scroll." He assured them.
"I guess not." He nodded. "Because, if you were, you would have just swiped it from Naruto when you had the chance."
"He's not that weak, you know." Sakura defended.
"Dattebayo!" Naruto called with a grin.
"Naruto-kun would have probably wiped the floor with four-eyes. Kabuto is, after all, a veteran in defeat." She said. Sasuke looked rather surprised, both at her defence and the suffix Naruto had been blessed to receive.
"Whatever." He grunted, turning back to Kabuto. "So, are you looking for a Heaven scroll too?"
"Not really." Kabuto smirked. "You see, I already have them both." He continued, pulling out both scrolls and showing them to team seven. Not even two seconds later, the heaven scroll was gone. Naruto was holding it and grinning widely.
"So, you would've grabbed my scroll, just like that, right?" He asked mockingly, proving himself to be stronger than Sasuke thought.
'What the hell?' Sasuke wondered. He saw Sakura shaking her head softly before she took the scroll and threw it back to Kabuto.
"I want to get a scroll fairly." She explained. "Besides, I don't want one with his germs all over it." The girl added with a small laughed.
'What the heck? Since when did Sakura show so much emotion?' The Uchiha thought in shock.
'Damn it! Side affects of losing the Kanjoo Jiyuu suck!' Sakura thought to herself. 'Becoming more emotional is a bad thing for me. Stupid Kekkei Genkai!'
"I had a run of luck in getting them." Kabuto said, placing both back in his hip pouch. "I was just on my way to the tower to wait for my team mates to show up. So, if you'll excuse me." He said, smirking at Naruto and Sakura before turning his back to the three Genin and walking away.
"Hold it!" Sasuke called. The silverette stopped and looked over his shoulder at the boy who spoke. "I'll fight you for it." He challenged.
"Oh boy." Sakura sighed, leaning her head on Naruto's shoulder as he hesitantly placed an arm around her waist. She noticed his pause and took his wrist, pulling his arm around her and letting the hand rest on her hip. "It's okay." She allowed.
"Right." Naruto nodded. "I just wasn't sure." He grinned.
"Well, make sure you get dressed soon." Sakura told him, patting a hand on his bare torso. "I really don't want you to get sick and only lower our chances of passing."
"M'kay!" Naruto agreed. He was happy, mainly because Sakura's hand stayed on his chest. 'I'll ask her later why she's showing so much emotion. I don't want to ruin the mood or whatever.'
"What a lucky break." A Rain-nin, the very one that had planted the explosive tag a few days ago, said as he watched team seven and Kabuto from a distance.
"You'll fight me for it?" Kabuto asked with a smirk, turning to face the overconfident Uchiha. "Are you serious?"
"Perfectly. Sorry, but I don't have time to play nice." He stated bluntly, catching Naruto and Sakura's position out of the corner of his eyes and scowling. 'And I need to blow off some steam.'
"You do realise that this guy practically saved our butts! If it weren't for him I might have opened the scroll later on anyway!" Naruto stated.
"Yeah." Sakura nodded. "We should just let him leave."
"Shut up." Sasuke grunted in her direction, his jealousy getting the better of him.
"Oi! Don't tell her to shut up! You shut up, teme!" The blonde growled in her defence.
"It can't be helped. Here, it's all about surviving and winning. Nothing else matters!" The Uchiha said, lowing himself into a fighting stance.
"Hm…You're lying." Kabuto realised, looking away.
"H-He is?" Naruto asked unsurely.
"Come on. For all your tough-talk, your heart really isn't in it." He continued as Sasuke glared. "If that was true; if winning was all that mattered to you…why openly challenge me to a fight? Why announce it and put me on my guard? Why not just jump me when my back is turned?" He continued, pushing up his glasses. "After all, that's what a ninja would do."
"Hmmm…That's pretty deep." Naruto hummed. Sakura just sighed.
"That's okay." Kabuto assured. "Actually, I admire you for it. So, here's what I'll do; I'll show you the path you should follow. But let's go, we need to get out of here. The smell of the cooking fire is going to draw the attention of every wild beast in this forest." He said, turning his back again. "And not only animals, but the competition too." He added, narrowing his eyes at the Rain-nin in the bush. The aforementioned ninja's eyes widened in shock before he left quickly.
--
Team seven were now following Kabuto through the trees. Naruto had gotten dressed again in his orange trousers and black shirt, but had given his orange jacket to Sakura. The wind was picking up and her own jumper had been mangled by the explosion four days ago.
"You think there're still other candidates out here?" Sasuke asked, pushing off of another branch.
"Oh yeah." Kabuto smirked. "Think about it. What would be the most efficient way of collecting scrolls in an area as large as this? To go searching through the forest for them?"
"Uh, no." Sakura said. Naruto looked at her in confusion, his look clearly saying 'then what have we been doing for the past few days?', to which she shrugged in response.
"Correct. You have to let them come to you." Kabuto explained. "The tower at the centre of the forest is the goal, right? So, on the last day, that area will be filled with other teams trying to get in with both of their scrolls."
"Heh, like an ambush, huh?" Sakura smirked.
"Exactly." He nodded.
"So, we just go to the tower, find a hiding place and wait for a team to come along with a heaven scroll!" Naruto chipped in. "Then it's easy sailing from there!"
"Well, you're smarter than I thought. Though, that's not saying much in your case." Kabuto smirked.
"Teme." The blonde growled back at the insult.
"Anyway, that's just one third of the problem." He carried on. "I mean, come on. You guys aren't going to be the only ones thinking of this; did you really think it would be that easy? Every other team that's lacking a scroll will be lying in wait, just like you."
"So what?" Naruto grinned. "The more the merrier, I say. Whoever they are, we'll take care of them! Huh! Wouldn't want this to be too easy! That wouldn't be any fun! Okay, so we grab someone else's scroll and keep those losers from grabbing ours and bingo; we pass the second exam!"
"That's two thirds of the problem." The silverette cut in again.
"Stop stalling! Why can't you just tell us the whole problem, already! This is a waste of time!" Sakura huffed, annoyed by him always putting down their plan, no matter how simple it was.
"Well, there's bound to be some collectors lurking around the finish line as well. So, even when you think you're home-free, you can't relax your guard for an instant." Kabuto warned. "This kind of exam always separates them out from the other competitors. Collectors are those who gather extra sets of scrolls to get certain advantages."
"You mean like bribing their way out of unexpected situations?" Sakura suggested.
"Or to give other ninja from their village a needed scroll?" Naruto asked in a serious tone. Sasuke looked over to the blonde with wide eyes.
'He's actually adding intelligent input! Naruto's been spending way too much time with Sakura to be thinking like her.' He scowled.
"Both correct. Some also steal them to keep other competitors from rival villages from passing." Kabuto nodded. "Others, of course, use them for their own cowardly purposes. They'll use them to get out of conflicts with stronger teams further down the way. They'll be there alright, and they're bad news."
"So, the closer we get to the tower…" Sakura trailed off.
"The more likely we are to run into them!" Her blonde boyfriend finished off, sighing and running a hand through his hair. "Aww man! This is gonna be such a drag!" He whined.
"Now you sound like Shikamaru." She commented with a slight smirk in his direction.
"I see." Sasuke said, speaking up at last. "And I'm also starting to see why you brought us along with you."
"Hm?" Kabuto hummed.
"You're only just staring to see, teme?" Naruto rolled his eyes. "It's obvious! He just wants bodyguards or distractions so that he can get into the tower relatively unharmed. Duh. It's because he's frightened, right?"
"You bet I am." The older man admitted without a trace of shame in his features. Sakura narrowed her eyes in suspicion, but said nothing about the matter.
--
"There's the tower." Kabuto whispered as the moon illuminated the goal of the test. They had travelled all day and it was now night time. "That means the end is in sight. Here comes the hard part."
"Well, it's about time! Bring it on!" Naruto cheered loudly. Then, he and all the others froze.
"There's someone back there." Sakura muttered as Naruto got out a kunai and threw it into the foliage behind them. It hit a very large centipede, killing it instantly.
"Ha! False alarm; it's just a centipede. Dattebayo!" Naruto told them. He and the others noticed Sakura shiver slightly and pull Naruto's jacket tighter around her shoulders.
"Urgh…I hate bugs." She admitted.
"Hey, Naruto." Kabuto called quietly.
"Hmm?" The blonde replied, collecting his kunai quickly and then landing back in his spot. Sasuke's eyes narrowed at his speed.
'Someone's been training.' He realised. Sasuke then looked to Sakura and he frowned. 'And someone's been training with him.'
"Do us a favour and try to keep it down to a dull roar, will you?" Kabuto requested. "See, the whole idea is not to let anyone know we're here. If you go around, crashing through the forest like an elephant, you're going to draw collectors like flies. We wanna find them before they find us."
"Oh…yeah." Naruto nodded sheepishly. "I see your point."
"Take it slow and quietly." He suggested. "Let's use all the time we've got left."
"Mmhmm." Sakura nodded.
"Okay." Naruto agreed.
"Got it." Sasuke grunted.
--
"That's more like it." Kabuto smirked as he released the invisibility jutsu he had placed on himself. He observed as Sakura moved silently through the long grass, with she had used for cover after realising that Naruto's jacket wasn't seen through the thickness of the weeds. She looked over to the river next to her, where a thick reed was floating along. Under that reed, a certain Uchiha was using it to breathe as he swam along.
Kabuto moved position and activated the jutsu again to observe how Naruto was doing. The blonde was stuck in a few vines, but quickly and silently cut them away from him before joining the others on the ground surrounding Kabuto. The latter pulled out a compass and held it up to the tower, checking the distance, while Sasuke shook out the water from his hair.
"Okay, we're getting closer." The man said, putting the compass away and turning to the others with a nod of his head. They walked forwards on foot this time, to keep the noise down further. However, after a few moments of walking, Kabuto stopped and nodded ahead of them. Pinned to the tree were the dead bodies of at least five ninja squads.
"A trap, huh?" Sasuke realised.
"Yeah, and it only gets worse from here on in." Kabuto sighed, motioning from them to continue. Naruto, however much training he had received, was still Naruto though. He tripped on a wire and dozens of kunai shot out at him, Kabuto noticed this and jumped up, covering the blonde and getting the kunai in his own back instead.
"Kabuto!" Naruto called out. Sakura and Sasuke heard him, so they stopped and turned, seeing their guide on the ground, wounded badly.
"Like I told you." He grunted. "It only gets worse from here on in."
"Move." Sakura ordered, pushing Naruto lightly to the side and tugging all of the weapons out of Kabuto's back before pulling his shirt up to uncover his wounds. "Damage isn't too bad. A few shallow puncture wounds and only one or two deeper cuts."
"Heh, you know how to distinguish just by looking?" Kabuto mused, not showing his pain.
"That's not all I can do." Sakura smirked, holding her palm above one of the worst wounds. "Shosen Jutsu." She muttered as her palm glowed green. It patched up the wound and she moved on to the other one, until only two scars were left. Sakura then ran her hand over the rest of his back until the other wounds pulled together. "It's not perfect, but it'll hold until you can see the medics at the tower."
"You know some medical jutsu, then?" The man asked, standing up and stretching. His back stung a little, but it wasn't as bad.
"Only a bit. I'm no where near as good as my brother. That's the only one I can perform and the wounds you had are going slightly over the limit to what I can heal in less than five minutes. Anything deeper would've taken me a while." She told him. "Now, put your shirt back on."
"Yeah, yeah." Kabuto sighed, pulling his shirt over his head. Though, he was still slightly impressed that she knew medical jutsu at all, since very few people had the chakra control to become a medic-nin.
--
"Damn it." Sakura hissed as she tripped over her own feet. Naruto turned back in time and caught her, concerned.
"Sakura-chan!" He called out. "Are…Are you okay?" The blonde asked, holding her around her back and the backs of her knees.
"Yeah, just a bit worn out." She panted.
"We haven't even travelled that far." Sasuke said, narrowing his eyes at her show of weakness.
"Yeah? You try healing so many wounds and travelling for hours." She shot back.
"Sakura's right. Healing jutsus are draining." Kabuto defended. "Can you go on?" He asked her.
"You know…that tower's not getting any closer." She noticed.
"Yeah, I noticed that too." Naruto whispered back. "It's weird."
"No…It's a genjutsu." Sakura growled, standing up.
"It would seem we've been spotted. Somebody is playing games with us; making us walk in circles." The guide said with narrowing eyes. "Look; ring any bells?" He asked, pointing behind Naruto.
"What? No! It can be!" He yelled out, looking at the giant centipede he had nailed to the tree with a kunai hours ago. "Hey! What's the big idea?!"
"Looks like you were right, Sakura. It's a genjutsu." Kabuto sighed, but his smirk let everyone know he was looking forwards to the upcoming fight.
"I can't believe we fall for it so easily." Sasuke muttered.
"I can." The girl rolled her eyes.
"We were so concerned about not being seen by anyone, that we didn't see we were walking around in circles." He continued. "It's their game."
"Their game? What do you mean by that?" Sakura asked, her eyebrows rising in question.
"They're trying to wear us down." Kabuto explained. "They'll strike when we're frustrated and physically exhausted."
"You mean like we are right now?" Sasuke enquired in an annoyed tone of voice.
"Right. They'll be coming soon." The silverette said, pushing up his glasses again. Team seven and Kabuto heard noises in the forest as hundreds of ninja pulled themselves into the open. They came from trees, bushes, the ground; everywhere. All had bandages over their eyes and an Amegakure Hatei-ate on their foreheads.
"Well, Naruto…you wanted a fight." Sasuke joked with a wide smirk.
"Hmm, four against forty…I like those odds." The blonde grinned as the enemy came closer and closer.
Clone Verses Clone; Mine Are Better Than Yours
"Clones, right?" Sakura asked, pulling out a kunai.
"From the look of it, I'd say you're right." Kabuto nodded. "And a whole lot of them." He added, looking around. One of the clones began to chuckle.
"Like cornered rats." It laughed, getting Naruto to yell out.
"Oh yeah?!" The blonde shouted at a random clone. "Cornered rats, are we?" He asked, charging and punching the closest body.
'Wait…don't clones vanish after getting a direct hit?' Sakura thought with a frown as Naruto continued to push the clone further back with his clenched fist. "Naruto!" She called. It was too late, since the clone didn't vanish into smoke. Instead, the part where Naruto had landed his hit broke up into a black liquid, causing the blonde to fall through with some of the stuff the clone was made from left on his knuckles. Kabuto turned to look and the four ninja watched the clone melt.
'What are they?' Sasuke asked himself. He saw the area Naruto punched begin to rise, forming the head and shoulders of another Nin. A hand rose up, holding a double-sided kunai.
"I-I just touched it and it turned to mush." Naruto realised. "What's going on here?"
'There's only one way to see what's really going on.' Sasuke noticed, closing his eyes. 'Sharingan!' He thought as he activated his bloodline trait. The clone with the kunai slashed at the melting body and turned, twisting towards Naruto quickly to cut him up.
"Naruto!" Sakura called, throwing her kunai at the clone.
"Watch out!" Sasuke added, throwing three shuriken to go with Sakura's kunai. The weapons hit their marks and the arm was taken apart, but soon reformed and turned to face Sasuke and Sakura. It threw a double-sided kunai at the pinkette.
"Dammit!" Sakura yelled, jumping out of the way. She landed at the base of a tree-trunk, her head pounding. "Oh, not now!"
'YES, NOW!' Many voice screamed out at once.
"Sakura-chan!" Naruto called, seeing her eyes go blank. Sasuke grunted and watched through Sharingan eyes as Naruto stand up and move in front of her for protection.
'What's wrong with her?' He wondered.
Sakura's Mind
Sakura's eyes fluttered open to a world of nothingness. All around her was white. She looked down and saw that she was standing on crystal clear water. To her right were mirror images of herself, all with different eye colours, and to her left were three more images of her; one had very long hair, the other had very short hair and the third had was a negative image of herself, all black surrounded by white.
"WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?!" The girl with red eyes fumed.
"Calm down, Rage-san. I am sure that there is a logical explanation for this." The girl with brown eyes—Intelligence—soothed. "Now, Sakura-san, please explain why you-"
"Completely disregarded what being a Haruno is all about!" Anger—who had purple eyes—asked snappily.
"I did what now?" Sakura asked, raising a brow.
"BONDS! Does this word mean ANYTHING to you?!" Rage asked sweetly while her left eye gained a twitch. "YOU CAN'T JUST-!"
"SOMEONE SHUT HER UP!" Anger screamed loudly. Inner Sakura sighed and muttered under her breath. Rage, still screaming, burst into hundreds of red butterflies and flew into Inner Sakura's body.
"That was sooooo amazing!" Happy—with her bright orange eyes—giggled as she clapped her hands. "Do it again!"
"We summoned Sakura-sama here for a reason, Happy-san." Emotionless stated, blinking her grey eyes.
"A-As R-Rage-chan s-st-sta-stated, y-you're b-bonds h-ha-have caused a b-bit of a pro-prob-blem." Shy muttered, pressing her fingers together.
"Your point?" Sakura huffed.
"Our point is this," Yin began, frowning, "your bonds have weakened your mental strength. You think too much about protecting people and not enough about yourself."
"This means that you're going against traditional Haruno law." Yang added in with a scoff. "Any Haruno with the bloodline limit is automatically supposed to be selfish."
"If not, we could all suffer a horrible fate." Depression sighed. "I knew this was going to happen."
"Puh-lease!" Pride tutted. "We're not going to die! This just means that Sakura-chan is going to be more emotional."
"Like that show with Naruto-kun earlier!" The peach-eyed girl known as Desire grinned. "You go girl! That boy-toy can kiss!"
"Naruto-kun is not a toy!" Love defended, her pink eyes shining. "He is the sun to our moon!"
"I'm not sure we should be talking like this." Fear gulped. "What if someone hears us?"
"Yeah right! Not just anyone is good enough to be in here! Only we can be in here." Vain smirked.
"Why don't I have turquoise eyes like Vain?" Envy mumbled. Vain sighed.
"I heard that, Envy-chan!" Vain stated. "And it's just a fact that your eyes are dark green!"
"Please, can we keep this conversation purely professional?" Intelligence asked, crossing her arms. "The fact of the matter is, Sakura-sama has used the Kanjoo Jiyuu for purely selfless purposes and while her emotional mentality was imbalanced, thus resulting in a break down of her Kekkei Genkai."
"…In Japanese, now?" Hate sneered scornfully. "We can't understand any of that fancy mumbo-jumbo, baka! I hate it when you talk like that!"
"Hehe!" Happy giggled. "Hate hates something." She grinned widely.
"What Intelligence was trying to say is that Sakura-sama has used her Kanjoo Jiyuu to help others too much, while she was unsure about how she was emotionally. This caused her bloodline to break down into nothing, since the Haruno way is to be selfish."
"Hello? Can I say something?" Sakura asked with a frown. Everyone turned their attention to her and she sighed. "What if I don't want to be selfish anymore? What if I've decided that my love for Naruto-kun is more important that any stupid bloodline? What if I think that my friendships with Hinata-chan and Sasuke-san are both far more important that being able to fight with my emotions? Literally." She finished.
"That was beautiful!" Love cheered.
"It still doesn't change anything." Emotionless cut in. "This only means that Sakura-sama will never have her bloodline ever again."
"There is a Loophole." Intelligence smiled, placing a finger to her lip.
"What?" Pride enquired.
"A loophole: a weakness or exception that allows a system, such as a law or security, to be circumvented or otherwise avoided." She explained. "Or, in this case, for a Kekkei Genkai to be kept."
"Do tell." Vain grinned sinisterly.
"Well, if we merge with Sakura-sama, she'll be able to call on us whenever she wants, just like before. However, the only way we'll be able to appear is to project through her body; that means that she can only use one of us at a time, so the technique will be severely weakened." She told them.
"What's the catch?" Sakura asked.
"Well, this also means that you're emotions will be haywire until you learn to control them. When the Kekkei Genkai is at full power, your Inner is able to contain us for you. At zero power, like now, you have poor control, but are able to resist, to an extent, everything that isn't an extremely strong emotional urge. When you merge with us and go to half-power, you'll be controlled by emotional urges until you can control them." She sighed heavily. "It's risky, but doable."
"Well then…let's merge. What could go wrong?" Sakura asked.
"Everything's going wrong!" Kabuto called out. "We've got no choice but to hold our ground, fend off their attacks and hope that Sakura-san will wake up soon to help us out."
"Nnnn." Sakura groaned, her eyes opening slightly. "What happened?"
"Sakura-chan! You're back!" Naruto grinned, hugging her.
"Yeah, Naruto-kun. Where did I go?" She asked.
"You were out of it for a long time." Sasuke told her. "You okay?"
"Wha-? Oh, um, yeah…sure." Sakura muttered, rubbing her head. "Why are we surrounded by ugly copy-cats?"
"Our scroll, probably." Naruto growled.
"We need to—ARGH!" Kabuto yelled out when he was struck in the face and sent to the ground in pain.
"Kabuto!" Naruto and Sakura yelled out. The clones advanced on Kabuto until he looked them in the eye. His sclera began to redden and the clones backed off. Naruto then sprung forwards and kicked all clones away from him while Sakura checked his injuries. All of the clones disappeared, leaving the originals unconscious on the ground.
"Heh, like you said; never give your enemy an opening." He quoted.
'One of them must have said that while I was unconscious.' Sakura realised, seeing that Kabuto's only noticeable wound was one clean cut across the bridge of his nose, similar to Iruka's scar and his glasses had been knocked from his face.
"Thank you, Naruto." Kabuto smiled with a hefty sigh. "You really saved my neck."
"Nice one, Naruto-kun!" Sakura laughed, running up to him and hugging him around his neck. Naruto looked shocked.
"I…It was n-nothing." Naruto stuttered with a blush.
"You don't have to be bashful." She whispered. "You are my boyfriend."
--
Naruto finished tying up the Rain-nin, all of the others watching him; Sakura had offered to help, but the blonde told her that it would be easy to do and that she could relax. Kabuto's eyes, now covered once again with his glasses, travelled down to Sasuke's neck, where he saw the curse seal.
"That mark…what is that?" Kabuto asked. "Is it a bruise?" He continued, noticing how Sasuke moved his hand to cover it.
"It's nothing." He defended. Naruto, who had moved on to searching the ninja, grinned and jumped up with a cheer.
"Hey, guys! Here it is! Just what we needed!" He told them loudly, holding up his prize. "A Heaven Scroll!"
"Good for you!" Kabuto smiled.
"YEAH!" Sakura laughed, jumping up and doing a back flip. Sasuke smirked slightly, but his eyes soon landed on Kabuto and he glared.
'There something not right about that guy.' He realised.
--
Kabuto and team seven reached the tower soon after their find. Naruto was supporting his weakened girlfriend, leaving Sasuke to hobble along behind them in—surprisingly—acceptance of the fact Sakura would never choose him over Naruto. They turned when they heard the bushed behind them rustling and watched Kabuto's team mates appear.
"There you are, Kabuto." One said. "You're late."
"Sorry about that." Kabuto apologised. "I got a little sidetracked."
"Yeah, and are we glad you did!" Naruto laughed.
"I hate to admit it, but it was thanks to you that we got our Heaven scroll." Sakura nodded.
"Not really. You did most of it on your own." The silverette smiled. "Mainly you, Naruto. Very impressive."
"Well, this is where we say goodbye." Sakura stated.
"Indeed. Bye." Kabuto waved, turning to a door. Team seven turned to the one next to it and Naruto and Sakura each grabbed a handle. They pushed the doors open, breaking a seal on the door as they did, and stepped slowly inside.
--
"Good harvest?" A male's voice questioned when Kabuto and his team stepped into their room.
"Excellent, actually." Kabuto smirked. "I got all the data and recorded it on this." He said, holding out a card. "You want it?"
"Of course." The man said softly as Kabuto held out the card. "So, tell me; what did you think?" He asked, taking the information.
"Aha." Kabuto chuckled. "Your curiosity is truly insatiable…Lord Orochimaru."
"Well, as a Sound Village spy, you see things others don't." Orochimaru stated, looking over the card. "Your opinion…is of interest to me."
"Oh, it doesn't really matter." Kabuto said. "Whatever I think, you're the one who decides. Isn't that always the way?"
"You're a good worker, aren't you, Kabuto? I like that." He chuckled as smoke surrounded him. "Good work." He said as the smoke cleared, showing no signs of him ever being there to begin with.
--
"What's the deal?" Naruto asked once he and the others were in the centre of the room. "There's no one here. I don't get it…what happens now?"
"Look at that." Sakura said, gesturing to the words written on a piece of paper hung on the wall.
"Huh?" Naruto hummed, reading the text. "If qualities of Heaven are your desire, acquire wisdom to take your mind higher." He read.
"If Earthly qualities are what you lack, train your body and prepare to attack." Sakura continued.
"When Heaven and Earth are open together, the perilous path will become righteous forever." Naruto said, still reading the words above him. Sasuke didn't read it, but instead chose to look between the two as they recited it.
"This…something…is the secret way, which guides us from this place today." The Haruno girl concluded.
"This 'what'? Or is that a secret too?" Naruto huffed. "It's like there's a word missing or something."
"It's about the scrolls." Sakura explained. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking, Naruto-kun?"
"I think I am." Naruto grinned. "We're supposed to open the Heaven and Earth scrolls now." He stated. Naruto brought them both out of his pocket and offered on to Sakura, but she threw it at Sasuke. The boys got ready to open the scrolls, but hesitated.
"GET IT OVER WITH!" Sakura yelled after two minutes of gulping. She breathed heavily for a moment before composing herself. 'I guess this is when I get more emotional…great.'
"Okay." Naruto nodded. "Here goes nothing."
They flicked the scrolls open.