The Eye of the Beholder
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"Talking"
'Thinking'
Flashbacks and Notes
Demons and Higher beings
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
Chapter 12: Attempt at Corruption
Sakura woke up to the sounds of rustling. It tooke her a bit to get her bearings but after a bit her eyes widened. 'Why was I asleep? At least I was able to wake up before anyone found us,' she thought as she looked around. The kunoichi then noticed a squirrel moving forward, she suddenly threw a kunai and scared the squirrel away. She let out a sigh of relief, 'The squirrel almost set off one of my traps.'
Three shinobi were watching, wondering why she did that.
Several meters away Lee was looking around when he saw a bunch of leaves falling. With flames in his eyes he said to himself, "If I catch all twenty leaves before they hit the ground, Sakura-san will fall in love with me." And with that Lee jumped down and started catching the leaves, until it was down to one. Just as he was about to catch the final leaf, he saw a spark out of the side of his eyes. What he saw was a squirrel with sparks on its back writhing in pain from the heat. Lee simply ran over and removed and crushed the exploding tag that was on the squirrel's back. "Who would do such a cruel thing?" he asked to no one in particular.
Sakura was keeping a look out for any enemies. She turned around to see if her team mates were rousing from their sleep.
"Not sleeping, and being distracted for but a moment, that can cost you dearly," said a voice behind her.
The three Oto shinobi were standing several meters away from her.
Sakura just smirked as she turned around and said, "Only if I weren't well rested prior to your arrival. Now my team and I don't need any trouble."
"You won't get any if you comply," the bandaged one said.
"Before anything else, I need to know what to call you," Sakura told them.
"Dosu," the bandaged one said.
"Kin," the female replied.
"Zaku," the spikey-haired one told her.
"Fine then," Sakura replied as she walked out of the stump and over to them. "Although you seem to have the number advantage, I've been situated in this area for quite a few hours, so that gives me the tactical advantage. Now that we are currently established as being at an impasse, what do you want, other than a scroll?"
"We are here to take the life of one Uchiha Sasuke, and don't get in our way if you want to live," Zaku told her with serious confidence.
"Apparently you don't understand the concept of an impasse, that means we are currently at a stalemate, neither of us can make a move," Sakura told Zaku with a smirk.
"Zaku, don't underestimate your opponent, she's been here for hours, meaning she probably has quite a few traps set to go off at the flick of her wrist," Dosu said to his team mate.
Sakura pulled a kunai out and tossed it in one direction.
The results were instantaneous as several kunai and shuriken came from where she threw hers and across their vision and embedded themselves into a nearby tree.
"There's enough traps set here to give even a sannin a hard time," Sakura explained to them, she knew this was no exaggeration as she had Jiraiya personally test out how well she could place each trap and how many the sennin could handle. "Now I don't mind giving up a scroll, but any of my team mates are another story altogether. I'll try to negotiate this peacefully, but if you push, so help me I won't pull my punches."
Dosu examined the kunoichi to see if she was bluffing, she didn't seem like the fighter type, but then again despite her appearance she certainly surprised them when she demonstrated her physical capabilities to the Suna genin.
"How many of what scroll does your team carry?" Dosu asked carefully, trying to judge them properly.
"Two ten and one chi, we started out with a ten scroll," Sakura replied with a shrug.
"Kin, Zaku, this might be risking more than we can wager," Dosu told his team.
"I know what you mean, they were able to get two scrolls and not lose their own while still keeping everyone on their team alive," Kin thought aloud. "We might just be taking more than we can handle."
Dosu turned to Sakura and asked, "How much of assistance were you as far as obtaining the scrolls?"
"I only helped with one of them alongside Sasuke-kun while Naruto took out the full team for the other," Sakura replied to them.
"This increases our possibility of winning a bit, but we still don't know her level of strength," Dosu told them as he thought about this. "The question is, do we proceed or is the risk too high? I myself want to take care of Orochimaru-sama's mission as soon as possible so we can get back to the exam."
Kin stated her opinion, "I don't think doing this makes a difference if we get another shot later in the exam so I vote no."
"Let's do it now and get rid of them sooner," Zaku told him.
"I'm out voted, let's just get this over with," Kin said as everyone face toward Sakura.
Sakura saw them coming and the first thing se did was throw a kunai in their direction.
The three dodged, only to hear something snap. The Oto shinobi turned to find several kunai flying toward them at once.
"If that's the best you have, you better give up now," Dosu said to Sakura.
"Not even close," Sakura replied as she threw a shuriken in an upward slant behind her.
The results were a few logs attacking in random directions.
Kin was dodging as much as she could.
Zaku tried to blast a one, only for another to nearly hit him, so he started dodging as well.
Dosu punched one and made it erupt into splinters. The problem with this, however, is that he only has one gauntlet, so he would have quite a bit of difficulty doing things one at a time.
And throughout this entire situation, Sakura had not been injured once.
"Dammit, does she have absolutely no regard for her own safety?" Zaku said as the logs started to calm down.
"Either that, or she knows some very good dodging methods," Dosu said with a intrigued look.
"Do you concede?" Sakura asked with a smirk.
"Damn her, taking us lightly," Zaku said as he held is hands out and pointed them in the direction of the logs. "Zankuha," he said as a blast of air pressure was shot out of his hands.
"Such a heavy attack with such a lack of control, tsk tsk," Sakura mocked him. "Why exactly were you nominated for this exam again?"
"Why you..." Zaku said as he was about to attack again when Dosu held his hand in front of him.
"Don't, she's just egging you on," Dosu told him. "It's psychological warfare, she knows which buttons to push with you, mostly because you make those hits obvious. We need to proceed calmly if we want to succeed."
Zaku nodded and took a deep breath.
"Though I'm seriously wondering how many traps she set up," Kin thought aloud. "Is she really that confident in her abilities to dodge? And if so, how could she properly protect her team from where the trap attack? Especially if some of them attack from a random direction."
"Meaning, there's probably a safe zone specified, chances are it's where her team mates are lying, meaning if we get to the safe zone and kill Sasuke, we win," Dosu concluded with a few thoughts of his own.
"There's one other thing you have to take into consideration," Kin spoke again. "She hasn't fought us directly, using only traps that could kill her if she isn't careful, and we've seen that she's capable of defending herself, so she's probably trying to wear us down. Besides, I doubt she's gonna just let us attack her team, which is the main reason for the traps, so lets tred carefully."
Dosu and Zaku nodded as they started to run for her.
Sakura smirked again and threw a shuriken in another random direction, causing yet another trap to spring up.
Zaku and Dosu were prepared as Zaku put his hands up and blasted more air pressure at the incoming projectiles.
Sakura responded by picking up a falled kunai and throwing it to her right in an upward slant.
After a few seconds, Zaku and Dosu just looked at Sakura while Kin just smirked.
Kin held up the kunai Sakura threw, "I'm pretty sure your trap won't work."
Sakura just smirked as she said, "And I'm pretty sure that the wire to the trap I set off was cut before it even left my hand. Full heads up, watch out for falling rocks."
The three Oto genin looked up only to see several boulders falling down.
"Scatter," Dosu ordered as he himself moved around to be sure that he didn't get crushed. His gauntlet may be able to render one boulder to pebbles, but not as many as what was falling all at once.
As the falling rocks subsided, the three Oto genin were serious starting to wonder whether this task was worth the situation they were in. They were sweating heavily, none of them got through all of these traps unscathed, and, finally, Sakura herself didn't seem winded at all. How the hell did she keep dodging everything that she let loose, she should have been just as affected as them. She was standing on one of the fallen rocks.
Dosu decided to check one thing before jumping to conclusions, so he threw a kunai directly at her.
Sakura just caught said kunai and threw it back at him with a reply, "I'm not a bunshin."
"The eliminates one theory," Dosu said to himself. "Now I'm wondering how the hell she set up all these traps by herself, and where did she get all of those boulders?"
"Dosu, is this worth it?" Kin asked the team leader. "She's gone through trap after trap and come out completely unscathed while we're sweating up a storm, do you really think we have a chance, especially if she has more traps than that?"
"She's right, Dosu," Zaku admitted to him. "I think it's best if we just cut our losses here and get a scroll to get to the tower, or better yet, ask for the one she has."
Dosu just sighed and said, "Very well."
Kin handed her kunai pouch and shuriken holster to her team mates and said, "I'm the only one of the three that hasn't actively attacked, simply tried to defend, she'll be wary with you two, especially with your melody arm and you wind attacks."
The other two nodded as she walked toward Sakura, showing that she wasn't armed.
Sakura herself was on guard incase she tried something.
"You mentioned that you have two ten scrolls," Kin said to her.
"Ah," Sakura replied.
"May we have one of them? You don't need more than one pair of scrolls to pass," Kin told her.
Sakura just shrugged and pulled out the ten scroll that she had. "Take this with the promise that you'll leave us alone for the remaining duration of this portion of the exam," Sakura told her as she tossed the scroll. "And watch where you step, there are still quite a few more traps around, and I don't want a death on my conscience this early in my shinobi life."
Kin nodded as she caught the scroll and looked around carefully for some form inconsistencies. She avoided all the traps and made it back to her team.
"Let's get to the tower," Dosu said as he handed Kin back her equipment and received the scroll.
The two nodded as they jumped off.
"YOSH, SAKURA-SAN, YOU ARE SO GENEROUS!" Lee shouted as he jumped into view.
"Lee-san, how long were you watching?" Sakura asked, not really caring whether he intervened or not.
"Since you first started setting off your traps, the way you moved was so magnificent," Lee stated with serious enthusiasm.
"What do you mean?" Sakura asked, curious about what he was talking about.
"You moved so fast, it was as if the objects were passing right through you," Lee said in such excitement. "I must gain that kind of speed and grace as well."
"Baka, she wasn't moving very much at all," a voice said from on top of the stump that Naruto and Sasuke were in. "The reason it looked like the objects were passing through her, and vice versa is because that's exactly what was happening."
"Neji, my rival, why are you here? Oh, Tenten is here as well," Lee said to the Hyuuga.
"You were late to the meeting point so I decided to see what you were up to, thinking you might need my help, though it seems that wasn't the case," Neji said with an annoyed looked. He then started to feel something else, something dark, something cold, regardless of what it was, it was certainly powerful. He activated his byakugan and searched for the source. It surprised him, to say the least, that the source of this power was coming from beneath his feet. He deactivated his byakugan and jumped down from the stump. He looked at Sasuke and wondered how chakra could feel so corrupted, yet at the same time the corruption seemed to be under control somewhat.
Sasuke started to stand up as he awoke, feeling odd, powerful, but also feeling like strange. He didn't know how to describe it, the power felt good, but at the same time it also felt like it was trying to take over while another part seemed to be trying to keep the first part subdued. Throughout this entire situation, something was saying, 'Come to me, and seek the power you need.' However another part was saying, 'Don't listen, his power will only corrupt, everything has a price, and under most circumstances, the easy way has a price that is far too high to be worth it.'
Now had Sasuke been the same person he was around three months ago he would have jumped at the chance, but he knew that the circumstances were far too convenient so he decided to see if he could help subdue the chakra that was trying to corrupt him.
'Very good, at least you understand the concept of earning the power you seek,' the second voice told Sasuke as they both worked to keep the problem under control.
It was at this point that Naruto woke up with a light headache and an odd smell that was going through his senses. 'What's with this smell? It makes me think of a more feral Kiba,' he thought to himself as he stretched a bit. He certainly felt a tad more tired at the moment than he usually did when he woke up, but he didn't really think about it as he opened his eyes. What he saw was a tad odd in that he was seeing the forest in black and white. But what really surprised him was that he was seeing were lines moving through everything. In front of him was a high source of energy that he couldn't quite place at the moment and to his right was an even higher amount of energy, as he saw three forms of said energy battling it out in one body, and it appeared that two of the energies were overtaking another, which felt like it had some kind corruption within it. Naruto tried to make out more details, and that was when he realized that the body that was battling the corruption was Sasuke. 'If that's the case, then who's standin near us?' He thought to himself as he looked forward to see Neji. "Oh, hi Neji, is there any reason as to why you're here at the moment?" Naruto asked, snapping the Hyuuga out of his trance.
"Actually, I came here with the intent to find out what my team mate was up to, and I ended up finding something else that interested me," Neji admitted as he turned to Naruto.
"Sorry, Neji, you're not my type," Naruto commented to the Hyuuga genius. "Probably not Sasuke's as well."
The two heard a chuckle, much to Neji's annoyance.
They turned to see Neji's final team mate laughing at the Hyuuga's expense.
Naruto just jumped up and asked the female with two buns in her hair, "I don't think I've had the pleasure, I already knew about Neji from the previous year and the fact that Hinata mentions him occasionally and Lee introduced himself to the team prior to the exam even starting. Now what exactly is the name of the lovely kunoichi to which I am speaking?"
Tenten blushed a bit, not used to being complimented, but it felt good for her to be noticed as such, "Hayase Tenten, and you?"
"Uzumaki Naruto, future Hokage," Naruto told her.
"That's all fine, but if it's not too much trouble, may I ask you a personal question?" Tenten asked seriously.
"Well you've already asked me one question, so go ahead," Naruto replied smartly.
"Okay then, what's up with your eyes? I could have sworn they were blue when I first saw you," Tenten admitted to Naruto.
The blonde genin gave her a confused look and he asked, "What are you talking about?"
"You mean you don't know?" she replied.
"Sakura-chan, is there anything different about my eyes?" Naruto asked the female in his team.
Sakura walked over and looked at them, "There is, I'm not even sure what's with them. I certainly can't describe them."
"Does anyone have a mirror, or anything that can work as such?" Naruto asked to everyone in the immediate area.
Lee reached into his kunai pouch and pulled out a pocket mirror.
"Why do you have a mirror?" Naruto asked curiously.
"Because Gai-sensei has one and he uses it to peek around corners in narrow areas so he isn't taken by surprise or so he can take someone else by surprise," Tenten explained.
"That's actually a good reason," Naruto said as Lee handed him the mirror.
Naruto looked into the eyes and thought to himself, 'Violet in a ripple formation, I think I've heard of this, but I'm not sure where and I can't even think about what it's called. I'll have to ask Ero-sennin or Kaitou-ji later. It's probably the best idea if I cover these eyes up.' He handed the mirror back to Lee as he said, "I honestly have no clue as to why my eyes are like this. Sorry that I couldn't answer all of your questions." Naruto then reached into his one of his pockets and pulled out a scroll. He opened said scroll, bit his thumb and swiped some of his blood on the seal inside the scroll. A pair of goggles like the ones Konohamaru and his friends wore. He pulled the goggles on.
"I wondered where those went to," Sakura thought aloud.
'Have I seen those before?' Neji thought as he looked at the goggles that Naruto was currently wearing.
"Well I couldn't very well throw them away, they were a birthday gift, one of the few that I actually received," Naruto replied with said goggles now covering his eyes. Naruto saw that Neji was giving him a questioning look and said, "Oi, I know I'm good looking, but I said earlier that you're not my type."
Neji just let that one slide as he said, "Gomen, it's just I've got this wierd feeling that I've seen those goggle somewhere before."
Naruto just shrugged, "You might have, you might not have, then again I don't see you could have given that the only Hyuuga that I had any interaction with when I even wore these prior to today was Hinata."
That's when the bells started ringing in his head, "Uzumaki-san, is your birthday in mid-autumn?"
"Yep, it's October 10," Naruto replied without thought or care. Quite a few adults knew when he was born, so why not a few people around his age.
'I thought so, but the only one that can fully confirm this is the next person I have to ask,' Neji thought to himself. The young genius didn't really care about who the person he was thinking about had a relationship with, he just wanted to satisfy his own curiosity. Besides, her nature would certainly provide interesting entertainment for this situation.
"Anyway, we should probably head to the tower," Sakura said to her team.
"You mean we have a chi scroll?" Naruto asked curiously.
Sakura pulled out the scroll she stole from Orochimaru.
"According to my knowledge, I managed to get one scroll from an Ame team, to which I'm still wondering why they attacked me so fiercely, it's not like I pissed on them when they attacked me," Naruto thought aloud.
Neji, Tenten and Lee all looked at Naruto wondering if they even wanted to know what he was talking about.
"Actually, a bit of tactics here and there worked to our advantage," Sakura explained to Naruto.
"YOU MEAN YOU ACTUALLY GOT THE BASTARD'S SCROLL!" Naruto yelled.
"Geez, Naruto, were you loud enough?" Sasuke said as he finally stood up.
"Ah, Sasuke-san, it's good to see you up and about," Lee said to him in a polite manner.
"And it's good to be up," Sasuke replied. The Uchiha looked around and saw something out of place, "Naruto, why are you wearing your goggles?"
"I'm hiding my eyes, something is up with them, and I need to keep them out of view," Naruto replied to him.
Sasuke just shrugged as he walked over to the group.
Naruto just thought of something, he spoke his thoughts, "Have you three already gotten both scrolls?"
Lee pulled out one chi scroll, Neji a ten scroll and Tenten just remained unmoving.
"If that's the case, how about a team up?" Naruto offered team Gai. "Sasuke is in an unstable predicament, I don't think he'll be able to use his sharingan without risks at the moment, Sakura-chan is better with tactics and traps as demonstrated with the condition of the field and I have no clue as to what's up with my eyes, so I can't fight against anyone without risking my team," Naruto explained.
"I don't mind," Tenten said.
"It doesn't make a difference to me," was Neji's response.
"Assisting a fellow Konoha shinobi will show my true 'FIRE OF YOUTH'," Lee said with serious enthusiasm.
Everyone else just looked at Lee with a sweat drop.
Naruto just patted Neji and Tenten on the shoulder, "You have my condolences. If you want I can teach you two something that can take your place, although there is a downside."
"Keep the offer open, I might accept," Neji replied.
"Same here," Tenten answered.
"Enough chatting, let's get going," Sakura told them.
They all nodded as they started off.
Neji had his byakugan active to keep from falling into any ambushes.
Tenten kept her hands close to her weapons pouches.
Lee didn't really need to do anything, just kept himself alert.
The trip to the tower was uneventful as Team 7 and Team Gai stayed on alert. Neji's byakugan kept them from falling into a genjutsu place by the Ame shinobi that Naruto beat earlier. Both teams didn't even have to try to avoid that area.
They reached the tower within three hours, none of them seemed to be breathing heavily.
Naruto just thought of something and said, "Hey, Lee-san, how far can you run into a forest until you're not running into it anymore?"
Lee just thought for a bit and said, "That's a good question, Naruto-san. Tenten, do you think you can answer?"
Tenten put her hand on her chin for a bit but then said, "I can't say that I can. Neji?"
"Hmmm," Neji said as he closed his eyes for a bit. He then looked at the tower and the answer just hit him. "Half-way, because the moment you reach half-way into the forest you are no longer running in, you're running out."
"I guess that's why you're known as the Hyuuga prodigy," Naruto commented.
"Why exactly did you ask that?" Tenten asked curiously.
"I didn't really have a reason, I was just reminded of it when we reached the tower, which is in the center of the forest, exactly half-way no matter which direction you move in from given the forest is circular," Naruto replied without care. "I think it was oyaji that asked me that riddle first."
"Who?" Tenten asked.
Naruto looked at her for a bit until he realized that this team doesn't spend nearly as much time with him so of course they wouldn't know who he was referring to. Naruto just scratched the back of his head and said, "Gomen, the way you were helping made me forget you don't hang around me, the one I refer to as oyaji is the Hokage."
Neji raised an eyebrow as he said, "How is this fair? I can't even backtalk one of the main house members and you refer to the Hokage as oyaji?"
"Sometimes living a hard life has its perks, like not having to worry what anyone thinks about the nicknames I give them," was all Naruto replied with.
This got Neji wondering what Naruto was talking about.
"Anyway, let's get inside, I'm sure there will be some sort of surprise," Naruto said as he opened the door to the tower.
As they walked in they saw a scroll hanging on the wall.
Sakura started to recite what was on the scroll, "'If you do not possess heaven, gain knowledge and be prepared. If you do not possess earth, run through the fields and seek strength. If you open both heaven and earth scrolls, dangerous paths turn into safe ones. This is the secret of what what. It shall lead you on your way.'"
Naruto just shrugged and said, "I guess that this is our approval to open both scrolls. Which of you has the chi scroll?"
Sasuke pulled out said scroll as Naruto pulled out was seemed like a normal scroll. What Naruto did next surprised team Gai as he opened the scroll to reveal a seal, to which he bit his thumb, causing some blood to form. Naruto then swiped his blood on the seal and a ten scroll appeared in a puff of smoke.
Neji just commented as he pulled out his scroll, "You certainly came up with an ingenious method of keeping the scroll safe."
Naruto just opened the ten scroll as Sasuke opened the chi scroll, team Gai did the same.
The scrolls had the writing for man.
"Hmm, a summoning scroll," Naruto said as he set it down. Naruto indicated for Sasuke to do the same, to which the Uchiha did so with the scroll on top of Naruto's.
Team Gai followed their example.
Smoke started coming out of the scrolls and in a poof, two people were standing in front of the two teams. One of them was the familiar tan and scarred chuunin, Iruka. Another was someone with a sickly complection and his hitae-ate on a bandanna that was wrapped around his head, he was wearing the standard jounin attire with a katana strapped to his back.
"Konnichiwa, Iruka-sensei," Naruto said to the chuunin. He looked at the other one and said, "Ano, I can't say I know your name, but I do recognize you from around."
The sickly man nodded and said, "Ah, my name is Gekkou Hayate. Initially I was suppose to," he started coughing a bit interrupting what he was saying. "Gomen, as I was saying, I was was going to be the proctor for the next portion of the exam, but due to circumstances and potential conflicts of interest, another has been set in my place, I'm actually a tokubetsu jounin. This is actually a first, where two teams arrive at the tower in the same instance."
"We decided to help them out, given some special circumstances with them which intrigued me, and Lee just likes being the good samaritan," Neji responded with a nonchalant tone.
"Well, you're lucky that there was another person available, otherwise I probably would have been split in half," Iruka told them.
"I'm pretty sure that summoning works differently than how you just explained, Iruka-sensei, Ero-sennin pretty much explained that not one summoning object can appear in two places at once, so therefore another on of equal standing will act as a replacement for one of them," Naruto explained to him. "When he told me that, I think he was talking about general body mass."
"Hmmm, that explanation actually does hold logic to it," Iruka commented. "Anyway, congrats to both teams for passing this portion of the exam."
"I take it the scrolls, including the one hanging on the wall, indicate the physical and mental aspects of being a shinobi, that probably means that the mystery area is the Chuunin Exam," Naruto spoke his thoughts to them.
"Very good," Iruka commended Naruto for his insight. "'If you do not possess heaven, gain knowledge and be prepared' represents the mental aspect. 'If you do not possess earth, run through the fields and seek strength' represents the physical aspect. This is the secret of the Chuunin Exam."
"Knowledge is power, but it's how you use that power that determines your worth and standing in this world," Hayate said to them.
"I couldn't have said it better myself," Iruka stated.
With that, both the jounin and chuunin poofed away, leaving the genins to their own devices.
Naruto looked to his team and to team Gai and asked, "What do you suppose we should do now? Since we're early, I guess that means we have time to rest before the nect portion."
"Naruto-kun, may I ask you one question?" Lee asked the blond.
"You just did, but go ahead," Naruto told the genin with thick eyebrows.
"Right, anyway, how did you beat that first team of Ame genin?" Lee asked, curious about Naruto's methods.
"Let's go farther in while I explain," Naruto told him as he started walking to the door.
Lee nodded as Naruto started to explaine his reasoning.
"Prior to meeting any of the teams, I examined the scroll thoroughly, and made three kage bunshin, those three henged into one ten scroll each, which each of us placed in our weapons pouch while I sealed the original," Naruto started his explanation.
Lee pulled out a pad and pencil and started taking notes.
"What happened next was the Ame genin took me by surprise, they caught me while I was pissing, and as they got closer they just started to attack with extreme brutality, after they tied me up, they pulled my bunshin out of my pouch and the surprise got them, I was freed by said bunshin and they got their asses handed to them," Naruto finished his explanation.
"How clever of you, Naruto-kun," Lee commented as he finished taking notes.
"They may have outnumbered me, but they didn't outsmart me," Naruto said with a smirk. Naruto then thought for a bit about strength and said, "Now I have a question for you."
"Be my guest," Lee replied.
"Why are you always wearing those legs weights?" Naruto asked with a curious stare. "As far a pure muscle working, I would expect you to at least take one or two days off to let your muscles rest properly before starting heavy workouts again. Kaitou-ji always says, 'A workout for your muscles is only as good as the amount of time you allow yourself to rest and recuperate.'"
"What does that mean?" Lee asked.
"Simply put, it doesn't matter how hard you push yourself if you're too injured from your previous workouts, it might even cause irreversible damage, so take at least two days off in a row to allow your muscles to rest and rebuild themselves, you'd be surprised at how much stronger you become," Naruto finished. "Kaitou-ji is a slave driver when it comes to training, but he knows what he's talking about when it comes to proper muscle treatment or even medical treatment."
"Who exactly is this Kaitou-ji you keep mentioning?" Lee asked.
"His name is actually Kaitou, I call him that for my own reasons, anyway you'll meet him soon enough, I'm sure, and you'll know which one he is right when you see him," Naruto told Lee as he walked around to see if there was anything he could do. 'Maybe there's a dining area in this place.'
Lee nodded, a tad confused, but he trusted Naruto's word simply because Naruto seemed like the kind of person to trust to him.
Naruto walked around and noticed that there were a few vendors here, he also took note of a weapons stand, so the blond genin decided to see if there was anything he could get.
The one running the stand set down a sword he was polishing, looked at Naruto and said, "Welcome to the Forest of Death branch of Hayase Weapons. Is there anything in particular you're looking for?" The one running the stand looked to be a middle-aged man with a rugged beard, he carried a heavy build that looked to be more muscle than anything. His complection was completely tan and he himself had no hair on the top of his head.
"Hayase, is there any relation to Tenten?" Naruto asked curiously.
"Oh, you met my daughter," the man replied with a smile. "I'm certainly proud to say that she is my daughter, but where are my manners? My name is Hayase Tenchi, and you?" he finished with a question of his own.
"Uzumaki Naruto, pleased to meet you," Naruto replied with a bow.
"Well, you have manners, I'll give you that, you don't seem to be what most of the adults shade you as," Tenchi told him as he picked the sword back up, sheithed it and placed it on one of the racks. "I take it you can tell that I'm not a shinobi," Tenchi said to Naruto as he picked up a clip board and started writing down stuff as he walked around and looked at stuff.
"You seem more like a blacksmith than anything," Naruto commented.
"Well that's because I am one," Tenchi said as he wrote down what was there.
"What are you doing?" Naruto asked.
"Taking inventory, I have to do this bihourly to be sure that everything that I haven't sold is still here, I've had too many shinobi who think they're too important to pay, and then they have to eat their words when they're face down on the ground," Tenchi said as he finished writing down everything.
"Tou-san, did you make sure that onii-san knew that he was taking care of shop?" Tenten said as she walked into the stand.
"You know that's the first thing I made sure to do, and this time I made sure he was awake," Tenchi reassured his daughter. "Kenshi may not be reliable when you don't tell him something, but that doesn't mean that he can't handle things when I'm not there. Anyway I'm a bit busy so you best leave at the moment."
"Hai, hai," Tenten replied. She then took note of Naruto and motioned for him to follow, as both were leaving the store she said, "I see you met Otou-san."
"He seems pretty down to earth," Naruto admitted he walked alongside the kunoichi.
"Well, our circumstances haven't exactly been the best in the world and I've been working along with onii-san to help properly support everything," Tenten admitted to him.
"Are you first generation?" Naruto asked.
"Hai, the only one that's paid higher than shinobi in the village is the Hokage, and even then he's still a shinobi," Tenten answered him.
Naruto just shrugged, "I guess that means more people to interact with, I hope you do well in the next portion of the exam."
Tenten looked at Naruto for a bit and said, "Hai, and you to."
With Sasuke...
The Uchiha was walking around with thoughts going through his head, most weren't even his.
'We need an expert at sealing, otherwise you'll be too worn down to properly participate in the next portion of the exam,' one of the voices told the Uchiha.
'Don't listen to him, he just wants to take over,' another portion said, this one seemed to carry a form of malevolence in its voice.
'If I wanted to take over a body, I wouldn't have chosen someone who has something that wants to corrupt him,' the first voice replied.
"ENOUGH, STOP TALKING TO ME!" Sasuke shouted, which earned him quite a few looks.
One of which was from Kaitou, who was eating something when Sasuke yelled out. Kaitou just pulled on a pair of sunglasses and activated a sharingan. He looked at Sasuke and what he saw didn't please him, 'Looks like someone is trying to corrupt the young Uchiha. I'll see what I can do, but Jiraiya will probably need to help out with this one.'
The jounin walked over to Sasuke and said to him, "Come with me."
Sasuke, although a tad annoyed with his circumstances agreed and followed Kaitou.
"Is there anything you need?" Sasuke asked.
"I think I should be asking that, there are fluctuation within your chakra, like a battle for dominance. Tell me, are you hearing voices in your head?" Kaitou asked the Uchiha as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a scroll. He opened said scroll and said to Sasuke, "We need some privacy. There are a few rooms used for private medical treatment. I'll make sure that everything is locked tightly and properly."
"What are you doing here anyway?" Sasuke asked.
"It's a bit of a community service situation, I have to do something that would normally be exceptionally decent in pay for free, you'll find out what it is later on," Kaitou said as they reached their destination.
Kaitou motioned for Sasuke to walk in first while he closed the door, locked it and put a silencing seal on it so nobody would hear anything. That being said Kaitou then pulled out another scroll, opened it, bit his thumb and ran his blood along the seal.
In a puff of smoke, several kinds of foods appeared as well as a note, right after all of this appeared, Kaitou fell face down on the floor.
Sasuke, wondering what happened flipped Kaitou over only to sweat drop at the realization that Kaitou was asleep. The Uchiha just shrugged as he looked over all of the food, which miraculously wasn't crushed by the jounin. He then saw the note and read it.
Sasuke,
If you are reading this, I have fallen asleep and have left food out so you don't get hungry, these circumstances aren't something I can control. I am a narcoleptic when I am complacent, I won't explain what that means because I doubt you have not idea what narcolepsy is. These instances can last from minutes to days, though the most likely thing that will happen is that I'll wake up in an hour. You can't leave the room at the moment, so don't try, only I am able to unseal the door at the moment. Anyway do something constructive with your time, and eat something as well. Hopefully I'll wake up within the hour.
- Kaitou
Sasuke just sweatdropped again, 'Has he never had any form of complacency within the last fourteen years?' The Uchiha thought about what he should do, but he then shrugged and started eating his fill until Kaitou woke up.
End of Chapter...
No Omake here, although I have to admit, that Kaitou falling asleep right when he gonna try and help Sasuke out with his current predicament was pretty funny. If anyone has an Omake idea, just send it in. Anyway R&R. I will admit that some ideas I got from For the Love of My friends by Foxie-sama. but not everything for this chapter.