Chapter 8: Endless.

"It's so early…"

Miyako suppressed her umpteenth yawn as she walked alongside Naruto, whose messy hair and half-open eyes made it seem like he was sleepwalking, towards the entrance to the forest at which the second exam was to commence.

"Did you two come back late last night?" asked Miyako, tightening the mask against her face as she blinked out the minuscule tears from her previous yawn.

"Nah," replied Naruto, shoving his hands lazily into his pockets. "We left right after the fireworks… we walked around for about a half hour looking for you two, though." He grinned. "What were you guys up to, mm? You definitely weren't back in your apartment—I passed your place and your lights were still out."

"We got lost," she mumbled anxiously before clearing her throat.

Naruto smirked, but refrained from asking for further details, an action that Miyako was entirely grateful for.

Sasuke and Sakura had arrived only moments before—Sakura was sitting sleepily against a tree, her emerald eyes only flickering with liveliness when she noticed the remaining members of her team arrive. Sasuke was leaning against the opposite side of the tree trunk, his arms folded lazily across his chest as he stared, transfixed, at the clear, seemingly gray sky. His nodded curtly as he noticed their arrival, his dark eyes keen on avoiding hers.

"Time to become Chuunin!" Naruto said brightly, eagerly leading the way. He turned to Sasuke and grinned. "You had better not hold us back, Sasuke!"

Sasuke scoffed. "Look who's talking… how many times have I killed you in just about everything at the Academy again?"

Miyako smiled as Sakura rolled her olive eyes exasperatedly as the two boys began quarreling with one another. The relief she felt from the once heavy weight pressing against her chest had lightened considerably since the previous night, and that acquiring that feeling alone seemed to increase her confidence in team seven's abilities.

***

"Shit, why is it so dark in here?" Naruto asked, crouching down as he pushed several branches aside.

Even Sasuke had to acknowledge the fact that the near pitch-black environment and the faint cicada sounds made the forest somewhat eerie. All teams had been instructed to head towards the tower located at the center of the forest, which was all in all a distance of roughly ten kilometers. Of course, if they waited a few more hours, the sun would be high enough to illuminate a good majority of the woods, but judging from the number of contracts their intimidating proctor, Anko, made them sign, the Genin couldn't possibly consider waiting as an option.

"I have to pee," Naruto said blatantly, scratching his head awkwardly. Sakura frowned at him, and he laughed nervously. "I'll be right back."

The rest of group blinked blankly as they heard Naruto shuffle away through a handful of bushes; there was clearly no point in covering any more distance without their fourth member.

"All right, let's go!" said Naruto as he emerged into view, his vibrant hair visible from several feet away.

Miyako simply stifled a surfacing yawn as she turned to continue walking alongside Sakura. Suddenly, out of her peripheral vision, she noticed Sasuke disappear and reappear in a split second before his fist collided with the side of Naruto's face, sending the blonde Genin flying into the nearest tree.

"Oi, what the hell are you doing?!" Naruto shouted as he stood up, wiping a slight trickle of blood from his chin.

"Where's the real Naruto?" Sasuke snarled, drawing a sharp kunai from his waist.

"What are you talking about?" Miyako asked slowly, walking towards Sasuke. "Are you saying—"

Sasuke held up a hand to silence her, though he kept his piercing eyes on Naruto. "Your shuriken holster is on the left side and Naruto's right-handed, and you don't have that scar that the proctor put on your face. You're even worse than he is at transforming."

Miyako's hand flew towards the pouch at her waist the instant she noticed the puff of white smoke. An unfamiliar shinobi lunged forwards, and Miyako caught a glimpse of a tuft of messy black hair and some sort of complicated masked device before he disappeared.

"He's going towards Sakura!" shouted Sasuke, whirling around immediately. His obsidian eyes had been replaced by a shade of brilliant crimson.

"Shit," Miyako cursed, tightening the grip against her kunai as she leapt in front of Sakura.

"Which one of you has the scroll?!" he demanded.

Miyako hurled the kunai towards the culprit, causing him to change course instantly. Sasuke reappeared from out of nowhere, his fingers rapidly performing seals before a sea of fire enveloped the ground in front of them. Amber eyes darted upwards, and she unsheathed her set of kodachi rapidly as their enemy charged at Sasuke, who was several meters away from where she and Sakura were.

There was the sound of an explosion, and she saw the opponent reappear materialize right behind Sasuke, a kunai pointed centimeters away from his throat.

"Hand it over," he ordered.

Miyako flung one kodachi as swiftly as she could, praying that the weapon would reach in time, but she had no reason to worry. Naruto had joined the battle, and though Miyako's kodachi had already caused their enemy to leap out of the way, Naruto's kunai coerced him to change course a second time.

"I got it!" Sasuke shouted from afar.

He flicked his wrist skillfully, sending a single kunai flying at his foe before receding from view and then appearing directly in front of him. Sakura cringed as she noticed the thick string of blood pouring from the attacker's shoulder. The shinobi scowled and increased his speed, his eyes flashing with anger before he bolted deeper into the forest.

"He got away," Sasuke panted as he approached the rest of his team. "Listen, keep your eyes out—if we really do hesitate for even a second, we'll be dead. This isn't a joke."

"Then what do we do?" asked Sakura hesitantly.

"A code," replied Sasuke, lowering his voice. His eyes continued to flicker with an alertness none of them had ever noticed. "And memorize it, fast."

***

Miyako groaned, squinting her eyes as the debris cleared from sight. The explosion had been unexpected as well as deafening, and there was still a slight ringing in her ears. Her hands had been so tightly gripped against the hilt of her swords that she could feel blisters forming against the palm of her hands, despite the fact that she had been wearing gloves in order to handle her weapons more effectively.

"Miyako, Sakura, say the code," Sasuke called out, whipping out several kunai just in case they were needed.

The two kunoichi recited the nin song almost effortlessly, which was surprising due to the number of branches and stones that had collided against their heads seconds before.

There was a rustling of leaves from behind, and the three young Genin leapt backwards instantly, both of them alert and armed.

"Easy, easy, it's just me," Naruto grumbled, rubbing the back of his head.

"Say the code," said Sasuke.

Naruto recited it just as flawlessly. Having been fooled once already, Miyako was not surprised when Sasuke hurled his kunai at the disguised Naruto.

"Hmm," a low voice sneered from behind the cloud of white smoke as the fake Naruto faded from view. "Impressive… how'd you know this time?"

"Naruto would've never been able to memorize something that long," Sasuke answered simply, his charcoal eyes narrowing.

Right on cue, Naruto stumbled out from behind the trees, covered head to toe in some dust, branches, leaves and some sort of brown slime. Miyako and Sakura heard him mutter a spew of obscenities in addition to something about a "huge-ass snake."

Their opponent wasn't the same from before—this one was substantially taller, with long, straight black hair. After a short, inner debate over whether the shinobi standing in front of them was a male or a female, Miyako realized that it was the same exam contestant that had revealed his abnormally long tongue to all the Chuunin exam participants shortly before the round commenced.

"You want the earth scroll, am I right?" he snickered, tossing his scroll into the air and catching it lazily.

His tongue was lengthening as he spoke. Team Kakashi simply stood there, staring with dumbfounded expressions on their faces, as they watched the long-haired shinobi wrap his bizarre tongue several times around it before swallowing the entire thing.

"Let's begin, then," he said coaxingly, licking his lips delicately.

He looked up, and immediately, just as Miyako noticed how fearfully piercing his golden eyes were, it felt as if she had been completely submerged in frigid, bone-chilling water. The muscles in her body seemed to have lost all will to move, despite the screaming tension in them, and her legs began trembling uncontrollably. Beads of cold sweat trickled down her neck, and she shuddered wildly, her frozen, coffee eyes staring dazedly into the gleaming, golden ones.

There was a sudden flash of white, and she saw two kunai streaking across, one headed towards Sasuke and the other towards Sakura. Out of her peripheral vision, Miyako saw the weapons land against the center of their faces, and then there was a sea of red, followed by the sound of two lifeless thuds against the ground. She heard her teeth chatter before the heightened fear transformed into a wave of nausea, causing her ankles to go weak and collapse.

She was panting heavily, still shuddering from the imaginary cold, and her legs continued to quiver even as she sat down. Miyako blinked, and the pool of scarlet disappeared. She heard short, ragged breaths from both Naruto and Sasuke, who had undoubtedly envisioned the same scene, and Sakura let out a painful sob.

It was evident that the image they had just seen was by no means a technique due to genjutsu, but instead by an extreme killing intent, and that alone. Her instinct instructed her to run, but now that the tingling feeling in her arms and legs had evaporated, she felt nothing but numbness surround her system, leaving her entirely immobilized.

The shinobi standing before them smirked, his eyes glowing like golden ingots as he brought out three kunai and began twirling them idly between his fingers.

"Scared already, mm?" he taunted, his eyes dancing maliciously as he approached them slowly. "I'll just make that vision turn into a reality then, shall I?"

So much fear had flooded through her body that she could feel absolutely nothing more. How was it possible that someone in the Chuunin exam could consist of so much power that one mere glance was enough to paralyze people? Such a tactic exceeded the abilities of Jounin—unlike the shinobi that had attacked them before, this one was completely out of their range.

With another smirk and a lazy flick of his wrist, the adversary thrust the weapons at each of the frozen Genin. Amber eyes widened in terror—this wasn't another scene of the imagination, this was reality, and if she didn't move—the weapon was already inches away from her eyes—

Two trembling, but strong arms seized Miyako, knocking her out of the original path of the kunai. The grip around her waist tightened, and it took a few seconds for her to register that they were heading for higher ground at a blurring speed.

She barely felt her feet touch ground—her legs were still shaking at a terrible rate. The next thing she knew, her vision consisted of nothing but a pair of frantic, black eyes.

"Y-Your leg," she stammered, pointing a trembling finger at the small puddle of red that had flowed from his injured thigh.

Sasuke's eyebrows furrowed together in concentration as he observed the kunai in his wound briefly before yanking it out. He gasped in pain, but shook his head the instant he saw her reach for the bandages in the pouch at her waist.

"No time," he muttered through gritted teeth, applying pressure to his wound in an attempt to stop the bleeding. "You saw… you saw what he can do. This is no ordinary Genin—this guy isn't going to just beat the shit out of us to get our scroll, he'll fucking kill us. We've got to leave… we have to give it up."

The crazed frenzy in his crimson eyes made it clear that Sasuke wasn't joking about surrendering. Miyako grasped his arm tightly—she was indisputably still struggling to regain control over the fear they had encountered moments earlier.

"Where are Naruto and Sakura?"

"They're fine," he answered hurriedly, though the distressed blinking of his eyes indicated that he was praying his words were true. "Naruto has a lot of chakra—something like that wouldn't have kept him for long."

"Sasuke—"

"Shut up," he answered, turning his head, paranoia flashing in his wide eyes. "He'll find us—"

"No shit," snapped Miyako. Her voice trembled less than it had before but there was still a hint of terror among the shaky confidence.

Sasuke felt her grip on his arm release and whirled around just as the sound of several shuriken whiz through the piercingly silent air, only to find himself face-to-face with a writhing, gargantuan snake. It hissed furiously, thrashing its tail around so ferociously that it shook the ground below them. Miyako's shuriken had drawn a few streaks of blood from the slithering reptile, but its colossal size allowed it to recuperate in a matter of minutes.

"Mm, you guys shouldn't let down your guards for even a second," a familiar voice jeered before reappearing on top of the snake. "Otherwise, you'll just… die."

An ear-splitting hiss followed the shinobi's words, causing several heads to turn. Naruto was standing against the surface of a high branch, his arms folded across his chest, a grin pasted against face.

Out of the corner of her eye, Miyako saw Sharingan eyes fade into a pool of sea-black. Sasuke reached into his robes and withdrew the team's scroll.

"You can have it," he said, slowly inching forward against the sturdy tree branch he was standing on.

***

"Not too shabby for someone without a kekki genkai…"

The grip around her throat tightened, choking her. Miyako's neck arched slightly backwards, and she struggled to maintain her consciousness as the vision of his spiteful sneer began to blur.

She swung a kodachi against his throat, desperately trying to loosen his grasp, but to no avail. The malice in his golden eyes glistened as he knocked her weapon out of her hand almost lazily.

"I know you're upset, dear," he breathed in her ear, "but I have to break the news to you that it isn't you I'm interested in…"

The mask was preventing her from getting the little air she was already receiving. Miyako felt his warm fingers intertwine against hers, and the same sensation of repugnance surged through her stomach as she stared into his captivating golden eyes and twisted smirk.

"You put up an impressive fight though," he snickered as he loosened his hold around her throat, "especially for a nobody. Don't worry though, I won't kill any of you, just having a bit of fun…"

Sasuke cursed—his body continued to tremble from the blow he had received earlier. His back ached terribly from being knocked into a thick tree trunk, and his eyes flickered from between ebony and red—the Sharingan consumed a good majority of his chakra, and there was no question that he was reaching his limit. from A myriad of cuts and bruises littered the handsome Uchiha's face, and he flinched as he tried to stand. There was the sound of an unpleasant snap, and it was followed immediately by a painful scream, which echoed prominently through the forest. Sasuke's head shot up instantly, his crimson eyes flashing wildly—with exhaustion, panic, and terror.

Despite his low chakra level, his legs covered the distance to his Miyako much more swiftly than he had expected.

Sharingan eyes flashing lividly, Sasuke swung his right leg towards his opponent's face so quickly that the shinobi barely had time to evade it. He stopped in front of Miyako, his hands outstretched as if that action alone would be able to prevent her from any further harm.

"Don't touch her," he snarled, causing the shinobi's eyebrow to rise in question.

Sasuke took a quick, backwards glance at her. Miyako was still standing, at least, though her face was white with perspiration and fatigue. A thin trail of incarnadine liquid seeped from the corners of her mask and past her chin, and she was clutching her left hand tightly, her eyebrows furrowed together in pain.

"Stay back," he said quietly, whipping out several large shuriken as he turned around to face their enemy once more.

Sasuke lunged forwards, his perfectly-patterned orbs blazing with fury and concentration as he strained them in an attempt to read his opponent's movements. His enemy was swift, there was no doubt about that, but a familiar surge of confidence flowed through the Uchiha prodigy—those steps were growing more predictable.

He flung an average-sized shuriken towards the long-haired shinobi so quickly that it hurtled through several falling leaves with much ease. Golden eyes widened in surprise, but the shinobi's supreme agility allowed him to leap upwards. Sasuke smirked. Perfect.

The black-haired Genin hurled two kunai flawlessly in his foe's direction—a small, blue flame of chakra surrounded his weapons, a hue that only Sasuke could perceive. They planted themselves in the tree behind the shinobi, whose eyes flashed in surprise.

"Strings…?" he muttered in disbelief. "This is… Sharingan Sofuusha Sannotachi!"

A flood of reassurance surged through Miyako's aching body as she watched Sasuke complete his impeccable triple-blade technique. She had ripped off a portion of her black robes, using it as a splint by tying it tightly around her left wrist, though her wide eyes never left the battle before her.

"Tch, too bad," the shinobi sneered. His long tongue flickered wrapped around a sharp kunai, which glinted in the dim sunlight.

Sasuke smirked. His fingers were already performing the well-known hand formations.

"Katon Goukakyuu no Jutsu!"

The streak of fire shot towards the shinobi so fast that he had barely any time to react, colliding directly with his face. Miyako flinched at the gruesome sight, but at the same time, breathed with ease. It was over.

There was nothing but the sound of crackling fire and the smell of burnt skin. Miyako coerced her legs into standing still, and then leaped over towards where Sasuke was standing, her right hand still tightly clutching her left wrist.

Sasuke was evidently out of chakra. His breathing was short and sharp, and beads of sweat trailed down his tense jaw line as those unclouded, crimson eyes dimmed into black.

"Are you all right?" she asked, pressing her good hand to his forehead, only to find out that it was steaming. "You're beginning to contract a fever…"

"I'm fine," he said, brushing her arm away lightly and taking her bandaged wrist gently into his hands.

He hesitated for a split second before he applied pressure gingerly against the fragile wrist, causing her to flinch.

"It's broken," he said as he tore off a long fragment from his sleeve with his teeth, wrapping the dark blue cloth around her wrist numerous times. "That should last you until we get to the tower."

Sasuke tightened the knot carefully before meeting her eyes. He had just opened his mouth to say something before a deafening crack interrupted the tense silence, causing both their heads to whirl around.

"No fucking way," said Sasuke hoarsely, obsidian eyes gaping in incredulity.

The shinobi was still standing. The skin from his face had melted into a sizzling liquid, but unlike what they had expected, it seemed to simply slide off.

"Who are you?" asked Miyako in disbelief.

"I'm called Orochimaru," he sneered. "It was entertaining testing your abilities, Sasuke-kun… I must say, to be able to use your Sharingan so well at such a young age is impressively fascinating. You'll be of good use to me."

His golden eyes were practically hypnotizing. Sasuke felt his back stiffen promptly, and from the soft cry of surprise he heard from Miyako, the same thing had occurred to her. His legs were rigid, and his arms had ceased shaking—paralyzed.

"What are you—" he began angrily.

But the sight in front of him shut him up immediately. Orochimaru was performing a rapid succession of hand formations, an evident smirk pasted on his burnt face, and in a flash, his neck had elongated by several fold. Before Sasuke could comprehend what had happened, he felt a stinging pain in the left side of his neck. The paralysis wore off, and in that instant, the pain became unbearable. Sasuke fell against the hard, wooden surface and he let out a sharp cry of pain, his body quivering in agony and his hands clawing at the burning, fresh wound.

"Sasuke?" asked Miyako, her tone lined with hysteria. She turned to Orochimaru, her amber eyes wide with horror. "What did you do?"

"No need to look so alarmed, sweet," snickered Orochimaru as his neck returned to its original length. "I just gave him a parting gift, that's all."

Miyako was in front of him the instant Orochimaru had finished his sentence. There was a flash of silver, followed by the sound of several strands of hair being cut. Orochimaru raised an eyebrow, clearly amused at the blazing fury in the eyes of the dark-haired kunoichi that stood before him. He noticed that her knuckles had gone white and her right hand had begun to shake violently from how tightly she clutched the hilt of her sword.

"Close," he chuckled. "If your anger hadn't been so easy to sense, you might have gotten me."

"Fix him," she whispered. Despite the rage that shone in her eyes, it almost seemed as if she was pleading him to cure the Uchiha.

Orochimaru simply smirked. There was another whiz of silver, but falling for the same tactic twice was something that was impossible for him to do. With a lazy flick of his arm, he sent her flying into a tree trunk so speedily that she didn't realize what had happened until she felt the aching pain in her back.

"It was fun," he said in a sing-song voice as he turned to leave. "I'll see you all sooner than you think… especially you, Sasuke-kun."

The remnants of the streak of red on her chin deepened in color as a fresh line of blood flowed from beneath her stained mask. Miyako blinked several times in an attempt to clear her vision, but it was blurred all the same. Only when Sasuke let out another terrible yell of pain did she remember her current environment.

She stood up too quickly, causing her vision to blur even more. Miraculously, or perhaps it was from sheer desperation, Miyako found her way to Sasuke's side despite her temporary blindness.

"It hurts," he gasped, clasping her hand and squeezing it so tightly that she could barely feel the pain. "Make it stop—"

Another scream. Tears of desperation had began to form in her brown eyes—she had never seen him in such agony—the Uchiha she knew had always been formidable and strong-minded, someone who would never let anyone see a weak, unstable expression in him. Her right hand was beginning to go numb from how tightly he was grasping it, and she choked back the tears. Uselessness washed over her, along with trepidation, loneliness and hysteria—though the battle had lasted countless hours and though the bloody rays of the setting sun were beginning to seep through the thick leaves, this night was still young.

author's note:

i reallyyy wanted to apologize for the uninteresting update, despite the length of this chapter. i didn't want to fast-forward over everything here, simply because this scene is actually important. :[ i know it wasn't very lively nor did it contain anything enjoyable, but i'm planning for the next chapter to be somewhat better. please don't stop subscribing/reading! sooo sorry~~ love you guys, though. :D

xoxo.