Yo, people. Hope you don't think I forgot about my epic baby. Come on sweethearts, I wouldn't just leave you like that! Ok, so I had a three month affair with a girl named life, but I told you, you were the only one(s) for me. Don't worry, I'm back and ready to give you that pleasure you oh so missed.
(However, do note that I typed this chapter under the most heavy authors block I've ever experienced. I can't even fathom what you all will think of this one.)
Chapter 4: Despair Once More
"This is why we don't let you lead on missions." A young teen with glasses and short black hair called. He sighed and scratched his head as he looked around.
"Well excuse me! I didn't expect to get lost from just going FORWARD!" A girl just as young, short turquoise hair with a ruby clip called. She had on a red and white tank top and white forearm protectors. She wore white baggy pants that slightly hung off her hips and wore her forehead protector on her arm like Shikamaru.
"Would both of you shut up. I'm trying to sleep!" The third and last member of the team called. He had on a long white shirt with a short blue jean jacket over it. He wore blue jeans and wore his forehead protector around his neck like a collar. When he opened his eyes, the irises were yellow and his pupils were slit like.
"Seriously, Train! Do you have to do that creepy eye thing right now?" The first teen called.
"Shut up, Uriu." He shot back, his eyes returning to their natural brown. The young girl sighed and fell to her back.
"Aww man. At this rate, I won't be able to get any ramen today!" She called and her stomach grumbled. Both of her comrades sweat dropped.
"Uh, Fuu…you ate twelve bowls before we got here. Mr. Ichiraku was crying tears of joy on how much of ourmoney you spent." Uriu said pushing his glasses up.
"Yeah, he said it was amazing that there was someone else in the village that could eat as much as...what's that kids name? Naruto?" Train finished. He dropped down from the tree he was sitting in and stretched.
Fuu's stomach growled again. She looked up at her two teammates with fake tears streaming down her cheeks. "FEEEED MEEEE!"
Suddenly, Uriu paused, turning on spot. "Be quiet, someone's coming." He instantly jumped back into some bushes, Fuu and Train following swiftly. Seconds later, a team, (Naruto's team) dropped into the clearing they had just entered. They watched silently as the short one with blonde hair seemed to get upset and tell his two teammates to go on ahead.
"What's up with him?" Fuu whispered but neither of her teammates responded. She frowned and rose an eyebrow when they didn't answer and turned around. Looking back, she found both of her teammates bound and captured by enemy ninja.
In the clearing, Naruto now stood with Neji and the others. Tenten looked around startled, finally registering the many chakra signatures around them.
"Surrounded?" She asked, placing a hand on her weapons pouch. Naruto quickly pulled a kunai and chucked it to his left.
"Most likely shadow clones." He said as he jumped back as the area where he had thrown his kunai exploded. 'But that would mean our enemies are well beyond genin level...it has to be Orochi-'
"HEELP!" The voice of a young girl came from somewhere within the forest, stopping Naruto before he could continue his assault. It was enough time for the enemy to show themselves. The grass nin team from earlier dropped down from the tress, revealing that they were indeed clones of each member.
"Well, this just got a whole lot easier." Tenten said with a small smirk.
"Foolish girl! You shouldn't underestimate us, unless you want to end up like this team." The nin threw Fuu and her team down in front of Naruto and the others. Naruto gazed down at Fuu, who seemed to be in pain. He frowned for a second before a smile began to overtake his face.
"Wow. You guys really did fuck up." He said as he began to take several steps back. Team Gai rose eyebrows at Naruto's demeanor.
"So you sensed it too kit?" The fox asked inside of his mind. Naruto mentally nodded, seeing the girl growing angry on the ground.
'But we can't let her have all the fun.'
"Hey, Lee! I bet I can take out more than you in five minutes!" Naruto goaded. This instantly got a reaction as the bushy browed teen's eyes burst into flames.
"How youthful to make this into sport! I shall accept your challenge Naruto-kun! And if I cannot defeat more than you then I shall do a thousand curls. And if I cannot do a thousand curls I will complete the rest of the chunin exams while carrying Tenten on my back!"
A second later and a mace had collided with the back of Lee's skull.
"Like hell you will!" Tenten shouted.
"It seems they are ignoring us!" The grass ninja with his eye covered like Kakashi said. The others agreed by chuckling sinisterly.
"An action they won't live to regret!" The leader said through his…gas mask?
"Hey Fuu, you okay?" Naruto asked the girl as she slowly undid her own bonds. Looking closely, he saw that she had what appeared to be a wasp stinger protruding from her wrist.
"How do you know my name?" She asked startled.
"Shichibi. He and Kyubi are good acquaintances." He said naturally. Fuu cocked an eyebrow.
"So you are a jinchuriki. I couldn't be sure. Well, what's your name?"
Before the two could continue their conversation, the army of grass nin clones began to rush in. Naruto and Fuu turned, getting back to back. A spark shot through them both, making their eyes widen.
'That was weird.' They thought simultaneously. Naruto could hear the fox laughing inside his head for an unknown reason. He ignored it and prepared for battle.
As the first nin came into range of Naruto and Fuu, Naruto felt the girl relax her body. She took one step forward, and let loose a barrage of blinding punches and kicks onto the enemy. The clone seemed to be convulsing, not even having time to disperse as the small girl continued her attack. Looking into her scarlet eyes, Naruto saw that she had become emotionless. It was a skill that he wished he had, but because of some of the repercussions, had never tried to achieve it. Locking away your emotions while you're fighting makes it so you won't hold back, but it also tends to get the better of your senses. Going all out against a friend could hold deep consequences, physically and emotionally. With a final spin kick, Fuu sent the clone flying and dispersing into a silent puff of smoke.
Naruto looked over to Team Gai to see them dispatching of the clones, quickly and efficiently. Lee was tearing through them as if they were paper while TenTen made his jaw drop by how beautiful and fluently she handled two kodachis. Neji was swiftly spinning about his opponents, apparently jabbing at their body. Naruto rose an eyebrow as he noticed that it was the same way Hinata fought in the academy, albeit much faster. Looking at all four of the people around him, having fun with their would be ambushers, Naruto felt a pang of guilt rush over him.
He had just decided to get serious while these guys had been serious all along. Even by the way Fuu was going about decimating her foes, he knew that she had never played around with her future.
"NARUTO, LOOK OUT!" Fuu shouted and dived on top of him just as large snake soared over his head. Naruto looked up with wide eyes as the snake landed behind them, turning to face its prey. The snake was as big as car and about 30 meters in length. Naruto scowled, both at losing his focus on the battlefield, and at forgetting key factor in the chunin exams. He faced the grass nin team just to see one of their members dashing off in the direction that his own team had been going.
'That's him...that snake bastard...' Naruto groaned inside his head.
"Naruto." Tenten called. "You two take care of that snake while me and the guys finish these clones off. Think you can handle it?"
Naruto gave a thumbs up to the bun haired girl. "No sweat."
"You sure?" Fuu asked. "You just spaced out and if it weren't for me, you'd be getting digested right now."
"Oh shut up." Naruto replied, getting a cute giggle from the girl. He was even more impressed that even while in battle, she could still hold onto her emotions while trying to lock them away. This girl was strong, but being a jinchuriki meant that you had to be.
"Shall we?" The girl asked, holding her arms out, indicating for Naruto to go first.
"Yes, we shall." Naruto elegantly pulled a kunai and flipped it reverse handed. Fuu held one up right in a fighting stance. They darted towards the snake, crossing in front of each other as they went. The snake eyed the two hungrily. Since Naruto was the first to reach the beast, it struck down at him. Naruto threw the kunai into the air and then used a substitution jutsu. He appeared in place of the kunai high above the snake. The snake's fangs embedded into the ground, giving Fuu time to jump on its head and then leap upwards.
Naruto grabbed the girls hand and spun, slinging her even higher into the air. Fuu threw her own kunai into the air above her so that Naruto could once again substitute and appear so high in the air, the snake seemed like a small worm. Flashing through hand signs, Naruto held his fingers to his lips. Fuu smirked as she began to move her hands and form chakra. The chakra burned red until it burst into a ball of flames in her hands. She winked at Naruto.
"Fuuton: Kaze Yari!" (Wind Javelin)
"Katon: Ryusei Aki!" (Meteor Fall)
Naruto blew the powerful stream of wind down towards Fuu's ball of dark flames. When the wind collided, Fuu spun, slinging the now blue flames even faster towards the ground. The all out inferno roared and seared even the air as it sped towards the waiting snake. The resulting impact created a huge explosion, sending a shock wave out in all directions. Team Gai was just about finished with the clones, however, once the blazing attack hit the ground, they were forced to move swiftly to escape the blast. The remaining clones in the clearing were incinerated, and some of the forestland around the area was reduced to ashes.
Naruto began to fall back down towards the blazing ground. Looking at Fuu, he saw that she had two fast beating dragonfly wings on her back. She caught Naruto's arm and slowly took them to the others that were waiting. Seeing the shocked looks on the others faces, Fuu retracted the wings and looked away sadly.
"What...what was that? How are you two so strong, and why did she just have wings?" Tenten called. Fuu's head was down and she bit her lip. The looks they were giving her were just like that of her own village. Fear and confusion.
"It's a kekkei genkai. She's a distant relative of the Aburame clan." Naruto explained. Fuu's head shot up and she stared at Naruto with wide eyes. Naruto had a small smirk on his face. She looked back and forth between Team Gai and Naruto.
"A...kekkei genkai?" Neji asked skeptically.
"Yeah. My parents were from Takigakure, before it turned into Amegakure. (Rain Village)." Fuu said, trying her hardest to play off of Naruto's bluff with a truth.
"Oh right! I remember dad telling me that some of Konoha's ninja were sent to Takigakure after the first war. Most of them stayed to make sure the village could be rebuilt!" Tenten noted. Neji closed his eyes and folded his arms, apparently accepting the answer.
"My parents...died after the war. My father couldn't take care of me and my mother died after giving birth to me." Fuu said sadly, making Naruto frown.
He knew all too well the pain of growing up without parents, on top of being a jinchuriki. For some reason, he felt that he and Fuu had a greater connection than anyone he had met in his life. Her mannerisms, her posture. They were all similar to his. But as her skills show, she probably had it worse than he did.
The sound of groaning caught all of the genin's attention. "Excuse us, but can you untie us now?" Train called as he and Uriu were sitting back to back by Rock Lee. Lee knelt down and undid their bonds.
"Who are you guys?"
Uriu straightened his glasses before clearing his throat. He walked over to Tenten and knelt before her, grabbing her hand. "Milady, we are but a humble team of genin from Amegakure! We are here to assist you, and should be regarded as tools in the presence of a beauty such as yourself."
Suddenly Uriu froze up as Fuu jabbed him with a sharp stinger protruding from her wrist. He fell over and Fuu began to drag him away by his leg. "Come on Casanova, we get enough of this in our own village."
Tenten sweat dropped but blushed non-the less. It was rare for anyone at all to hit on her, so it actually just made her day a whole lot better. She held her head up a bit higher, unbeknownst to her two teammates.
"I hate to cut this short, but I have a feeling that my team is in over their heads right now." Naruto called, preparing to run after his team and the 'grass ninja' that had gone ahead. When he turned, Fuu suddenly grabbed his wrist. Naruto faced the girl to see her with a slight blush and uncertain look on her face.
"You...you sense it too, don't you?" She asked. Naruto looked at the worry in the girls eyes and once again saw himself in them. He smiled warmly at the girl, hoping to ease her worries even if just a bit.
"Yeah, but I have no intentions of fighting it. I promise."
The girl looked at him for a second longer, still unsure. What confused her even more was the fact that she was worried about this person she had never met before. Maybe it was just because they were both jinchuriki, which would have been a likely and plausible reason. However, she felt something more than that. Something about him, and him alone, made her want to be there by him. With a sigh she stepped next to the blonde.
"I guess we don't have a choice now do we?" She asked in fake exasperation.
Naruto rose an eyebrow. "Uh...Fuu, what are you doing."
"What does it look like? I'm coming with you."
"But you said yourself, it's something up ahead-"
"That I won't let you take on by yourself. You saved me and my team so now it's time for me to help you out." The smile that she gave Naruto reminded him too much of Hinata's and he found himself looking away with tinted cheeks and scratching the back of his neck.
"Naruto, what are you two-" Before Tenten could finish, Naruto and Fuu darted forward, going a speed that made Rock Lee's flames ignite once again. Pulled by the urge to catch, or best the two, Lee threw himself forward as well. Having no other choice in the matter, Train, Uriu, Tenten and Neji began to follow at a leisure pace.
As the two darted side by side, Naruto and Fuu glanced at each other from the corner of their eyes. When their eyes met, everything around them seemed to fade.
"Ah, here are the two honorable bastards now!" The gruff voice of the Kyubi boomed as Naruto and Fuu appeared between two similar cells. It was obvious, once again, that the Kyubi's cell was bigger. However, the seal on the Shichibi's cage seemed to be in perfect condition.
"Do I even want to know what you two were talking about?" Naruto dead panned. He gazed over to Fuu's cell to see the Shichibi hovering by six extremely fast beating wings. The monster was a large blue beetle with six wings and a stinger, which indicated seven tails. With a large horn on its head, and two freakishly large arms, the monster looked more grotesque than anything Naruto had seen in his life, including the Ichibi. But, outside of appearances, Naruto could feel a strong sense of pride radiating from the demon.
"Long time no see, shithead!" Fuu called to the demon with a wave.
"And to think I was starting to miss your company." The Shichibi feigned hurt and chuckled along with the Kyubi.
"So, do you guys have a history, like with Kyubi and the Ichibi?" Naruto asked. The Kyubi shrugged.
"Nah. We just liked to beat the shit out of each other once in a while."
"What do you mean beat the shit out of each other? You used to whip my ass from the Bunta's castle to that damn snake's lair."
Naruto and Fuu couldn't help but laugh at the demon's unfortunate friendship with the Kyubi. When things began to grow quiet, Naruto saw the two demons eying him. He looked between them both in confusion.
"What? Something on my face?" That's when he turned his gaze to Fuu, to see the girl eying him somewhat...dangerously. The Shichibi folded its massive arms.
"Emotions cannot be hidden inside of the mind."
"Kit, run for it!"
Naruto swallowed as he saw Fuu lick her lips. With a gleam in her eyes, she jumped towards the blonde, pinning him to the ground in one swift movement.
"Honestly, she reminds me of the Nibi." (Two-Tailed cat) The Kyubi said with a shiver, though with a hint of reverie.
Shichibi nodded his head in agreement. "I think she would have made a better tenant than I." Then the demon grew a small smile. "And I think you would have much more preferred to meet the Nibi today than myself."
Everything went silent again, including Fuu, who still had Naruto pinned to the ground and was only an inch from his face. Both genin looked up towards the Kyubi to see the already red fox...blushing!
"Oh, no way!" Naruto called through fits of laughter. "You...you've got a crush on the Nibi?"
"Kit, I will give you nightmares until you're sixty-six if you don't drop it right now." The Kyubi huffed and then turned to the other cage. "And now I remember why I used to beat your ass all the time! You couldn't keep your damn mouth shut!"
"Hey, by the time you told her anything, the Gobi would have had her eating out of his paws!" (Five-tailed wolf)
"As entertaining as this may be, Fuu we need to get back now!" Naruto slowly inched the girl from atop him, getting a sad groan from her. He stood and offered the turquoise haired girl a hand. The girl grinned and faded away without taking his hand, leaving a stunned blonde in her wake. "Uh...I'm in trouble aren't I?"
"Kit, between the nice Hyuga girl and Fuu, you're a dead man."
Naruto held his head in frustration as he began to fade from his mind. "I'm not with either one of them and shit's gonna hit the fan."
Out in the real world, Naruto and Fuu slowed to a halt as they came to a clearing. Naruto instantly frowned as the 'grass nin' he was after was nowhere in sight. Instead, he found Sasuke unconscious on the ground, Sakura with a kunai in hand, as well as having her hair cut, and the three sound nin, Kin and her team, facing the beat up girl. In the three seconds it took for Naruto to register the scene, his anger flared. In the blink of an eye, he dashed into the clearing, sliding to a halt in front of Sakura.
"What the fuck is this?" He growled out. Sakura's eyes widened as Naruto appeared seemingly from nowhere. Her eyes took in his features, his stance wide and his hair blowing beautifully in the wind since his hitai-ate hung from the back of his cargo pants. His dark blue shirt had the sleeves trimmed neatly where he had torn them. Her confusion of Naruto's attire and her curiosity in it was over shadowed by the joy she felt from seeing her teammate. She began to sob lightly.
"N-Naruto..."
"It's alright Sakura. I won't let them hurt you anymore." Naruto spoke darkly. Everyone whom had come with Naruto watched the scene from their positions around the clearing. Naruto could even feel Shikamaru and his team nearby. Naruto eyed the three sound nin in front of him. His glare pierced all three them as his eyes began to tint from blue to red.
"Naruto..." Kin whispered, taking a step back.
"Is that the sharingan?" The mummy like one asked to no one in particular.
"I'm not waiting to see!" The last one shouted and held his palms forward. There were holes in his hands and he laughed hysterically as he blasted a sound wave at Naruto and Sakura. The ground exploded where Naruto had just been, throwing dust up all around the clearing.
"What just happened?" Uriu asked, worried for the blonde that Fuu seemed to have taken a liking to.
"He dodged it, but why is he so fast?" Neji spoke with a bit of venom. Naruto's speed rivaled, if not surpassed that of Lee's at that moment, with his weights on. Neji wouldn't have thought it possible, especially by someone he knew was considered the dead last of that year's graduating genin class.
In the clearing, Naruto stood on a branch of the tree where Sasuke's body was resting. He held Sakura bridal style, his gaze still set as stone on the three below him.
"Fast little punk." Zakuzu called and aimed his palms up at Naruto. He began to fire rapid sound waves. Naruto would seem to vanish and reappear on another branch, still in the same position with Sakura along for the ride. The pink-haired pre-teen was beaming. The wind blowing through her hair as Naruto sped around the moves made her feel like she was flying. She hadn't yet noticed his eyes.
"Stay still dammit!" Getting frustrated, the sound nin threw a kunai with an exploding tag up at the tree. Naruto tossed Sakura upwards, making her yelp ironically girlishly, before flaring through hand signs and inhaling deeply.
"Fuuton: Kaze Yari!" The wind javelin tore the tag to shreds, as well as deflecting the kunai. The bladed wind slammed down right in front of Zakuzu, knocking him off his feet. Naruto caught Sakura again without so much of a twitch. This time, Sakura did notice his eyes. Her gaze turned to a bit of confusion and horror. His shining red eyes may have been pretty, but the feral glow of them chilled her.
The blonde dropped down to the forest floor. He walked over to the indentation of the tree and set Sakura down, ignoring the way her eyes never left his face. He slowly walked back to his initial position as the tense sound team eyed him warily. They were all having second thoughts.
"Naruto..." Kin whispered again. His eyes frightened her beyond anything she had felt in her life. When she was directly in his sight, she completely froze.
"Why are you attacking my team?"
For a second, all she could hear was the silent whistle of the wind as it slowly began to build in the forestland. The rustle of fallen leaves grew louder and the smell of both nature and ninja began to overload her senses. Naruto's question slowly began to register, but all she could do was gaze upon his glowing red eyes. The wind pushed leaves past him, and it looked as if nature itself refused to touch the boy. The overhead canopy cast rays of light throughout the clearing, yet none of the pique light touched the blonde jinchuriki.
"Stand aside, dobe." Sasuke's voice snapped Kin from her fright induced stasis. But she almost fell right back into at as she caught sight of the Uchiha. Black flame like markings were spreading over his face and arm. A sickening purple chakra seemed to be flowing around him. She knew what that meant. Sasuke was using Orochimaru's curse seal.
"Sasuke..."
With both the Kyubi's chakra and the tainted chakra of the curse seal bellowing in one area, everyone around felt the cold air of death wash over them. Even Fuu fidgeted as the mixed chakras made the Shichibi writhe in his cage. No one except for Fuu knew exactly what they were looking at in that clearing.
"Go sit with Sakura so you won't get hurt." Sasuke chuckled as he flexed his fingers. The power flowing through his veins felt unreal. He felt as if he could kill his brother ten times over.
Naruto grimaced as his nose burned. The overwhelming smell of decay and snakes filled his nostrils. It was all wafting from Sasuke. Sasuke's sight set onto the sound team. When he took one step forward, Naruto appeared right in front of him.
"Get out of my way Naruto. I'm going to make them pay for thinking they could attack us."
"Sasuke, that power you're using is bad for you."
Sasuke paused. Then he began to laugh. "How can something that feels so good be bad for me? Get out of my way dobe, or I'll kill you too."
Naruto didn't move. Him and Sasuke stood face to face, neither blinking. Naruto's calm gaze and Sasuke's hysterical smirk sent shivers down the spines of all who could see them.
"Fuu...is he...you know..." Train started whispering. Fuu's eyes showed sadness but she nodded anyway.
"Yeah. He's like me."
Naruto sighed as he knew Sasuke wasn't going to back down on his own accord. He was going to have to force Sasuke to calm down, and by the feel of his chakra that wasn't going to be easy.
The Hyuga heiress sighed deeply as she stood atop the surface of a small pond she had found a few hundred yards away from the clearing where her teammates were. She just wanted to calm down and clear her mind. She had removed her black undershirt, revealing nothing but a fish net top, albeit, she had wrappings over her chest. She kept her pants on, knowing that should anyone find her, she would be damned if she gave them a free show.
Her mind drifted to the recent event in the clearing with her teammates. She shouldn't have went off on Shino like that. At first, she was planning on going to apologize to him, but knowing Shino, he would ignore her until he had cooled off for a bit. So she was going to give him his space and time, and use her own time to cool off a bit. She wondered what Kiba thought about the little tirade.
'He's probably pissed at us both...' The pre-teen thought. Kiba was all about teamwork and companionship. Though he was arrogant, Shino and Hinata knew the real him. The him that would do anything to protect his friends. When she had compared him to how he was in the academy, she was surprised that it was usually Kiba the one calming the other two down when things went wrong on missions and such. If only he could feel that way about their other comrades.
"Byakugan!" Hinata cried suddenly, trying to focus her mind on her current position. She sighed heavily and slid her right foot forward over the water. Not a single ripple appeared. It was as if Hinata was gliding over the water instead of standing on it. Then she dipped her foot in, creating only one ripple. After a second of standing completely still, she spun, creating a wave of water all around her. The water seemed to slow down as her eyes took in the 360 degree environment. She created the chakra blades again and began to cut at the water. Perfect lines of the water began to form and as fast as she was going, it looked as if she were creating a pattern in the water. It was like art, the sun casting shadows on the water in the form of whatever slashes Hinata had made to the water wall.
Then almost as suddenly as she began, she abruptly stopped, dropping to her knees on the water and panting heavily. The shredded water wall collapsed back into the pond as just a few drips. Hinata moved to a sitting position on the water, having enough chakra control to do it almost effortlessly. She tilted her head back and took in deep breaths. The technique was more draining than she let show, especially after performing it several times throughout the day. If it weren't for the fact that her team kept dozens of soldier pills, she would never be able to get a good amount of practice in.
After several minutes of rest and staring up at the clouds, something she learned to enjoy after watching Naruto and Shikamaru do it sometimes, she stood and ate a soldier pill, ready to continue her practice. However, several swift moving chakra signatures caught her attention and she instantly activated her byakugan, jumping back into bushes and out of sight. Several seconds later, a group of five ninja landed on the lake in a blur and continued forward with no signs of slowing. Hinata's eyes widened as she saw that the person leading the group of ANBU was their proctor, Anko Mitarashi.
'That's the lady that hit Naruto-kun!' She frowned up at the memory and bit back a curse. More approaching chakras from behind her were detected by her byakugan, and she knew it was her teammates.
"Should we follow?" Shino asked in his normal monotone, apparently having cooled off enough. Or at least, he wasn't upset enough to let his feelings get in the way of something potentially important.
Hinata nodded and dashed forward after the Special Jonin and ANBU, her own team going as fast as they could. 'Why do I have a bad feeling about this?'
With Anko, she flew through the forest at such an alarming rate that even the ANBU had trouble keeping up with her. Her eyes were narrowed, but her chest heaved, her fear only evident by this action.
She was scared.
Orochimaru was a sneaky son of a bitch, and now she had just learned something that would make the genin kill themselves upon finding this out.
He had two chakra signatures.
She didn't understand what that meant at first. When the Hokage explained to her that his sensors had picked up two separate chakras, both belonging to Orochimaru, she had thought that maybe it was a kage bunshin. But when he also told her they were not distributed chakras, and indeed fully intact whole signatures, her stomach grew light. Her mind instantly drifted to the fucked up experiments that he had performed on her, long ago.
'So what has he done now? And to who?' She thought as she bounced off of the side of trees, showing the ANBU just how agile and flexible she was when need be. Her thoughts were interrupted as she felt several signatures following behind them. She groaned, picking it up as a genin team. With a sigh, she landed on a tree that was coming up in her way and pushed off of it, dashing past the ANBU, leaving them in confusion as she soared backwards and almost collided with Hinata herself.
The Hyuga heiress yelped and slipped on the branch she was just about to land on, but a hand grabbed her wrist, using her falling momentum to swing her parallel to the branch, upwards and then letting her land on unsteady feet. When her daze was gone, she looked up into the serious face of Anko Mitarashi. Instead of her usual smirk, she held a worried look, as if she was wondering what to do with the Hyuga girl. Kiba and Shino landed on the branch behind Hinata. Anko folded her arms.
"You kids shouldn't be following us. Something dangerous is up ahead, and I don't have time to try and protect you. Go east and try to head to the tower as soon as possible."
For a moment, Anko sighed in relief as it seemed as if the Inuzuka and Aburame were indeed going to take her orders unquestioned, like true shinobi. However, the young Hyuga still had her bloodline activated and she was looking in the direction the ANBU continued to travel. The girl seemed as if she were straining herself to see further than was naturally allowed by the kekkei genkai.
"Hey, kid, are you listening?" Anko put a hand on Hinata's shoulder.
"Naruto-kun...what's happening to him?" She whispered to herself, though all present heard.
"Naruto?" Anko's eyes widened. That brat was starting to become a pain in the ass already. Without another word, she turned and followed after her ANBU, forgetting all about the genin behind her.
"Hinata, what's wrong with Naruto?" Kiba asked worriedly. He wouldn't admit it to his face, but Kiba still held high respect for Naruto, even if he was known as the dead last. Anybody who tried to stand up to Sasuke on a constant basis was either a brainless dumbass or had balls of steel. Naruto fit both categories.
"He's...his chakra...it seems so...demonic! And so does Sasuke's!"
"It would be best to avoid them." Shino added bluntly. Hinata's gaze turned to Shino, shocked. Kiba even glared at their partner.
"Shino, they're our friends! Well, at least Naruto is!" Kiba spoke before Hinata could go off, which for some reason, she was doing a lot more lately.
"But if the ANBU and that woman is involved, it is far beyond our control."
Hinata turned from Shino angrily. She knew his cold logic, but she never felt this angry about it before. Shino was known to make the wisest decisions among them, but it left a lacking luster when it came to other teammates. Now that she thought about it, maybe their team was far too introverted. They cared for each other, but held their other comrades in far less of a light. And the sad part was it was Kurenai-sensei's fault. She never had them socialize with the other teams after graduation. She never even mentioned the others outside of telling them what they needed to do better. They may have been genin cells, but they were all ninja of Konoha. Their allies, all of them, were the most important part of the village. She would be having a talk with her sensei when this was over.
"I don't care what you say Shino, but I'm going to find out what's wrong with Naruto-kun. You can tuck tail and run if you want." She spoke with as little venom as possible, trying not to make their already falling teamwork collapse completely.
"Hinata, whatever has happened to make you change so is truly intimidating." Shino removed his hands from his pockets. "Why do you insist on being so distant?"
Hinata bit her lip. She didn't mean to sound distant. She just wanted to prove that she could make choices, and do things on her own. It seemed like everyone was making mistakes today. Shino stepped in front of her.
"We'll go to Naruto, but I want a full explanation of what's going on when we arrive at the tower. Beyond being comrades, and teammates, I am your friend Hinata, and I don't want to see you in such conflict with yourself. I am worried."
Kiba grinned, happy that Shino had finally came out and said what he was truly feeling. Hinata had successfully pushed the boy to show some emotion.
"Alright..." Hinata replied. The Hyuga heiress was actually at a lost for words. Shino rarely, rarely, showed any type of emotion. And to do so while they both knew they were upset was nothing short of a miracle. She smiled, starting to remember how important both Kiba and Shino were to her. Even if she wanted to do things on her own didn't mean she needed to push them away. "Let's go."
Ino Yamanaka was not easily scared. On several occasions, mainly around Halloween, Shikamaru and Chouji, and sometimes even her father would try to play pranks on her to get any type of reaction. All the times, she had brushed them off as petty annoyances. Never once had she even flinched.
So why was she scared shitless now?
The two people standing several yards in front of her were people she had thought she had known for several years now.
You had Sasuke. The boy with dark eyes that seemed to suck you in, skills that would make the average genin drool, and he was an Uchiha, making him every girls fantasy.
Then you had Naruto. The kid almost as loud as Sakura, with ocean blue eyes that she secretly knew shined in the sunlight, too bright a shade of blonde hair, but ironically no longer wearing the 'Scream, aim, fire' orange jumpsuit.
So what was wrong with this picture?
Right, Sasuke had just threatened to kill Naruto with some weird purple chakra swirling around him and Naruto's eyes were glowing red...not in any memories she had of either one.
"Shi...Shikamaru...what the hell is going on here?" The Yamanaka diva asked, eyes and mind trying to both fool themselves into making a logical explanation to what was being watched.
"The hell should I know?" Shikamaru replied but his eyes were glued to the scene as well. Their last partner sat behind them, mouth agape and chip in mid travel to his mouth.
The young girl's thoughts were swiftly trying to break down the scene, the way any Yamanaka would, however, several missing key factors just made figuring it out impossible. Why was Naruto's eyes glowing and what the hell was happening to Sasuke? Without even a clue as to what was going on, she couldn't fathom an answer.
Then there was the fact that Sasuke had just threatened to kill Naruto. As far as she could tell, Naruto had arrived and gotten the situation under control, which was surprising by itself. A lot of things had been worrying her ever since they started these damn chunin exams.
First was the new appearance of Naruto, which she did analyze regardless of what the others thought. His attire, along with his attitude were obviously different. He was acting much more serious than he had in the academy. And from what Sakura had been telling her, he was acting more different than he had been a week ago. Then when she saw Hinata, she KNEW something was wrong. People don't just change like that over night...do they?
Though she didn't have much time, she looked at herself before they entered the Forest of Death. From what she could tell, she had changed the least out of everyone. Sure, she had built up some of her skills by training with Asuma-sensei and her team, but she spent more of her time trying to look good and thinking of ways to woe Sasuke.
But her world had just been shattered.
Sasuke, no matter how gorgeous she thought he was, had just threatened to kill his own teammate. Now, if she hadn't seen all the changes as of late, Ino probably would have dismissed the comment. However, since the chunin exams started, her brain had been working overtime, finding more questions than answers. By now, anything dealing with Sasuke was like looking at a video game you want to play but having much more important things to do.
So the latest surprise to grace Ino Yamanaka was herself thinking,
'That bastard! What's his problem?'
Her eyes immediately widened. 'Did I...just call Sasuke...'
She shook her head, writing it off to the stress of the exams finally getting to her. Naruto baka was annoying, so maybe Sasuke was just trying to shut him up...no, even she couldn't make an excuse like that for him. When this was over, she was going to need a very, VERY, long rest. Because this was one hell of a reality check.
Naruto and Sasuke still faced each other, Naruto using the few seconds he had to formulate any way to calm him down or subdue him in as little time as possible. Nothing seemed like it work with no knowledge of what was happening to Sasuke. All he knew was that he had a power that had obviously come from the snake-bastard Orochimaru. Where the bastard went was beyond him, but he was fast enough to get in and get out before even the ANBU could show up.
"What's wrong dobe? Scared yet?" Sasuke's left wrist twitched and Naruto knew he was out of time. He jumped back just as Sasuke brought up his left hand, a kunai coming upwards as well, aimed at slashing Naruto in the face. Naruto landed in front of the sound team, making Kin fall to her butt. She looked at the back of Naruto's head as her body shook violently. She couldn't move.
"Shit, let's get the fuck out of here! Come on Kin...KIN!" The bandaged one shouted. However, Kin seemed to be frozen in fear. He growled and began to dash away.
"Wait, we're just gonna leave her?" Zakuzu called following after his partner.
"Hell yeah. Let her die on her own."
Naruto heard the two but decided to keep focused on Sasuke, who was now stalking forward with an arrogant smirk, the kunai held lazily in his hand. "So you're protecting enemy ninja now, Naruto? Doesn't that make you a traitor?"
"I'm not the one who attacked a comrade." Naruto spat back calmly. "Now stand down Sasuke, or I'll defend myself and turn you over to the Hokage when this is over."
"As if. I'll be turning your body into the morgue." Sasuke's eyes seemed to darken as he activated his sharingan. He licked the kunai, much like a snake, before dashing forward towards Naruto. Naruto parried the first strike with a kunai he had been preparing to pull out. Catching Sasuke off guard with the block, he thrusted his shoulder into Sasuke's abs and pushed him backwards several feet. Naruto threw the kunai he held in his hand towards Sasuke's feet, forcing him to jump back even more.
"Fuuton: Kaze Yari!" Naruto fired the drilling wind towards Sasuke's feet once again. However, he frowned as Sasuke copied his hand signs and put his fingers to his mouth.
"Fuuton: Kaze Yari!" Sasuke repeated back and fired Naruto's own move towards him. Instead of aiming at his feet, Sasuke aimed at Naruto's chest. Naruto didn't have a chance to move and was sent hurtling backwards, the front of his shirt ripping to shreds from the powerful wind. Naruto put a hand on the ground and pushed himself up, flipping him over Kin so that he wouldn't hit her. He landed on his hands and knees right behind the sound kunoichi. She flinched but otherwise didn't move. "Good. I'll kill you both at once! Katon: Goukakyou no Jutsu!"
Sasuke inhaled once more and unleashed large ball of flames towards Naruto and Kin. Still frozen in fear, Kin stared straight forward as her death seemed imminent. Naruto growled and scooped the girl up in his arms, much how he did with Sakura and jumped straight up. The fireball scorched his foot and collided with the trees behind them, igniting a blaze just like that. Naruto landed several yards to the right of his initial position, however, he dropped to one knee and set Kin down as a sharp pain shot through his burned foot.
"Still weak, dobe. Don't tell me that's all you've got after all the big talk you did earlier."
'I can't go in like this...not with the fox's chakra...' Naruto thought to himself. He was about to try to stand again until he felt a tug on his arms. He looked down into the crying face of Kin.
"Tha...thank you...Naruto-kun." She said before passing out due to shock. Naruto nodded, even if the girl couldn't see him. He glanced to his left.
"Fuu, come get her." He called in a dangerously low tone. Without a question, Fuu darted out of the bushes she had been hiding in and towards Naruto. Sasuke saw the girl and rushed towards her. In the instant that Sasuke had appeared in front of Fuu, Naruto had appeared at Sasuke's side. The sheer speed that they both were showing caused less trained eyes to blink in disbelief.
"She didn't do anything!" Naruto called driving his fist into Sasuke's face. Sasuke left the ground, soaring backwards but regained his balance in a flip. Naruto winced again as he landed on his burned foot. Fuu, though she was startled by Sasuke's sudden attack, continued on to grab Kin and then head over to where Sakura was watching in horror. Fuu turned to Naruto with sad eyes and a pain in her heart. She knew what he was going through right now. Fighting a teammate all the while trying to keep himself from going insane from using the Kyubi's chakra. She wanted to help, but she didn't want to be a burden to Naruto.
"Who are you?" Sakura demanded, glancing between Fuu and the unconscious Kin. Fuu frowned at the pink-haired pre-teen. After being attacked by enemy nin, she couldn't blame the girl for being suspicious. And knowing this, she took a sitting position between Sakura and Kin, to keep her from doing anything she'd regret.
"A friend of Naruto's." Her gaze remained on the battle between Naruto and Sasuke. Sakura seemed to relax a bit, but the feeling of the destructive chakra's put her on alert again.
"Why is Naruto doing this?" Sakura whispered, though from the tensing of Fuu's shoulders, she had heard.
"What are you talking about?" Fuu asked, not turning towards the girl.
"Why is Naruto attacking Sasuke-kun?"
For a moment, Fuu felt like back handing the girl, but held in her anger, for Naruto's sake. "Didn't you hear that Sasuke kid threaten Naruto? This is just self-defense! And if anything, Sasuke's the one that's been attacking this whole time!"
"No! Sasuke-kun just wanted to protect me!" Sakura called urgently. Fuu shook her head in disgust.
"Are you stupid? Naruto was the one protecting you, or did you forget that? He had the enemy on the ropes until Sasuke got up!"
Sakura was prepared to retort, but having enough of this conversation already, Fuu jabbed her in the arm with the same stinger that came from her wrist. Sakura yelped but fell asleep soon afterward. Fuu growled at the girl.
'Great, now I'm in a bad mood AND hungry.'
"What was that? You call that a punch?" Sasuke chuckled at the glare Naruto shot him. "This is more boring than I'd thought it'd be. I guess I'll just end this now!"
Sasuke darted forward again, making hand signs faster than most chunin could. "Katon: Housenka!" (Fire Style: Phoenix Flower)
The dozens of smaller fire balls seemed to hit their mark and kick up dirt and smoke as they slammed around Naruto as well as hit him. Sasuke charged right into the dust cloud. He wasn't out of sight of the others for long as he came charging out of the opposite side of the smoke cloud, holding Naruto up by the throat. He slammed Naruto into a tree, holding him pinned with one hand.
Fuu's eyes widened at the feral look in Naruto's eyes. He snarled, struggling against Sasuke's grip. The swirling dark chakra only seemed to grow around Sasuke, the marks spreading until they covered more than half of his body and his sharingan was a sickly yellow.
A confused look formed on Sasuke's face as red chakra began to bubble around Naruto. His whisker marks grew darker and his hair seemed to grow just a bit, or maybe it just became spikier. Naruto's grip on Sasuke's wrist grew, and the Uchiha winced as he was forced to let Naruto's feet touch the ground. He tried to tighten his grip but Naruto slowly overpowered him, pushing his hand back. A flare of red chakra covered Naruto, though it didn't have a definite shape.
"What...the hell are you?" Sasuke growled out as he was the one struggling to shake Naruto's grip now. Naruto's anger didn't seem to subside, even with the chakra no longer growing around him.
"Maybe...I'm what you want to be." Naruto spoke darkly before pulling Sasuke by his wrist into a vicious knee to the gut. A loud crack was heard around the clearing, as it was obvious Naruto had broken something with the force of the blow. In the process, Naruto had also dislocated Sasuke's wrist. The Uchiha was in too much pain to even scream, and settled for dropping to his knees.
The boiling red chakra that had been surrounding Naruto slowly began to dissipate. Naruto took deep breaths as he gazed at Sasuke's cowering form, the marks of the curse seal fading as well. Naruto looked around, feeling more than seeing the gazes of the other genin around him.
"Naruto..." The Kyubi started in his mind. However, the blonde's gaze fell onto Fuu. The fear in her eyes reflected that of the villagers before they began to attack him. "Calm down, Naruto..."
Naruto's breathing quickened. He could only picture the gazes of all the others on him. Instantly, chants of 'monster' and 'demon' began to play in his head. He held his head in pain, not wanting to be seen like that again. Not by his friends.
"Naruto, it's not like that!"
As if he hadn't heard him, Naruto darted from the clearing, taking the only route that seemed unoccupied by eavesdroppers. And just as Naruto left the clearing, Anko, the ANBU, and Hinata's team landed.
Anko looked around startled, sensing Naruto's chakra getting further and further away. The other genin teams began to make themselves known, each one by one coming from their hiding spots.
"Shit, what the fuck happened here?" Anko demanded the confused and scared looking genin.
"Hey!" Fuu's cry attracted her attention as the ANBU held the girl down with her arms pinned behind her back. Sitting in an indentation of a tree with an unconscious leaf nin while another was currently gasping for breath and damn near broken on the ground didn't look good for a kunoichi of another village. Anko was definitely not in the mood for games and swiftly walked over to the downed girl. She pulled out a kunai and held it to Fuu's throat, bringing protest from Train and Uriu before the glare she shot them effectively silenced them.
"What the fuck happened here?" She demanded again.
"Sensei, don't! They had nothing to do with this! If anything, that girl helped the situation!" Ino was the first to cry out.
"That bitch didn't help!" Sasuke gasped from on the ground, still clutching his stomach, but also his neck. Once again, Anko's attention was drawn elsewhere, and to Fuu's relief, she dismissed the girl. However, the ANBU did not release her.
Anko stormed over to Sasuke, kicking him to his back and ignoring the howl of pain it caused him. She moved his hand forcefully and felt her stomach drop at seeing the handy work of her former sensei on the boys neck. She sighed as half of her fears were confirmed.
"Shit...shit, shit, shit, shit!" She growled out, having the urge to cut the skin from Sasuke's neck just to prevent looking at the damned seal.
"Ano, what's wrong sensei?" Tenten asked, sending worried glances in the direction Naruto had ran off to. Anko looked around the confused genin, finally registering that this confrontation as much too public for her liking. She looked back at the ANBU.
"Get them their damn scrolls and escort them to the tower. Have medical nin waiting and alert their Jonin-sensei's. Separate the Uchiha to his own quarters. Keep the Amegakure team under surveillance until you contact their sensei and alert the Hokage of the new issue."
"What about this girl?" One of the ANBU asked, motioning towards the still unconscious form of Kin.
"Keep her with the Ame team. Get moving, now!" Anko ordered and the ANBU began to round up the genin.
"Where's Naruto-kun?" Hinata demanded as the ANBU tried to herd them away.
"Don't worry." Anko spoke without looking back. The worried look in Anko's eyes surprised Hinata. "I'll find him. I promise."
Hinata wanted to argue more, but found it in her best interest to stay silent for now. Something big was going on, that much was for certain. She silently nodded her thanks to Anko before following orders and heading away with the ANBU and the other teams.
Anko waited until the ANBU and genin were out of sensing distance. She bit her thumb and flashed through hand seals before slamming her palm to the ground and summoning a house sized snake. She jumped on its back and issued a simple command of go as the snake darted forward into the brush after Naruto.
"That brat!" Anko called aloud though she didn't mean to. She grit her teeth as she could feel his chakra up ahead. But it wasn't why she was in such a rush.
Naruto was headed straight for Orochimaru.
A/N: For those of you reading both this story and Beyond The Horizon, (And for the three of you who probably read Break Me Down), I'm trying to rotate the updates effectively, though that's easier said than done. BTH is almost done, which is the reason I started BMD. HWND is going to be the longest story I have, and I probably won't be done with it for a couple of years. (Yes, I plan on making this epic length.) So, if anyone plans on sticking around for the rest of this story, make yourselves comfortable and throw in your insight! This stories future has many branching paths, and everything is not what it seems.
On another note, the whole Orochimaru deal is going to be much more complicated than in canon. I found it hard to believe that Anko couldn't tell that he was disguised as a genin and he was easily permitted into the Forest of Death. That's just plain laziness on Kishimoto's part. So the deal with him having two chakra signatures is a testament to how devious Orochimaru is going to truly be in this story.
If I forgot any characters that anyone wants to see, let me know and I'll be sure to try to fit them in when possible. (This does not mean I'm adding more girls to the harem. I'm honestly still trying to figure out how I'm going to handle the ones I already have.)
Now for a final note, I will personally shout out the person who can figure out what anime Train is from. (It shouldn't be that hard.)