Me: I do not own Naruto. ^_^
#2
'Anko Mitarashi,' Kasumi thought, eyeing the purple-haired woman who had crashed through a window and very elaborately set up a sign behind her with kunai, 'reminds me of Naruto-san.'
It was an exasperating thought. Especially as she reminded her of Naruto before he had been dragged into Team 7.
"69?!" She exclaimed in disbelief, turning to Ibiki, who had dryly informed her of her bad timing. "Ibiki! You left 23 teams?! The test was too easy this time!"
"This time, there are a lot of out-standing ones." He justified.
"Bah, that's fine." Anko waved it off. "I'll at least cut them in half during the second Exam."
Kasumi wanted to groan. That didn't sound safe at all. And the bad feeling in the back of her mind was starting to intensify.
"Ahh... I'm getting excited." Indeed, she was starting to tremble. "I'll explain everything after we've changed places. Follow me!"
As the genin obediently got to their feet and started to trickle out of the room, Kasumi slipped in between Naruto and Sasuke, who were waiting for her near the doorway. "We passed the first Exam." She sighed softly.
"Yeah! I told you we would do it, Kasumi-chan!" Naruto grinned that wide, reassuring grin at her, and slung an arm over her shoulder.
"Hn." Sasuke agreed, bumping her arm with his own lightly. "Don't go worrying for nothing."
"Hmm... don't be getting overconfident now." She cautioned. "This was only the start."
"Humph. How bad could the rest of it be?" Naruto said.
'Very, very bad...' She thought to herself but said nothing.
FoD
Kasumi eyed the forest before her. Tall, menacing tress. Check. Strange, creepy noises. Check. Intimidating, dangerous name. Check. Bad, bad feeling in her gut. Check.
Ah. Great.
"You'll soon find out why it's called 'The Forest of Death'." Anko grinned wickedly, brown eyes twinkling. The silence that followed that enthusiastic proclamation was tense and uncomfortable.
It was promptly broken by Kiba who shouted, "Yeah, yeah, yeah! Get on with it! You think a stupid name is going to scare me?!"
'... Is it really a good idea to insult the proctor?' Kasumi wondered to herself, watching Anko's smile widen with some apprehension. 'Especially one that isn't in the least afraid of Morino Ibiki?'
"Spirited, aren't you?" In the blink of an eye, a kunai was in her hands and thrown through the air, ending up embedded in the ground near three shinobi with long black hair. Not a second later and Anko was behind Kiba, giggling.
"Kids like you are quickly killed..." She commented, happily licking at the blood leaking out of the cut on his cheek. The Inuzuka was frozen, eyes wide. "Spraying that red blood I love..."
Kasumi felt Naruto stiffen, shuffling a little closer to her, but her focus wasn't on her blond teammate, who was probably creeped out by the spectacle. No, it was in the icy fingers dancing down the spine, the unmistakable feeling of being in the presence of a predator.
What...?
Without warning, Anko's head snapped back and another kunai was in her hand, pressing against the long, long tongue of the grass genin that had moved up behind her silently, the previously thrown kunai in the snake-like appendage's grip. "Here's... your kunai..." He hissed, and Kasumi's face went two shades paler.
Danger! Danger! Danger! Her senses shrieked and unwittingly, she took a step back. What was with all of the people in this year's Chunin Exams? First Kabuto and then this guy... they made her want to run far, far away, preferably into the protection of her brother or sensei.
"Oh, thank you." Anko responded, light-hearted tone almost forced now. The grass nin moved back a step and the purple-haired jounin stared threateningly at him, kunai spinning between her fingers. "But you know, don't sneak up behind me... unless you want to die."
"No... I just get excited when I see red blood..." He licked his lips obscenely, long tongue hanging out of his mouth. "Plus, you cut my precious hair, I couldn't help it..."
Kasumi dug her fingernails into her palms, aware of her heart pounding frantically inside her chest, like it wanted to leap out and escape. She tapped the heel of her boot lightly on the ground, toes twitching. Her feet wanted to move, bring her away from this place, this person. Run! Run! Run!
"Sorry about that." Anko said offhandedly, smile unfaltering as the other shinobi moved away. "Looks like we have a lot of bloodthirsty ones in this test. Hehehe, this should be fun."
'No. No, this isn't going to be fun,' Kasumi thought, biting the inside of her cheek, 'That one isn't a genin; can't you see?! He's dangerous, he's dangerous... to us...' Her eyes widened minutely, a bead of sweat rolling down her back. Oh. Oh.
"Now, before the second test, there's something I have to pass out." Anko grinned, whipping out a pile of papers, completely oblivious to Kasumi's rising panic. "You must sign these agreement forms?"
"What?" Naruto wrinkled his brow.
"There will be deaths in this one and if I don't have you sign these, it will all be my responsibility, hehe." Her grin widened, blatantly pleased by the idea of the massacre waiting to happen. "I'm going to explain the second test, then you can sign it afterwards. And then each team will check in at that booth behind me."
Kasumi partially blanked out as Anko explained the rules for the second test, mind whirling even as she fought to keep her breathing normal. It would do them no good if she showed weakness and now was hardly the time to lose her cool. What was her goal?
Keep her team alive. Stay away from Kabuto and Mr. Mile-Long-Tongue. Get a heaven and earth scroll. Arrive at the tower before disaster could fall.
Okay, okay, she could do this. She had her goals; how could she complete them? Logically, if she could stay away from the named threats, she would be able to keep her team alive. To arrive at the Tower quickly, she would need the scrolls. For speed, they would need to obtain the necessary scrolls without haste.
Now, how was she going to do that? Her mind snapped through options, desperation and urgency ramping up the pace.
Kasumi herself was the fastest combatant on the team, so in the case of a fight, she supposed she could do her best to end it rapidly. However, that sort of pressure would most likely cause accidents and result in injury. Plus, she couldn't place her hopes on meeting a team as soon as they entered the Forest.
Sasuke. He was almost as fast as her, although not quite, but, again, that was hopes and wishing and she couldn't depend on that. His specialties were fire and lightning, rather flashy, if she said so herself. Drawing attention was the last thing she wanted. That was no, then.
Naruto. He was the best choice really. Disregarding his loud proclamations and orange, the prankster was a genius at stealth and traps. His shadows clones were a beautiful, beautiful advantage as well. He could create several shadow clones and henge them into spiders, thereby planting mobile tracking devices on other teams.
Or... they could just snatch the scrolls before they even entered the Forest. Yes, Kasumi liked that plan the best.
As soon as Anko was done explaining, Kasumi grabbed Naruto and Sasuke's hands and dragged them off to a mostly-secluded corner.
"Kasumi-chan? Are you okay? You look kind of pale." Naruto fussed the second they were out of earshot. Sasuke didn't say anything but fixed her with a burning onyx stare that said he knew she was hiding something.
"I'm fine." She said hastily, rather disinclined to waste time. "Alright, listen up, okay?"
They exchanged a look before giving her their full attention, although Naruto still looked concerned and Sasuke was frowning slightly.
"We are staying away from Kabuto-san and the grass-nin with the mile-long tongue." Kasumi said firmly, sienna eyes flashing, all but daring the boys to disagree with her. They didn't, probably because she was shivering slightly with fear.
"After we receive our scroll, we'll take the long way around to our gate, #12, and while we're at it, Naruto-san will very kindly accept the scrolls of everyone along the way. After that, it's a straight road to the Tower."
She paused for a moment. "Any questions?" Kasumi wanted to get out of here. Preferably, now.
"Nope! Let's do this!" Naruto grinned at her, ever confident.
"Hn." That was a negative from Sasuke.
"Then let's go." Hopefully, things would go smoothly and nobody would get hurt. That was what an optimist would think.
But Kasumi wasn't an optimist. She was a realist. And she had the sinking notion that this would go much, much worse than the Wave Mission.
Scrolls
For a plan hastily conjured up on the spot, Sasuke thought to himself, it had worked quite well. But, then again, that was why Kasumi was their team strategist in the first place.
And speaking of Kasumi... he sneaked a glance at his only female teammate. She was chatting with Naruto, a small, seemingly natural smile on her pink lips, chocolate brown eyes warm and unconcerned. There was not a hint of tension in her body, her movements graceful as ever.
Her facade was almost perfectly in place. Almost.
Except ever since Team 7 had arrived at the so-called Forest of Death, Sasuke had picked up on the subtle tension that vibrated beneath her skin, the small, almost subconscious moves that she'd made not fitting in with what he knew of the kunoichi's poise. There was a practically undetectable strain of anxiety in her soft tone that made his instincts prickle.
He was pretty sure Naruto had noticed as well, hence why the dobe was now trying to put Kasumi more at ease with his boasts and teasing. It helped that with Sasuke's nonchalant posture and Kasumi's light smile and Naruto's sheer noise, none of the teams they passed suspected a thing even as Naruto robbed them all blind.
Sasuke admitted that in this one field, the dobe was an absolute master. He had even been looking for it, in between keeping an eye out for suspicious genin and looking unconcerned, but had seen nothing. This heist was even worth all of those hours spent hammering that stealing wasn't shameful into Naruto's thick skull.
Finally, they stopped in front of their gate and by unanimous consent, huddled close. Sasuke made sure to remain alert, well aware that they probably weren't the only ones up to no good before the test even started. "Naruto?"
The blonde stuck a hand into his pocket and slipped out two scolls with a foxy grin, a satisfied glint in his blue eyes. At any other time, Sasuke would have made a dismal comment, but he figured reluctantly that this one time, Naruto deserved the pride.
"One heaven scroll and one earth scroll." Kasumi smiled that smile that Naruto and Sasuke had very quickly learned to avoid and idly placed an earth scroll into her backpack. "Along with our original heaven scroll, we have three scrolls. Sasuke-san, keep that earth scroll. Naruto-san, transform another scroll into a fake heaven scroll and keep that please."
"Are we going straight to the Tower?" Sasuke questioned as he tucked the scroll into his pocket, Naruto doing the same after performing the Henge jutsu on a blank scroll he retrieved from his pouch.
"Yes. If we linger, there may be unnecessary attacks and problems. The sooner we get to the Tower, the sooner we will be safe and have time to rest before the next test." It was an eminently sensible response, and it told Sasuke that regardless of whatever was bothering Kasumi, her mind was working just fine.
Still, those shadows in her coffee eyes were a bit too close to terror and it took no effort at all to remember her disquiet before the Exams. Sasuke couldn't help but think that everything wasn't going to be fine, after all.
Ambush
Kasumi was utterly unsurprised when not sixty minutes in, they got into trouble.
"AHHH!"
"... Sounds like it's started." She murmured as they jumped through the trees.
"Yeah." A pause and then, sheepishly, "I have to take a piss."
Kasumi sighed and landed in the middle of a small clearing, Sasuke and Naruto landing on either side of her. "Bushes." She commanded, pointing at a nearby clutch.
"Got it!" Naruto disappeared into green shrubbery and left the clearing in silence. Sasuke was hardly the talkative sort, and Kasumi was too busy agonizing over the twisting of her gut to participate in small-talk.
At least, until a light tremor shook her body. Kasumi blinked, glancing up as the bushes rustled and Naruto came out with a wide, idiotic smile. "Man! So much came out! I feel great now!"
Kasumi's thoughts slammed on the break. One, Naruto would never say that in front of her - not after the amount of time she had used bad manners as an excuse for senbon practice. Two, Naruto's shuriken holster was on his left leg when he was right-handed. Three, Naruto didn't make her want to stab senbon through his neck.
"... Eeh?! Something wrong, you two?" 'Naruto' asked in concern when both Kasumi and Sasuke stayed silent.
She inhaled deeply, exhaled slowly, eyes fluttering closed. Why was the universe conspiring against her? She felt like she was going to explode out of her skin from frustration. Kasumi just wanted to get the hell out of here. A flick of her wrist and she gripped four senbon between her fingers.
Sasuke rushed forward in a blur of motion and introduced his fist to 'Naruto's' chin in a brutal punch. The wind rustled strands of Kasumi's hair, not that she even flinched despite her closed eyes. The 'blonde' was thrown back, landing heavily against a tree.
Snapping her eyes open, Kasumi threw three senbon at the fake, the metal whistling through the air. One pierced through his shoulder, the other hit his left side, and the last pinned his shirt to the tree behind him. He spluttered. "G-Guys? What are you doing?!"
"Where's the real Naruto?" Sasuke demanded flatly.
"What are you saying all of a sudden?"
"You're acting nothing like the real Naruto. And he's right-handed. You're a fake loser who's worse than Naruto at transforming," was Sasuke's harsh evaluation.
The poser grinned, a poof of smoke surrounding him to reveal a ninja with the metal plate of the Village Hidden in Rain and a strange gas mask. "Unlucky! You figured it out, oh well! Which one of you has the scro - umph!" He cut himself off with a gasp as Kasumi snapped her arm forward, sending her last senbon directly into a pressure point.
Paralyzed, he could only pitch forward, mouth working soundlessly. Face blank with only a slight downward tilt to her lips, Kasumi strode forward and, for good measure, hit two more of his pressure points. Unless he had some obscure bloodline or jutsu, he wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.
Which he totally merited, in her opinion.
When she looked up at her remaining teammate, Sasuke was looking at her with a contemplative gaze. "You're in a bad mood." He said after a moment.
Kasumi wanted to laugh hysterically. She hadn't felt like... like hunted prey so much so since the extermination of her Clan, and she was fairly certain something catastrophic was going to happen in the next few hours, and he thought she was in a bad mood?!
Swallowing down the urge, she merely raised an eyebrow and said, "We should find Naruto-san."
Sasuke frowned at her, but nodded curtly and they both took off for the trees. Finding their blond teammate wasn't hard; he was tied up on the forest ground not far away and it only took a second to free him from his bounds.
"Are you alright?" Kasumi asked softly.
"Yeah! That bastard just took me by surprise."
"Then we should go."
"One of my clones met some strange girl a few minutes ago." Naruto muttered as they took to the trees once more.
Kasumi tilted her head. She had asked the blonde to create several dozens clones and spread them out to keep an eye out for danger. "Really?"
"Mm-hm. I think she was from Kusagakure." He nodded firmly. "My clone knocked her out, but we don't need her scroll, right?"
"No. Leave her be." Sasuke commanded.
"Yeah, yeah." Naruto grumbled.
Threat
It came fifteen minutes later. By that time, Kasumi's senses had gone so haywire she was struggling to stay focused. Both Naruto and Sasuke were shooting looks at her when they thought she wasn't paying attention, so her fracturing composure wasn't as hidden as she would like.
And then she forgot all about that when a terrified scream arose in her own mind. On instinct, every muscle in her body tensed as the realization hit. He was here.
Kasumi opened her mouth, to do what she didn't know. Yell out a warning, tell them to go faster, hit the ground, start crying... but it never came to that. An immense blast of wind hit them that exact second, blurring her world even as she dug her feet into the ground.
"More enemies?!" Sasuke shouted, but the majority of his words were blown away. The leaves swirled around them all, and, against her will, Kasumi was driven away from her teammates. The jutsu - because it was a jutsu, an absurdly powerful one - sent her crashing into some bushes two dozen feet away from her original position.
Gasping at the impact, for a long moment, Kasumi simply laid there. The previous alarm had faded away to a pained resignation. He was here. What else was there to do? He was so far out of their league... she didn't know what to do. She didn't know what she could do.
'But the others,' a soft, determined voice whispered, 'What about them? Naruto-san? Sasuke-san? They're in danger.' Yes... yes, they were. Kasumi bit her lip grimly, dragging herself to her feet. That's right, she couldn't give up now. Not now. What would her teammates do?
Following an instinct that was growing ever stronger, she made her way northwest and came upon her dark-haired teammate soon after. He was hiding under some bushes, though he jumped to his feet when he sensed her presence. "Kasumi."
"Sasuke-san." She said, keeping her distance. He should know better than to trust without thinking.
It seemed he hadn't forgotten her lessons in that matter. "Stay away." Sasuke demanded, holding a kunai in his hand. "What creature did we see that night in the Land of Waves?"
"A monarch butterfly." He didn't know, she thought wearily. Sasuke still thought they had a chance. He didn't know.
"Good." He nodded, and Kasumi didn't bother questioning him in turn. Her bloodline would have known if he was an impostor.
"Oww... you guys, alright?" Naruto came stumbling out of the trees and Kasumi's heart sank as cold frost crept into her lungs.
"Naruto! Wait a second!" Sasuke snapped. She could have told him that it was useless. "How many times did you fail the Academy?"
"Three!" 'Naruto' grinned widely, looking completely confident.
Sasuke smirked and threw his kunai. The weapon flashed through the air and the threat veered off to the left, yelping, "Whoa!"
"So... this time, it's someone good enough to dodge my attacks..." Sasuke mused.
'This someone...' Kasumi thought to herself with an eerie calm even as she stepped up to his side, 'might just kill us all. Except Sasuke-san.' She stopped abruptly, eyes widening. Where had that thought come from? This... man wanted Sasuke? Why?
'Naruto' smirked and a poof of smoke filled the clearing. "How did you know?" The grass nin who wasn't a grass nin asked curiously, tipping his straw hat. "That I was a fake."
"... Naruto-san," Kasumi said delicately, "would have denied such a fact ever happened."
"I see." He smirked, taking off his hat. "Neither tired nor ill-prepared, are we? This will be more fun than I thought."
Kasumi wanted to close her eyes and curl up in a ball. Maybe cry a bit. This one... made her heart stutter and fingers tremble. He was so very, very dangerous.
Next time:
Her mind made the connection in a heartbeat. Snakes. Snakes equal bad. Stay away from snakes.
Me: And my updates continue to be utterly sporadic. I really should chase down my muse, but I've gotten caught up in stuff lately. Hmm. Well, reviews~
Rosy Fire: Ah yes, Kasumi would be a good interrogator. Nope, the girl really isn't the type to give in or back down. But then, that's sorta Team 7 as a whole. ;D, thanks for the review, hun!
Anime hotty lover. 18: Yup, Kasumi's lessons seem to have had some impact at least. Thank you, I will do my very best!
TamashinoSuzume: Hmm... secretary sounds fitting. Kasumi would make a very efficient, hardworking secretary, I think. Thanks for the lovely review!
BurnedSpy: I think they would both fit! Thanks for the review, hun, hope you enjoy this chapter!
MadnessIsAMust: To be honest, probably not, since I follow the anime. It's much easier to write according to something that stays still for however long it needs to, though, Team 7 really does get the strangest missions. Ooh, a hacker! I should write a one-shot on that. Thank you very much for reviewing, lolz.
starrat: Thank you, hope you enjoy this one, too!
ShikiUploadz: Nope, I think you're the most insistent on the siscon thing. True, true, though I haven't quite decided if she'll end up Tsunade's pupil. Detective, hmm... thanks for the review!~
Arcana The Wolf: Lolz, no problemo, sweetheart. Ooh, spies with high technology...*-*. I love those stories. So many one-shot ideas... you guys'll have to remind me later on. Thank you for your very lovely review!
helenGet: Thank you, I'll do my best!
Moonlily22: I think Kasumi would be an amazing detective. Sasuke is somewhat suspicious at this point, but they have other things to worry about. Please enjoy this chapter!
whiteOostrawberries: Lolz, hi!~ You're very welcome.
SleepAroundTheClock: Definitely! Hope you enjoy this chapter!
LateNightOwl: Aww, thank you! Oooh, a doctor. Hmm... enjoy!
Guest: Well, she's mostly gotten over that, so don't worry. Thanks for the review!
Guest: Hmm...maybe? We'll see how things go. Thanks for the review!
wookiee. cookie: Thank you very much!
purplesmurf712: Yup, yup, she would be a great detective. A teacher would be another good career. Aww, thank you and I hope you enjoy this one as well!
TheQueenOfGoodbyes: I'd love to see how Kasumi does as a hacker. Probably terrify the wits out of all her coworkers, too. XD, thanks for the lovely review, darling!
LynnStark: You know... that's a good question. O.O. Let's just go with rating M cause language, violence, and my peace of mind. ^_^
FleurSuoh: The Forest of Death, hun, the Forest of Death. :3
Guest: Lolz, Kasumi would be a terrifying police officer. I wonder what side of the law she'd stick on? An information broker... now, that, she'd love. Thanks for the review, hun!
xenocanaan: Thank you! I hope you enjoy this chapter as well! XD
MylaUchiha: Lolz, bad, bad stuff, hun. Thanks for the review, hun!
Alexandria Voluri: Thank you very much for all of your lovely reviews! Hmm, Mikasa? That's an interesting comparison, though I do see where you're coming from. Combination attacks are great! And fiery. Let's face it, Kakashi can be a sadistic, passive aggressive sorta guy. Kasumi and Gaara, huh? Maybe in the future, though he already has Temari. Thanks again for all of the thoughtful comments!
Ceralyn: Thank you very much! XD
Me: Phew! So many lovely reviews, thank you all! Hm... my blog is working again, so please check that out. Err... my muse is wandering away, so updates will continue to be weird. Also, my beta is wonderful! Cha~