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Warnings: Contains adult language, themes, and suggestions. It is not suitable for anyone below the age of 16 per FFN guidelines.
July 18th, still the tenth week
Shikamaru arrived at the Uchiha compound at his own pace; he looked at the barrier as he slowed down to a walking pace. A few minutes later he was standing outside the gate, he looked at the closed doors and then sighed.
"Troublesome." He muttered and moved to the opposite side of the street to sit. Sakura and Ino would just tell him to come back until he had the blonde so instead of wasting the effort, he would wait for the blonde and maybe spend some time looking at the clouds.
Daring to open his eyes, Naruto glanced up and the clock and sighed. There was still plenty of time before the exams were over but Naruto was just to damn bored to do anything else. It hadn't taken even fifteen minutes to hide all of Sasuke's boxers. Maybe he should have made it a game, hiding every pair of boxers in a different place, like hide and go seek. But he didn't want to have to go back up to the attic and move them; it was too much effort when he was bored out of his mind.
"It's not like anything's going to happen if I open it a little early." The blonde mumbled to himself. Getting up, he stretched and left the bedroom. Moving to the entryway, Naruto put on his shoes and opened the door. The summer sun was bright compared to the dark house; Naruto raised his arm to shield his eyes and frowned. He would have to open more windows during the day to let light in.
Closing the door behind him, Naruto paced himself at a stroll, sticking his hands inside of his pockets. "Mah, I hope Sasuke is doing alright." The blonde mumbled to himself. Naruto didn't know why but the silence of the compound around him seemed to reek of foreboding and it gave the blonde the creeps.
"Heh," Naruto chuckled and smiled. "I'm not worried, Sasuke is going to be fine." The blonde reassured himself as he walked through the maze of empty houses.
Sasuke watched as Kyoko came down, meeting him in the center. Her wounds had all but faded, merely long, paper edge thin scratches and open tears in her clothes. He doubted anyone else would notice but he would have to be careful in getting her back to the compound. Genma had called her name as she made her way over and the crowd was ecstatic. The older male told them to begin and backed away. Kyoko was too nervous to let her eyes wander the crowd, she stared at Sasuke and he smirked.
"Don't expect me to go easy on you." He told her. The redhead's fists were shaking and she raised her hand to her hair. He had already pointed out that tell to her, was she so scared she forgot everything? "Forfeit when you want or I will kill you."
"O-okay." She told him before her hand flicked from behind her head. Her aim was solid, if Sasuke hadn't dodged, it would have hit his head. The crowd was cheering loudly, their two favorites in the finals and it was on. Kyoko was careful not to let any of her attacks come near Sasuke's stomach and Sasuke was grateful for that, not that he was going to go easy on the redhead. Returning fire, Kyoko dodged with skill but no confidence. She did a back flip, leaving something on the ground, but with a swift move covered it in dirt. Sasuke saw this but continued on, knowing a smoke bomb tag when he saw one.
The Uchiha continued to force her backwards and was careful not to step on the tag. He watched as Kyoko frowned nervously at him missing the tag and went back on the offensive. She had stored her last opponent's kunai in her pouch and was using them with careful aim. They both were careful, Kyoko keeping a balance between attacking and defending. She did well to keep Sasuke in the area where her bomb tag was but the Uchiha just stepped over it again and again.
Finally growing frustrated, Kyoko pushed Sasuke backwards, away from the tag and purposefully aimed at it. Sasuke expected as much and jumped into the air just as the tag exploded. From above, Sasuke could see Kyoko looking around wildly, kunai in hand. She didn't even think to look up. Quietly, Sasuke pulled several kunai out, wires attached to the ring hold.
A single kunai slipped in his grasp, clinking against another quietly. Sasuke acted as he watched Kyoko stiffen, throwing the kunai in two different directions, they created a net that would hold the redhead down. As Sasuke descended, Kyoko put her hands in front of her as a shield and as the wire hit her skin she pulled her hand with the kunai downwards. It cut the wires with a deep 'twang' and the redhead was darting underneath and past Sasuke as he dropped to the ground.
Sasuke flipped around and threw another barrage of kunai into the cloud of smoke Kyoko had disappeared into. Rolling into his landing, careful of his stomach, Sasuke focused on the cloud; ready for anything she might throw at him. There would be no point in going into the smoke; Kyoko was no doubt waiting for it. Instead he waited for the smoke to dissipate, her element of surprise would be ruined. As he waited, he paced. Walking around the smoke, Sasuke kept his eye on the shadowy figure inside of it. The crowd had simmered down, waiting to see what would happen next. Once the smoke had mostly dissipated, Sasuke could see Kyoko looking around wildly for the Uchiha. Inside the smoke her vision was blurred, a most opportune moment for him.
Suddenly, the redhead's face appeared out of the smoke, disappearing back into it before the Uchiha could do anything. Something flickered at the edge of his vision; it was a genjutsu, smart, tricky. Kyoko definitely was giving her all no matter how terrified she was. "Release." Sasuke whispered. The world flickered again and he was looking at the real world again. She was good, but not that good. Kyoko was still hiding in the smoke; she hadn't heard him release the genjutsu. Stalking up to her silently was child's play; he eased several shuriken out and took careful aim. Kyoko turned just as Sasuke threw his first shuriken. It whizzed past her head, digging itself into the skin of her cheek and ear.
"Hi-ah!" The redhead cried out in surprise, she fell backwards. Staggering to stand up, she reached for her pouch but Sasuke kept he unbalanced. He threw another shuriken and caught her shoulder. "Aah!" Kyoko cried out in pain. She pulled her arm from behind her back, kunai in hand. Reaching with her free hand, she gripped the shuriken and pulled it out from her shoulder with a pained grunt. Sasuke gave her enough time to toss the shuriken away before tossing two more at her. She managed to deflect one of them but the other imbedded itself into her hand that held the kunai.
Kyoko's face contorted in pain and she dropped the kunai. "Eh-aah," The redhead whimpered as she gripped the shuriken and tore it from the back of her palm. She dropped it and looked up, holding her bloody hand tightly. Sasuke had one more shuriken and took careful aim, Kyoko on the other hand looked around wildly, turned around and ran. Seeing this, Sasuke threw the shuriken and caught the redhead in the back. He made sure that it was a flesh wound, low enough it wouldn't puncture her lung and high enough not to hit any other vitals. When it struck her, she dropped to the ground without so much as a gasp. By how far it was sticking out the Uchiha could only assume he had struck a rib bone.
Walking forward, Sasuke watched as she scrambled to her hands and knees, crawling away from her opponent. Digging into his pouch, Sasuke pulled out a kunai, spinning it by the handle easily. Turning around, Kyoko pushed herself farther and farther away with wide eyes. Sasuke took the kunai by the handle and threw it at the redhead. Gasping in surprise, Kyoko caught it between her hands, looking down at her chest were it would have struck. Sasuke continued to walk towards her; he brought his hands together and started to make the hand signs of his personal favorite jutsu. Kyoko looked up, moving to grip the kunai like a lifeline. The crowd was thundering in Sasuke's ears, they loved it. A familiar chirping broke through the roar, a light emanating from his hand. Kyoko backed away, scooting her ass across the ground with fear written across her features.
"Chidori!" Picking up his pace, Sasuke ran at Kyoko, ready to kill her. He held his arm back and stopped right above her, ready to strike. Sasuke gave her a second and a half; more than enough time for her to figure out this was her last moment if she didn't say something.
When she didn't say anything he began to thrust his arm downwards and Kyoko found her voice again. Pulling her arms above her head she screamed. "I forfeit!" Sasuke stopped, his hand half a foot from Kyoko's head. "I forfeit!" She cried out again. Pulling back, Sasuke let his Chidori fade and the chirping disappearing. He barely heard Genma announce the defeat, declaring him the winner. Kyoko looked out from under her arms and lowered them cautiously.
Sasuke leaned down and held out his hand, from this close he could see her cheek slowly healing, the powers of Kyuubi at work. The redhead took his hand and he lifted her up. If Sasuke couldn't hear the crowd before he sure heard it then. Kyoko wiped her forehead of sweat with the back of her arm. With a heavy sigh, Sasuke motioned for Kyoko to turn around and she did. He gripped the shuriken lodged in her back and in one quick tug, pulled it out. Kyoko gasped and lurched forward, obviously in pain. Sasuke gripped her shoulder and held her up.
"Stand up, hide the pain." Sasuke muttered. "They're still watching." Wincing, Kyoko straightened and made a pained noise in the back of her throat. Genma motioned for them to move to the center again and they walked together, Sasuke's hand slipping from her shoulder.
Genma pointed to the doors as they opened and Kyoko looked, watching as all the genin who weren't taken to the hospital walked out. Sasuke sighed but didn't pay them any attention. He was almost there, they'd announce the people to become chuunin and he would be able to leave. The feeling that something was wrong was still in the pit of his stomach, weighing him down. As the genin lined up, he glanced over to where his friends were sitting, the seat next to Sakura was still empty and the feeling grew stronger.
After taking his time, Naruto finally reached the gate and opened it, pulling both doors open. He placed his hand on the seal and felt the tingling sensation of the barrier coming down. As he stepped back to close the gate, the blonde noticed movement across the street.
"Naruto." Shikamaru called out. He stood up and scratched the back of his head with one hand, using the other to motion the blonde over. He walked forward and Naruto did the same so that they would meet in the middle of the empty street.
"Shikamaru," Naruto smiled as his surprise faded. "What are you doing here?" When the genius got close enough, Naruto pulled him into a hug, chuckling when Shikamaru grunted.
"Here to get you." Shikamaru shrugged the blonde off of him. "Did you forget that today was the chuunin exams?" Naruto scoffed and shook his head.
"Of course not!" Naruto suddenly realized his mistake, glanced at Shikamaru nervously and tried to backtrack his statement. "Well, I mean, uh." He suddenly blushed and grew flustered, poking his two pointer fingers together. This was it, Shikamaru was going to find out and Sasuke was going to kill him. Naruto's mumbling turning into rambling as he tried to find a way out of the hole he had dug.
"Did you two get into a fight again?" Shikamaru interrupted him. He watched as Naruto grinned weakly and rolled his eyes at the blonde.
"Well, not exactly." Naruto drew out his last word and smiled nervously. Shikamaru sighed and looked up at the sky.
"Troublesome." Shikamaru muttered. He had known Naruto wasn't going to come to the exam but he hadn't thought of Ino and Sakura asking him to go find the blonde. He had thought the two had gotten into a fight, a big enough one that Naruto was ignoring the Uchiha.
Now finding Naruto and seeing that he wasn't upset about anything, it made Shikamaru wonder, why were they acting as if they were hiding something? He had assumed they would open the compound out for their friends to move into, it seemed the most likely choice since the blonde was so sociable. It still didn't explain why Naruto hadn't come to see Sasuke in the exam. He didn't know the cause and he didn't feel like wasting any more of his time thinking about it. With a sigh, Shikamaru grabbed Naruto by the elbow and stopped him from continuing in his rambling.
"Come on, you already missed most of the fighting." Shikamaru tugged the blonde away from the compound, readying himself to transport them both back to the stadium.
"Eh? No, Shikamaru wait!" Naruto cried out but they were already in the middle of a whirl of leaves.
"What do you think, Kazekage-sama?" Tsunade asked. She watched as the group of genin came to stand in front of its audience. The stadium was alive with cheering and the Hokage found herself nearly shouting so she could be heard.
Gaara set both his elbows on his arm rests and folded his fingers, resting his chin on them. "I think many of them did well," The redhead glanced from the genin to the Hokage. "But I fear too few did well enough."
Tsunade sighed and nodded. "Would you like to share a bottle of sake after this is finished?" She asked. Her headache was nearly gone which meant it was time to get drunk again.
"It would be a delight." Gaara replied. Tsunade gave him a sideways glance. It was always weird to hear words such as 'delight' coming from the Kazekage's mouth.
"What are we doing?" Kyoko asked. She looked up at the crowd with teary eyes and then at the genin standing next to her. Sasuke looked away from where his friends sat and looked around the stadium, looking for the proctors.
"Waiting for the chuunin's to be announced." Sasuke stated. He looked up to the Kage box; Tsunade would be the one to call out the names because even Anko couldn't take over that job if the Hokage was hung over.
"How long is that going to take?" She breathed deeply, wiping the tears from her eyes. The implied question was aren't we on a schedule?' Sasuke nodded. Kyoko sighed and shifted, the wound on her back must have been giving her problems.
"However long it takes to decide." The Uchiha answered. Slipping his hands in his pockets, Sasuke looked away from the Kage's. "How's your back doing?" The redhead looked over at him and then attempted to reach at her back.
"Hurts." Kyoko replied with irritation, much to Sasuke's surprise. She saw the quick, upward motion of his lip, a lopsided grin that disappeared as soon as it came. Angry, Kyoko frowned and looked away. She said nothing, knowing the Uchiha would have something smart to say in response. They stood there waiting for a few minutes, Sasuke's eyes wandering up to the Kage's box periodically. Finally, Sasuke watched as an anbu appeared next to the Hokage, handing her a scroll before disappearing again.
The crowd hushed itself as the woman stood up, her robes pooling around her. Everyone's eyes turned to Tsunade; she stepped forward and held up the scroll. "This year's new chuunin have been decided!" She cried out and the crowd applauded loudly in response.
"This is it." Kawakami murmured next to Kyoko. Sasuke didn't glance over at him but Kyoko did, the finality of the statement had the same effect on both of them though. Tensed, both waited for Tsunade to continue.
Tsunade opened the scroll and looked over the names, she rolled the scroll back up and addressed the crowd again. "Out of the fourteen participants, only one," she raised her eyebrows as she paused. "Has passed." The crowd went crazy again, the Hokage had to pause, waiting for the crowd to settle. All around him the genin were shifting; they didn't know that there was hardly a chance for their name to be called out. Tsunade waited until the stadium had fallen almost completely silent before continuing. "The accomplished genin who will after this day, become chuunin," Tsunade paused again as the crowd stirred and waited for the noise to settle down. "Is-
"Sasuke!" A voice cried out. The crowd grew silent, looking for who had interrupted the Hokage. Sasuke knew that voice, would recognize that voice anywhere but that voice and the person it belonged to wasn't supposed to be there. He looked around wildly, trying to find the blonde and saw him just as his name was called again. "Sasuke!" The Uchiha saw Shikamaru next to him on the stairs, Sakura and the rest of their friends watching in shock. Sasuke could see Shikamaru's mouth moving in the word he always used-troublesome.
Taking in his blonde's appearance, Sasuke could see the blonde's changing form with great clarity. His voice was the same as normal but his eyes were blood red, the marks on his cheeks deep and expanding. Even his nails were growing, having pointed ends. Sasuke felt the change in pressure before he saw red in the corner of his eye. Everything seemed to be in slow motion, sound dulled and muffled to his ears but he heard Kyoko give out an anguished cry. Turning around, Sasuke was met with the sight of Kyoko's body being engulfed in red chakra. She was trying to fight it off but the scared look in her eyes told Sasuke that she couldn't hold it back. Kyuubi's chakra was overflowing the seal, breaking it.
Acting quickly, Sasuke activated his Sharingan and looked directly into Kyoko's eyes just before they disappeared under the red chakra. It wasn't easy, grabbing a hold of Kyuubi and his chakra, pushing it back while putting the redhead to sleep but he managed. The world seemed to speed back up to a normal pace and multiple things were happening around him. The crowds had erupted into screams of terror. Kyoko returned to her normal state, eyes rolling into the back of her head and she collapsed. Sasuke caught her and looked around. All the genin were backing away, Naruto was coming towards them, preparing a Kage bunshin to distract as many people as he could. His features hadn't returned to normal. Sasuke pulled Kyoko onto his back and moved forward, Naruto and his clones catching up with him as he went.
"We have to get out of here!" Naruto told the Uchiha as the clones surrounded them, creating a barrier.
"I know, Dobe!" Sasuke readjusted Kyoko on his back and formed ten shadow clones of his own. "Create as many clones as you can." Naruto did as he was asked and had all the clones follow them as they jumped over the wall. They used the railing to move themselves higher and higher as people toppled over each other to get away from them. By now jonin, chuunin and anbu were reacting. Sasuke could hear several clones already being dispelled and the crowds were backing away from them as if they were the plague.
"We have to separate!" Sasuke looked over at the blonde to find Naruto was staring right back as they reached the top of the stadium. "Get to the compound as quickly as you can, I'll be right behind you. Close the gate as soon as I'm in." The blonde nodded. It was hard to tell what facial expression the blonde had, Kyuubi's features making it hard to tell anything apart from anger. Naruto darted away first, taking half of the clones with him, six of them Sasuke's. Sasuke followed closely after, moving as fast he could with an unconscious girl on his back. It was hard to see who was following him but the constant 'poof!' sound of clones disappearing told him that several people were following.
"Troublesome." Shikamaru scoffed as he followed behind his group of friends as they chased the jonin who chased the anbu who chased Naruto and Sasuke. Everyone had seen what had happened on the field. At that point, someone would have to be an idiot to not figure out what had happened. As soon as he had brought Naruto to the stadium, the redhead had flipped out, unleashing an enormous amount of chakra. Why a stadium full of people would be scared of a large flow of chakra was only because the chakra that she had unleashed belonged to a nine-tailed fox that was supposedly sealed away inside Naruto. To see someone who they did not know use that chakra would scare any unsuspecting villager.
For a second, it had even surprised Shikamaru. This was why Naruto hadn't gone to the chuunin exams, obviously when he got near her it triggered the effect, whatever that was and Kyuubi's power was released. Sasuke knew about it, Naruto knew about it and they had tried to keep it secret, no doubt planning to fix it like they had done with the Uchiha's cursed seal. Sasuke had then proceeded to knock her out with his infamous Sharingan, taken her body and the three had escaped with Naruto's three hundred clones to keep their followers busy.
Troublesome.
"Move faster, Shikamaru, we have to catch up with them." Ino called back to him. In front of him was the entire group that had been sitting together to support Sasuke.
"There must be an explanation for everything, they aren't the type of people to do things just for the hell of it." Sakura called back. She quickened her pace and the rest of the group did the same.
"Well, Naruto has been known to do those kinds of things," Ino thought aloud. "But never something as serious as this, how could they hide someone who held Kyuubi's power?"
"I heard she came back from the toad mountain, that's why we've never seen her before. She even had a low profile during the month before the third exam." Kiba chimed in.
"That still doesn't explain why they didn't tell anyone about it." Ino frowned as they moved, it was easy to see that they were headed directly for the Uchiha compound and they knew that once the barrier was up, no one outside of it would be able to do anything.
"They're idiots, that's why!" Sakura called out behind her. "They think they can do anything they like without thinking about the damn consequences." The pink haired woman shouted angrily. She was worried about her teammates, it wasn't like them to have done this, the only exception was getting rid of Sasuke's cursed seal but that was only because Sasuke was on probation still, right? Sakura could only hope they had a good reason to do what they were doing, Tsunade was going to have their heads for doing this, regardless of why, it had happened in the middle of the chuunin exams, in front of the Kazekage.
"Troublesome." Shikamaru repeated aloud. This made Sakura move faster, the others following behind her.
Tsunade didn't know what to say to the Kazekage, everything had unfolded before her very eyes and yet she was lost for words. When she saw the redhead become engulfed by Kyuubi's chakra and then Sasuke control it and knock her out, she immediately barked out orders. Obviously something was wrong because that had been Kyuubi's chakra but that was not Naruto. She ordered the anbu to apprehend them and watched as Naruto jumped onto the field, eyes blood red and nails pointedly sharp.
Clones exploded onto the field and then suddenly were off, heading for the nearest part of the wall. The anbu were overwhelmed by the amount of clones and Tsunade could only watch hopelessly as the mass of clones jumped into the stadium seating, a clear path opening up as people hysterically moved to get out of the way. The anbu had followed after them, a few jonin joining in the chase. She saw the mass of clones reach the top of the stadium, split into two masses and then disappear on the other side of the stadium. A few jonin and chuunin tried to calm the masses down but from where she was standing, Sakura and a few of their friends moved to follow the anbu and jonin who chased Naruto and Sasuke.
Closing the scroll in her hands, Tsunade turned around and held it out to the Kazekage. Gaara took it calmly but his eyes were wide in shock, he hadn't been expecting it either. "If you would like to see the name of the one who had passed the exam, you can see there is nothing else that needs to be done here." Tsunade watched as the Kazekage opened the scroll and looked at the name.
"Hokage-sama," An anbu appeared before her and Gaara, kneeling with his head bowed. "The elders wish for you to continue the closing ceremonies, they do not wish for what happened to interrupt the festivities." Tsunade frowned and watched the anbu leave.
Turning back to the Kazekage, Tsunade forced a pleasant smile across her face. "Kazekage-sama, I would love to treat you to some nice hot sake but there seems to be pressing matters I must attend to first." Gaara closed the scroll and handed it back to the Hokage.
"I understand this seems to be a, delicate matter." Gaara quietly answered. Tsunade cringed inwardly at the redhead uttering the word 'delicate'; again it seemed weird for him to say it. Delicate was such as feminine word for a cold, hard ninja such as Gaara Sabaku. "Shall I come to your office when the seriousness of the situation has passed?" Her headache was coming back, not only did she have to deal with this situation but she also had to play politics with Gaara. She really needed a drink. Nodding to him, she turned back around and prepared to address the crowd.
Half of the clones were gone, Sasuke still had two blocks to go and Kyoko was slowing him down. Moving as quickly as possible, Sasuke sped up past the clones in front of him. They let him pass, ready to fight off the Anbu if it would give the Uchiha even a few extra seconds. The 'poof'-ing of clones was happening quicker as he got closer to the compound and it made him nervous. As he got to the last block before the compound, the rest of Naruto's clones came bounding towards him.
As soon as Sasuke met them, he passed right by them and hoped the distraction the two colliding groups of blonde clones. Pushing himself as fast as he could, Sasuke raced to the open gate that was now in sight. Naruto was waiting for him at the gate, waving his hand up as soon as he saw him. The sound of clones crying out as they disappeared from existence rang in the Uchiha's ears; he didn't have much time and was still a few hundred yards from the gate. Not even daring to glance back, Sasuke came closer and closer to the gate that separated him from safety and a hell of a problem.
"Sasuke!" Naruto cried out when the Uchiha was half a dozen yards from the entrance. Turning around, Sasuke saw the kunai coming straight at him. Grabbing a kunai from his pouch with some difficulty, Sasuke deflected it, running backwards. The anbu who threw it was still far away but quickly catching up. As the anbu reached to draw more kunai, Sasuke flipped around, using the momentum to throw Kyoko's body toward the entrance and turned to face his masked opponent again. Deflecting a barrage of kunai, Sasuke continued to run backwards and glanced back to see Naruto reaching just outside of the gate to catch the girl's body.
He was almost there and after another barrage of kunai from the anbu who continuously got closer, Sasuke was inside the gate. Naruto had dragged Kyoko's body away from the entrance and Sasuke slapped his hand down on the tag that sealed the barrier with a tingling sensation. Half a second after Sasuke had sealed the gate, the anbu stopped right in front of him, on the other side of the barrier. Sasuke glared at the anbu for a moment before completely ignoring him, the anbu was just pissed he let Sasuke get away. "I'm so sorry, Sasuke, Shikamaru was outside when I opened the barrier. He transported me before I could make up an excuse." Naruto cried out. Sasuke turned to look at him, his harsh stare slipping into a frown.
"It's fine, Dobe, we got back and the barrier is up. That's all we really needed." Sasuke tried to comfort the blonde but Naruto sighed desolately. "It's not your fault, we didn't expect anyone to be waiting for you to open the barrier." Naruto's red eyes glanced over to the open gate and Sasuke turned his head to see what he was looking at. anbu had lined up at the gate, watching them but a pink haired woman was trying to push through, her lips forming both Naruto and Sasuke's names.
"What are we going to do?" Naruto asked. Sasuke turned back to the blonde, his Sharingan activated. The blonde was still watching Sakura try to get through the anbu but was pulled back by Kiba and Ino.
"We're going to fix Kyoko's seal and deal with everything else later. Naruto, I need you to look at me." Sasuke watched as Naruto turned and looked into the Uchiha's eyes, mouth opening in surprise. Before he could say anything, Sasuke had thrust Kyuubi's chakra back and let Naruto slip into unconsciousness.
Blue eyes rolled into the back of his head and Naruto crumpled downwards. Sasuke had to run forward to catch him. Setting him gently down on the ground, the Uchiha glanced back at the gate. The anbu was still standing in front of the barrier, staring at Sasuke. He had to think quickly, it wouldn't be long until his Sharingan's effect would wear off. Should he drag them to the nearest house? No, that would only cause suspicion; he needed to show them what he was doing.
Acting quickly, Sasuke ran to the house, he didn't know when Kyuubi's chakra would break out again. He was panting heavily when he there bounding to the entrance he opened the door, leaned down and snatched the tarp. Rushing back to the entrance, Sasuke could feel the power emanating from the two unconscious people on the ground. The peace wouldn't last much longer. Quickly opening the tarp up, Sasuke laid it out behind Naruto and Kyoko. Without looking up at the open gate, Sasuke walked around the tarp and picked Kyoko up. Carrying the redhead to one of the circles on the tarp, he noticed that all her wounds during their match was gone, her healing was just as quick as Naruto's now. Gently, he set her down and turned back to the blonde. Movement on the other side of the barrier caught his eye and he looked up. The anbu had backed off enough to let Tsunade through and she immediately pounded on the barrier with her fist.
Her mouth moved but Sasuke couldn't hear her. Looking away again, Sasuke moved over to the blonde and dragged Naruto by his armpits onto the tarp. Lifting up Naruto's shirt, he looked at the blondes' stomach. The seal was prominent and Sasuke moved over to Kyoko, lifting her shirt enough to see the deteriorating seal and nothing more. The scribbles at the edge had all but disappeared, more seeming to flake off as the seconds ticked by. Power radiated off of the two, the air felt thick and was getting harder to breathe in. Stepping back, Sasuke looked over the scene and tried to think of anything that he was missing.
He couldn't think of anything, he had Naruto, Kyoko, the tarp, the barrier was up and his own seal was still covered. Now he just needed to fix the girl's seal and that was by no means easy. Kneeling down at the edge of the tarp, facing the gate, Sasuke placed his hands on two smaller circles and let his chakra flow freely. Sasuke watched as his chakra flowed through the channels of the seal, it first ran to Naruto's circle. What the seal would do was take Sasuke's chakra and literally copy every bit of Naruto's seal and would transfer the copying to Kyoko's seal.
The only issue that Sasuke would probably have a problem with was if the main part of the seal, where Gamatora had given his life for, was already gone. Then there would be no way to fix the seal. At that point, there would be nothing he could do and all hell would break loose as Kyuubi killed Kyoko and rampaged around the compound until it found the base of the seal to break it.
As his chakra travelled up to the blonde's stomach, Sasuke could only hope that it hadn't gotten that far yet. Minutes ticked by, the pressure continued to grow stronger but Sasuke tried to not let it bother him. Chakra pooled over Naruto's stomach and slipped back into the seal and disappearing, it reappeared on Kyoko's seal, forming blue over the black scribbles. This was the most important part and Sasuke pushed more chakra into the seals. He could feel sweat forming on his forehead as he tried to keep his breathing even and steady.
Minutes passed, there was no rejection of his chakra, the pressure in the air was no longer growing but it hadn't dissipated either. Taking this as a good sign, Sasuke continued. The chakra covered the whole of Kyoko's stomach, rippling as piece by piece the seal was restructured. Slowly, it became easier to breathe and Sasuke watched as the seal regenerated faster and faster. It was working, almost everything had gone wrong today but the two most important things had been okay. He had made it out of the chuunin exams with the baby safe and the seal was working. Kyuubi would effectively be held back until they could decide what to do about it.
There was movement on the other side of the barrier, Sasuke looked up and saw Tsunade walking away, the anbu moving in to close the gap. He just got a glimpse of the people outside beyond the anbu and it made his blood run cold. Next to Sakura was Hinata, her pale eyes concentrated and blood vessels straining under her powdery white skin. She was watching him with her Byakugan, she could see the baby, could see Kyuubi's chakra, everything. Hinata knew and there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it. He couldn't worry about that now, he had to make sure his blonde was safe. The anbu hid Hinata from view and he looked back down, concentrating on the seal, he would deal with it later, when he was able to deal with it.
Breathing became easy and the seal on Kyoko's stomach looked like a perfect copy of Naruto's. Sasuke watched for a minute more before his chakra slid from the red head's stomach, back into the seal. He could feel what was left coming back to him, sliding across his fingertips. Then it was over. Gingerly, Sasuke removed his hands from the seal. Nothing happened and he let out a sigh of relief. He had done it. Tiredness washed through him, he had been so hyped on adrenaline the past hour everything crashed down on him. His stomach started doing flips and his throat constricted, knowing what was coming.
Quickly standing up, Sasuke walked quickly to the nearest building but it was coming on to fast, he wasn't going to make it to a bathroom. Once he was behind the building and out of sight of the gate, Sasuke doubled over. He set his hand on the side of the building to keep himself from getting dizzy. He coughed and then puked out what little food was in his stomach, grimacing at the sour taste of it. Waiting for it to pass, Sasuke heaved again. He coughed again and spit out what was left in his mouth before wiping the crap off his lips.
When his stomach had settled, Sasuke slowly walked back to the tarp. His legs felt heavy, like they were full of lead. He sat down between the two unconscious people, facing his blonde. Feeling the stares of the anbu on him, Sasuke leaned over and gently set his hand on Naruto's shoulder. Bright blue eyes opened, staring at the sky, Naruto blinked and looked around. He caught sight of Sasuke and sat up; growing more aware the longer he was awake. Sasuke watched the blonde look at him.
"Did it work?" Naruto asked, he wasn't mad about Sasuke putting him to sleep; it had been for the best. The blonde watched as Sasuke nodded and then held his arms out, pulling the Uchiha into a hug. "Hey, Teme, whatever's wrong, we'll fix it together so don't worry, don't cry." Naruto spoke soothingly. "It's okay, Sasuke." Sasuke sighed raggedly and squeezed his eyes shut. He hadn't realized he was about to cry but could now feel the tears forming at the edges of his eyes. Raising his hand to wipe away the wetness, Sasuke burrowed his head into Naruto's chest.
"Move! Everyone move out of the way!" A jonin called out, he gently ushered a chuunin out of the Hokage's way. Tsunade let him, walking straight through the crowd to the gate of the Uchiha compound.
Anbu lined up in front of the gate, stopping any civilians or spies from watching to see what was going on. "Calm the crowd down, send them home." Tsunade called out to the jonin that had chased the trio. Immediately they went to work, ushering people away, assuring them that the Hokage would take care of it. Tsunade made it to the gate and the anbu let her through. She looked inside the compound and frowned. Sasuke was picking Naruto up by the armpits. Kyoko was already on some sort of brown cloth. She could see black markings on the cloth and recognized them as seals. Putting two and two together, Tsunade grew furious. How could they have hid something this important from her?
She raised her fist and pounded on the barrier as Sasuke looked up. "Sasuke!" She barked. The Uchiha just looked at her before looking back down. "Sasuke." Tsunade called out again but she knew he couldn't hear her. "You, get an aerial view of what's going on in there, you report to only me in my office. Go!" She pointed to a random anbu who bowed quickly before jumping to the nearest roof and out of her sight.
Turning back to the compound, she watched as the Uchiha pulled both of the unconscious' shirts up and moved backwards. It took him a split second before he kneeled down and put his hands on the tarp, no doubt activating the seal. Tsunade could only watch hopelessly watch as blue chakra emanated from the tarp, the sound of the crowd ringing in her ears. "I want them out of here!" Tsunade turned around and called out to the jonin who were swamped by people who had come to see what the commotion was about.
She saw bright pink hair and could feel her eye twitch. "Sakura!" Tsunade called out. Sakura, and the group around her looked over to their Hokage. "You all need to get these people out of here, this is official business."
"But Hokage-sama! They're my teammates, I need to help them." Sakura protested. Tsunade raised her hand and stopped her apprentice from trying to plead to her.
"They're doing just fine on their own Sakura, I need you to keep civilians out of here, that's your priority." Tsunade calmly spoke; she raised her eyebrow and gave a look that was all business. Sakura nodded, nudging her friends to start helping out. Shikamaru sighed but didn't complain about a direct order from the Hokage when she was right in front of him.
"Wait, Hinata. I need you over here." Tsunade motioned to the Hyuuga and watched as she came closer. "I need you to find out what's going on in there with your eyes, you will speak to no one but me in my office about what you see." Hinata nodded demurely before activating her eyes.
"I'll leave it to you, Hinata." Tsunade told the girl and she walked off, heading for her office where she would try to find a way to get rid of her headache that didn't include sake. Why did they have to it today? She thought back to when Naruto had interrupted her, Shikamaru had been standing next to the blonde. "Shikamaru! You're coming with me."
"Troublesome." Shikamaru moaned. He followed Tsunade down the street and it made the blonde woman feel better knowing she had ruined someone else's day.
Hinata bit her lower lip nervously as Tsunade walked away, calling out to Shikamaru to follow her. She had been surprised when Kyuubi's chakra had flared from the girl that had fought Sasuke. Still in a state of shock, she had followed Sakura and the rest of the group to the compound. Now Tsunade, the Hokage, had told her to find out was going on with her once was crush and his lover. It was a lot to take in. Taking a deep breath, she activated her Byakugan and looked into the compound. There was a lot of chakra all around the three, red radiating from both Naruto and Kyoko's bodies but it was diminishing rapidly. Blue chakra, Sasuke's Hinata assumed, was sealing it inside both seals.
Sasuke was fixing their seals, Hinata realized. It almost brought a smile to her lips; she looked over to Sasuke, seeing his hands alight in blue chakra. Then she saw something that wasn't normal, her eyes widened as she looked at Sasuke's stomach. There was an enormous amount of chakra situated at the Uchiha's stomach, a bubble of brighter blue than his normal color of chakra that connected to the rest of his system. Hinata had seen something like this back when she was learning about pregnancy, it was something that infertile women used to carry a child but that couldn't be inside Sasuke, there was no way. She looked closer inside the bubble of chakra and in shock of what she saw; she inhaled sharply, bringing her hand to her mouth.
"Hinata, what's wrong?" Sakura came up to her, resting her hand on the Hyuuga's shoulder. Jumping in surprise, Hinata turned to look at Sakura and started to stutter.
"N-n-nothing, u-um. I h-have to g-go report to H-Hokage-sama." Hinata deactivated her eyes and bowed her head, a blush spreading across her cheeks starting to burn bright red. The crowd had dispersed for the most part, curious bystanders still ignored the Jonin who politely tried to get them to move on and Kiba had to run over and annoy them enough to get them to leave. Hinata glanced around before jumping onto the nearest rooftop to get to the Hokage tower; she had to speak to the Hokage.
Her mind was reeling, trying to comprehend what she had seen. Had Tsunade known about this? Was that why she wanted the whole thing kept to as low as a public profile as possible? Or did she not know and the only thing she was concerned about was Kyuubi escaping?
She made it to the Hokage tower quickly and practically ran to the Hokage office, stopping in front of the closed door before knocking on it urgently. "Come in!" Tsunade called from inside. Opening the door, Hinata walked inside and quietly shut the door behind her. Shikamaru was already standing in front of the Hokage, looking irritated. The Hokage motioned for her to come forward and Hinata did, nervously looking from Tsunade to Shikamaru. Tsunade set her elbows on her desk and massaged her forehead, a glass of water on top of her paperwork.
"Alright Shikamaru, tell me what happened." Tsunade growled. Shikamaru sighed and looked at the ceiling.
"You had me on duty, Sakura caught my attention and asked me to get Naruto because he hadn't shown up yet." Shikamaru paused long enough for Tsunade to interrupt.
"When did this happen?" Tsunade asked.
"The last match of the second round. I went then, when I got to the compound the barrier was up so I waited for him. Eventually Naruto showed up and unlocked the barrier." Shikamaru shifted his position, which prompted Tsunade to ask another question.
"Did you ask why he wasn't at the exam?" The blonde lowered her hands and straightened in her chair.
"I asked if he had forgotten what today was, he said no. Asked if he and Sasuke had gotten into a fight and again he said no. Then I took him to the stadium via transportation. You know the rest." Shikamaru finished and sighed. He glanced over to Hinata and then to Tsunade. Hinata frowned, not sure if she should speak or wait for Tsunade to ask her too.
Tsunade reached for the glass of water as an anbu appeared next to Shikamaru, kneeling with his head bowed. "Report." Tsunade barked. The anbu rose and started to speak, voice muffled by his mask.
"It seems as though they created a seal maker of some sort. The Uchiha's chakra is copying Naruto Uzumaki's seal and quite literally pasting it onto Kyoko Suzuki's seal." The anbu watched as Tsunade chugged what water was left in her glass before slamming it down on her desk infuriatedly.
"She has a seal?" Tsunade yelled in surprise. The anbu nodded. Tsunade picked up a brush and blank piece of paper; she nodded to the anbu and held it out to him. "Draw it." The anbu came forward, taking the piece of paper and starting to quickly draw, using his other hand as a surface.
"Hinata." Tsunade turned to the Hyuuga and Hinata nearly jumped out at her skin in surprise. "I need you to tell me what you saw happening to Naruto and that redhead, Kyoko, in those seals." Hinata brought her hand to her chest in nervousness but she steeled herself.
"Sasuke's chakra was copying parts of Naruto's seal and moving it to the seal Kyoko was on, it looked l-like Sasuke was rebuilding her seal, improving it maybe." Hinata stuttered for a second when the anbu finished his drawing and handed it to the Hokage.
Tsunade took the paper but didn't look down at it until Hinata had finished. "That was all the seal was doing?" She glanced up from the paper to see Hinata nod. Sighing, Tsunade gave the paper back to the anbu who immediately set the paper on fire.
"So let me set this straight," Tsunade slouched in her chair. "Kyoko Suzuki, without a doubt, has the nine-tailed fox, or at least part of the fox, inside of her. Her seal, which seemed to be in bad shape, broke when Naruto appeared in the stadium.
"Sasuke must have found out during the earlier exams, he had ample time to talk to Kyoko and told Naruto afterwards." Shikamaru interrupted. Tsunade glanced at him pointedly but nodded before continuing.
"They all knew about this and prepared the tarp to fix it. Do we all agree on this?" Tsunade asked. All three of her underlings nodded. "Then you three will bear witness to the fact that I didn't have a damn clue about any of this!" Tsunade screamed. She stood up, slammed her fists on her desk and making Hinata jump in surprise. "Those fucking idiots." She whispered angrily and sat back down. "Who the hell is Kyoko Suzuki anyway? I never assigned her to a genin team." The anbu bowed before answering.
"Kyoko Suzuki came to the village two days before the chuunin exams from the toad mountain. She had been pronounced dead five years ago after the attack led by Orochimaru, she was given a genin ranking and a letter from the third Hokage, sealed." Tsunade listened to the anbu without a change in expression.
"What are your orders, Hokage-sama?" The anbu asked. Hinata glanced over at him, wondering how he could be so calm after the Hokage's outburst. Tsunade glanced over to the anbu, frowning sourly.
"We apprehend the three when the barrier is taken down, they each will be placed in an isolation cell until everything has settled. I'll deal with them myself." Tsunade spoke tightly. Hinata glanced over at the other two, watching the anbu nod and Shikamaru sighed.
"I think not!" A new female voice spoke up. Hinata turned around as the door to the office closed. In front of the door were two older people, a man and woman, both dressed in ceremonial robes.
"The elders." Shikamaru whispered. "Koharu Utatane and Mitokado Homura." Hinata felt her chest tighten and her stomach dropped, nothing ever went right for Naruto when the elders became involved. She and Shikamaru stepped to the side, allowing Tsunade to get a clear view of the two old crones.
"We have decided that it would be best to put the container and that girl down." Koharu Utatane spoke with an authority that made Hinata's body go cold. She didn't have the authority to do that, right? Hinata looked back to the Hokage, her pale eyes wide in fear. Tsunade glanced at her and then turned her attention back to the elders. Standing up, Tsunade walked around her desk, her pissed off expression slipping away into one of smugness.
"Oh really?" Tsunade asked. She leaned against her desk and crossed her arms over her chest. Watching the two nod their heads, the Hokage scoffed and shook her head. "Shame neither of you are the Hokage to implement your plans." Tsunade watched in satisfaction as both of elders tensed.
"Since I am the Hokage," She raised and arm and pointed at herself with a smirk. "I believe that how this matter is dealt with is my decision to make at my own discretion." Tsunade smirked as the elders gave each other sidelong glances. "Now, the day must have been tiring for the both of you, an anbu will escort each of you back to your homes." Tsunade pointed to the ceiling and then down at the elders. Two anbu slipped from the tunnel above the ceiling down to the floor a polite distance from the elders. They both moved to open the doors to the office and held them open. The elders didn't move, as if waiting to see if the Hokage was kidding.
"You must be joking, do you seriously expect us to believe that you think you can handle this on your own?" Koharu Utatane put on a tense, faked smile but Mitokado Homura just grimaced, knowing his counterpart could not bluff Tsunade into doing what she wanted.
"Why else would I have been nominated Hokage?" Tsunade raised an eyebrow. "Don't worry, I know exactly how to take care of the situation. Go home and rest." Tsunade motioned to the door, smiling as both elders had nothing else to say and quietly left the room. The anbu shut the door behind them and immediately Tsunade's expression soured again.
"We can't let them interfere." Tsunade moved to sit back in her chair and she pointed to the anbu. "Gather five other anbu who are completely loyal to me and will not be swayed by the elders. You will watch the three once they're in isolation and make sure nothing happens." The anbu nodded and disappeared and Tsunade directed her attention to the other two.
"Shikamaru, you'll be with me when I interrogate them once everything has calmed down, you will again report what you think only to me." Tsunade watched Shikamaru sigh heavily and roll his eyes.
"Troublesome." The genius muttered. He turned around and gave Tsunade a wave as he left. Tsunade just sighed heavily and turned to Hinata.
"Thank you for helping on such short notice, Hinata." Tsunade watched as Hinata bowed her head, blushing.
"N-no problem, Hokage-sama." She stuttered out. "U-um, I have a question though." Tsunade blinked and looked up in surprise.
"Yes, what is it?" Tsunade asked. Hinata looked up and took a deep breath.
"I was w-wondering if you knew t-that-" Hinata tried to ask her question, she had nearly gotten to the most important part but the sudden appearance of an anbu right next to her made her jump.
"Hokage-sama." The anbu interrupted. Gulping in nervousness, Hinata glanced from Tsunade to the anbu and back again.
"What is it?" Tsunade questioned with an eye roll. She glanced at Hinata and gave a halfhearted shrug.
"Naruto Uzumaki and Kyoko Suzuki have been awakened, Naruto is requesting your presence before they take down the barrier." The anbu spoke quickly. Immediately, Tsunade was standing up, her eyes narrowed in intensity.
"Hinata, this is going to have to wait, alright?" Tsunade asked. She watched the Hyuuga nod as she walked around the desk. "Let's go, those three are in some deep shit." Tsunade muttered under her breath as she passed Hinata. Said Hyuuga could only swallow thickly, hoping that she was worrying over nothing.