Dystopia Unleashed

By WhoIsThisDamnAuthor

Oh, by the way, you should check out the inspiration for this story, over at SomeDamn Author's.

It's called The Path of God, and it plays on the exact same basic premise, but takes it down a wholly different road.

It's really cool, and, to put it in one word, dark.

Anyway, after that medium-sized hiatus due to exams and such stuff, let's go on with the story.

Chapter 12 : Assignment

The sun was out, and the entire village of Konoha seemed vivid and resplendent. Uchiha Obito walked with a spring in his step, right on the main street. His orange eye protectors were on, giving the entire market district a distinct shade of the same colour.

He was supposed to meet up with the other three people in his team at the HQ. Minato-sensei was going to be there, and together they were going to undertake a C-Rank mission together! Despite his already good mood, that thought in his head brought him fresh joy. It was a struggle not to burst out into song and dance right in the middle of the road, but common sense prevailed over his euphoria.

He was pretty early; the Uchiha had not gotten a wink of sleep at home last night. His mother had cried and hugged him as soon as he had returned, his dad shedding a tear as well. After having eaten the heaviest dinner he could, Obito had then tried to pass out gleefully on his own bed, in his own room. But sleep simply refused to come. Thoughts about the mission, the world outside Konoha, and the chick he would be seeing it with, were quite the eye-openers.

Stepping up to the main entrance of the HQ, he turned and waited. His teammates would be arriving soon. The Genins were never late; Kakashi and Rin both prided themselves on that. The new kid also seemed responsible, given what little he'd seen of him. I'm just hoping I get to know him well enough to call my friend.

He heard footsteps to his left. Three separate sets of footsteps. Looking over, he saw the three walk up to him, Kakashi and Goku clearly bickering about something.

"No, you imbecile," ol' gray hair certainly wasn't one to mince his words. "I think your swordsmanship has actually gotten worse with time."

"Oh really?" the kid replied, attitude just as belligerent. "I'll definitely make you eat those words, moron. Guess who got a nick on your face yesterday? Oh, this guy right here..."

"Oh, come on..." Kakashi groaned. "That was the biggest lucky coincidence of all time, beating even the time I got my hands on a free copy of Icha Icha in the mail the other day..." he paused abruptly, as he realized what he'd just said, and who he had said it in front of.

Nohara Rin's eyebrows had touched the imaginary ceiling. "Kakashi-kun?" she called out to her fellow Genin, eyes incredulous. "Please tell me that you are not into that sort of dubious, unpleasant crap..."

Obito stifled a chuckle as he watched his rival stutter out his denial. Oh no, I'm most certainly not a masked creep who reads teenage fantasy dating novels. Sure bro.

They walked up the stairs two at a time. Spirits were high, and their movements showed it.

Namikaze Minato was waiting outside the door. Knocking politely, he turned the handle and entered, motioning to the four teenagers to follow him.

The village elders were there, along with Sarutobi himself, and the skulking presence of Danzo in the room was enough to send a chill down Goku's spine.

Man, I wish I never get onto his bad side... Although, that's not really in my control any more, is it?

Hiruzen already had the mission scroll in his hands. He seemed dead serious. Even Minato's face was solemn and respectful, quite unlike the casual smirk he usually wore. Clearing his throat, the Sandaime began to brief them.

"So, this is your first C-Rank mission as a Genin unit. Before I proceed to brief you about the details of your assignment, I must commend you for keeping your promise. Taking on a challenge such as yours, and still completing the entire D-Rank scroll in a matter of a month is indeed impressive."

He paused for a moment, and smiled at them. "Anyway," he continued, "the mission that you will be receiving is quite the standard higher than your usual assignments." He unrolled the scroll, and began reading out a particular entry. "Your mission is to attend to some animal threats a neighbouring village is getting. It seems like the carnivores there are extremely aggressive and that five people have already died at their hands."

Rin gasped, a testament to her gender. The others merely listened on, nodding.

"You will have to go investigate the scene, and exterminate the threat. This is one of the more difficult C-Ranked missions in the scroll, but I believe your team, with Minato as your leader," he cast a very non-subtle glance at the yellow-haired Jonin, "can achieve this too with relative ease. You must prepare to leave at the earliest. I presume an hour will be enough. Get ready and meet up again at the village gate. I shall send word of your departure."

"I think they'll be a piece of cake," Obito was showing off again. Kakashi, Rin and Minato gave no fucks, knowing the Uchiha's propensity for chattering on about his fantasies as to how strong he was. Goku, on the other hand, seemed to be eating up everything the moron was spewing out like it was gospel. "I'll just use my fancy move, and they'll be begging for mercy in no time."

"Really, Obito?" before he actually began fangirling right in the middle of the street, Kakashi pulled the Saiyan away by the ear, rolling his eyes at Goku's gullibility.

They stood at the gate, knapsacks already on their shoulders, raring to go. Minato was saying his final goodbyes to Kushina, promising to return early, showering her with hugs, and all that cutesy lovey-dovey crap. The grey-haired teen realized that Goku wasn't the only simpleton in the group. Coughing extremely loud, he made his annoyance known to both of them.

Kushina actually blushed. It was like a blue moon had suddenly decided to dance a jig. Pushing away her significant other towards his bored team, she sprang away, unable to contain her embarrassment any longer. I had no clue she was capable of that. But well, Obito still hasn't fallen head first into a pit yet, so I guess miracles do happen.

They notified the two Chuunins at the gate, entered their departure details into the journal, and quickly hefted their bags and left. The sense of adventure was returning now, after those lame goodbyes. Kakashi picked up speed, and was glad to see the rest of them keep up, Obito barely so. Flitting through the treeline like a bunch of monkeys on crack, they headed toward their destination, the Village of the Snow.

It turned out that their excitement slowly died out once they realized the monotony of pedal travel. Goku once slipped on a branch and hit his head on the next tree trunk, and it was pretty hilarious, but apart from that, their journey was pretty silent and uneventful.

Except that it wasn't.

Not even an hour after they'd started, Minato called a sudden halt. As the Genins gathered around him, he gestured for them to be silent. "I sense chakra in that direction, a couple klicks away. I do not think these are friendly men. Expect things to get messy." Curt, short instructions followed. All but one of the teenagers nodded, understanding the military jargon immediately. Goku merely looked confused, playing the part of the idiot who later gets himself killed.

Minato looked at each one in turn, a clear question in his eyes. Did you get that? Rin, Kakashi and Obito nodded Yes. Goku almost spoke out loud about how confused he was, but he held himself back at the last second, remembering Minato's initial instructions.

Another few seconds passed. The chakra got closer; everyone could sense it now. These guys were strong, there was no doubt about it. At least Chuunins. Plural. The team manoeuvred themselves into defensive positions, Kakashi taking cover behind a tree, Obito crawling into the underbrush, and Rin concealing herself on top of a branch. There was a note of seriousness about their actions that made Goku's hair stand on end. Just how strong are these guys?

"You are going to act as bait, Goku. Get it?" Minato looked him in the eye. Goku nodded, not knowing whether he was going to fight or not. "Just stay put and let them come to you. You are to act as a diversion, so that we can ambush them while their backs were turned." Clear instructions, all of which sailed miles above the confused Saiyan's head. He'd never trained for situations like these, unlike the detailed lessons the to-be Genins received at the Academy. He nodded dumbly, which the Jonin took to be understanding.

"All right. Let's do this." With a sudden flash, Minato disappeared. Goku stood there, completely bamboozled. As the incoming chakra got closer, he stood there on the forest floor, feeling all whiny and abandoned and whatever other crap one feels when betrayed. So when the Kumogakure shinobi arrived, he was standing in a corner, sulking like a child.

At first, there was a moment of consternation as the four Chuunin had no clue as to why this Konoha child was standing with his back to them, lips clearly visible from that angle, pouting like crazy. It soon cleared, though. The tension between the villages still hadn't died down, despite all superficial appearances of peace talks and passive, cowardly treaties. They formed a tight pincer hold around Goku, who didn't seem to care in the least about the threat that had descended upon him.

They pounced, silent as the night. Even as they closed in, something felt off about the whole situation. The kid wasn't reacting in the least; it almost seemed like he was ignoring them on purpose.

I'm never entering Konoha territory again, all of them thought in unison. It's filled with psychopaths.

With a sudden glint in his eye, Goku turned, ducking under the first shinobi's attack, thumbing the hilt of his sword. As the second one approached, he flicked the sword up, increasing the mass as it left the sheath. The incredibly heavy blade's hilt crashed into the chin of the advancing Chuunin with devastating results, sending him reeling back, holding his broken lower jaw in pain.

The others noted the sudden offensive that Goku had taken, and took a defensive step back. And before they knew it, the three other Genins were onto them, Kakashi dropping silently and effectively to break the first one's neck, Rin kicking out at the exposed back of another, and Obito, as usual, stumbling and falling like the embarrassment he was.

Goku watched with increasing alarm as Obito struggled to get to his feet. The enemy was on him, and was about to strike. One small second later, he was falling to his knees, assassinated by Minato's specially-made kunai. Obito cowered for a second, then stood up hastily, not wanting to appear like a total loser. Kakashi and Rin were standing over their respective victims, looking proud as all hell. Looks like the extra training we did helped a lot, huh, Goku mused to himself, relaxing his guard for a second.

"Goku! Kakashi! Rin!" Minato screamed. "LOOK OUT!"

As the three started and looked at their opponents again, they realized the Kawarimi no Jutsu's aftereffects. Three wooden logs lay near them, the one near Goku mutilated thoroughly by his earlier ferocious attack. They had no time to look around. Kakashi was the first to be ambushed. With a snarl (I'm guessing), he spun around, barely deflecting the strong, kunai-wielding arm of the Kumogakure Chuunin. Taking a step back, he entered a passive stance, willing the confrontation into a tense stalemate.

Clutching his sword from his back, he drew it out, cracking his neck as he did so. His opponent took a single glance at the blade, and then redirected his gaze at the Genin's eyes. Taking a moment to size up his opponent, the dude then took out two specially-shaped implements out of his flak jacket. They were hand-blades, similar to the ones Asuma used. Pouring chakra into them, he began honing the edge, until it shone, giving out the very annoying, high-pitched whine of air molecules rubbing against each other.

Kakashi frowned at the noise. Anything that reminded him of his classmates was taboo, in his eyes. Adding to that, his opponent also lowered his face mask, revealing a goatee that made him look like a complete dimwit. Kakashi shook his head, trying and failing to conceal his disappointment.

Damn, this guy's irritating.

Taking a quick stutter-step to the left, he went on the offensive immediately. The earlier he dispatched this nuisance to an early grave, the earlier he could go help Rin. The recent string of missions, coupled with their back-breaking training under Kushina had had its effect. Kakashi noticed the change in his footwork and sword movements as he made short work of the Chuunin, surprised by the lack of wasted motion in his swings. Goku had made him better as well.

Finishing his opponent off with a casual yet deadly thrust between his floating ribs, he had pulled the sword out, cleaned the blood off and re-sheathed it before the dude's body even had time to fall to the ground. Looking down with pity in his eyes, Kakashi said a silent prayer for the fool's soul. Looking up suddenly, he realized what he'd been doing. Face flushed, he waited for a second, scanning for witnesses to his soft moment. Finding none, he breathed a sigh of relief.

Freaking retard tail-boy, he mused angrily, you're gonna turn me into some gay loser if I'm not careful.

Rin and Goku too, had been surrounded by the two others. Minato was still a distance away, but he was practically useless in this scenario, given that he had to manage Obito's whining as well. The two were back-to-back, pressed up close as the enemy circled around, waiting to spot a chink in their defence, waiting to go for the kill.

"You know what to do, right?" Rin whispered to her teammate. Goku nodded, lips tight with determination. They had trained under this scenario dozens of times, Mikoto and Kushina being the ones circling in on them. Kakashi and Rin were the only team of the possible three that had managed to pass that one, and that too after ten terribly failed attempts. Goku and Rin, and Goku with Kakashi had never managed not to get a red mark on their chests, a sign of being 'killed' by a wooden blunt training kunai dipped in red paint.

Goku recollected what the successful combo had done in that situation. Ducking suddenly, he waited until Rin's body passed over his own. Catching her waist with his arms, he lifted her into the air, propelling her towards one of the two attackers. Almost like they predicted, the other guy came in from behind, expecting Goku to be defenceless in that awkward, bent position. As Rin flew on, she turned suddenly, letting her palms face Goku.

It wasn't what the Saiyan had in mind, but he knew that position from many, many other training drills. Kakashi had let her go solo and had fended off Mikoto's advances with hiskunai skill, plucking the wooden blade from her hand like it was a flower from a tree. Goku knew he didn't have that sort of fine control with his blade yet, so he had to improvise. He recalled Rin's earlier diffusion of Minato's Rasengan. Recalled a training exercise Kushina had made Rin perform, something about reflecting chakra.

Meeting her eyes, he nodded imperceptibly. She too, responded with the same nod. Goku knew what he had to do. She would take care of things. Using his powerful abdominal muscles to keep his torso off the ground, he prepared two Rasengans in his hands, combining them as Rin planted her feet in an enemy's face. After a whole hour of thinking, he'd finally come up with a name for the technique. As Rin lifted off her face-platform, Goku fired his Rasen-Kamehameha right at her, the beam speeding towards her outstretched arms.

Obito's eyes widened with shock. He had never, never seen that move before, and to his eyes, it appeared as if Goku had suddenly done an about-face and aggressively launched an attack towards his own teammate. And because said teammate was Rin, Obito didn't even hesitate. Sprinting towards her, he was resolute. He was going to block it with his own body, to hell with the consequences of having a second mass of swirling chakra to serrate spirals into his torso again. Man, that last one had hurt.

The fact that Minato hadn't tried to get there meant that there was no way the shorter, slower Uchiha was ever going to reach. As he stumbled, mind filled with a growing despair that he would lose the one person who mattered most to him, Rin pulled a crazy move out of nowhere. He saw a mirror of chakra build up in front of her palms, as the beam approached. Focusing through a sheen of sweat that threatened to blind her, she aimed the mirror and braced for impact. Goku's Rasen-Kamehameha had the destructive force of two Rasengans and more.

Goku smiled. He knew Rin would pull through. The chakra beam reflected squarely off of the flat surface Rin had created, and ploughed right into the advancing enemy Chuunin.Converting the impact into motion, Rin flew backwards, slamming the blue heel of her sandal into the other opponent's face, sending him crashing into the nearest tree as well. Taking a very graceful follow-through from the kick, Rin landed neatly on her feet, as Kakashi and Obito looked on with awe and wonder plastered onto their expressions.

Goku picked himself off of the ground without using his hands; those planks had been very useful after all. Rin lifted her arm, not even looking up. Goku walked over, finishing their teamwork with a huge high-five.

Even Kakashi was grudgingly impressed. Hmm, they do look cool right now.

Minato quickly checked the four downed shinobi for their status and vitals. They did not want them making a sudden resurgence. Going through the fourth one's jacket for intel, he motioned for the Genins to search the others. Strangely, they all seemed very ill-equipped for the sort of recon mission they appeared to be on. This was deep in Konoha territory, and they had almost no provisions, not to mention a strange lack of equipment.

Minato marvelled at how under-prepared the other villages were compared to the Hidden Leaf when it came to military strength. The Second Shinobi War had cost everyone greatly, although it had affected Konoha by the least by far. He walked up to the fourth, the only one of the set not yet killed; he was merely unconscious, and deeply so at that. It was going to take him at least twelve hours tor recover, and god only knew how he was going to provide for himself after that. War was something that merely caused destruction. Nothing good ever came out of it.

Someone has to bring about peace to these lands again... He mused.

"I'm telling you, it was PLANNED!" Hearing Goku's shout, Minato whipped his head around. The four were done, and Obito was taking this lull in the action to give Goku a piece of his mind.

"SHUT UP!" Obito was clearly furious, despite Goku and Rin's attempts to calm him down. "What if that Rasen-thing had hit her? Huh? Would you have healed her? Would you have erased those scars once they appeared, right on her..." he stopped, realizing what he was going to say. Rin blushed as well, and Kakashi chose this moment to swoop in and end it.

"If you hadn't made a fool of yourself, you scatterbrained nimrod," he began, sounding like he was reciting a grocery shopping list. "They wouldn't have been in that situation in the first place. So calm them titties, and shut the fuck up. Your voice is beginning to give me a headache."

Red-faced, Obito did keep quiet, although indignant protest still glowed in his eyes. Goku went over and put a hand on his shoulder, face serious. "I assure you, I wasn't trying to hurt her," he started. Obito seemed to understand; Kakashi's bland statement of the obvious had dulled his anger. Nodding, he gave Goku a tight-lipped grimace.

"Not yet, dude." he said. Somehow, his eyes conveyed the rest of the incomplete sentence.

I'm not going to trust you completely yet.

Outside, the sun shone, blinding in its ferocity.

Yet somehow, in Orochimaru's self-fashioned laboratory, there always existed an everlasting darkness that the single candle flame did nothing to eradicate. The two figures standing there did nothing but enhance the atmosphere, multiplying the darkness around them.

Shimura Danzo knew that the next ten minutes were going to be a complete waste of time, as far as he was concerned, but to the Sannin, it was something he considered as interesting. Anything that got the pale-skinned laconic genius so riled up had to be worth watching for a while, at least.

Eyes glowing with unbridled enthusiasm, Orochimaru demonstrated his experiment to the man clad in bandages. He had again, using his combination of biology and chakra, created some muscle tissue with the boy's DNA in it. Tying it up with a barbed wire, he was testing the time it took for the muscle to regenerate and strengthen enough to break the wire and come free on its own. Every pulse of blood that ran through the arm drove it further into the sharp barbs, and blood trickled out in a steady drip from the wound.

As he had explained the concept to Danzo a few minutes earlier, he had mentally scoffed at the ridiculousness of the idea. Senju Hashirama's cells themselves were miraculous; building on their regenerative ability seemed almost impossible. Yet the great genius was claiming it was true, and that this was a revolution in terms of sheer ability.

As Danzo watched, skeptical at first, his eyes began to widen as the tissue grew with each cut; cells dividing and constructing more muscle where none existed. Soon, it began straining against the bonds that held it in place, fighting to free itself from the wounding wire. It went on for a full five minutes; in that duration, neither of the two had moved their gazes from the tissue one inch. And, with a sudden snap, the pulsating tissue breached the stress point of the metal, snapping through the wire. Within another thirty seconds, it had healed the line-shaped cut where the wire had dug in, becoming even more defined and powerful.

Out of the corner of his eye, Danzo noticed Orochimaru's smile. Exposing both his canines, it almost split his face, giving his already gaunt pallor an almost demented appearance. Despite all of the man's problems, he seemed on the verge of a breakthrough that would change the shinobi world.

That gave the two of them a second common purpose. They both wanted the eventual downfall of Sarutobi Hiruzen, and now, the little thirteen-year-old. Danzo wanted him eliminated, and Orochimaru wanted him for his experiments. That was the easy way out, simply transferring the boy over to the genius's care would solve that problem once and for all. Also, since he was contributing to the overall development of the village, any imaginary emotional qualms he might have had about letting the kid be experimented on were also dispelled.

Danzo kept his face impassive, but inside he held a great excitement. Finally, there was a chink in Hiruzen's armour; a small defect in his shell of ever-so-perfect behaviour that could be used against him. The snake-like man would definitely think of something. After all, there was enough motivation for him. Promising to hand over the kid after Hiruzen's downfall was complete was a good idea as well.

I think this child will be the beginning of our tryst together, Orochimaru.

The party of five had finally gotten to the Village of the Snow. Goku was shivering like crazy, but ever since Kakashi had suggested that he had better cold resistance than the teenage Saiyan, there had been no going back. In retrospect, this was the most retarded thing I've ever agreed to... Goku stifled another huge sneeze.

Rin, huddled in a warm coat, glanced sideways at her two pseudo-macho teammates, disdain evident in her eyes. Obito merely focused on spending as much time as he could to get closer to Rin, trying to show her his 'cool' side. Man, was he failing miserably. Rin clearly gave very little attention to the bumbling Uchiha, and all his boasts of swag fell on deaf ears. Somehow, even though he was appropriately clothed, Goku felt like Obito was the one who was naked.

Small houses had come into view, and they could see steam come out of the chimneys. Oh, a good fire would simply be the best thing right now. Kakashi had the grace to look relieved, though it was only for a second, before he realised what he was doing. Quickly, he shot a glance at Goku, wondering whether he had seen that moment of weakness. He saw the Saiyan smiling widely, teeth chattering.

Fuck. THIS he sees.

They entered the main village street, heading straight for the largest hut there. Logic dictated that it was the HQ, or whatever equivalent these civilian villages had. Minato called a halt outside the main door, and turned to his team. "Let me enter first. I'll have a chat with the elders of the village, see that we are paid for our services, and then we'll get going."

"What?" Obito whined. "We don't get a breather?"

Minato looked at him sternly. "No. This threat is immediate, and has been classified as urgent. It means we have to complete it fast, or tonight more villagers will die. Do you want their deaths on your conscience, Obito?" somehow, the blonde made Obito sound like Genin, like it was a military officer addressing a subordinate. Obito shot into attention, back ramrod straight. "No, Minato-sensei!" Obito almost saluted.

"Right. Wait for me outside," Minato turned and entered the hut.

Goku suddenly reached inside his bag, taking out a sweater that Kushina had bought for him. He had had no clothes, and certainly no money when he had come into the village, so Minato and his red-headed girlfriend had helped him out a little. Everything from renting out an apartment, giving him clothes, to helping him fill out his shinobi registration form. Now that he earned his own salary, Goku had begun to pay them back for those initial favours, bit by bit.

Ignoring Kakashi's self-satisfied smirk, he put it on, grateful for its warmth.

"Just what do you think is troubling these people?" Rin directed her question directly at Kakashi. He shrugged.

"I dunno," he replied, teeth chattering even more. I think he has forgotten his damn sweater, Obito mused gleefully. Let him suffer. "I feel that there will be tigers or some animals like that, because they classified it as a C-Rank," Goku nodded.

There was no more conversation. It was simply too cold, and the four children were focused on keeping themselves warm. Kakashi was shuddering visibly now, but still trying to put on a brave face, like a little puppy facing a dragon. Rin couldn't help but feel sad for him. Rummaging in her knapsack, she dug out her favourite jacket, and handed it to the gray-haired genius.

"It's pink, but it'll keep you warm," she said, concern in her voice. Kakashi blushed, despite the cold, taking the sweater without a word. It was Goku's turn to flash a creepy, perverted smile. Going up close to Kakashi, he poked his elbow in, sliding up eerily. "I see widdle pinky-boy forgot his sweater..." he whispered, flaring Kakashi's already stretched patience.

"Okay, you little monkey shit," he flared up, then stopped as he saw people turn their heads and stare. Something was off, though. The four didn't really notice it until then, but there were a lot of shinobi in the village. This being a civilian town right in the middle of the great Shinobi Nations, it had a lot of ninja traffic, people using it as a lay-over in between long journeys. Obito, Kakashi and Rin immediately became self-conscious of the attention, and began moving awkwardly, suddenly aware of the hostile eyes on them. They were aware of the post-war tension.

Goku merely looked around like the lost retard he was, almost drooling over the variety of people he was seeing.

Fifteen minutes later, Minato came out of the hut to see three very tense Genin and one over-excited Goku raring to go. "All right," he said, gesturing for them to follow. As the party fell into step with each other, he began to brief them. "So there have been a sudden increase in rabid animal attacks over the last few days. It appears as though many different species have all decided to turn aggressive. Only a few of the attacks have had survivors left to report back to HQ. That is why the number of deaths that reached the Konoha request desk were so few. I guessed as much."

Goku snapped into focus. "So we have to track down these animals and put an end to them? Sounds pretty straightforward to me..." The other Genin nodded in agreement. "Maybe so, but you still need to be careful," Minato intoned. "It's not like they will just stay in one place and let you attack first. These are wild animals, used to fighting to the death. They will be dogged and persistent, so expect a long, drawn-out battle."

They took a certain direction out of the village, and stepped into the adjoining forest. The heavy snow made walking a little difficult, and every direction seemed the same. Minato kept them going at a brisk pace, and they searched out into the trees beyond or signs or tracks of the beasts.

Goku's foot plodded into the snow, and accidentally broke a stick. As he started, seven creatures jumped them from the surrounding trees. The five of them immediately entered a defensive pose, facing outward. Kakashi and Goku drew their blades. It was clear that hey would have to use them this time. Minato, Rin and Obito took out their kunai, preparing themselves.

As they circled around, Goku noticed that these weren't natural animals. Each of them had a distinguishing feature that made them look strange. Their base body structure resembled a wolf's, but their other minor characteristics were reminiscent of some different creatures. The most crazy thing about then was their eyes. Goku had never seen such eyes before. Irises crimson like pools of blood, the pupil was surrounded by three comma shaped spots slowly swirling around the centre.

He felt Minato tense up a little to his right, and Rin to his left as well. "Sharingan," they muttered under their breaths. What the hell is that? Goku wondered.

The Saiyan had no more time to think. The wolf-things had decided to attack. As it charged him and pounced, Goku lifted his black blade, blocking the deadly-sharp jaws from decapitating him. As the wolf took a step back, Goku made his move. Dropping his back, he moved forward using a little chakra to boost his speed, and swung diagonally, aiming for the center of gravity. That was the one point that couldn't move as fast, and had the least chance of dodging. He added no extra mass to his blade, going for speed instead of force.

But he was in for a crazy surprise. The edge of the katana, sharp as ever, bounced off of the wolf's skin, barely even grazing it. It aggressively countered, sliding under the blade, getting to Goku's unguarded side. Using his free arm, he rotated his torso and pushed aside the thing, preventing yet another dangerous bite. What he didn't notice was the second wolf coming in from the left. The outnumbering proved to be very useful, as it clamped onto Goku's left shoulder like a vice, tearing through skin and muscle, almost getting right to the bone.

Goku screamed out, falling to his knees. Minato whipped his head around, concerned. He was keeping the two hounds that were on him at bay with relative ease, scoring clean hits whenever they came in for the kill. The two wolves seemed pretty wounded, and were now stepping back, licking their cuts gingerly. Their disturbing red eyes still shone brightly, though, and no sooner did Minato try to help the struggling Saiyan, they had jumped forward again, wounds ignored like they were nothing. Within moments, the yellow-haired Joninwas sliced in a couple of places as well, and became busy with trying to stave off further injury. Goku was on his own.

The other Genin were in a similar state. Unable to read the wolves' movement, they were all succumbing slowly to the attacks. Kakashi was nursing his sword arm, a long gash on his bicep. Rin was hobbling on her good foot, trying to keep her weight off her injured calf. Obito was the only one of the party who was uninjured. It looked like he was making short work of his oppo...

WAIT. THE FUCK? Kakashi had noticed it as well. The Uchiha was fighting like the Devil himself, using his kunai with insane precision and timing, raping the wolf with the ease of taking the trash out. Something seemed to have stirred the teen into action, and some awesome action it was turning into. Elbowing the creature mid-pounce, he took out anotherkunai in the same fluid motion, stabbing the two clean into its heart with such force that the wolf flew backwards, crashing into the snow with a fountain of blood marking its trajectory through the air.

The others were mindfucked. This was simply inconceivable. What the heck had just happened? The wolves, which Minato had been hurt by, were taken out solo by that bumbling nimrod? Kakashi, in his state of shock took another nip in the thigh, but his brain ignored the stab of pain. Obito took a step forward, retrieved his blades, and looked quizzically at the others, surprise on his face. Kakashi then noticed the red in the Uchiha's eyes, that could only mean one thing. They had only two diametrically opposite commas, and were far from complete, but the retarded imbecile had done it.

Obito's Sharingan had activated.

The pause that ensued after that moment of swag was only for a split second, but for Kakashi, Rin and Minato, it seemed like an eternity.

So many unanswered questions. How? When? Why now? And mother of freaking God, HOW?

"Obito!" Goku's pained voice broke the silence. "A little help, please?"

The Uchiha started, and complied. Taking out the wolf biting Goku's shoulder with a savage yet perfect thrust to the head through its eye, he kicked it away, jaws having unclenched after its demise. Looking at Goku's expression, he nodded. His teammate would handle the other one. There was no need to do more. Rin and Kakashi too, seemed galvanized by Obito's little show-off stunt, and were confidently taking on their opponents, pain from their various injuries left behind. Minato was getting a move on, slashing and ducking between the two wolves, spinning and jabbing both of them at once.

Holding his shoulder with his free hand to stop the bleeding, Goku faced his wolf. Those strange red eyes seemed to be looking right at him, like they were never meant to gaze upon anything else. Bending down, never breaking eye contact, he packed some of the fallen snow onto the gash. It would help dull the pain, if only for a little while. The blood soaked through the white powder, turning it into a bright pinkish hue.

Returning to his feet, he gripped his sword hard, and advanced. Stuttering his steps like he had seen Minato do the first time they met, he swayed over to the wolf, blade ready in his hands. It took a step front as well, taking his challenge head on. Goku feinted to the left and jumped, arching his back like a drawn bow. Kakashi had demonstrated how ninety percent of the power for the move came from the back, not from the shoulders, like Goku had guessed.

Reaching the apex of his leap, he drove his blade down, making it as heavy as he could without dislocating his shoulders or increasing his wound. The wolf did not seem to understand the imminent danger, as it defiantly refused to move or dodge. The sword hit the wolf's body with a massive thud, but nothing gave. Well, nothing except Goku's hands, which were jarred all the way up to the shoulders. Wincing at the pain, the Saiyan let go of his blade. The wolf sensed the opportunity to strike and jumped again.

How is it doing that? How are only my attacks not landing? Goku wondered as he hastily took a step back, dodging his opponent's slash. As he racked his brains for a solution to the problem, it came to him. Obito had used the point of his kunai, while Goku had been using the entire length of his blade. The creature probably had enough strength to take the flat attacks directly, but thrusts were a different story.

As he had left his blade during his retreat, he took out a couple of standard-issue kunai from his belt pouch, eyes steeled with resolve. He noticed that the others had come to the same conclusion, and that Kakashi was done with his wolf. Rin was finishing off hers at the moment, and Minato seemed ready to start on his two. Goku faced his one, and sprinted forward with haste. He was not going to be the last one to finish. Stabbing the wolf's paw away, he drove one kunai right into a shoulder, repaying the earlier wound. He had thrust far more viciously than he'd thought, as the weapon drove into the shoulder bone and stayed there, stuck.

Using his other hand, he stabbed the wolf's body quickly in succession, one to the other hand, two to the chest, and one in the neck, then finished it off with the blade breaking through the forehead of the creature, right between its eyes. As it became limp in his hands, he kicked it hard, freeing his stuck kunai.

With a deep breath, he stepped back. The work was done. He couldn't shake the dark feeling that he had gotten in the pit of his stomach, the dread that he had actually enjoyedkilling the damn thing, mutilating the creature even after it was dead. Shaking his coat, he chose to let it go. It was self-defense only, he convinced himself. Quite the flimsy argument, but if it helped him sleep at night, it was enough.

Turning to the others, he saw Minato examining the dead wolf's eyes. Somehow, they had returned to normal, the mark of the insane Dojutsu eradicated. He saw the Jonin mutter to himself, something about 'conspiracy' and 'relations'. As for his teammates, Kakashi and Rin were surrounding a very smug Obito, who was showing off his new eyes to them, boasting about how he was the strongest in the group now.

Goku smiled wryly. The duo were never going to change; they were too headstrong to. The eyes still left him with a feeling of unease. Something felt off about the whole thing. It was too perfect. What if it was all orchestrated? Was someone after him? Goku gave his forehead a thump, annoyed at all these unnecessary thoughts. Letting his deadened arm dangle lifelessly, he limped to where his teammates were, a heated argument already beginning between the gray-haired genius and the Uchiha.

Screw those questions. I don't have the time or patience to give a damn about these things.

Medium-sized indeed.

This plot line is taking shape now, and I feel this can go on forever.

I'll continue down this road, making Orochimaru and Danzo the principal antagonists for now.

Expect a little GokuXMikoto in the next few chapters. I think it's time we opened that can of worms.

Reviewers, thanks a lot! You guys are the best.

*shakes his head at the cliché*

Anyway, keep reading, and giving me your opinions.

Thanks for the Rasen-Kamehameha, dude.

I think Guest is a strange name for a account, but whatever.

(Those who didn't get that as sarcasm, you have nothing but my deepest contempt.)

Damn, this is getting lame.

Cheers.