AN: The UK is boiling and so am I!

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this newest chapter!


Chapter 16: Delusion, I'll Steal 'til You're Blind…


Time seemed to be going too fast, my teammates giving me some words of encouragement that seemed to end far too quickly. It was barely any time at all before I was left standing face to face against Ino. I'd admit that part of me hoped the draw was random and I'd be paired against anyone else. The last person I wanted to actually fight was the blonde standing on the opposite side of the Arena.

It was one thing to beat her without interacting with her, placing higher because of her substandard effort in training. That way she wouldn't be able to twist her loss into some sort of conspiracy, couldn't accuse me of cheating, with any real validity anyway. But no, it seemed that despite everything, I was destined to fight Ino. Without the option of bailing out either.

"What's wrong Forehead? Getting scared to fight a better ninja?" She mocked, a grin on her face like she'd already won.

Shaking my head in exasperation, I levelled a flat look at my so-called rival. "Yeah, sure. Whatever you want, Ino."

My lackadaisical reply seemed to only get her more heated. "Trying the strong, aloof approach? Newsflash, that only works with Sasuke-kun!"

Wow, three whole sentences without mentioning Sasuke? That had to be some sort of asinine record, I was sure of it.

Turning towards the proctor, I gave the man a put upon look. "Can we just start this already?"

"That eager to lose, are you?" Ino continued to mock. "I'm not surprised. You always were a loser. A failure." She gave a condescending flip of her hair. "No wonder you hang out with Naruto, he's the only one worse than you are."

My eyes snapped to her with that comment, taking in the vicious smile on her lips. What did she just say?

On instinct, I found Naruto in the stands, a look of hurt flashing across his face before he could mask it.

Anger began to bubble inside my chest as I focused back on Ino. Fine, if she wanted to hurt the ones I love, then I'd respond in kind.

Fuck making amends.

Fuck fixing the friendship.

If Ino wanted an enemy, she was going to blood well get one!

"Begin!"


I let Ino make the first move, watching as she pulled out a trio of kunai and threw them in my direction. Maybe they'd be a problem for academy students, maybe even some fresh genin, but not for me. Over half a year under the tutelage of Kakashi Hatake had severely altered my perspective if this was the standard. The projectiles seemed to move in slow motion, easily traceable as I pivoted my waist to dodge them.

I took a step forward.

She followed the kunai with a set of shuriken, though they had the same issue as the first attack. It was only the multiple directions that the thrown weapons came from that gave me any pause, though that was short lived as I caught the slow moving objects with ease, tossing them towards the ground like flies to be swatted.

I took another step forward.

Finally realising that her projectiles weren't working, Ino pulled out a trio of pellets from beneath her waist high sash. Flashbangs, I quickly surmised as she sent them towards my position. Not wanting to be blinded, I caught the offending objects mid flight with chakra strings before redirecting them backwards. Ino was barely able to pull her arms up before they impacted, causing her to scream in pain as she rubbed her eyes.

I continued walking slowly towards my opponent.

By the time Ino finally seemed to remember she was in a fight, I was already in front of her, easily catching an errant punch she tried to throw. "You know…" I began, peering apathetically into her pale blue eyes. "I tried."

She let out a scream as I applied pressure to her wrist, twisting the joint to near breaking as I held it. "I tried so hard to be your friend. To try and have a little of what we had when we first met." Grabbing her shirt, I pulled her in closer, baring my teeth at the blonde. "And you threw it in my face. Every time."

"W-Wai-" Her protests were cut off as I grabbed ahold of her throat. It felt so delicate in my grip that I could scarcely believe it belonged to a shinobi.

"I tell you I've given up on Sasuke, I must be playing the long game." I snarled. "I say I just want to be friends, I'm just trying to sabotage you from the inside. Sasuke places me under his clans protection…" With a roar, I lifted her up before slamming her down onto the floor. "I must be a FUCKING GOLDDIGGER!"

Her scream was music to my ears, so much frustration finally getting the release I'd craved. It was a wonder I hadn't done this before.

Flipping Ino over with my foot, I took a hold of her long locks as I planted my knee into her back, pulling her head up. "You're disgusting, you know that? A horrid little brat that people only tolerate because you're a clan heir. I'd call you a cunt if I didn't think you lacking in the warmth or depth."

I brought my face down low towards her ear, dragging her hair back to meet me halfway, relishing her cries. "And the funniest thing is, even your precious Sasuke-kun finds you repulsive. Just look at him." With a sharp tug, I brought her eyeline to meet that of my dark haired teammate. "See, he hates you."

"This… isn't… you!" Ino grunted out, drawing a laugh from me as I released my grip of her hair.

Standing up, I ruefully shook my head as I walked around the kunoichi's downed form. "Isn't it me? What would you know about me?" Turning my back to her, I let out a satisfied sigh. "You don't know anything."

"I know one thing…" Ino gritted out from her place on the floor.

"Oh?" I let out an amused hum as I turned to face her. "And what would that be?"

"You talk too much. Ninja Art: Mind Transfer Jutsu!" Before I could react, she formed a seal with her hands and the world faded around me.


"What the fuck was that?" I exclaimed as I came to, panting as I finally felt some semblance of control.

Scanning my surroundings, I once again found myself in that damned hospital that seemed to be my mindscape.

Letting out a groan, I gripped my head in pain.

It had all happened so fast.

One moment I was deliberating how to take down Ino without too much drama and then…

Then she'd insulted Naruto…

The hurt in his eyes…

I snapped.

No, I'd let the Curse Mark take charge again.

Oh god, I'd nearly killed Ino. Had… wanted to.

If she hadn't used her jutsu then maybe…

But that begged the question, didn't it?

Where was Ino?


Through never-ending halls and impossible turns I ran, determined to find Ino. Because if she was in here, then she was also in here with the Orochimaru copy. I felt dread at what that thing might do if it found her first. No matter my misgivings with her, she didn't deserve that.

"Ino!" I called desperately.

It was extremely lucky that I heard the sound of a door being closed in the distance, my feet scrambling to find its source.

I came upon a weeping Ino, curled up as she sat with her back against one of the many doors. A sigh of relief escaped me at the sight, at least I'd found her.

"Ino?" I asked gently as I approached.

The young kunoichi snapped her head up at my voice, eyes full of sorrow as she took me in. She was silent for a long time, just staring me down with a myriad of emotions crossing her face. Anger, Sadness, Loss, Denial, Confusion and a multitude more.

"Is it true?" She finally whispered.

"Is what true?" I asked cautiously.

"Is Sakura gone?" Ino clarified, her breath hitching slightly.

Oh…

I knew I should be panicking about my secret being out, about someone knowing the nature of my being. Should be trying to come up with some sort of elaborate lie to convince Ino what she knew was wrong.

But looking at her like that, I just couldn't do it.

Letting out a sigh, I slumped against the wall next to her, sliding down to the floor.

"That's… A very complicated question…"


"But… if you have her memories, doesn't that make you Sakura?" Ino asked, a little bit of hope in her voice.

"I don't know." I admitted quietly. "Maybe I am and Sakura just got my memories but when I woke up here… I felt more like myself, Rōzu, than I ever did Sakura."

Running my hand through my hair, I let out a long breath. "I tried to be her, at the beginning, to play the part. As close as I could get, anyway." Letting my hand fall, I closed my eyes. "But it always felt wrong, like I was sullying her legacy, a subpar act. When I realised I couldn't be her, I decided I could at least fix some of her regrets."

"Hence why you kept trying to be friends with me." The Yamanaka concluded sadly. "My god, I'm such a bitch."

"You're not that bad, plus no one isn't a monster when they're a teenager." I assured the girl, bumping her lightly with my shoulder. "Take that from someone who's doing it a second time."

That got a snort out of the blonde, before she descended into a fit of giggles, my own laugh coming in tandem. By the time we both calmed down, the air around us felt significantly lighter.

"So, Rōzu then?"

I grinned at her. "The one and only. Nice to meet you for real, I suppose."

"This is still crazy." She replied with a huff.

"You're telling me." I snark as I pull myself to my feet, offering out a hand to the blonde. "Now let's get out of here before the snake shows up."

"Oh Rozu-kun, so harsh, and I thought we had a connection." The slimy voice of the Snake Sannin drifted down the hall.

Letting out a curse, I pulled Ino up and stepped between her and the hostile facsimile. "Well if it isn't the tramp stamp." I spat.

The pale man let out a chuckle. "How rude. And after you've taken so spectacularly to my gifts. You've proven yourself a perfect host, so much like myself."

"I'm nothing like you!"

"Oh? Are you so sure?" He asked with an amused hum. "Did you think that anger, that spite, that cruelty came from me? No, that's all from you, my dear Rozu-kun." A vicious grin spread across his face. "I just took away your silly little hang ups."

Forcing down the anger that spiked in my chest, I turned towards Ino. "Cut the jutsu, quickly."

"Yes, yes. Run along, little pest." Orochimaru added with a giggle.

Looking between us for a second, Ino gave a nod and brought her hands up to form a seal, fading away soon after.

"Until we meet again, Rozu-kun!" The voice of the Sannin echoed around my mind as I was pulled back into the waking world.


I had to catch myself from falling as I came to, my energy suddenly sapped as I took in large gulps of air. The corner of my vision caught the tell tale sign of the Curse Mark receding back up my arms. I'd not noticed, or maybe I just hadn't cared, that it had activated once again. And Ino had taken the consequences of me letting my emotions take over.

Snapping my head up, I saw the blonde pulling herself up on shaky legs, clearly on her last legs herself. Her eyes met mine, a challenging look on her eyes as she gave a grin. "What's up Rōzu? Giving up?" She mocked, though it lacked any of the heat it had before.

A breathless chuckle burst out of me as I pulled myself to my feet. "Not a chance. I've got a ticket to the finals with my name on it."

"Not if I beat you!" Ino declared, launching herself at me in a series of attacks as we fell into a much less intense battle. Parrying her strikes, I let her dictate the flow of battle for a bit, only taking a few shots in return. After what I'd done to her it felt wrong to not let her give some sort of showing. She wasn't ready for a promotion yet but that didn't mean she couldn't get something out of this.

"You're telegraphing your attacks too much." I admonished light, sidestepping a punch and sending a kick to her side.

"Gee, thanks sensei." She snarked in return, even as she used a feint with her next attack. Her adaptation was honestly admirable, even as it was becoming clear that she was close to running on empty.

Deciding to put an end to things, I caught a punch she aimed at my temple, swiping her legs from beneath her with a kick. Before she was able to respond, I pulled out a kunai and pressed it gently against her neck. "Sorry, Ino. Looks like I win."

She gave an annoyed glare up at me before letting out a sigh and holding up her free arm. "I forfeit!"

Turning my gaze over to Hayate, he gave a small cough before nodding and declaring me the winner.


With Ino's arm around my shoulder, we both made our way up to our teams on the viewing platform, Shikamaru and Choji rushing up to grab their teammate. I had to hold back a cringe at the way they looked at me when they drew near, fear evident in their gazes. It wasn't like I could blame them, after what had happened at the start of the match a lot of people were looking at me with similar expressions.

I was lucky that Ino let out a snort beside me. "Don't worry guys, Rōzu won't hurt you." She assured them simply, reaching out for them to take hold of her.

"Now get me over to sensei, apparently he's been slacking with our training. Shut it Shikamaru!" She snapped as the lazy boy groaned, giving him a light slap on the back of the head, causing him to grumble instead. I must have let my amusement show, as she levelled me with a challenging look. "Don't go looking so smug, I want a rematch!"

"Sure." I replied with a chuckle as they departed, being swarmed by my own teammates. Soon after, Naruto nearly barreled through me as he launched himself at me with a hug. I gave his back a few reassuring pats as he pulled me in close.

"You okay?" Sasuke asked, hands coming up with green chakra as he approached.

I made sure to slap them down. "Don't go wasting chakra on me before your fight, you idiot. There are medics here." I grumbled, earning a petulant glare from the Uchiha.

"Yeah, you're fine." He snarked, getting a grin from me.

"That's subjective." Kakashi said, appearing at our side. "I think we'd better get that seal dealt with now rather than later."

Letting out a sigh, I gave a small nod before prying Naruto's arms from around me. "I'll be fine Naru. Focus on your own match right now."

"You sure?" Naruto pressed, a worried frown on his face.

"Positive. I expect to see you both get through to the finals so I can kick both of your asses." I challenged with a grin.

"Hell yeah, I'm gonna get to the finals no matter what! Count on it!" Naruto declared earnestly.

"What the Dobe said." Sasuke added with a nod.

"I'll hold you two to that." Turning towards Kakashi, I gave him a nod. "Let's get this over with. Maybe I can actually see some more of the fights if we get this done quickly enough."

"We'll see." Kakashi replied with a nod, taking hold of my shoulder as we both disappeared in a swirl of leaves.


Finding myself in the candlelit room where the suppression seal was to be applied, I was a little surprised at how large the set up actually was. The gymnasium sized room was covered in a complex array of seals, all coalescing into a spiral in the centre of the room, a small circle of ink right in the centre for me to sit inside.

Guiding me to my spot, Kakashi told me to undress from the waist up, which I did quickly as he set up his ink and brush.

"Rōzu." His voice drifted in from behind me cautiously. "You'll have to take off the tape too."

Ah… right.

Taking a breath, I gave a small nod before beginning to unwind the bindings wrapped around my torso, a blush creeping up my face as I went.

"Sorry."

"It's not your fault sensei." I snapped back at him, regretting it right after as I could feel the way he flinched. Letting out a sigh, I shook my head. "Besides, when I make Chunin, it won't be a problem anymore. Right?"

"Right…" He agreed, moving to kneel behind me soon after. "Going to need you to stay still through this, Rōzu. The ink's pretty cold."

"Warming it affects the process?"

"Unfortunately."

"Fan-fucking-tastic." I grumbled, holding back a twitch as I felt the cool, oddly gritty liquid being brushed across my skin.


"Putting your sensei's talents to work, Kakashi-kun?" The oily voice of Orochimaru drifted through the room, breaking me from my concentration as Kakashi had applied the seal. Snapping my head up, I saw hum slide out of the darkness, showing no signs of our fight in the forest as he grinned at us. "Minato-kun would be proud."

"Orochimaru!" Kakashi was suddenly between myself and the Snake Sannin, a visceral growl that honestly had me a little scared breaking through his usual calm. Damn, this was my sensei on another level of anger, the sort that gave credence to his reputation.

I'm not that much of an asshole to not be a little touched at the protectiveness he was showing towards me.

"Ah, ah, ah!" Orochimaru admonished playfully, like addressing a child. "No need for that now, unless you wish to risk the life of your beloved student. He's not proven himself that valuable yet."

His gaze shifted to me, head cocking to the side in a contemplative look. "Though I'll admit, I had not expected you to survive my mark at all. An unforeseen but pleasant outcome, it would seem, considering what I just witnessed."

"So you were watching?" I asked, considering the Sound Team was now dead, I wasn't sure if he'd have been present or not.

"I have my ways." He confirmed with a condescending giggle. "And I find myself surprised once again. A shame the girl was able to use her clan techniques before you could finish."

"Sorry to have disappointed you." I growled, glaring at the man's casual implications of me killing Ino.

"Never the matter, I'm a forgiving soul on the odd occasion." Orochimaru replied with a wave, making it sound like he was being magnanimous.

"What do you want?" Kakashi finally broke through.

"Oh, I want many things. Chilled monkey brains, fried frog legs, escargot… but perhaps I'm just peckish at the moment." He let out another giggle. "But more recently, I simply want to see more of you, Rōzu-kun."

Quicker than I could comprehend, he was gone from my sight. I was almost relieved before I felt the warm breath of someone just behind me. "Continue to impress me, Rōzu-kun. You can find my gifts to be very enticing for those with my favour."

And just like that, he was gone, leaving us alone once more.

"Well, fuck that noise!" I exclaimed with a half mad laugh, turning my gaze up to Kakashi, seeing his revealed Sharingan through the dark. "Get this thing sealed away, right now!"

I refused to scream as Kakashi activated the array, gritting my teeth until the agonising pain finally fell away, my world going black once more.


The first thing I noticed as I felt as I came to was the presence of someone filing their fingers through my hair. Blinking away my hazy vision, I was greeted by a familiar set of brown eyes staring curiously down at me. It was at that moment I realised that I currently had my head laid upon the Mist ninja's lap, my face going scarlet in embarrassment.

"Hello, Rōzu-kun." He greeted, a teasing smile spreading across his lips. "Finally done with your nap?"

Deciding to use the opportunity to get away from the way I was currently feeling, I grabbed onto it. "How long was I out?"

"Not too long." The Ice user assured lightly.

"We would have woken you sooner, Isōrō." Sasuke spoke up, leaning against a railing as he looked down at me with a smirk. So, I was back in the fighting hall. "But you looked like you were enjoying your pillow. We didn't want to disturb you."

"I did, but they wouldn't let me." Naruto piped up petulantly. Sweet Naru, always having my back.

"Thanks Naru." I replied with a tired smile, letting out a sigh before trying to sit up, my body protesting the movement so much that I was soon lying on Haku's lap again.

"So, what have I missed?" I finally asked, giving into my predicament.

"Me and Teme won our fights." Naruto announced with a grin.

"I won my fight." Sasuke pointed out. "Dobe got lucky."

"It wasn't luck!"

"You won through a fart! If Kiba wasn't an Inuzuka, you'd have lost."

I couldn't help myself but laugh at that. Of course that hadn't changed. "Good job Naru, never doubted you." I congratulated with a smile, stopping his argument with Sasuke as he preened.

"It was unorthodox." Haku noted with a hum. "But a victory is a victory, no matter how it's achieved."

"Well said, Haku-kun." I agreed.

"Oh, don't start!" Sasuke complained with a groan.

"Such a buzzkill." I replied with a sigh. "What about your team, Haku-kun?"

"Suisei was unable to defeat your Aburame compatriot." Haku informed me with a frown. I wasn't too surprised, Shino's chakra eating bugs were a seriously hard challenge to beat, especially as the fight wore on. "Chōjūrō and I have yet to compete."

"Well, at least I won't get to miss your fight then."

"Kill me now." Sasuke groaned from our side.

"Bite me, Uchiha."


I was able to stand up just in time to see Ten-Ten's rough landing atop Temari's massive fan, cringing as the impact echoed throughout the hall. "Ouch." I breathed in sympathy, using the railings as support as I watched the kunoichi be carted off by the medics.

"A bad matchup for her skills." Haku observed from my side. "Had she fought many others, she would have stood a much stronger chance."

I nodded in agreement. Being able to throw an entire armoury's worth of weapons at an opponent wasn't anything to sniff at. If it came to a fight of attrition, Ten-Ten would probably end up on top.

"That's just Gaara left for that team." Sasuke pointed out.

Looking over to the other side of the hall, I found the red haired Jinchuriki's eyes on me once more. The look lingered for a long moment, only breaking as Temari joined her team once more, allowing me to look away as his attention shifted.

"He has… an odd fascination with you, Rōzu-kun." Haku noted with a frown.

"It's creepy." Naruto added with a nod. "Karin-chan said his chakra feels funny too."

Sasuke seemed to take that opportunity to tease the blonde. "Like she said yours feels warm, Dobe?"

Naruto let out a sputtered denial at the taunt, going bright red.

"Where is she, by the way?" I asked curiously. The girl had drifted off at some point after our arrival and considering everything happening around me, I'd almost forgotten about her presence.

"She's gone back to the Village for now." Sasuke said. "But Naruto promised to take her to Ichiraku once we're done here." His gaze slid to me as he gave an amused grin. "Along with Ino."

"Ino?" I asked, genuinely surprised as I looked towards my blonde teammate, who was slowly dissolving into a mortified puzzle. "How did that happen?"

"She apologised for what she said in your fight, and asked what she could do to make up for it. The Dobe chose ramen."

"Ino taking two Uzumaki out for Ramen, I'll pray for her wallet." I comment with a laugh.

"Perhaps not the information you want to share so loudly." Kakashi admonished, his eye turning towards me in contemplation. "Though that begs the question on how you knew, Rōzu."

Damn, apparently the spectacled girl hadn't revealed her full name to Kakashi.

"What, you think I wouldn't look up the Uzumaki clan in detail when I was adopted into it?" I asked, forcing down the nervousness that threatened to bubble through my laughter. "The clues were all there. Red hair. Big chakra reserves. I thought you'd have figured it out, Cyclops. Should we start picking out places in a home?"

"Brat." He seemed to buy my explanation, rolling his eyes with a huff before turning his gaze away from me.


With the Arena cleared up enough for the next fight, Hayate cued the "random" name generator to cue up the next match. I cringed when the names finally came up.

Hinata Hyūga

Vs

Neji Hyūga

Fucked up family drama, here we come!


AN: Seriously, it's so damn hot!

Any comments/kudos/reviews are greatly appreciated!

MurderousLord!