"Gekko Hayate has been found dead."
So much for a peaceful ending of the Chunin Exams' second stage, Kakashi thinks.
There is the all-too-familiar moment of intense grief before Kakashi manages to rein his emotions in. Now is not the moment to mourn, and the Hokage's grim expression only confirms it.
"What?"
"Hayate?"
"Oh no …"
Kakashi stands with the other jounin present in the room, his back straight and his shoulders stiff. Hayate is - was - one of the most skilled kenjutsu specialists still alive in Konoha. If someone has taken him down then that's just that much more reason for Kakashi not attending this meeting in the first place. He should be with Sasuke, in case Orochimaru decides to make a move.
"Did Orochimaru kill him?" Anko asks.
Kakashi has the misfortune of standing next to her, but she is unusually sombre today. Not too surprising, given her own history with Orochimaru. However, under the sombre surface there is a tension that promises violence once she finds her old sensei.
"That is our assumption, yes," the Hokage confirms. "And if it wasn't, then it's only further proof that someone is scheming to harm Konoha."
"Then we must cancel the chunin exams," someone else declares. "Before we catch Orochimaru, or whoever it is, it's too dangerous."
"No," the Hokage declares from the front of the room. "All of our allies have shinobi participating in the exams. Cancelling the exams now, because Konoha can't deal with its own, will risk alienating them."
It brings a sour taste to Kakashi's mouth, that the Hokage won't label his former student a missing-nin even now. Is that the kind of weakness Kakashi will one day have towards his own students? He hopes not.
He desperately hopes that none of his students will ever turn against Konoha like Orochimaru has.
"But Orochimaru might very well be working with one of our allies," one of the elders objects. "They may very well have already turned against us."
"And Orochimaru alone has the power to conquer a small country …" one of the gathered jounin comments.
"He has a grudge towards Konoha too …" another one ads.
Fidgeting with a loose thread on his slacks, Kakashi thinks of his childhood, of his memories of the war, and can't help but feel that this sounds familiar. Alliances mean so little anyway, once people start plotting wars. Though they are negotiated with diplomats and carefully written down, in the end alliances are all worth less than the paper they're written on.
"We cannot afford to end the exams at this time," the Hokage states. "Furthermore, Orochimaru has shown no inclination of targeting our chunin candidates. At this time, we have no proof that he's even still in the village."
"We need to find out more before we can act," another of the elders states.
"We have already sent ANBU members on recon missions to the other countries," the third one adds. "It is not wise to make careless moves. That may be just what the enemy wants us to do."
Behind his mask Kakashi sighs. He's a soldier; born and raised. He knows that war is hell but at least it is a hell he can fight. This prelude and heralding of wars to come doesn't suit him. It makes him itch with restlessness and tension that he has no outlet for.
"Anyway, I trust you all," the Hokage declares. "If the worst does happen, we will assemble all of Konoha's power and fight."
Kakashi twitches as memories suddenly flood his mind.
"Orochimaru is here," he states grimly, mentally struggling to sort through the sudden input of double memories. "He's after the sharingan."
Less than a minute later he's heading out, the Hokage himself and a gathering of jounin at his back.
Sakura has only ever been outside of Konoha for one-day excursions with the Academy, always accompanied by her teachers. Though the Haruno Clan are merchants, aunt Kasumi has always stressed that a lady should not be too adventurous. A lady's place is in the home, after all, not on the road. Travelling is the men's job. Which is why aunt Kasumi mostly stays at home to sew her exquisite kimonos and her husband spends most of his time away selling them.
All that is to say that the sight of the village gates disappearing behind her is quite new to Sakura, though she tries not to show it too clearly as she glances over her shoulder. The thought that she won't see the gates again for at least two days, possibly more, makes her chest constrict tightly.
"Alright, let's get going," Hajime says once they are out of view from the gates.
He takes the lead, Aimi, Takeshi and Sakura falling in line behind him with Tomomi bringing up the rear. They set a quick pace; a swift jog that has Sakura panting heavily embarrassingly quickly. Though the Academy has plenty of classes meant to build stamina and condition students for the real life of a shinobi, long distance runs is a subject covered more in theory than in practice.
At least she's not the only one struggling. Aimi and Takeshi are both panting as heavily as her.
They take a pause after about an hour of running, when Aimi and Sakura both start to struggle to keep up, stretching their formation further and further. Sakura collapses against a tree, hands grabbing onto her side, which is cramping heavily. Aimi is in a similar condition, and Takeshi is only fairing marginally better. Hajime and Tomomi, by comparison, are breathing heavily but evenly, as if they've just had a medium-hard workout.
"I'd forgotten how out of shape Academy graduates are," Tomomi says, handing out water bottles.
"I thought I was in ok shape." Sakura's voice comes out in gasps, still struggling for breath and working through the pain in her side. "I mean, not great but … ok."
Aimi makes a sound of agreement, flopping inelegantly to the ground.
Tomomi rolls her eyes but her voice isn't unfriendly when she speaks. "Yeah, the Academy does that to you. Unfortunately they just don't have the time or opportunity to build the kind of endurance necessary for travelling long distances at shinobi speeds."
"So how do you get that?" Takeshi asks, his voice more wobbly than usual.
"Practice," Hajime grins at them. "Practice, practice, practice."
"We'll add long distance running to our training regimen when we get back to Konoha," Tomomi adds.
Sakura groans quietly, relieved to hear Aimi and Takeshi doing the same. At least she's not alone in this.
When she has somewhat regained her breath and the pain in her abdomen is reduced to something slightly more manageable, Sakura accepts the water bottle and drinks greedily from it.
"A lot of the time it won't be strictly necessary to travel at shinobi speeds, since you'll be escorting civilians," Tomomi says. "However, at other times your mission will require you to travel somewhere on time to complete the mission, or you'll be tasked with delivering time-sensitive messages, so having the basic stamina is important."
"When you get better at tree climbing and are able to run through the trees you'll be able to run faster and easier, but that too builds upon your stamina," Hajime adds.
"Why can't we do that now then?" Aimi asks before taking a big slurp from her water bottle.
"Because you need to build stamina, and because you're not skilled enough yet to travel long distances like that."
Aimi's eyes meet Sakura's and Aimi makes a face of self reproach. Sakura glances at Takeshi, who's suddenly studying his water bottle intently.
She wonders if this is what Sasuke-kun feels whenever she or Naruto are unable to keep up with him in training. A quick glance at Hajime confirms her thought that she would be able to do the journey through the trees, but since neither Aimi nor Takeshi have the necessary skills yet they're limited to running on the ground. Unless they're going to carry Aimi and Takeshi.
Besides, Sakura clearly needs to improve her stamina as well.
"We'll get better," Aimi states. "Next time we'll be good enough to run in the trees, right?"
Takeshi nods wordlessly, a determined expression on his face.
When Sakura, Aimi and Takeshi can breathe normally again they continue the journey, at a slightly slower pace this time. Sakura's legs feel wobbly like noodles and she stumbles several times, almost tripping. Aimi and Takeshi are not faring better.
Recalling practising running through the trees the previous evening, and Hajime's instruction to circulate chakra through her legs, Sakura does the same now. The relief in her aching muscles is instantaneous, like a cold bath on a warm day. Focusing on the circulation of her chakra also provides a welcome distraction to the physical discomfort, and so she continues to do just that, steadily circulating her chakra through not just her legs but also her upper body and chest, providing further relief to her burning lungs.
After that the journey goes a little bit easier. They take breaks about once every hour, their pace growing progressively slower. By mid-afternoon even Tomomi and Hajime are visibly tired, and they finish the last part of the trip in a very slow jog. Despite this they make decent time to the village, arriving just after dinnertime.
The village itself is small and poor, at least compared to Konoha, surrounded by sprawling rice fields, forests and mountains. The houses look very little like the colourful, often multi-storey houses of Konoha: simple wooden structures in plain colours, more practical than anything else.
Hajime, having taken the unofficial lead, leads them towards the village elder's house, since he is the one having requested their aid. Sakura's head twists and turns as they walk through the village, taking in the sights and feeling her stomach twist uncomfortably. This village is important enough to Konoha that a troublesome boar warrants a C-ranked mission, yet the village itself seems such a far cry from the riches of Konoha.
Kakashi stands by his protégé's hospital bed, too restless and uncomfortable at the hospital to begin with to sit down yet unable to make himself leave. Occasionally Sasuke will tremble or groan, but he's not waking up. The cursed seal mark on his neck stands as a stark contrast to his pale skin, which is hot and feverish to the touch.
"At this stage it is difficult to tell whether he'll survive or not," Jiraiya-sama tells him from the other side of the room. "His body is fighting the mark. For the time being there is nothing we can do to help him."
He tries not to feel resentment that the premier seal master of the village, one of the Legendary Sannin, stands as helpless as he does in the face of this curse mark. He's not entirely successful.
His own guilt tastes bitterly in his mouth but he can't shake the feeling. This reminds him far too much of losing Obito and Rin. His skin is crawling with the need to do something, to find an enemy to fight or a mission to focus on, another mask to hide himself behind. Looking down on the boy it seems painfully clear that there is nothing he can currently do though.
"Will you be able to seal it away when he wakes up?" Kakashi asks. When, he thinks with determination. Not if he wakes, when he wakes.
"Not completely." Jiraiya's voice is quiet but serious. The look he gives Kakashi is almost apologetic. "The seal itself is too powerful to safely remove. If he does survive, removing the seal again might just kill him."
"So what can we do?"
The question hangs in the air between them. Kakashi focuses his gaze on Jiraiya, desperate for hope. Jiraiya shakes his head, not looking optimistic.
"The Evil Sealing Method will suppress the power of the seal. It can't be applied before he wakes up, but then you are about as qualified as me to apply it."
"Then it will be up to him to resist the temptation to use it," Kakashi surmises, looking down at his protégé again. His very power-hungry, vengeful protégé.
Sighing, Kakashi leans against the wall, pondering the future and what he might do to prevent the looming threat of war and Orochimaru trying to dig his claws further into the last Uchiha. It's an impossibly big task, but Kakashi is ready to do whatever it takes to prevent it.
He will not lose another comrade.
Even if he has to fight an unknown quantity of unidentified enemies.
Even if he has to take down a Sannin.
Even if he has to face Yamanaka Inoichi himself.
Her body is already aching from the long run earlier in the day when they make their way out into the fields that evening to set traps for the troublesome boar. Two of the village's own men are acting as their guides, showing where the boar usually appears and escapes their own traps.
"He's a big one, that's for sure," one of the men tells them, indicating an impression of a large hoof in the ground.
"And aggressive too," the other one adds. "We've nearly caught him a couple of times, but he tears through any net we make before we can get to him. Even wood won't stop him!"
"He often comes this way," the first one continues, pointing to a small trail leading between the fields and towards the forest. "Sometimes he'll just dig through the ground and destroy our fields but oftentimes he'll come closer to the village in search of food."
"It started out with him digging through trash but he's getting more and more greedy. He's even attacked and taken chickens on a few occasions. Some of the women are worried that their little ones might be next on the menu."
Sakura exchanges looks with her teammates, feeling herself go wide-eyed at the prospect of a boar posing such a threat.
"Alright," Hajime says, clapping his hands and easily taking charge. "Tomomi, you're a better tracker than I am. Why don't you take one of these gentlemen with you and see if you can find anything, and the rest of us'll start setting some traps around here?"
"Alright."
With a plan of action they set to work.
"We've tracked him as far as the river sometimes, but where he goes from there is a mystery," one of the men explains as they begin to lead Tomomi away.
Falling back on her knowledge of traps from the Academy, Sakura pulls out her ninja wire and other tools. The others do the same and they get to work in comfortable silence, spreading out to cover more ground.
"Can I ask something?"
The question is quiet. Sakura is crouched down in the tall grass, struggling to put one of her more complicated traps into place and quite sure she's not supposed to hear Takeshi's voice at all.
"Go ahead."
Carefully she forms the ninja wire into a loop, trying to pretend like she isn't eavesdropping. Takeshi's got his back to her and Aimi doesn't seem to have noticed her either.
"Earlier today - I mean this morning, when you said-"
Takeshi hesitates, fiddling with something.
"When I said what?"
"You said 'us'. You said 'Don't you dare insult us Uzushio-folks'."
"And?"
"Is it true?"
"Is what true?"
Aimi's voice is hard, challenging. Takeshi's, by comparison, is hesitant. Even so Sakura tenses, preparing herself to intervene. She's listened to enough of Takeshi's and Hiroshi's rants about foreigners, and Aimi has become enough of a friend that she won't allow him to spew all of that on her.
"Are you one of them?"
"Yeah, my parents are from Uzushio. So what?"
Silence.
Sakura sits perfectly still, all pretence of working abandoned as she anxiously awaits Takeshi's answer.
"I didn't know."
"You never asked."
"But you never said anything either."
"As if you and Hiroshi needed any more ammunition against me!"
Takeshi kicks at a stone, which disappears into the tall grass.
"Don't think I've been that bad to you, have I?"
"Wouldn't you have been, if you'd known from the start that I'm uzushio?"
"I don't know." Takeshi shrugs. "Maybe."
"You certainly never minded when Hiroshi started ranting about foreigners."
Aimi folds her arms across her chest, glaring at him.
"Well, you're different from others. Foreigners, I mean."
"You mean that I look different from other foreigners."
"That's not what I said!"
"But that's what you meant, isn't it?"
"No! Or maybe, but that's not all! Foreigners are untrustworthy. Who knows where their loyalties lie? But I trust you."
"You sound just like Hiroshi."
Peeking through the grass, Sakura can see Takeshi visibly flinch at the accusation.
"What he did was wrong. It's one thing to talk, but he attacked a fellow shinobi. The Commander was right to take his headband."
"He attacked Sakura."
"Who's a shinobi, like us."
"Who's from Uzushio, like me. A foreigner. And therefore untrustworthy, by your own definition."
Takeshi twists, looking uncomfortable.
"She's not that bad."
"And yet, if it'd been up to people like you and Hiroshi neither Sakura nor I would've been allowed in the Academy."
"You two are different! So what?"
"So Sakura and I are both different from other foreigners. What about Iruka-sensei? Do you think he's a traitor?"
"I guess not."
"And how many foreigners do you know, Takeshi? Because so far, that's three out of three that are 'different', but different from what?"
Takeshi is silent for so long Sakura almost thinks he won't answer.
"I guess I see your point."
"Good. So what does it matter if my parents are from Uzushio?"
"I guess it doesn't."
"Damn right it doesn't."
Aimi turns away to set another trap.
"Can I meet them sometime?"
Aimi freezes in place.
"Meet whom?"
"Your parents?"
"Why do you want to meet my parents?"
Takeshi shrugs.
"You just pointed out that I know a grand total of three foreigners. I thought I'd add to that."
"Well, you can't! Meet them, that is."
"Why not?"
"Because!"
"Ok. I'd like to though, if you'd let me. In the future, that is."
"I won't!"
To Sakura's amusement Aimi is blushing, and she feels a smile tugging at her own lips as well. Maybe she should help Takeshi convince Aimi to bring them for a visit with her parents when they get back to Konoha. It might just be a really fun visit. After all, Aimi's parents can be … well, a bit over the top.
She goes back to setting her trap, smiling as she works and discretely working her way away from Takeshi and Aimi.
By the time they finish, the fields around the village are a veritable minefield of traps.
"No boar is going to escape this!" Hajime declares proudly.
Sakura smiles with him but the man from the village does not look convinced.
Tomomi returns, having been unable to track the boar any further than the village man had.
They return to the village in the setting sun, eager to get some food and sleep.
The dream is the same as usual. Obito dies, blaming him for abandoning his teammates. Rin coughs up blood, dripplets of it hitting his face as he pierces her with his chidori. Minato-sensei turns away in disappointment. Kakashi tries to follow but his legs are stuck to the ground and he can only watch as Minato-sensei is devoured by the shadows.
He startles awake as the shadows begin to reach for him, momentarily confused as to where he is before reality crashes back. The hospital. Sasuke.
Taking a deep breath Kakashi straightens in the uncomfortable visitor's chair. Damn hospital. No wonder he's got nightmares. A quick look at the clock shows that Sasuke has been out of it for over twelve hours.
With a worried frown he turns his attention to the bed, trying to push the memory of the dream aside as he does so. As all the other times he has checked, Sasuke lays still and pale in the bed.
However, there is a tension in the room that isn't just the remnants of Kakashi's nightmare. Now more awake, Kakashi becomes aware of a foreign, malicious chakra slowly gathering, growing more and more compact. The epicentre of it is Sasuke.
This is it then. The critical moment wherein Sasuke either lives or dies has arrived.
As Kakashi watches, Sasuke trembles and groans, shoulder twitching as the seal begins to grow. Slow at first it quickly picks up speed, the dark tomoe beginning to glow with fierce power until it looks more like fire than anything else.
"Nurse!" Kakashi shouts, rushing up and to the door.
Someone is there almost instantly, looking worried.
"This room needs to be sealed off," Kakashi orders. "Whatever containment seals there are, make sure they are activated now!"
She gapes in confusion for a moment before noticing the malicious chakra gathering around Sasuke and nodding decisively. Kakashi slams the door in her face and turns to his student. Just as Sasuke starts to get up, movements sluggish and clumsy, he feels the containment seals slam into place, locking the two of them into the room.
Half of Sasuke's face and body is glowing with the expanded curse mark, malevolent chakra swirling around the room in purple swirls of pure energy. Sharingan-red eyes open, quickly taking in the room before focusing on Kakashi.
This isn't Sasuke's power, Kakashi thinks. This is Orochimaru. This is the power of one of the legendary sannin. Or at least some of it. Even to him it is breathtaking, the pure malice and killing intent embedded in it enough to make him tense with anticipation.
"Kakashi …" Sasuke's voice comes out darker than usual, more of a drawl to it than he is usually capable of. "Where … Where is he? Orochimaru?"
There is no fear in Sasuke as he asks the question. Just momentary calmness, with the malice and killing intent boiling just beneath the surface.
"He's gone," Kakashi replies, forcing his voice to come out calming. "They're looking for him now, but if he's got any sense he has already left the village. But we will catch him. He won't get away with what he has done to you, Sasuke-kun."
"Done to me?"
Sasuke raises a hand, as if noticing the now ink-black flame markings on it for the first time. He raises his eyebrows, twisting his hand as he inspects it more closely.
"So this is his doing, is it? And this power that I feel, surging within me -"
Realising that Sasuke's thoughts are going in an unwanted direction Kakashi decides to break in.
"He almost killed you. That seal that he gave you has a 90% chance of killing you!"
Sasuke looks up at Kakashi, mild surprise written across his face, before he returns to studying his hand.
"I feel good," he says, that same darkness in his voice clashing badly with the forced innocence of the statement. "Better than before, actually. And he gave it to me …"
"He's a madman!" Kakashi interrupts. "Don't be fooled into thinking that he cares. He'll use you like a tool and throw you aside when he's done with you. He won't mind risking your life for his own personal goals!"
If Sasuke even hears him he doesn't show any signs of doing so. Desperately Kakashi wishes that Jiraiya hadn't left so soon, because he has no idea how to stop his student from being taken over by Orochimaru's power.
"I finally understand," Sasuke continues. "I'm an avenger. I must obtain power, no matter what the price is. The devil himself may take hold of my body if this is the result."
Quickly he twists around, aiming a kick at the bed and sending it flying into the wall. The wall cracks but lights up with sealing runes and the bed falls to the floor in one crumpled, misformed mess.
"Even you, Kakashi, are weary about this new power of mine ... " Sasuke turns, focusing on Kakashi again.
Ironically enough it is old memories of sparring with Itachi that tells Kakashi what's coming. The Uchiha are predictable that way. Swiftly he dodges the fire balls sent in his direction, barely noticing as they light the wall behind him on fire as he rolls aside.
His hand immediately reaches for his headband but Sasuke is already moving, taking advantage of Kakashi's momentary distraction. Kakashi is forced to abort the movement in favour of blocking the kick aimed for him.
Sasuke is smirking, already confident of his victory as he twists, using the momentum of the kick to power another blow.
"Oh no you don't!" Kakashi curses, swiftly blocking that blow too before delivering another blow to Sasuke's head with ruthless precision.
The chakra flares dangerously but Sasuke is out like light. Kakashi catches his limp body, trying not to feel guilty. Slowly the chakra flickers away, the marks receding until all that remains is the three tomoes of the original curse mark.
Well, Kakashi thinks, looking at the destroyed hospital bed and the still burning walls and the fire just barely contained by the containment seals of the room, that could've gone better.
"Impossible!"
"Told you we've tried traps before. They don't work on him."
"But this field was littered with traps! He can't have avoided every single one of them!"
Hajime glares at the village man before looking around the field again as if he is personally insulted by the failed traps. Sakura might have enjoyed the sight and teased him for it if not for the fact that her whole body is aching from yesterday's running. Despite stretching, every step she takes still seems to hurt. Aimi is in a similar condition, and Takeshi is visibly limping.
"At least there's fresh tracks for us to follow," Tomomi says, pointing to said fresh tracks.
"Look at this!" Hajime continues, picking up the broken remains of one of his traps. "It's trashed!"
Sakura thinks longingly of her bed back at the Genin Corps but forces herself to focus at the present when Tomomi loses patience with Hajime and decides to slap him over the head.
"How about we try tracking it instead of obsessing over a couple of traps?"
"It's not just a couple ..! Yes ma'am!" Obviously catching on to Tomomi's quickly waning patience Hajime quickly changes his tune, straightening up and sending a quick, regretful look at the destroyed traps before giving Tomomi all of his attention.
Tomomi takes charge with a sort of brutal efficiency that leaves no room for Hajime's bruised ego. They spread out, searching for the most recent tracks. Sakura isn't a very good tracker but her Academy skills are plenty enough to follow the boar's path through the muddy fields. Between the five of them they soon find the tracks of the boar leaving the fields and heading into the forest.
They follow the path - one the village men had identified as a less used one the day before - in a single file, the wild underbush making anything else difficult. Tomomi, as the best tracker, goes first, followed by Sakura, Aimi, Takeshi and lastly Hajime.
The ground in the forest is less muddy and the tracks less obvious but Tomomi has no difficulties finding them. Sakura tries to see what the older kunoichi sees but quickly realises that she is rather horribly outmatched in this as well. Absent-mindedly she begins circling some chakra through her body, trying to relieve her exhausted legs.
Around them the trees grow larger and the underbush even wilder, the chirping of birds and rustling of the occasional rodent the only sounds that break the silence. Tomomi's steps are almost soundless, Hajime's slightly less so and Sakura's, Aimi's and Takeshi's being the loudest.
Slightly bored and unable to see much, Sakura begins studying the way Tomomi moves, trying to make her own steps as soundless as hers. It is an exercise that somewhat reminds her of her classes on how to be a lady, of aunt Kasumi drilling her in how to walk properly in the heavy skirts of the kimono and the intricate shoes of a lady. She pushes the thought aside with a shake of her head.
Tomomi stops. Sakura is too lost in thought to notice and walks straight into her. Aimi just barely avoids walking into Sakura.
"Sorry," she sheepishly says.
"Shh!" Tomomi angrily shushes her, indicating for her to be quiet before frowning at the tracks before her.
Sakura glances behind her, giving a sheepish shrug at the others. Hajime gives her a comforting smile, Aimi looks about as sheepish as Sakura feels and Takeshi is studying the ground.
Silently they step back, allowing Tomomi some space as she paces back and forth, searching for the track they're following. Sakura thinks of Inuzuka Kiba and his dog Akamaru. Though her memory of him is that of a loudmouthed slacker, a dog seems like a handy companion to have right now. Maybe the Commander should've given this mission to another team instead.
Except Kiba and his team were busy with the second stage of the Chunin Exams when they left, just like Ino and the rest of team 10. For a moment she feels an immense guilt for not being able to be there when they all finished with the second stage, and even more for having caused her own team to miss out participating, but then she pushes it aside.
Ino will understand, as will Choji and Shikamaru.
Sasuke-kun and Naruto clearly won't, but then Sakura's starting to think that might not mean the end of the world after all.
She quite likes her new teammates, after all. She looks at Aimi and Takeshi, both of whom have been perfectly nice to her ever since yesterday. Aimi for longer than that even. And Tomomi and Hajime have been doing their best to teach her new things and never once getting impatient with her when her lack of experience or skills caused them to have to slow down during a mission, and even though Tomomi hushed her angrily just a couple of moments ago Sakura didn't really take it personally.
Eventually Tomomi finds the correct track again and their search continues, much in the same way. Further and further into the forest they venture, the trees growing taller and thicker around them until barely any sunshine manage to filter through the treetops down to them. As their path twists and turns and splits she tries to remember which way they take - right turn, left turn, left, straight forward, right - but quickly loses track of where they are. If they'd been on an Academy exercise she would've demanded that they stop and make a map in order not to get lost, but since neither Hajime nor Tomomi seem worried she trusts them to find their way back to the village.
Tomomi stops again, signalling for the rest of them to do the same. Sakura barely dares to breathe for fear of making too much noise as Tomomi frowns at the ground, stepping forward and crouching down to better study the tracks.
A wild, loud squeal pierces the air but the boar's attack still takes them by surprise. Its massive build presses through the underbrush easily, the thin legs moving with surprising speed. Sakura catches a glimpse of a bulky body and large tusks protruding from the mouth before it throws itself at Tomomi.
Tomomi, taken off guard and in a bad position, throws herself to the side but is unable to completely avoid the boar thanks to the small space afforded by the underbush. One of the large tusks catch onto her calf and a cry escapes as the boar tears through flesh and muscle.
Hajime reacts faster than Sakura, quickly pulling two kunai and sending them flying towards the beast. It dodges one of them but the second one buries itself in the thick neck. Squealing loudly, the boar flees, Hajime following closely behind it and jumping over Tomomi without so much as a look.
"Sakura!" he shouts, clearly meaning for her to follow.
Sakura hesitates, glancing between the wounded Tomomi and the rest of her teammates.
"Don't worry about me!" Tomomi roars at her, grabbing her calf with a pained expression. "Get the damned thing!"
"We'll take care of Tomomi-san," Aimi adds.
With that reassurance Sakura leaps for the trees, circulating more chakra through her legs for speed and force. Though both Hajime and the boar are out of sight already, the boar is still squealing loudly and Hajime isn't exactly quiet either now that he's running at full speed through the underbrush.
"Can you see it?" Hajime shouts as she catches up to him.
"Not yet!"
"Well, look! And stay in the trees!"
Dodging branches and trying to push herself to run faster she tries to spot the boar, but the brown fur makes an excellent camouflage against the underbrush, especially as her attention is divided between searching and dodging branches.
Because she's running through the trees she's able to get ahead of Hajime and mentally she prays that she won't get lost. She can still hear him, not too far behind her though.
A stray branch almost slaps her in the face, forcing her to jump in order to avoid it, and then she sees it.
"I see it!"
"See if you can slow it down!"
Swiftly pulling her own kunai she sends a couple flying towards the fleeing boar. The first one misses, by a wide margin, but the second graces the big hump on its neck. In stark contrast to her intention, the additional pain only makes the boar squeal louder and run faster.
Behind her Hajime stumbles, crashing loudly to the ground.
"Don't stop!" he shouts. "I'll catch up!"
Now alone Sakura pushes a little more chakra into her legs, feeling the branches just barely holding it together beneath her feet. It allows her to get a little bit closer to the boar, even as it makes several quick turns and dives trying to confuse its pursuer.
Since Hajime doesn't seem to be catching up immediately she pulls another two kunai, frowning in concentration as she aims. Mid jump, in the air between two branches, she sends both kunai flying. The action takes some of the momentum of her jump, forcing her to scramble not to fall to the ground.
When she looks up again she's almost above the boar.
It's not running anymore.
Panthing, momentarily struggling to understand what she sees, she comes to a halt in the next tree. Suspiciously she looks down on the boar, expecting the stillness to be another trick.
It still doesn't move. Both of her kunnai are buried deeply within it, one at the base of the neck and the other somewhere around where the heart should be.
Hajime appears next to her a few moments later, apparently having given up on running on the ground.
"Did you lose it?" he asks, panting a little. He has several gashes in both his face and his arms and legs.
Sakura quietly shakes her head and indicates to the ground, breath still caught in her throat as she processes the scene before her.
"You killed it?!" Hajime exclaims with surprise.
Unlike her he doesn't hesitate to jump down to the ground to make sure that it's really dead. Once he has confirmed that it is, he waves for her to join him and she reluctantly does.
"Impressive," he says, pulling at one of her kunai. It doesn't budge. "And we haven't even practised chakra enhanced throwing."
"Is that what I did?"
Still staring at the boar, realisation slowly settles over her.
She did it.
She did this.
She killed the boar.
"Unless you've got a lot more muscle on you than what you look to have." Hajime's voice is light and joking as he tries again to pull out one of her kunai. It still doesn't move. "Think you could pull this out?"
Grimacing, she obediently tries to pull out the kunai. It takes a couple of tries but at last she manages something vaguely reminiscent of how it felt to throw the kunai in the first place. The knife slides out easily then, with a squelching sound and covered in blood.
Swallowing around a suddenly dry throat she wipes most of the blood off on some moss before repeating the procedure with the second kunai. The blood flows more freely from the second wound and for a few minutes they just stand quietly, allowing the blood to flow out of the boar.
"I've never killed something before," Sakura admits quietly. "Not anything that isn't a fish or something, at least."
"You'll get used to it," Hajime promises calmly. "A boar isn't that different from a fish."
Sakura doesn't ask how different a human is from a boar. Her chest and throat suddenly feels altogether too tight.
Sasuke sits in the middle of the two circles marked out with kunai and ninja wire, one larger than the other. Kakashi has been at work for the better part of half an hour writing the complicated symbols for preparing the seal. The complexity alone makes the task arduous; the fact that he's required to use his own blood makes his head spin a little. He hasn't lost a dangerous amount of blood but the human body isn't meant to lose this much blood either.
"Do we have to do this?" Sasuke asks, obviously getting impatient.
He shivers under Kakashi's fingers as he places another line of symbols up his naked torso. Thankfully his voice is his usual one, higher and more childish than the one used earlier while in the grasp of the curse mark.
"Yes." Kakashi's voice is short and distracted as he focuses on ignoring his spinning head and placing the last two lines of marks across Sasuke's back.
"Why can't I just … not use this thing?"
"You choosing not to use the curse mark will be vital too," Kakashi patiently explains, slowly standing up and studying the fruits of his efforts. "The seal I'm placing will simply make sure that you do have a choice."
Sasuke twists his head to look up at Kakashi over his shoulder, looking in that moment very much like the barely thirteen year old boy that he is. Kakashi ignores the small part of him that wants to protect the boy.
"Remember, the seal is dangerous and will take over if you give it even the tiniest chance to do so. Removing it entirely would really be the safest option, if it weren't for the removal being almost as dangerous as the application itself. So, we're sealing it away. And I trust you to be smart enough not to use it, is that understood?"
Sasuke grunts in agreement.
"Alright. Then bear with this a little. It'll be done in a few moments, I promise."
Quietly Sasuke nods, facing forward again and tensing his shoulders in anticipation of the pain to come. Kakashi brings his hands together and begins running through the hand seals, mentally repeating them to himself. Hare, Snake, Horse, Ram, Tiger, Hare, Snake, Horse, Ram-
Chakra gathers in his chest, filling him with energy needing an outlet. As he finishes the last seal Kakashi reaches out and places his hand directly on top of the exposed curse mark.
"Argh!" Sasuke screams immediately, trembling under Kakashi's hand but staying still.
He groans and twists a little but doesn't move away as the symbols Kakashi has painted begin to twist and turn, slowly crawling over him and uniting into one, dark circle surrounding the curse mark. The power flows out of Kakashi, taking his breath away for the few moments that it takes before the seal is finished.
Sasuke collapses on the ground, still groaning.
"If the cursed seal tries to activate the Evil Suppressor Seal will hold it in," Kakashi tells him. "However, the seal utilises your will as its main source. If you lose faith in yourself and sway your mind, the seal will activate again. And that might kill you."
Sasuke manages a nod before he loses consciousness, leaving Kakashi alone with his unconscious and half dressed protégé.