We almost immediately had to slow our punishing pace, Ichiyo's breath coming in gasps, his eyes looking as if they were going to separate themselves from his skull. Part of me was relieved, we almost definitely weren't going to have a face-to-face with a goddamn Sannin, but the bigger part of me made a mental note to devote several weeks to his speed alone. I could feel the malevolent chakra of the Kyuubi, and then I felt it snuff out again, sealed away. I did my best to hurry my teammates along, barely keeping myself from hyperventilating in fear when I felt the hideous seal come into being near the chakra I associated with Sasuke.

I slid in beside Sakura, barely managing to get my kunai out of the way of the hug she inflicted on me, her grip crushing, her tears staining my shirt. I rubbed her back, motioning with my head for the other two to check the boys, not that it was necessary. I made shushing noises, closing my eyes and casting out my senses as far as they would possibly go, Orochimaru wasn't even in the village at the moment, never mind the forest.

"He's not here anymore, Sakura. You're safe, we're here. We're moving to safety now. Can you walk?"

She nodded, pulling away and wiping her tears, determination filling her eyes, but not erasing the redness surrounding them. We set out for cover immediately, and wonder-of-wonders we found the same large hollowed-out tree that Sakura had found in another timeline. World? Whatever. While the boys were trapping the place to hell Sakura sat by my side, nibbling on the bar of chocolate I'd given her for both comfort and to ease her depleted chakra.

"Tell me what happened, as best you can."

While we bandaged the various wounds on Sasuke, both of us knowing that Narutos would be taken care of by grumpy and furry, she told me a story only slightly different from what I already knew. I'd gathered as much from the corpses of snakes surrounding them when we arrived, Naruto never allowed himself to be taken from the group, and I almost cried at the sight of my little brother, because he was nothing less no matter that we hadn't seen each other much lately, pushing it down to tend to his best friends wounds.

Once the bandages and salve were finished Sakura pointed to the seal on Sasuke's neck.

"He bit him. That was left behind. Do you think you can get rid of it? And whatever he did to Kyuubi?"

I paused, hesitating before shrugging, not wanting to give her false hope.

"If nothing else I can stop the 'whatever' it is from doing anything else to the boys before we can get to Kakashi-sensei, he'll know what to do."

I knew for a fact that he wouldn't know how to get rid of either of these malicious seals, but it reassured Sakura, allowing her to finally doze off in the corner. I covered her with my blanket before turning to Sasuke. I was glad she was knocked out. As far as she was aware I should be way more concerned with Naruto's existing seal being fucked with, but I could feel from here that the same seal from that damn show was in effect. He'd be fine for now.

I expanded Sasuke's seal, the blinding lines taking shape in my mind's eye. Not as easy to work with as if they were physically manifested, but there just wasn't the room (nor security) for that here. It would have to do. Many of my assumptions about the seal were confirmed, though more were proven wrong, and in the end I put limiters around it, sucking the foreign chakra back into it and sealing it away, in a clever bit of sealing that I was particularly proud of that used the chakra from the seal itself to fuel the seal keeping it in place. Now even if Sasuke's willpower failed him, which I doubted with the changes to his life, then there was still not going to be any leakage. A portion of the seal I realized I was wrong about was that chakra. I vividly remember where in the show it had seemed to radiate off Sasuke in purple waves, and now I knew that was saturation of his chakra system. A saturation that would never happen here and now because I woke Sakura the fuck up to help me siphon it back into the seal. It never reached his heart. Never reached his mind. And definitely never exploded out of every single tenketsu, tainting them forever.

I was feeling a little smug as I took that first 'watch', Sai and Ichiyo up in the trees, Ichiyo sleeping that half-sleep of being on a dangerous mission, Sai as alert as always, though both hidden from view. Sakura was out like a light, in a dangerously heavy sleep that would have been not okay in any other situation. But she had three trusted shinobi looking after her and her boys. The trust she had for us warmed my heart and had me spreading my senses further. Surprisingly Shikamaru and his team were closer than the sound ninja. As well as Lee and his. I signed the information up at Sai, including their locations using Konoha's grid system. I felt him waking Ichiyo and filling him in, then felt Sai take off towards Shikamaru's group, and Ichiyo towards Lee's. I felt warmth in my soul that Sai had no doubt decided to take the group with the Yamanaka in it, knowing Ichiyo's feelings of inadequacy revolving around his clan. The two groups were close to the clearing when the sound nin stepped in, halting both parties just out of sight.

The one in furs, Dosu I thought, yelled towards the tree, where I was wearing a weary Sakura Henge.

"What a pathetic kunoichi! Look at this Kin, what do you think?"

The female scoffed, eyeing me-Sakura with disdain.

"That long hair, such a ridiculous shade. Step aside girl, you can still become a seamstress or something."

There was a surprising amount of empathy in the girl's eyes and I reassessed what I knew about her. Or suspected, rather. I stopped the genjutsu I was sending before it reached her, remembering at the last moment that she utilized it as well. I allowed the invisible mist of chakra to seep into the other two, palming kunai as the henge I wore appeared to panic. I stood, taking a few steps back that appeared to be a stumble thanks to the henge, and the two males took a confident leap forward, aided by the genjutsu in their brains. Kin's eyes widened, letting out a shout as the two hit the ground where there was a seeming gap in the grass, only to both be pulled into the air by wire.

They exited the genjutsu with a snap that was audible only to me, and the kunai I held were sent flying toward the ground under them. Just as they cut themselves free and landed on the ground barriers bloomed above them and I let the henge melt away. I tilted my head at Kin, not sure what to make of her.

"And why, exactly, are you people targeting Sakura?"

Dosu snarled from within his improvised cage, sending an immediate blast of sound that bounced back at him and sent his hunched form crashing against the other wall and sliding to the ground, likely unconscious. I turned back to Kin, throwing an explosive tag to stick on the wall of both barriers, holding up the half seal, but not activating it just yet.

"Tell me what you want, and I'll let your team go. Eventually. Stay silent, or Kami forbid attack, and the tags go off. What will it be?"

She was weighing her options right up until Sai and Ichiyo led the other two teams into the clearing from behind the great tree on either side, a show of force and Konoha headbands that was most likely daunting in the extreme. Finally, she huffed, ignoring the third teammate's yelling, kept silent by the barrier.

"Sasuke. We're here to kill Sasuke."

Sakura gasped, having been awoken by the noise no doubt,

"But why?"

Kin snapped at her, growling,

"Because Orochimaru-sama asked it of us!"

I weighed my words before tilting my head in consideration, needing to plant doubts in her head before following a madman who got her killed.

"Is this the same Orochimaru that placed a seal on that same Sasuke, with his very own chakra in it?"
Kin stiffened, face going through a couple of emotions before she got ahold of herself, likely putting it together from what she knew of Orochimaru, and figuring out that his body-stealing factory was trying to attract some Oompa Loompas. I continued,

"From one Kunoichi to another. I looked at that seal. If you were ordered to go at him with intent to kill, then you were ordered to die."

I waited a few seconds for her to realize that I was right before I motioned toward the unconscious Dosu.

"Feel free to check on your idiot teammate, you can enter but not exit." I made a motion with my left hand and chakra strings drug the explosive tags away from the seal walls,

"The barriers are on a time release, the air will cycle cleanly."

I didn't mention that there were special limiters taken into account for chakra, if she tried what Dosu did she'd also be in for a rude awakening. The others had already gathered Sasuke and Naruto up, and with a discrete signal from Sai, we jumped away into the trees. Sakura caught up with me, Shikamaru almost immediately behind her, the pink-haired girl looking slightly lost.

"What...what was that?"

I sent her what little of a grin I could manage,

"Oh, that? Psychological warfare, in part. She and her teammates are hopefully going to sow dissent into Sounds ranks. If they really are run by Orochimaru, then that can only be a good thing."

As she nodded hesitantly I added,

"Also it seriously grates on me that anyone would send their shinobi to die on a lark. Not fucking cool."

Shikamaru sighed heavily,

"That's nice and all, but what are we going to do when she gets her friends free and comes after us?"
I snorted,

"I just felt her enter the same barrier as the unconscious guy. I did mention that it was 'enter only' and that it's on a time release. They'll sit there for the next two and a half days, unless someone with at least the same skill levels as Hatake Kakashi comes to break them out. So far only he and a Kumo Anbu have broken out of variations from this sealing family, and I'll definitely notice that happening."

He nodded, lost in thought, no doubt strategizing what to do about this cluster fuck. I tossed him a scroll,

"You need this, right?"
Without looking I tossed another one at both Tenten and Sakura.

"Let's get to the tower, already. I don't want to hang around a Sannin's hunting grounds."

The atmosphere turned grim, and a short while later when a cheerful voice called out nearly all of us flinched, only Lee looking on with innocent curiosity from where he held Naruto. With a sign from Sai we halted, allowing Kabuto to leap up onto the branch in front of us, the three teams spread out, with the exhausted Sakura and those holding the unconscious members of Team 7 safely in the middle. He looked around, widening his eyes dramatically upon spotting Sasuke and Naruto.

"Are they okay? How long have they been out? Here, let me look over them, one Konoha nin to another."

Just as Tenten hesitated to let him through, his hands already alight with mint green medical chakra, I stepped forwards. Ichiyo moved up to cover my place in the formation automatically and I tamped down the warm feelings that gave me.

"Apologies, Yakushi-san, but Sakura is trained as a medic as well, and she is already the attending for these two."

That brought him up short, and I felt Ino shift behind me. Everyone here, hopefully, save Kabuto, knew that Sakura was not qualified to act as an attending medic. Which shouted out to them quite nicely and discreetly that I didn't trust this guy. He bobbed his head, looking around at all of us curiously,

"Well, if you have it all covered then. I felt your chakra and was just seeing if you rookies needed any help. Ganging up on everyone is hardly fair, though."

I smiled at him sharply, cutting off whatever Ichiyo was going to say with a sign behind my back.

"All is fair in love and war, Yakushi-san. We shall see you at the tower."
It was as obvious a dismissal as I could give him, and we set off again almost immediately. Shikamaru once again took a place by my side,

"What do you have against that guy, anyway?"
Ino pipped in, "Yeah, he was really nice at the beginning, and he's from Konoha! Didn't you say in the beginning that we Konoha nin need to stick together?"

I nodded to the blond as best I could without turning around and falling out of the damn air.

"Yes, and no, Ino-chan. Consider him for a moment. In full hearing of every single person taking the exams, he called us all out as rookies. Then, still in front of everyone, he offered up information that he had no real way of knowing. Those cards are a legitimate source of information, but should not be in the hands of a genin. They're generally kept inside T&I so they can be protected and used against people, not out in the open and in the chuunin exams of all things. Then, there's the fact that he's taken this exam so many times. Not unusual for a regular genin. But he's a medic. And you saw him form medical chakra. There was no hesitation, no flickering as he tried to filter it, not even a hand sign. Just an automatic application of the jutsu. Absolutely no medic who has that level of skill would be allowed to stay a genin. Medics have the option of a field promotion so they can work more effectively at the hospital. There are three options here. Either he's hiding his skills for whatever reason and no one with authority knows of them, they know and he's been in some sort of disciplinary trouble preventing promotion, or he's a plant in the exam."

Shikamaru was nodding along, getting to my point before I could,

"But his actions with the cards wouldn't be that of a plant in the exam."

"Exactly. I don't know what he is, but it's definitely not a normal genin. So be wary."

That managed to kill the mood even further, and we made it to the tower with two days to spare. Shikamaru glanced at the riddle and threw open his two scrolls, the other teams following. Iruka appeared in front of Sakura, the smile dropping immediately when he noticed Sasuke and Naruto were out cold. Izumo, the chuunin that had appeared in front of Sai, barely managed to juggle all of the extra scrolls I shoved at him while Shikamaru sighed,

"I'm guessing you don't know about the intruder? What a drag."

"Intruder!?"

The synchronization in the chuunin would have been funny in any other situation, but as it was we were silent as our teams were rushed away to different rooms, though I snagged Sakura as her teammates were taken away by medics. No need for her to face the heat alone, after all. The room we were taken to was obviously a briefing room, and I wondered what it was even doing in this tower before I sunk into one of the chairs around the round table, pulling Sakura with me and my blanket from my bag and around the both of us. As slim as we both were we fit together comfortably in the swivel chair, Sai and Ichiyo taking the chair on either side of us. I was absently tracking the chakra of the other two teams when I felt the next approach.

I gave a warning signal a few seconds before Genma and Kakashi burst into the room, followed by the Hokage himself. Kakashi reached the two of us first, Sharingan in full view as he took in his student where she was curled up next to me. He didn't protest when she threw herself at him, arms clamped desperately around his waist. His hands were flapping uselessly, though I didn't get to see how that ended because Genma was pulling me out of the chair, turning me around a few times before putting his hands on my shoulders and looking me in the eye.

"If you ever run towards the sannin battle again, I am killing you myself."

The Hokage cleared his throat behind us, the six of us snapping to attention.

"Sakura-chan? I believe the story starts with you?"

The familiar story differed drastically from canon but was true to her earlier telling. Naruto stayed with the group, Sakura put up a fight, and Sasuke finally activated his Sharingan. Then it differed even further from canon, because obviously, "-And then Asuka showed up!"

The Hokage turned his gaze on me, eyes boring into my soul.

"Asuka-chan?"

I nodded, letting a breath out slowly. "Our team was a few miles away, but I felt a wind jutsu activate in the vicinity of Team Seven. It had a chakra content that belonged nowhere near the chuunin exams and…it tasted like snakes."

"It had a taste? From miles away?"

I stopped at the interruption, confused, "Yes? All chakra has a taste? And a smell?"
I heard Genma sigh slightly behind me before the Hokage nodded, "Of course, of course. Please continue, Asuka-chan. What happened after you sensed this chakra signature near Team Seven?"

"We moved to provide support. There was no way to signal proctors, no backup other than us nearby. We determined at the very least we could provide extraction from the situation. The nin was gone when we arrived. We assessed the conditions of the unconscious team members before moving to a more defensible position. As both held new unknown seals I examined them." Everyone in the room except for my fellow genin stiffened just slightly and I continued on quickly, "Through my sensing ability I was able to determine the seal on Naruto without contact." They relaxed and I continued at an easier pace. "I determined it was a five elements seal to stop access to chakra, but would interfere in no other way. I knew theoretically how to remove it, but since we were in no immediate danger I deemed it best to be left for Genma-sensei or Kakashi-sensei." Translation, dancing around the Kyuubi in the room, I'm going to let someone with more knowledge of the bijuu seal fuck with it.

"A sound decision, Asuka-chan. And the seal on Sasuke-kun?"
"I deemed it immediately dangerous to his health." Sakura was the one to show a reaction this time, but I kept going before she could ask questions. "I performed a mind-expansion, with no room for full expansion, and determined that it housed foreign chakra and a modified storage seal, possibly for more chakra but it would need more in-depth analysis. I placed limiters in key positions to redirect the chakra back into the foreign seal, essentially creating a feedback loop where it ate itself instead of poisoning Sasuke. Sakura assisted with the containment of the foreign chakra, and we managed to route the majority of it back into the seal for the time being."

I didn't get the chance to continue on to the confrontation with the Sound ninja, instead, the Hokage hummed, "Excellent decisions all around, Asuka-chan, Sai-kun, Ichiyo-kun. I shall have a look at this seal myself. Kakashi-kun, Asuka-chan, please accompany me. Genma-kun, if you could take Sakura-chan, Sai-kun, and Ichiyo-kun to be checked by medical?"

It was slightly surreal, being called a cute diminutive in the same sentence that Hatake Kakashi was also called a cute diminutive, the same breath my sensei was ordered around. But that's a kage for you. I tried not to visibly react to the phrases 'Kakashi-kun' and 'Genma-kun' being uttered in my hearing, but by the amused expression on the small sliver of Kakashi's face, it didn't seem as if I was successful.

Sasuke was in his own room in medical, and Kakashi and I immediately moved the equipment aside so that the Hokage could spread the seal through the room.

He motioned me forwards, "Show us where you made your changes, Asuka-chan."

I moved forwards immediately, pulling out a senbon to point with.

"Here is the initial limiter, secondary, tertiary, quaternary, quinary, senary, and septenary."

The Hokage nodded, "Why seven, rather than the usual base ten?"

It was very hard to explain that 7 and 3 were pounded into my head as numbers of power in another world, so I grimaced, "The chakra flow felt right."

"Ah, how useful to sense the chakra in the seal as it's placed. Continue, please, Asuka-chan."

Slightly surprised our military dictator bothered with a 'please', I continued, "After placing these seven Sakura assisted me in pulling back the chakra that had started attempting to leak into Sasuke's system. The tenketsu at his shoulder near the seal-"

"You can sense the tenketsu?"

"Of course?"

"Right, of course. Continue, please. What about that tenketsu?"

Another 'please', I was starting to get nervous. "The tenketsu there were already tainted slightly by the foreign chakras presence, but we managed to force it back before it could exit the body through the tenketsu. Since it didn't reach the inner or outer portions I believe the influence in that area may weaken over time, but I haven't found any reading about tenketsu-specific anatomy before that could back that up."

The Hokage tilted the hat up so he could smile almost fondly at me, "You wouldn't. They all reside within the Hyuuga compound. We can have one of our Hyuuga medics confirm for you later. Now, after the chakra was routed?"

"Sakura held the foreign chakra within the seal while I placed the new limiters to feed the chakra back inside, here, here, and here."

"Three. Another strange number. Also by feeling?"

"No, Hokage-sama, not entirely. There were no other areas they could be placed efficiently. In any other location, they would have fought one another and broken the seal down from the inside over time. Ten limiters is never a strict requirement, I'm not really sure why it's the standard."

Kakashi-sensei let out a short chuckle from behind me, "Because that's what the Uzumaki used in the things they sold to outside villages. Ten standard seals for ten bijuu of legend."

I tilted my head to the side before twisting to look back at him, "I'm guessing they used all of the numbers for all of the things when it was just them?"

He nodded, something sad there and gone in his eyes. The Sharingan was visible, whirling as he turned back to the seal. "They did."

Kakashi motioned to a small seal near the edge, "And this one?"

"Was placed last, there were very convoluted characters involving 'mind' and I don't like that one bit, so I penned them up in solitary confinement. If you want to see them then they have to be expanded separately."

The Sandaime shook his head, "That won't be necessary. I believe your measure there should work quite well with what I'm sure Kakashi-kun is planning. Am I correct?"

Kakashi nodded, "Yes, Hokage-sama."

"Very well, I leave Sasuke-kun in your capable hands."

Kakashi immediately moved to clear the room further, pushing the bed, and Sasuke on it, to the corner of the room.

"Um, Kakashi-sensei? Do you want me to go?"

"Absolutely not, sealing like this is best done with a minion. So grab a brush and Konoha standard ink and get over here, minion. We're doing the Evil Sealing Method, are you familiar with it?"

I was, because the description had sounded like what he'd done to Sasuke and I wanted to know if there was a way to improve on it. There hadn't been, but the opportunity to set up Sasuke with my seals before this one was applied was definitely a win here.

"I am. Should I start set up on the outer circle, then?"

"Exactly. Good minion."

Well, I'm locking that memory away for when Sasuke's life isn't on the line.

"Should the total circles be reduced to three then, to not react with the limiters?"

"Or up to five. Which do you think?"

I couldn't tell if this was a test or a genuine request for an opinion, so I threw the opinion out anyway. "No clue, five circles and five lines for the body could be good, but so could three circles to match three limiters. Two threes versus two fives, but still one seven…two threes? Less likely to overpower the inner seven?"

"Interesting thought process. We'll do three."

The lines filled in quickly. I was still working on the floor when Sasuke stirred. Kakashi lay a hand on his head gently, "Sasuke, you're in the tower in Training Ground 44, it's myself and Asuka present. Are you feeling any pain in your shoulder?"

I wasn't able to look up, focusing on the careful creation of complex ink characters, but I listened closely.

"No, why-that woman. She wasn't a grass nin, her skin peeled off…she bit me!"

"Hey, hey, none of that, your very own Asuka-chan already had a look at it. Both of us are creating a seal to keep the one placed on you from poisoning you." Harsh to mention poison when he's already freaking out, but it would help with convincing him to keep his will firmed up against it.

I heard Sasuke attempting to get out of bed and Kakashi stopping him easily, "Where's Naruto? There was a seal put on him, too! Asuka! Naruto-"

I reached a pausing point in the character and shot him a dark look, stopping his rant cold, "I'm well aware of the seal on Naruto. He's stable and sleeping off the experience. You, however, still need more seals."

"And Sakura?"

"Also in medical, though she was uninjured."

I turned my eyes back to the sealing, Sasuke asked, "What happened? After…I was bitten?"
I heard more than saw Kakashi ruffling Sasuke's hair, "Don't distract my minion, this is exceedingly delicate work. Now, shirt off, there are seals to be placed on your back."

There was some sort of hesitation and I heard Kakashi sigh, "Asuka isn't going to look up from her seal work, if this is you being shy, Sasuke."

I heard an embarrassed huff as I moved sideways and forward to start a new circle, "I'm not embarrassed, it's just…is this going to be like…that Hyuuga seal you told me about?"

At that my eyes snapped up, "No." I waited until his eyes met mine, "If someone tries to seal you like that I'll burn their entire line to the ground." I let that sink in for a second before going back to my sealing, "Besides, it's not like that shit isn't easy to remove."

Kakashi choked, "Please don't repeat that where a Hyuuga can hear, Asuka. Or anywhere else… Please don't inform people you could do that."

"I know, I know. But it's just you and Sasuke here. Sasuke? Please let Kakashi-sensei place the seals."

"You know what they are?"

"I do. And you also know that your sensei isn't going to do anything that would hurt you."

It showed growth that he didn't immediately hit back with a scathing retort about how he hadn't thought his brother would hurt him either. Instead, I just heard the sound of the shirt being shed, and ink being applied. It took another half hour for everything to be put into place.

Show time.

I apologize for the delay, I got distracted writing an AU of this for my own amusement where Asuka was born the same age as Itachi instead. Reviews give me life! 3

~TimeLordOfPie