Chapter 5
Exam room
When they entered, they instantly felt a wave of killing intent hit them. Team Seven responded in kind and Naruto even added in Kurama's chakra to it making it absolutely terrifying to even some chunin.
They had been approached by Hinata and her team. Naruto gave her a hug, she was like a sister to him after all, it made Satsumei frown just a tiny bit. She squashed the feeling down; jealousy was unbecoming of her, and she was well aware of the sibling-like relationship between them. She saw the rest of their generation approach. She didn't particularly mind them, other than Kiba. She didn't like Kiba, he had too much of an ego that couldn't be backed up, too obnoxious, and he smelled like dog. Akamaru was the cutest thing she'd ever seen, and she wanted to take him.
Naruto may have been listening to Hinata talk about her team but he was also eyeing the competition. There were teams from all over. Ame, Kumo, Iwa, Suna, and apparently that recently formed village Oto. He liked what he was seeing, sword wielders from Kumo would actually test his skill in the art, he could use the opportunity to terrify Iwa like his dad, uncle and grandfather (may as well make it run in the family), and if he was sensing correctly, the Suna team had a jinchuuriki and a fellow wind user so two aspects of competition for him.
Sasuke was taking stock of his competition from Konoha though, Naruto may have soundly outwitted and defeated Lee but he was still a problem if either of the siblings went up against him, they didn't have the super-human durability of a jinchuuriki like Naruto. He almost wanted to say it wasn't fair but he knew it sucked being one. There was also Lee's teammate Neji, he's the only one of their generation that has gotten as much praise as Naruto and that's apparently because as a branch member in the Hyugas he was able to even reverse engineer some of the main family's techniques. It was quite impressive actually.
The group was quite lively until an older genin with silver hair and glasses walked up to them. Something about them being too loud and drawing attention from the other teams. Not like Sasuke cared all that much but the dude was suspicious, said his name is Kabuto. Six previous times going into the exams? If Naruto didn't bring this up with Kakashi or the Hokage, he would, that was just ridiculous and suspicious all around. There was a small commotion where a team from Oto attacked him and then the proctor showed up. Ibiki Morino, the lead of the TI division.
He explained the rules, and everyone got into their assigned seats in the designated room. Nine questions, for every question you get wrong you're docked a point. Anyone caught cheating gets a strike and at three strikes they and their team are disqualified. If you lose all your points, your team is disqualified. They weren't telling you not to cheat, they were saying don't get caught based on the difficulty of the questions. It seemed like even the dobe in his infinite genius didn't know the answers to any of the questions. He noticed Satsumei was blitzing the test. She knows this shit!? When he really thought of it though the only reason she didn't get Rookie of the year was because Naruto always scored higher in the physical exams in the academy and the curriculum put more focus on that. She was a book worm and dare he say it a genius.
Naruto and Sasuke just used their Sharingan to copy the answers and it seemed as if a lot of the other chunin hopefuls in the room caught on as well. It was a test of information gathering, how well could you cheat without getting caught. Ibiki Morino called for silence after forty-five minutes. Before he administered the last question, he gave them all a chance to back out and they could take the test next year. If they stayed and got the question wrong, then you couldn't take the chunin exams anymore. The outcries were hilarious because they didn't seem to realize he couldn't actually do that, well not with teams for other villages anyway. Even if he could they could just go for field promotions. It was all an intimidation tactic and it worked like a charm, a good third of the teams backed out like cowards.
"Is that it?" Ibiki asked trying to further intimidate anyone else he could. When he saw the rest of the chunin hopefuls were undeterred, he continued on. "I see, then you all pass!" More outcries, he loved his job, messing with rookies was always fun. "The tenth question was whether or not you would continue with no information and uncertain terms. It was basically a replacement for whether or not you had the courage to continue in a mission gone south and be undeterred," he said as he took his head wrappings off and showed some nasty scars.
That was when a purple and beige blur crashed through one of the windows and stood up revealing a busty, purple haired woman in a tan trench coat with a mesh body suit and burnt orange skirt. Behind her a banner rolled out saying 'The beautiful and sexy Anko Mitarashi'. "Listen up maggots! I'm Anko Mitarashi and I'm your proctor for the next part of the exams!"
She seemed to take a moment to take a head count. "Your getting soft Ibiki! I count sixty genin!"
"Maybe they just have a lot of promise, take another look who all is here," he stated back, and she did. Then her eyes locked onto Naruto, and she grinned. "I see what you mean! All right maggots! Meet me at Training Ground Forty-Four in ten minutes!" she shouted and disappeared.
"Come on guys. I'll get us there quicker," Naruto said as he gathered his team and shunshined away.
Training Ground Forty-Four AKA The Forest of Death
Naruto's team was the first to get there and was instantly bombarded by Anko. "So, Konoha's little prince, huh?" she asked as she wrapped an arm around Naruto pressing him into her… assets.
"Cut the crap Anko, we've known each other since I was like nine. How have you been?" he'd met her one time when Axel brought him out to the Forest of Death for some more… dangerous training. Yes, that's the best way to put it. Kushina wasn't happy afterwards and Axel was kicked out of his own house for a week. It was hilarious revenge for Naruto due to what he went through that day. He still shuddered whenever he thought about it. Him and Anko became fast friends due to their mutual understanding of being ostracized, she'd even trained him a few times.
"Oh, you know, a little torture here, a little torture there. At the TI department our job is never over. Ibiki is a slave driver and expects nothing but the best work from us," she stated giving him a hug and a tousling of the hair. "You going to introduce me to your team here? Word on the street is you're the team to watch out for. Kakashi is CONSTANTLY bragging about you guys, seriously, I've never seen him talk so much until he took you as a team," she stated with a sweat drop.
"Anko, Sasuke and Satsumei Uchiha. Sasuke and Satsumei, Anko Mitarashi. She's ranked as a special jonin in the TI department for her… special ways of getting information from her victims. She's also helped me train a few times when everyone else was too busy. She's a sadist so don't piss her off. She will make you hurt slowly and painfully," Naruto explained, and his teammates took one giant step back.
The other teams started filing in and Anko stepped away saying, "We need to get some dango some time and catch up!"
The rules were simple, every team got a scroll, either heaven or earth. They had fives days to get the opposing scroll and make it to the tower at the center of the forest. Simple, but a few problems. The first being all the man-eating creatures littering the forest from tigers to snakes and bears. Even the deer were dangerous. They could also go without food for an extended period of time if they weren't lucky on getting the scroll they needed early enough.
They were told to sign release forms saying Konoha isn't responsible if they die in the forest, and everyone got their scrolls and headed to their respective gates. Naruto couldn't help but feel a piercing gaze on them, like someone was stalking their prey. The signal went off and all the gates opened, teams charging in.
Naruto's team ran for about five minutes and then stopped when he did. "Alright, let's come up with a plan," he stated looking to them for suggestions. He already had a few plans and even contingencies for those, but he wanted them to flex their strategy making a bit.
"One of us needs to hold the scroll. We've got a heavy assault specialist, close to mid-range specialist as well as a combat medic who's fast as hell and a close combat specialist. We all have heavy long-range capabilities together. Naruto, you seem to be the genin that everyone is gunning for so you shouldn't be the one holding the scroll. I think my sister should be the one to hold it, she's the naturally fastest of us, and no one would expect it. There's not enough well known about her to make her a target unlike yourself and I," Sasuke deduced with a sagely nod. He was starting to act like Naruto now whether he realized it.
"What about you Satsumei?" Naruto asked.
"I think he's right that you shouldn't be the one to carry the scroll however, me being a nobody also ironically MAKES me a target. These immature genin having not heard a thing about my abilities will think me an easy target due to not having a reputation. I think I should play as the wild card however Sasuke should have the scroll. Him having his Sharingan allows him to still keep up with almost anyone here but he still doesn't have the same target painted on his back that you have," she reasoned.
"I agree with both of your assessments. I shouldn't be the one to hold the ACTUAL scroll," Naruto stated with a devilish grin. "Actual scroll?" even Satsumei couldn't see into his strategies.
He did a cross-hand sign summoning three shadow clones. "My uncle taught me the Exploding Clone jutsu. I've also been made aware that my transformation jutsu is different than the one taught at the academy. You see, my chakra reserves are entirely too high to do the normal jutsu, I can't get that much control and that's because the normal one changes shape without changing mass. Mine though uses a shit ton more chakra and also changes my mass to whatever I transform into," he explained as all three clones transformed into exact replicas of their scroll. His teammates reflected his previous devil's grin.
"The plan is simple, each of us will carry one of these scrolls. It gives a decoy as well as back up in the form of a clone. IF someone gets a hold of one of them then it will explode. If we get in a pinch, we can use the clone as help. They all have enough chakra to launch a couple of low end jutsus," Naruto explained.
"That's great but who is carrying the actual scroll?" Sasuke asked a bit impatiently. "Satsumei is the fastest, however I agree with her assessment that too many people will think her an easy target so I believe it should be you," Naruto answered as he handed Sasuke the actual scroll.
Sasuke pocketed the scroll and they took off at full speed looking for some unfortunate teams to victimize, hehehe. Kakashi was a fool for entering them in these exams, they were going to wreck people. Somewhere in a bar said silver hair had a nasty chill go down his back. 'That's odd, I only get chills when I've either messed up or something bad is about to happen.'
An hour later
They were having too much fun, they'd gotten into a group fight with a team from Ame and a team from Iwa and proceeded to trounce them. They took their scrolls which unfortunately were Heaven scrolls, same as them. If they met any of the other Konoha teams maybe they'd give them a freebie. Camaraderie or something like that.
They were about to go after another team when Naruto was swallowed whole by a GIANT snake that came barreling through their path and kept going. They stood there trying to process what happened. "You think he'll give it indigestion or kidney stones?" Sasuke piped up and got an elbow to the ribs. "He could actually be dead! Not likely but, he could be!" Satsumei chided.
"Kukuku, you should be worrying about yourselves. After all, now you get to play with me," they heard behind them. When they turned they saw a female ninja from the village hidden in the grass. There was an insidious aura coming off her. They were then blasted by a monstrous amount of killing intent. They looked at each other.
"Is that it? Kakashi can do better," Sasuke mocked chuckling at his insult to both the grass nin and his sensei. The nin seemed to stand there merely twitching whether from anger or excitement they didn't know and then she charged. Sasuke jumped in front to engage in taijutsu.
He was doing okay at first matching blow for blow but eventually was overwhelmed with a roundhouse kick that rocketed him back. He landed skidding past Satsumei who took that as a cue to begin her assault. She flung several lightning charged kunai at the foe. They dodged between two of them but didn't notice the ninja wire strung between them wrapping around the nin. She charged in and delivered a chakra enhanced fist to the kunoichi's gut flinging her across the clearing they were in.
Sasuke could only whistle, he hadn't known that she had Mikoto teach her the super strength techniques of Tsunade. He'd been wondering what she would bring to the table other than speed and some medic abilities, now he knew, he also realized pissing her off would be a bad idea.
"I'll lead, you wait for opportunities to hit her with that. We have to hold her off until Naruto can return to us," Sasuke said as he pulled his tanto out and charged it with lightning chakra watching the kunoichi stand up.
"I'll admit, that hurt quite a bit and I wasn't expecting you to pull a maneuver such as that. It won't work again," she said as she cracked her neck. She then charged Sasuke again carefully avoiding his swipes with side steps and flips.
She wasn't expecting his eyes to bleed red revealing three tomoe in each eye. His movements became much more efficient and he was able to avoid attacks coming at him better.
"Ah, the Sharingan, yes. Let me see what one of the last Uchiha is capable of!" she shouted with glee.
Naruto
He was pissed and worried. He was pissed that he just got swallowed and worried about whoever the hell wanted to separate him from his team. He only knew of two snake summoners and only one of them was a traitor to their village. If it was really that monster he'd need to get a message to his uncle or mom.
First, he had a giant snake to kill. He swiped his right hand over his left forearm eliciting a chakra pulse and summoning Fujin. Naruto stabbed Fujin down into the snake's stomach and blasted a huge pulse of chakra forcibly ejecting giant blades of wind out that sliced apart everything around him. The snake had no idea what happened, one moment it was happily digesting its meal, the next it was shredded apart from the inside.
He was surprised, the snake must have not been able to pop in time, he was now covered in its blood. No matter, he didn't have time for that now. He had to save his family. He took off at top speed summoning Ryujin to his other hand. He couldn't fool around.
Sasuke and Satsumei
They'd gotten a couple of hits in but nothing was truly damaging to this kunoichi. It looked like her skin was peeling off revealing slit golden eyes, and she seemed to only be warming up. Satsumei wasn't running on too much chakra, she'd also already gotten hit a few times. He was well aware that the strength increase jutsu she was using was quite chakra consuming. She was panting and wasn't able to aid him as much now.
To be fair he was starting to get sloppy himself. He overextended on one of his slashes and was rewarded with a brutal spartan kick that sent him crashing into a nearby tree. He tried to stand up but was kept down by a foot stomping on him.
He looked up defiantly at the kunoichi who smirked down. The woman's neck extended and came down with a maniacal grin and right when she was about to bite his neck, she was sent careening across the clearing by a giant drill made of wind and lightning. "Get the fuck away from my team snake freak."
Sasuke could see Naruto fighting the Kyubi's influence. "Naruto, we can't fight her. Not even with your strength," Satsumei said as she limped towards him. "Of course we can't. This isn't a kunoichi."
"What do you mean?" Sasuke asked finally standing back up. "What I mean is that we are fighting one of the Sannin. I'll make this short. Orochimaru somehow snuck into the village and took the place of a Grass shinobi and is after one of us. I believe it's you Sasuke based on the fact he was about to give you a hickey," he watched Sasuke visibly shudder at that. He barely blocked a sword coming down on him by crossing his own blades. "Did I piss the snake off?"
"You damn brat! I'll make you pay for this!" Orochimaru now appeared in his full glory with scorch marks courtesy of the wind/lightning combo attack Naruto used to ram into him. He might have also used some fire chakra in the blow but if he told anyone he'd have to kill them. Naruto felt he was slowly being overpowered and so he channeled the full power of Kurama he could safely wield and repelled the Sannin.
"Satsumei! Get a message to my uncle through your summons! I'll hold the bastard off. Sasuke! Protect her in case he gets by me!" Naruto commanded and blasted off towards the snake hammering down on him HARD. Rapid blows meant to wear down the enemy with unbridled rage and extreme strength. It was all Orochimaru could do to block the FAST barrage of attacks. Kusanagi, his trusty blade was strong, but he wasn't sure it would hold like this. While Axel would be more than capable of fighting this assault off with no stress, there weren't too many other shinobi alive that Naruto could think of who could without at least sweating a bit.
'What the hell? He's pushing me back? The reports I've got from Kabuto have said nothing about this kind of strength! Is it just the fox or is this kid a prodigy the likes of which hasn't been seen since Hashirama and Madara!?' Orochimaru thought before putting his full strength into a swing and flinging Naruto back gaining some breathing room. They seemed to be eyeing each other up like two predators fighting over territory before catapulting towards one another.
Satsumei waited until Naruto had Orochimaru's full attention and then completed the hand seals needed. She bit her thumb drawing blood and swiped it across a scroll summoning a phoenix reminiscent of Ifrit but lighter in color. "Ashitar! I need you to deliver a message to Uncle Axel!"
"What's the message and what's the rush?" the bird asked before eyeing the battle going on. "Okay, what's the message?"
"Tell him that Orochimaru is in the forest and currently pursuing us! Please! As quick as you can!" the desperation in her voice was more than enough to get him to take off. He could sense where his previous summoner was and took off like a rocket even leaving a trail of fire behind.
"Sasuke, we can't let him fight alone," she said as she limped to him and began healing him with her medical jutsu. It mostly just eased the pain, but she was able to mend a few fractures thus bringing him back to fighting condition. She was about to collapse when he caught her.
Naruto had gotten in quite a number of blows but had taken quite a bit of damage himself. He couldn't seem to do any SERIOUS damage, so he summoned a GIANT army of shadow clones and commenced with his most powerful jutsu. He raised his sword to the sky and pulsed his chakra. Lightning struck all around him and was then absorbed into Ryujin. He waited until the snake finished his army off shrugging off the backlash of the clones popping and then charged forward with a burst of speed. "Lightning Style: Lightning King's Dragon Strike!"
The discharge of electricity was so powerful it blasted Naruto back and it blinded everyone with a flash of white. When Naruto regained his vision he saw a charred corpse, however he saw another Orochimaru open the jaw of the corpse and come out of it perfectly new! "What the fuck!? You're absolutely the most disgusting person I've ever met!"
"Such is the price of immortality my young prodigy. I've learnt all I need, and I am done playing with you. If I can't get Sasuke's Sharingan I'll take you!" he burst into a barrage of snakes and reappeared before even Naruto could react. Before he could bite down Satsumei ended up in front of Naruto taking the bite in his place.
Naruto watched it all in slow motion, Orochimaru attempting to bite him, Satsumei taking the bite, her collapsing. Something in him snapped and his Sharingan activated and began rapidly spinning until it took the shape of his odachis in an X-shape. A colossal skeletal construct appeared around him made of pale gray chakra. It wielded two odachis and was slowly sprouting wings and armor.
Orochimaru was staring up at the construct and the boy suspended in it in awe before a giant blast of fire smashed into him. Naruto didn't notice Axel rising from the dust that the fireball created. He could only stare at the young woman, his teammate, in his arms, suffering. She was unconscious but the pain on her face, he could almost feel it. Orochimaru would pay.
Axel looked up at the Susanoo that his nephew was creating, pride and worry was filling his heart now. He was the damn Hokage! He was being forced to choose between calming his nephew and killing this VERMIN who infiltrated HIS village. He chose family. He entered sage mode and blasted into the Susanoo knocking it down and preventing it from forming any further. "Naruto! Calm down!"
"He hurt Satsumei and Sasuke!" Naruto roared as even down on the ground the Susanoo started swinging violently. This was bad, up to about four tails of Kurama's chakra was fairly easy for him to handle no buffs. But a Susanoo was a lot different due to its defensive properties. "I'm sorry about what I'm going to do then," Axel mumbled as his own Susanoo formed up to the skeleton form.
"Please don't hold this against me," he begged before his Susanoo brought its claymore down on Naruto's Susanoo. It tried to bring its odachis up in a block, but it was clearly nowhere near Axel's level of control over the technique as his claymore more or less smashed straight through in an instant, the impact destroying Naruto's Susanoo. He could see as Naruto turned at the last moment covering Satsumei's body with his own taking any residual impacts.
Sasuke couldn't believe what he just witnessed. The chakra constructs, the Hokage. He'd seen the Hokage use that chakra construct before in some kind of fight against the whole Uchiha clan but seeing Naruto use it was so surreal, it reminded him how far behind him he was. "Sasuke, take them about five hundred feet directly North from here. There is a cave you can all rest in. Naruto will be out for quite a while. He just awakened the Mangekyou Sharingan. Normally it takes much longer to use the Susanoo, but he somehow used it right off the bat. If I had to guess, he'll be out until you get to the tower," Axel stated as he searched the clearing with his eyes. Orochimaru got away, figures. It doesn't matter, he saved one of his teams from something that was never planned and shouldn't have happened. Axel quickly disabled the resistance seals on the two unconscious genin and turned to leave. "I… have to return to my office. I can't directly help you against any of your genin opposition, but I have a feeling that you'll make it just fine," and with that he took off in a blast of fire.
Sasuke looked over his teammates. How did this happen? They were supposed to steamroll the competition. Now they have to worry about Orochimaru? Why? What did they do to deserve this? He picked them both up after deactivating his own seals slinging them over his shoulders and took off in the direction his commander told him to go.
Sasuke eventually found the cave he was told about and laid them down before taking watch past the entrance. He wouldn't bother with trap making, he sucked at it. Something both his teammates would excel at, and he completely just didn't have the creativity for it. He had turned his Sharingan off to conserve chakra and searched his pouch for rations. He was running low on stamina and was getting hungry. He found… something and ate it. It was just what he needed. His mother helped him pack for the exam. He decided to ask her recommendation considering she was a legendary shinobi during her career and her recommendation may have just saved both his and his teammates lives. He hadn't noticed his teammates unconsciously pulling each other closer behind him as he started dosing off. He needed to walk the perimeter just to make sure there were no enemies, and to keep himself awake. His chakra was partially restored thanks to the ration, but he was still exhausted.
He'd checked the whole place but found no one. When he returned to the cave, that's when he was on alert. He wasn't a sensor but he could fairly easily sense three signatures not even twenty feet from him. It was the team from Oto, the village hidden in the Sound. "If you three don't all want to die, I suggest you leave now."
"Don't think us to be dumb! We are well aware that your teammates are down. I have no idea how you think your going to fight all three of us, but you'll die today Sasuke Uchiha!" the one with the gauntlets yelled back. He barely had time to register that his female teammate was now hunched over in pain, Sasuke's fist in her gut, his Sharingan furiously staring down upon her. He roundhouse kicked her into a tree knocking her out. "Useless woman!" the one with the gauntlets shouted as he charged Sasuke.
Sasuke dodged a few strikes but then was forced to clutch his head in pain. His eardrums felt like they were about to burst, leaking out a bit of blood. This fucker could use sound as a weapon!? He barely got a block out in time against the other male of the group. He found that was a mistake as suddenly, his ears began ringing… another one? He had an idea, he would be taking this from Satsumei's book but a good shinobi learns the best tricks from others and makes them his own.
He put his tanto away and pulled out four kunai, two for each hand. He charged them with lightning and threw two at each of his foes. Gauntlet-boy jumped over making the strategy null and void, however the other fool tried to dodge between them and got wrapped in the ninja wire he had pre-laced on this set of kunai. He'd always wondered how she did that trick so quickly, and it was simply that she didn't need to apply the wire in combat, she would prepare before all her missions. He descended on his now disabled victim with fury, lightning coursing around his hands. The genin could do nothing as he was shocked into unconsciousness with a punch to both temples. Sasuke panted as he looked at the third member.
He didn't have enough energy now to take another one on and win. He watched almost helplessly as sound-boy charged him before he was tackled to the ground by a black blur.
"What?" was the flabbergasted response to the scenario. He watched as his sister with black flame-like tattoos picked the genin up with one hand, fingers clenching around his neck slowly suffocating him. "Sasuke, is he the one that did that to you?" he wasn't sure who's voice that was but it wasn't Satsumei's. He briefly wondered what she was talking about until he finally noticed the liquid trickling down his neck. "I… yeah, he was the one."
He watched as instead of crushing the boy's windpipe she tossed him in the air and punched him in the sternum, HARD, she sent him careening into the same tree his female companion was slumped against. The tree caved in on itself but surprisingly held. "Wait here. I'll end this," he had to stop this. She would never forgive herself if she found out she killed out of hatred.
"Satsumei, let them go," he said with as much strength as he could muster. "Why? He hurt you and they tried to kill you. They would have gone on to kill us too," her voice was monotone, almost like him following the massacre. It scared him, whatever the hell Orochimaru did to her was fucking her up. That was a hell of a strength boost, but it wasn't worth it if she lost herself as well as he was definitely using her somehow.
"It's part of the exam, anyone could die at any point in time," he tried to reason but she was having none of it. "No, these three were after us for sure. They were specifically trying to kill us, and for that they must die," she said emotionlessly. He would have to pull THAT card. He didn't want to but it was the only way to get her to listen if she ever went into emotional lapses of judgement, hopefully it worked this time.
"But what would Naruto say if you killed out of hatred. Naruto needs you right now, you need to go to him and let me deal with the rest," he tried but she was in his face. "Don't you DARE use him against me! Killing them is the only way to protect him right now!" she yelled as she clutched her head. They heard the boy getting back up and Satsumei turned to go towards him before she felt a hand on her shoulder and that familiar warming chakra. "No, they live. I'm up and fine."
Naruto wasn't supposed to be up yet according to the Hokage, so what the hell? Maybe he was just way stronger than the man thought? It doesn't matter, if anyone can get her to stop it was Naruto. "He has to die for what he did to Sasuke."
"No, he doesn't. Satsumei you're losing yourself to that damned seal that's on your neck. Don't you dare give in to it. Besides, in the condition you left him in, I doubt his team will make it to the third round," he said reassuringly but to no avail.
She lashed out at him, but he caught the punch and then the other, she tried a knee but that was blocked as well. She noticed the crimson eyes and slit pupils. He was truly serious about stopping her. If he was channeling the Kyubi's power, there was no beating him. She had to try though, those three had to die. Before she could think any farther, she was slammed into the ground. "I said enough Satsumei! You won't be killing anyone today!" he'd never used that tone of voice on her. It truly terrified her. Her need for his attention, his acceptance, even his love began overriding the seal on her neck and it began receding. He took her up in a hug to assure her that he wasn't angry with her, she reciprocated and he passed out in her arms.
Sasuke looked to that idiot that was still waiting for his opportunity to strike even just one of them down. "I highly suggest you drop your scroll and leave before she makes you. Now that he's passed out again there's nothing stopping her from killing you," he recommended and got the desired reaction. The boy dropped the scroll, grabbed his teammates and hightailed it out of there. He turned back to his sister to see her already placing Naruto down in the cave and using some medic jutsu to scan over his body.
Satsumei regardless of seeing nothing wrong was still worried about the blonde ball of sunshine. There were a few bruises but that was it… physically anyway. Was he dealing with any emotional or mental trauma? Maybe even spiritual? She could only lay his head on her lap and stroke his hair watching as his previously hardened face softened up, bringing a smile to her face.
Sasuke wasn't going to do anything to ruin the moment for her, he needed medical aid but after her fight this was the least he could do is let her have some happiness. "I'll heal your ear in a few minutes," she said before he could walk to the entrance. 'The hell? Can she read my thoughts? Now I know why the Hokage constantly calls women demons. They have to be to read our minds!' she watched as his face went through a number of emotions ranging from confused to terrified. She wasn't sure what he was freaking out about but she chalked it up to the Orochimaru fight.
Naruto's mindscape
"Son of a bitch! He fucked her up! I failed to protect her!" Naruto bellowed as he paced around in front of Kurama's cage as the fox watched him. He was resting his head atop his hands and was relatively amused by his container's frustration. He had mixed feelings about his container, he wanted to hate him because of his heritage but that heritage ironically meant he was related to the fox's own father, Hagoromo Otsutski. He couldn't bring himself to hate the kid. The kid was a genuinely good person and had no hatred or judgement of the fox.
He'd play nice and see where it went. He listened to the ramblings a bit longer before letting out a loud roar gaining Naruto's attention.
"What do you want right now? Can't you see I'm in distress?" cheeky brat.
"I was going to say, if you want to save the girl from the seal then I know a way. But now that you've snapped at me, I don't think I'll tell you," the fox said with comical spitefulness.
"Wait, wait, wait. I wasn't trying to snap at you! I'm just frustrated! She means so much to me! Please help me!" damn, the kid has it bad for her.
"Fine lover boy. I'll implant the fuinjutsu into your brain and allow you take it from there."
When he got the structure of the seal, he began dissecting it. "Wait! But this is a transfer seal! Granted, probably the greatest transfer seal I've ever seen but still!"
"Exactly, while it's probably not impossible to destroy the mark on your teammate, it will be extremely difficult even with your knack for the arts. You can use this seal to safely transfer hers onto yourself or another person."
"That doesn't completely solve the problem."
"Look, I gave you a way to bring her back to her old self. You can temporarily take the seal on yourself and my chakra will fight it off. You just won't be able to use my chakra for fear of activating the seal."
Naruto took a good long while to deliberate. The fox was knowledgeable, ridiculously so. It really showed how old the titanic beast. Naruto was barely able to bring her back this time, what happens if she turns again?
"Your certain this will work? I can take the thing off her?"
"It's not one hundred percent, but it's the best option you've got. I'd seen Mito Uzumaki use the seal a few times. Seemed to work with her."
"Very well, we have a plan then. I just won't be able to do it until we're out of this damn forest."
"One last thing. As soon as you get the scroll you need, go straight to the tower. No need to fool around any longer."
"Agreed."
The forest
"Feeling better?" Satsumei asked, she'd just finished her medical diagnosis and applied the proper jutsu. "Yeah, thanks. What do we do now?" Sasuke questioned looking at Naruto's unconscious body.
"We wait for him to get back up. If he takes more than a day, we move on while carrying him. The scroll that team dropped was the Earth scroll we needed, right?" she was worried but had a strange sense of relief seeing that Naruto was relatively unharmed. They were still in dangerous territory but, he put her at ease.
"Yeah, if we head to the tower now, we'll pass to the third round. We should get some rest. I'm not particularly low on chakra but I'm exhausted," Sasuke answered. "Then get some sleep. I'll take the first watch," she didn't even wait for an answer, she walked to the exit of the cave taking one last look at Naruto smiling and then left to check the perimeter. Sasuke took that as his cue to get some much needed rest. He found a spot not too far from Naruto that way if need be he could defend him and sleep took him.
The next day
They seemed to have gotten lucky. No more teams came after them while they were resting. Naruto was even up and in relatively high spirits. Her little ball of sunshine was happy and healthy, Satsumei was relieved.
"Alright team, we head to the tower now. No detours, no fooling around. Nothing stops us from here on out," Naruto commanded taking the reins. "What if we encounter more teams?" was Sasuke's question not prepared for the foxy grin.
"Then they're fools. I'll make them regret standing in our way. You two let me handle the other teams. You guys had it worse than me against Orochimaru."
They didn't argue, how could they argue? He was right after all, all he had was a few bruises and was merely worn out from unlocking his Mangekyou, they ACTUALLY got beaten the crap out of. And so, they took off, Naruto forming a perimeter of shadow clones around them. They had gotten lucky again, or more like the OTHER teams had gotten lucky not to cross Naruto. He was fully ready to whip out his new eyes to make a point.
At their speed they got to the tower within half an hour. They opened both the scrolls at the same time and out popped Kakashi who instantly took them all in a bear hug. "Are you guys, okay? I heard what happened from Lord Fifth. I was relieved when he said you'd make it here."
"Yeah Kakashi-sensei, but I need to talk to you," Naruto said not taking no for an answer as he stared into Kakashi's one eye with his piercing blue eyes that reminded the man so much of Minato and Axel. He gave a nod of the head and told them to go inside the tower, gave them a key and they left him to his thoughts.
They found the room that was marked on the key and entered Satsumei calling the shower first. And so, it was just Naruto and Sasuke sitting in silence. "Hey," it was Sasuke to break the silence. "Yeah?"
"What did it feel like?" an eyebrow raise was all he got. "To awaken your Mangekyou I mean," oh, that. "Well, at first it felt like a piercing pain through my eyes and then I could see more clearly, I felt stronger, maybe even faster. I think it made my chakra denser. When I activated the Susanoo, it was straight burning hot pain across my whole body. I wonder if that's what my grandfather, uncle and father all felt or if I'm just weak? I will say my anger was completely overshadowing the pain though."
Sasuke contemplated it, by all means that was one HELL of an ability. The construct was massive and from what he could tell it wasn't even complete. "It's not worth it. The requirement to obtain these eyes is to lose someone you love. A lover, family member, a best friend. I'm surprised I didn't awaken them at the bridge, but I guess it was just delayed."
He knew Naruto was trying to steer him away from the wrong path, but those damn eyes were so tempting. "Well, I'm going to go try and find Kakashi-sensei."
He left leaving Sasuke's thoughts spiraling between power, Orochimaru, those eyes, and Itachi somehow. Now that he really thought about it, those were the same eyes that Itachi had. Did his brother have the Susanoo? He may never know.
Satsumei was crying, she couldn't believe what the seal almost made her do. If it wasn't for Sasuke and Naruto, she would have killed three people that were no longer capable of defending themselves, out of what? Pettiness? Rage? Hatred? She wouldn't be able to live with herself if she gave into the curse of hatred but this damn seal seemed to be fueling it, enhancing it. Even after the massacre she didn't feel HATRED towards Itachi, she felt mostly disappointment, apathy, she couldn't hate him because she truly believed that he had reasons for killing the clan. She noticed the tension among the Uchihas up until then, she wasn't stupid.
But this damn seal was making her FEEL hate. There was definitely a voice in the back of her head whispering to her, trying to turn her against her teammates, her family. Telling her she doesn't need them, all she needs is power. If she listened close enough she could tell it was Orochimaru's voice. He even had the gall to use her Naruto against her! Her Naruto? Where did that come from?
She was broken out of her thoughts when she heard a knock on the door, it was Sasuke. "Hey, Satsumei, you've been in there for a while. Are you okay?"
He sounded worried, very worried. She had to ignore the voice in the back of her head saying meaningless things against his character. "Yeah, I'm fine! I'll be out in a minute!" she hollered back. She finally noticed she was slumped against the shower wall, must have collapsed during her episode just now. She quickly got out and dried off grabbing her change of clothes she took out of a scroll before entering and dressed herself. She took a brief glance at the mirror and didn't see herself, but that version with the flame patterns down her neck. She left before her thoughts got any darker.
She saw Sasuke brooding in a corner of the room, something he hasn't done in a while. She didn't have much time to think about that as Naruto walked into the room still caked in the blood from the snake, and Kakashi walked in behind followed by Axel as well. This was serious so she straightened, catching Sasuke standing up out of the corner of her eye.
"First, let me explain what Orochimaru did to you to the best of my ability," Axel stated making sure everyone was fully paying attention. "What Orochimaru placed on you is known as the Cursed Seal of Heaven. We just call it the curse mark. From what I and Jiraiya-sensei have been able to figure out is that it seems to store up nature chakra and allow the user to use it for a time like a pseudo sage mode. That comes at the price of your sanity and your loyalty. It will overtime whisper things about gaining power, convince you to betray your friends, your family, it will do everything it can while promising you power so that you eventually run to old snake face seeking his guidance and become loyal only to him."
"Lord Fifth if you don't mind me asking this, how do you know all of this?" Sasuke asked. "Simple, the proctor for this round, Anko Mitarashi? She was an apprentice to Orochimaru and eventually had that seal placed on her. Anko and I meet up on an almost daily basis for me to study the mark more so I can find a way to destroy it. I might not be Minato but I'm fairly close to being a seal master. I studied the art with him growing up."
"Satsumei, we're going to be transferring the mark to someone who will be relatively unaffected by it," came Axel's voice, normally the tone would leave no room for argument, but she was feeling defiant. She wanted it gone but they didn't just get to DECIDE things like that for her without her say. "You didn't talk to me about this. What if I want to keep the Curse Mark?" that surprised the occupants of the room. Satsumei wasn't a power-driven person, so this wasn't something any of them expected except a certain blond.
"Do you? Do you want to keep the mark even knowing the monster it turned you into at the forest? You're not a killer, you're a healer, but that sure as hell wasn't what I saw in front of the cave. If it weren't for Sasuke and myself, you'd be having a mental breakdown right now over killing three people that didn't deserve it," he always knew what to say, didn't he? She of course wasn't going to keep the mark if given the chance to get rid of it so she relented.
"What do we do?" she asked.
"I'm going to draw up a sealing formation, have my uncle check it to make sure it looks alright, and then you'll be standing in one of the circles I draw and I'll stand in the other. We'll transfer the seal from you to me. Luckily Kurama's chakra will keep the damn thing at bay until I can find a way to destroy it," Naruto explained. She gave a nod seemingly accepting it and let him go about his task. It was quite the complex seal as well, she recognized none of the components.
Within half an hour Naruto was finally done and Axel was checking over it nodding sagely every now and then. "Fix this stroke here and it should be good," he said pointing to one spot that did indeed seem off. Naruto did as instructed and all was right. "Okay, now based on some of the mechanics of this seal its gonna fucking hurt, which one of you I'm not sure or if both even," Axel said as he took one last glance across the whole thing. Two circles large enough for two people to step in. A complex arrangement of strokes meant that when activated would quite literally form a chakra link that would basically act as a tunnel for the designated seal to be transferred. It was so genius that even he almost didn't understand it. And it was his job to make sure the process went smoothly. A seal he could hardly comprehend, and he was supposed to supervise? Lovely. The only saving grace is that Kurama said he would help since his other half was the one that gave Naruto the formula.
Satsumei took place in her circle and Naruto took place in his circle and then Axel channeled chakra to the seal formula. He was about to fully activate it when Sasuke out of nowhere pushed Naruto out of the circle and entered himself. Axel, Kakashi, and Naruto could do nothing but watch as the siblings squirmed in agony, the Curse Mark being funneled through the chakra link to Sasuke and reforming on his neck. The process took all of five minutes but felt like hours watching them scream in pain.
When it was done Naruto rushed to Satsumei and Axel and Kakashi rushed to Sasuke to make sure the seal was completely transferred over. They looked at each other and gave a nod. Naruto was relieved that the mark wasn't on Satsumei but now Sasuke had it. "Why'd you push me out Sasuke?" he asked.
"Because it's a brother's job to protect his sister. It should be my burden not yours," he responded before passing out. Naruto could sort of understand that way of thinking but he still felt wrong letting Sasuke take the mark when he could do it with little to no repercussions. So he just held Satsumei contemplating the mark and what he could do to destroy it, she had passed out by now.
"We'll do a check up when he wakes up and see if I need to seal it off. After that I'll have Kushina continue to monitor it. She's a seal master even beyond Jiraiya so if I give her my notes she should be able to come up with something eventually," Axel said as Kakashi placed Sasuke in one of the beds. "I've still got some paperwork to finish so I'm heading out. Don't you two lovebirds go doing anything funny now, you hear?" Axel stated with a wink and left laughing like a madman.
"I should head out too. If you need anything you know where to find me Naruto. Don't go doing anything I wouldn't do," he left before he could get a reaction. Naruto was left contemplating until he passed out.
The next day
Satsumei awoke the next day laying on something firm. She opened her eyes to notice that she was on top of Naruto who was sprawled across the floor in their room. She couldn't help the rising blush coming to her face and looked over towards Sasuke's bed to notice he was looking back at her. She jumped up quick. "It's not what it looks like!" she stammered out. "I know, the dobe must have fallen asleep before he brought you to your bed," he said with a smirk.
"Why as my brother aren't you upset?"
"If there is anyone I trust more than myself or mother both keeping you safe and happy it's him," he said with an even larger smirk. Naruto must have had the power to change everyone she supposed.
"Do we know when the next round is?" she asked.
"Kakashi came by earlier when you were both asleep and told me it would be in one hour from now. However, he also told me that right now they are only going to hold a preliminary round. Apparently, there were too many teams that made it. So, they are going to hold a preliminary one on one matches to weed out the weaklings and see who gets to move onto the actual final round," she could feel the excitement in his voice.
"So, that's what they have planned huh?" they heard from Naruto. He was stretching and cracking his joints. "I'm gonna hit the shower before we go though. This cloak is ruined thanks to that snake bastard. Luckily, I have another one sealed away just for such an occasion. I'm assuming your both ready?"
He received nods. "Good, as soon as I'm done, we can go to the mess hall and eat," he said before unsealing a scroll and pulling out a change of his exact same uniform and cloak. He entered the bathroom, and it then became Sasuke's job to mess with his sister. "So, do you want to be in there with him?"
"I'm not sure what you mean," she said huffing, arms crossed and looking away sporting a massive blush. She'd already seen him shirtless as well as woke up to feeling him against her, she felt EVERYTHING. It wouldn't be too much different without clothes.
"Since you want to act like a child, I'll spell it out for you. Do you want to be in the shower with him?" he gave her a look that said no lies. "Maybe, if I could imagine anyone to be in there with, it would be with him. He's an absolute gentleman and battles against ALL of his instincts," she said with determination. It was seemingly good enough for him as he relented on the subject and began checking over his equipment.
Naruto
"Dammit! It should have been me!" he screamed as he dented the shower wall with one of his fists.
"I don't understand kit, why are you so angry? Your mate is safe from the curse mark," Kurama stated obliviously.
"I'm angry because now one of my other teammates are marked and have to deal with the effects. I would have had no repercussions other than not using your power. Now Sasuke has to deal with an evil chakra that tries to take him to Orochimaru's side. And we all know that he's drawn to any power that can potentially defeat Itachi," Naruto explained smashing his hand into the floor of the shower, denting it.
"If you're that worried then figure out how to destroy it."
"You know what? Your right! Let me just do what my uncle hasn't been able to do in roughly, six or seven years? That seems likely."
"I'm just trying to help you. You don't have to sass me. If you figure out how to deconstruct the seal itself, then you can destroy it. Axel has already been working on it for years and now your mother shall be in on it."
"That doesn't help me now! … Your right, I need to calm down. How much damage will the seal do to someone as prideful as Sasuke anyway?"
Sasuke
He knew he probably shouldn't have done it but his body sort of just moved on its own. He'd been deliberating on whether he should be the one to take the curse from Satsumei ever since they'd been talking about the transfer. Watching Naruto make the sealing formation only made it more apparent how little he was consistently contributing to the team. He felt weak even if he did somewhat hold Orochimaru off. It was completely overshadowed by Naruto actually going blow for blow with the snake bastard.
And now, now that he had the curse mark these thoughts were greatly intensified. He felt angry at himself for being weak, he felt jealous of Naruto's power, hell, he was pissed that Satsumei had to take that hickey in Naruto's place. He was even upset that the Hokage hadn't made it in time to prevent this situation and even worse, Orochimaru got away!
The worst part of it all though? Naruto now has the Mangekyou Sharingan, yes, he was well aware how powerful it truly is. He'd seen Axel use it a few times, he overheard Shisui talking to Itachi about it, and it was what Itachi had used to slaughter the clan. Naruto said the pain you dealt with wasn't worth the eyes but Sasuke knew better, Naruto was more than happy to have the eyes. He also knew Naruto would use them, maybe even abusively.
These were the thoughts being fed into him by the curse mark. He thought they were his own but he couldn't differentiate at this point because some of those thoughts did spring from actual concerns and worries.
Chunin exams third round prelims
The teams were all gathered in an arena in the tower. It consisted of two levels, one ground level big enough for two combatants to duke it out, and one top level for observers. Axel took to the floor gaining the attention of everyone.
"Ladies and gentlemen, shinobi of all ages, I would like to take a moment to congratulate you all for making it to the final round. Normally this is where my predecessors would say something about this being a substitute for war, blah, blah, blah, yadda, yadda, yadda, but we all know what this is. This is a dick measuring competition for the villages. I would also like you to take a moment to look around and notice that we have entirely too many teams," he let them look and in fact there were quite a bit more competitors than there probably should have been.
"Whenever we hold these exams, we also host dignitaries and high-class individuals as well as Kage from other nations. We cannot hold their time up for too long. We will now be holding preliminary knockout rounds. On the screen above me we will randomly choose two names and those shinobi shall fight each other. Whoever wins each fight will move onto the actual final round. Now, I shall let my final round proctor take over," he explained before letting a man with a severe cough take the floor. Naruto knew the vast majority of the jonin in the village, so he recognized the man as Hayate Gekko, a master of the sword and if word on the street was correct, Yugao's fiancé.
"Ahem, as Lord Fifth said we are holding these fights to knock down the number of competitors. The rules are as follows, anything goes and while we don't encourage it killing is permitted. You'll go until one or both competitors cannot fight. Now, look to the screen and await your turn," the man said with a cough here and there. All the competitors looked to the screen to see who would fight first. Satsumei versus Yorui.
Before Satsumei could go down to the stage she felt a familiar hand on her shoulder and saw her little ball of sunshine staring at her. "You've got this. Give a good match, kick his ass and when we're done here, we can get some dinner," he said, conviction in his eyes. The thought of her losing didn't even cross his mind. "Naruto Uchiha! Are you asking me on a date?" she asked with glee clearly evident.
"Yes, yes, I am. We've been dancing around our feelings for each other for a while now. I think it's time we act on them and stop acting like a couple of prepubescent teens who have no idea what our feelings are," she 100% agreed with him. She was sure she was in love with him and frankly he implied he was in the same boat. She gave him a peck on the cheek before backflipping off the observer stands and when she landed, she punched the ground leaving a small crater below her.
Needless to say the display of power had most of the genin shivering in fear and even shocked a few jonin. Asuma Sarutobi even dropped his cigarette he was smoking. Naruto leaned over the railing with a dreamy smile. "That is SO hot," he said gaining a mad man's laugh and a slap to the back that almost knocked him into the arena. "You sure know how to pick em!" he heard from Axel who must have snuck up during his little lovey dovey moment just now. "Now, we have the daughter and apprentice of the Crimson Mistress, trained by Kakashi of the Sharingan, the Red Hot Habanero, and yours truly, the God of Fire. I have plans for her training but in the meantime, I want to see how far along she's come already," Axel explained catching the attention of everyone around them. It hadn't been public knowledge that there were any genin other than Naruto getting trained by Axel so… that was a shocker.
"There's literally no chance for her to lose but every time she fights, she uses new tactics. I can't wait to see what she does now," Naruto commented as Genma brought his hand down in a chopping motion signaling the start of the match.
"So just so we're clear, I don't plan on killing you, but I am going to inflict some pain on ya. I'm still getting over some things and your perfect for blowing off some steam. No hard feelings AFTER this fight though," she said cracking her knuckles and giving an almost demonic grin.
Satsumei decided hand to hand combat would be a good start as she didn't know his abilities. Besides, him seeing her little crater stunt just now would put him on edge making him weary, over weariness could cause mistakes and she planned to use that to her advantage. With that thought in mind she launched towards him with a punch aimed at his sternum, he side stepped it barely and grabbed her arm. She immediately felt a drain on her chakra. Before he could do much damage to her reserves, she spartan kicked him in his gut sending him careening into one of the arena walls. The kick was so fast due to her speed and at close range that he simply couldn't defend. His body made spiderweb cracks in the wall on impact showing she put some good force into it.
"Who the hell trained this girl with Tsunade's techniques?" was one of the jonin's questions. "Mikoto Uchiha, was an apprentice to Lady Tsunade before the second war. Jiraiya-sensei was able to pull a few favors. Mikoto wanted to be a combat medic and even though she was an Uchiha, Tsunade was just happy to see someone who would rather save lives than take them. Mikoto then passed the techniques down to Satsumei here," Axel explained never taking his eyes off the predator in the arena stalking her prey. She waited; she WANTED him to fight back just a little. Uchihas ALL loved the thrill of combat, even Mikoto loved a good spar back in the day and her daughter was no different. It was ironic, in everyday life she was a mostly soft-spoken girl, quite shy, put her in a fight and she steals the show. She's a natural, but she also worked hard to get where she was.
He watched as she kept swinging fist after fist at him and he kept barely dodging the blows. Every blow that hit the ground either cratered it or left spiderweb cracks. Suddenly she blurred through hand seals and breathed in deeply. "Fire Style: Flame Bullets!" the barrage of fire blasts was specifically fired off around him and hit behind as well to tunnel him towards her and it worked perfectly. Just as he was within five feet of her, she pounced. She took off like a speeding kunai and lodged a fist in his solar plexus. He was launched again into the wall but this time he didn't get back up.
The proctor walked over to the boy and seemingly satisfied he was knocked out approached Satsumei and held her arm up. "Winner: Satsumei Uchiha!" he declared and let her return to the stands. A team of medic nins came by and picked Dosu up before taking him to the infirmary.
She bounded towards her team and was engulfed in a hug by Naruto and spun around making her giggle a bit before he set her down. "Way to send a message not to mess with Team Seven. You did great Satsumei and I think you even managed to scare some of the jonin too," Naruto said as Sasuke walked up. "Good job," he congratulated and turned away quickly. Eh, it was the best she would get from him, she appreciated it nonetheless though.