Chapter 6: Out of the Forest and into the Fire
Life as a ninja was supposed to be past-faced, adventurous, and exciting. At least, that is how the academy advertised it. After an unchanging scenery of trees, bugs, and branches for two days, Naruto was seriously questioning his preconceived notions about the shinobi way. While he was grateful that there were no run-ins with enemy nin, he wouldn't mind one just for a change of pace. He was bored out of his mind. All he did was run, rest, run, bathroom break, and run again. When did Sasuke say they would get to the tower again?
As if Kami had heard Naruto's desire for a change, a familiar face leapt in front of the group. The figure was a bespectacled genin named Kabuto. He was an older leaf genin who had taken the chunin exams numerous times but had obviously not passed yet. Still, he was very knowledgeable and was able to give them some insight about the exams when they crossed paths in the testing waiting room weeks ago.
Even though he was a friendly guy and from their village, they were competing against each other. Team 7 landed on the tree branch adjacent to Kabuto and readied themselves for a battle.
Holding up his hands in surrender, Kabuto spoke, "I'm not here to fight or take your scrolls. I'd actually like to join you en route to the tower. My team is waiting for me there, and it's safer to travel together than alone." Sasuke eyed the man suspiciously, searching him for any sign of dishonesty.
"How can we trust you not to try and steal from us?" Sakura inquired.
Kabuto pushed up his glasses and grinned. "Even if I wanted to, it would be silly of me to try to take the three of you on. I have no need to get myself into unnecessary battles."
"Why would you want to travel with us if we could easily gang up on you and take your scrolls?" Sasuke asked. He didn't quite see why Kabuto would travel with them unless to take their scrolls. "I think you're really just trying to steal from us."
Seeing that the Uchiha needed more convincing, he pulled two scrolls out of his back pocket. "See? I'm not here to steal from you."
Fully convinced that Kabuto was trustworthy, Naruto vouched for him. "Come on guys! It makes sense for us to travel with him. We both have the scrolls we need. Plus, Kabuto is a good guy and from our village."
Ignoring the fact that Naruto had carelessly revealed that they had both scrolls, Sakura agreed with him. "I think it's ok, and Kabuto did help us out back in the waiting room." She turned to Sasuke for his answer. Reluctantly, the Uchiha decided to allow Kabuto to join them on their journey to the tower.
"Fine, but if you try anything funny, you'll regret it." He gave Kabuto an icy glare and motioned for the group to continue.
On paper, it seemed that there was no reason to distrust Kabuto since he had both of his scrolls. It was also to their advantage to have another ally because around the tower there were scroll snatchers. He had heard of them from some of his cousins who recently took the exam. Scroll snatchers went straight to the tower and waited for teams to arrive and would try to steal their scrolls. It was a smart strategy because many nin were exhausted and injured from previous battles and all of their travel, so they were vulnerable. Having taken the exam several times, Kabuto likely knew this as well and sought their company.
In fact, Kabuto had proven to be helpful to the group with his knowledge of healing herbs. Of course, he applied the medicinal treatment first to show that it was in fact healing and not poisonous. Team 7 was grateful for the medical aid and a way to avoid infections.
Around sundown, Sasuke used his sharingan and was able to sense a mass of stationary chakras a few hours away. The group agreed that the tower was in that direction and continued onward. However, after an hour passed, Sasuke still sensed that the chakras were as far away as they had been an hour ago. He knew that the chakras hadn't moved, so it meant they were going the wrong way somehow.
"According to my tracking, we aren't any closer to the tower than we were an hour ago."
"What?! You got us lost!" Naruto's complaint received a glare from the kunoichi which shut him up. Pausing, she observed the area.
"I could have sworn that we saw that tree an hour ago." She pointed to her left to the tree which proudly stood above all of the others.
"Good observation Sakura," Kabuto praised. He looked around and reasoned, "I think we might be stuck in a genjutsu."
As soon as Kabuto shared his revelation, the clearing was crawling with Mist nin clones, which looked like the nin they had taken their earth scroll from.
"Give back our scroll!" the clones spoke. Leaping into action, Naruto summoned his own shadow clones.
"Let's see who has the better clones!" With Naruto's battle cry, he and his clones charged forward. The other leaf nin joined in as well, but they let Naruto handle a majority of the clones. After several minutes of fighting, it seemed that the mist clones hadn't reduced in number. Connecting the dots, Sakura called out to her team.
"Guys!" she yelled. "This is just another genjutsu! They're not real clones."
Forming a plan of his own, Naruto disguised several of his shadow clones as his teammates and fought the enemy clones leaving his teammates to draw back and look for the real assailants. Sasuke, Sakura, and Kabuto slowly moved back into the bushes away from the battle. Sakura peered around a nearby tree and spotted the real Mist nin. Immediately, she slipped back into hiding.
"I saw the real nin just a few meters away. If we wait long enough, they should come out to steal our scroll. Then, we can catch them by surprise." The three waited, and as Sakura had predicted, the real nin revealed themselves to Naruto when they assumed that their team was too tired to fight.
"Hand over the scroll you took!" one of them demanded of the blond. Naruto gave them a foxy grin, and the Mist nin growled.
With their enemy sufficiently distracted, Kabuto, Sakura, and Sasuke sprang out the bushes to corner them.
"Dobe, take a break!" Sasuke ordered as he rushed forward. However, Naruto refused and charged ahead and punched all three of the Mist genin. Sasuke and Sakura were taken aback while Kabuto noted that the boy's chakra reserves had to be incredibly large to continue fighting after producing so many shadow clones.
"That reckless idiot," Sakura mumbled under her breath. She started to walk forward, but the Uchiha grabbed her wrist and shook his head.
"Let him. He won't listen, so we may as well just let him finish them off." Sakura sighed but headed Sauske's order. After a brief struggle, Naruto knocked out all of the enemy nin. He turned around to his team and Kabuto and chuckled.
"See! I don't need a break!" He tried to walk back to them but stumbled. After rolling her eyes, Sakura walked over and helped support him.
Within two hours, the group of four had arrived at the tower with four days to spare. When Kabuto located his team, he waved to Team 7 and rejoined his group.
Much to Naruto's excitement, they were able to open the scrolls once they got to their assigned room in the tower. He was expecting something like a gift basket or at least some type of food to appear as congratulations for passing the second phase of the exam. To all of Team 7's surprise, it was their former sensei Iruka who appeared. They were happy, none more than the blond of course who jumped onto Iruka for a hug, but they were slightly disgruntled with the lesson they were supposed to take away from their experience. Iruka congratulated but proceeded to lecture them about the importance of being a well-rounded nin. After he left the room, Naruto groaned.
"I'm happy that I got to see Iruka-sensei, but I was looking forward to some food, not a boring lecture." Sakura couldn't help but giggle at her teammate who always had food on the brain.
"That was a pretty anti-climactic end to a survival exam," Sasuke remarked wryly.
X
Several rooms over, two figures stood on the balcony speaking in hushed tones.
"Find out anything interesting Kabuto?" Orochimaru asked.
"Oh yes Orochimaru-sama. I discovered several things about Sasuke-kun and Naruto-kun that should pique your interest."
"Excellent," the sannin replied. His golden eyes glinted with a dangerous excitement.
X
Since Team 7 finished with time to spare, they were able to rest and recoup their strength before the next phase of the exam. An hour after the deadline ended on the last day, they even got a few visitors.
Knock. Knock.
Sakura answered and ushered their guests inside their quarters' common area where Sasuke and Naruto were arguing about something petty.
"Teme, you're supposed to polish your kunai once a day, and you're supposed to polish your shuriken once a week. Even I know that," Naruto argued.
"As usual, you're wrong. It's the other way around because…." Sasuke stopped mid-sentence as he noticed their guests: Itachi, Izumi, and Kakashi. Immediately, he noticed Itachi carrying a picnic basket. From the Uchiha emblem and tantalizing smell of gyoza, he assumed that his mother had prepared it.
"Hey! Itachi-nii! What do you think? How often are you supposed to kunai and shuriken?" Naruto looked to the legendary nin hoping that he would side with him over Sasuke.
Itachi gave him a weak smile and scratched the back of his head. "Actually, I can't really recall. Ever since I joined Anbu, I haven't had to clean or maintain my own weapons. Either someone at black ops headquarters or the weapon shop in the compound takes care of it." Naruto's mouth gaped open like a fish gasping for air. Sometimes, Itachi was so cool that it was hard to believe he was Sasuke's brother.
The pink-haired kunoichi coughed in order to redirect the boys' attention to their other guests.
"Kakashi-sensei!" Like a happy puppy, the blond bounded over to his teacher to greet him. Besides the copy nin was a beautiful young woman. Her long brown hair cascaded down her back elegantly while her side bangs framed her coal eyes. She wore a sleeveless, high-collared purple shirt, similar to Sasuke's shirts and loose fitting blue pants. The shuriken hostler on her right leg and leaf village headband indicated her status as a ninja. Taken by the girls' beauty, Naruto introduced himself.
"Hi! I'm Naruto Uzumaki! What's your name pretty lady and what are you doing here?" She shook hands with him and gifted him with a bashful smile.
"It's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Izumi Uchiha, and I'm Itachi-kun's girlfriend." Again, the blond's mouth popped open. In his mind, Itachi just became ten times cooler for having such a hot girlfriend. "As a chunin, I was assigned to guard the tower, but I'm on break now. I thought I'd come and say hi to my little cousin and meet his team."
"I see, so you had no intention of seeing your boyfriend," Itachi commented with a smirk. Izumi promptly turned pink and sputtered her assurances that she had also wanted to see him. Dropping the basket of food on the coffee table, Itachi strode over to her and casually wrapped his arm around her.
"I'm just teasing you," the elder Uchiha said as he curled a finger around a lock of her sleek brown hair. Sakura cooed over the handsome pair while Sasuke had to fight the urge to scoff. Simply put, he did appreciate the goo-goo eyes the pair were making at each other. It was gross and humiliating.
Naruto took a step back and approached Sasuke. "Teme," Naruto whispered. "How come you never mentioned that Itachi-nii had a girlfriend?"
The Uchiha shrugged. "I didn't think it was important." Naruto's eyes bulged out from his head. Anything related to an attractive female was important to Naruto, but he reminded himself that Sasuke lived in his own little world. He hadn't taken a liking to any girl in all of the years he had known him, but in some cruel twist of fate, girls loved Sasuke.
"Anyways, we all came to see how our favorite genin team was faring," Itachi revealed. HIs girlfriend added, "Make sure you eat the food we brought. Mikoto-san prepared it just for you."
The delicious sustenance was welcome after days of scrounging up berries and game and later the bland food served at the tower. They dug into the basket and ate while their visitors discussed the next stage of the exams. Apparently more teams than predicted had completed the second phase, so the Hokage decided to hold a preliminary round to decrease down the number of candidates before the third and final phase of the exams. For now, they needed to worry about the preliminary round because they would have to complete it tomorrow while they would have several weeks before the final round. Having completed the chunin exams most recently out of everyone, Izumi was able to give them some helpful information. She guessed that the preliminary round would be a series of one-on-one combat until someone was unable to fight or the proctor stepped in to stop the fight. Matchups were also randomly chosen, so they could have to fight their friends or teammates.
"Remember that this is a test. Don't make it personal if you have to fight a friend," she gently reminded. Sakura gave her two teammates pointed looks. If they had to fight one another, it would be messy and inevitably someone's feelings would get hurt. Next to him on the couch, Naruto was so content eating and listening to Izumi talk that he didn't take notice of much around him. Sasuke rolled his eyes and got up to speak with Kakashi.
The night they arrived at the tower and once Naruto was past asleep, Sakura spoke to him about telling their sensei about the curse seal and Orochimaru. In exchange, she promised that she wouldn't breathe a word about the encounter or mark to anyone.
Before Sasuke could approach his sensei, the copy nin headed for the balcony for a more private setting.
"Have something you want to tell me?" he asked after Sasuke slid the door shut. Hearing a rustle of fabric, Kakashi turned to see Sasuke pulling down his navy collar. His pale skin was marred by an unfortunately familiar symbol. Kakashi narrowed his eyes and sighed.
"When?"
"The third day in the forest," the Uchiha replied. Leaning against the rail, Kakashi pondered his next course of action. He was impressed that his star pupil had managed to survive the seal, but he worried that the mark would get the best of him in combat.
"Look, I want you to finish the exam, but -" Kakashi started until Sasuke interrupted him.
"Not continuing is out of the question." He stared at the midnight sky and continued, "Tou-san would not accept it. My nii-san passed the chunin exams when he was ten. I have to catch up." If his father found out that Sasuke dropped out or didn't pass, he would be furious regardless of the curse mark. There had to be a way for him to keep going.
"Fine, but you have to do what I say," Kakashi ordered. "I don't have enough time, or the tools needed to make a counter seal tonight, but I can do it tomorrow after your match. Until then, stay calm and don't let your emotions get the best of you because it could activate the curse seal. That being said, you cannot use your sharingan or chakra."
Begrudgingly, Sasuke agreed.
"I am also going to tell your brother, father, and the Hokage." Sasuke gave his teacher an icy look. "They deserve to know what's going on, and they'll be able to help. I won't tell anyone else and neither should you, unless you already."
"Sakura knows, but she was there when it happened. She knows not to tell anyone."
"Good. Find me after your match, and we'll take care of the curse mark. We better head inside before the others get suspicious."
X
Fighting without chakra was proving to be more difficult than Sasuke had anticipated. His opponent, a leaf nin by the name of Yorio Akado, had pushed him to the ground and had a hold on his head. Not being able to use chakra for jutsu or strengthening his reflexes was putting the Uchiha at a major disadvantage. He needed to think of something before Yorio absorbed all of his chakra with his hand.
"Teme, get up! How can you let this guy walk all over you? Aren't you an Uchiha?!" Naruto taunted from the stands above. Next to him was Lee. Suddenly, Sasuke got an idea. He managed to break free of his opponent's grasp and leapt away. Charging forward, he kicked Yorio under the chin sending him sailing in the air. Sasuke crouched down on all fours and sprung into the air after him. As gilded below his opponent, he could hear collective gasps from the audience.
"The dancing leaf shadow," Yorio growled.
"I admit that I borrowed this move, but it's all original from here on out." Poised to make his move, Sasuke grunted in pain. Small orange flames grew from his curse mark.
Not now, he thought. Sakura's tearful words flashed in his mind. He remembered how her pleas for him to stop his rampage in the forest worked. Then, he thought about Naruto's insults and his father's expectation that he pass the test. He'd show them that he could do this with his own power.
The curse mark receded, and he was finally able to make his move. Flipping his opponent's body over with two fingers, Sasuke began rotating.
"Lion's Barrage!" He yelled.
He landed a punch, a kick, another punch, and a final kick that sent Yoroi crashing into the ground. While his opponent was knocked unconscious, Sasuke mis-stepped and stumbled on his landing. Just as he was about to kneel over, Kakashi appeared behind him to prop him up with his knee.
The proctor glanced between Sasuke, who was barely able to sit up, and Yorio, who was laying on the arena. It was a close call, but he declared Sasuke the winner. He did successfully knock his opponent out and was technically still conscious.
Kakashi dragged Sasuke away to an isolated room in the arena before anyone distracted them. He instructed his student to remove his shirt and lay on the cot. It was hours before Kakashi finished writing the script for the counter seal, but Sasuke waited patiently. He'd do anything to prevent the mark from interfering with his combat again.
"Just a little longer Sasuke, and I'll activate the counter seal," Kakashi spoke quietly. With one last flourish of his brush, the script was finished. He put the utensil aside and flowed through a long sequence of hand signs. Pushing down on Sasuke's chest with a burst of the chakra, the black letters retreated into the counter seal on top of the curse mark. Sasuke groaned at the strange sensation.
"The counter seal is only as strong as your desire to not use the curse mark," the grey-haired nin noted. Sasuke nodded and sat up to put on his shirt.
"Well, well. Messing up my work as usual Kakashi," an arrogant voice spoke from around the corner. Stepping forward, Orochimaru stood in front of the two nin with a smirk.
"Don't think I don't know about the Sound Village," Kakashi said as he gathered chakra in his hand.
The sannin laughed callously. "I don't care about those genin." Looking at Sasuke, he said, "I'm only here to get what belongs to me."
Blue sparks crackled in Kakashi's palm, and he charged at him. The sannin dodged the lighting blade and escaped.
"Sasuke-kun will be mine," he whispered anonymously before he disappeared in a gust of wind.
"Damn it," Kakashi spoke. "Your brother should be here any minute to take you home." Like clockwork, Itachi appeared moments later. Obviously, the jonin had told him about the seal and Orochimaru's actions because Itachi had taken it upon himself to assign someone to watch over Sasuke while he rested at home.
The next three days, Sasuke stayed in his house, mostly in his room or outside for light training. His mother hadn't said if she knew about the mark or the snake sannin, but she was constantly hovering over him with offers of constant snacks and redressing and cleaning his wounds. While he was grateful for her care, she was smothering him a little; however, he didn't dare say anything and risk hurting her feelings. From the nervous and concerned looks she gave him, he could tell how shaken up she was. His sweet mother was petrified of losing him.
Fortunately, he got a reprieve from her constant attention when Izumi came to visit. She told him about the results of the match-ups. Many of his classmates had won their matches. Shino, from Team 8, defeated Zaku. Shikamaru beat the Sound kunoichi, and Naruto, by some miracle, was able to win against Kiba. He was somewhat disappointed to hear that Sakura would not continue as her match with Ino Yamanaka, an obnoxious girl from his year that had a crush on him, ended in a draw. Izumi also told him to keep an eye out for Neji Hyuga and Kazekage's son, Gaara.
Neji had decimated his cousin Hinata in their battle to the point of killing her, until the jonin sensei stepped in and stopped him. The Hyuga had an unspoken rivalry with the Uchiha, so it would make his clan proud if he were to fight Neji and win. Neji was similar to Sasuke in that he was a prodigy but not first in line to the clan head seat. It would be exhilarating to challenge Neji.
As for the other victor Gaara, his cousin spoke about him with the most caution. He had the most brutal ruthless fighting style she had seen during the preliminaries. Recalling the redhead from the exam room, Sasuke remembered his serious demeanor. He also almost killed his opponent, Lee, but Lee's injuries were so grave that he might not be able to continue being a shinobi. Sasuke held some sympathy for the green spandex wearing nin. He couldn't imagine being in that position. Being a shinobi was his way of life. If he fought against Gaara, he would make sure to win.
Izumi also gave him a message from Kakashi. He was to prepare a month-long trip out of the village. The final round of the chunin exams would occur in one month, and candidates had some time to prepare beforehand. Most of his clansmen were on high alert and sticking close to the village due to Orochimaru's sighting in the village, so Kakashi had taken it up himself to train Sasuke himself.
"Kakashi-san will be here soon to collect you. Be ready, and good luck!" Izumi graced him with a friendly smile. At first, he considered Izumi with a mix of apathy and jealousy since he felt weird about his older brother having a girlfriend and didn't love that he spent less time with him to be with Izumi. Over the past few weeks, Sasuke had come to tolerate Izumi. She was a competent ninja, polite, and helpful. It also didn't hurt that she was giving him valuable information about the exam.
After Izumi left, Sasuke packed his bag and waited for his sensei to arrive. He wasn't in a hurry since Kakashi ran on his own schedule.
The shoji door slid open and a cloaked individual appeared in front of Sasuke with a syringe. The mysterious person lunged at Sasuke who flipped backwards and grabbed a kunai from his back.
"Come quietly, and I'll leave your family alone," the gravely voice spoke. Growling, Sasuke activated his sharingan and charged at him. If he could remove the hood, he could capture the man in a genjutsu and hold him until someone came.
He jumped up and leapt over the man. Fingers graced the hem of the hood as the man evaded him.
Poof.
The copy nin appeared and sighed. He put his Icha Icha copy in his pocket and prepared a rakiri.
"What do we have here?" Kakashi inquired casually. "Trying to kidnap my student, I see."
The masked man snarled. "Forget it. I'll be back." He was gone in an instant.
Nonplussed by the incident, Kakashi jumped out of the window and motioned for Sasuke to join him.
X
"I can't believe Lee is in such bad shape. I really hope he recovers," Sakura lamented.
"Me too. I can't believe that guy Gaara tried to kill him in his own hospital room. I'm not too upset about sitting out the next round. I wouldn't want to fight him," Ino replied.
"It's a good thing that Shikamaru was there and able to use his shadow paralysis jutsu."
"At least the lazy bum is good for something." Ino and Sakura laughed as they exited the hospital. They had been making daily visits to the hospital since the end of the preliminaries. It started as a way to try and see Sasuke, but he was apparently resting at home. However, they realized that many of their friends were recovering in the hospital, so they made it a daily habit to visit with flowers and baskets of food.
As they exited the hospital, Sakura saw a glimpse of long brown hair and an Uchiha emblem.
"Hey Ino, I just saw another friend that I need to talk to. Go on without me."
"Sure! I'll see you tomorrow Sakura!" They waved and went in opposite directions.
"Izumi!" Sakura yelled as she ran to catch up to her.
"Oh, Sakura! How are you?" the Uchiha asked.
"I'm good." She gulped and continued, "I was wondering if I could ask you for a favor? You can say no! I just thought I'd ask."
"Sure!"
"Well, um, Naruto, Sasuke, and Kakashi left the village to train for the final round, so I don't really have anyone to train with. Would you consider training me? It would only be for a month, until Kakashi-sensei returns." She looked at Izumi nervously, hoping that she would accept.
"I'd love to! I actually don't have anyone to train with these days either since my teammates are usually on duty when I'm off. Do morning sessions work for you?" Izumi beamed at Sakura. She was very excited to have another girl to train with, and she wanted to get to know her better. From bits and pieces she had picked up from Mikoto and Itachi, Sasuke might have a crush on his teammate.
"Mornings work for me. Is the fifth training ground a good location?" Sakura was relieved that Izumi wanted to train together. It would have been very embarrassing to be rejected.
"Perfect. I'll see you tomorrow bright and early at 6:30." She smiled and headed for the hospital.
"Thank you!" Sakura called out.
1 Month Later
It was five minutes past the scheduled match between Gaara and Sasuke. So far, Sasuke was a no show. Even Sasuke's family was starting to worry. Mikoto thought back to Itachi's earlier assessment of Kakashi.
Flashback
"Kakashi-sempai is an extremely well rounded nin with Anbu experience. I have no doubt that he will prove to be a great teacher for otouto in preparation for the final round," Itachi said.
Mikoto was having a hard time coming to terms with Sasuke leaving the village for a month to train just after completing the first and second phases for the chunin exam. As any good mother, she disliked going long periods of time without seeing her children. She had gone through a similar grievance period when Itachi started going on missions, but Sasuke was her youngest. She also couldn't help but worry about Orochimaru trying to take him again since he had spotted and approached her son only a week ago.
"I can't help but worry about Sasuke's safety."
"Kaa-san, he will be safe with Kakashi, and even more so if they're out of the village." He gave his mother a gentle smile to reassure her. "The only thing you should be concerned about is Sasuke getting back on time. Kakashi-sempai has a penchant for tardiness."
Thinking back, the joke had reassured her, but it wasn't now. If Sasuke didn't show for his match, he would have to forfeit. He would be devastated to lose a match without even competing.
"Patience Mikoto. They will come," her husband spoke. He placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, and she instantly felt at ease.
"Thank you anata."
On the other side of the arena, Sakura and Naruto sat waiting for their friend to show.
"That teme, making us all wait on him," Naruto grumbled.
"If my memory serves me correctly, you were almost late to your match too," Sakura countered.
"Sakura-chan!" Naruto pouted and crossed his arms.
"By the way, congratulations on your match against Neji!" Instantly, Naruto became happy again from Sakura's praise. In a stunning upset, the blond had been able to beat his opponent with his quick thinking and stamina. No one has expected the dead last rookie to defeat the prodigy of the Hyuga, but then again, Naruto was also the most unpredictable nin in good ways. Sometimes.
Finally, there was a familiar cloud of smoke visible on the ground. There appeared Sasuke and Kakashi. Sasuke had a new outfit of a brown one piece and bandages on his forearms along with longer hair. Sakura couldn't help but admire Sasuke with the wind whipping through his unruly midnight locks and his determined look.
"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura cheered as she waved. She could see Kakashi speaking with Genma, the proctor, and from the looks of it Kakashi was trying to see if Sasuke could compete. Moments later, Kakashi disappeared from the field and the proctor settled in the middle of the field.
"The match between Gaara Subaku and Sasuke Uchiha will now start!" He leapt back to one of the lower stands to observe the match.
Everyone in the audience watched with bated breath as Sasuke charged forward.