Naruto: The Uchiha Chronicles Re-Version:

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand I'm back. Hey everyone, hope you had a happy Holiday Season. My break was very resting, managed to get some work done, and begin intalling a new writing schedule. Without further ado, let's do the thing.

Arc VI: Chunin Exams:

Chapter 40: Sasuki's Dilemma

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Anger wasn't a foreign emotion to Sasuki. For a long time, it had been a constant companion, lurking under the surface of her other emotions. How ironic that the one who was causing it now was the same person who helped her get past it in the first place. What was worse, part of her felt there was only herself to blame, she'd forgotten her promise to herself. She'd sworn after Itachi revealed himself for what he was she'd never let another person fool her into thinking they were someone they weren't. How could she be so stupid as to allow someone to fool her again?

Then she remembered that Naruto knew how she felt in that regard and still lied. No matter how much he tried to say it had nothing to do with trusting her, deep down, in the dark depths of her mind she thought he didn't think she'd keep his secret. Or worse, he thought she was too fragile to handle it.

"Hyah!"

Sasuki grunted, punching a padded training post. Spinning on her heel, she slammed a heel into it. Sweat dripped from her brow from the exertion. All those conflicting emotions swirling inside her, training was the only way she knew to release it.

The tower had a couple areas for them to train. She'd been here for an hour trying to work out her frustrations. It hadn't worked. With a growl of frustration, her control slipped, channeling chakra into her fist. The training post let out a harsh CRACK as the wood splintered and gave way. The top half stuck to the side awkwardly.

From behind her, someone cleared their throat. "Thank you for giving us a reason to replace that old thing, it's needed it quite desperately."

Jumping violently and spinning on her heel, Sasuki met the amused gaze of the Hokage. His brown eyes danced mischievously. Heat flooded her cheeks. It was bad enough she let her temper slip so bad, but on top of that the kindly old Hokage had seen it happen.

"I take it you're upset over Naruto's secret?" The Hokage asked.

Sasuki froze. He knew it too. Of course he did, she cursed herself for forgetting how close Naruto was to the Hokage. He'd be the first person for Naruto to confide in about it. She herself was close with the old man, he made sure she was looked after when her family was killed. It was nothing like how close he was with Naruto. You'd almost think he was an actual grandson to the man. Her eyes narrowed.

"I suppose you're here to tell me I shouldn't be mad at him?" She asked hotly.

The elderly Hokage shook his head. "No, I wouldn't tell you that. You have a right to be angry with Naruto. It's up to him to mend what's been damaged." He said. "No, rather, I'm here to talk with you about something else that happened in the forest."

"What is there to talk about?" She asked.

"That's obvious, I wanted to talk about why my former student was after you." Hiruzen replied, his jovial demeanor slipping away.

Sasuki blinked stupidly, her cheeks growing warm as she realized she hadn't really considered Orochimaru. Ever since Naruto had said his name … it was all she could think about, no matter how she tried not to.

"Do you know something about it, then?" She asked.

A disturbed look flashed across the Hokage's face. "Yes, I do. By all accounts he tried to place his cursed seal on you …"

The Hokage went on, explaining how the seal would give her a source of powerful chakra, one that would corrupt her if used, all to sway her to his side for her Sharingan. The concept made her skin crawl. Though, the most disturbing part was somewhere in the back of her mind, she wondered whether she'd have had the strength to resist.

"As it is, we can't be sure whether his failure will keep him from trying again. Measures will have to be taken to prevent that." Hiruzen concluded.

Sasuki licked her lips nervously. Her stomach twisted as she had a horrible thought. "Are you pulling me from the exams?"

Surely they wouldn't take her ability to compete. Month, hell years had gone into preparing for this. To her immense relief, the Hokage shook his head no.

"No, for the moment things are fine. I shall remain in the tower. Orochimaru wouldn't dare try to attack you while I'm present. Once a few patrols of Anbu return I'll increase the security around the tower. For now, I'd simply request you don't wander too far away from the building."

She nodded readily. That was easy enough to do, she thought. Her mind was still swirling with this knowledge. What could Orochimaru want with a subordinate with the Sharingan? It was a question that would torture her for some time.

Upon her acceptance, Hiruzen gave a nod of satisfaction. "Very well, I'll be returning to my quarters. If you need me, don't hesitate to send for me."

Sasuki was barely aware of the "Thank you." She muttered in response. With one last kindly smile, the elderly man left Sasuki alone with her thoughts.

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Did he want to recreate the Uchiha Clan under his control? Would he take her eyes to transplant into his own body? Sasuki shuddered in revulsion as she imagined it, clenching her hands over her eyes as the disturbing image popped into her mind. Dark thoughts had tormented her ever since the Hokage's visit. It was worse than the angry thoughts about Naruto, and when she wasn't imagining the twisted things Orochimaru could want, her mind wandered right back to Naruto. The result was an almost physical pressure from the overflowing concerns she had.

All of it was too much pressure, she felt like she was suffocating in the confined walls of the tower. Despite the Hokage's warning, she couldn't help but step outside for some fresh air. He'd said not to stray far from the tower so she wouldn't. That still left a lot of latitude to explore.

That's how she found herself wandering alongside the river that split the forest in half. The crystal-clear water rushed past in a series of gentle rapids. It went underground beneath the tower before reappearing fifty meters on the opposite side where it went on to fork into two other rivers that ran through the village.

She walked alongside the dirt bank, taking in the peaceful atmosphere. Her eyes closed as she stood still and took a few deep breaths to calm her racing thoughts. The crisp, fresh air was soothing. She felt the warmth of the sun soaking into her skin. Heard the rustle of the trees and the–

Sasuki's eyes snapped open. Where were the sounds of the animals? A telltale sign something was wrong in the forest. Her eyes darted back and forth. She tried not to make her unease obvious. That was one of the first things they learned in their stealth class, don't let an enemy know you're aware of them unless it's necessary. A sudden surge of chakra and high-pitched whistle were her only warnings.

Whoooosh!

Throwing herself backwards, Sasuki watched as a powerful blast of wind tore a trench through the clay where she'd just been standing.

"Ah, ya dodged. It would've been a lot less painful if you hadn't." Sasuki activated her Sharingan and spun on her heel to face the forest. She saw a boy standing on one of the tree branches. It was one of the Sound Genin, the one with the spiky hair and bad attitude. He smirked at her. "We were looking for your team in the forest. Imagine our surprise when we found out your team passed the first day, not that it matters. My teammates might have chickened out, but I'm going to kill you anyways."

Sasuki's eyes narrowed. Orochimaru had worn a Sound forehead protector, he had to be connected to these three. The boy made it sound like they'd been planning to kill her. Why in the world would the snake have them try to kill her if he was trying to give her the cursed seal like the Hokage said? It was possible they'd gone rogue. After all, someone as twisted as Orochimaru had to draw in similar personalities. But she doubted his servants would have the balls to disobey him like that.

"Were you ordered to try and kill me or something?" She asked.

"Nah, we just felt like it." Zaku replied. He pointed his palm at her, revealing some sort of tube in the center. She saw green-tinged blue chakra building up in the tube. "Now be a good girl and just die. Slicing Soundwave!"

The chakra pulsed, and a second blast of wind was unleashed from the tube. Sasuki dodged to the side, her hand instinctively going to her back for her tanto. Her stomach twisted as she felt only air where the hilt should be. That's right, she'd decided against bringing it to train. Reaching into her equipment pouch, Sasuk threw a fistful of shuriken instead.

Zaku scoffed. "That won't work." He held up his opposite hand, revealing a second tube. He unleashed a second blast that knocked the shuriken out of the air.

Sasuki cursed under her breath. "Those things aren't natural, are they?" She asked.

"Nope. The Hidden Sound is on the cutting edge of ninjutsu. This is just one example of the new age of ninjutsu. With these tubes, there's no need for seals!" Said Zaku.

With a wicked smirk, he raced down the tree and to the ground, unleashing a barrage of air blasts that left Sasuki on the back foot. She twisted this way and that to dodge them, trying to come up with a plan. Despite the rapid speed of Zaku's attacks, her pre-cognition let her predict his attacks and weave around them without issue. The problem was she was still recovering her chakra from the night before. Sasuki couldn't just throw jutsu around willy-nilly, so she'd have to play it smart.

'Weapons are useless. He'll just blast them, I have to find a way to get in close.' She watched Zaku carefully. With severe patience, she wove around his attacks, closing the distance between them quickly. In seconds she found herself within feet of Zaku, kunai gripped tightly as she prepared to strike.

"Shit!" Zaku's eyes widened with panic. Then he smirked. "Psych. Piercing Soundwave!"

An unbearably shrill screech assaulted Sasuki's ears. Her eyes watered and her head swam with pain. It was only years of training that allowed her to feel the spike in Zaku's chakra. On pure instinct she used a Substitution Jutsu to avoid his biggest attack yet. Sasuki reappeared in the bushes in time to see the log she'd exchanged with ripped to shreds by a massive air wave. Everything sounded muffled, like she was underwater. She felt something sticky running down her right cheek. In shock, she reached up and felt at her ear. Her fingers came away bloody. Whatever Zaku had done, it had ruptured an ear drum.

Slowly, she regained at least partial hearing. The first thing she heard was Zaku gloating.

"–should come out and make this quick. With both air and sound waves, there's nothing you can do!"

Sound waves. So that's how he'd done it. It wasn't just air waves he controlled, but sound. Zaku must have overloaded her with sound to ruin her hearing. That made approaching in the open foolish. 'I'll take a page from Sakura's book.' Closing her eyes, she remembered the seals Sakura used for her signature jutsu. She'd memorized them with her Sharingan. Before she knew it, she finished with the Snake seal.

The soil beneath her turned to sand, and Sasuki quickly sank underground. She kept her eyes and mouth closed and made sure not to breath. One mouthful of dirt was enough to teach her how to travel underground. Sensing the vibrations in the earth, she got into place.

With a surge of chakra, she rocketed to the surface. She saw Zaku's eyes widen in genuine shock as she flew up to face him eye to eye. Before he could even think of reacting, she lashed out with her kunai. The blade bit deep. It sliced across his throat smoothly. She was showered in a spray of crimson blood, leaving a gaping void in the boy's throat.

Sasuki landed on her feet, panting for air. Her enemy slumped to his knees; eyes stretched wide in terror as he desperately tried to stem the blood flow. It was useless, his exposed throat gurgled helplessly as the blood flowed around his hands. In mere seconds, the light in his eyes dimmed and they glazed over as he slumped forward to land at her feet. The soft dirt and blood mixed to form a disgusting sticky mud that clung to her toes.

She'd wash her feet before reporting the incident, Sasuki decided as she looked at the Anbu crouching over Zaku's body. Wait. Sasuki, blinked, stumbling backwards as she finally registered what she saw.

"What the fuck!" She shouted, falling onto her rear, and pushing herself away from the Anbu. A slender man with tall, brown hair and an eagle mask.

The Anbu turned his head to look at her, staring with those creepy black eye holes. Years ago, Itachi had told her the Anbu used a seal applied to the masks to create the effect. It added to their intimidation while hiding their identity. The trick certainly worked. Even though she couldn't see his face, the man's posture reeked of his amusement.

"You can go, Sasuki Uchiha. I'll deal with the body. From now on pay more attention to Lord Hokage's warning." He said.

Sasuki found herself nodding, too surprised to get angry like she usually would at being treated like a disobedient child.

Without even realizing it, Sasuki got up and began to walk away. Her mind was wandering, thinking about Zaku. Had he acted on his own, or was he ordered to attack her by Orochimaru? She wondered if she'd have to worry about an assassination attempt from his teammates. A cool, tickling sensation on her feet jarred her from her thoughts. She blinked in confusion. Her feet were in the river, swirls of brown and red circling her feet and being swept away as the water washed away the bloody mud.

She must have gone to wash her feet subconsciously. Stepping out of the cool water, she rid her mind of such thoughts. There was no way of knowing what the Hidden Sound wanted right now. For now, she needed to focus on resting and preparing for the next stage.

The days following her encounter with Zaku, Sasuki put her effort towards rest. Even after getting her ears healed by a medic, she was warned to take it easy. Sasuki trained only lightly, the rest of her time was spent holed away in the library with Sakura to avoid Naruto, the only exception being eating subpar meals in the cafeteria. The three days moved quickly, and before she knew it, the remaining contestants had been asked to gather on the first floor.

The Second Exam had ended, and new challenges waited in the wings.

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Well, there we go, the preliminaries are just about to start, but Sasuki is heading in at less than one hundred percent. How will she do? You'll have to wait and see.

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