Chapter 79 Demon of the frozen maze.
Neji watched apathetically as the useless scroll burned before his eyes. The screams of the stone genins echoed in the empty cavern, but they couldn't stop him, with Lee and Tenten holding them in place.
"Why are you doing this!? One screamed, tears staining her face. "We've done nothing to you!"
"But you have pissed off someone you shouldn't," Neji answered, surprising them.
"If I see a single one of those bastards in the stronghold, I'll kill 'em," Neji remembered Sakura's warning and felt some pity for the unsuspecting genins. They chose the wrong person to mess with and now faced the consequences.
"I don't know what you did to anger Sakura, and I don't care." he glared down at them, his byakugan active. "It's in your best interest to leave the Land of Iron before she hunts you down and kills you."
"You tree huggers wanna act all peace-loving, but you're really tyrants!" a kunoichi screamed. "You burned our scroll because you don't need it! Lord Tsuchikage was right to want you guys dead!"
"What do you mean?" Lee asked.
"Lord Tsuchikage placed a kill-on-sight order for one of you brats!" they bragged. "We'll get revenge for what you did to us in the war!"
"War?" Tenten was confused. "None of us were born during the war. What does your Kage have against us?"
"Wouldn't you like to know?"
Crack! Lee broke one of their elbows, causing a pained scream to ring through the cave.
"Yes, I would very much like to know why you are hunting our comrades.
"He's the yellow flashes, kin!" the kunoichi confessed. "He looks just like that monster; there's no way they're not related!"
"Yellow flash?" Tenten pondered. "Do you mean the fourth Hokage?"
"Blond hair and blue eyes," Neji gasped and weaved through hand seals. "Transform."
"Are you hunting this face?" Naruto stood before them, causing the stone genin to gasp. One of them laughed.
"Heh, are you friends with that guy." he chuckled. "Well, you better say your goodbyes, every stone genin is after his head! I guess that whole "sign your life away" contract is backfiring now, huh!"
Neji palmed Naruto's face with a sigh.
"I was wondering why Sakura was going on a rampage, and now I see why," Neji looked down at them with blue eyes and a hint of disgust. "If you guys are targeting Naruto, you have already forfeited your life."
Tenten shivered.
"People drown in killing intent just by looking at him wrong," she hugged herself. "I don't wanna see what she does when they attack him."
"If it is anything like the kunoichi wars, the stone village might not have any living Genins after this." Neji reverted to his real form and began to plan. "I was planning to belay you by destroying your scroll so you wouldn't make it to the stronghold in time. Now, I'm not so sure that will be enough."
"We can't be sure she won't hunt them down after the exams, so either way, they're, fucked," Tenten stated.
"Indeed," Neji agreed. He looked at the three genins that were holy unaware of the mess their Kage caused. Neji heard how Sakura broke a barrier the Hokage couldn't while half dead. He knew her strength was unrivaled. And he knew the Hokage didn't have a leash on her.
"She's going to kill the Tsuchikage," Neji stated matter-a-factly.
"You think so too, huh," Tenten chuckled nervously.
"Would that not instigate a war?" Lee asked.
"I think putting an unprovoked kill order on a genin because he looks like the fourth Hokage is more reason to start a war," Neji said. "Especially if said genin is related to lord fourth." Neji sighed up at the Cave ceiling in exasperation.
"They showed us aggression first," Tenten sighed.
Neji turned and walked away from the stone genins. "We should leave. We did as told; it's best not to stay here."
Confused by the sudden instruction, Tenten looked up at the ceiling and paled; without a word, she grabbed Lee's arm and dragged him away from the stone genins.
"Tenten, what is the matter," Lee asked as they entered the mazes.
The stone Genins watched as the Leaf genins left them in the cavern.
The kunoichi smirked as she channeled chakra into the ground creating a spike that pierced her binds. She wiggled free and undid the binds of her teammates.
"Heh, I knew we could count on you, Chihana!" Baki exclaimed as he rubbed his wrist. Nomu nodded to her as he stood, looking at the hall the Leaf genin escaped through.
"If we leave now, we might be able to catch up to those bastards," Nomu said.
"I can't believe those idiots left us like this," Baki smirked. "We'll make them regret not killing us."
"I wonder why they left in such a hurry?" Chihanna muttered. She looked up at the ceiling and screamed.
"Kyaaa!" she fell back on the floor and scrambled back into the walls.
"What's the matter, Hana-chan!" Baki exclaimed. Chihana pointed a shaking finger to the ceiling. The two boys looked up, and their stomachs dropped.
The ceiling was covered in red butterflies. The insects clung around the ceiling as though it was their nest. The contrast of red on white would have been beautiful if not for the body buried among the butterflies. Black hair sprawled out on the white surface, pale flesh peeked out from the wings of red, and green eyes glared down at them.
The boys collapse another the killing intent, hall on their butts, unable to look away. The girl moved, and the butterflies scattered, fluttering around the room. With the grace of a feather, she floated down to the ground, soundlessly landing on the ice-cold floor.
Wearing a black kimono and Geta sandals with white socks, the girl looked like someone in mourning. Her loose kimono and black hair that fell like curtains; gave her the appearance of a grieving widow gone mad.
"So it was the Tsuchikage's order after all," she said, her voice an echo of a child and a man. "I held out hope this was all a misunderstanding. Well, what can you do? We can start by killing all their precious genins."
She was talking to herself as the fearful genins watched on in horror.
"The fact that you didn't question the kill order is very disappointing to me," she said with a sad face. "I can't allow it. I can't allow people like you to go on living this way." The butterflies became restless as they swarmed around her like a tornado. The wind picked up in the small space, and the genins covered their eyes in fear. "I show you exactly why you should never mess with the Leaf village."
"AHHHH!"
Neji glanced back as the screams echoed down the halls. He almost felt pity, but they were the ones to poke the hornet's nest. Now they must face the consequences.
"Get it off, get it off. Ahhhh!"
The stone genins flailed their hands, trying - and failing - to swat away the red Springflys. They ran around as though on fire, though they might have felt like it. One tried to roll on the floor, but the Springflys sharp wings cut into their bodies. Instead of dousing the flames, they cut themselves on the Springflys wings.
Shikamaru whined as he watched the chaos. Choji had long since passed out, and Ino was hiding from the world in his jacket. When they got the order from Sakura, he knew there would be a bloodbath. He saw what she did to Gato and his men; he knew how ruthless she could be. He tried to help them. Team 10 stopped the group of stone genins and stole their scroll, destroying it right before them. He warned them that further participation in this exam would lead to death. But they didn't listen.
They claimed they would stop; only after they killed Naruto. That was all it took. In an instant, they were warmed by Springflys the color of blood.
The nine genins now screamed for mercy or, perhaps, a quick death as they raved in agony. Shikamaru saw flashes of Gato's men burning alive in their hideout.
"Don't pity them," he heard a voice beside him. "They don't deserve it."
Shikamaru turned to see Sakura dressed in a black kimono as though grieving and sporting black hair. She was changing; he could tell. He felt the same when she "Rescued" him from Gato's men.
"Sakura?"
"I'm not actually here. This is just a puppet," Sakura replied.
Shikamaru looked for the telltale signs of a puppet and found none.
"Where are the strings?" He asked
She smiled.
"It's wireless," she said. Shikamaru frowned, not getting the joke. Sakura signed and pointed to the butterfly hair clip in her hair. "I'm using my summons' "hivemind" as a network connection. It's like Inoichi's "Mind-body disturbance jutsu."
Shikamaru nodded, rubbing Ino's back when she stiffened in his arms. He wasn't even surprised that Sakura knew about the Yamanaka clan jutsu and imitated it. From what he heard, she copied the Hyuga style and used it without the Byakugan.
"What's the plan?" Shikamaru asked as the screams of the stone genins died down. He looked down to see if they were unconscious or dead.
"Seek and destroy," Sakura replied, moving towards them. She placed a hand on each stone genins and left a seal Shikamaru recognized.
"Isn't that?" he started.
"A chakra-blocking seal, she explained. "They won't be able to mold chakra. Right now, they are nothing more than civilians."
She really was cruel.
"Let's get you guys to the stronghold," she said as her body shrunk into a forty-five-centimeter doll. "Wake Choji, we need to leave." It was sudden, but Shikaru did as instructed while Ino clung to him.
"Did something happen?" he asked as they took off running, Choji stumbling behind them.
"They've made their move."
"Kill the blond boy with blue eyes."
That was the order the stone Genins got. It was sudden, but their leader argued it was revenge for their defeat in the war. They weren't born during the war, so they only heard stories of how the Leaf village completely obliterated their forces.
The fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, was run on sight in the Bingo book. Iwagakura had no love for the leaf or their Hokage, but suddenly, their Jinchuriki released the nine-tails. They weren't privy to information as - you would expect, but they knew the Fourth Hokage and the Jinchuriki were dead. Further investigation revealed that the nine tails was inside someone else.
The Tsuchikage did try and send his shinobis to learn more but was stopped by the Uchiha every time. It wasn't until the Hokage dropped the child on his lap did he met the Leaf village's Jinchuriki.
Sakura Haruno. Protected by an Uchiha and a direct descendant of the first Hokage, the girl was arrogant. Thinking she could take on a Kage, power had gone to her head. He would have been interested in her if her guard wasn't so familiar. He had no doubt the boy was related in some way to the fourth Hokage. Memories of the war and their defeat blind him with rage. So long as he didn't touch their Jinchuriki, it would be acceptable to kill the brat. This was for his own peace of mind, a petty revenge that would no doubt weaken the Leaf village in the future.
It was with this thought process that Onoki sent his Genins on a hunting mission.
Kill the boy and bring peace to Iwagakure.
No one could have seen the chaos he unleashed into the world.
Hinata panted, her lungs burning from overuse. With Kiba and Shino crouching behind her, their arms crushed, she couldn't afford to back down.
A group of Stone genins ganged up on her team, using brutal force to injure Kiba and Shino in one move.
With her poor imitation of eight trigram rotations, she was able to escape the blow, but now she was alone. Gritting her teeth, she blamed Sakura for her misfortune. She wasn't going to attack them since they didn't have the scroll she wanted, and yet, they attacked her and her team without cause.
"I can't protect them and fight," Hinata thought with despair. Were she stronger, she might have been able to dispose of the enemy and heal her friends, but not everyone was a monster like Sakura. She couldn't even heal because of her clan jutsu.
She gritted her teeth in frustration.
"It would be wise to leave us behind, Hinata," Shino said logically. "You are outnumbered, and we are only burdens to you."
"Shut it!" Hinata cursed. "I will not be known for leaving my team behind! If I can't protect you, I'll die here with you."
"How brave. I am also someone that would do anything for my village and friends," Kurotsuchi, Granddaughter of the Tsuchikage, stated as she stepped forward. Dressed in a red one-sleeve shirt and shorts, she smirked at the pathetic team.
"I need you to use those eyes of yours to find someone for me," Kurotsuchi was casual as she spoke; she had them cornered, the tree huggers would do anything to save their own skin. "Find me that blonde-haired boy with blue eyes, and I'll let you go."
Silence.
Kurotsuchi looked at them with confusion when they suddenly went quiet. Kiba's eyes were wide with horror, and Akamaru whined. Shino appeared as stoic as ever, say for his near broken form inching away from Hinata slowly.
"Naruto?" Hinata's voice was gentle. "Could you be talking about Naruto?"
"Naruto!" Kurotsuchi was excited. "Yes, that was his name, wasn't it? Don't tell me you're friends with that boy."
"What do you intend to do once you find him?"
"Well, Kill him, of course." Kurotsuchi didn't expect the chakra-fused palm that came at her. On instinct, she managed to leap to the left, barely dodging Hinata's strike. She didn't have time to curse before the Hyuga attacked her again. Blue chakra danced around her hand as he moved with grace. Kurotsuchi found herself on the backfoot as Hinata attacked relentlessly.
Gritting her teeth in frustration, Kurotsuchi strikes back, landing a blow to Hinata's stomach, stopping the Hyuga in her tracks.
Kurotsuchi wasn't weak, she might be a kunoichi but she was the strongest among them, her fist being able to shatter boulders. With this in mind imagine her surprise when Hinat grabbed her hand and took this opportunity to attack. What followed was a barrage of strikes to Kurotsuchi's chakra points.
"32 palms!" Hinata cried as he struck Kurotsuchi, sending her flying back into a wall.
"Kurotsuchi coughed blood looking at Hinata in confusion.
"How," she wheezed.
Hinata wiped the blood from her lips and glared at Kurotsuchi.
"Sakura hits harder," she stated.
The next Chapter is gonna be a blood bath. I'll do my best to make it as gore as possible, wish me luck!
Next Chapter
March 30
Next time on thrill seeker.
"Hiruzen looked toward the mountain and suppressed a sigh. The killing intent radiation from it was equal to a tail beast but he recognized that chakra. What madness is his infamous team seven up to now?