They had been travelling for two days now and they hadn't encountered any enemies yet. Sasuke's mind was occupied this entire time. He knew that events were going to play themselves as before. But now that he knew what would happen in the future, would things be the same as before? Would each of his genin friends develop their characters in these chunin exams? He hoped that they would.
A kunai suddenly whizzed past him and Sasuke sidestepped just in time to avoid being hit. All three members of Team Seven stopped on the tree branches they were hopping on. A ninja dressed in black appeared and charged towards Naruto. The blonde shinobi created a clone who threw himself at the ninja. The clone slashed a kunai at the black clad ninja but he turned into black oil. Then the clone vanished. "He turned into oil," Naruto whispered at Sasuke. Three more ninjas appeared and charged at each of the genin. This caused them to split apart.
Naruto was fighting one of the ninjas but every time a hit landed on him, he turned into a black-ish oil substance then regenerated again. The same applied to the rest of Team Seven. "It's a genjutsu," Sakura shouted after punching the clone which turned into black oil then reformed. She jumped away from the ninja and stood a good metres away. "Kai!" she said as she did the Kai sign. The ninjas faded out of existence. Sakura sighed in relief. Naruto and Sasuke joined her. "Thanks for releasing the genjutsu," Naruto said to the kunoichi. Sakura nodded. "It was the Mist Servant Technique," she said. "What's that?" Naruto asked. "It's a genjutsu which creates clones that phase in and out of the ground as if they were made of blackish oil. When attacked, they can regenerate themselves," she explained. "Nasty," the blonde jinchuriki said as he made a face. "What should we do now?" she asked. Sasuke was in deep thought. If he remembered clearly, they were supposed to meet Orochimaru first then Dosu and his team. He gritted his teeth at the thought of the Snake Sannin. "Sasuke-kun, are you okay?" Sakura asked concernedly. "Hn," he replied. "Let's move ahead," he ordered.
"Sakura, scan the area for any genjutsu," Sasuke ordered. The said girl nodded in agreement. They had been travelling for hours but they felt like they were circling around the same place. Sakura closed her eyes in concentration as her senses tried to pick up any hints of a genjutsu in the area. "Kai!" she said. She opened her eyes to see her two teammates looking at her. "There was a genjutsu," she reported. "Haze Clone Technique," she told them. "What's that?" Naruto asked curiously, though inside he was angry for not knowing a single genjutsu. "It makes the target walk around in an eerie zombie march for five turns," she said.
"Enough of the games. Come out," Sasuke shouted to no one in particular. Sasuke gave both of them a sideways glance and the two got the message. They all went into battle stances. Sasuke scanned his surroundings and his ears perked. He threw shuriken at a nearby tree and three ninjas jumped down from the tree. They were dressed in black cloaks with red clouds on them. He gasped in shock. 'The Akastuki?' he thought. All of them wore black masks. They drew out their kunai and all three of them charged towards the team.
Sasuke was the first to react, rushing towards one of the ninjas with his kunai in hand. The two met and their kunais clashed loudly. Sasuke threw a fist and the shinobi jumped away. The two became involved in a taijustu battle. Punches and kicks were thrown, with each being defected easily. Sasuke jumped back and went through a series of handsigns. "Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!" he shouted and several small fireballs erupted from his mouth towards the ninja. The ninja dodged by jumping away but didn't notice the shuriken inside the fireballs. The shuriken connected with the ninja's body and he poofed out of existence.
Sasuke looked around and saw that he had moved away from his team. Just as he was about to search for them, he heard a voice he hadn't longed to hear.
On the other side, Naruto and Sakura were having their own battle. Multiple Naruto clones were fighting the Akastuki ninja. Each threw a fist or a kick but was easliy defeated. Soon enough, all the clones had disappeared with only the original Naruto remaining. He was panting hard. He drew out a kunai and let out a war cry as he charged at the ninja. The ninja took out his own kunai and charged towards the blonde genin. The two kunais clashed loudly as the ninjas fought fiercely. Unfortunately, Naruto had obtained several cuts while the Akastuki had remained untouched. He gritted his teeth. 'Why is he impossible to touch ?' he thought as he received a kick to the gut and crashed into a tree.
Sakura was having much difficulty with her enemy. She hadn't improved much in any area except mastering genin level genjutsu. At first, they had been using taijustu but the Akastuki ninja had the upper hand. They switched to kenjutsu. They clashed in fighting with kunais and shuriken. She managed to deflect and dodge all the projectiles but not without leaving a scratch or cut. 'I have to make a plan quickly,' she thought as she dodged a kunai and charged towards the ninja.
The ninja threw a kick and Sakura barely dodged. She threw a fist of her own and the ninja blocked it by catching it. Sakura tried to release her enclosed fist but the ninja wouldn't let go. He punched her in the face which sent her sprawling to the ground. She remained unmoving on the ground. The ninja walked over to her with his kunai ready and poised to kill her.
Sakura watched from her spot in a tree. She had successfully hidden her chakra such that it was almost non-existent. She had to thank Sasuke for teaching her that, though she never had that much chakra in the first place. She watched closely as the ninja, still in her genjustu, walked over to her with a kunai in hand. She had put a genjutsu on the ninja when she was punched and was sebt flying a few metres away. She quickly cast a genjutsu and jumped to a nearby tree while it appeared as though she was unconscious on the forest floor.
As the ninja neared her, she took several explosive tags from her pouch. 'Time to get my plan into action,' she said to herself. It was the best plan but it was the best she could come up with. The ninja dug the kunai into her chest and genjutsu-Sakura bled profusely from the wound. At that moment, the real Sakura lunged towards the ninja from behind and slapped the explosive tags onto his back. Putting chakra to her finger, she touched one of the tags, setting them off. She jumped away from the explosion, hopping to not get injured in the process.
Sasuke turned around to meet the man who had told him the truth about the Uchiha massacre. "Madara," he all but growled. The Akastuki clad in the orange mask in a swirl design with a single eyehole stared back at the Uchiha. The eyehole revealed his fully matured Sharingan. "Sasuke. What a surprise to meet you. I see you still remember me," the masked ninja said in his deep baritone voice. "What do you want?" he asked icily. "Watch the tone brat," Madara chastised coldly. "I came here to talk," he said as his Sharingan spinner lazily. "Let's take this to a more private place," he said and Sasuke allowed himself to be caught up in a genjutsu.
"Now speak," the Uchiha genin barked. "Let me just see if I can….." Madara trailed as he tried to see Sasuke's thoughts. Sasuke activated his Mangekyo Sharingan, preventing the masked ninja from prying into his mind. "Mangekyo Sharingan I see. Guess that will have to wait," he said as he withdrew. "What do you want?" Sasuke asked again. "I came to tell you how your idiotic tendencies threw us three years back in the past," Madara snarled. Sasuke just glared at him.
"If you hadn't intervened in my jutsu then it wouldn't have happened in the first place," he said. "Hn," he replied. "But I have to thank you though. Because now I know what the future holds and I can alter events to my own benefit," he said. "It's as the jutsu says. Events will play themselves out as before," he added with a hidden grin. "So it was you who was at the Uchiha Naka Shrine," Sasuke said as he remembered the mysterious figure at the Uchiha Naka Shrine. "Yes it was me," he confirmed. "But you have to know something," Sasuke said tauntingly. "And what is that?" the Uchiha ancestor asked as he narrowed his eye. "I also know what happens in the future and I still have my powers from before. So know that as long as I am here, no plan of yours will ever succeed," Sasuke said, withdrawing from the genjutsu.
He looked to see Madara standing a few metres away from him, slightly panting due to having the Mangekyo Sharingan being used on him. "Don't ever forget that," he concluded. "Hmmmm. I guess you're no longer that spoiled Uchiha brat," Madara commented. "Until then," he said and used Kamui to go away. Sasuke glared at where Madara had been previously standing before dropping down to his knees breathing heavily. Using the Mangekyo Sharingan had depleted his chakra levels, considering he was still genin.
"Sasuke-kun!"
"Teme!"
He turned around to see both Naruto and Sakura running towards him. They beside him in an instant. "What happened?" Sakura asked, concern evident in her voice. "I used my Sharingan to drive away the enemy," he said through gasps of trying to get oxygen. "Is that why the ninjas suddenly poofed away?" Naruto asked, remembering how close he had been to giving the ninja a nice good uppercut before poofing put of existence. He nodded. Sakura remembered that after setting off the explosive tags, she had moved away from the explosion. The ninja had survived the attack and looked unfazed. She had managed to hold him off before he poofed away.
Naruto noticed several second degree burns on Sakura's arms and legs. "Sakura-chan! You gut burned!" the blonde genin exclaimed concernedly. "Don't worry. It's nothing," she said as she waved her hands dismissively. Sasuke looked at the burns. Sure enough, they looked really nasty. The briefest flash of concern crossed his features and was gone as soon as it came. It did not go unnoticed by Naruto.
Sasuke struggled to get to stand up. Sakura helped him stand up and slung one of his arms over her shoulder. "Thanks," he said. "Let's go towards the Tower," he said as it was still mid-afternoon.
"You aren't going anywhere," a voice from behind said.
They turned around and met face to face with a female Sound ninja. She had a sickly looking face and a weird smile. She was eyeing Sasuke. "And who are you?" Sakura spat. "I'm your greatest nightmare," she said as she smiled sweetly. Suddenly, Team Seven was hit with a strong wave of killing intent released by the ninja. It took all of Naruto and Sakura's will power to prevent from trembling. 'I've never seen such killing intent,' Sakura thought as she pulled Sasuke closer to her.
Only Sasuke seemed unfazed by the female Sound ninja. "I'm not gonna get scared because of you," Naruto shouted as he charged towards her. He wasn't gonna lose to a foreign ninja, most of all to a girl. She effortlessly dodged his punch and kicked him from behind. Naruto crashed into a tree. Sakura jumped towards her with her kunai ready and poised. The female ninja took out her own kunai and deflected Sakura's attack. They exchanged kunai blows. The sound of metal clashing against metal echoed loudly in the forest. The female ninja then grabbed Sakura by her hair and hauled her into a tree. She hit the tree with a loud crash and the tree fell down due to the sheer force.
Sasuke no longer tolerated watching his team get beaten before him. Even though his chakra reserves had depleted, he still had to fight. "Fire style: Grand Fireball Justu!" he shouted as he through the handsigns and a large fireball erupted from his mouth towards the ninja. She didn't even bother moving away from the attack. Team Seven watched as the sizzling sound and smell of burnt flesh filled the area. They looked on to see if she had survived the attack.
The female Sound ninja was still standing, though her face had been burnt off. But behind the face, there was another face with yellow snake eyes and purple markings running down from the eyes and a sickly grey complexion. Naruto and Sakura stared in disbelief as they watches the ninja peel off her skin whilst smirking. Finally, she peeled off the skin revealing another face. Just as Sasuke had expected.
"Orochimaru."
I'm done with this chapter. Sorry for the late update. Hope you guys enjoy it. Read and review.
Toonana
AfricanFire
