"Hm, they sure don't look like it. Trust me, when I'm done with them, more than half will be eliminated."
. . .
"This place is called the Forest of Death, you'll soon realize why," Anko smirked at her own words, her eyes narrowing into something more sinister while the genin around her shifted with unease.
Yet there was one shinobi who couldn't keep still, smiling and smirking for different reasons, and that shinobi sported a familiar blond hair and blue eyes. His voice was easily recognizable, as he repeated Anko's words with a whine and pout.
"That kind of threat won't work on me one bit! I'm not scared, dattebayo!" Naruto pointed his finger at Anko and grinned once more, almost begging for Anko to retaliate and show him what it means to face death
"Really? You've got a lot of energy" The woman replied with a kind smile, nothing even blinking when her hand flicked out a kunai and sent it towards the knuckleheaded ninja.
The kunai cruised by his cheek drawing a sliver of blood that slid down his cheek, unbeknownst to both that the same kunai had cut a lock of long hair of a Kusa-nin. Tamako tilted her head curiously at the Kusa-nin, noting how the undercover ninja was indeed Orochimaru when she activated her Observe skill.
Orochimaru
Level: ?
Age: 50 (20)
Class: Sanin (Special Class)
HP: ?
CP: ?
He is part of the Sannin, former teammates of Tsunade-hime and Jiraiya.
Her skill, [Observe], was nothing to scoff at, boasting a high level of 103, one of her highest leveled skills. Yet it had only given her this amount of information. She must avoid the Sannin at all cost, otherwise she would die. Good to know, there's no way she's helping Sasuke with that.
"A gaki like you dies at the very beginning," Anko continued, flickering next to Naruto and wrapping a hand around his cheek to swipe at the blood. "Spilling that red blood I like." She licked her lips and froze, eyes turned towards the Kusa-nin who appeared behind her.
"I'm returning... your kunai," Orochimaru spoke, the kunai between his tongue as it dangled in front of the proctor.
"Thank you for taking the trouble...but don't stand behind me like that, thirsty for blood. If you don't want a quick death." Anko muttered, gingerly taking back the kunai.
"Well, it's my nature to act up at the sight of red blood... and my precious hair was cut, so I got excited."
"Talk about creepy, how is that even possible with her tongue?" Raidon muttered, shivering a bit before steeling himself
"You two..." Tamako began quietly, trailing off, "If you catch sight of that shinobi, you best run as far away as you can." She crossed her arms while her foot tapped against the ground with anxiety, "Even I won't be close to winning, let alone staying alive."
The two pairs of eyes widen at her words, stealing glances of the Kusa-nin and Tamako back and forth. It was so obvious the two were screaming, No Way, in their heads.
"Evidently, we've got a lot of hot-blooded kids this time," Anko returned to her original post, arms crossed with a haughty look, "This is going to be fun."
As per canon, Anko began to lecture on the consent forms, rules and other formalities that earned both fear and excitement amongst the chunin-hopefuls. Killing without causing an international problem? Well heck, sign me up!
Again, most people who turn to this profession of shinobi are usually insane, of course some of these participants are bloodthirsty, any willing person who enlisted into the local military without a problem, has a problem.
At some point, Anko had pulled out a map dictating the landscape they would spend the next few days in, and without a moment of hesitation, Tamako had quickly copied the map in crystal, handing it to Aneko for safekeeping.
"Training Number 44 is surrounded by 44 locked entrance gates, there are rivers and forests and a tower in the middle. It's about ten kilometers from the gate to the tower. In this confined area, you will go through a certain survival program. The rules are... anything goes scroll battle." Anko pulled out two scrolls, labeled HEAVEN and EARTH.
"Scroll?" Shikamaru's tone of voice was raised with question.
"Yes. I want you to fight for two scrolls, the Heaven scroll, and the Earth scroll. Altogether, 26 teams passed the first test, half of them will get the Heaven scroll, while the other 13 get the Earth scroll. I'll hand over one scroll to each team."
"And the conditions to pass?"
"One team must bring both Heaven and Earth to the towers in the center," Anko replied, "Except, it has to be on time. For this second exam, you will have 120 hours. Do it in exactly five days."
"Five days?!" Ino cried out.
"What about food?!" Choji mourned.
"Be self-sufficient. It's a treasure trove in the wilderness. There is enough food for..." Anko was interrupted by Kabuto who smirked, pushing his glasses up his nose bridge.
"However, crawling with fierce people eating animals, poisonous bugs, and plants and so much more."
"Besides, it's improbable that 13 teams will pass," Neji said, letting Lee continue,
"The interval for activity gets longer with each passing day, while time for recovery gets shorter... Seems pretty grueling."
"On top of that, you're surrounded by nothing but enemies. Even falling asleep is a problem," Sasuke muttered.
"And, besides those injured in an attempt to capture a scroll, there will definitely be people that are unable to endure the rigors of the course."
"Um... so can we just quit in the middle of it?" Shikamaru asked lamely, muttering profanities under his breath
"According to the rules, you cannot give up in the middle of it! I want you all to spend five days in the forest."
There is no better seat than the front row seat, if everything goes to plan, she'll just split up and leave her teammates to defend on their own while she watches Team 7 and Team Dosu duke it out. She was very interested in how 'canon' would play out exactly. She had a terrible view back in Wave, so she was going to take advantage of this.
She walked with her team to the nearby tent, receiving the scroll Earth which was quickly stuffed in her pouch before leaving and whispering the plan to both Raidon and Aneko.
"We'll stick together for the first day where there's the most competition around. I don't see anyone who would pose a problem for the two of you, besides that Kusa, so on the second day, we should split up and reconvene later on the day. We'll cover more land that way. Take out competition, sabotage, or scope out any potential teams you think would pose a problem for the last round." She said plainly, giving a hard pat on both Aneko's shoulders, "I'm sure you can take care of Raidon."
Raidon scoffed, a hand on his chest and he sputtered out insults with hurt mixed in his voice, "You're assigning Aneko to take care of me!? No no no, you've got it wrong Tamako. I have to take care of Aneko."
The girl in question shoved the boy and threw a leg out, smirking the entire time as the boy tripped and fell flat on his face, screaming profanities.
"I'll leave it to your discretion, Aneko."
Her teammates were one of the strongest of the bunch, no thanks to her high expectations and grind routes. The land outside of the dunes in Suna were incredibly dangerous, it was a popular spot for foreign bandits to make their hideout as no one traveled to the barren land, making it easy to dodge any willing bounty hunters.
It also didn't help that the system respawned a new bandit group every Sunday at sun high, full of EXP for all three of them. With that weekly grind already set up alongside her own practices she held for the two of them, they were able to achieve around Level 53 in comparison to the average 38 amongst the competition.
They were way ahead of the game and overprepared, but an over-prepared shinobi lives to tell the tale rather than the other. At the whistle the Konoha Chunin sounded out, the gates of the exam swung open, signaling the start.
Instantly, all three jumped forward with chakra, hopping through the trees as they reached the highest point. There is no doubt in Tamako's mind that each Team right now, at least the ones worth their salt, were prowling high up on the trees as well.
That made it easier for the periwinkle haired girl, as she laid a flat palm on the base of the tree, her entire arm melting into the tree and waited for tremors to be felt. It wasn't long until she felt another team, three pairs of feet thudding against the bark just north-east of them.
She signed at the two to go ahead before she seeped fully into the tree, traveling through the tough bark before reaching soft and wet soil. The enemy team was in sight, gathering food for later.
One was a little ways from the rest of her team, in the tall grass gathering acorns and nuts. With a bated breath, she erupted out of the ground behind the girl and threw a palm at her mouth. With the girl's voice muffled, she pressed her front to the girl's back and held a kunai to the neck. "Where's the scroll?"
The girl whimpered, shaking her head and letting her hair fall to her face. Tamako held the girl tighter, "Where? I'm not afraid of making use of that consent form we all signed earlier. "
. . .
"Can you believe it!?" Aneko cackled, throwing the scrolls into the air and catching them with a grin, "Four scrolls in one day! With three heaven and one earth, we've already taken out almost half the competition!"
"Now Aneko, we both know that you suffer from an inflated ego, but that still shouldn't affect your basic mental process for simple math." Raidon chortled, earning an elbow to the stomach. "Hey! No need to be so feisty! See, let me help you. With twenty-six teams including us, we've taken four scrolls meaning out of the 78 participates, we've taken out twenty-four people subsequently and double that doesn't seem to equal 78, or be close to it-"
Aneko tackled the boy with no remorse, letting raiton chakra fill her body as Raidon screamed for bloody murder. "Let me go you crazy— AARGH STOP THAT."
"You two." They froze when their more allusive teammate spoke out, "Stop that, don't attract any attention." Tamako sighed, shaking her head at her team. "I'll take the first watch, get some sleep while you can. You'll need it since I won't be around tomorrow."
The two separated, Aneko still seething and Raidon sighing with relief. As they made their own respective hidden bed and fully covered themselves from any prying eyes, they fell asleep quickly, no doubt desperately needing to recover their chakra after the extensive use prior.
Tamako hopped on a nearby branch to get a better grasp of her surroundings and settled down, dangling her legs above ground before diving deep into her mess of an inventory. Extra food goes here, weapons go in this corner and extra armor goes in the next page.
After an hour of tedious cleaning and reorganizing, she stretched out a palm and urged her chakra to flow between her fingers and circle round. At her calling, crystal knitted together intricately to form a cube. It hovered above her hand lazily before she recalled that flow and stopped it, letting it seep between her fingers as shards of chakra escaped from the cube to follow the path she laid out.
She spun the chakra wheel faster, the crystal that laid lazily went rampant, spinning faster and faster around her wrist before swirling around the arm and her body. It was a beautiful show with the moon casting both light and shadow, giving the crystal that she manipulated a show of glimmer. She fisted her hand and it all stopped it's movement, when she relaxed it seeped into her hand and reformed it's cubic shape.
DING!
[The skill [Crystal Release (Passive)] has Leveled up!]
She chucked the cube into her pouch and stretched, forming the Ram sign and waving adieu to her clone. An enlarged portal formed at the words, "ID Open."
Tamako threw herself into the strange mass and felt a strange pressure around her body, the area around her conforming until the once poorly lit forest transformed into the desert that she craved.
Its warm rays caressed her like a gentle mother to her newborn, its hot sand emulated with heat that her toes could feel. No longer was it the damp and dark forest, breathing in humidity instead of hot Suna air.
Yes, this shall do.
Just like how she greeted the sand, it soon greeted her with a rumble. Below her feet was unsteady and sand was sinking at every moment. With chakra coating her legs, she sprung into the air and watched as a monster erupted from the sand with its pincers open for attack.
She flickered in midair and touched back to the hot sand, with narrowed eyes she observed.
Suna Centipede
Level: 96
Class: Arthropod Upper
HP: 6,240/6,240
CP: 4,500/4,500
A fast-moving, jaw-biting centipede that is immune to most katon. This Centipede is the shark of the desert, fast and unrelenting, it would do its best in poisoning its prey, leave, and come back when it is on the brink of death. With its hard exoskeleton, it takes little to no blunt damage.
It has many names, A Thousand Legged Predator, Poison of the Sand, and Land Shark.
An exoskeleton may be a hard outer shell, but once immense pressure falls onto the unsuspecting prey, it will be crushed.
Tamako held out her palm, crystal rushing in to surround the predator, sand crystallization around the monster and encasing its entire exposed body and more. With each added grain of sand, the Centipede cried out in a high-pitched screech. The edges of its exoskeleton leaked out a liquid before combusting.
[-500 HP]
[-500 HP]
[-500 HP]
[-500 HP]
It withered in pain, and soon, its armor was soon facing the brunt of the force, fracturing and cracking.
[-500 HP]
[-500 HP]
[-500 HP]
[-500 HP]
[-500 HP]
[-500 HP]
Clinging onto its life, it thrashed against the crystal once more
[-500 HP]
Once the withering stopped, a blue window appeared at her face, which she exited out soon. The corpse of the monster exploded into blue pixels, being tossed away by the wind like it was nothing there, only the uneven sand could tell of its previous presence.
Time passed slower in this realm than the real one, meaning that she'd get plenty of EXP and time to kill and use up any remaining CP she had. By the time she had increased a few skills and a few more EXP bars filled, she nudged Aneko with a foot and sunk into the tree, calling it a day.
. . .
"We meet when the sun is at its highest by the fork of the river. We will continue the plan as we discussed." Tamako nodded at the two and dashed off without a glance, there was a reason why she left so quickly.
Who knows. She thought it would take half a day to specifically find Team 7 but with around four teams in the premise, she knew she was close.
After dodging around Neji who had pursued her after finding her with his Byakugan for ten minutes, like jeez she gets it! She's a lone person with no team within fifty meters, which means he had a good chance of taking her out.
It was her own fault for not taking extra measures around her now that she separated from her team. She was a bit too confident after not sensing anymore just a few minutes ago. But nevertheless, after Neji gave up, she tuned in to where his teammate may be. If Neji was nearby with Tenten, then Rock Lee was already with or heading towards Team 7.
After a bit of snooping, avoiding Neji's radius and hearing shouts, she managed to find what she was looking for. Yes, the front-row seats she's been dreaming of.
"Lee-san!"
The boy was on the ground, clutching his ear with both hands. As if an epiphany had struck him, he stood up and ran, "Konoha Sepp—"
Dosu easily dodged, throwing a fist and letting his jutsu run its main course, rendering the poor boy down for the count. Not even a second later, Sakura, the only conscious member of Team 7, sent out an array of kunai that were deflected easily.
Her attempt was an attempt. She reacted quickly but what she chose to react with did nothing. It was sad.
Sakura is nothing.
Tamako crouched down from the branch she was on, letting her feet dangle in the air without a care. Team 10, which was right below her, far too invested with what was going on with Sakura and Team Dosu, and they wouldn't spot her with how focused they were on each other.
"Ne ne... "Chouji whispered, "Shouldn't we get out of here? Those guys are pretty dangerous..."
"It looks like Sasuke and Naruto are unconscious, but..." Shikamaru trailed off, "...even with that Lee guy, Sakura is on her own. Are you sure about that? Ino."
The blonde flinched at her name, eyes darting back and forth from the pink-haired girl ahead to the ground.
"What are you going to do?"
"I know, I know! But there's nothing I can do!"
"Nothing?" Tamako parroted, smiling when all three simultaneously flinched, their heads swinging so fast she was surprised there wasn't any whiplash in the process. "Nothing is right. There is nothing this Sakura could do, or you. How fitting, that name of hers." Tamako leaned on her leg, palm holding up her head.
"Who are you? How long have you been there." Shikamaru calmly spoke, his eyes darting at her forehead, to her attire then her face.
"Suna no Tamako." The three flinched at her name, no doubt recalling Kabuto's clear definition of the girl.
"I'm not here to harm you, I'm just here to watch."
"How can we trust you? You are an enemy in this exam."
She pondered, a finger trailing her lips before she snapped her fingers, "Here, how about this as truce?" She slowly took out a scroll from her pouch, making sure not to startle the three rookies and let it drop.
Ino quickly caught it, confused. "This way, I gave up something valuable for this truce to remain. You three also wish to watch, no?"
Shikamaru glared, "And you won't attack us?"
Tamako gestured at the clearing ahead, watching Sakura fling shuriken at Dosu which Zaku, a genin who could create pressurized sound to act as fuuton, flung them back. "This is more interesting than fighting. I wonder..." The girl of the Sound Team grabbed Sakura by the hair and pulled tightly, wrapping her fingers and knotting it. "A girl who is nothing, will soon attempt to be something. Isn't that... interesting?" She leaned forward with a smirk.
"Your hair's shinier than mine." Kin spoke, smirking as she took pleasure at each and every tug she added, "Hey, if you have time to worry about your hair, you should practice! Zaku! Why dont you kill that Sasuke guy right in front of this sexy bug?"
Tamako's face squinted at Kin's words. Sakura was twelve for god's sake, not whatever that nickname was! She's just a kid. After all, weren't they all?
"Hmm, yeah. That sounds great!"
They spoke about murder and killing a little girl's dreams as easy as if they were ordering a cheese burger and fries at the nearest Burger King. Only psychos go to Burger King— it all adds up.
"You said that there was nothing you could do." Tamako spoke, her eyes wandering down to Ino's before looking back forward at the spectacle. "But I believe that even nothing can do something. Don't you know?" She smirked back. "When a mouse is backed into a corner by a cat, even it will bite back."
Sakura, who shed a few tears, took a kunai in hand. "That won't do anything to me." Kin smirked back, mocking the girl.
"Who said it was for you?" And she sliced through her hair.
To cut one's hair was to signify change. To become someone new or to vow to defeat a certain something.
Her hitai-ate fell to the ground and as metal sounded out against the ground, Sakura sprung into action. She formed hand signs that signified one of the Academy 3 and with a stone-dead face, letting Kin tackle her. A sprung of white smoke replaced the girl with a wood log.
"Aah, now this is where the mouse bites back!" Tamako shouted, her fists banging against the branch in excitement. "Now then, what will she do?" She'd always liked underdog stories.
Sakura reappeared to Zaku's right, running towards the boy with kunai in each knuckle and let them fly. Zaku responded with high air pressure that knocked them back, piercing through Sakura who already formed the replacement jutsu. A puff of smoke, and she was in the air, forming the necessary hand signs but lacking the built up of chakra.
Zaku threw out kunai to activate the replacement jutsu and smirked, looking around, "Now, where are you next?" A drop of blood painted his cheek and a shadow casted overhead.
With a kunai in hand, she descended, fast with gravity. It worked in her favor, she pierced his arm and landed on top of him, using her body weight to further cement the kunai deeper before biting his other arm. She successfully shut down his most lethal part of his weaponry: his arms. No longer able to use his highly pressurized air, Zaku's face turned red at falling for her trick.
"Let go of me! Get off!" Zaku screamed, wrenching out the kunai from his palm, with his bloody hands he began to plummet her back and forth to her head.
The clearing was silent, the only sound was the sound of a fist making an impact against a head. Over and over and over.
No one moved, not even Kin or Dosu, who seemed to be shell-shocked that a girl like Sakura, smooth hair, clean face, pretty and so very civilian like, was able to pull one off like that. It was unexpected that nothing like her could do something.
But nevertheless, even if she did hold off Zaku, what of the other two who could easily sweep in and knock her out, or worse, kill Sasuke like as planned?
After what seemed like over thirty punches, Zaku finally launched the girl off and onto the side, her head bloody and pooling around her.
"And nothing who commits something, ends up ultimately achieving... nothing." She spoke, breaking the silence. "But it is something, unlike you who claims there is nothing you can do—"
Ino cuts her off with a glare and Team 10 flies into action, standing in front of Sakura as a shield against Zaku.
These rookies were too easy to manipulate into action.
Should she interfere before things got too heated? It's always good to have the front row seats of a game, but at some point, wasn't it more fun to play the game instead?
With a flicker, she appeared in front of the Kin and threw her hand out, grabbing her face and throwing it down to the ground, leaving a crater in its wake. With the amount of chakra she'd put into that alone, that girl should be unconscious for a while.
"You three seemed to have fun bullying the Rookies. Don't you know it's good manners to let them have their fun first?" She stood up from her crouched position, flexing her hand. "After all, we senpai's have to show them how it's done, ne?" She flickered in front of Zaku, "You're in luck! This senpai of yours will give you a chance to see what an near instinct Kekkei Genkai has to offer!" She shouted, cackling at her words and letting her tanto do the rest. "I'm much more interesting than the Uchiha."
Behind her smile and words, she contemplated. She really couldn't understand it. How Orochimaru was able to take in children and warp their minds so easily. For how cruel these kids were, it was almost hard to remind herself that these Sound Genin were also just kids. Just freshly fourteen, committing war crimes and the like.
Better for her to deal with, than the Rookies.
With a downward swipe, Zaku dashed to the side and held out both arms with chakra leaking in the air, signifying he was just about to blow his load of pressurized air. With another flicker, she appeared behind the boy. It was astonishing in how little Genin realize how deadly a shunshin was.
With both hands and the tanto discarded to the side, she grabbed his arms and folded them behind him, clogging those holes with crystal and smirked, "Do it. I dare you."
Right before Zaku could shout a snarky reply, the air was filled with remorse, despair, and so much anger. It was visible, too. So dark, the same color of the most dangerous poison Sunagakure had to offer. It was deep, nearly smothering her whole.
It was dangerous. So this is what Orochimaru could do.
Uchiha Sasuke
Level: 112 (56)
Age: 13
Class: Genin (Curse Mark)
HP: 1,248/3,600
CP: 4,384/3,805
As the last Loyal Uchiha of the Noble Clan, Uchiha, Sasuke holds much power within his status. His attitude in regards to many things is negative, yet he holds a few things close to himself. It is untrue that he harbors any hate for his team. While he despises Naruto and his stupidity and Sakura's annoying attitude, yet he also cares for them to an extent
At this current moment, he is angry. Full of anger of his childhood, his family's murder and most importantly, it exemplifies the worry and hate he has with the injured sight of his teammate, Sakura.
He wants revenge. He may not get the true revenge he desires, but the revenge he had declared now will be fulfilled in avenging the state of his teammate.
His body was covered in those marks, those cursed marks that doubled his power and increased his chakra limit. He surveyed the area around him in the complete opposite of calm, his eyes were shaking, his body rose like he was dead. With slow movements that furthered his mental state of insanity, he turned to Sakura, eyes even more dead. "Sakura." He spoke, "Who did this to you?"
Tamako let go of Zaku, not wanting to get caught up in any blame she didn't deserve and backed off. Zaku was angry, angry at the fact he was nearly beaten. Anger blinded him.
"It was me!" He shouted, "I was the one who did this." He stretched his arms and continued, "It was easy, you know. That sound of my fist hitting her over the head over and over." He paused, an angry tic visible on his face, "And you'll be next! Dosu, this half dead bastard is nothing to be scared of!" Zaku finished, forming several hand signs, unknowingly signing his fate.
"Stop, Zaku! Don't you understand!?" Dosu yelled back, eyes wide with fear.
"I'll take care of all of them.. in one fell swoop! Super Sonic Slicing Wave!" Air pressure came out, forming a large gust of wind that even left a dent on the solid dirt ground, pressure so powerful that even Tamako had to focus chakra to the ground as a reverse tree climbing to stay put without being blown away.
Feet planted to the ground, glued via chakra as with both arms to block the wind from piercing her eyes, Tamako narrowed her eyes when she felt that same volatile chakra seemingly flicker faster than any jounin, and appear behind Zaku.
"Heh, he must have been blown to pieces,"
"Who did?" Sasuke croaked out darkly. With a single arm, he swung it with a clean straight, he put so much chakra into that single punch that the volatile chakra that surrounded him stuttered for just a second. Zaku was sent flying in the direction of his teammate, Dosu.
"Zaku!" Dosu yelled.
Sasuke looked towards them, the two flinching as they felt the volatile chakra encase them whole. Sasuke didn't even bother to step forward and went through hand signs faster than ever, "Katon: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!" Several fire balls came flying out, but Zaku wasn't giving up. Not when his anger outweighed any fear for his life.
"Don't push your luck!" Zaku pushed air out to get rid of the fire, effectively dousing the fire yet with the shuriken hidden within the fireballs kept flying straight out him, there was nothing Zaku could do, he used all of his remaining fuel he had left.
They hit their mark and Sasuke appeared once again with a fast shunshin, holding Zaku's arm in the same pose Tamako had just a moment ago. It was humiliating to be caught the same way, but this time Zaku didn't have time to complain. He could only scream.
They got louder as Sasuke placed a foot on the boy's back, snapping both arms back even further and most likely causing even more damage and pain. Zaku was almost bending down like seiza at this point.
Sasuke merely smirked, it was so dark and so uncharacteristically of him from this point. It only reflected what Sasuke would soon become.
"It seems like you're proud of your arms... " Sasuke pulled harder, earning more howls of pain.
"S-stop it" Zaku pitifully begged. Sasuke paid no heed to his words and snapped them.
Sasuke turned his head slowly to Dosu with a strange smile, as if he was enjoying every single moment. "You're the only one left..." Dosu shivered in fear, "You make it a little more fun for me..." He walked forward. Slowly, his eyes were screaming murder, his face contorted into that of one who couldn't withhold a smile.
Tamako took a step back, her skill [Gamer's Mind] losing focus as fear coursed rampant. She's seen men who inflict pain for fun. She's seen them go and look for a victim when one wasn't enough to satisfy their hunger for screams. But this.
This was beyond a simple bandit or a murderer committing double homicide.
This was a curse.
"S-stop it!" Sakura screamed, running towards Sasuke and wrapping her arms around his torso. She cried out with tears staining her cheeks, the blood dribbling down the side of her forehead. Sasuke looked into her eyes, his Sharingan looking at them deeply, turning to the blood pooling the side of her temple to the matted hair in the back. Then it dissipated into his normal onyx eyes, the marks that devoured his entire form seeped back into his neck and faded away.
"You're strong" Dosu lifted his Earth scroll, "Sasuke-kun, we can't defeat you the way you are now." He placed the scroll down as a peace offering. "This is our fee for settling this. Please let us withdraw from here." Dosu walked away and picked up Zaku, "It might seem selfish, but we now have something we need to confirm, too."
He then picked up Kin's limp body, "That being said, let's make a promise, if there's another opportunity to battle with you in this test, we won't run or hide." Dosu walked away with his teammates in hand.
"Wait! Who is Orochimaru? What did he do to Sasuke-kun?!"
Dosu stopped and responded, "I don't know. We were just given the order to make a hit on Sasuke-kun." Dosu then continued to walk away.
Then Team 10 jumped into action.
"Hey! Are you okay!" Choji shouted, scampering over to what was left of Team 7 with worry painted on his face.
Shikamaru's face was pinched in worry as his eyes roved over. "It's a pain, but Ino, I'll leave Lee to you."
"Right!"
Sasuke was half seiza, clutching his arm as his body uncontrollably shook. From fear of himself? Astonishment at the sudden strength? Or a mix of both?
"So you are the rumored Uchiha of Konoha." Tamako finally spoke after staying on the sidelines, silent and watching.
He flinched, glared up with a shaking fist. "You? Are you here to start something?"
"No no." She waved her hand off, "I was.. scolding thoseSound-nin before you, but I guess I didn't need to interfere. You were plenty enough."
"Then? The shows over, get lost."
Tamako crossed her arms behind her back and gave him a measured look. "I'm not here for a scroll. In actuality, I had given the blonde my scroll as a truce. They were so worried about Sakura over here, you see."
His eyes snapped to her, "You gave them a scroll? As truce?"
Tamako's eyes cheshire with a grin, "Well, I can't use it. I have five scrolls anyways."
"F-five!?"
"At a shinobi discretion, to finish the fastest is to be the most efficient. I collected four scrolls yesterday. There's not many scrolls out there anymore."
"What do you mean? It's only the second day!" Ino yelled. Tamako lifted her hands and shrugged,
"That's because, right now, I have 5 scrolls on me." She took them out and dangled them, smirking at the reactions of the Rookies. "There are thirteen teams with Heaven, thirteen with Earth. In order to pass you must have both. With three scrolls on me and one pair, that eliminates four out of the possible thirteen spots." She paused to stick out a finger, listing one by one, "I already know of two teams that passed yesterday. Team Gaara and a Konoha team."
"Who was it?" Sasuke asked, eyes dark, "What Konoha team passed?"
"Hm, I'm not sure. They had a Hyuuga girl, pale eyes of course, with short hair. An Inuzuka male with those markings on his cheek and a furry comrade. Maybe an Aburame? I can't really tell, he had sunglasses and a high-neck jacket."
"Team 8, of course. With a tracking team like that, it makes sense they were able to pass." Sasuke muttered, "And? That still leaves seven spots open."
"Since whoever took your scroll still hasn't arrived at the tower and it's been over twelve hours, I'll have to take an educated guess that your scroll was destroyed." Tamako smirked when the duo of Team 7 flinched. "I guess I was right. That bumps it down to six. That green shinobi with you guys earlier, his team already has a pair. That makes it five."
"No way..." Sakura muttered.
"There is at least one team dumb enough to open a scroll, so we'll give it a four. After we ignore any other possible mishaps, the number stays four, at best. Then of course, that all changes with my scrolls."
She gave them a close-eyed smile, "Do you think you'll take your chances?"
The area became silent with bated breaths, hands twitching, feet shifting.
Then she laughed, "I merely jest. You may have them."
"Why?"
Tamako looked him in the eye.
"Why give something important to the enemy team?"
"Well, it's simple really." She brought her hands to the front and clasped them, "If I know exactly who my competition is, it makes my exams better and easier. Not to mention that your team is barely hanging on, probably the most beaten up team I came across so far. Isn't that better for me?" She held out the extra pair to Sasuke. "Plus, you hold an... interesting power. I've always wanted to fight against the famed Uchiha with their Sharingan."
The Last Uchiha mutely nodded, taking it with a hint of anger with her insult, "Do not worry. I am not pitying you. I just merely believe that fate has come to this. As the last holder of my Kekkei Genkai, I believe we share a similar situation. As comrades in arms, shouldn't we help each other out just this once?"
She jumped onto the branch and waved, "I've stayed beyond my welcome with this Konoha-get-together. I'll see you at the last round of the exam." Tamako waved, not expecting any returns and flickered away. The Tower was not far, just a few minutes of flickering she arrived.
A few teams went and left, leaving traps at their wake which she noted and observed anyone interesting. She managed to get a glimpse of Neji before she bolted, not wanting him to start another chase.
It's best if she returns to her team anyways.
The fork of the river wasn't too far, barely a click away and when she arrived, the two sat on a nearby boulder.
"How are you two?"
They bolted up with a smile, "Tamako! You wouldn't believe what we saw!"
"Yeah yeah! We saw this Kusa team, right? Not that one you told us to ignore, but another one. They had this girl, this crazy red hair just like Chiyo-sama's grandson, but so much bolder! And that's not even the best part!"
Raidon cut in, "They bit her!"
Bit? That sounds like Karin.
"And they healed! It was so strange, one of them only had a scratch and the other was just tired, no visible wounds, but when they bit her, both their chakra soared and any wounds- gone."
"What, you want to kidnap her?"
"No one would know! Plus, she seemed pretty unhappy. What Suna could do with that power!"
She shushed them, "Konoha would not be pleased with Suna if we took an Uzumaki. Since she's Kusa, they wouldn't care about a small village, but our village?"
Aneko shrugged, "Well, aren't we gonna.. you know? To Konoha?"
"Aneko I have doubts that it'll work out."
"Blasphemy! Don't let Baki-sensei hear you!"
. . .
The time they spent at the Tower was used to fully rest up. They provided three meals, breakfast, lunch and dinner. If you missed the time, well, it sucked to be you. Tamako pretty much survived off the meals she had stowed away in her inventory after seeing the nutritional value of the offered meals.
Otherwise, it was a calm wait. She hung out with Temari, had a few heated staring contests with Neji, talked to Tenten one time and avoided Rock Lee. He was giving her a look she really didn't want to find out.
She couldn't quite figure out what Neji wanted, probably a fight in all honesty. Although, she was incredibly interested in that prospect. Her flexibility against his famed Hyuuga Taijutsu. It would be an interesting set-up, it also didn't help that he was absolutely adorable. With his scrunched up nose and narrowed eyes, he painted a grumpy little puppy and she withheld herself from brushing his hair.
In all honesty, a lot of the people in Konoha were very cute.
Though, after finally starting the Canon Timeline, she's realized that the people around here weren't squids anymore. Sure, Kaito had this generic good-look to him, but he was insufferable so that wasn't any fun. Her teammates were very average and honestly she probably couldn't find them in a crowd.
Konoha on the other hand? They had a lot of pretty people.
The Chunin's running amok had these rouge-ish features that she really dug, it also didn't help that some of the TI guys had really nice uniforms. The black trench-coats and overall dark uniform... she could see the appeal!
In Suna, most of the official uniforms were pretty stuffy and covered up a lot of the skin, like Baki-sensei turban-like cloth covering that covered the right side of his face. Overall, just way too much linen white cloth.
After staring too much and exchanging doe eyes with a Chunin, she snapped back to reality after realizing that she was technically only twelve and she should probably stop. Raidon was giving everyone the stink-eye, as even if they were going to end up invading the place, they could at least try to seem like they weren't.
After waiting a few more days for any stragglers and for the time limit to reach its end, a chunin told everyone to line up at the center of the building.
"Now then, we will now have an explanation of the third exam from Hokage-sama. Everyone, listen carefully!" Anko shouted, giving way to an old man in white robes and red hat. The Hokage walked forward and cleared his throat.
"Before the explanation of the third exam-"
Gods, why is there so much dialog in this game! The lack of skip command or fast-forward was killing of listening, she glanced around her competition, singling out who is best and who is to avoid.
Dosu is someone to avoid, sound can disrupt the formation of crystal, unfortunately. Sasuke has the rigged match, Naruto has to win and Sakura ties. Team 10 except the Nara all lose, so nothing too dramatic will change if she's against any of them.
Hokage soon switched to a coughing Hayate.
"Excuse me... I'll quit." It was Kabuto who spoke, the silver glean in his glasses that reflected his hair. Sneaky bastard.
"Yakushi Kabuto of Konohagakure, you can take a step back"
"Now then, is there anyone else that would like to quit?"
"Now the rules are tha—"
System Update, make a skip button, please. There is too much dialog for one person.
She then spread her skill, [Observe], as far as possible, getting names and level.
Uchiha Sasuke
Level: 76
Uzumaki Naruto
Level: 68
Haruno Sakura
Level: 48
Yamanaka Ino
Level: 56
Nara Shikamaru
Level: 62
Akamichi Choji
Level: 61
Inuzuka Kiba
Level: 64
Hyuuga Hinata
Level: 59
Aburame Shino
Level: 73
Hyuuga Neji
Level: 88
Tenten
Level: 68
Rock Lee
Level: 87
Gaara
Level: 104
Temari
Level: 83
Kankuro
Level: 81
Akadō Yoroi
Level: 68
Tsurugi Misumi
Level: 61
Dosu
Level: 86
Zaku
Level: 84
Kin
Level: 75
It didn't come to a surprise for Tamako that Neji and his team had high levels, comparable to if not stronger than Team Dosu. In fact, Neji was nearly at her level. She ought to train later...
God imagine if she was caught by him.
[ Akadō Yoroi Vs Uchiha Sasuke ]
"Now then, the two names that have been called, come forward." Both walked forward and stopped in front of Hayate. "For the first battle, Akadō Yoroi and Uchiha Sasuke have been selected. Now then, we will begin the first match. Everyone else other than the two foes, please move to the upper area."
Following the crowd, she heard Sasuke's theme song begin to play and she quietly laughed to herself. Every time Sasuke had a moment, which was quite frequent, his over-the-top dramatic guitar solo came on.
"Now then, please begin."
"Let's go!" Yoroi shouted, forming a hand sign as Sasuke shoved a hand into his pouch to prepare whatever was planned for him. With Sasuke on the defensive and Yorio offensive, the onyx eyed boy flung a kunai to knock away the shuriken that flew towards him. But at that moment, Sasuke fell to the ground, the chakra around him turning dark and his curse mark acting wild, devouring his neck down to the arm.
Yorio then flickered behind Sasuke and attempted to cross punch him. Just before the fist could meet its mark, Sasuke dodges just in time by rolling across the floor, leaving the punch to hit the ground and form a crack. Sasuke, still on the floor, then kicked Yorio's leg in an attempt to unbalance him.
Yorio bent over, following the given momentum and swung his body around, smacking Sasuke by the chest and leaving himself sprawled against the ground with Sasuke's leg in a tight scissor hold.
The flexible boy smirked and activated his Chakra. His hand then glowed, and Sasuke began to loosen his hold, it was almost obvious to anyone who understood what was going on.
"What's happening?" Temari asked
"Yorio's jutsu seems to suck out Chakra, that's why Sasuke isn't using any jutsu." Tamako replied, leaning on the railing for a better look.
Yorio ran forward and lunged with his hand coated in chakra. Sasuke, unable to dodge, was hit. Yorio gripped onto Sasuke's head and sucked with a nasty smirk, his hand glowing even more.
"My...my chakra..."
"Heh, you just noticed?"
Character Status
Name: Tamako
Class: The Gamer
Age: 12 Years Old
Title: Momma's Little Gem
Status: Happy. Normal
Level: 89
HP: 4,950- HP Regen: 3 per 5 seconds
CP: 5,005- CP Regen: 3 per 5 seconds
Strength: 103
Vitality: 105
Wisdom: 102
Intelligence: 101
Dexterity: 109
Agility: 106
Luck: 90
Fame/Infamy: +100
Sunagakure no Sato knows you
Konohagakure Genin hears about you
Money: 73,290 ryo (7,329 USD)
Unspent Points: 120