Disclaimer: I do not, in no way own Naruto or Yu Yu Hakusho. And the world weeps for it. Well maybe not me doing Yu Yu Hakusho I don't think I could improve it even if I tried.
"Talk" Character talking.
'Think' Character thinking.
"Talk" Jagan talking.
'Think' Jagan thinking.
"Talk" Tailed Beast talking.
"Think" Tailed Beast thinking.
"And that should finish it off." Hiruzen murmured to himself after stamping his seal of approval on a trade deal to get more metal shipments for crafting purposes. Sighing in relief, he leaned back against his chair and brought out his pipe. "Ah, I have earned this." However before he could even get a pouch of tobacco his intercom went off. "Hokage-sama, Iruka Umino is requesting to see you. Shall I send him up?"
"Oh for the love of Kami." The Hokage sighed out and settled his pipe onto the desk. He just couldn't get a minute alone to himself anymore. But then again this was the Chunin Exams, interruptions were expected, especially regarding recent events. Pressing the button on his intercom he said. "Send him in."
Hiruzen straightened his back and entwined his fingers together. A full minute passed before he heard a polite knocking on the door. "You may enter, Iruka-san."
Iruka entered barely a second after he was allowed in. The Chunin gave his leader a respectful bow before speaking. "Hokage-sama, I apologize for coming in so late, but I have news of another Genin Team passing the Second Exam."
"Oh I see. Well out with it man, who passed?"
"Team Seven, they arrived in the tower barely thirty minutes ago."
That caused the Hokage sigh out in relief, that was one massive problem off his chest. Unfortunately that left well over a dozen more that he had to deal with. "Good, I have to see them right away."
"Right now? Hokage-sama they just arrived, and they are exhausted and are in need of rest." Iruka exclaimed in surprise.
"I'm afraid that's classified for now Iruka-san, but I will say that it's a matter of village security. And it involves your former students uncovering something...nasty." Hiruzen replied before lighting his pipe. "Trust me on this I will let you know as the situation develops."
"I...I see." The scarred face Chunin replied with uncertainty. Of course he was worried about his students, he didn't like secrets either. But the Hokage had successfully ruled the village longer than anyone on record, he trusted him to do the right thing. "Oh, before I forget they had an extra person in their midst."
The stopped the old Fire Shadow dead in his tracks once he reached the door to his office. A cold sweat began falling down his tired face, and had to refrain from beaming his face against the hard oak door. "An...extra person?"
"Yea, she was on a Kusagakure team. Her teammates were killed in the forest, she had the scroll they needed and brought her to the tower to keep her safe." That caused some color to come back to Hiruzen's face, and he even smiled. The Will of Fire certainly burned brightly in this generation of shinobi. "She's there right now, but I think it would be best to leave her fate to you. I mean I checked the rule book and there wasn't anything against them doing it either."
"This is the second time this has happened." Hiruzen replied. But this time he didn't sigh out in exasperation, and it only made his head hurt a tiny bit this time. "Iruka-san, remind me to call in a meeting with the clan heads to discuss some changes to the rule book."
"Um, yes of course Hokage-sama." Iruka said in mild confusion.
"And second, mind telling me more about this extra person Team Seven brought with them?"
"Ahhh, sleep. Beautiful wonderful sleep." Naruto sighed out before collapsing onto the bed. Clad only in a pair of orange boxers the Jinchuriki rested his head on the pillow, closed his blue eyes, and pulled the covers over his tired, exhausted, battered body.
Minutes ticked by. Not too unusual for him given his near-boundless energy.
Then ten minutes ticked by, Naruto began to get irritated.
Fifteen minutes later...
"Kami dammit why can't I fall asleep!?" Naruto bellowed angrily with a tick mark over his right eyebrow. Throwing the covers off the began to pace around the room like a lion trapped in a cage. "I fought against Kimimaro with all my freaking might, and barely slept the entire time we were in the forest. I should be exhausted! Why can't I sleep?"
"Ah, you got the jitters Blondie!" Ishikawa exclaimed in amusement. "You're pumped up on adrenaline, your nerves are shot, and you're more paranoid than a honey bee. It's perfectly natural on your first Chunin Exam."
"Were you this way on your first exam?"
"Oh hell no, I was as solid as the stones of my village." The former Stone Chunin said, causing Naruto to face plant onto the floor. "Oh you should have seen me. Those Kumogakure bastards did everything in their power, they threw any and all lightning techniques at me, used their fancy taijutsu on me, but I could not be stopped!"
"Bragging much?" Naruto retorted. "Well I cannot sleep for the life of me, I might as well explore the place." Forgoing his mesh shirt in favor of his ruined vest, pulling on his black pants with the hole in his right leg, and sandals. After strapping on the Shodaime Tsuchikage's hidden blades under his vambraces, along with his grieves, and pulling on his cracked Hannya mask, he decided to leave Handanryoku in his room, after all the last person to pick it up lost his hand.
When he opened the door, a fist smacked right into his mask, causing him to recoil and prepare to retaliate. However he saw that it wasn't an enemy coming to knock his lights out, but Sasuke standing in the front of his door in the knocking position. "Ah, dammit teme, I almost attacked you!"
"You should have opened up earlier." Sasuke huffed in response. "I assume you can't sleep either?"
"Not a wink, and it is really ticking me off." Naruto tiredly replied. "I was going to take a walk around the place. Want to come with?"
"I was always curious about this place, besides you got to tell me what happened to you."
"I think you owe me an explanation as well."
The two then left and slowly began to roam around the tower. There were far too many rooms that should have been allowed for one tower, as far as they could tell was abandoned half the year. That was unless the Anbu stayed in there every so often when they patrolled the forest. They saw the arena where they figured they would be fighting in two days.
"I think we have procrastinated long enough. What's with the hickey on your neck?" Naruto asked. From what he heard from Kimimaro it was more than likely from Orochimaru giving him the Curse Seal, but he wanted to hear it from the horses mouth.
Lightly putting his right hand on his neck to lightly rub it, Sasuke irritably grunted out from the still tender area. "I fought this freaky Grass shinobi who could stretch his body. The jerk swallowed his scroll whole, and we fought, and trust me dobe I fought with all my might. I set the jerk and his pet snake on fire, and killed another with a barrage of shuriken. But then when I thought I had him beat, he bit my neck and...I remember his snake-like appearance and you know the rest." He then looked at his teammate. "What happened to you?"
"I got into a fight with your opponent's teammates and they were definitely not Genin-level. I killed one of them and his face literally peeled off to reveal another guy underneath it. Then I fought the second guy, and he kicked my ass across the forest until we broke through the fence-"
"Wait, hold up. You broke through the giant fence?" Sasuke asked in disbelief.
"More like tore through it, that damn fence tore through the back of my vest and took out chunks of my skin. He stabbed me in the belly and shot through my leg, not to mention gave me a wicked headache." Naruto casually replied.
"How are you not dead? Listen dobe, I know you are not normal, hell I knew that when you came back from the dead. And with each day we trained together, each day you woke in my place without your mask I saw the real you." Turning towards his teammate, he placed his hands on the railing and wrapped his fingers around it. "I have also seen the looks you get around the village, so I have to ask Naruto. What is up with you?"
Naruto visibly gulped from that. He knew that someone would connect the dots eventually regarding his situation, but Sasuke was one of the last few people that he wanted to find out so soon. Between having a third eyeball in his forehead, being the Avatar of the Shinigami, the Jinchuriki of the Nine-Tailed Fox, and somehow being related to Sasuke was the topping on his cake of secrets.
But now it looked like his cake of secrets were going to get cut into chunks.
"Sasuke, what I am going to tell you is something that will more than likely change things between us. But I ask you to not tell a soul, this is my secret to tell."
"All right, I will not tell a soul. Now tell me what you know so I can start understanding."
Taking in a deep breath, Naruto slowly exhaled. This was probably one of the hardest things he ever had to do. By now Sasuke was one of the very few people he could trust in this village, but the fear of rejection was always buried deep in him. Not even Kyuubi, Jagan or Ishikawa were butting in to stop him though, so who knew what would happen?
"First things first, the reason I am able to heal at an extraordinary rate is not because of a Kekkei Genkai. It's because twelve years ago when the Kyuubi attacked, he was sealed inside me, making me his Jinchuriki. That is the reason for why most of the villagers hated me."
When Naruto turned to look at Sasuke, he saw that his normally impassive face contorted in confusion, denial, anger, and then acceptance within the span of ten seconds. "Hm, that explains a lot then."
"Seriously? That's all you have to say?" The former full blonde asked in bewilderment.
"What do you want me to say? 'Ahh demon, die!'? Listen dobe unlike the civilians, and I am guessing some shinobi, I am not an idiot and see you as a demon. That's just like me putting a kunai into a sealing scroll, does that make the scroll a kunai? No, it doesn't. So while I am surprised that I am teamed up with someone with more chakra than anyone in the village, I'm not going to try stabbing you in your sleep." Sasuke evenly said. There was no twitch, or a pitch in his voice, he was telling the truth. And that caused his teammate to let out a sigh of relief. "So, was he the reason you came back from the dead, or was it some cruel prank when I stepped on your severed hand?" (1)
Dammit! Sometimes Sasuke was too smart for his own good. "No, I actually died that day. My heart was obliterated, there was no way Kyuubi could heal that, he told me that himself."
"Wait, hold up. You can talk to the beast?" Sasuke asked.
"Yes, and he is not pleased you called him a beast you duck assed thief." Naruto replied, causing the Uchiha to sweat-drop in response. "But anyways, I died and met the Shinigami himself. Yes the Shinigami. He told me it was not my time, and sent me back with a purpose of killing three people as my price for coming back to life. However..." He took his mask off to reveal his completely unscarred face, and then took off his Hitai-ate to show what looked like a scar going along his forehead. Then to Sasuke's horror it opened to reveal a crimson eyeball staring right at him.
Activating his Sharingan out of reflex, Sasuke jumped back and tried brandishing a kunai, only to remember that he left his weaponry in his room. "What the hell is that thing?!"
"Calm down, that is something that was given to me to help in my assignment as the Avatar of Death." Naruto raised his hands in mock surrender to show that he mean no harm, even if the sentient eyeball looked around the room on its own. "This is my Jagan Eye, or Jagan for short. He's a sentient eyeball that was grafted into my head by the Shinigami himself to give me various powers. Ranging from telepathy, telekinesis, and the control over the Darkness Flame."
"Somehow I don't believe you." Sasuke said with narrowed eyes.
'Oh really now? Then can you hear this?' Hearing Naruto's voice, but not seeing his mouth move caused the Uchiha's spinning Sharingan eyes to widen in response. He then saw a pebble rise up in front of his face and then was flung into the arena.
However, all that stopped when Naruto nearly collapsed and clung to the railing for support, and clutching his head in absolute agony. "The downside is...using these abilities gives me a major migraine afterwards. And I am still not used to using my third eye to its full potential because I think if I overdo it my brain will literally kill me."
"Don't be so dramatic ningen, your brain will only overheat and bake like a potato." Jagan snidely said.
"Love you too Jagan." Naruto sighed out in exasperation. Then noticing Sasuke's confused look he sheepishly smiled. "Yes I can talk to him as well, he isn't so bad once you get to know him."
Currently Sasuke's right eye was twitching madly as his entire concept of reality was collapsing on him. His teammate not only was the host of the Kyuubi, a demonic chakra beast that ravished his home twelve years ago, but also an Avatar of the Shinigami himself with supernatural freaky powers, and had two voices in his head. "So...is that how you managed to learn those water and earth techniques as well?" He dumbly asked.
"Actually I learned those from Ishikawa...a former Stone Chunin who I, um killed, dissected his body and learned from his corpse along with another Missing-nin named Muka. I can also talk to Ishikawa because he is a ghost." Naruto sheepishly added.
"Are you..." He wasn't. Naruto was many things, a dobe, an idiot, friendly, surprisingly talented in the ninja arts, a prankster, and if he was honest with himself the best friend he needed. But he was not a liar, nothing in his posture even showed that he was lying to begin with. And now he was using the railing to support himself. "I...I don't even have words."
"It is a lot to take in, isn't it?" An elderly voice interrupted the two. Looking over they saw the Hokage walking towards the both of them with a tired, but pleased look on his face. "I know it was for me."
"H-Hokage-sama? You know as well?" Sasuke owlishly blinked at the village leader, his Sharingan fading due to his low chakra reserves.
"Only me and my most trusted shinobi, that extends towards you as well." The Sandaime said before glancing over towards a pillar and lightly smiling. "Sasuke I believe you understand the full gravity of the situation at hand?"
"I...yes Hokage-sama."
"Good, now I need you two to come with me, this is regarding towards the incidents you two suffered through in the forest." Hiruzen said, being vague as possible.
"Of course old man, lead the way. Come on teme lets go get that hickey taken care of." Naruto joyfully said as he lead his teammate away with their leader.
"Dammit dobe, it's not a hickey!" Sasuke bellowed.
Unknown to the two Genin who were beginning to bicker in front of the strongest shinobi in the village, they missed the Sandaime glancing towards the pillar earlier. And if Sasuke wasn't having the biggest bombshell dropped on him, and Naruto being mentally exhausted in telling him some of the deepest secrets he had, or Ishikawa deciding to be a jackass, the two of them would have noticed the presence of a certain timid Hyuga, and a certain weapons mistress overhearing everything that was said. (2)
(The Hokage Tower – One hour Later)
"Is that all you have to report Sasuke?" Hiruzen asked after brushing the last kanji symbol on Sasuke's naked back.
"That is all sir, from start to finish." Sasuke said with a pained grunt of effort. After departing from are arena area, the Hokage body flickered them outside of the tower and into the Hokage Tower. While technically illegal during the exam phase, this could not be helped, Sasuke needed to give a detailed report about his encounter with Orochimaru while Hiruzen busied himself with sealing Orochimaru's Curse Seal.
The three of them went into a empty room where the Sandaime cut his fingers to the bone and began the intricate sealing patterns to suppress a technique-induced mark on a person. Now while Hiruzen was no Jiraiya, Minato, or member of the Uzumaki Clan, he was not clueless in the art of Sealing Jutsu. Especially when it came to suppressing his former student's disgusting jutsu.
"Thank you Sasuke, this will help not only the village, but myself in the long run." Hiruzen said before casting the Mystical Palm Jutsu on his fingers to heal up the deep self-inflicted cuts. "Now I must warn you, this technique is quick, but painful. This will rely on your will alone to suppress the Curse Seal placed on you. You sure you can handle this?" (3)
"I am Hokage-sama. This this will not control me, I cannot allow it." Sasuke said through clenched teeth.
Giving the young Genin a smile, the Sandaime then flashed through nineteen hand seal before landing on Rat. Then placing his right hand on the ground, the entire area lit up with blue chakra, absorbing into the two concentric circles with kunai placed in intervals along the circumference. Then the kanji began to come alive, and were quickly absorbed into the Curse Seal, causing Sasuke to scream out in the worst pain imaginable. For thirty grueling seconds hot-white pain flooded his body until he slumped over from exhaustion when the technique ended.
The three tomoe markings glowed an angry fire-red for ten brief seconds before turning black in color with what looked like a protective circle surrounding it. Sasuke however only panted in agony, sweat poured down him life a waterfall, he could barely breathe, his nerves were causing him to spasm every so often. The Hokage lied when he said it was painful, this was not pain but torture!
"Still conscious? Well it looks like you have come a long way." The Sandaime said before lightning his pipe. "Take it easy now, the pain is only temporary. You should be feeling back to normal before you continue your exams."
"I think he would say something, but I think all that screaming shorted out his vocal cords." Naruto lightly replied. His tone was light, but behind his mask his face was twisted in sympathy. Getting Jagan hurt like a bitch, Sasuke only got a small taste of what it was like for him. "So, tell me how is Kimimaro?"
"Your friend has given us everything that he was willing to share." Hiruzen happily replied. In fact this was the best news he had heard regarding his former student in years. Bases of operations, hidden hide outs, and even various contacts and affiliations. However the smile soon turned into a frown. "But for his health...I'm sorry Naruto, he is very unwell."
"What? But I know he took some damage from my attacks when we fought, but-"
Hiruzen cut the young Genin off. "It wasn't anything you did. Kimimaro has been sick for a very long time, his lungs are, for the lack of a better term failing him. And the doctors are doing their best, but he does not have much longer to live. They give him a year if he's lucky."
Naruto couldn't believe it, that just seemed unfair. Kimimaro just got out from under Orochimaru's poisonous influence; granted it was all thanks to Jagan, but he now had a chance at freedom and living life the way he wanted to instead as a disposable pawn. That just royally pissed him off!
"Isn't there anything you guys can do? No disease is incurable, I mean isn't Konoha supposed to have some of the best doctors in the world?" Naruto demanded.
"Kimimaro's body is too unique to be treated, no one in Konoha has seen the likes of him before. And with the purges going on in Water Country, and the official statement is that the Kaguya Clan is extinct. Whatever records detailing their medical history are either completely destroyed, or sealed away to never see the light of day." The Hokage tiredly sighed before lighting his pipe. "He is going to need a miracle to survive to a ripe old age, but even I don't think you can pull that out of your pocket."
It was then Sasuke decided to speak. During the conversation he listened to their conversation, and while he didn't exactly understand remotely half of it, this Kimimaro was a friend of Naruto's despite nearly killing him a few days ago. Heh, how that idiot managed to turn enemies into allies he would never understand, but that what what made Naruto...well Naruto.
"This is the dobe you're talking about, Hokage-sama." He said with a pained grunt as he slowly got to his feet. "He brought in the Demon of the Mist, his apprentice, and somehow managed to get the Demon Brothers to join up as well. Not to mention that he got one of Orochimaru's best henchmen and me to for the lack of better term, pull my head out of my ass. If anyone can pull off a miracle, it would be him."
Hiruzen couldn't help but beam in delight, months ago if someone told him Sasuke Uchiha would be so optimistic the would have only chuckled in response and said, "If only". But now he would be eating those words, but it was with a smile instead of a grimace.
"You do have a point Sasuke, your teammate has done something that no Genin his age has done. However..." He stopped to inhale from his pipe to enjoy the rich tobacco. After exhaling he continued. "It does seem you have picked up his bad habit of bringing home strays."
Sasuke had the decency to look embarrassed. Naruto however laughed, causing the Sharingan-user to growl at him. "Her entire team was mauled to death by a bear, she had the Heaven Scroll, I could not in good conscience let her stay in the Forest of Death by herself." He managed to hiss out.
"And so you brought her to the tower where she would be safe. And I cannot exactly fault you for it, nor was it written in the rule book that you couldn't do that." When the Hokage saw the two Genin wincing, he quickly raised his right hand up to calm them. "Do not worry, I will not throw her out into the forest. She can and will stay in the tower until the second exam ends."
"Thank you Hokage-sama, but um..." Sasuke hesitated when their village leader snapped his head towards him, he swore to Kami himself he heard his neck snap. "But Karin does not have much to go back to in Kusagakure. She told us that Team Shiroe, you know the team that I assume was killed by Orochimaru said they would come after her team because they could. I figure that hopefully we can give her asylum here."
The look on Hiruzen's face caused not only Naruto to snicker, but also the three beings in his head to as well. Ishikawa found their situation hilarious, while both Kyuubi and Jagan just liked watching people suffer because of their container/it was amusing to them. Slowly the Sandaime lowered himself to sit on the floor because frankly he couldn't stand.
"You both are trying to kill me." He finally said after several long minutes. "Sasuke-kun, I honestly do not know if that is possible since she is registered from another country, and is not a rogue shinobi."
"Well she could be proclaimed dead." Ishikawa idly remarked.
'Huh, what?' Naruto dumbly asked.
"Oh you were listening?"
'I'm always listening, out with it Ishikawa what were you saying?'
"Ah, well here is what I was thinking. Sometimes a shinobi just has, you know had enough with their village. If they are smart enough they could fake their deaths, and start over in a new village. You know all that cloak and dagger sneaky shit." The deceased Stone Chunin replied as he rubbed the back of his head. "You know, I tried doing that. Disarmed the traps that protected my great grandfather's hidden blades, stole them, and blew up the area as well while leaving a little DNA to show it was me. But one slip up completely screwed me, and I wound up as a Missing-nin."
'How'd you slip up?' Naruto curiously asked.
"Another story for another day Blondie. I'd suggest you say something before that poor girl is sent home packing after you're done kicking a giant amount of ass."
'Right thanks.' Naruto mentally sighed before refocusing towards both the Hokage and Sasuke. "Hey guys Ishikawa just told me something useful. We could always declare her dead."
"Dead? How exactly do you do that?" Sasuke asked in disbelief. Who could blame him, he was still coming to terms with what exactly his teammate was capable of doing...well the truly abnormal things he was capable of doing.
"Well we are weeding out the weak in these exams, the Forest of Death is called that for a reason. And already her entire team has been mauled to death by a bear, and their remains undoubtedly eaten by tigers by now. We could hide her in the tower for now, and when the remaining teams leave we could just bring her out after her death warrant has been signed." Naruto shrugged his shoulders in response. "I mean it could work, couldn't it?" (4)
Sasuke looked over at their village leader, his expression was surprisingly hopeful. "Could it be done?"
The Sandaime only sighed out in response, already he was feeling yet another migraine coming on that could only be solved with a handful of pain killers. "It's the dirtiest way of doing things, but it is possible. However I cannot in good conscience do this unless; Karin was it? Agrees to go along with it."
"I think she will have no problem agreeing to these terms." Sasuke replied.
"Old man, I would also advise you getting up. There's something I need to discuss with you regarding the Sound Genin team." This time both the Hokage and Sasuke snapped their necks towards him, causing him to awkwardly chuckle and sweat-drop. "Well here's the thing..."
Back in the tower Sakura herself could not sleep. Like both her teammates she lied in her bed for the longest time but could not for the life of her fall asleep. Everything was wrong, or at least it felt wrong to her. Between Orochimaru branding Sasuke, her moment of glory when she fought those Sound shinobi, and once again failing her mother's request. This entire exam just went right off the rails into crazy town, and her mind was just abuzz with it.
"I need some air." She eventually sighed to herself before throwing the covers off and left her assigned room.
Like Naruto and Sasuke an hour or so earlier, Sakura roamed around the tower, and just like them she found that there were far too many rooms for one place, and looked at the arena she would eventually be fighting in. Soon her mind began drifting off regarding the two months she had been a Genin
First it was boring and annoying. Boring because they did nothing but some team exercises and D-rank missions, not to mention she had to put up with Naruto every day. Good Kami she hated him, the way he talked, the way he dressed, his entire attitude and deposition. Back then she honestly hope he did die so she could have Sasuke all to herself.
But then the mission to Wave Country happened and she was...useless the entire time. Sasuke managed to fight off the Demon Brothers while Kakashi incapacitated them, and then Naruto actually proved his worth in a fight against Zabuza while all she could do was defend Tazuna. Then the battle of the bridge came, Sasuke nearly died fighting Haku, Naruto actually died while trying to save her, and then many mercenaries and Gato himself died from the wrath of both Kakashi and Zabuza.
It killed her now, but back then she was happy the blonde idiot was gone. It would make her mom so happy to know this, Sasuke would have her undivided attention, hopefully return her affections and who knew what would go from there? But then after a period of peace Naruto came back, completely changed, trying to look so cool and upstage her love.
"Heh, how foolish was I?" She remarked to herself as she rubbed her forehead. Naruto only warned her once that he would not be taking her abuse, she ignored him, and got rightfully headbutted. After that it was nothing but a downhill spiral from here, Sasuke hung around him after the team split up for the day, they both changed their outfits together while she stayed the same, they grew in strength together while she stayed the same, and they even became more friendly towards each other while she; guess what? Stayed the same!
But then the joint mission with Team Gai literally woke her up, this wasn't a game anymore, the two men she killed were not clones or illusions, they were real. It was then she actually began shaping up and the team was becoming just that, a team like they were supposed to be from day one instead of a bunch of idiots lumped together.
"Well look who we have here." A raspy voice broke her out of her train of thought before she went even further. Sakura looked up and her green eyes widened seeing three Genin.
The first one was a Amegakure Genin with spiky brown hair and dark eyes. He wore a yellow jumpsuit which was stitched up the middle along with a pair of black sandals. He also wore his Hitai-ate that covered his whole head, a rebreather that covered his mouth and a white sash around his face with eyeholes cut out.
The second one had a low, trimmed black hair and wore a yellow jumpsuit that was stitched up the middle along with a pair of black sandals. He also wore a Amegakure Hitai-ate that covered his whole head, a rebreather and a white sash around his face leaving only his left eye visible.
The last one had spiky brown hair. And wore the same yellow jumpsuit as his teammates which was also stitched up the middle along with a pair of black sandals. Like his teammates he also wore his Hitai-ate that covered his whole head, a rebreather and a white sash around his face that obstructed both his eyes. (5)
"You! I remember you!" Sakura pointed at the Rain Genin with the blindfold over both his eyes. "You tried ambushing my teammate for our scroll."
"I nearly succeeded too." He growled out.
Sakura only smirked in response to that. "That's not how I remember it, I seem to recall seeing your body flying out of the foliage and impact against a tree."
"Why you little bitch!" The Genin unsheathed his kunai, but was held back by both his teammates. "Oboro, Mubi let me go!"
"Shut up Kagari." Oboro, the two-eyed Genin growled at his teammate. "Use your fucking senses and tell me what you see."
Calming down the blindfolded Genin sent out a chakra pulse as a sort of echolocation jutsu. He got two, no three pings before locating exactly who was watching them. Growling he resheathed his kunai-knife and pointed at Sakura. "You got lucky this time, next time you won't be."
"Easy there, lets just go to our rooms." Mubi, the one-eyed Genin said, not so subtly glaring at the pinkette before they departed.
"You should be more careful Sakura." Tenten said to her fellow Leaf shinobi as she walked towards her from behind one of the many pillars, idly flipping a kunai and catching it by the ring. "With your teammates gone, you're alone for now."
"Wait, what! They're gone?" Sakura reeled in surprise. "But I thought they were asleep, I mean they were dead exhausted."
"Th-they were restless and went for a stroll like you." Came the voice of Hinata standing alongside Tenten. She gave the older kunoichi a look, wondering if she should tell her what they overheard. But when the bun-haired girl gave her a look that clearly said 'no' she continued with the ending of what both she and Tenten saw earlier. "Hokage-sama took them for a debriefing, that's all w-we saw."
Sakura only hung her head dejectedly, and here she was thinking she was the only one who couldn't sleep to save her life. "Aw nuts. Wait what are you two doing up so late?"
"It's a free country, I wanted to walk around. I found Hinata doing the same thing." Tenten lied in response. "Do you want some company Sakura? After all that I think you could use some girl talk."
"I...I think I would like that, thanks." Sakura sighed in response before the three girls headed off together.
However latched on the ceiling was the familiar bandaged face of Dosu. One kunai was still gripped in his free hand, and he watched them depart before releasing his chakra and landing feet first on the ground. 'Was I really going to intervene if it got nasty? Damn Uzumaki making me think this way.' He thought to himself.
Ever since he met up with the masked jackass and gave him his offer. Dosu honestly thought long and hard about it, their part of the mission was done, the Uchiha got Orochimaru's Curse Seal. His team was expendable now, he knew it, Kin was beginning to believe it, but Zaku was a die-hard loyalist, he would be the hardest to convince if he could be convinced at all.
Was he actually being sincere? Or was it another trick that Orochimaru told them about? Dosu honestly wanted to know who deserved his loyalty, who's side would actually win? He would have to talk to Uzumaki one more time before he completely committed.
(Anbu Headquarters – Meanwhile)
"I cannot believe you offered those Sound shinobi a place in the village!" Sasuke spat out.
"Oh quit bitching Sasuke. Haku was our enemy, she kicked your ass, and yet you're all right around her." Naruto evenly said with his arms tucked behind his head.
"That's because she is pleasant to be around, is very good with those fox kits, and apologized for turning me into a pincushion. Those three were out to get me, not because they were unfortunately assigned to the wrong employer, but actually tried to kill both me an Sakura." The Uchiha continued to bitch at his teammate.
"Under Orochimaru's instructions during an exam as a substitution for war. I mean for fuck's sake I killed a guy named Shiin before fighting Kimmaro." The former full blonde smoothly replied.
"That's not the same! And quit having that ghost talk to you because I know you're not smart enough to say all that stuff!" Sasuke said, glaring at his ghost seeing idiot of a friend.
"He says fuck you duck ass. I do what I want!" Naruto barked at his cousin.
Hiruzen only chuckled in amusement as lightning bolts figuratively, and if his eyesight was right, somewhat literally flying from their eyes and impacting somewhere in the middle and growling at each other like bears. After Naruto told him of his own encounter with the Sound Genin, Sasuke nearly went ballistic and had not stopped ranting about it since they left the Hokage Tower.
Truth be told the Sandaime did agree with Sasuke on some points. They were sent directly by his former student in order to force the last full-blooded Uchiha in Konoha to activate his Curse Seal and slowly grow addicted to its power. When he told him of the encounter it was disturbing to say the least, the Sound Genin were absolutely ruthless, a testament to what their village was like in any case, with unusual sound-based techniques, or body enhancements.
However Naruto also proved several points in their favor...or at least Ishikawa did when he was running up short. No one born in a shinobi village has a choice of who they could serve, it was either serve them or defect. Others, mainly orphans were far worse off. If you were starving on the streets, destitute, lost all hope, and someone extends their hand towards you with an offer you can't refuse what would you do turn them down? Now they did not know the extent of the Sound Team's circumstances, but Dosu at least had a firm head on his shoulders, maybe something good could come out of it. (6)
"That is enough you two, we're here." Hiruzen ordered his shinobi to be silent, this was the hospital wing after all. Pounding on the door twice, pausing, pounding once, pausing, and pounding six times as some sort of password, the door opened to reveal the masked face of an Anbu member. "How is his condition?"
"The same as he was when he was first brought in, Hokage-sama." Opening the door to reveal a woman with straight, purple hair reaching down to her waist, a porcelain mask resembling a cat with three red stripes — one vertical stripe on the forehead and two horizontal stripes, one on each cheek. She also wears the standard Anbu uniform, consisting of black and grey armor, metal arm guards and a katana strapped to her back and had the signature Anbu tattoo on her right shoulder.
"I am glad to hear it Neko (Cat)." The Hokage said before turning towards the two Genin trailing him. "As you might already been debriefed, Naruto-kun was the one who brought us Kimimaro Kaguya."
"Yes Hokage-sama, I am aware of the situation. But what is Sasuke-san with him?" Neko asked.
"Because he knows of Naruto-kun's condition, all of it." He clarified, and if he could see behind her mask, he would have seen her eyes widen before returning to normal. "He also wanted to meet him since he beat his teammate, I don't think this will be a problem."
"Not at all Hokage-sama." His Anbu operative replied before bowing her head. "He is in room number nine."
"Appropriate." Hiruzen chuckled before turning towards the two silent Genin, and cocked his head so they could follow him.
When they eventually reached room number nine, causing Naruto to groan, and Sasuke to smirk as his misfortune, the door was opened to reveal Kimimaro clothed in a hospital gown with an IV in his right hand pumping in liquids into him. He looked quite tired, and bored if him staring blankly at the tv was any indication.
"Hey Kimimaro, how are you doing?" Naruto cheerfully asked as he made his way past the Hokage.
The last Kaguya looked away from his form of 'entertainment', the blank expression changing to a much livelier one. "Naruto-sama, I see you have returned alive and well." His expressing however fell as he looked at his lap. "I wish I could say the same thing for me. With my body the way it is now, I am all but useless to you."
"Knock that off." The former full blonde barked at him. "You're not dead yet. And you won't be for a long while if I have anything to say about it, you're going to get better, fight this that's an order from me."
"As you desire, Naruto-sama." Kimimaro said cooly before turning towards the person next to him. Raising a delicate eyebrow he was instantly smacked with conversations with Orochimaru regarding him. "So, you're Sasuke Uchiha."
"And you're the guy who beat the dobe." Sasuke smugly replied.
"Actually Naruto-sama defeated me, otherwise I would not be here right now."
"Actually, it was Jagan that did it. He scrambled your brains and gave me a migraine to knock me out." Naruto replied before lightly rubbing the side of his head. "Kami that sucked. But it worked out for the best."
"You still lost dobe." Sasuke smirked in reply.
"Oh bite me teme!" Naruto glared daggers at him before turning back to the bone-wielder. "So what did you tell the Hokage and the others?"
"Everything that was relevant." Kimimaro neutrally said without batting an eyelash. "Every base that I know of to some of the more darker things he has done since his defection, your Hokage now knows. What he will do with this information is uncertain, but more than likely after the conclusion of the Chunin Exams and defeating his forces drastic measures will be taken towards him."
"Hmph, what about this?" Sasuke asked as he tugged at his collar to reveal the Curse Seal of Heaven. "Is there any way of getting this off of me?"
"Not to my knowledge Uchiha-san, the only way to get rid of them is to ask Orochimaru himself, or at the very least manage to acquire his research notes, and not even I know where he keeps them."
"Damn, well that just bites." Naruto groaned out. He was hoping that the snake bastard's strongest fighter would know something of use, but it looks like they were going straight back to square one. "Well you going to be all right here Kimimaro? This might be the last time I see you until the five days are officially up for the second part of the exams."
"Actually Naruto-sama I do have a question." Kimimaro turned back towards the tv with a blank look on his face. "What is the purpose of this show? It's about seven idiots stranded on an island, and the moron in red keeps screwing up their chances of leaving it. Why don't they just kill him?" (7)
Both Naruto and Sasuke had a massive sweat-drop on the side of their heads, and not even Neko or the Hokage were spared giving the last Kaguya an odd look.
The boys didn't return to the tower until the very next day, and unlike yesterday they returned to their respective rooms, shed their clothing, and fell into a deep, damn near comatose slumber where not even the activity of their fellow Genin knocking on their doors awoke them.
Due to their tired states, the both of them completely forgot to lock their doors. Not that there was any danger, the tower was a safe place carefully monitored twenty-four seven so there was no unjust killings until after the Second Exam finished; breaking those rules would result in immediate arrest, trial, and stripping of rank followed by a lengthy prison sentence or down right execution. If the murderer was a foreign, it would result in the same thing, regardless of status.
While Naruto slept, the only one watching over him in a sense was Ishikawa who looked like he wanted to doze off right after him. Only the sound of the door opening alerted him, but before he could dive into his killer's head to wake him up, he was instead that both Hinata and Tenten entered his room and quickly locked the door to make sure no one walked in on them.
"Well, well, well. What doe we have here?" The deceased Stone Chunin remarked, rubbing his chin in wonderment, while at the same time having a shit-eating grin on his face.
Tenten being the bolder of the two made her way forward and pulled up a chair and sat by the bed. Her brown eyes looked at the Genin a year younger than her sleeping fully clothed and haphazardly in his bed, a bit of a dopey look on his masked face as he slept. It honestly caused her to smile and reached over to pull the demonic mask off.
"What are you doing?" Hinata whispered in panic as she more or less appeared next to the weapons mistress. "Y-you can't take Naruto-kun's mask off."
"I ain't gonna stop you." Ishikawa remarked with a smirk on his face.
"Aren't you curious to see what is behind it up close?" Tenten remarked. Like Neji, or anyone for that matter, they all noticed that his body no longer held the scars that adorned it. She also saw his face, hell she was probably the only female Genin around his age to see it fully.
"That's it, take a look at your eye candy."
"N-no, that would just be rude and un-uncalled for." The younger Hyuga said, though the heat rising on her cheeks indicated otherwise.
"Oh come on!"
"Neji can't see through the mask, and neither can you for that matter." Tenten stated. After all they shared the same Kekkei Genkai, same techniques, and pretty much the same everything. So she knew that the more timid Hyuga wouldn't be able to fully admit that she wanted to see what he looked like. "I'm taking it off, besides my dad always said one should never sleep with a mask on, they could suffocate."
"Huh, wonder how Kakashi sleeps then." Ishikawa remarked to himself.
And so Tenten removed the mask, just when Naruto turned to lie on his back. For the first time since he adorned it, after Ishikawa brutally mutilated him, his face was free of any scarring. He still wore his Leaf Hitai-ate to cover his Jagan Eye, his face was free of any and all baby fat leaving it a little more sharper, but his whisker marks on his cheeks were still there.
Tenten lightly smiled and absently ran her right index finger across his birthmarks. "It's hard to believe what we overheard is true. Isn't it?"
"You're damn right." Ishikawa said in the background
"A little." Hinata shyly admitted. They weren't exactly lying to Sakura when they said they decided to take a walk, that was how they first met up truth be told. Then they got to talking, and Tenten admitted that after spending some time training with both Naruto and Sasuke, and their last mission together the weapons mistress fully admitted that she had taken a real liking to him.
Of course Tenten got the surprise of her life when Hinata Hyuga gave her the most evil look imaginable. Byakugan flaring, and a bit of chakra and ill intent wafting off of her, she got quite an earful from the woman who loved him first; Hinata's words, not Tenten's. The rant could have gone on longer if it wasn't for the fact both Naruto and Sasuke showed up and they literally heard what came out of Naruto's mouth and saw the proof.
After the Hokage took the both of them away, lets just say they had a heart to heart talk regarding the black-streaked blonde. And then the thing with Sakura happened.
"You know, it makes sense now." Tenten said after a few minutes of stroking his whisker marks. "The glares and mistreatment. All because he held the Kyuubi in him, it's kind of stupid if you think about it."
"Sasuke-san did make a good comparison between a kunai and a storage scroll." Hinata replied with a small smile on her face. "He is not the Kyuubi. He's just Naruto-kun."
"Ha! Damn right, these Konoha girls have some good heads on their shoulders."
"But the whole dying, being brought back to life, and the Jagan thing, along with talking to spirits..." Tenten lightly trailed off when she felt a certain coldness touching her back. "Whoa, did you feel that?"
"Feel wha-eep!" Hinata cutely squeaked when she felt a chill fly through her body. "I-I did."
"Haha! That's right ladies, I'm still here." Ishikawa cackled with glee in his voice. Oh he just loved doing that more than peeking on the women in the hot springs. "Oh man the kid is so lucky, if I was his age...well I can't do anything now." He sighed out with a small amount of depression in his voice. "Sometimes I hate being dead."
Lightly rubbing her arms to get warm again, Hinata looked over to a slightly shivering Tenten and spoke up about what she said earlier. "So...are y-ou serious about...well you know?"
"No, I don't know. What are you talking about?"
"I am, I mean you like him. I do, but...well I want to see how this goes first. You know after the exams." Tenten replied after getting out of the chair, and rubbing her arms. "Just remember what I said, no matter what happens after the Second Exams end, we won't take anything personally. We're not rabid fangirls."
"Oh snap! You're not thinking about what's going on in my head are you?"
Hinata couldn't help but giggle. Unlike Ino, Sakura or the other Sasuke fangirls who once tried to convert her to their "cause", she never fell into that far when she stalked...I mean observed Naruto from afar. It didn't interfere with her training, nor did she allow her skills to slack because of it. And unlike the many friendships that were ended because of the Sasuke fanclub, she would not allow her personal feelings to get in the way of her new found friendship with the bun-haired girl.
The two of them left a few minutes later after Tenten lightly placed the Hannya mask back on Naruto's face. Ishikawa by then had stopped laughing his balls off and stood at the side of his bed.
"Two confirmed girls Blondie! Two out of the four in that twisted mind of yours! Oh I could kiss ya right now if it was possible for being a lucky guy. You know what they say about Hyuga's in my village? Well other than the fact the women have big breasts they also..." He was cut off when the door opened once again, however instead of it being another girl, it was the exhausted figure of Dosu. "The hell does he want?"
Dosu Kinuta narrowed his one eye at Naruto, honestly he was hoping to speak with him while he was awake, but if he was asleep, he was asleep. He wouldn't disturb him, that didn't mean that he wasn't going to get a few words off his chest. "You confuse me, Uzumaki."
"He confuses a lot of people. Go on." Ishikawa said in a placating manner.
"I have thought about your offer. And after this second exams end, I will give you my answer. I cannot promise you my entire team. Kin is on the fence after seeing what Sasuke can do, but Zaku..." The mummy Genin let out a very long sigh. "He is a zealot to Orochimaru's cause who foolishly believes that he won't betray him. I don't have that wool over my eyes anymore. Know this Uzumaki, whatever Orochimaru wants with your teammate will bring nothing but disaster. If it comes to it, I will make sure that he will not achieve his objective." He clenched his fist that had the melody arm strapped to it, showing Ishikawa his intent. "I just want you to know that." Without another word, he left.
"Oh boy, I got some explaining to do about that one."
It wouldn't be until the fifth day before someone kicked down the door to wake him up. Not figuratively, literally. And who was the culprit you ask? None other than Rock Lee with Sasuke standing behind him.
"Naruto-kun wake up!" The very youthful Genin wailed. "Hokage-sama demands that all finalists meet up in the arena!"
Groaning pitifully, Naruto finally stirred like a dead man finally coming back to life. Lightly rubbing his head he not so subtly glared at his teammate. "You used Lee to wake me up?"
"I pounded on the door ten times and shouted at you. I think using Lee was well justified." Sasuke evenly replied. "Get your stuff and lets go, you don't want to get disqualified after all the trouble we went through getting here."
"No I do not, just give me a minute all right. And Lee...thanks for being my alarm clock." Naruto said in the most sincere, but dullest voice imaginable. Honestly he couldn't believe those words came out of his mouth.
"Anytime my friend. After all, after everything I've seen it would be a crying shame for you to get booted from the exams before I have had a chance to fight you!" Lee exclaimed with fire igniting in his eyes. "I will not rest until the three of us fight!"
"That's great Lee, now come on otherwise we'll be late." Sasuke drawled after grabbing the spandex-clad Genin by the back of his outfit and literally dragged him away.
Naruto only sighed in response and began the process of fastening all his gear onto his person once again. "Well at least I am refreshed enough to face whatever is left."
"Yea, you slept like me. You know the dead." Ishikawa said, appearing on his bed with a serious look on his face. "The mummy man visited while you were passed out. He'll tell you his decision after the Second Exams are over, his female teammate is on the fence after what happened. But that other guy with the tubes in his arms is a die-hard zealot."
"Well that figures, well the offer will be on the table unless he tries killing us after flipping said table." Naruto replied after strapping on his belt that held his hip pouches, and Handanryoku. "Is there anything else?"
Oh Ishikawa wanted to tell him about what he saw with Hinata and Tenten, but that would spoil the surprise on his face, or him freaking out, or Shinigami help him, fainting with a gigantic nosebleed. Instead he said, "Keep a close eye on Dosu, he didn't like being made a pawn to be tested against Sasuke. He might kill him to prevent Orochimaru from doing...whatever he does to little boys he gets his pale hands on."
"Thanks for the nightmares, I'll be sure to tell Sasuke that." The former full blonde replied before securing his kunai holster and making sure his mask was secured. Without another word he went out to meet his teammate.
Within the next few minutes Naruto was standing with his team. Looking around he noticed that Team Eight, Team Ten, Team Gai, The Sand Team, Kabuto's Team, Dosu's Team and that one Rain Team were there. Wow that was a lot of Genin in one area. Eight teams, that meant twenty-four Genin. Yea a lot, there was no way all of them will make it to the third stage. There was no sign of Karin anywhere, but he figured she was being held up somewhere safe for the time being due to her defecting.
A few minutes later, the Sandaime Hokage, Ibiki, Anko, several Chunin instructors, and the respective teams sensei's appeared in a cloud of smoke.
"To the teams who made it through the Forest of Death, I congratulate you on passing the second exams...however." He added before they all got excited and began celebrating. "There are far too many of you. In order for the third exams to start, I am afraid that we will have to cut you all in half, if possible. So that is why we will be holding a preliminary round where you will be fighting one opponent. If you win, you advance to the third stage."
'No. my luck cannot be that bad.' Naruto and many other Genin thought to themselves.
A giant screen popped up from the side of one of the walls, flashing bright yellow lights showing the names of all Genin participating before it began flashing randomly until it landed on two names.
Kagari vs Sakura Haruno
Armageddon: Hello my fans for tuning into the latest chapter. I promised you all two weeks but...well that didn't happen. New ideas just hit me and I basically had to rewrite the chapter, not from the ground up but there was a lot of tweaking in some areas. That and real life took up my time, I apologize but gotta tend to it first. If you think this chapter is a little meh, then just patiently wait for the next one, it'll get more exciting from there.
(1) All right, now I know I said that no one else would know exactly what the hell happened with Naruto from chapter one and upwards. But...well in this story Sasuke is family, distantly related perhaps but family all the same. So I figure he would be the first person of his age group to learn of the Kyuubi and his whole Avatar status...officially.
(2) Which brings us to this. Now before any of you bust a gasket about Hinata and Tenten finding out this way, let me remind you I am a very unconventional author who has by now thrown a good lot of the canon out of the window for every last one of my stories. Between Naruto being trained by most of the Juppongatana in Naruto: Heir of the Juppongatana, being a Fishman and being the Captain of some of the most unappreciated characters in Spiraling Shark, and frigging dying among the other stuff in this story. Plus I am not a fan of Naruto just taking people aside in one big room and dropping a bomb like that...it's just too cliche.
(3) He is called the Professor for a reason. Hiruzen Sarutobi is supposedly supposed to have a thousand jutsu under his belt and we barely saw, what twenty out of him if you want to include the anime. I figured that Kakashi himself wouldn't be the only shinobi to learn the Evil Sealing Method for something like this, and that goes for the Mystical Palm Jutsu...paper cuts suck so I can see him learning at least that.
(4) Okay I am going to be straight here. A reviewer of mine actually discussed this after the last chapter. My friend I do not remember who you are, and I am sorry for it. Listen if you know who you are, contact me so you can get the credit where credit is due. And I shall update this story to let the world know that you gave me the idea.
(5) Hey they skipped going through Team Oboro's trap, I figured they would make it through the exams. This way there will be more fights for the lot of you to see.
(6) Naruto is not a genius...I never claimed him to be one in this story. He is still a bit goofy and dumb, but he is not a total retard anymore. He is human, and can be ignorant about some matters, and he is inexperienced in some areas of logic. Ishikawa is supposed to be help guide him, like that old 100 Deeds for Eddie show...only not getting cancelled halfway through and not a dog. Doesn't mean he isn't gonna be a bit of an asshole though.
(7) If you know what this show is, good for you you have good taste in tv. Which brings us the the second part, this line is coming from another tv show, internet cookie for you if you can guess where it is from.