Well, this is bad, Sakura thought as she couldn't see, hear, or otherwise sense anything outside of the surrounding distortion.
When Sasuke was sent reeling onto his knees, grabbing his head in pain, she only thought that things were probably about to get worse.
Her worries were justified when a man with, of all things, enormous insect wings growing from his back, collided into her and pushed her into a nearby tree. Forced down onto the ground, she could actually feel herself getting weaker as the man seemed to be getting stronger. Is he...taking my strength?
The fact that he had brought her out of the strange darkness wasn't much comfort considering the rest of her situation, but it did make her realize that the only reason he would have done so is because he couldn't see in there either. She knew she could work with this, but didn't know how.
Pulling her up by her hair, seeming to enjoy her squeal of pain as her roots dug against her scalp, this man, with the anatomically correct heart on his headband, (Village Hidden in Sacrifice, she noted, vaguely remembering Kabuto's warning), sneered at her.
"Our lord and master wants Sasuke alive to be tested, and he doesn't want the monster inside the blonde one getting out, but he said nothing about you. While my friends take care of yours, why don't I have a little fun?"
One hand gripped onto her arm, draining more strength, while the other pulled on her hair even harder, bouncing it up and down, wrenching some strands out and tearing at her scalp.
Sakura had always been proud of her hair; it was the one physical feature she was never really insecure about, unlike her nose or face or small chest or, well, definitely not her enormous forehead, but growing her hair out long had been a decision that she was glad for. After all, boys liked girls with long hair, didn't they? And Sasuke in particular was probably one of those boys.
Of course, that had been what made Ino start to notice that they were both into the same guy, which started the downward trend that destroyed their friendship, but that was neither here nor there.
What was here was the fact that her hair was a hindrance, a weapon her current enemy was sadistically using against her, and in many ways a symbol of all the things she started to think that she had wrongly prioritized her whole life. Design your look to get the guy, not to fight. Take the test to get the grade, not to learn. Focus on studies, not on practical skills. Focus on Sasuke, not on building a better team. Her opponent, for all his draining abilities and sadism, did not seem overly intelligent, for he had left her other arm free.
Free enough to grab a knife from her back pocket, sharpened without neglect (the Academy textbooks said she should do that), and cut through her own hair.
It was a testament to both how fragile she had let it grow and how much the Sacrifice-Man was straining it that she hacked it off so easily. The downward pull of holding onto her hair no longer applying, the sudden lack of force sent the Sacrifice-Man in the opposite direction for half a second and half a foot, but that was enough.
"You were unnecessarily cruel," she stated as quickly as possible. "Justice Purview: Guilt Apparitions."
--
Zaku grabbed at his own hair as it looked like something had appeared to get vengeance for the girl, but then he realized it was an illusion. Laughing to himself as he let the arms he had involuntarily reached up to stop her with down, he was faced with the unfortunate fact that the girl was now bigger than him, and surrounding him, and had drawn a spear from somewhere, all of them with spears.
When they all stabbed into him, all of them hurt, but only one left a wound. Another illusion! Hah, only one of these broads was worth worrying about! But which one?
She managed another stab while he pondered it, once again feeling stab wounds all over his body and getting another wound on his left side.
Okay, so she's to the left…trying to dodge the the next volley of illusory spears, Zaku failed and found himself stabbed again. Dammit, dammit, dammit.
It was time to literally bring out the big guns. One of the few heirlooms he had brought with him from the Village Hidden in Wastes was concealed under his jacket; a fully functioning automatic rifle that could be arm-mounted and retracted, wrist-blade style. It hadn't been well-liked by the few who used it, considering its tendency to jam, to vibrate violently against the arm and leave bruises and even possibly broken bones, and, on the rare but not unheard of occasion, explode, but he suppressed such concerns as he let loose the release mechanism and fired willy-nilly.
--
From the boy's cries, Kin figured that he hadn't moved since Dosu put in his 'unnatural darkness' stuff, which was good since she couldn't see a damned thing in it. She understood that the enemy not seeing anything was the point, but couldn't he show some respect for his teammates? Or at least let her eat one of his eyes so she could have his perception? He had two of them after all!
Since Dosu's screwed up darkness messed with sound, even her currently incredible hearing couldn't help her unless her target was being excessively loud…the boy screamed more and more, not ceasing in his insistence on letting the world know how much pain he was in. Well, that was convenient.
Considering whether or not she should eat one of her collected hands to enhance her throwing capabilities, but then deciding not to be a glutton, she instead threw more and more skewers in the direction of her target while Dosu, the only one who could freaking see right now, went for the group's target.
--
Confident in Zaku's and Kin's abilities to take care of the others, he went straight for Sasuke. Channeling his Vitae in order to increase his strength, lifting his arm with a thick metal bludgeon strapped to it, he swung at the boy who was on the ground reeling in pain and sent him sprawling. Hmm, so the sounds this thing makes really do mess with Amatsukami Scions, he thought.
Lord Orochimaru's researchers had infused this arm-weapon with the homes of angry Kami, supposedly making it painful for anyone skilled with the Tsukumo-Gami Purview, not that Dosu knew an inordinate amount about how stuff like that worked. He just knew that that it was light to carry, heavy when hitting, and useful for this specific mission.
Bashing the boy one more time to be safe, he pulled out the strange paper with the Itzli Mark inscribed upon it, and let it see if it wanted to take Sasuke. The ink poured from it and soaked into the boy's body, leaving Dosu slightly jealous, it never chose me, but also satisfied as Sasuke started to scream in greater pain.
Now they could retreat, and wait to see if the boy would succumb to the poison or become stronger. At least, that would have been the plan if Zaku hadn't decided to light up the forest like a blithering imbecile.
--
Sakura had planned to use Health Purview: Inflict Wounds to expand the spear wounds she had already created and leave the Sacrifice-Man on the ground writhing in pain, but that was interrupted by a metal tube that apparently launched hot bits of flying metal at incredible speeds appearing from beneath his sleeves. One he apparently didn't know how to use, as he was aiming it at anything and everything.
Sakura got it pretty bad in the thigh, but managed to avoid anything else from the conflagration, though she could not imagine anyone in the surrounding area could say the same, especially as several of the hot metal bits (bullets, if she was recognizing them correctly) flew into the unnatural zone of darkness. Sasuke, Naruto!
--
Sasuke heard the miniaturized explosions buzzing over him, and, in his distorted, unthinking mind, remembered something his father had casually mentioned about the last war against Supernatural Men able to use guns, and how the Fire Purview users dealt with them.
More reacting to the memory than consciously thinking, Sasuke channeled his Ichor and mumbled out "Fire Purview: Bolster Flame" in the direction that the bullets were coming from and then returned to convulsing.
--
Ino was really coming to hate guns as their decision to follow the Cowboys' intended path brought them into another volley of flying bullets. Dumb luck seemed to ensure that this one didn't manage to hurt them before they got on the ground, Shikamaru and Choji wincing from their freshly bandaged wounds, and luck turned out not to be the only dumb thing as they, in spite of all sense, crawled toward the source of the bullets.
What they found was…Sakura, bleeding from her thigh and looking weak enough to fall over, a strange man from the Village Hidden in Sacrifice firing a gun that looked a lot different from the earlier Cowboy's seemingly at completely random, and then…exploding?!
--
Kin was relatively certain that she had the Gatekeeper pinned down until that worthless bastard Zaku freaking shot her in the stomach, aim you moron, and had her on the ground providing emergency first-aid to herself, which she almost screwed up from the shockwave when that bastard went and exploded!
--
The human mind is often inclined toward comparisons. This being the second time that Naruto had experienced multiple non-lethal impalements while Sasuke was crumpled into near death while both were trapped in an illusory prison, he somehow managed to resist the inclination and instead deal with Mikaboshi's sudden seeming drunkenness.
He couldn't think of another way to describe the Titan Lord's behavior, as whatever was in this darkness besides normal darkness had affected the being's mood in a way that made it both giddy and incoherent.
While Naruto had hardly understood the thing in the first place, the random gibberish it was now shouting about getting eaten by a grandma was weird enough for him to freak out and keep on the lookout for scary old ladies while also being paralyzed by his attempts to stop the Titan Lord's power from escaping, which was particularly bad when standing still meant more and more sticks of meat being stabbed into him. Then, weird bits of hot metal from the other side.
For him, the explosion actually came as a relief, as that meant the not-quite-darkness vanished and Mikaboshi finally went back to doing whatever it did when it wasn't bothering Naruto, and he could focus…on the flaring pain and fact that he was now practically disabled.
--
With the darkness vanishing, Ino, Choji, and Shikamaru could see that Sasuke was on the ground in pain but slowly getting better as a strange man covered in wrappings tried to get away from him, Naruto had several…were those meat skewers?…impaled through his arms, and Sakura, current rocker of short hair (it looked good on her, Ino noted), was on the ground, panting in exhaustion as another strange man was up against a nearby tree, missing an arm, most of his clothing, and covered in third-degree burns.
That man's prognosis, even with medical attention that he probably wouldn't get for a while, was not looking good. The wrapped-up man was looking around, apparently noticing the bad state that Band 7 was in, and shouted, "Kin, cover me! I'm finishing the other two off," and then went for Naruto.
The three in the bushes chose to leap into action at that moment, drawing their weapons and threatening the injured parties in exchange for their scrolls.
Taking a quick look at the new interlopers, the wrapped-up man very quickly realized where his best interests lied and shouted "Kin, cover me while I grab Zaku! We're leaving. Obtenebration Discipline: Enshrouding Darkness," as the shadows beneath and surrounding surrounding him expanded and distorted, rising up to become another dome like they had seen earlier.
--
Recognizing this trick, Naruto was prepared, focusing his Night Eyes just enough so that he could see…yes, there was that bastard that tried to take them out! No way was he going to let the guy get away with this!
As he ran forward, he was suddenly reminded of how many skewers and bullets were in him, as the attempt to run after his new foe only resulted in flaring pain and him falling to his knees with a cry. When the weird darkness vanished not long after, Naruto found himself excited to see both that his Band was alright and some familiar faces, even if those freaks had escaped.
"Hey, guys!" He shouted out to the three that had just arrived. "How's it going?"
"A little better than for you, I'd say," Choji responded, noting the general state of Band 7, even as he rubbed the wound on his lower stomach. "You've got the Scrolls yet?"
"We have an Overworld and a Middle World, what about you?" Sasuke and Sakura both fought their urge to slap their faces against their palms. It was bizarre how the boy who had been despised by the Village for his whole life turned out to be the most naive.
"Hey, that's the same two we have!" Choji noted excitedly.
Shikamaru sighed in simultaneous disappointment and relief. "Good, having to take one from you guys would have been such a drag."
It was only then that Naruto realized his mistake.
--
Remus Bane had smelled another group, and Neji, Tenten, and Lee were quickly but carefully following on his trail. They were prepared for a fight, only to stop when the wolf started whining in fear.
"Animal (Wolf) Purview: Animal Communication," Neji intoned, and then "what's wrong?" Hoping that that would be understandable. Arranging his words so that an animal could understand them was one aspect of the Boon he was still finding difficulty with.
"Winter early. Man not ready meal. Too cold." Neji had no idea what that meant, and when he relayed it to his bandmates they were just as lost as he was.
Assuming that the wolf had sensed something dangerous, the trio moved much more slowly and carefully as they came across a clearing that…was completely frozen over. Everyone was either icy or rotting. The Flock of Angels in the center were no exception, though, as they tentatively stepped out into it, they realized that the maggots everywhere were.
"What…happened here?" Lee asked.
"Either a particularly vicious Titanspawn or a Supernatural Man with abilities I'm not familiar with," Neji responded, desperate to keep the nervousness out of his voice. Remus Bane whined and stared to their left, which Tenten understood before Neji could ask it anything.
"Someone's coming," she whispered before the three took cover in the nearby woods.
"Fuu, you have to collect the Scrolls."
"I don't want to get near Crom's victims. You can do it if you're so inclined."
A trio of Fae, judging by their headbands, came to the edge of the clearing, standing right at the edge of the eerie frost.
"Listen, Fuu, this is about showing your worth to the Village, we already had to go away when you left them here the first time, and it wouldn't teach you anything, well, you have to be bold, and…"
the younger female Fae interrupted him by bursting out into laughter, laughter that held no mirth or joy. "You're more scared of it than I am. Don't worry, there's no need to panic, Crom won't hurt you." She shrugged her shoulders. "Not until I decide to release him and send the Middle World into an eternal winter!"
She shouted excitedly, much to the other two Fae's terrified expression. It was a beat before she laughed again, this time with a little more genuine humor. "I'm not going to do that, no matter how many times the Village Hidden in Dreams makes me want to. After all, I may be a monster among monsters," she gestured to the ruin that she had apparently created, smiling, but dropped that smile when she continued, "but I'm still your monster, aren't I?"
Giving into their earlier demands and rummaging through the frozen Angel corpses, visibly disgusted by the act, she eventually found and checked two Scrolls. "They've got the one we need. And another copy of one of the one's we already have."
Fuu looked straight in the Scions' direction. "Do you guys want it? We have the three we need now, and so there's no reason to kill you."
It took them a second to realize she was talking to them, which meant she knew where they were, which meant…Neji and Tenten fell into combat ready positions while Lee simply stepped out into the clearing.
"I humbly accept your most gracious offer. It is good to face such honorable competition, and I hope to see you again in the next portion of the Exam, where hopefully we may test our skills against one another in a less hostile setting."
The Fae girl was utterly shocked, so much so that she simply tossed the extra Scroll his way and walked off. Once all the of the Fae left, her two companions apparently as flabbergasted by this development as Neji and Tenten were, Lee casually strolled back, both admiring and fearing the destruction surrounding him.
"Her power was excessively cruel to those Angels, as I do not believe that this display was necessary, but what a power it is! It is almost disappointing that the situation resolved itself peacefully, as I hope to prove myself facing her one day!"
Neji and Tenten, in spite of how long they had known him, still managed to stare at their bandmate in disbelief.
--
The series of crystal balls and magic mirrors that allowed the Upper Ranks to keep an eye on the Exam was both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, it allowed them to figure out who was actually doing well and know what was happening at all times, so they could more properly measure their performances and evaluate accordingly. On the other hand, it meant watching avoidable death after avoidable death and doing nothing about it. Even with Anko's sadistic streak, this was a bit much.
That had been her thought process, until she saw the mark that was now on Sasuke's neck, apparently left by a member of the very Village she was keeping an eye on for possible connections to Orochimaru. This is bad, she thought.
She briefly considered halting the test, or at least getting Band 7 out of there (they could yell at her for arbitrarily failing after they figured out what the Rogue Aztlanti wanted with Sasuke), but the Great God-on-Earth, when she had briefed him, informed her to keep eyes on the situation and let things play out as normal until they could figure out Orochimaru's plans. She hated this plan with a passion, but orders were orders.
--
Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, Ino, Choji and Shikamaru all agreed to travel together for a bit and try to find the Underworld Scroll together. If they were lucky, it would mean finding two in short order and then heading toward the end of the exam.
If not…well, they could settle things amongst one another. With Naruto's injuries, which were actually healing remarkably fast in spite of how horrific they should have been, and whatever that mark on Sasuke was, Band 10 was pretty confident they could take on Band 7 if it came to that, but Band 7 was too arrogant to let such things concern them, and thus the group of six continued on.
There was something else that concerned Sakura, and while not as much as the mark on Sasuke's neck, it was something that maybe they could deal with right now. Or at least figure out what it was.
There had been several hints that something was different about Naruto; Kakashi had made some strange comments about the boy during their first mission outside of the Village, there was the fact that his skill with the Darkness Purview allowed him to use techniques that, according to her research on the matter, should be impossible at their Ichor levels, there was the strange contempt that all of the adults in the Village had regarding him, and then, above all, there was that bizarre darkness that appeared in the fight with Haku.
She had been too focused on healing Tazuna's lightning burns at the time, especially since she just assumed that either Zabuza or Haku had done it, but then both Naruto and Kakashi deliberately avoided mentioning it during their vague descriptions of the battle later.
Sasuke had already confided in her his confusion about how Naruto managed to defeat Haku in the end.
Finally, the weird guy with the insect wings had said that their master didn't want to kill Naruto out of 'fear of releasing the monster inside of him.'
Hatred from the Villagers, strange powers associated with darkness, a secret that Naruto and Kakashi were both in on but didn't want to tell the rest of the Band about…it was the darkness that let her put the pieces together. He was Mikaboshi's Gatekeeper.
Their history books in the Academy told them that Mikaboshi had been killed during his sudden assault on the Village Hidden in Legends. Every other book on the Titan Lords, as few as there were outside of fairy tale books meant to terrify children into behaving, said that they either couldn't be killed or had connections to primordial elements of the world that meant killing them was a bad idea, which was why all the Villages who could kept Gatekeepers.
Her own review of the Village policy, international politics, and what little she could gather of the Titan Lords led her to conclude that Legends had sealed Mikaboshi into someone, and made up the 'killing' story to conceal the figure's identity from enemy Villages.
It made sense, and she really hadn't thought on the matter after reaching that conclusion, assuming that it was above her security clearance and leaving matters at that. Now, thinking over what the weirdo had said, that 'thing above her security clearance' had been placed directly on her Band, and she needed to address it.
"Health Purview: Assess Health," she said without actually using the ability. "Oh, Naruto, I missed something when dealing with your injuries earlier. Don't worry, guys, this won't take long. Come with me," she pulled the boy to the side out of immediate earshot before he could object or the others could ask questions.
Confident that they had a small bit of privacy, she set him down, folded her arms over her chest in what she hoped looked like an authoritative pose, and told him, "okay, we have to talk."
"About what?" The boy asked.
"About the thing inside of you."
--
Naruto didn't exactly get along as true friends with his Band, but they had gotten to the point where they worked well together and didn't hate each other. They could even be called friendly acquaintances outside of their Band.
It was such a nice change of pace from his lifetime of loneliness and abandonment that he hoped it would continue, even if he'd never even think of telling Sasuke that out loud. And that was why he hoped this day would never come.
Mikaboshi had made the entire Village hate him from his early childhood, and he really didn't want his bandmates to look at him in the same way. While Kakashi probably knew, the man had actually treated him the same as anyone else, but that was true of a few adults.
He didn't want more relationships like those he had with Iruka and the Great Kunitsokami, he wanted friendships with his peers, and could that still exist when they learned what he was? When they knew what all the adults who feared and avoided him knew?
Looking up to Sakura, he prayed against all reason that she was talking about something else. "Is there any of those bullet things left still inside me? I can't feel it, if that's what you want to talk about…" his voice was awkward and unconvincing, something that was particularly noticeable in light of his normal demeanor.
"I have a feeling that you know full well what I'm talking about."
Naruto's shoulders slumped. "Do you hate me, now that you know?"
Sakura seemed taken aback, but then she placed a finger on her chin in thought. "Hmm, does it affect you?"
Naruto shrugged. "I don't know. I've always been worthless with every Purview except Darkness, which is Mikaboshi's thing. Also, it started talking to me this last year, which it never did at any other point in my life. When I thought Sasuke had died in the fight with Haku, it tried to take over, but I pulled it back, and then it started getting mad at Gaara and Fuu, you know, the weird Mummy and Fae? When the weird darkness was created recently, that odd stuff that wasn't quite darkness as I knew it normally, it started freaking out; it was a large part of why I did nothing in that fight. If you mean, am I a ticking time bomb that's going to unleash the Essence of Darkness to destroy us all, then no, nothing about my life has indicated otherwise. I think you're safe with me, at least, the guys in charge who already know about me think so."
Sakura sighed. "I'd love to give you a heartwarming speech about how this doesn't affect how I see you and that I know you're the same person deep down, but…it is kind of scary."
Reacting to Naruto slumping down even further, she hastily added, "I don't hate you, and, I mean, you're still my bandmate. We can still work together, and we can still hang out…as much as…we have."
They never hung out voluntarily, no matter how much Naruto requested. She realized just how little she was offering as soon as she said it.
"Okay, but I don't think you're a monster, and you're right, it hasn't been a problem so far. I'm going to trust you when you say it's safe."
She held out a hand to him. Naruto noticed that she flinched and tried to hide it when he took it, but chose to say nothing. She was genuinely trying to accept him. With his life, that wasn't something he could sneer at.
"Should we tell Sasuke?" She asked him.
Truly appreciating that she was leaving this decision up to him, he told her, "not yet. I will someday, but I'm not ready."
Nodding in attempted understanding, Sakura turned around and returned to the rest of the party they had formed.
--
There were a surprising number of advantages to being associated with a former group of rebels and outcasts, Kabuto had found. At least, there were when your Village was run by a man so desperate to not repeat the purges that other Villages had gone through that he was willing to overlook a lot for the Aztlanti that still remained loyal.
You think I'm a spy? What, just because I'm Aztlanti?
Kabuto was good enough that little more evidence ever showed up, and thus that was enough to get any investigations off his back. Plus, the sheer audacity of it was shockingly effective; if Orochimaru wanted a spy in the Village, well, he wasn't going to choose one of the less established Aztlanti children, now would he, that would be too obvious?
Thus, Kabuto's lord and master used the Village's own perceived cleverness against it, and here he was. How loyal he should be to Orochimaru was an open question; his master hadn't told him about those kids from Sacrifice, which was why he went out of his way to warn what he thought was their current primary target about them.
If Lord Orochimaru was going to keep him in the dark about important matters, then he could afford to be a little bit of a pest in return. It was only fair. Besides, they didn't seem to have put any special attention to his warning, as from what he could tell the team from the Village Hidden in Sacrifice only failed to kill them through incompetence rather than Band 7's preparation.
They did manage to get a Mark on Sasuke, though he was still opposed to doing that while the boy was within the control of and loyal to Legends. Oh well, it wasn't his call.
His call was to ensure that they actually made it to the end of the Rank Exams so that the mortals could be properly gathered and enthused and, he now supposed, Sasuke might be forced into pulling on the Mark's powers.
To that end, he felt they might need an Underworld Scroll, and, considering that his own group of overqualified spies had easily gotten more Scrolls than needed, why not indulge them?
Of course, he was going to have a little fun first. Looking to his two most loyal supporters, he grinned as he pulled out his father's/mother's soap, much to their pained expressions.
Being the son of Our Lord the Flayed One meant that the unique ability his Birthright held was almost inherently going to be messy, and as he 'cleansed' his companions, ripping off their flesh as if it were loose dirt, their bloody remains eventually looking like another Band of Scions that they had taken out earlier and gotten one of their Underworld Scrolls from, he smirked in simultaneous amusement and disappointment when they didn't scream in pain at all throughout the process.
"Give them a good show," he requested before moving on to the center of the forest.
--
The six had come to rest by a river, collecting and purifying some water before taking a good drink. They had no intention of staying there long, until the giggling started.
"Why, aren't you handsome young men," a woman's head popped up from the surface of the river.
While they couldn't make out any details through the water's murk, her vague outline suggested that she was naked. They managed to notice this in spite of her face, which was alluring…it was conventionally attractive, yes, but the boys in particular felt hypnotized by it, unable to look away.
"Especially you," she noted, turning to Sasuke. "Why don't you come and join me?"
Sasuke knew very well that that was a terrible idea. Nothing in her behavior matched up with what he thought his competition in the forest should be doing, indicating that she was a Titanspawn. He was fully aware that such creatures existed, Titanspawn with forms that resembled humans for the same reason that a Venus's Fly Trap smelled so good to flies, using sexual desire as a lure to catch their prey. Even knowing that…her eyes, her lovely hair, the nape of her neck teasing what was just below the water…it's an Appearance Knack, or a Titanspawn equivalent, snap out of it!
He used his own Appearance Knacks, almost involuntarily, which distracted her and broke him out of her spell.
"Let's leave, this is too dangerous for us," he finally managed to shout.
Naruto, Choji, and Shikamaru were still staring at her completely entranced, even if part of them was clearly fighting. Sakura and Ino were looking at all the boys completely flabbergasted, clearly having freed themselves a while ago. They did seem pleased that he was the first to break free.
"Of course, Sasuke's not going to fall for some silly floozy, not when we're destined to be together…"
"What did you say, Billboard Brow, he's clearly mine!"
The same Appearance Knacks he used to escape the Titanspawn's spell had, unfortunately, also exacerbated their silly crushes on him to the point that their normal civilian ridiculousness was coming out in full force even during this situation that really didn't call for it, which gave the Titanspawn woman ample opportunity leap up out of the water and then sit down on the surface, giving the odd sight of her backside and upper thighs treat the bubbling water like a solid seat while her lower legs continued to dip into the river.
That was not the part of her body that had managed to get Sasuke's attention, as her full nudity was now on display and the spell she had on the boys was stronger than ever.
When she gave a sly grin and flexed a finger in her direction, Sasuke had no choice but to obey as he trudged into the water, throwing himself into it, not caring whether he drowned or not so long as he was closer to her.
--
Sakura and Ino would both be greatly embarrassed to admit later that it was only after Sasuke had tossed himself into the water that they snapped out of whatever childish drama they had gotten themselves into.
They could be mature about it in such a setting, and for the most part they had, but when Sasuke called on his Appearance Knacks, all the same female adolescent hormones that fueled their conflict for the past few years came back in full force.
Thanks to the effect that this creature had on men, they were currently the only useful ones in their group. They weren't actually immune to its spell, it just felt weak; they could appreciate that she was pretty, and felt the urge to look her way, but they felt that it took little concentration and willpower to overcome whatever hypnotic effects she was giving out.
Thus, they charged forward, weapons at the ready, when the riverbank started bubbling and then burst into steam, creating small but cripplingly painful burns on their arms and legs.
"Don't interfere," the woman-thing said, angrily, before taking on the same alluring voice from earlier and beckoning to Naruto to come into the water while her hand stroked Sasuke's back.
That last act drove them both into a rage.
"Okay, Ino, we need to attack from a distance, or get her out of the water."
Ino nodded, and they both drew throwing knives. They tossed many, hitting their mark over and over again, but the woman-thing responded by summoning a string of water that ran over her wounds and healed them, almost casually dismissing them as they tried to come up with a new strategy.
"Science Arete," Sakura intoned, thinking back on her training with Hinata and hoping that something, anything, could help…and realized that something could. "Ino, she's connected to the water. You know Jotunblut and Fertility, right? Give me the giant's blood so that I'll be strong enough to fight her off alone, and then run upstream and…".
Ino accepted the plan.
--
Blessing Ino as her beautiful mistress whom she served and obeyed, a thought process she would never later admit to having had if asked, she impressed herself with her ability to simply shrug off the bursts of steam and swing into the creature with more force than she thought possible.
It was enough that she almost considered herself a threat to the thing, though not one that allowed her to simply wade in and take it out herself.
That fact was why she was mildly disappointed when Ino successfully created the algal bloom she had requested, though said disappointment was of course undermined by both her pragmatic gladness that the situation was resolved and her admiration for the glorious mistress, as much as she would hate herself for the latter thought later.
--
Sasuke was trying not to be utterly enraptured by her beauty, thinking of all the important things he had yet to accomplish, or, well, one important thing, but now all he could think was that if Itachi went unavenged, then at least his last moments were blissful.
Naruto was utterly lost, not knowing what he was thinking.
Shikamaru was utterly terrified, as her beckoning brought him into the water, and his sheer terror almost freed him, but even as her beauty still entranced him and brought him into a worthless stupor strong enough to evade years of childhood nightmares, the massive sludge of green managed to break him completely.
The water had eutrophied, presumably through Ino's assistance, and the creature was panicking. With the sudden algal bloom draining the nutrients from everything else that lived in the river, with it metaphorically dying, she was starting to die as well.
Shikamaru found himself in the contradictory position of praising womankind for being able to keep their heads in such a situation and condemning womankind for allowing such a situation to be so dangerous in the first place. It was such a drag.
--
Choji had been her last intended target, and thus was mostly fine. Shikamaru had just gotten into the water, and thus was also largely intact. Naruto had suffered nothing that a short rest wouldn't take care of.
Sasuke, however, had been underwater long enough that he needed immediate CPR, and even with the procedure done quickly, briefly interrupted by Sakura and Ino both volunteering to take care of the mouth-to-mouth part and almost getting into a fight over it before remembering the seriousness of the situation, he was going to need rest before he was in a state to do anything worthwhile. So, of course, they got no rest before the next threat showed itself.
"Chaos Purview: Paralyzing Confusion," someone shouted over and over again as Naruto, Shikamaru, and Sakura started to question whether up was actually different from down and why was it called right when it was sometimes the wrong way and…the latter two snapped out of it eventually, but by that point they were surrounded by zombies. Naruto was still utterly lost.
"The Death Purview comes in handy," one of their assailants noted before ordering the ten or so zombies (where in the Underworld did he get the corpses, they wondered?) to strike at the group.
While zombies were slow and had little to no strategic capabilities on their own, they were also strong as can be, resilient to pain, and relentless. Between their exhaustion, panic, and outnumbered situation, the two Bands started to fall before the onslaught, being completely overtaken by the dead horde until Sasuke woke up…though he didn't look like Sasuke. The strange mark that man had put on him earlier was glowing, and his…heart was burning?
He showed no emotion as he ran forward, faster than even he was normally capable of, and grabbed the hearts from the creatures, burning each in his hands without seeming to use a Purview, letting them drop dead (again) before him, even though destroying the heart shouldn't do anything particular to a zombie.
Then, he rushed forward, shouting something in a bizarre language that sounded familiar to Sakura, though she couldn't place it, and was completely lost on the others, and started to beat and batter the two Scions who attacked them in their moment of weakness, tossing them to the ground, drawing his naginata and pointing it at one of their torsos, cutting into it slowly, methodically, ritualistically, sadistically."
"Sasuke, stop, this isn't you!" Sakura screamed.
Sasuke's weapon was right at one of the mens' lower chests, about to slowly dig into the flesh immediately beneath his sternum, presumably to remove his victim's still beating heart, when he looked to her.
It...isn't me. He looked to the quivering man beneath him. This is not what I want. This strength...is someone else's.
Slowly, but surely, he pulled back, breathing heavily as the strange features vanished and the mark became another small mark on his neck. Then…he collapsed.
"Sasuke!" Sakura and Ino screamed it simultaneously.
--/-/
The one whom Sasuke had not just tried to disembowl decided to get out of there. Kindly enough, he tossed two Underworld Scrolls to the ground before he left.
"Put on a show my…" he grumbled, but everyone was simultaneously too exhausted, worried, and elated by the final result to question a gift horse's mouth.
"Well, that was a drag," Shikamaru noted. For once, no one could find it in themselves to disagree. "Yeah, if I fail this year I'm staying a Lesser Hero for the rest of my life; this isn't worth it."
They all disagreed with that sentiment, but the situation left them unable to voice it. Although it would have been more efficient to let Choji carry him, Sakura and Ino insisted on carrying Sasuke's limp form on their shoulders, as it was their duty to look after and care for them, and they were the best suited to it while the boys surrounded and defended them. The fact that it meant the hottest guy they knew's arms around them for an extended period of time had absolutely nothing to do with it, they insisted. No one found it worth it to fight them.
--
The end of the allotted week neared, and Scrolls were gathered. Hinata, Kiba, and Shino had made it to the center first out of all the Scions, but were disappointed to find a group of Fae and…those Mummies that had terrified them so much earlier.
Someone informed them all that the free-for-all situation outside the building in the center so longer applied here, which meant no fighting. The Mummies looked as annoyed about that fact, especially the disturbingly skinny one with the red hair, as Band 8 looked relieved.
Later, Neji, Rock Lee, and Tenten arrived at the center, a little annoyed to not be the first ones from Legends and also disturbed by the Fae, except for Rock Lee who was excited to see the young female of their group.
"I look forward to a test of our skill!"
She was utterly confused by this, but eventually decided to look away.
A few more trickled in. Those from the Village Hidden in Sacrifice did not look particularly happy about their victory.
In spite of being the most common group of Supernatural Men present, very few Scions ended up at the final location; Kabuto and his two bandmates, one being carried with horrific wounds on his stomach, entered near the end of the testing period, the wounded one screaming about how Kabuto could easily fix him, the worthless bastard, to which Kabuto responded by reminding his bandmate that he was 'merely a Hero in terms of power' and thus not that skilled with the Health Purview. He had apparently done all he could, and thus the others looked on in pity at the misunderstanding between comrades.
A while after that, Naruto, Shikamaru, Choji, Sakura, Ino, and Sasuke, the last still being carried by the two girls even if he was sort of gaining consciousness, wandered in, prompting Neji to feel even more secondhand embarrassment at his Village over the fact that they apparently couldn't get this far without two horrific injuries.
A group of Cowboys made it in at the very end, in an even worse state then the aforementioned Scions and glaring at Band 10 in a way that made the targets glad that looks were unable to kill.
At their arrival, the proctors rang an enormous bell and called everyone to attention.
"The third part of the Exam will take place in one month's time. It will be a series of one-on-one duels before the various Village leaders and mortal rulers so that they can evaluate your performance firsthand and judge who is ready to be given the privileges and responsibilities of the higher ranks." Glancing down at the assembled Supernaturals, he was forced to add, "however, because of the higher-than-expected number who managed to pass the first two tests, we will be having a preliminary elimination round. This will test your true worth, to see who can deal with unexpected challenges-"
Anko appeared beside him.
"Oh shut up and tell them the truth. If we make all of you fight, the exam will go on for too long, the mortal spectators will lose interest, they'll stop betting and buying merchandise, they'll be less interested in attending future exams, and the whole thing will end up being far less profitable. I'm sorry for half of you, but the sacrifices you made this week to ensure your future take second place to the Villages' budgets." She smirked at their grimaces. "Welcome to the real world, kids."
Looking uncomfortable at her proclamation, the proctor who had started speaking earlier continued, "so, we're going to randomly match you up against one another. You will fight until surrender, unconsciousness, or death. Because we don't want more deaths than are necessary, I reserve the right to surrender on your behalf, though I won't do it until things are really dire, so do not count on that to save your pride if it looks like you might die. Before we begin, does anyone have a reason for not continuing?"
Sakura and Ino both looked at Sasuke's mark.
"You…will…not…say…a...word," Sasuke informed them.
"But Sasuke…"
"I will continue, and I will keep it under control. This is my path to take."
Sakura, remembering how she had almost ruined the Band's chances for what she thought was Naruto's sake earlier, reluctantly agreed. Ino was less inclined, but wouldn't go against the boy.
"Okay, but you're going straight to the Demigods about this once you qualify, you hear me? I'm sure they can do something and then leave you enough time to train in a month."
"Fine," he replied, more to silence their queries than because he planned on following through.
--
Kabuto was grateful for his bandmate's injury, as it should make him less suspicious when he bowed out this time. There was no reason for him to continue; he already ensured that the target made it this far, and at this point it was only on his own merits that Sasuke could progress. A part of him hoped the boy would fail, as he wasn't entirely on board with Orochimaru's plans these days, but he remained loyal enough to see things through. Now, he just hoped to dip away so he could talk with his master about some things, like what in the cold depths of the Underworld that team from his pet Village was doing here, especially the Akhmat.
There were a lot of issues that needed to be clarified, and so he raised his hand.
"I'm sorry, but what happened to my bandmate out there left me too shaken. I don't think I'm going to make it if I have to fight more right now; I guess this isn't my year."
And so he turned and let the Demigods escort him out. No one else bowed out, which did admittedly bring unwanted attention to his decision, but he trusted in the same abilities that had gotten him this far. No one ever remembered his face, for he didn't want them to. What was the son of Xipe Totec to do if not occasionally change his skin?
--
Once the Aztlanti Scion was gone, their attentions were drawn to a screen with green letters randomly arranged on it.