Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Way of the Jinchuuriki ❯ Arc 3, Chapter 16 - Team Seven is Mine! ( Chapter 16 )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: Zagger the Bloody Angel 
Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Adventure / Action / Angst / Suspense / Comedy | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 06.19.2011 | Pages: 6 | Words: 9.9K | Visits: 309 | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Adventure / Action / Angst / Suspense / Comedy | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 06.19.2011 | Pages: 6 | Words: 9.9K | Visits: 309 | Status: Completed
"I'm glad all of you arrived today." Hizuren stated as all of his jounin sensei had been called into the room along with some of his more esteemed ninja, which most happened to be parent's of many of the rookies. "As you all know the Chunin Exams will be held at the end of the week. I have called all of you together to learn who of you think your teams are ready."
"But before I get to that I have a few warnings as I have received some rather vital information from Jiraiya." Sarutobi mentioned before he allowed his jounin to admit their teams to the exams. "It seems that Orochimaru has been snooping around here of late… I'm not sure what he wants but whatever it is I can assume it is not good for the leaf."
"I want all of you to be vigilant and if you see any signs of something strange report it to me or either of my head ninja and we'll deal with it properly." At this Naruto and Itachi's gaze met for a moment before they simply nodded as they knew what to do if they ran into the snake.
Noticing his two head ninja's gaze, Sarutobi held in his smirk as his former student would not be getting whatever it was he wanted. "But I want to reassure all of you that the exams will be safe and well simply will tighten security and have one of our top four Anbu captains placed at each gate."
He resisted the urge to say that each gate had the Hiraishin seal placed on them as that would placate his ninja far too much for his liking. "Outside of that, there is a bit of issue with the exam as well. There will be at least one jinchuuriki participating in these exams as well as a few teams from the Rock."
Hizuren immediately knew that there would be a few less teams entering the exam this year. The threat of a demon vessel was not to be taking lightly even if the carrier was only a gennin in rank. There was always the chance of the demon emerging in battle…
Then there happened to be the Rock gennin, which he had to wonder why they finally decided to compete in a chunin exam in Suna or Konoha, and it was known that when a leaf team ran into a Rock team one did not come out alive. So because of that the rookies wouldn't enter along with a few of the more experienced teams.
"I will ask you all to only enter you team if you believe they are ready to take the next step, regardless of this information. If you know their training has been sound there is nothing to worry about." Sarutobi sternly spoke as he gazed at a few of his now more fearful jounin teachers as only a few looked confident.
And the jounin with the most confidence, the one that didn't show a lick of it, stepped forward. "I have faith in my team and the training and abilities I've bestowed upon them. It will take more then another like me to stop them from their goal. They are more then ready for this."
Sarutobi couldn't refrain from smirking this time as he could see many of his jounin regaining their faith in their teachings. These exams would be exciting to watch unfold.
Now he simply hoped the Rock wasn't planning something…
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Panting heavily, Sasuke could not believe what was happening… He was losing this fight and badly at that. Losing was not something that happened very often for him. He usually only got whipped when he was facing off against his sister, brother, mother and his sensei.
But to make this entire matter even worse for him… He was losing to Sakura.
Okay, he was the first to admit that he knew her strengths and weaknesses and she knew his. And he had to admit this fight was close and slowly was turning his direction but this was a timed spar and to his misfortune his sensei was taking score like it was some kind of game, which perhaps to him it was.
But Sasuke also had to admit, though he hated doing so, but the girl over these last few months ever since team seven became gennin she had improved by far wider margin then he had. While Naruto had trained her well in the first month in taijutsu, and even a little during the Wave, now that she was reunited with her father… Her speed, power and everything imaginable had gone through the roof.
This wasn't forgetting the fact that she was still learning underneath Naruto in seals and ninjutsu, two elements combined with her extraordinary taijutsu were very deadly now that he thought about it. Then there was one last thing… He was just barely faster then she was so he had to use genjutsu just to get out of close range with her.
"Alright, that's enough!" Naruto called the fight impressed by what he had seen as both were fighting as hard as they could. "I will have to give this match to Sakura as you couldn't keep her out of class range, Sasuke, and you didn't score many points when you got some distance from her. Still, at the end you were slowly regaining control and if this had lasted a minute or two longer you would have taken control."
While Sasuke wanted to growl he could keep fighting, he knew not to argue against Naruto. Their spars were not to last over five minutes and to allow him to evaluate them properly. And one lost could hurt him and his pride wasn't bruised too badly.
He still had won every spar up until this point and his confidence was only boosted as he knew he could still defeat her if for some reason they truly had to fight one another. So with a smirk he turned his head to Sakura. "Good match… Sakura."
Taking deep breathes, exerting herself just as much as Sasuke had been during the fight, Sakura could only smile at the Uchiha. "Thank you… If that had lasted any longer I know you would have on unless I got in a good hit. I don't have your kind of endurance, stamina or even chakra at that."
Off to the side of Naruto, somewhat banged up as she had fought Sasuke and Sakura earlier in the day and had lost to both of them, Kerlya sighed. She didn't like that she was the weak link of their unit but in all fairness… She probably would be the strongest on almost any other team she could be put on.
Naruto's training had made each one of them powerful and she knew that. The fact that she could stand her ground against both in two matches in a thirty minute span proved that as she doubted that many of the other gennin could last that long against them. So she had to smirk at that.
Looking over at his gennin, Naruto could only smirk as they had changed drastically since he took them as his team. They were more then ready for the chunin exams in a few days. Not only that, their appearances had changed as well… Though Sakura's reason was obvious… Her dad.
While she hated the idea of a spandex a full body suit did have its advantages so she took to wearing one and of course it was pink with white sakura pedals hovering over her chest.
Her hair had been cut as she Gai had convinced her long hair could get in the way of a close range fighter, though he had asked her instead to braid it if she wanted to keep her hair. There were also her fingerless gloves with a sheet of metal on the knuckles to make her punches hit harder and long black steel toe combat boots to keep anyone from stomping on her toes.
Sasuke outfit changed a little too. He had gone with a plain white tee and a grey flak jacket over it with his clan's fan on the back, saying he would replace it when he got his chunin vest after the exams. He also wore black shorts that reached over his knees and wore bindings for his knees down to the arc of his foot.
Kerlya really hadn't changed as she still wore her grey jacket closed so no one could see what she wore beneath. The only difference was that she was wearing a white pair of pants and she had two specialized pouches on her waist for a weapon she had been learning on how to use.
Shaking his head, wondering how he hadn't noticed their attire changes before, Naruto finally pulled three sheets of paper out. "I believe you know what these are so take them. Remember to sign your name so they'll let you stay once they take your slips from you. The exam will start on Saturday at the academy by ten at room three-o-one. So you need to make sure you are there before that time so they don't kick you out before it even starts."
As each took their slip, Naruto sighed as he looked over at the three. He would actually miss them during the exams, something before hand he would have scoff about. "I need to inform you not to use my kunai during this exam unless you are absolutely sure your life is in danger and there is nothing else you can do… Because if I help you at any time you will be disqualified."
"Hey, we won't need it. I sparred against Neji the other day and I kicked his ass and he's one of the strongest gennin in this village for sure." Sasuke triumphantly grinned as he had become go sparring friends with the Hyuuga since their teams were introduced and started training with the other a couple times a week.
"There's going to be other shinobi of course, but we're confident that we can hold our own. You don't have to worry about us so much, sensei." Kerlya added as she felt they would be fine and that if there was any one great threat they would simply gang up on that person like they did against Haku.
"There is a jinchuuriki entering this exam, you three." Naruto frowned at them and got their attention with the mention of another demon vessel in Konoha.
"I can't tell you who he is as I have only sensed the presence of another bijuu within the village walls just recently. It doesn't feel very powerful so I doubt it is Hachibi or what's left of the higher ranked bijuu since Nibi is in Yugito and Gobi is floating in the abyss. However do not take anyone lightly as they could be the vessel and… Then you will be dead." He morbidly continued once as he caught their attention.
As each gulped, weary of even taking these exams, Naruto decided to brightened their mood a little. "But as long as you stay aware of your surroundings you won't have much to worry from him. He'll be too focused on passing these exams to even bother with you as you three blow by them… As my training makes their tests rather simple."
It was at this moment Naruto realized his plan on making his team feeling better back fired. For all intent and purposes it should have calmed them down but his training had kind of warped their fragile little minds. And by kind of he meant completely.
It just made them implode and Sasuke was the first to scream at him, shaking the collar of his shirt. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOUR TRAINING IS MORE DIFFICULT THEN THE CHUNIN EXAMS?!"
"YOU'VE PUT US THROUGH HELL JUST SO THAT WHEN WE GET TO THE REAL THING IT WON'T EVEN AFFECT US!" Kerlya screamed as she grabbed Naruto's right arm and began to pull on it, trying to rip it out of his socket it seemed.
The next thing Naruto knew was that Kerlya lifted and threw Naruto into the air and Sasuke kicked him back down… Straight into Sakura.
"SENSEI YOU'RE AN ASS!" Sakura summed up all her and her team mates' words into one simple as her fist met Naruto's cheek and drove him into the ground, creating a ten foot crater in the process.
But too all of their horror 'Naruto' simply went poof before a whistle from behind them caught all of their attention. "Wow… Naruto-sensei tricked you again! He's the best!"
All three twitched as they turned around to see Konohamaru and his gang bragging that the three of them had been fooled by his clone. None of them knew why the runt was there in the first place and they really didn't care about why or any punishment they would get for attacking the grandson of the Third as he provided a nice scapegoat.
With a simple roar, all three lunged at the boy and the grandson of the Third knew immediately he was in danger and jumped out of his box with his partners in crime, Udon and Moegi.
"AH! NARUTO-SENSEI! HELP US! THEY'RE GOING TO KILL US!" Konohamaru screamed for help as he took off running with Moegi and Udon in hope that Naruto would take care of his psychotic team as they chased them down, narrowly avoiding the punch from Sakura that destroyed the earth below, Sasuke's flames that burned their box into a crisp and Kerlya's claws as they shredded through the fence above his head.
There was no answer as it seemed either Naruto wasn't there or he was enjoying watching as the scene unfolded. The first seemed somewhat likely but due to the few months Naruto had been a sensei… The second was probably exactly what he was doing.
It didn't matter how long it seemed that he ran or the fact that Moegi and Udon had been overtaken by Sasuke and Kerlya, Konohamaru was still running for his life as Sakura was hot on his tail. The fact that he was outrunning her wasn't lost on him but at the moment he really didn't care about that.
But it all came crashing down in a halt as he smashed into something. However that something happened to be rather hard and made an annoyed grunt and happened to be another person. Unfortunately that person happened to be a foreign ninja… A gennin from the Rock.
Sakura skidded to a halt and narrowed her eyes as she caught the symbol on his forehead protector and immediately slid into her stance if he proved to be hostel. At least Konohamaru was quiet and saying anything otherwise things could get…
"Hey! Watch where you're going!" Konohamaru yelled out completely oblivious that he just ran into a foreign ninja, one that happened to belong to a village that they did not get along with, while Sakura face planted into the ground at his stupidity.
Growling as he was just going to let this go as the kid accidentally ran into him, running for his life as he more then likely did something unthinkable to the girl, the Rock gennin lifted Konohamaru by his collar and glared into his eyes. "Brat… Shut the fuck up or I will beat the hell out of you! You ran into me and you are at fault, got that!"
Now Konohamaru knew the danger he was in as this time he could see the stone on the headband and knew what kind of ninja he was dealing with. So he simply vigorously shook his head before he was dropped on his rear before the Rock gennin turned his attention to Sakura. "And you girl, be lucky I'm nicer then either of my team mates. They would have done something to this boy… Seeing he's the Third's grandson."
As Konohamaru squeaked and ran behind Sakura, realizing that the ninja knew who he was, both Sasuke and Kerlya appeared at her side before the former nodded. "We'll keep that in mind…"
"Raiu the name. That's all you need to know. Aschen, Satoshi come. We're heading to our hotel." The brown haired gennin named Raiu bellowed before the two other Rock gennin jumped to his side. "And Sand ninja in the tree… Stop following me. We'll face each other soon enough."
Sand began to swirl in front of Sakura until a red head appeared before him with a gourd slung onto his back, his gaze focused completely on Raiu. "Are you… Are you the one that mother senses?"
"I see… You are one…" Raiu whispered to himself gazed into the red head's emerald eyes. "Possibly… However our welcome here has been a little worn out. I wouldn't want to give the flash a reason to get involved. Let's go."
Without another word the Rock team left the alley leaving Naruto's team alone with the red headed sand ninja, who now turned to them. Narrowing his eyes for a moment as he sensed the presence of another ninja, a powerful one at that, his emeralds returned to their stoic demeanor as he focused onto the gennin before him. "You three… You are strong as well it seems… I will look forward to killing you."
But before he could disappear without another word, Sasuke growled and stepped before his team. He was getting annoyed at what was going on, not having sensed the two Rock ninja and the red head and especially mad at realizing the Rock had sensed their sensei was in the area. "Who the hell are you?!"
"Gaara…" Was all the red head said before he dispersed into sand as he had to find as he left them to check out the presence he had felt.
Growling in his throat and clenching his fists, Sasuke's Sharingan spun madly for a moment before he took a deep breath and deactivated it. "Alright… Let's go get something to eat. I don't think it is a good idea for us to disperse just yet. We'll need to train some more to stand up to these guys. …Isn't that right, sensei?"
Naruto said nothing as he stood directly behind the fence, leaning against it with his eyes closed. It seemed that they understood that was a yes and headed out with Konohamaru and company to get something to eat. As soon as they did, he frowned as this was not what he had expected.
There would be two demon vessels taking apart of this years exam. …That could not end well. He had to inform Itachi and the Third about this.
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"Perfe ct… Two demon vessels are taking apart of the exams." Yugito groaned as she happened to be in the office, returning from a B-rank mission, when Naruto informed the Third of what he had sensed.
Hizuren could only sigh and nod in agreement. He knew that Suna was sending Gaara and his two siblings to the exam so there was no surprise there… But he knew things were going down hill when he was alerted the Rock had sent two teams… Now one of their gennin happened to be their newest vessel. "I don't know where they got a new vessel from… The other they use to possess from what I know is still on the run."
"And a new vessel of the four tails would have to be about eight years old at the oldest if they caught him without our knowing." Yugito sighed as she scratched her head. "I know I was about two when they sealed Nibi within me after the cat's last vessel past away. I don't think they can be much older then I…"
"They can be." Naruto stated as he closed his eyes and listened to what his mother was telling him. "Mother had another vessel before me… The wife of the First Hokage it seems. She was twenty when mother was sealed within her and she was perfectly fine. It is all a matter of what seals are used in the process."
The Third simply nodded as he knew the women well as the First happened to be his sensei, as was the Second, before he sighed once more. "I still doubt he has the four tails as Jiraiya has been tracking him and has his exact location… However what disturbing to me now is the seven tail vessel went missing a few years back… Almost weeks after Naruto killed the five tail vessel."
"You aren't saying… You believe the Rock caught her instead of the Akatsuki?" Itachi finally broke the silence with narrowed eyes as he didn't like what he was hearing in the slightest. "Wait, what about the eight tails? We haven't heard anything about him since the Cloud's civil war started last year."
"That is a possibility as well. We have not heard from either side and E hasn't really been sending much information to us as we have been covertly supporting the resistance with financial support and supplies." Sarutobi admitted though he highly doubted that as he knew E wouldn't let his brother get captured by the Rock so easily.
"So we're back to square one… We have no clue what demon he possesses as we don't even know which ones the Akatsuki have captured." Yugito hissed as the situation was rather irritating. "Right now there is no way to tell what bijuu he has until he releases its powers and then it could be too late."
"We can only hope that our gennin stay clear of him as of right now." Naruto said as he knew after running into Raiu and Gaara Sasuke would steer his team clear of them at all costs. "Supplying them information about their opponents is against the rules as they have to find that out on their own. We can only tell them there is a second vessel in the exams."
Hizuren nodded in agreement once more as Naruto was dead on. If they were given any information about who was in the exams they would be automatically disqualified unless given by a friendly unit that was also in the exam. "Thank you for informing me of this Naruto… But there is nothing else we can do except watch our own gennin and protect them if we must. You're dismissed"
"That was all I was expecting." Naruto said before tilting his towards Yugito before motioning her to follow as he was slightly hungry.
Yugito could only shrug. For once Naruto was taking the initiate… She wasn't sure if this was a good or bad as he rarely ever did such a thing. And the Third's and Itachi's snickering wasn't helping at all. Oh how she wanted to just punch them in their faces.
Smiling as she walked out the room, following after Naruto, both Sarutobi and Itachi grumbled as both sported newly formed black eyes.
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"This is so annoying… The exam doesn't start till ten. Why are we here at nine?" Kerlya complained as she couldn't see the benefits of arriving a whole hour early as it would simply turn them into targets for those that had already arrived or those that arrived soon after they did.
Sasuke only shrugged as he only came here only as Sakura was already waiting for them. "I don't really know nor do I really care. Sakura has been here for a while so I came and picked you up so that we can be here as a team and not leave her on her own."
"I don't think she would mind that. Looks like she's too absorbed in her book… Hey isn't that the third addition? The one based on the cat eared girl and her fox-like champion?" Kerlya commented as she pointed at Sakura sitting on a bench before the academy reading now a green covered book which piqued her curiosity to which version it was.
Twitching as Sasuke couldn't believe Kerlya knew which books was what number in the series, and especially knew the description of the main characters in the book, the Uchiha simply sighed as he stepped before her before noting Neji was leaning against a pillar nearby. "Hyuuga… Why are you here so early?"
"Tenten and Lee should be getting here soon as well. We're going to be scouting the competition to see if there are any threats, Uchiha." Neji responded blandly as he was still a little miffed from their last spar as Sasuke overwhelmed him quite easily after catching a few flaws in his assault. "Speak of the green beast…"
"YOSH!" Lee burst onto the scene with his exuberant flare and a fist pumped into the air. "It seems that your eternal rival and his team are here as well Neji! …Sakura-chan! Will you go out with me?!"
Everyone had a large bead of sweat falling from their heads as Lee hadn't even noticed Sakura sitting on the bench before he did notice her and hearts filled his eyes. However, Sakura only blinked and pulled her book down to see who spoke. "I'm sorry… Did you say something?"
At that moment, Neji began to snicker as Lee began to over-enthusiastically cry as streams poured down his cheeks. "Oh just like Gai-sensei's hip rival!"
"Wait what?" Sakura scratched her head as she had no clue what had just transpired. "Lee I honestly didn't hear you. I was too absorbed in my reading and you know I can't hear anyone when that happens!"
It seemed Lee was ignoring her this time going on about a rant of youth and bring Sakura back to the light leaving the pink haired girl rather ticked. She was okay with their enthusiasm, her father obviously toning it down before her as it was just a mask, but to ignore her by using the flames of youth…
Lee suddenly found himself in a human-shaped crater and a large bump on the top of his head as Sakura began to rage. "Would you shut up about your youth for a damn second and listen you twit?! How many times do I have to do this to get my point across?! I am oblivious to everything when I'm absorbed into my reading!"
"Lee went off on one of his Sakura rants again?" Tenten grinned as she arrived and parked herself next to Neji, grinning at the scene unfold before her as Neji simply nodded. "Ha! This is so much more fun then rating the creepiness of their sunset genjutsu."
"You actually rate that? I was petrified from it as my Sharingan couldn't pierce it!" Sasuke looked horrified at the thought that they were completely immune to that illusion and somewhat upset that there were something that his Sharingan just couldn't defeat.
"Yep. There isn't much more to do when they start hugging." Tenten commented as Lee ran over to her, covering his head as Sakura shook her fist at him. "Ready to go Lee or have you still haven't learned that she hates being ignored?"
At this Neji couldn't help but bust out laughing as Lee only nodded while looking like a frightened puppy and looking for anyone to console him. He couldn't help himself. The boy acted so tough and secure about everything but one angry rant from Sakura reduced him to this.
"You know… You shouldn't be so loud." A voice caught their attention and immediately everyone was on guard until an elder Konoha ninja with silver hair stepped before them. "You don't want to make yourself targets so quickly, do you?"
Both Neji and Sasuke narrowed their eyes as they immediately caught how many teams had arrived to see what was going on. That definitely wasn't what they had been planning but thankfully neither Gaara nor Raiu was there. Those were the last two people Sasuke wanted to have target them.
"But never mind about that… It happens to many first timers taking the exams. I take some time and experience to learn what to do and what not. Oh, the name is Kabuto by the way." The purple clad gennin introduced himself with a slight smirk. "It just so happens that I have a little information that might help you."
Both Sasuke and Neji narrowed their eyes sharply. While some information from a friendly source was normally something they would think twice about but this was a guy they didn't even know and he was offering them information despite needing to pass the exams as well. Something didn't feel entirely right about him.
"And what is this information that you have that could be so vital for us?" Kerlya quickly questioned as she could see the subtle stiffness of her two comrades and felt like she needed to be on guard just in case.
"Well it just happens that I was able to pull some strings from a chunin friend of mine that is going to be an examiner for this first test… And he managed to get me the data we have on all those taking the test this year. So if there is anyone that you are interested in I could pull up the stat cards for you." Kabuto stated, with a slight blush as he hadn't acquired all this information himself before pulling out a rather large deck of cards.
"No thank you." Lee suddenly spoke for everyone, completely oblivious to his friends' tenseness of the situation. "We will rather do this the honorable way and face our opponents without prior information of their abilities as they do not know of ours! That way everyone's youth may shine in the exam!"
Without knowing it Lee had accidentally, read fortunately, had spared the others from answering and defused the entire situation as Kabuto shrugged. "Have it your way. But I'll let you on a little secret… There are two very dangerous competitors this year. One from the Sand and the other from the Rock. So I would try to avoid their teams if you can."
"I look forward into meeting you later in the exams!" Kabuto chirped as he turned and walked away, waving at them as he did so.
Watching his retreating back until he was no longer visible, Sasuke softly spoke so only the others could hear. "Avoid him at all costs… Something is definitely not right about him."
"Agreed." Was all Neji said as he activated his Byukugan just to keep track of Kabuto, not trusting him in the slightest. "I'm not sure why… I know he wants something from us… And whatever he wants cannot be a good thing."
As the others, Lee and Sakura mainly, looked at the two with some doubts about what the said both Tenten and Kerlya nodded their heads in agreement. Finally the latter spoke with a slight growl. "Something tells me these exams are going to be a lot more trouble than they're worth."
No one doubted her for they knew that was true.
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"So how many do you think your teams are going to do well this year." Asuma commented as all the jounin senseis of those participating in the exams had gathered, at a bar of course.
"Well it depends on the circumstances…" One of the jounin-senseis spoke, Genma if he was correct. "I know my team will do alright but I don't think they'll make it through the second round this year. There is a good bunch of potential chunin this year."
Asuma could only nod as he knew as much and went next as he brought up this subject, and cutting Gai off as he didn't want to hear the man scream out his response. "My group will do fine. I think they'll make the finals if there isn't a preliminary. If that's the case I'm not sure Chouji or Ino will advance. However I know Shika is more then chunin ready."
Waiting for his turn to explode, many were surprised when Gai only spoke enthusiastically and did not yell. "My youthful team will do wonderfully in all portions of this exam, even if there is a preliminary round!"
While many were shocked at how quiet Gai was compared to his normal self, Naruto only could chuckle as he sat by the man, taking a drink from his soda. He would have ordered a drink as he was a jounin and considered an adult but he just didn't like the stuff.
The only reason he was here was that Anko, Yugito, Itachi and Sarutobi had all convinced him to come here and socialize with his fellow jounin. Obviously he wouldn't speak if he could avoid it and would stay around those he knew. Since Gai was his only real friend here, outside Kakashi who he had no clue why he was present, he sat by him and the scarecrow.
Of course noting this silence, Kakashi slightly elbowed him and whispered into his ear. "You'll have to speak sooner or later. Might as well get it over with if you don't want to deal with Kurenai and her friends hounding you. Many of them still think your single and well you know… fair game."
Raising his eyebrow at Kakashi's eyebrow, he very slightly turned his attention to Kurenai and her group of women jounin. He couldn't help but frown as he noted that the girls seemed to be giggling and looking in his direction as others told their stories about how their kids would do.
He found it… Unsettling. It wasn't just girls around his age group that seemed to be fan girls. Some of them happened to be high ranking kunoichi and that could be a little problem. He was quite sure Sasuke's tactics would work on them at all.
"Great… Just great. All I need is adult fan girls." Naruto mumbled to the two men sitting next to him. "I'm beginning to wish I had ordered some booze… It would inebriate me enough so I wouldn't care about any of this. Or at the very least I wouldn't care about the trouble I might get in."
"We can arrange that." Gai grinned as he momentarily dropped his mask and gained a cruel smirk. Almost nobody knew it but Kakashi and Naruto but Gai could be quite deviant and he had the perfect drink in his mind to order the blonde.
Kakashi noted this look and sported an equal grin beneath his mask before shivering as he stood up to greet the blonde girl that entered the bar, looking rather annoyed. "Um… Hi Yugito. I promise we weren't corrupting Naruto at all."
"Ah-huh. Sure, keep lying to yourself." Yugito glared at the man before glaring at Gai, seeing his grin fade, she took her seat next to Naruto as Kakashi sat across from her. "Naruto, whatever you do… Don't ever act like these two. And Gai, shouldn't you behave? You don't want Sakura to hear about this."
Gai winced and simply nodded as he did not want Sakura to know anything about his habits outside of being with his team and their home life. Kakashi only took a swig of his drink as he was relatively safe. She had practically nothing on him outside of causing him bodily harm.
He opted on the side of caution and stayed silent lest he earn her wrath.
Glad the two were now behaving, Yugito the rest of his soda before she heatedly glared at the group of kunoichi eyeing Naruto. It was then she saw someone else and she turned a one-eighty and happily smothered her cheek against his. "Ah it so good to see you!"
"Aren't you the second examiner?" Kakashi finally spoke, somewhat hesitantly to make sure he didn't catch her ire. "Shouldn't you be watching to see how everything unfolds?"
"Nope! I told Lord Hokage I didn't feel good today and Anko took over for me!" Yugito stated in a bubbly sore of manner.
Kakashi immediately backed off as thousands of alarms went off in his head. This kind of mood he had only seen once from her and he knew better to even cross Yugito right now. She was so volatile that she had become freakishly happy and possessive and would not hesitate long to cause bodily harm.
The last time anyone had angered her into such a state was when she learned Itachi threatened her boyfriend for crossing the line… She had mauled him so horrifically that he was in the hospital for two months and the Third had Jiraiya ready to seek out Tsunade's help. And she did it with only one weapon…
A shovel.
"Yugito…" Naruto narrowed his eyes before pushing her away from him as this was a quirk he found out he didn't like about her. It didn't help him that he had not learned about this until recently.
Catching the edge in his voice brought Yugito back to her norm as she grimaced lightly. "Sorry… Today has been really stressful and I needed to come here and relax and then I saw him…"
"It's fine." Naruto spoke softly as he noted Yugito's last boyfriend was there, being a jounin sensei to a team that entered the exams. "Are you still sore about what happened?"
"A little. I'm still upset about how the break up went down… And sometimes I still can't accept it. …I really liked him." Yugito smiled softly back at Naruto before gazing at the black haired jounin who lightly waved at her. "At least we're still friends but…"
A burning sensation filled Naruto's heart. He had not clue what this feeling was but all he knew about it was that he felt a lot of anger as he saw Yugito's pain but for some reason he felt hurt about this. He wasn't sure why as he had nothing to do with this as at the time he thought Yeizu was a good man.
"It's called jealousy, Naruto." Kakashi suddenly spoke out, catching both Naruto and Yugito completely by surprise. "I know you well enough and now what you are feeling. It's jealousy as you are jealous that they had such a close relationship and it doesn't seem you do and hate towards him for hurting her when they broke up."
Naruto somewhat felt like reaching over and strangling Kakashi for reading his emotions while he also felt grateful for at least now knowing what the hell this was he was going through. Now he had the problem of how to deal with it as this was the first time he ever had this particular feeling.
Yugito just wanted to reach out and kiss the man. Not that she would kiss him as that would get Naruto jealous… Wait, that might be a good thing? The more jealous he was the more his feelings for her would come out and then maybe this could actually work between them!
Laughing at Naruto's expense while Yugito gained a mysterious grin, the blonde simply twitching at them, Kakashi scooted over on the bench as Asuma and Kurenai joined them before the latter spoke. "So… Is it true that you two are going out?"
"Probably." Naruto cryptically answered as he wasn't going to say he was or wasn't. Right now their relationship was in the 'We'll see' category.
Twitching at the prince as he showed no emotion as he said so, Kurenai was ready to pry more when Yugito spoke out to at least give the woman information. "We could be… But we could not be. Neither of us really want to rush into a relationship right now so we both agreed to keep each other company but not as a couple."
"So… He's single then?" Kurenai licked her lips at the thought of the Prince being available as there were many women, herself included, that wouldn't mind taking shots at the young boy. Almost every girl had to admit they would to.
They wanted to be the one that melted the heart of the Ice Prince of Konoha.
Narrowing her eyes, ready to fight as she actually wanted more in their relationship then what they had at the moment, Yugito refrained from hissing. If this woman dared to hit on Naruto… "Naruto?! What's wrong?!"
"My kunai… It's active!" Naruto suddenly growled out before he faded into a flicker of yellow light so quickly that it was almost blinding to those in the bar.
They all knew what this meant and were on high alert. Something was horribly wrong.
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"Two earth scrolls? God dammit." Kerlya groaned out as Sasuke brought back the scroll, somewhat annoyed that he went to take a leak and got ambushed.
However there was one very humorous thing that happened that made the Uchiha chuckle as he pulled up his zipper. His stream landed right in that attacker's face, particularly…
His mouth.
That guy wouldn't be able to get that taste out of his mouth for a while. And even when he did… He would never forget the memory.
EVER.
"Pfft… I thought three on one would be a challenge. I took care of those guys without even taking a single hit." Sasuke huffed though he wasn't going to admit it was only two on one. The one guy was out soon as he took a drink of his urine as he had become so distracted by trying to spit it out and dry heaving.
"Well relieving yourself onto him probably had something to do with it." Kerlya humorously grinned as she smelt Sasuke's scent on the one guy's face.
"Meh, it got the job done. We might be able to trade with another team or put them in a position where they have to switch a scroll with us." Sasuke shrugged his shoulders as what worked worked. Simple as that.
Shaking her head, trying to get rid of the image of Sasuke taking a leak on the pour gennin's face, Sakura shivered and pointed ahead. "We should keep moving forward. There's a river not too far from this position and it would be best if we trail it for a while."
"I agree… But we should keep a little distance from it too." Kerlya commented as it was a good idea to stay by water but had it's down sides as well. "But we have to take in the fact that others will be thinking the same and if we run into one of the Rain teams or someone with a high water affinity we could be helping them out."
Listening to their points, Sasuke nodded in agreement. "We'll trail the river from a distance after we fill our canteens and catch some fish when we get there. We'll stop in a few hours to scout out the area and rest before continuing at midnight to catch others by surprise."
"Be prepared for combat and have your weapons ready incase we cross paths with another team… And if we should run into Raiu's, Gaara's or Kabuto's team… Hope we can outrun them. I don't like our odds against them." Sasuke finished with a slight tremble as all three really made him feel uncomfortable.
"What about that grass guy?" Kerlya worried as she could smell there was something not right about him. "After Anko scraped your cheek with that kunai… The way that guy moved… It was not natural."
"I agree… We should avoid them as well. I don't scare like I use to and… He gave me goose bumps. There was something not right about him." Sakura added as that gennin really made her nervous just from a glance.
Only nodding as the gennin threw him as well, Sasuke sighed before slicking his hand through his hair. "His team to. Anyone else is free game and I hate to say this but if we run into another Konoha team outside of Neji's… We'll take them out if they have a heaven and won't give it to us."
Both Sakura and Kerlya winced at such a confrontation but knew it could be necessary for them to make the next round. Only nodding, they flanked Sasuke he took to the trees and headed towards the river.
But soon after Sasuke was getting a chill in his spine. Something wasn't right… It felt very much like the time Hidan and Kakuzu struck except it was not so oppressive as the pressure they admitted. It was tolerable in comparison.
He was glad he wasn't the only one that had noticed it as he saw Sakura shiver as Kerlya's eyes darted from side to side, looking for someone to appear. Pulling to a stop, Sasuke simply motioned and formed a triangle and looked around for the reason of the dread.
"This… This doesn't feel good. It feels like it was back in the Wave." Kerlya shivered as she was the most vulnerable to the dread with her heighten senses.
"It is… Something tells me this isn't coming from a gennin but something more." Sakura bit her lip to keep the fear from over taking her as she had only felt this kind of force once before and she had no other experience against such killing intent.
While he had come to that conclusion as well Sasuke did not want to hear that. It was one thing to make comparisons and think something for yourself but to have it verified by another… Ugh, that made him have to shiver to remove the doubt from his being.
Activating his Sharingan to give him better vision and check to see if anything was out of the ordinary, Sasuke gritted his teeth as he could see nothing but knew there was indeed something there. "Be careful… Something is coming but I do not know…"
All the foliage suddenly burst into chaos as a powerful gale of concentrated wind exploded before him and enveloped all three of them. Barely seeing this attack coming, he managed to stay his ground thanks to the tree climbing exercise. The same could not be said for Sakura and Kerlya.
Yet it seemed luck was upon them as while they were blown back a little, Sakura's sheer will kept her in position as Kerlya drove her steel claws into a nearby tree to keep from being blown away. Finally the wind burst ended and Sasuke jumped back into position with them as the grass ninja jumped on a tree branch before him while the other two kept going, passing them and quickly cutting off any possible retreat.
"Shit… This isn't good." Sasuke bitterly commented as there was hardly any time to react as it seemed they had planned on attacking them. "We don't have a choice here… We have to fight him."
"Well isn't that impressive…" The grass gennin mused as all three had kept their ground from his attack. "It seems all three of you are exceptional ninja. But I wonder… If you can stop this!"
The intent to kill rose significantly as their eyes locked with their attackers. They muscles tensed before images began flashing before their eyes. Images of their own death. Movement was suddenly cut and nothing they could do could force them to move.
Sasuke was the only exception. The tomoe in his eyes swirled for only a moment before the illusion bestowed on him was undone. The intent to kill still remained but it was through eye contact and the fear that allowed the genjutsu to work.
And no genjutsu, besides their own clan's fourth stage illusion, could defeat the Sharingan. Maybe confuse and deceive it with illusions... But never defeat it.
Snapping Sakura and Kerlya out with a slap to their cheeks, Sasuke narrowed his eyes as he gazed at the ninja before him. "This guy… There is something seriously wrong about him but… If we beat him the other two will probably let us go. Focus all your attacks onto him."
"Shall I start then?" Sakura a very, very small smirk as she popped her knuckles on both fists as she gazed at the enemy grass ninja.
Sasuke and Kerlya shivered. That tiny smirk was a result of Naruto's training… Or perhaps it was something that was always there. But they both knew what it meant. She was going to enjoy every ounce of pain she was going to inflict upon this unfortunate gennin.
They did not envy him.
The bark beneath her cracked as she rocketed off and was almost upon the grass ninja. Looking at her with surprise at the show of speed he became further surprised as a fist connect to his cheek.
In the very next moment all he knew was the pain of his jaw bone dislodging from its hinges as he took soaring to a nearby tree trunk and smashed into it, the said tree groaning from the pressure.
But he easily threw this off as if he was use to such pain and rolled out of the next blow as Sakura landed onto the spot he once possessed. Throwing what seemed to be a gentle finger thrust, Sakura barely moved under the strike and hissed in pain as it graced her shoulder. Whatever he was doing with his chakra almost burned her skin just from the slight contact and without hesitating she threw an upper cut for his sternum.
To her surprise he used her shoulders and pushed off her to leap away from the blow and onto a branch, forcing the girl onto her knees from the amount of pressure he placed onto her. Narrowing his eyes as she was about to spring forth and plow into him, he jumped into the air only to hear a rustle of the leaves around him.
There was no way to avoid Kerlya fang as she spun into him only for him to suddenly dissolve into mud as if he had never been there in the first place. Landing besides Sakura, both girls looked around to see where he had placed himself before hearing the groan of wood below them.
It was too late. The grass ninja burst from the thick branch with two kunai in hand and aimed for the kill.
A clang of metal was heard as at that exact moment Sasuke appeared right in front of him with two kunai of his own knocking the blades from the grass ninja's grip. Ducking down, not really expecting a blow he used the momentum of his arms and swung his blades to the ninja's ribs only to see his knee coming straight for his face.
Sasuke didn't flinch as he ripped the kunai through his opponent's rib cages and watched the knee dissolve into mud, only a centimeter from his face. Standing up, forming a triangle position with his girls, in a non possessive (read sexual) way, the Uchiha's eyes gazed the sight before him. "Sakura, I'm going to engage in close range. I want you to back me up and Kerlya I need you and your partner to provide us mid range assistance and attack if you see an opening."
"Got it!" Kerlya barked as she fed Ralts a pill and quickly turned him into a clone of her. "We'll watch your back!"
"Sakura, let's go!" Sasuke ordered as he caught sight of their attacker and took off up a tree, Sakura in quick pursuit as Kerlya slowly paced behind them.
The grass ninja was caught slightly off guard. Soon as he emerged from a branch directly above the Konoha gennin Sasuke and Sakura had rushed up to separate trees and quickly engaged him.
Slipping to the side of Sasuke's blow, he ducked beneath a fist from Sakura and kicked her back as he struck a gentle finger tap to Sasuke's gut. Sasuke rolled back from the blow, hissing as Sakura had done before but was given no chance to recover as he was on him in an instant only to dodge a bladed claw to his face.
Using chakra in her hands to grab a hold of the branch, Kerlya flipped up and on the branch and growled as Ralts joined Sakura on the other side. "This isn't going to work. This guy wants to engage you for some reason. The entire time up his focus was only on you. We need to attack him all as a team."
"Great… Another enemy of the Uchiha. Typical." Sasuke only grunted as he stood to his feet, the skin of his stomach burning from the grass ninja's blow. "He seems to partially emulate the Hyuuga's style but the difference is he is targeting the skin and burning it with his… poisonous chakra."
"Poison?" Sakura narrowed her eyes before her hand glowed a soft green and checked her shoulder. "Don't worry about it! The body natural chakra dispels it after a minute as the amount of his chakra getting out is minute a best."
"A medic? …Now that is interesting." The grass nin mused to himself once more as he turned his attention from Sasuke to the pink haired girl before narrowing his eyes.
Something wasn't right about her. The impact of her blow was far greater than anticipated and she was quick, a trait all medics shared, and she seemed to have a very good grip of medical jutsu. These traits led his thought trail off to a particular blonde haired woman.
That nearly cost him his head.
Jumping down from Kerlya's and Ralts' attack, the grass nin landed on the branch below for he dodged a hail of kunai from both Sakura and Sasuke. But each was poorly thrown as if… If they weren't planned for him! Quiet clever and excellent team work. They didn't even have to communicate for this assault.
"NOW!" Sakura yelled as she pulled tightly on the ninja wire attached to the weaponry along with Sasuke before going through a series of hand seals after the wires wrapped around their opponent tightly.
"KATON: RYUKA!"
Two streams of fire poured from their mouths taking the shape of a small dragon as they trailed down the wires, seeking their target. But it seemed outside of a light struggle the grass nin didn't even bother to break free of the wires or use a substitution to get out of the flames as they engulfed him.
Kerlya narrowed her eyes as she listened to the scream, drawing forth her senseis kunai. Something was horribly off about this entire situation. This guy they were fighting. His friends weren't helping him and instead they were just standing back and watching. But more importantly it was the feeling he gave her and thanks to her heighten senses she knew they would die if this kept on.
This man felt like that of their senseis. And that frightened her.
Both Sakura and Sasuke caught this and were about to say something when their blood ran cold as the grass nin's voice changed as a loud cackle was heard. "So strong and so young… You both will make perfect vessels for me. An Uchiha and a Tsunade reborn. You two or mine!"
Two heads suddenly shot out of the debris the flames had caused, aimed straight for both Sakura and Sasuke without any warning and it was upon them. But in a flicker of golden light the two heads fell and dispersed into mud.
"Orochimaru!" Naruto growled out as his anger at the man that caused his human mother figure so much pain in her life. "Your presence here in the leaf is unwelcome! I shall take your head for this!"
"Kukuku… Do you really think that I'm still here, Naruto-kun?" Orochimaru's raspy voice surrounded them all as the man used his ventriloquism to his advantage. "I've already retreated my boy… Soon as I saw that girl with your special kunai. I won't die here today and there will always be another chance to mark them later."
"Besides my boy… You are valuable to me to. Take care of those annoying black and red flees for me, will you?" Orochimaru laughter began to die down before it disperse altogether as the man truly was no longer there, probably having used a shadow clone to speak with him in the first place.
Keeping his rage in check and suppressing Kyuubi's chakra, thanks to his wooden bracelets, Naruto returned to his passive form and sighed. "Stay here for a moment… I clear this with the Third and Anko so you can continue. This should not have happened and you will not be punished for my intervention here. …It was necessary."
With a flash Naruto was gone to report this encounter. Oh Hizuren would not be happy to hear about this at all. He didn't just want the Sharingan. And that was what disturbed him.
How did he know what made Sakura special?
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"But before I get to that I have a few warnings as I have received some rather vital information from Jiraiya." Sarutobi mentioned before he allowed his jounin to admit their teams to the exams. "It seems that Orochimaru has been snooping around here of late… I'm not sure what he wants but whatever it is I can assume it is not good for the leaf."
"I want all of you to be vigilant and if you see any signs of something strange report it to me or either of my head ninja and we'll deal with it properly." At this Naruto and Itachi's gaze met for a moment before they simply nodded as they knew what to do if they ran into the snake.
Noticing his two head ninja's gaze, Sarutobi held in his smirk as his former student would not be getting whatever it was he wanted. "But I want to reassure all of you that the exams will be safe and well simply will tighten security and have one of our top four Anbu captains placed at each gate."
He resisted the urge to say that each gate had the Hiraishin seal placed on them as that would placate his ninja far too much for his liking. "Outside of that, there is a bit of issue with the exam as well. There will be at least one jinchuuriki participating in these exams as well as a few teams from the Rock."
Hizuren immediately knew that there would be a few less teams entering the exam this year. The threat of a demon vessel was not to be taking lightly even if the carrier was only a gennin in rank. There was always the chance of the demon emerging in battle…
Then there happened to be the Rock gennin, which he had to wonder why they finally decided to compete in a chunin exam in Suna or Konoha, and it was known that when a leaf team ran into a Rock team one did not come out alive. So because of that the rookies wouldn't enter along with a few of the more experienced teams.
"I will ask you all to only enter you team if you believe they are ready to take the next step, regardless of this information. If you know their training has been sound there is nothing to worry about." Sarutobi sternly spoke as he gazed at a few of his now more fearful jounin teachers as only a few looked confident.
And the jounin with the most confidence, the one that didn't show a lick of it, stepped forward. "I have faith in my team and the training and abilities I've bestowed upon them. It will take more then another like me to stop them from their goal. They are more then ready for this."
Sarutobi couldn't refrain from smirking this time as he could see many of his jounin regaining their faith in their teachings. These exams would be exciting to watch unfold.
Now he simply hoped the Rock wasn't planning something…
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Panting heavily, Sasuke could not believe what was happening… He was losing this fight and badly at that. Losing was not something that happened very often for him. He usually only got whipped when he was facing off against his sister, brother, mother and his sensei.
But to make this entire matter even worse for him… He was losing to Sakura.
Okay, he was the first to admit that he knew her strengths and weaknesses and she knew his. And he had to admit this fight was close and slowly was turning his direction but this was a timed spar and to his misfortune his sensei was taking score like it was some kind of game, which perhaps to him it was.
But Sasuke also had to admit, though he hated doing so, but the girl over these last few months ever since team seven became gennin she had improved by far wider margin then he had. While Naruto had trained her well in the first month in taijutsu, and even a little during the Wave, now that she was reunited with her father… Her speed, power and everything imaginable had gone through the roof.
This wasn't forgetting the fact that she was still learning underneath Naruto in seals and ninjutsu, two elements combined with her extraordinary taijutsu were very deadly now that he thought about it. Then there was one last thing… He was just barely faster then she was so he had to use genjutsu just to get out of close range with her.
"Alright, that's enough!" Naruto called the fight impressed by what he had seen as both were fighting as hard as they could. "I will have to give this match to Sakura as you couldn't keep her out of class range, Sasuke, and you didn't score many points when you got some distance from her. Still, at the end you were slowly regaining control and if this had lasted a minute or two longer you would have taken control."
While Sasuke wanted to growl he could keep fighting, he knew not to argue against Naruto. Their spars were not to last over five minutes and to allow him to evaluate them properly. And one lost could hurt him and his pride wasn't bruised too badly.
He still had won every spar up until this point and his confidence was only boosted as he knew he could still defeat her if for some reason they truly had to fight one another. So with a smirk he turned his head to Sakura. "Good match… Sakura."
Taking deep breathes, exerting herself just as much as Sasuke had been during the fight, Sakura could only smile at the Uchiha. "Thank you… If that had lasted any longer I know you would have on unless I got in a good hit. I don't have your kind of endurance, stamina or even chakra at that."
Off to the side of Naruto, somewhat banged up as she had fought Sasuke and Sakura earlier in the day and had lost to both of them, Kerlya sighed. She didn't like that she was the weak link of their unit but in all fairness… She probably would be the strongest on almost any other team she could be put on.
Naruto's training had made each one of them powerful and she knew that. The fact that she could stand her ground against both in two matches in a thirty minute span proved that as she doubted that many of the other gennin could last that long against them. So she had to smirk at that.
Looking over at his gennin, Naruto could only smirk as they had changed drastically since he took them as his team. They were more then ready for the chunin exams in a few days. Not only that, their appearances had changed as well… Though Sakura's reason was obvious… Her dad.
While she hated the idea of a spandex a full body suit did have its advantages so she took to wearing one and of course it was pink with white sakura pedals hovering over her chest.
Her hair had been cut as she Gai had convinced her long hair could get in the way of a close range fighter, though he had asked her instead to braid it if she wanted to keep her hair. There were also her fingerless gloves with a sheet of metal on the knuckles to make her punches hit harder and long black steel toe combat boots to keep anyone from stomping on her toes.
Sasuke outfit changed a little too. He had gone with a plain white tee and a grey flak jacket over it with his clan's fan on the back, saying he would replace it when he got his chunin vest after the exams. He also wore black shorts that reached over his knees and wore bindings for his knees down to the arc of his foot.
Kerlya really hadn't changed as she still wore her grey jacket closed so no one could see what she wore beneath. The only difference was that she was wearing a white pair of pants and she had two specialized pouches on her waist for a weapon she had been learning on how to use.
Shaking his head, wondering how he hadn't noticed their attire changes before, Naruto finally pulled three sheets of paper out. "I believe you know what these are so take them. Remember to sign your name so they'll let you stay once they take your slips from you. The exam will start on Saturday at the academy by ten at room three-o-one. So you need to make sure you are there before that time so they don't kick you out before it even starts."
As each took their slip, Naruto sighed as he looked over at the three. He would actually miss them during the exams, something before hand he would have scoff about. "I need to inform you not to use my kunai during this exam unless you are absolutely sure your life is in danger and there is nothing else you can do… Because if I help you at any time you will be disqualified."
"Hey, we won't need it. I sparred against Neji the other day and I kicked his ass and he's one of the strongest gennin in this village for sure." Sasuke triumphantly grinned as he had become go sparring friends with the Hyuuga since their teams were introduced and started training with the other a couple times a week.
"There's going to be other shinobi of course, but we're confident that we can hold our own. You don't have to worry about us so much, sensei." Kerlya added as she felt they would be fine and that if there was any one great threat they would simply gang up on that person like they did against Haku.
"There is a jinchuuriki entering this exam, you three." Naruto frowned at them and got their attention with the mention of another demon vessel in Konoha.
"I can't tell you who he is as I have only sensed the presence of another bijuu within the village walls just recently. It doesn't feel very powerful so I doubt it is Hachibi or what's left of the higher ranked bijuu since Nibi is in Yugito and Gobi is floating in the abyss. However do not take anyone lightly as they could be the vessel and… Then you will be dead." He morbidly continued once as he caught their attention.
As each gulped, weary of even taking these exams, Naruto decided to brightened their mood a little. "But as long as you stay aware of your surroundings you won't have much to worry from him. He'll be too focused on passing these exams to even bother with you as you three blow by them… As my training makes their tests rather simple."
It was at this moment Naruto realized his plan on making his team feeling better back fired. For all intent and purposes it should have calmed them down but his training had kind of warped their fragile little minds. And by kind of he meant completely.
It just made them implode and Sasuke was the first to scream at him, shaking the collar of his shirt. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOUR TRAINING IS MORE DIFFICULT THEN THE CHUNIN EXAMS?!"
"YOU'VE PUT US THROUGH HELL JUST SO THAT WHEN WE GET TO THE REAL THING IT WON'T EVEN AFFECT US!" Kerlya screamed as she grabbed Naruto's right arm and began to pull on it, trying to rip it out of his socket it seemed.
The next thing Naruto knew was that Kerlya lifted and threw Naruto into the air and Sasuke kicked him back down… Straight into Sakura.
"SENSEI YOU'RE AN ASS!" Sakura summed up all her and her team mates' words into one simple as her fist met Naruto's cheek and drove him into the ground, creating a ten foot crater in the process.
But too all of their horror 'Naruto' simply went poof before a whistle from behind them caught all of their attention. "Wow… Naruto-sensei tricked you again! He's the best!"
All three twitched as they turned around to see Konohamaru and his gang bragging that the three of them had been fooled by his clone. None of them knew why the runt was there in the first place and they really didn't care about why or any punishment they would get for attacking the grandson of the Third as he provided a nice scapegoat.
With a simple roar, all three lunged at the boy and the grandson of the Third knew immediately he was in danger and jumped out of his box with his partners in crime, Udon and Moegi.
"AH! NARUTO-SENSEI! HELP US! THEY'RE GOING TO KILL US!" Konohamaru screamed for help as he took off running with Moegi and Udon in hope that Naruto would take care of his psychotic team as they chased them down, narrowly avoiding the punch from Sakura that destroyed the earth below, Sasuke's flames that burned their box into a crisp and Kerlya's claws as they shredded through the fence above his head.
There was no answer as it seemed either Naruto wasn't there or he was enjoying watching as the scene unfolded. The first seemed somewhat likely but due to the few months Naruto had been a sensei… The second was probably exactly what he was doing.
It didn't matter how long it seemed that he ran or the fact that Moegi and Udon had been overtaken by Sasuke and Kerlya, Konohamaru was still running for his life as Sakura was hot on his tail. The fact that he was outrunning her wasn't lost on him but at the moment he really didn't care about that.
But it all came crashing down in a halt as he smashed into something. However that something happened to be rather hard and made an annoyed grunt and happened to be another person. Unfortunately that person happened to be a foreign ninja… A gennin from the Rock.
Sakura skidded to a halt and narrowed her eyes as she caught the symbol on his forehead protector and immediately slid into her stance if he proved to be hostel. At least Konohamaru was quiet and saying anything otherwise things could get…
"Hey! Watch where you're going!" Konohamaru yelled out completely oblivious that he just ran into a foreign ninja, one that happened to belong to a village that they did not get along with, while Sakura face planted into the ground at his stupidity.
Growling as he was just going to let this go as the kid accidentally ran into him, running for his life as he more then likely did something unthinkable to the girl, the Rock gennin lifted Konohamaru by his collar and glared into his eyes. "Brat… Shut the fuck up or I will beat the hell out of you! You ran into me and you are at fault, got that!"
Now Konohamaru knew the danger he was in as this time he could see the stone on the headband and knew what kind of ninja he was dealing with. So he simply vigorously shook his head before he was dropped on his rear before the Rock gennin turned his attention to Sakura. "And you girl, be lucky I'm nicer then either of my team mates. They would have done something to this boy… Seeing he's the Third's grandson."
As Konohamaru squeaked and ran behind Sakura, realizing that the ninja knew who he was, both Sasuke and Kerlya appeared at her side before the former nodded. "We'll keep that in mind…"
"Raiu the name. That's all you need to know. Aschen, Satoshi come. We're heading to our hotel." The brown haired gennin named Raiu bellowed before the two other Rock gennin jumped to his side. "And Sand ninja in the tree… Stop following me. We'll face each other soon enough."
Sand began to swirl in front of Sakura until a red head appeared before him with a gourd slung onto his back, his gaze focused completely on Raiu. "Are you… Are you the one that mother senses?"
"I see… You are one…" Raiu whispered to himself gazed into the red head's emerald eyes. "Possibly… However our welcome here has been a little worn out. I wouldn't want to give the flash a reason to get involved. Let's go."
Without another word the Rock team left the alley leaving Naruto's team alone with the red headed sand ninja, who now turned to them. Narrowing his eyes for a moment as he sensed the presence of another ninja, a powerful one at that, his emeralds returned to their stoic demeanor as he focused onto the gennin before him. "You three… You are strong as well it seems… I will look forward to killing you."
But before he could disappear without another word, Sasuke growled and stepped before his team. He was getting annoyed at what was going on, not having sensed the two Rock ninja and the red head and especially mad at realizing the Rock had sensed their sensei was in the area. "Who the hell are you?!"
"Gaara…" Was all the red head said before he dispersed into sand as he had to find as he left them to check out the presence he had felt.
Growling in his throat and clenching his fists, Sasuke's Sharingan spun madly for a moment before he took a deep breath and deactivated it. "Alright… Let's go get something to eat. I don't think it is a good idea for us to disperse just yet. We'll need to train some more to stand up to these guys. …Isn't that right, sensei?"
Naruto said nothing as he stood directly behind the fence, leaning against it with his eyes closed. It seemed that they understood that was a yes and headed out with Konohamaru and company to get something to eat. As soon as they did, he frowned as this was not what he had expected.
There would be two demon vessels taking apart of this years exam. …That could not end well. He had to inform Itachi and the Third about this.
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"Perfe ct… Two demon vessels are taking apart of the exams." Yugito groaned as she happened to be in the office, returning from a B-rank mission, when Naruto informed the Third of what he had sensed.
Hizuren could only sigh and nod in agreement. He knew that Suna was sending Gaara and his two siblings to the exam so there was no surprise there… But he knew things were going down hill when he was alerted the Rock had sent two teams… Now one of their gennin happened to be their newest vessel. "I don't know where they got a new vessel from… The other they use to possess from what I know is still on the run."
"And a new vessel of the four tails would have to be about eight years old at the oldest if they caught him without our knowing." Yugito sighed as she scratched her head. "I know I was about two when they sealed Nibi within me after the cat's last vessel past away. I don't think they can be much older then I…"
"They can be." Naruto stated as he closed his eyes and listened to what his mother was telling him. "Mother had another vessel before me… The wife of the First Hokage it seems. She was twenty when mother was sealed within her and she was perfectly fine. It is all a matter of what seals are used in the process."
The Third simply nodded as he knew the women well as the First happened to be his sensei, as was the Second, before he sighed once more. "I still doubt he has the four tails as Jiraiya has been tracking him and has his exact location… However what disturbing to me now is the seven tail vessel went missing a few years back… Almost weeks after Naruto killed the five tail vessel."
"You aren't saying… You believe the Rock caught her instead of the Akatsuki?" Itachi finally broke the silence with narrowed eyes as he didn't like what he was hearing in the slightest. "Wait, what about the eight tails? We haven't heard anything about him since the Cloud's civil war started last year."
"That is a possibility as well. We have not heard from either side and E hasn't really been sending much information to us as we have been covertly supporting the resistance with financial support and supplies." Sarutobi admitted though he highly doubted that as he knew E wouldn't let his brother get captured by the Rock so easily.
"So we're back to square one… We have no clue what demon he possesses as we don't even know which ones the Akatsuki have captured." Yugito hissed as the situation was rather irritating. "Right now there is no way to tell what bijuu he has until he releases its powers and then it could be too late."
"We can only hope that our gennin stay clear of him as of right now." Naruto said as he knew after running into Raiu and Gaara Sasuke would steer his team clear of them at all costs. "Supplying them information about their opponents is against the rules as they have to find that out on their own. We can only tell them there is a second vessel in the exams."
Hizuren nodded in agreement once more as Naruto was dead on. If they were given any information about who was in the exams they would be automatically disqualified unless given by a friendly unit that was also in the exam. "Thank you for informing me of this Naruto… But there is nothing else we can do except watch our own gennin and protect them if we must. You're dismissed"
"That was all I was expecting." Naruto said before tilting his towards Yugito before motioning her to follow as he was slightly hungry.
Yugito could only shrug. For once Naruto was taking the initiate… She wasn't sure if this was a good or bad as he rarely ever did such a thing. And the Third's and Itachi's snickering wasn't helping at all. Oh how she wanted to just punch them in their faces.
Smiling as she walked out the room, following after Naruto, both Sarutobi and Itachi grumbled as both sported newly formed black eyes.
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"This is so annoying… The exam doesn't start till ten. Why are we here at nine?" Kerlya complained as she couldn't see the benefits of arriving a whole hour early as it would simply turn them into targets for those that had already arrived or those that arrived soon after they did.
Sasuke only shrugged as he only came here only as Sakura was already waiting for them. "I don't really know nor do I really care. Sakura has been here for a while so I came and picked you up so that we can be here as a team and not leave her on her own."
"I don't think she would mind that. Looks like she's too absorbed in her book… Hey isn't that the third addition? The one based on the cat eared girl and her fox-like champion?" Kerlya commented as she pointed at Sakura sitting on a bench before the academy reading now a green covered book which piqued her curiosity to which version it was.
Twitching as Sasuke couldn't believe Kerlya knew which books was what number in the series, and especially knew the description of the main characters in the book, the Uchiha simply sighed as he stepped before her before noting Neji was leaning against a pillar nearby. "Hyuuga… Why are you here so early?"
"Tenten and Lee should be getting here soon as well. We're going to be scouting the competition to see if there are any threats, Uchiha." Neji responded blandly as he was still a little miffed from their last spar as Sasuke overwhelmed him quite easily after catching a few flaws in his assault. "Speak of the green beast…"
"YOSH!" Lee burst onto the scene with his exuberant flare and a fist pumped into the air. "It seems that your eternal rival and his team are here as well Neji! …Sakura-chan! Will you go out with me?!"
Everyone had a large bead of sweat falling from their heads as Lee hadn't even noticed Sakura sitting on the bench before he did notice her and hearts filled his eyes. However, Sakura only blinked and pulled her book down to see who spoke. "I'm sorry… Did you say something?"
At that moment, Neji began to snicker as Lee began to over-enthusiastically cry as streams poured down his cheeks. "Oh just like Gai-sensei's hip rival!"
"Wait what?" Sakura scratched her head as she had no clue what had just transpired. "Lee I honestly didn't hear you. I was too absorbed in my reading and you know I can't hear anyone when that happens!"
It seemed Lee was ignoring her this time going on about a rant of youth and bring Sakura back to the light leaving the pink haired girl rather ticked. She was okay with their enthusiasm, her father obviously toning it down before her as it was just a mask, but to ignore her by using the flames of youth…
Lee suddenly found himself in a human-shaped crater and a large bump on the top of his head as Sakura began to rage. "Would you shut up about your youth for a damn second and listen you twit?! How many times do I have to do this to get my point across?! I am oblivious to everything when I'm absorbed into my reading!"
"Lee went off on one of his Sakura rants again?" Tenten grinned as she arrived and parked herself next to Neji, grinning at the scene unfold before her as Neji simply nodded. "Ha! This is so much more fun then rating the creepiness of their sunset genjutsu."
"You actually rate that? I was petrified from it as my Sharingan couldn't pierce it!" Sasuke looked horrified at the thought that they were completely immune to that illusion and somewhat upset that there were something that his Sharingan just couldn't defeat.
"Yep. There isn't much more to do when they start hugging." Tenten commented as Lee ran over to her, covering his head as Sakura shook her fist at him. "Ready to go Lee or have you still haven't learned that she hates being ignored?"
At this Neji couldn't help but bust out laughing as Lee only nodded while looking like a frightened puppy and looking for anyone to console him. He couldn't help himself. The boy acted so tough and secure about everything but one angry rant from Sakura reduced him to this.
"You know… You shouldn't be so loud." A voice caught their attention and immediately everyone was on guard until an elder Konoha ninja with silver hair stepped before them. "You don't want to make yourself targets so quickly, do you?"
Both Neji and Sasuke narrowed their eyes as they immediately caught how many teams had arrived to see what was going on. That definitely wasn't what they had been planning but thankfully neither Gaara nor Raiu was there. Those were the last two people Sasuke wanted to have target them.
"But never mind about that… It happens to many first timers taking the exams. I take some time and experience to learn what to do and what not. Oh, the name is Kabuto by the way." The purple clad gennin introduced himself with a slight smirk. "It just so happens that I have a little information that might help you."
Both Sasuke and Neji narrowed their eyes sharply. While some information from a friendly source was normally something they would think twice about but this was a guy they didn't even know and he was offering them information despite needing to pass the exams as well. Something didn't feel entirely right about him.
"And what is this information that you have that could be so vital for us?" Kerlya quickly questioned as she could see the subtle stiffness of her two comrades and felt like she needed to be on guard just in case.
"Well it just happens that I was able to pull some strings from a chunin friend of mine that is going to be an examiner for this first test… And he managed to get me the data we have on all those taking the test this year. So if there is anyone that you are interested in I could pull up the stat cards for you." Kabuto stated, with a slight blush as he hadn't acquired all this information himself before pulling out a rather large deck of cards.
"No thank you." Lee suddenly spoke for everyone, completely oblivious to his friends' tenseness of the situation. "We will rather do this the honorable way and face our opponents without prior information of their abilities as they do not know of ours! That way everyone's youth may shine in the exam!"
Without knowing it Lee had accidentally, read fortunately, had spared the others from answering and defused the entire situation as Kabuto shrugged. "Have it your way. But I'll let you on a little secret… There are two very dangerous competitors this year. One from the Sand and the other from the Rock. So I would try to avoid their teams if you can."
"I look forward into meeting you later in the exams!" Kabuto chirped as he turned and walked away, waving at them as he did so.
Watching his retreating back until he was no longer visible, Sasuke softly spoke so only the others could hear. "Avoid him at all costs… Something is definitely not right about him."
"Agreed." Was all Neji said as he activated his Byukugan just to keep track of Kabuto, not trusting him in the slightest. "I'm not sure why… I know he wants something from us… And whatever he wants cannot be a good thing."
As the others, Lee and Sakura mainly, looked at the two with some doubts about what the said both Tenten and Kerlya nodded their heads in agreement. Finally the latter spoke with a slight growl. "Something tells me these exams are going to be a lot more trouble than they're worth."
No one doubted her for they knew that was true.
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"So how many do you think your teams are going to do well this year." Asuma commented as all the jounin senseis of those participating in the exams had gathered, at a bar of course.
"Well it depends on the circumstances…" One of the jounin-senseis spoke, Genma if he was correct. "I know my team will do alright but I don't think they'll make it through the second round this year. There is a good bunch of potential chunin this year."
Asuma could only nod as he knew as much and went next as he brought up this subject, and cutting Gai off as he didn't want to hear the man scream out his response. "My group will do fine. I think they'll make the finals if there isn't a preliminary. If that's the case I'm not sure Chouji or Ino will advance. However I know Shika is more then chunin ready."
Waiting for his turn to explode, many were surprised when Gai only spoke enthusiastically and did not yell. "My youthful team will do wonderfully in all portions of this exam, even if there is a preliminary round!"
While many were shocked at how quiet Gai was compared to his normal self, Naruto only could chuckle as he sat by the man, taking a drink from his soda. He would have ordered a drink as he was a jounin and considered an adult but he just didn't like the stuff.
The only reason he was here was that Anko, Yugito, Itachi and Sarutobi had all convinced him to come here and socialize with his fellow jounin. Obviously he wouldn't speak if he could avoid it and would stay around those he knew. Since Gai was his only real friend here, outside Kakashi who he had no clue why he was present, he sat by him and the scarecrow.
Of course noting this silence, Kakashi slightly elbowed him and whispered into his ear. "You'll have to speak sooner or later. Might as well get it over with if you don't want to deal with Kurenai and her friends hounding you. Many of them still think your single and well you know… fair game."
Raising his eyebrow at Kakashi's eyebrow, he very slightly turned his attention to Kurenai and her group of women jounin. He couldn't help but frown as he noted that the girls seemed to be giggling and looking in his direction as others told their stories about how their kids would do.
He found it… Unsettling. It wasn't just girls around his age group that seemed to be fan girls. Some of them happened to be high ranking kunoichi and that could be a little problem. He was quite sure Sasuke's tactics would work on them at all.
"Great… Just great. All I need is adult fan girls." Naruto mumbled to the two men sitting next to him. "I'm beginning to wish I had ordered some booze… It would inebriate me enough so I wouldn't care about any of this. Or at the very least I wouldn't care about the trouble I might get in."
"We can arrange that." Gai grinned as he momentarily dropped his mask and gained a cruel smirk. Almost nobody knew it but Kakashi and Naruto but Gai could be quite deviant and he had the perfect drink in his mind to order the blonde.
Kakashi noted this look and sported an equal grin beneath his mask before shivering as he stood up to greet the blonde girl that entered the bar, looking rather annoyed. "Um… Hi Yugito. I promise we weren't corrupting Naruto at all."
"Ah-huh. Sure, keep lying to yourself." Yugito glared at the man before glaring at Gai, seeing his grin fade, she took her seat next to Naruto as Kakashi sat across from her. "Naruto, whatever you do… Don't ever act like these two. And Gai, shouldn't you behave? You don't want Sakura to hear about this."
Gai winced and simply nodded as he did not want Sakura to know anything about his habits outside of being with his team and their home life. Kakashi only took a swig of his drink as he was relatively safe. She had practically nothing on him outside of causing him bodily harm.
He opted on the side of caution and stayed silent lest he earn her wrath.
Glad the two were now behaving, Yugito the rest of his soda before she heatedly glared at the group of kunoichi eyeing Naruto. It was then she saw someone else and she turned a one-eighty and happily smothered her cheek against his. "Ah it so good to see you!"
"Aren't you the second examiner?" Kakashi finally spoke, somewhat hesitantly to make sure he didn't catch her ire. "Shouldn't you be watching to see how everything unfolds?"
"Nope! I told Lord Hokage I didn't feel good today and Anko took over for me!" Yugito stated in a bubbly sore of manner.
Kakashi immediately backed off as thousands of alarms went off in his head. This kind of mood he had only seen once from her and he knew better to even cross Yugito right now. She was so volatile that she had become freakishly happy and possessive and would not hesitate long to cause bodily harm.
The last time anyone had angered her into such a state was when she learned Itachi threatened her boyfriend for crossing the line… She had mauled him so horrifically that he was in the hospital for two months and the Third had Jiraiya ready to seek out Tsunade's help. And she did it with only one weapon…
A shovel.
"Yugito…" Naruto narrowed his eyes before pushing her away from him as this was a quirk he found out he didn't like about her. It didn't help him that he had not learned about this until recently.
Catching the edge in his voice brought Yugito back to her norm as she grimaced lightly. "Sorry… Today has been really stressful and I needed to come here and relax and then I saw him…"
"It's fine." Naruto spoke softly as he noted Yugito's last boyfriend was there, being a jounin sensei to a team that entered the exams. "Are you still sore about what happened?"
"A little. I'm still upset about how the break up went down… And sometimes I still can't accept it. …I really liked him." Yugito smiled softly back at Naruto before gazing at the black haired jounin who lightly waved at her. "At least we're still friends but…"
A burning sensation filled Naruto's heart. He had not clue what this feeling was but all he knew about it was that he felt a lot of anger as he saw Yugito's pain but for some reason he felt hurt about this. He wasn't sure why as he had nothing to do with this as at the time he thought Yeizu was a good man.
"It's called jealousy, Naruto." Kakashi suddenly spoke out, catching both Naruto and Yugito completely by surprise. "I know you well enough and now what you are feeling. It's jealousy as you are jealous that they had such a close relationship and it doesn't seem you do and hate towards him for hurting her when they broke up."
Naruto somewhat felt like reaching over and strangling Kakashi for reading his emotions while he also felt grateful for at least now knowing what the hell this was he was going through. Now he had the problem of how to deal with it as this was the first time he ever had this particular feeling.
Yugito just wanted to reach out and kiss the man. Not that she would kiss him as that would get Naruto jealous… Wait, that might be a good thing? The more jealous he was the more his feelings for her would come out and then maybe this could actually work between them!
Laughing at Naruto's expense while Yugito gained a mysterious grin, the blonde simply twitching at them, Kakashi scooted over on the bench as Asuma and Kurenai joined them before the latter spoke. "So… Is it true that you two are going out?"
"Probably." Naruto cryptically answered as he wasn't going to say he was or wasn't. Right now their relationship was in the 'We'll see' category.
Twitching at the prince as he showed no emotion as he said so, Kurenai was ready to pry more when Yugito spoke out to at least give the woman information. "We could be… But we could not be. Neither of us really want to rush into a relationship right now so we both agreed to keep each other company but not as a couple."
"So… He's single then?" Kurenai licked her lips at the thought of the Prince being available as there were many women, herself included, that wouldn't mind taking shots at the young boy. Almost every girl had to admit they would to.
They wanted to be the one that melted the heart of the Ice Prince of Konoha.
Narrowing her eyes, ready to fight as she actually wanted more in their relationship then what they had at the moment, Yugito refrained from hissing. If this woman dared to hit on Naruto… "Naruto?! What's wrong?!"
"My kunai… It's active!" Naruto suddenly growled out before he faded into a flicker of yellow light so quickly that it was almost blinding to those in the bar.
They all knew what this meant and were on high alert. Something was horribly wrong.
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"Two earth scrolls? God dammit." Kerlya groaned out as Sasuke brought back the scroll, somewhat annoyed that he went to take a leak and got ambushed.
However there was one very humorous thing that happened that made the Uchiha chuckle as he pulled up his zipper. His stream landed right in that attacker's face, particularly…
His mouth.
That guy wouldn't be able to get that taste out of his mouth for a while. And even when he did… He would never forget the memory.
EVER.
"Pfft… I thought three on one would be a challenge. I took care of those guys without even taking a single hit." Sasuke huffed though he wasn't going to admit it was only two on one. The one guy was out soon as he took a drink of his urine as he had become so distracted by trying to spit it out and dry heaving.
"Well relieving yourself onto him probably had something to do with it." Kerlya humorously grinned as she smelt Sasuke's scent on the one guy's face.
"Meh, it got the job done. We might be able to trade with another team or put them in a position where they have to switch a scroll with us." Sasuke shrugged his shoulders as what worked worked. Simple as that.
Shaking her head, trying to get rid of the image of Sasuke taking a leak on the pour gennin's face, Sakura shivered and pointed ahead. "We should keep moving forward. There's a river not too far from this position and it would be best if we trail it for a while."
"I agree… But we should keep a little distance from it too." Kerlya commented as it was a good idea to stay by water but had it's down sides as well. "But we have to take in the fact that others will be thinking the same and if we run into one of the Rain teams or someone with a high water affinity we could be helping them out."
Listening to their points, Sasuke nodded in agreement. "We'll trail the river from a distance after we fill our canteens and catch some fish when we get there. We'll stop in a few hours to scout out the area and rest before continuing at midnight to catch others by surprise."
"Be prepared for combat and have your weapons ready incase we cross paths with another team… And if we should run into Raiu's, Gaara's or Kabuto's team… Hope we can outrun them. I don't like our odds against them." Sasuke finished with a slight tremble as all three really made him feel uncomfortable.
"What about that grass guy?" Kerlya worried as she could smell there was something not right about him. "After Anko scraped your cheek with that kunai… The way that guy moved… It was not natural."
"I agree… We should avoid them as well. I don't scare like I use to and… He gave me goose bumps. There was something not right about him." Sakura added as that gennin really made her nervous just from a glance.
Only nodding as the gennin threw him as well, Sasuke sighed before slicking his hand through his hair. "His team to. Anyone else is free game and I hate to say this but if we run into another Konoha team outside of Neji's… We'll take them out if they have a heaven and won't give it to us."
Both Sakura and Kerlya winced at such a confrontation but knew it could be necessary for them to make the next round. Only nodding, they flanked Sasuke he took to the trees and headed towards the river.
But soon after Sasuke was getting a chill in his spine. Something wasn't right… It felt very much like the time Hidan and Kakuzu struck except it was not so oppressive as the pressure they admitted. It was tolerable in comparison.
He was glad he wasn't the only one that had noticed it as he saw Sakura shiver as Kerlya's eyes darted from side to side, looking for someone to appear. Pulling to a stop, Sasuke simply motioned and formed a triangle and looked around for the reason of the dread.
"This… This doesn't feel good. It feels like it was back in the Wave." Kerlya shivered as she was the most vulnerable to the dread with her heighten senses.
"It is… Something tells me this isn't coming from a gennin but something more." Sakura bit her lip to keep the fear from over taking her as she had only felt this kind of force once before and she had no other experience against such killing intent.
While he had come to that conclusion as well Sasuke did not want to hear that. It was one thing to make comparisons and think something for yourself but to have it verified by another… Ugh, that made him have to shiver to remove the doubt from his being.
Activating his Sharingan to give him better vision and check to see if anything was out of the ordinary, Sasuke gritted his teeth as he could see nothing but knew there was indeed something there. "Be careful… Something is coming but I do not know…"
All the foliage suddenly burst into chaos as a powerful gale of concentrated wind exploded before him and enveloped all three of them. Barely seeing this attack coming, he managed to stay his ground thanks to the tree climbing exercise. The same could not be said for Sakura and Kerlya.
Yet it seemed luck was upon them as while they were blown back a little, Sakura's sheer will kept her in position as Kerlya drove her steel claws into a nearby tree to keep from being blown away. Finally the wind burst ended and Sasuke jumped back into position with them as the grass ninja jumped on a tree branch before him while the other two kept going, passing them and quickly cutting off any possible retreat.
"Shit… This isn't good." Sasuke bitterly commented as there was hardly any time to react as it seemed they had planned on attacking them. "We don't have a choice here… We have to fight him."
"Well isn't that impressive…" The grass gennin mused as all three had kept their ground from his attack. "It seems all three of you are exceptional ninja. But I wonder… If you can stop this!"
The intent to kill rose significantly as their eyes locked with their attackers. They muscles tensed before images began flashing before their eyes. Images of their own death. Movement was suddenly cut and nothing they could do could force them to move.
Sasuke was the only exception. The tomoe in his eyes swirled for only a moment before the illusion bestowed on him was undone. The intent to kill still remained but it was through eye contact and the fear that allowed the genjutsu to work.
And no genjutsu, besides their own clan's fourth stage illusion, could defeat the Sharingan. Maybe confuse and deceive it with illusions... But never defeat it.
Snapping Sakura and Kerlya out with a slap to their cheeks, Sasuke narrowed his eyes as he gazed at the ninja before him. "This guy… There is something seriously wrong about him but… If we beat him the other two will probably let us go. Focus all your attacks onto him."
"Shall I start then?" Sakura a very, very small smirk as she popped her knuckles on both fists as she gazed at the enemy grass ninja.
Sasuke and Kerlya shivered. That tiny smirk was a result of Naruto's training… Or perhaps it was something that was always there. But they both knew what it meant. She was going to enjoy every ounce of pain she was going to inflict upon this unfortunate gennin.
They did not envy him.
The bark beneath her cracked as she rocketed off and was almost upon the grass ninja. Looking at her with surprise at the show of speed he became further surprised as a fist connect to his cheek.
In the very next moment all he knew was the pain of his jaw bone dislodging from its hinges as he took soaring to a nearby tree trunk and smashed into it, the said tree groaning from the pressure.
But he easily threw this off as if he was use to such pain and rolled out of the next blow as Sakura landed onto the spot he once possessed. Throwing what seemed to be a gentle finger thrust, Sakura barely moved under the strike and hissed in pain as it graced her shoulder. Whatever he was doing with his chakra almost burned her skin just from the slight contact and without hesitating she threw an upper cut for his sternum.
To her surprise he used her shoulders and pushed off her to leap away from the blow and onto a branch, forcing the girl onto her knees from the amount of pressure he placed onto her. Narrowing his eyes as she was about to spring forth and plow into him, he jumped into the air only to hear a rustle of the leaves around him.
There was no way to avoid Kerlya fang as she spun into him only for him to suddenly dissolve into mud as if he had never been there in the first place. Landing besides Sakura, both girls looked around to see where he had placed himself before hearing the groan of wood below them.
It was too late. The grass ninja burst from the thick branch with two kunai in hand and aimed for the kill.
A clang of metal was heard as at that exact moment Sasuke appeared right in front of him with two kunai of his own knocking the blades from the grass ninja's grip. Ducking down, not really expecting a blow he used the momentum of his arms and swung his blades to the ninja's ribs only to see his knee coming straight for his face.
Sasuke didn't flinch as he ripped the kunai through his opponent's rib cages and watched the knee dissolve into mud, only a centimeter from his face. Standing up, forming a triangle position with his girls, in a non possessive (read sexual) way, the Uchiha's eyes gazed the sight before him. "Sakura, I'm going to engage in close range. I want you to back me up and Kerlya I need you and your partner to provide us mid range assistance and attack if you see an opening."
"Got it!" Kerlya barked as she fed Ralts a pill and quickly turned him into a clone of her. "We'll watch your back!"
"Sakura, let's go!" Sasuke ordered as he caught sight of their attacker and took off up a tree, Sakura in quick pursuit as Kerlya slowly paced behind them.
The grass ninja was caught slightly off guard. Soon as he emerged from a branch directly above the Konoha gennin Sasuke and Sakura had rushed up to separate trees and quickly engaged him.
Slipping to the side of Sasuke's blow, he ducked beneath a fist from Sakura and kicked her back as he struck a gentle finger tap to Sasuke's gut. Sasuke rolled back from the blow, hissing as Sakura had done before but was given no chance to recover as he was on him in an instant only to dodge a bladed claw to his face.
Using chakra in her hands to grab a hold of the branch, Kerlya flipped up and on the branch and growled as Ralts joined Sakura on the other side. "This isn't going to work. This guy wants to engage you for some reason. The entire time up his focus was only on you. We need to attack him all as a team."
"Great… Another enemy of the Uchiha. Typical." Sasuke only grunted as he stood to his feet, the skin of his stomach burning from the grass ninja's blow. "He seems to partially emulate the Hyuuga's style but the difference is he is targeting the skin and burning it with his… poisonous chakra."
"Poison?" Sakura narrowed her eyes before her hand glowed a soft green and checked her shoulder. "Don't worry about it! The body natural chakra dispels it after a minute as the amount of his chakra getting out is minute a best."
"A medic? …Now that is interesting." The grass nin mused to himself once more as he turned his attention from Sasuke to the pink haired girl before narrowing his eyes.
Something wasn't right about her. The impact of her blow was far greater than anticipated and she was quick, a trait all medics shared, and she seemed to have a very good grip of medical jutsu. These traits led his thought trail off to a particular blonde haired woman.
That nearly cost him his head.
Jumping down from Kerlya's and Ralts' attack, the grass nin landed on the branch below for he dodged a hail of kunai from both Sakura and Sasuke. But each was poorly thrown as if… If they weren't planned for him! Quiet clever and excellent team work. They didn't even have to communicate for this assault.
"NOW!" Sakura yelled as she pulled tightly on the ninja wire attached to the weaponry along with Sasuke before going through a series of hand seals after the wires wrapped around their opponent tightly.
"KATON: RYUKA!"
Two streams of fire poured from their mouths taking the shape of a small dragon as they trailed down the wires, seeking their target. But it seemed outside of a light struggle the grass nin didn't even bother to break free of the wires or use a substitution to get out of the flames as they engulfed him.
Kerlya narrowed her eyes as she listened to the scream, drawing forth her senseis kunai. Something was horribly off about this entire situation. This guy they were fighting. His friends weren't helping him and instead they were just standing back and watching. But more importantly it was the feeling he gave her and thanks to her heighten senses she knew they would die if this kept on.
This man felt like that of their senseis. And that frightened her.
Both Sakura and Sasuke caught this and were about to say something when their blood ran cold as the grass nin's voice changed as a loud cackle was heard. "So strong and so young… You both will make perfect vessels for me. An Uchiha and a Tsunade reborn. You two or mine!"
Two heads suddenly shot out of the debris the flames had caused, aimed straight for both Sakura and Sasuke without any warning and it was upon them. But in a flicker of golden light the two heads fell and dispersed into mud.
"Orochimaru!" Naruto growled out as his anger at the man that caused his human mother figure so much pain in her life. "Your presence here in the leaf is unwelcome! I shall take your head for this!"
"Kukuku… Do you really think that I'm still here, Naruto-kun?" Orochimaru's raspy voice surrounded them all as the man used his ventriloquism to his advantage. "I've already retreated my boy… Soon as I saw that girl with your special kunai. I won't die here today and there will always be another chance to mark them later."
"Besides my boy… You are valuable to me to. Take care of those annoying black and red flees for me, will you?" Orochimaru laughter began to die down before it disperse altogether as the man truly was no longer there, probably having used a shadow clone to speak with him in the first place.
Keeping his rage in check and suppressing Kyuubi's chakra, thanks to his wooden bracelets, Naruto returned to his passive form and sighed. "Stay here for a moment… I clear this with the Third and Anko so you can continue. This should not have happened and you will not be punished for my intervention here. …It was necessary."
With a flash Naruto was gone to report this encounter. Oh Hizuren would not be happy to hear about this at all. He didn't just want the Sharingan. And that was what disturbed him.
How did he know what made Sakura special?
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