Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Faith in Humanity ❯ Confrontations ( Chapter 8 )

Title: Faith Arc - Faith in Humanity (PG-13)

Author: Karrafear

Summary: AU. What if Naruto survived a murder attempt on his life at the age of 6 and had to leave Konoha for his protection. Now 12, Naruto and Jiraiya returns to face the genin test.

 

Disclaimer: Naruto is an anime and manga series created by Masashi Kishimoto. It does not belong to me; I'm simply using the characters and plot for my own creative devices.

 

"Demon's talk", /Thoughts/, "Speech", 'Speech emphasis', (FLASHBACK), Titles, (Author's interruptions)

 

Warning: Naruto doesn't do a single thing in this chapter. ^^;;; You'll mainly see some developments within Sasuke, Sakura, and some of the other characters. Sakura-fans rejoice! Sakura is a main heroin in this particular chapter. On a different note, I don't like using the `F' word in swearing, so it will be represented as `Fxxk' instead of `Fuck'. This is a personal rule, it's none-negotiable.

 

Pairings: eventually NarutoXHinata.

 

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Chapter 8 : Confrontations

 

After three hours of constant travelling, the members of team 7 found themselves to be only half way there towards the tower and already, they were tired due to their previous engagements and battles.

 

“Sas- Sas- Sasuke-k-kun! Can… we… rest… now?” Sakura gasped with every deep breath she took.

 

Landing and finally stopping on a near by tree, Sasuke squatted down to take some time to rest as well. He too, could be seen breathing heavily. After all, he had been carrying the heavy burden of Naruto on his back the entire way.

 

Sasuke gazed around their immediate surroundings, analysing the risk factor in staying here and resting up instead of continuing on their way. Three hours of constant travelling have taken them many miles from their original location, and away from their dangerous predator. Nodding to himself while he came to a decision, Sasuke looked back at the slumping figure of his female teammate and the unconscious form of his other teammate still residing on his back. “I think… we'll be safe for the moment being...” With that said he sat down heavily on the large branch and slowly lowered his injured comrade onto it gently.

 

Hearing the confirmation, Sakura dropped her exhausted body completely onto her own branch and leaned heavily against the thick trunk. Closing her eyes for a moment to concentrate on slowing her heartbeat and breathing, she tried to analyse how much Chakra she had left in her. /Not much left at all… Probably enough to perform one more jutsu but anymore and I'll collapse…/ Sakura thought forlornly. She mentally cursed herself for being weak at such an important time. Shaking her head off such depressing thoughts, she looked towards Sasuke and watched in surprise as he started removing the bandages over the still unconscious Naruto's body.

 

“Sas… Sasuke-kun? Wha...?”

 

“We need to change the bandages.” Sasuke answered her inquiry, though he never stopped inspecting the wounds on Naruto's back. “All the old bandages have blood stains on them and it's starting to get dirty as well.”

 

Staggering to her feet, Sakura took some extra effort to jump her way towards the branch that Sasuke and Naruto was currently residing on. Bending down herself, she helped Sasuke to remove the rest of the old bandages and immediately started looking through their reserve packages for more new ones, trying desperately not to look directly at the wounds itself. She frowned as she looked over the amount of bandages they have left. “Sasuke-kun… We probably only have just enough for dressing him this one time, but there won't be any left for later… And we need to keep him warm, but his shirt and jacket were shredded beyond repair.” Gulping down her fear, she looked up to Sasuke's own furious and determined eyes. “What are we going to do? We can't…” Blinking back tears, Sakura took another deep breath to calm herself, but to no avail. Her voice quivered as she continued with her suspicions. “We... probably won't make it…We… won't be able to…”

 

“We WILL!” Sasuke answered resolutely. “We have to!”

 

Nodding shakily back, Sakura was feeling instantly grateful that Sasuke had returned with her to find Naruto. If she had been by herself, she probably would have just stood there and cried her heart out. She still found herself shaking in these emotionally stressing and physically taxing situations, even after the events in the Hidden Wave village. She may have improved herself physically to be better at handling them but mentally, she was still the weak little girl she's always been, hiding behind her teammates to protect her. /GOD DAMN IT! STOP SHAKING!!!/ With the iron clad will of inner Sakura at her beckoning, outer Sakura slowly stopped her body's automatic shivering. Gaining control over her body once more, Sakura smiled gratefully at Sasuke and then started to un-wrap the new bandages.

 

It took the two of them several minutes to discard all the old bandages, cleaned the wound as best they could with any clean cloth they had left, disinfect it with some of their medicine, and quickly re-bandaged everything. After they finished, Sasuke decided that now would be the best and only time for them to rest, so he would take the first watch to allow Sakura to rest first, she gratefully accepted.

 

After Sakura feel asleep just leaning on the tree trunk, Sasuke finally noticed the two strange foxes that stood on a branch several trees away. Their eyes avidly watched the three children with full concentration but did not come any closer nor go any father away from the group. Sasuke stared at the foxes and the foxes stared back, both unwilling to step down.

 

Finally deciding that having a staring contest with stupid foxes was not very productive, Sasuke decided first to lower his head and looked away. /As long as they're no threat to us, then that's just fine with me./ Though he did find it odd that two such foxes, one golden brown and the other chocolate brown, would be standing so far up from the ground on another large branch. /They're not normal./ Sasuke thought, but then reminded himself that they could very well have been native animals of the Forest of Death, and so he too returned his complete attention away from the foxes.

 

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It was 2 hours later when the illusion of peace was completely destroyed by the return of the predator. Sasuke immediately felt the same presence of that dreaded snake man when he sensed they were being watched. It was the same sensation of danger and fear mixed in with absolute silence in the background. He instantly woke Sakura up and tried to manoeuvre Naruto onto his back again. He quickly silenced Sakura by pressing a finger to her lips when she looked like she was about to protest, and then started miming silent words out to her so she would understand. It only took one word to make her eyes instantly grow large, the word `snake' was all Sasuke needed to say.

 

The two quickly but silently packed everything away as fast as they possibly could. However, during their packing, they were completely startled when they heard the two foxes (whom still stood on the same tree branch) growled in deep hatred. Their canine teethes were all visible as the foxes' jaws were dropped slightly in a menacing manner. Slitted eyes glared hatefully at a figure beyond the location of the members of team 7. Sasuke gulped as both he and Sakura turn slowly but surely towards the direction the foxes are growling at. Sure enough, there stood their previous predator, all ready and waiting, even smirking at their predicament.

 

“Well now. Sasuke-kun… You shouldn't runaway from a guest, it's rather rude of you, you know?” The man smiled a cruel smile. “I have planned for us to have some fun for the rest of the day…” The smile then stretched into a wicked smirk as the man's long tongue licked his lips delicately.

 

“Sakura! Take Naruto and RUN!!!” Sasuke immediately placed himself in front of Sakura and Naruto, acting as a shield if the man attacked. Taking advantage of all the time they had, Sasuke quickly launched his first attack at the man, even before he finished speaking. /I won't runaway anymore! I can't runaway anymore!/

 

“Katon: Housenka no Jutsu!” (Fire type: Mythical Fire Flower no Jutsu) Sasuke discharged the many small fireballs at the enemy, but the man just zigzagged his way through, dodging all the attacks. Jumping away from his group members, Sasuke attached himself to another near-by tree using Chakra, hoping to keep the enemy away from Sakura long enough for her and Naruto to escape.

 

With his Sharingan activated at maximum capacity, Sasuke launched several shurikens and kunais at the enemy. All of which the enemy also dodged but not as easily as before, since Sasuke was able to read much of his movements with the Sharingan and was able to predict where the man would be in the next instance.

 

After dodging the shurikens, both the man and Sasuke were surprised by another kunai heading towards the man but didn't originate from Sasuke's position. Sasuke frowned deeply as he felt Sakura land above him onto one of the tree's branches.

 

“WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING? I TOLD TO LEAVE!!!” He screamed at her in fury.

 

“No! Sasuke-kun! I won't! I ran away from Naruto and he almost died! I'm not running away again!” Sakura spoke back to him with conviction even though her eyes never left her target.

 

The chakra-enhanced kunai that she had thrown was constantly being blown away by the wind attacks the man had performed, simply blowing huge amounts of air out of his mouth. However, being Chakra control enhanced, the kuani continued to return until the man finally decided to use another tactic. Raising his arm towards the flying kunai, he shouted: “Senei Jyashu” (Sublime Snake Hands)! Multiple snakes curved out his sleeves and wrapped around the kunai, stopping its advancement in mid air. He then released his own chakra through the snakes into the kunai to neutralise the control from within. Once the kunai was neutralised, he withdrew his snakes and the kunai simply dropped back onto the ground, forgotten. He then turned his attentions back towards his prey.

 

Sasuke already had another jutsu planned due to the time given by Sakura's intervention. “Gokakyuu no jutsu” (Powerful Fireball no Jutsu)! The powerful flames of the fireball swept through the forest clearing, burning anything within its paths. Once the flames were burnt out, all that was left was a burning log in the middle of the burnt field. /SHIT! He used Kawarimi no jutsu!/

 

At the exact moment when Sasuke had realised his mistakes, he already felt the presence of the man behind him, even though he was attached to the surface of tree trunk. Instantly jumping away, he managed to through two kunais and a special shuriken at the man, who was half emerged from the tree's surface, hanging upside down in a very creepy way.

 

The man opened his mouth and released his long tongue and another snake from his throat because both his arms were still partly merged into the tree (1). The long tongue somehow managed to wrap itself around the two kunai handles, stopping their advancement without damaging itself, and since the kunais were not Chakra enhanced, it was easy to counteract. The snake on the other hand, stretched itself out of the man's mouth for a bit and snapped its jaws around the incoming shuriken windmill (three blades). Thinking he had outwitted the Uchiha prodigy by stopping all three of the child's weapons, the man was surprised as he noticed the small strings attached to each these weapons held by his tongue and the snake within his throat.

 

He looked up just in time to watch Sasuke perform another Katon seal. “Ryuuka no Jutsu” (Dragon fire no jutsu)! The fire quickly travelled through the distance of the strings and reached the man's tongue and started burning it even before he could drop the weapons. Feeling the shock of the burn, he immediately dropped the weapons within his grasp, though not soon enough to stop the fire from reaching his face. He struggled for a bit and dragged himself out of the tree before tumbling onto the ground and splashed into a large splatter of mud.

 

/Another kawarimi no jutsu!/ went through both genin's minds as they watch in horror as the man re-emerged from the mud splatter to reform his original body, this time though, with part of his face burnt. Both children noticed that the man's face was not normal at all.

 

To their surprise the man started to laugh. “Ha ha ha ha ha haa...” Louder and louder, becoming more mocking, the man slowly reached towards his burnt face and slowly ripped the face flesh off and revealed his real face underneath. Looking directly at the children at hand, he gave them a wide smirk. “My name is Orochimaru...” And with that, the now named Orochimaru reached up to his Grass head protector; he smudged away the disguised symbol to proudly show off the Sound symbol underneath.

 

Both genin's eyes widen at the implications. They have both heard of the legendary Sennin that had turned into an enemy. Sakura's parents even used him as a figure in stories to tell her off from doing bad things. They both realised that no matter what, they'd probably not be able to escape him.

 

Sakura's eyes begin to tear up as she contemplated death at the hands of this dangerous creature. /I… I don't want to die…/ The same thoughts ran through Sasuke's head as he gulped down his nervousness and gripped onto whatever courage was left in him with a mental iron clad hand.

 

“You have done very well against me, Sasuke-kun... So here is a gift for you.” After that, Orochimaru quickly performed a new seal. “Kanashibari no Jutsu” (2) and the technique immediately froze the two genin's body once again.

 

Walking towards Sasuke slowly but surely, Orochimaru bent down lightly. His head almost resting on Sasuke's neck and he whispered: “I know you want power. More power than you currently have. Seek me out and I will give you that power… if you survive.” With his final comment, Orochimaru bent down completely and bit into the side of Sasuke's neck.

 

Sakura watched in frozen horror when Sasuke's eyes widen into impossible sizes, and then came the screams. Released from their frozen states, Sakura immediately grabbed onto the shaking and creaming body of Sasuke as the boy toppled onto the floor. She looked up and glared hatefully at the wicked man.

 

“What did you do to him?!” She demanded though her body was shaking almost as badly as Sasuke's.

 

Orochimaru smirked evilly. “A gift... Sasuke-kun is an avenger. In time, he will seek me out.” With that said Orochimaru turned around and slowly stomped his way towards the still unconscious form of Naruto.

 

Sakura screamed in fright. “LEAVE HIM ALONE!!!” But with Sasuke clinging onto her clothes, she couldn't move enough to go help Naruto. Desperate, she threw her last kunai, enhanced with both power and control with the last of her Chakra, towards the hateful man.

 

Orochimaru released another Senei Jyashu (Shadow Snake Hands) to take care of the kunai and returned on his way towards the disciple of his enemy rival, completely ignoring the screams of protest by the weak girl. He reached his destination soon enough and held up his own kunai, intending to slice the delicate throat of Naruto wide open to spill large amounts of blood. Suddenly, Orochimaru was surprised by a yelp from the sidelines and winched slightly in reaction when one of the foxes bit onto his hand, forcing him to drop the kunai.

 

Sakura watched in morbid fascination as the other fox launched itself directly onto Orochimaru's face and scratched it with all its might. To Sakura, it almost looks like the foxes were intentionally drawing Orochimaru's attention away from Naruto, desperately protecting him from being killed. Roaring in frustration and anger, Orochimaru grabbed onto both the foxes, throwing one away and slamming the other's head onto the ground. The thrown fox landed heavily against a thick tree giving off a startled yelp of pain. After that, it took some time to catch its breath and stagger onto its feet before it stood up resolutely to fight its enemy. The other fox, having been slammed onto the hard ground head first, twitched sporadically for a time before it too recovered slowly. Sakura could only hold onto her breath and tighten her grip on the now unconscious Sasuke as she watched the furious Orochimaru flicked another kunai in his hand.

 

He was just about to kill Naruto due to the fact that the foxes were still too disorientated from their injuries to interfere immediately, when the most unexpected thing happened. His kunai slammed onto an invisible barrier surrounding Naruto's body. The barrier itself encompassed an area shaped like a rectangular prism all around Naruto's injured form. Shocked into silence, Orochimaru could only stand aside and watch as the barrier slowly revealed itself as a soft black mirror. Then to both the genins and Orochimaru's surprise, Naruto's body started disappearing from inside the shadow barrier (3). Soon, there nothing inside the shield at all except the bloodstains on the ground. The shield itself once finished with its teleporting abilities also slowly disappeared.

 

Orochimaru was pulled out his shock when he heard Sakura shouting in surprise. He looked up in anger as he watched the same strange shadow force-field surround both Sakura and Sasuke and started their teleportation as well. Looking around, he was furious but not surprised when all signs of the two intruding foxes had disappeared as well. /FxxK!!!! FxxK IT ALL TO HELL!!!/ He cursed furiously to himself as he lost all his prey in that moment of surprise.

 

Orochimaru then started a small tantrum in the empty clearing, burning and destroying any tree, bush, rock or creature in his way as he tried to burn out his anger. After a few minutes of unproductive mayhem, he finally settled down into his cool and calm exterior that he likes to maintain at all times. Inside his mind though, there is a whirlwind of unanswered questions and unease. /This was supposed to be a SIMPLE mission! Find Uchiha, beat his teammates, and give him the seal and LEAVE!!! But nooooo! Fate is so against me today. First is that Kyuubi BRAT of Jiraiya's!!! How the HELL could that kid be that powerful! And the TENKUN NO BUKIS!! SHIT! IF I COULD ONLY CONTROL ONE OF THEM, I'D BE ABLE TO DESTOY THE ENTIRE KONOHA!!!/ He fumed silently but continued with his analysis of the bad day that he had suffered through. /After the brat's fight, then I had to spend 5 GOD DAMN HOURS hunting the kids. They're pretty good at stealth and covering their tracks! AND NOW!!! NOW!! Those annoying foxes and the “Kageheki”! (4) I feel like I'm taking on the Fxxking WORLD today!/

 

Taking another few minutes to calm his heartbeat and breathing, Orochimaru was not surprised to be rejoined by two of his Sound Four (5) when he had heard some sounds approaching him.

 

“Orochimaru-sama! What happened!?” One man hiding behind his Henge no Jutsu asked.

 

“Nothing!” Orochimaru huffed in irritation. It would not do to look disgraced in front of his subordinates. “Let's go! We've already accomplished what we set out to do!” With that said he turned around from the direction of the children's disappearance and jumped onto the trees to leave the Forest of Death.

 

Along the way, he kept on questioning himself as to what had happened that last few minutes. /The Kageheki is a very rare jutsu that requires a Bloodline Limit as well as the skill for special Chakra manipulations to be able to perform it… The Nara family has the ability and family traditions, but I don't know of anyone in their line that could possibly have learnt of this technique! Hell! If I hadn't been secretly looking through the Hidden scroll of Seals all those years ago (6), I'd probably not recognise the jutsu at all… Just goes to show how very far I am to my ultimate goal./

 

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Sakura could only blink and pinch herself in order to justify if this was still reality or if she had lost her mind. Just moments ago, she and Sasuke had been surrounded by a strange shadow barrier. As the barrier darkened into a complete black mist, Sakura had found herself sinking into the dark ground underneath her. Shutting her eyes tightly in terror and screaming her head off for a few seconds, when she had finally felt that she was on solid ground again, she opened her eyes to find herself back in the Forest of Death. Or at least, she assumed it was the same Forest of Death, only much closer to the tower then they had travelled during their previous haste. She could visually see the tower in the distance.

 

After coming out of her shock, she had immediately set out checking over Sasuke's injuries as well as Naruto's (whom also appeared in the same area unharmed by their last encounter with Orochimaru). Even the foxes were present, one licking its wounds on its front paws, the other guarding the still sleeping form of Naruto. Sakura confirmed that Sasuke had only suffered small wounds and started dragging him towards a fallen tree trunk. She then returned for Naruto, getting some help from the two foxes dragging him into the same shelter created by the giant tree. After that, she settled herself down to decide what she must do from now on. She opened up all of their supplies and lined them out to see what see could still do with them.

 

/Let's see... There are still five explosion notes left… Naruto has all of his supply of kunais and shurikens, so I can use those./ She sighed slightly when she remembered she had used most of hers in a frivolous manner against their first opponent and the following fights with Orochimaru. /It's stupid of me to waste all of my weapons in such a short fight…/ shaking her head to clear it, she returned to her analysis. /Not enough bandage for a second wrapping… and definitely not enough medicine… so that means that I have to reach the tower soon to give both Sasuke and Naruto the medical attention that they need. There's still the problem about Naruto catching a cold without any proper shirt, and I'm also worried about that weird symbol that's on Sasuke's neck…/

 

Sakura's eyes started tearing up a bit but she rubbed them away resolutely. /Now is not the time to give up. I can't give up! They're depending on me!/ She was surprised by the whining encouragements from both the foxes, whom have now settled themselves on both sides of Naruto, leaning over his chest lightly. Sakura gasped in slight shock. /They're keeping him warm!/ She blinked and gave them a smile in gratitude. /Okay, that means I can stop worrying about that now... but still… how am I suppose to bring them all the way to the tower by myself?! There's no way I would be able to use Kage Bunshin at a time like this. I'm already running low on Chakra and even at my peak, I probably wouldn't be able to pull it off all the way to the tower anyway./

 

Sighing in defeat, Sakura looked over at their forgotten Ten scroll. She had been the one carrying the scroll through out their entire journey. Naruto had instructed them to do so because it would be logical to have Sasuke as first defence and Naruto as second defence and that would result in no intruders getting to Sakura. She had at first argued the point, stating that Naruto should hold onto it since he was the strongest, but then again, logically, Naruto would also be the first to fight if they were against a strong enemy, so eventually she gave in. /All this for a stupid scroll, huh? No, Orochimaru wasn't after our scroll at all… He wants something else./ Looking over at the dark haired boy in sadness. /He wants Sasuke-kun…/ her sad eyes shifting into determined eyes. /But he won't get Sasuke-kun! I'll make sure of that!/

 

Finally deciding that it would be best to set up some traps in the surrounding area and stay for the night to gather her strength, Sakura set off to do just that. After fixing up three intricate traps around their temporary haven, she turned towards the foxes. “Now I know you guys want to protect Naruto for some odd reason, so I have a proposition for you.” Mentally berating to herself that she was talking to animals, whom couldn't understand human speech; she was slightly unnerved by the undivided attention of both foxes gazing directly at her, as if waiting for her response. “Well, how about you two take turns keeping watch over the night so that I may have some sleep. This is so that I can reserve enough energy to travel tomorrow and get these two to the tower immediately. And if either Sasuke or Naruto's started moving about during the night, wake me up immediately, okay?” Sakura's eyes bulged as she watched both foxes nodding to her in understanding. /Okay… either I'm loosing my mind or these foxes can actually understand me./ Trusting them for now, Sakura settled herself into a comfortable position and quickly fell into a light sleep due to her day's exhaustion.

 

High above them, on one of the trees, sat a man (7) hidden in shadows. He sat very still, and stayed completely silent, as he watched over the children through out the night, before he vanished into thin air early the next day.

 

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The next day was shining bright and early when Sakura suddenly woke to the sounds of the two foxes snarling near by as a sign of danger. She immediately jolted up into a fighting stance as she quickly looked around for any enemy. All she saw as a small squirrel running away from the threatening foxes and then she sighed. “Damn you two!” She glared at the two foxes for scaring her like that. “It was just a stupid squirrel; you didn't have to go that far.” But she immediately felt suspicious when the foxes continued to snarl in a threatening manner, not turning their gaze from the bushes directly up ahead. /There's something wrong! There must be if these foxes are ignoring me./

 

Also looking up at the location the foxes were glaring at, she shouted to the hidden enemy. “Come out! I know you're there!” Three figures emerged out of said bush following her call; they belonged to the Sound team. Sakura gulped in slight nervousness but with determination and anger in her eyes. /It's the sound again! Are they still after Sasuke-kun?!/ Glancing back at the dark haired boy for a moment, she glared at them full force. “Why are you here? And what have Orochimaru done to Sasuke-kun?”

 

The three stood stiffly at her pronouncement and gazed at each other in slight confusion. “We were simply ordered to kill Sasuke. We know not what Orochimaru-sama has planned, but we will follow our orders.” And with that said, all three of the Sound Nins fell into battle position just as Sakura drew out a kunai for self-defence.

 

The strange boy with a bandaged head and his strange armband walked forward slowly, he reached down onto the ground, grabbed hold of the fake grass and pulled it off to reveal one of Sakura's traps. “Heh.. Pretty obvious, don't you think? Who do you take us for?” He and his other two members immediately jumped upwards to avoid the obvious hole in the ground. Sakura smirked as she reached back to cut one of the stringed traps she had prepared earlier.

 

Instantly, a huge tree boulder swung down from being hidden in the trees above directly at the Sound Nins. Another member of the team, this one with dark brown hair and holes in his palm retaliated against the attack. Aiming his open palm at the giant falling tree trunk, he called out: “Zankuuha!!” (Air Slicing Blast)

 

Immediately, the falling tree was blasted into many pieces due to the intense air pressure released from the blast attack. However, Sakura only smirked in response to their actions. Suddenly, a huge `BOOM' resounded through out the clearing as the explosion note she had attached to the tree earlier activated, she had made it so that it'll react if the tree has been destroyed or tampered with.

 

The three sound Nins tried desperately to avoid the debris of the tree as well as the resulting fire blast of the explosion note, each of them landing some distances away in different directions. While they tried to get their balance back into their body, Sakura pressed her advantage in surprise attack. She instantly launched herself towards the only female ninja in the group. /That bandaged guy could shatter Kabuto-san's glasses without actually touching him, which means that close-hand combat is out of the question for him. And that other guy, after seeing him blast the tree away with something, it'd be wise to not attack him head on as well… So that leaves the girl./

 

Surprised and still slightly shaky from the previous explosion, the female Sound Nin was completely caught off guard as Sakura suddenly dropped down low directly in front of her and swiped her off her feet with a swing of her legs in a wide arc. Down on the floor on her back, the enemy could only roll away quickly to avoid the kunai that Sakura wielded, trying to stab her. Rolling to her side and rising up finally, the long black haired girl was still too slow in reacting to Sakura's rapid approach. Quickly throwing some metal needles, the girl was surprised once again at Sakura's speed in dodging it (Sakura had placed extra Chakra on her feet for a boost of speed). Sakura suddenly appeared at the girl's side instead and gave her a strong punch on her face. Since the punch had also been slightly enhanced with Chakra, the blow was powerful enough to knock the enemy off her feet complete, thrown by the force to land several metres away and laid there panting. “Kin!” one of the boys shouted in anger.

 

/One down slightly, two to go!/ Sakura tallied mentally as she quickly performed a familiar seal to withstand the onslaught of the bandaged boy currently running rapidly towards her. Soon, he had reached her location. Swinging his arm's strange device at Sakura, who blocked the attack at the last minute. He called forth his special attack: “Kyoumeisen!” (8) The resulting sound waves travelled into Sakura's ears, but to the bandaged boy's complete shock, Sakura's body puffed out of existence and all that's left was a ruined block of wood. /KAWARIMI???/ He glared hatefully at the block of wood as he realised Sakura had just completed the Kawarimi before his attack. Glancing around, he found his adversary running quickly towards Zaku, his last member who hadn't fought the girl yet.

 

Zaku had been planning on getting to Sasuke while their female teammate was busy with Kin, but with Kin down and Doso out-manoeuvred, he was surprised at the speed that Sakura was running at. Sakura knew it had been a mistake to come out of her protective station over her two charges to fight the enemy but now, she placed all the guilt aside to concentrate on the battle at hand. /I can't make any mistakes! Naruto and Sasuke's lives depend on me! I've got to fight three different people… This is gonna be hard!/

 

Sakura threw a shuriken at the dark haired boy, whom raised his palm up ready to blast away the offending weapon. But to his surprise, the Chakra enhanced shuriken swung by him completely; he turned just in time to see the shuriken cut another string within the temporary shelter of team 7 members. /SHIT! ANOTHER TRAP??!!/ Indeed the cut string activated a second set of traps that Sakura had planned the day before.

 

Almost immediately, multiple kunais were shot off from underground directly in front of Zaku. The boy raised his hands up as fast as he could to blast them away, but wasn't quick enough to stop a few from stabbing right into his arms and hands. He shouted out in pain and anger, turned to glare hatefully at the pink haired girl before charging towards her in a fit of rage. Grabbing onto his own kunais, he threw them all towards Sakura, only to watch her perform another kawarimi to avoid the weapons.

 

Sakura somersaulted over the Sound team to avoid detection and landed lightly in front of her injured teammates in a protective stance. She watched in unease as the three Sound Nins slowly stood back up and faced her all at once. /SHIT! If they attack as a group I'm doomed!/

 

As if fate was against her today, all three sound Nins started running towards her at high speed. /God! I have no choice! I have to use that technique!!/ Lifting both her hands up to start a seal, she was completely surprised by the enthusiastic yell of “KONOHA SENPUU!!” (Leaf Spinning Wind!!)

 

With one giant swipe with his feet, Rock Lee, the self-proclaimed `Beautiful Green Beast of the Hidden Leaf' was able to knock away all three of the Sound Nins in one attack. Sakura gaped at the show of power and skill. “I am Rock Lee. And anyone who dares hurt the beautiful Sakura-san, is an enemy of mine.” The green clad boy proclaimed.

 

Sakura only blinked in response. “Le... Lee-san! Wh.. Why? …” But she was interrupted by his explanation.

 

“I will always appear when you are in trouble, Sakura-san.” He said simply.

 

Sakura blinked several times, smiled slightly at him but thought sarcastically to herself. /If that's so, then where were you when I needed help yesterday…/ But she didn't speak out her mind and concentrated on helping Lee as much as possible in this fight. “Thanks... Let's just beat them together...” She said as she stood up confidently and held two kunais in her hands in preparation.

 

Doso grunted when he instantly jumped towards Lee in a battle stance. Lee, on the other hand, slammed his right hand underground and pulled out a huge tree root to block the Sound Nin's approach. Though surprised at the move, the sound Nin did not react in any other way except placing his hand on the tree root's surface and activated his sound attack again. This time, Lee had managed to jump a fair distance away to avoid the attack, but his tree root was soon disintegrated by the sound's attack.

 

“Lee-san! Don't get close to that boy! He uses some kind of Sound vibration to shatter the matter in any inanimate object, and who knows what will happen if he directed that attack at a human ear!” Sakura shouted back her advice as she threw a Charka enhanced kunai at her opponent. Unknowingly, the boy raised his armband to fend off the power enhanced kunai, only to get pushed off by the full force of the kunai that made a rather large crack on his sound manipulation device. Not only that, but the Sound Nin himself had been thrown off his feet and pushed several metres back by the formidable power behind the kunai. “YOU BITCH!!” He yelled in rage.

 

Lee turned around and gave Sakura a very surprised look, as if he didn't expect her to be that strong to begin with. She gave him a self-assured smirk, indicating that she was not as weak as he had first thought. Lee gave her a short nod before launching himself at the enemy. Un-wrapping the bandages on his arms as he went, Lee thought it was high time to begin the Initial Lotus.

 

Leaning down low with his body, Lee suddenly struck up with his feet at Doso's vulnerable chin. With that one powerful kick, he had pushed Doso high up into the air, and then Lee followed him with a Leaf Shadow Dance, attaching his body to the shadow of the still flailing Doso. Twirling and wrapping his bandages around Doso's unmoving body, Lee tightly sealed up his movement and began spinning in midair. The spin of the Initial Lotus took a lot of Lee's energy and control but he completed it in just a few seconds, increasing the pace of the spin even as he was about the hit the hard ground. Lee released his grip on Doso's body just in time to get out of the way from the impact zone. However, to both Lee and Sakura's shock, Zaku had somehow managed to neutralise the attack by using his air pressure techniques to manipulate the ground under Doso, softening it enough to take Lee's attack.

 

“Man, what a terrifying attack.” Doso said as he slowly struggled out of the hole he had landed so harshly on. Glancing at the other two Sound members, whom nodded back in agreement, all three of them suddenly rushed towards both Lee and Sakura.

 

Kin went after Sakura with a furious scowl on her face while Doso concentrated on Lee, leaving Zaku to head towards the two still unconscious boys or as back up for the other two. Lee, after having just performed the Initial Lotus was still in a weakened state when Doso rammed into him and activated his sound attack at the same time. “Kyoumeisen!” Immediately, Lee screamed in agony as he felt the large amounts of sound waves invade his ear, his vision wobbled in front of his eyes and he vaguely heard Sakura's cry of his name before he collapsed onto the floor, mentally berating himself for getting into this type of situation, and in front of the person he liked too.

 

Sakura was slightly distracted when she watched how easily Lee-san had fallen to the Sound's attack. “Lee-san!!!” She shouted, but that small amount of distraction gave Kin the chance to strike her from the back. Sakura fell forward and landed on the ground heavily. Sakura gasped in pain as she felt Kin literally stepped onto her back, grabbing onto her hair and pulled it back up as far as she could. “This is for daring to punch me in the face, you whore!” Kin snarled in anger while Sakura screamed in pain. Sakura watched through teary eyes as Zaku evenly strolled towards the unconscious forms of Sasuke and Naruto. /Naruto-kun! Sasuke-kun! I.. I.. I've failed!/ She thought in horror.

 

However, to of their surprise, the two foxes whom have guarded Naruto with their lives before had decided that this was the most appropriate time to attack. They jumped from Zaku's blind spots to attack him on each side, one bitting him on his leg, the other jumping onto his face to scratch it. Zaku shouted in shock and anger at being bitten and scratched by sharp fox claws at the same time. He struggled to rid himself of the two beasts before Doso came to help, grabbing onto the fox on Zaku's feet, pulling it off and slamming his metallic arm band onto the small creature. With one fox gone, Zaku was able to fend off the other one and blew it across the ground until it slammed against a tree with his Zankuuha. “Stupid FOXES!” He yelled with a furious look in his eyes.

 

Sakura watched on in blind admiration as both foxes struggled onto their feets, whimpered slightly in pain before snarling back at their enemies again. /What was I thinking?! Giving Up?! Giving up while those two fought with all their might!? I'm such a Fxxking coward! Here I am, the only one capable of saving both Saskue-kun and Naruto-kun, and I'm Fxxking USELESS!!! I won't give up! I can't give up!!/ For once, outer Sakura completely agreed with inner Sakura, believing that they were the only ones capable of doing something, and therefore must find a way to survive, no matter what the costs.

 

Sakura then noticed that Kin had been slightly distracted by the two foxes' surprise attack on Zaku and took her chance. With a kunai still in her hand, she quickly reached up and sliced off most of her hair that Kin was holding on to. Then, Sakura pushed off the surprised Kin, rolled to her side and stood up in a battle stance again. Once up, she started performing new seals. /I can probably only use this technique once with the amount of Chakra I have now. Forgive me, Naruto. I can't think of a better time to use this technique you've taught me. I would do anything to protect both of you. Even if it cost me my life./

 

“Gen Bunshin no Jutsu!” (Illusionary Shadow Replication) (9) Sakura shouted as three puffs of smoke appeared beside her to reveal three Sakura replicas. “Let's go!” The real Sakura said as she suddenly puffed out of existence while the other three charged forward towards their enemies.

 

Kin was very irritated at being beaten and humiliated by the pink haired girl so many times today, that she angrily launched several metal needles at the Sakura that was running towards her. To her surprise, the needles passed straight through the Sakura replica. /Is it a just a Bunshin?/ Taken aback at the revelation, Kin did not notice until too late that the same Sakura replica had suddenly disappeared and reappeared right in front of her and slammed her fist into Kin's face for a second time that day. Kin was thrown back by the Chakra enhanced punch before slamming into a tree and losing consciousness there and then. After that, the Sakura bunshin that she had been fighting against puffed out of existence.

 

“Kin!” Doso shouted in surprise but was still blocking a kunai that the supposed Sakura's replica thew towards him.

 

Beside him, Zaku asked back in irritation: “What the hell is with these… things? Are they Kage bunshins or just bunshins? Why is it each time I hit them nothing happens, and yet when there is an opening they charge forward and gain a real hit?!”

 

Doso avoided all the shurikens and kunais being thrown at him as well as sending some of his sound waves towards the inanimate replicas. “I think…” He dodged another kick but was too slow to react before the replica jumped away again. “That she combined Genjutsu with Bunshin no Jutsu! She uses the Bunshins to fight and distract us while waiting for an opening to attack us using the real her. However, she's probably using an invisibility technique on herself right now which is why we can't sense her at all!” He explained as calmly as he could while dodging attacks.

 

“Shit! How do we beat that?!” Zaku shouted back as he struggled with his own Bunshin/Genjutsu thing while trying to keep his ground.

 

“Zaku! I'll manoeuvre them into the same area, and then give it your biggest Zankuuha to blast them away; the real one can't be far away from her replicas!” Doso supplied a solution, and the two remaining sound Nins did just that.

 

Being forced to avoid the Kyoumeisen Sound attack from Doso, the Sakura bunshins had no choice but to retreat, and when Zaku found his chance, he immediately launched into his own attack. “Zankuuha! (Air slicing Blast) Maximum Force!!” The resulting blast completed blasted away half of the clearing. Soon, what was revealed was a very beaten Sakura lying on the floor, unmoving.

 

“Heh! Damn Bitch, she deserved everything she got.” Zaku sneered at the girl cruelly.

 

“Let's just finish her off and then kill both Sasuke and that other one too.” Doso replied with an almost tired note to his voice. “Let's complete our mission.”

 

Upon taking two steps towards the unmoving girl, the two foxes from before appeared in front of her to snarl and snap angrily at the Sound nins in pure hatred.

 

“Oh no, not them again, I'm about fed up with all this SHIT. Can't I just kill them all in one big swoop?!” Zaku complained in a whining, childish voice. Doso nodded and they were about to reach for their weapons when three different figures were suddenly dragged out from a side bush to stand resolutely in front of them. Looking at the group's forehead protector, Doso and Zaku realised it was another group from the Hidden Leaf village. “Damn! What is with all these weirdos popping up everywhere?!” He asked angrily.

 

It was then that Sakura struggled into the conscious realm; she slowly looked up to see the back of a purple shirt. /Purple?/ She was brought out of her mental musings by a familiar voice, the voice of Yamanaka Ino. “Oi! Sakura! I told you before! I won't lose to you.” The blond girl said resolutely.

 

“Ino?” Sakura asked in a very confused and quiet voice.

 

---------------------- (Same scene, different point of view!)

 

Unbeknownst to the members of Team 7, Team 8 has been hiding within the bushes of the clearing of the battle for some time now. It all started with running away from the Hyuga prodigy, Hyuga Neji. Ino and Shikamaru had been arguing over which team they should attack to grab the new scroll they needed and Choji suddenly announced to them that both Sasuke and Naruto are knocked out while Sakura is the only one fighting.

 

Ino watched in horror and shock as Sakura out witted all three of the Sound nins again and again, slicing up her own hair in an attempt to get away without showing any emotion on her face other than determination. She watched silently as her childhood friend was pushed beyond her limit and she realised. /Sakura… You've become so strong./ It was like a splash of cold water onto Ino's face. She had never ever imagined that Sakura could have improved so much. Technique after technique, kunai after kunai, Sakura landed blow after blow on the Sound Nins and even managed to knock out the female ninja without even getting a scratch on herself. It was like watching your worse nightmare and the most admirable dream at the same time. The only thoughts running through her mind at them moment were visions of their pasts. She had always enjoyed being the `big sister' of Sakura, she had always enjoyed being protective and act as if she was superior and a know it all. But in the end, there was no difference at all.. /What have I been doing all this time???/ She thought. /Sakura must have trained her butt off to get where she is now! And me… What about ME!!??? What have I BEEN DOING all this time??…/ The only answer Ino could come up with was.. /nothing.. I've been doing nothing…/

 

It was Shikamaru's nudging her from her side that pulled Ino out of her mental shock. In front of them now, stood two arrogant though slightly miffed Sound Nins, and an unmoving Sakura on the floor. Ino didn't even think about her action as her body automatically went into `protective' mode over her childhood friend. Before she could even blink, she found herself was standing resolutely over Sakura's body and glaring at the Sound Nins with all her might. /It seems nothings ever changed about me… I'm still so over-baring when it comes to Sakura in pain… Well, I may not be as strong as Sakura but I won't stand by to watch her and Sasuke-kun get hurt or worse right in front of my eyes without helping./

 

This time, it was Choji's fearful voice that brought her out of her musings. “WHAT ARE YOU GUYS THINKING?! THESE GUYS ARE DANGEROUS!! WE'LL BE KILLED!!!” It was then that Ino noticed that she wasn't alone; she had her teammates, Shikamaru and Choji on either side of her. /I'm not alone… so I can do this../

 

Shikamaru answered back self-depreciatingly: “It's troublesome, I know. But we have no choice. If Ino is coming out, then we men can't runaway.” He said simply.

 

Ino gave Shikamaru a small indulgent smile and thought to herself. /Thank you Shika, you have no idea what that means… To know that I'm not alone when facing such adversaries./ She turned her attentions back at the Sound Nins and replied back. “Sorry to get you guys involved, but we're a team. And we always stand together!”

 

“Heh. You can leave if you're scared, Fat ass!” Zaku insulted, standing arrogantly in front of the new Leaf team.

 

Choji's eyebrow twitched. “What did you say…” He asked in a small voice.

 

Zaku smirked at him haughtily. “I said! If you want, you can runaway like the little shit you are, you FAT ASS!”

 

There was a short silence that followed before Choji bellowed in rage. “I'M NOT FAT! I'M JUTS BIG BONED!!!”

 

Shikamaru hid a small smirk on his face. /Damn this is troublesome. But the guy just said the taboo word, not once, but twice! The idiot! He's gonna get it now!/ “Alright. Let's Go!”

 

Instantly, Choji performed a seal. “Baika no jutsu!” (Multisize no Jutsu) Choji's body suddenly bloated up and all his limbs and head disappeared into his round body. “Nikudan Sensha (Meat Tank)!” He shouted from within as his huge, round body started spinning forward. Zaku tried to counter with his Zankuuha, but found that the spinning technique was pushing his air pressure away from his intended direction. Suddenly, Choji jumped up into the sky and was aiming to smash down onto Zaku, who avoided it just in time.

 

Doso tried to run towards Zaku but found that he couldn't move suddenly. Glancing at the other team's members, he immediately noticed that the boy with a high ponytail had his shadow connected with his own. “What the hell is this jutsu?” He demanded as the boy made a very stupid display by putting his hands on his head. What irritated Doso most was that his own body followed the boy's moves, so he took, looked ridiculous doing the same displays.

 

“Heh. I guess you've never heard of Konoha's famous Kagemane no Jutsu, eh?” (Shadow Copy no Jutsu) Shikamaru asked in a self-assured way. Looking towards Ino, he said: “Ino, it's your turn, since that girl is already knocked out, she'll be easy to control, use her as bait.”

 

Ino nodded in comprehension: “Right!” She then performed her own seals. “Ninpou: Shintenshin no Jutsu!” (Ninjutsu: Mind body switch) Immediately, Ino's body slumped and was caught cautiously by Shikamaru. On the other side of the field, Kin's body slowly stood up and raised a kunai to her neck. “HEY! It's over now you guys! I have full control over this girl's body and if you don't want her to die, drop your scroll and leave, I'll release her body once I'm convinced you guys are far away!” However, looking at the strange smirks on body Doso and Zaku's faces, Ino (within Kin) shifted nervously. “You hear me!? Drop your scroll and leave!”

 

“INO! DON'T!!!” Ino vaguely heard Sakura's warning but it was already too late. To her surprise, Zaku suddenly raised his open palm towards her and released another Zankuuha.

 

Ino (within Kin's body) slammed up against the same tree that Kin had hit before and slumped down. She struggled to look up. “You! You would hurt your own!?” She asked in shock and pain.

 

“Don't get us wrong, we don't care about the scrolls at all, we were just ordered to kill Sasuke. The three of us are just allies for the time being. We hold no loyalty to each other.” Doso explained simply.

 

Knowing that she was beat, Ino quickly returned to her body and struggled to stand on her own while still being supported by Shikamaru. At the same time, Choji stumbled towards them since he had used up his Chakra for the previous jutsu he had used. Shikamaru too, was feeling very tensed now that his own Jutsu would not hold any longer. As if mocked by fate, the Kagemane no jutsu chose that moment to return the shadow bind to Shikamaru, releasing Doso in the process.

 

Doso stretched his arm a bit before glaring at the three Genins in front of them. “Now.. where was I? Oh yeas, killing time…”

 

“Heh… What a pathetic sight…” An unrecognisable voice rang through out the clearing and all heads swivelled towards the voice. It belonged to one Hyuga Neji, and beside him, stood his female teammate. “You sound Nins think you're so tough, beating up on second-rate Leaf Nins, do you?”

 

“Damn it! Another cockroach comes out of hiding!” Zaku complained irritably.

 

“Don't be mistaken.” Looking towards the unconscious Lee, Neji continued. “He is one of ours and you're going to pay for hurting one of ours!” Neji scorned as he activated his Byakugan. The veins around his eyes popped up with the flow of Chakra. To the sound Nins, it almost looked as if Neji's eyes were a glowing white flame of power and anger. They shuddered slightly.

 

“Heh. If you're so bothered, why not come down here and fight us like a man?!” Zaku mocked.

 

Neji released his Byakugan. “It seems that won't be necessary anymore.”

 

Before they could interpret what he meant, another voice rang out through the clearing, however, this time; the voice was cold and harsh. “Sakura… Who did that to you?” All heads swivelled around to face the now conscious Uchiha Sasuke. However, to all those who knew him, this Sasuke didn't seem normal at all. He had strange markings all over his body, stretching from his left arm, over his neck and face. His eyes also glowed an unholy red with the incomplete Sharingan shining proudly.

 

Zaku seeing that his real foe is finally up, he proclaimed arrogantly: “We did it.” He would regret those words for the rest of his life.

 

“Sasuke-kun?” Sakura tried to struggle onto her feet, but they refused to budge. “Wha..” She tried to ask but was interrupted by Sasuke.

 

“Don't worry. I'm fine.. In fact, I feel great.” Sasuke answered blandly with a nasal voice.

 

“But Sasuke-kun!” Sakura finally found some strength to rebuff back. “That mark? That power?! It's unnatural, it's not..” Once again, she was interrupted in her tirade.

 

“I am an avenger, Sakura. Not matter how unnatural or evil the power may be; I will do anything and everything to get my hands on it. I will take the devils fruit if it was offered to me.” Sasuke explained as he started walking slowly towards Zake with a face masked by fanatical rage. “Now… Let's being...”

 

Seeing that a real fight was going to begin, Shikamaru quickly dragged Ino out of the way and shouted for Choji to do the same for Lee. They made it just in time to avoid the onslaught brought on by Sasuke's new Chakra. The burst of unnatural Chakra flowed and circled around Sasuke like living thing, feeding off his anger and hate like a serpent, ready to do its master's bidding. Shikamaru shuddered at the unholy sight. /What is that Chakra? Normal Chakra is blue… so why is Sasuke's purple?!/

 

Doso looked on in shock at the enormity of Sasuke's power. Zaku, however, had no qualms with battling it out here and now. Doso noticed too late what Zaku's intentions were and shouted out a warning to him. “Zaku! NO! He's too powerful!”

 

“Ultimate Zankuuha!!” Zaku released his most powerful attack and watched in satisfaction as the rest of the clearing was destroyed. However, he suddenly felt a presence behind him and he tried to turn around, both his arms were caught in a deadlock within the strong grips of the not deceased Uchiha Sasuke. Behind the insane boy, Zaku could see that both Sakura and the other blond boy were unharmed by his attack. Zaku finally came out of his shock when he felt that his arms were being bent at a very unnatural angle, causing him to scream in pain.

 

“Heh heh.. You're proud of these arms, aren't you?” And without a moment of doubt, Sasuke snapped the bones on Zaku's arms promptly. The resulting scream escaping from Zaku vibrated through out the entire clearing and caused many of the witnesses there to shudder in fear.

 

“Zaku!” Doso shouted with concern in his voice as he watched from the sidelines how easily this Uchiha Sasuke had defeated his team member. He stood completely still and shivered with nervousness as Sasuke turned around to face him. “Now it's your turn.”

 

Watching wide eyed at Sasuke, who took small, self-assured steps towards his final enemy. Everyone was shocked as Sakura somehow managed to find enough strength to stand up, run towards Sasuke and halt his movements by grabbing onto him bodily and not let go. “STOP!! Sasuke-kun, PLEASE STOP!!” She pleaded with tears running down her face of which she ignored. “STOP THIS!!!” The resulting silence that followed was so still that everyone was able to hear the slight movement of Naruto's head and looked towards him, wondering if he would awaken now (10), but to no avail.

 

Finally, the dark markings all over Sasuke's body started disappearing. And once they were all gone, he collapsed onto the ground, exhausted. “Sasuke-kun!?” Sakura's concerned voice shattered the silence that hung in the air.

 

“You're strong.” Doso admitted as he realised he had just been saved from certain death. “We cannot defeat at this time. So here is a gift to you.” Doso placed his team's Earth scroll delicately on the ground. “In payment of letting us go on our way… For now, we have something that we must make certain of and cannot die here. If we are to meet again during this exam, then we will neither run nor hide from you. Until then, let us go.” Doso shifted the still whimpering Zaku onto his shoulder and shifted his grip on the unconscious Kin, half dragging, half carrying them away.

 

“Wait!” Sakura demanded. “What was that mark that Orochimaru gave to Sasuke-kun? And why?!”

 

Doso turned away and started to leave but replied back anyway. “I don't know, we were simply told to kill that Uchiha…” And then, he disappeared into the surrounding bush land with his team members.

 

Soon, Ino's team all came out of their hiding places and started looking over the injuries of those that are present. Sakura needed a few plasters on her face and body. Sasuke wasn't hurt, just exhausted. Lee was okay, with only minor injuries that would heal with some ointment. But when the question came to Naruto, Sakura literally broke down into tears.

 

“WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO HIS BACK?!” Ino yelled in horror as she watched Shikamaru and Sasuke slowly tear away the old bandages to reveal the gruesome sight of Naruto's injured back. Choji was currently gagging from the smell of dried blood and didn't feel so good after eating all of his chips that day. Neji narrowed his eyes as he watched the minute amounts of Chakra running everywhere all over Naruto's back, doing as much as possible to heal it bit by bit. Tenten and Lee were horrified at the sight but kept to themselves mostly. Sasuke just looked away in shame, remembering that he wasn't even there to help. Sakura continued to cry, to pour out all of her emotional turmoils of the previous day, to be rid of all her pains in that one time purging. And Shikamaru was for once, silent as he gazed sadly at the injured boy's back.

 

Eventually, the different teams pulled out of their shock and gathered most of their bandages supplies for Sakura and Sasuke to use, trying to help the heavily injured team. Choji even dedicated his scarf to them to keep Naruto warm if the need arise. However, when Neji suddenly stated that someone was heading their way from a different direction from where the Sound Nins disappeared to, everyone tensed in anticipation and fear. Sakura especially, shuddered with fright. /Oh Please GOD! Don't let it be Orochimaru!/

 

It turned out to be none other than Kabuto, whom seemed to have lost his team members on the way after his fight with another team. He offered to help them since he had had some experience with medical ninja techniques and told them all that Naruto was already healing on his own, though slowly, so they didn't have to do anything.

 

After that, the teams slowly scattered in their own directions. Lee, Tenten and Neji left on their own accord, but not without Lee vowing to become stronger and defeat Sasuke in their next fight. After that, Ino, Shikamaru and Choji left too, but Ino just had to have her two cents: “Remember Sakura! I won't lose to you!!!”

 

Soon, all that as left was the original team 7 members, the two foxes (whom refused to leave Naruto's side) and Kabuto. Kabuto then offered to come with them towards the tower, since both teams have their own two scrolls needed to pass the exam and more importantly, it was high time to bring Naruto to the actual medic Nins in the tower as well as warn the rest of Konoha about Orochimaru's appearance.

 

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(1) This is following the manga, not the anime version. In the manga, the snake with the Kusanagi sword is different to Orochimaru's tongue; I'm using that snake. In the anime version, I think Orochimaru turns his tongue into a snake using that `Senei Jyashu' technique. Well, even if it's not possible, this is an AU and I'm sticking with it.

 

(2) No idea what the English translation is. I found it under the jutsu list in Narutofan. Um.. this was their explanation: “A Ninjutsu technique where the ninja stares down their opponent, causing them to become completely frozen in their tracks. Perfect for escaping a dire situation, or for stalling a target in an assassination.” So yeah, no idea if it's the same technique Orochimaru used before or something else. ^_^

 

(3) This is an original jutsu that will be explained later. It belongs to one of my OCs.

 

(4) The Japanese name for the jutsu from above in (4). It basically translates to “Shadow” (Kage) “Barrier” (Heki).

 

(5) Um. I'm assuming they are part of the Sound Four. Not exactly sure. ^^;;;

 

(6) This was before the Kyuubi attack against Konoha, so Orochimaru doesn't know about the Kyuubi seal created by the Fourth Hokage.

 

(7) My OC finally makes a short appearance! Don't worry, he's an ally of Naruto's!

 

(8) I don't know the translation for this technique!!! Anyone, HELP ME!!! T_T

 

(9) Kinda similar to the Genjutsu/Bunshin no jutsu used by Sakura in the story Time and Time Again. I really liked that story. ^_^ A sincere apology to the Author of that story, I didn't mean to copy it and this version is slightly different. Slightly being the important term… ~_~;; This technique was taught by Naruto to Sakura only, so Sasuke and Kakashi doesn't know it at all. ^_^ It's originally an Air technique so not many people knows about it either.

 

(10) I think that was when he was arguing with Kyuubi! ^_^ So yeah, he got a little to emotional and actually moved his head slightly. ^_^;;