Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/
works/4780328.
  Rating:
      Explicit
  Archive Warning:
      Graphic_Depictions_Of_Violence, Major_Character_Death, Underage
  Category:
      F/F, F/M, M/M, Multi
  Fandom:
      Naruto
  Relationship:
      Haruno_Sakura/Uchiha_Sasuke, Orochimaru/Tsunade, Jiraiya/Tsunade,
      Jiraiya/Orochimaru_(Naruto), Haruno_Sakura/Uzumaki_Naruko, Uzumaki
      Naruko/Uchiha_Sasuke, Uchiha_Sasuke/Uzumaki_Naruko/Haruno_Sakura,
      Jiraiya/Orochimaru/Tsunade
  Character:
      Uchiha_Sasuke, Hatake_Kakashi, Haruno_Sakura, Orochimaru_(Naruto),
      Tsunade_(Naruto), Jiraiya_(Naruto), Uzumaki_Naruko, Dai-nana-han_|_Team_7
      (Naruto)
  Additional Tags:
      Genderbend, Female_Uzumaki_Naruto, Politics, Violence, Depression, Angst,
      Alternate_Universe, Alcohol_Abuse/Alcoholism, Torture
  Series:
      Part 2 of Two_Realms_Belonging_to_Man
  Stats:
      Published: 2015-09-12 Updated: 2017-08-17 Chapters: 4/? Words: 27530
****** Deadlock ******
by Ajax_the_Great_(Ajax_the_Great), The_Jingo_(The_King_in_White)
Summary
     Orochimaru of the Densetsu no Sannin never falls to the darkness
     within, and remains loyal to Konoha. The future (especially that of
     three young genin-to-be) is changed forever.
Notes
     "Words are a pretext. It is the inner bond that draws one person to
     another, not words."
  This work was inspired by
      Team_7's_Ascension:_Blood_Wings by Eilyfe
***** The Graduation Exam *****
A faint buzz of electricity zapped through his right hand, flaring pain
receptors to produce a sharp ache. Jolted awake, Uchiha Sasuke rolled over to
peer at the darkened sky through his window.
The dim early morning drowned out the stars, leaving the sky a featureless
smear of indigo save for a bright white rim along the eastern horizon,
heralding the dawn.
Sasuke shook the last dregs of numbness out of his fingers and slipped the
banded iron rings from his digits. Tossing the shock-inducing alarm system into
the drawer of his night table, the Uchiha rose from his bed in one practiced
motion and fell into a stretch.
Sasuke moved with aching, stiffened joints. Cracks reverberated through the
silent house, and muscles tired after a late night training session began to
activate. The shower beckoned his groggy mind, and the boy meandered from his
room and down the hall to step into the bathroom.
Nearly scalding hot water pounded down on Sasuke, seeping through raven locks
and traveling down pale flesh in searing ribbons. All need to sleep fled from
the Uchiha, and while staring at conspicuously sparkling porcelain tiles Sasuke
began to scrub his body with abandon.
Perhaps the house was kept too clean and too empty to belong to a normal twelve
year old boy, but Sasuke never claimed to be normal. Not since that night. The
night of bloody screams and bloody walls and bloody-
Hands. Pain seared through his palms and dragged Sasuke back from the tide of
memory to stare at the white crescents his nails had dug into his flesh.
Shutting off the shower taps with a jerk, Sasuke reached out and snagged a
towel from the silvery metal rack hammered into the wall. Drying his body with
efficient movements, Sasuke strode from the shower and – carefully – dropped
the used towel in a wicker laundry basket lurking by the door.
Sasuke imagined that keeping his home obsessively clean chased away the shadow
of him. No man and no blood could hide in the stark empty corners and against
constantly disinfected surfaces. And if there was a patch of darkened wood in
the center of his parents' former bedroom, Sasuke could ignore the stain.
Throwing on a pair of white shorts and a blue high-collared t-shirt, Sasuke
shook the water dripping into his eyes out of his face with a quick jerk and
sighed at the pangs of hunger in his stomach.
Breakfast was a subdued affair, like it had almost always been since that
night. A simple fare of a single glass of milk, a sliced tomato, two pieces of
toast, and a handful of dry cereal. Sasuke could hardly even begin to care when
his elders pointed out the blandness of his meals and the absolute economy of
nutrition his diet employed.
Sasuke didn't even know how to begin demonstrating to bright-eyed young
children and misty-eyed old adults that the only taste he craved was a steady
diet of vengeance with a dash of murder.
So he kept his head down, shoving hands in his pockets and nodding along as
overly-concerned meddling coots expressed meaningless platitudes for his loss
and concerns for his well being. Seething all the while at the wasted time he
spent not training to become just a little bit faster, or just a little bit
stronger.
Stepping out into the cool morning air, Sasuke took a deep breath and began to
jog. Down the steps of his lonely home and through the empty streets of his
lonely district, the Uchiha moved at a steady, familiar beat.
Sasuke pounded out three warm up laps around the inner walls of the ghostly
Uchiha compound before springing out into the streets of Konoha. A few familiar
faces gave solemn nods when Sasuke dashed by them, used to day after day, year
after year of seeing Sasuke pass along on his morning rounds.
Konoha was huge, the Uchiha supposed. Though Sasuke really had little to
compare it to, since it was only place he'd ever lived in and had ever seen. He
couldn't weigh it against distant undiscovered cities and towns. His steady run
led him to the boundary of the curved southern wall and he turned west to begin
a circuit.
Trees flashed by on his left as Sasuke ground the dirt roads of Konoha ever
smoother. A familiar cry of "Youth!" sounded on his right, and dark eyes
widened in horror before Sasuke turned and pressed into the well kept greenery,
pushing his controlled jog into an all-out sprint.
The Uchiha had only ever met Maito Gai once, and that once was more than
enough. The green spandex clad jounin was hands-down the oddest individual
Sasuke had ever encountered. Unforgivingly exuberant and inappropriately
affectionate - if the way he treated a younger green spandex clad genin was any
indication.
Still Sasuke may have been willing to forgive or at least forget such glaring
faults if the jounin had been willing to take him on and train him. A dedicated
taijutsu specialist and high ranking shinobi had to possess a significant
degree of skill and ability to pass on techniques that would help him close the
gap with Itachi.
I'm just dreaming of tearing you apart.
There was only so much self-directed training could do for Sasuke. The forms
taught at the Academy were depressingly basic and pathetically easy to master,
good for little but an introduction to self defence and the incapacitation of
civilians. It was almost as if he was being intentionally held back.
The infuriating man had only refused, shaking his head and telling Sasuke to
wait for his own sensei whenever he graduated to take him on. And noted perhaps
the Uchiha might consider attending the Academy more often if he hungered to
fan his Youth so desperately.
The refusal didn't stop the cheery jounin from calling out to Sasuke with
encouragement when he saw the boy passing by in the mornings before the Academy
was scheduled, and scolding him if the Uchiha ran by later in the day during
hours when he should have been attending class.
At least the little green clone didn't presume to judge him too.
The Hokage's tower passed in a blur on his right, casting a long, cold shadow
that hid Sasuke from the dawn and darkened the looming carved faces of the
Hokage on the left.
Sasuke had met the Sandaime many times in the wake of the Massacre, boiling
inwardly with rage at the soft looks the old man gave him - his persistent
apologies for failing to stop the tragedy. It had taken three days for Sasuke
to get sick of the banality and start refusing to speak to the old man.
He never really knew whythe Hokage seemed so convinced that he should have
noticed something was off about Itachi, when Sasuke didn't scent the monster
lurking under his brother's skin himself. It was unmistakably odd. But old
people were generally strange. Always so concerned for his well being and
pressing him to do this or that.
Umino Iruka had been the worst of them, constantly chasing him through the
streets and dragging him back to classes when all Sasuke needed was to get away
from all the incredible incompetence of his peers and the predominantly
pathetic curriculum of the Academy.
Once he'd learned to evade other chuunin and successfully hide from the
concerned teacher, Sasuke never returned to the classroom save to complete the
tests that were absolutely necessary for him to pass. Apparently, his absence
were borderline legendary.
Sasuke sneered inwardly as he crossed over a small river, garish red planks
trailing under his feet as his body automatically leapt up and dashed over thin
crimson handrails.
A pale-skinned man with golden eyes directed a blink his way as the Uchiha
moved to avoid collision, passing out of Sasuke's mind before he even touched
back down on the grass on the opposite side of the river.
Time was wasting, and as much as Sasuke loathed the thought, he needed to
actually attend the Academy later on. Missing his own graduation would be an
unmitigated disaster.
===============================================================================
Orochimaru shook his head with amusement as the red-faced, puffing younger
brother of Itachi passed him without a word. The Sennin recalled whispers of
that boy, lurking alone in his clan compound when the rest of his decimated
family was scattered to the corners of Konoha. He'd broken some important
politician's son's jaw when the lad had the gall to call him 'dobe'.
Hiruzen had laughed about it for days.
Perhaps Itachi's brother would amount to something interesting one day, though
Orochimaru loathed the thought of losing the elder, an extremely well-placed
spy, to his own manipulative desires. Still, it was ultimately up to Itachi how
he wanted die; if he wanted to be killed by the hands of his obviously broken
younger brother, that was his choice to make.
It wasn't as if Itachi's bloody and shadowy services to Konohagakure didn't
deserve the dignity of choosing his own death.
The Sennin shuddered to think what would have become of the Uchiha clan if he
hadn't intervened on their behalf, pointing out that while it was necessary to
destroy all adults that could be linked to the coup, it would be a waste to
slaughter children too young to know anything.
In another world, perhaps Sasuke would have truly been the last of the Uchiha
clan, target of all the hopes and adoring legends associated with their
legendary dojutsu. As it was, the boy was merely one of a dwindled family, and
most importantly to the public, that traitor's brother.
Imagining a world without the Sharingan sickened the scientist. It would have
been an extravagantly terrible waste of valuable data and samples.
===============================================================================
Yawning awake, Naruko trudged through her morning ablutions with the grace of
the walking dead. Stumbling over numerous piles of dirty laundry, well-read
scrolls, and braces of kunai, the Academy's Top Rookie managed to tug on her
signature orange jumpsuit and make her way to the kitchen.
Naruko yanked open her creaky cupboard, dancing fingers longingly across stacks
of cup ramen before tugging out a box of oatmeal with a grumble. As much as the
blonde would have loved to eat her favorite food for her Graduation Day
breakfast, she had a feeling that Ero-Sennin would have kicked her ass for it.
Like the old perv had the first time he'd visited her in the morning and found
her happily slurping down the salty noodles.
Making an ugly face at the bland grains, Naruko shoved a kettle on her stove
and folded her arms to wait for the water to boil. The blonde's mind wandered,
idly considering her various classmates for the likelihood that she'd be
assigned to a Team with them. No real preference came to mind, save for a
desperate hope that Sakura would find herself on any team but her's.
If that knowitall had the same placement as her, Naruko might just have to kill
herself. Or preferably the pink banshee.
A low whistle signaled that the water was done, and with another frown the
blonde poured it into her waiting bowl of oats. Sugar and milk followed, and
Naruko scarfed down the meal without waiting to deal with its lack of taste or
even sit at her small table.
Casting one last glance at the cupboard containing her beloved ramen, Naruko
slipped on a pair of zori. The door stood shut, cutting out a world of cold
eyes and foreboding whispers, and the blonde found herself sucking in a shaky
breath.
Naruko slapped her cheeks, screwing on a bright fake grin and muttering
"Another day, another Ryo. You'll make it... Always moving forward..." Some
days were better than others, requiring the blonde to spend less time psyching
herself up to take her lonely world.
Graduation day cut into her mantra, and the jinchuuriki gave a truer grin at
the door before yanking it open. "Today's the day I'm going to be a real ninja,
dattebayo!"
Blue skies without a cloud in sight arched overhead as Naruko shuffled from her
apartment. Casting a quick, wary look at the clean streets around her, the
blonde stifled the instinctive dissonance. Adapting to a well-policed, well-
maintained, and wholesome district of Konoha was taking a lot longer than
Naruko would have liked.
Growing up in the slums left its mark, and if not for Ero-Sennin finding out
just where she'd been subsisting and insisting she moved, Naruko was sure she'd
still be wandering those dirty streets. Somehow she doubted she'd ever grow out
of the instinctive need to look around for wandering thugs and thieves.
Hebi-jiji just laughed and told her that it was the mark of a good kunoichi to
be so suspicious. Naruko wondered if that meant that all ninja were paranoid
wrecks.
The jinchuuriki took off down the road at a light jog, hopping around bleary
eyed civilians that were trotting off to their jobs. Excitement bubbled up from
her toes, and Naruko didn't bother containing the grin fighting to rise on her
lips.
Indulging in a touch of idle fantasy, Naruko imagined the kind of missions she
and her team would be taking as real ninja. Stories of bright heroes fighting
slimy villains in a thousand different tales flashed through her thoughts, and
Naruko cast herself in dozens of roles.
Perhaps she could be the one to save the Daimyo's daughter. Or the one that
crushed a criminal gang. Maybe she'd become famous for being the most powerful
kunoichi to ever live?
But first, Naruko had to make genin. Easy as cake.
Trailing through the Academy gates just as the morning bell rung out in a dull
clang, Naruko swore and doubled her speed. The blonde shoved through classroom
door just as Iruka-sensei moved to close it.
Naruko smirked up at the instructor, looking with undisguised longing at the
hitai-ate strapped across the man's tan scarred chuunin gave Naruko a knowing
look and tapped his nose before turning back to slide the door shut.
Only to have a pale hand grasp the edge of it and force it back open to admit
Uchiha Sasuke.
Iruka blinked rapidly, restraining the inner surge of pity and annoyance. Pity
at the circumstances that had changed Sasuke so much from the generally good
natured boy his early enrollment records spoke of. And annoyance at the boy's
insistence of skirting the rules at every turn.
Giving a quick scan for any other tardy students, Iruka closed the door and
strode back to the front of the classroom. The chuunin observed Naruko and
Sasuke trailing quietly up to settle in the seats at the very back row before
clapping his hands and roaring over the chattering class.
"Quiet down!"
Silence reigned instantly, the children straightening up at the stern gaze
Iruka pinned them with. A heartbeat passed, before a warm smile crossed the
chuunin's face.
"As you all know," Iruka began seriously, "Today is the last day the Academy
will be in session until September. We will be hosting your Graduation Exams in
short order. For those of you who have taken the test twice already and failed,
another failure will lead to your expulsion from the Academy."
Brown eyes turned sharp and faint concern touched into the instructor's tone.
"Therefore if you are not confident in your ability to succeed in all aspects
of the exam, I strongly urge you to consider opting out and signing up for
another year of instruction. Please note that no child over the age of fourteen
will be admitted to the Academy without special consent."
"There will be a written exam, followed by a taijutsu demonstration. After a
short fifteen minute break, we will proceed with a test of your ability to
resist basic genjutsu and finish with a testing of your mastery of the
Kawarimi, the Henge, and the Bunshin."
Staring pointedly at Chouji, Iruka felt compelled to add that under no
circumstances were students permitted to leave the Academy until all exams were
finished. Not even for lunch.
"Mizuki-sensei will be passing out your written exams now. The written exam
will double as a yearly final for those who choose to return next year. Just
notify myself or Mizuki-sensei during the taijutsu demonstration if you wish to
be excused." With a nod to the silver haired chuunin, Iruka motioned to the
nervous students.
Mizuki gave a reassuring smile before stepping forward with the thick booklets
of paper.
===============================================================================
Haruno Sakura sucked in a steadying breath as Mizuki-sensei dropped an exam
booklet on her desk. Gripping a pencil between delicate fingers, the pink-
haired girl tossed a quick glance around the room before flipping the papers
over and signing her name on the dotted line.
Green eyes flashed down the first page of the exam, and Sakura felt a great
surge of relief and confidence as she realized that all the questions were very
simple, just basic knowledge of the Shinobi world.
Please name all to hold the office of Hokage of Konohagakure.
Sneering slightly at the thought that anyone in her class wouldn't be able to
answer such an easy question, Sakura scribbled out the four names of Konoha's
Hokage. The girl paused briefly as she considered if additional details would
earn bonus marks, and decided to chance it.
'The Sandaime Hokage returned to lead Konoha after the death of the Yondaime in
the Kyuubi attack. Uchiha Madara also briefly held the position of Nidaime
Hokage Kouho before his betrayal of Konoha.'
Sakura would love to see the look on Uzumaki's face if she managed to steal the
class' top spot in the final exams. It still rankled when she remembered how
the former dead last of the class became suddenly competent shortly after they
turned nine and ousted her from her position as Top Rookie and the kunoichi
with the highest grades.
Name the five elemental chakra natures.
Scribbling out the five elements, Sakura even scribbled in a brief diagram of
their strengths and weaknesses in relation to each other and added a quick note
about certain kekkai genkai enabling advanced chakra natures combining two or
more of the basic ones.
Sakura chanced a glance to observe her rival, scowling at the utterly relaxed
expression on the blonde's face as she filled out her test. Crossing Uchiha
Sasuke with her gaze, Sakura turned back her pages and frowned. If she had any
choice at all, she wouldn't want to be on a team with either of them. Uzumaki
being her chief rival, and Uchiha being an all-around arrogant tardy laggart.
Breezing through the rest of her written exam, Sakura filled out questions on
topics such as, what are the names of the Five Great Villages? How many Shinobi
World Wars were there? Which of Konoha's Clans were Noble? And on and on,
tracing out three pages of general history and chakra theory.
Writing down the final answer – Who are the Densetsu no Sannin?- Sakura tossed
her pencil down and leaned back in her chair. Short pink locks tickled around
her ears as the girl wondered vaguely if Ino would do well in her exams. Her
best friend would probably cry and demand they eat a tub of ice cream if the
she failed.
Lost in her idle musings, Sakura jumped in surprise when Iruka-sensei stepped
by, sweeping up her exam booklet with a reassuring smile and proceeding down
the row of desks.
A low chatter rose up as the last set of papers was collected, nervous students
anxiously comparing the answers they could remember and speculating about what
kind of test that teachers had constructed for their Taijutsu exam.
Iruka gave another thunderous, chakra-enhanced clap and ordered the students to
line up in single file by the door to a separate exam room.
Sakura blinked before scanning the classroom and setting green eyes on Goto
Kasumi. Sidling across the room, Sakura spared a confident smile for Ino and
the blonde's nervously wringing hands before filing into the rapidly forming
line.
Ignoring her brown-haired classmate as Kasumi began bouncing in anxious
tension, Sakura folded her arms across her chest and stared out the window. It
was a clear blue day, and the girl let her mind wander.
Once she graduated and had her team assignments, Sakura would have to break the
news to her parents that she'd actually become a member of the shinobi forces.
The green-eyed girl wasn't blind, and had played witness to more than one
argument between her parents as Sakura's enrollment in the Academy steadily
became less of an indulgence and more of a reality.
Kizashi and Mibuki were civilian merchants, wealthy enough to sate their
daughter's curiosities about the world and even pay for shinobi training.
Sakura's parents had long since expected their daughter to drop out of the
Academy, and the notion that the girl might actually manage to become a fabled
killer more than terrified them.
Yet in Konoha the Hokage's word was law, and once a student was signed over the
the Academy they belonged body and soul to the Konohagakure government. Parents
gave up the right to withdraw their children from shinobi education once
enrolled, and only the student in question had the choice to drop out.
Even dropping out didn't herald an end to Konoha's interest in them, however,
and Sakura recalled gossiping whispers in the market about how even dropouts
were never free from surveillance. No matter what Sakura chose to do with her
life, the shadowy world of shinobi would always have one foot in her life.
"Haruno Sakura!" called Mizuki-sensei, ticking off her name on his list before
setting a hand on the girl's shoulder and steering her into the next room.
The room was small, four white walls and two doors. One led back to the
classroom with her peers, and one led onward – either to the next stage of
exams or into the open world if she chose to opt-out. Painted into the floor,
taking up a full third of the space was a bright red ring.
Iruka-sensei sat behind a desk in the far corner, drawing out two sheets of
paper.
Iruka beckoned her over, "Sakura-chan," nodding slightly when the girl blinked
and began trotting over. "I have two forms for you. One is for you to sign if
you're opting out of the exam this year." Dropping a significant hand on the
form to her left, he continued. "This one is for you to sign if you're going to
continue. It says you recognize that you might be injured in the testing."
Sakura bent over the desk, narrowing green eyes as she scanned the pages and
powered through the legalese. One waived her right to compensation for injury,
noted that she recognized the exam as a black mark on her record if she failed,
and that success would be graded on record available at a later date by
request. The other waived her right to privacy if she failed to return to the
Academy, noting that she was opting out of the examination.
She inked her name to the form on the left in a large, flowing script.
"Come here Sakura-chan." Mizuki-sensei called out, motioning for the girl to
stand opposite to him in the ring. "The test goes on for two minutes." the
chuunin explained with a lazy glance to Iruka. "You'll be graded on how well
you fight. Don't worry about the Academy forms – we don't grade on them because
a lot of our students come from clans with their own taijutsu styles."
"In ten seconds." Iruka called out absently as he began filling out the grade
sheets with Sakura's personal information.
After a beat, Sakura darted her gaze to the floor and she fell into the basic
Academy stance. "Do I have to stay in the ring, Mizuki-sensei?"
"No." Mizuki disagreed, "But you'll lose points if you get knocked out. Or gain
a lot if you knock me out." the chuunin after with a mischievous grin.
A chime jingled as Iruka reached zero, shaking a small hand bell and barking
out "Begin!"
Sweat began to bead on Sakura's pale forehead as seconds ticked past, Mizuki-
sensei standing casually with his hands at his sides and a bored expression on
his face.
"Thirty second mark." Iruka-sensei murmured, brown eyes focused on his student.
Sakura moved, leaping forward with both fists drawn to her sides before letting
out a right hook. A hand rose up to slap her fist away. Undeterred, the
pinkette threw her left hook to the same result. The pair traded a short
repetitive set of blows before Sakura leaned back and drew her knee to her
chest. Lashing out with a kick, she grinned when the chuunin brought his arms
up and was forced to block the blow.
"One minute mark."
Mizuki shoved her back, moving into an offensive gait and trailing lazy blows.
Dodging under and around the man's swinging fists, Sakura took a glance at the
utterly bored expression on her sensei's face and burned with humiliation.
The chuunin was utterly toying with her!
Gritting her teeth, Sakura stepped under and into Mizuki's step and drove an
angry fist into the man's knee. "Contact!" she shouted in glee. Said knee
snapped up a moment later and pushed the pinkette away, bringing her
dangerously close to the red line.
"One and a half minute mark."
Sakura dove and rolled, dodging between a marginally surprised Mizuki's legs
and spinning to leap onto the man's back. Wrapping her arms around his throat
in a chokehold and legs around his waist to keep from being thrown, Sakura hung
on for dear life. Mizuki began to twist in sharp movements, growing more
exaggerated as he attempted to throw off his surprisingly tenacious student.
Then the ground slammed into her, driving Sakura's breath from her lungs and
leaving her staring up at the ceiling with a confused expression. The man had
simply collapsed backwards, crushing the girl between his body and the wooden
floor.
"Two minute mark."
Mizuki stepped into Sakura's line of vision, stretching a hand down to help her
up.
Iruka stepped forward once Sakura regained her bearings, an encouraging look as
his face that gave the girl hope for her performance.
"You did well Sakura." Iruka began. "You managed to stay inside the ring for
the full two minutes, and even managed to score a strike on Mizuki-sensei.
Which is more than many of the students today have been able to do." A odd
expression grew on her instructor after a pause. "Keep in mind that this isn't
taijutsu class though, Sakura-chan. You shouldn't yell out 'contact!' in the
middle of a fight, especially against a potentially deadly enemy."
The man's voice rose with a vague pitch of lecture. "Also, you froze up for the
initial thirty seconds. Understandable if you have a taijutsu style based on
counterattack and defence - unlike the Academy Basic. But possibly fatal if you
don't. You should never hold off combat for that long unless the terrain favors
you or you're on a defensive mission. If you had never engaged Mizuki, the
point of your 'mission' today, you would have failed the exam."
Face once again red with shame, Sakura nodded wordlessly.
"Good," Iruka grinned. "Now head on through that door, and I'll see you after
lunch for the rest of the exams."
===============================================================================
Lunch was ramen. Delicious, salty noodles soaked in broth with pre-packaged
seasoning after three minutes over a hot stove. Naruko loved it, gobbling down
every succulent bite with furtive glances around the playground.
Ero-Sennin had told her that the blonde was free to eat all the ramen she liked
for lunches only on school days, and only if she actually showed up at the
Academy. It had only taken three times of attempting to sneak around Jiraiya's
rules before Naruko adhered to them with all austere gravity of a police
officer upholding the law.
Soaking for hours in a frog's stomach – covered in drool and fly guts and other
assorted nasty substances tended to make an impression. Even the stubborn
Uzumaki could realize that in some situations, it was better to simply cut her
losses.
Ino laughed, a bubbling sound of relief and happiness that drew Naruko's blue
eyes to watch the Yamanaka and her best friend chatting amiably at a picnic
table. Years had passed since Naruko realized that she couldn't force people to
want to befriend her through loudness and constant bothering, as well as some
advice from her two father-figures.
Churning under her skin was a familiar mixture of loneliness and jealousy.
Naruko tore her gaze from the pair and took in the rest of the students through
glazed blue eyes. Forty-nine kids puttered about the Academy grounds in groups
with their friends, telling jokes and comparing stories.
The fiftieth student was Uchiha Sasuke, sitting alone under the shadow of a
tree and slowly sharpening a kunai with a whetstone as he waited to be called
back in for the next part of the Graduation Exam.
Naruko sighed, shoving apart the instinct that made her want to wander over and
talk to the boy. More than once the broody raven had rejected her overtures of
basic friendliness, and the Uzumaki had long since given up on waiting for
Sasuke to get his head out of his ass.
"Break's over! Everyone line up!" Mizuki shouted through cupped hands, ignoring
the hateful burn that crossed his chest when the Kyuubi jinchuuriki rose from
her seat in the grass and silently sidled over. The remainder of the blonde's
classmates formed a bulky trail behind her, and with a shrug Mizuki ushered
them back into the classroom.
Greeting the returning examinees with a disarming smile, Iruka launched right
into an explanation as soon as the final student found a seat. "We're going to
proceed with the genjutsu exam in short order, followed immediately by the
ninjutsu exam. If you pass, you'll be awarded your hitai-ate on the spot and
sent to room 136 down the hall until the rest of the students are done."
"Good luck!" Iruka told the class brightly, before calling up Aburame Shino as
the first to take the test.
Naruko tapped a staccato beat on the top of her desk with her oddly elongated
nails. Ignoring the annoyed glares of a few of her more nervous classmates, the
blonde only stuck her tongue out and considered what she'd need to do to pass
the genjutsu portion. Probably just dispelling something, since she didn't
recall the class being taught any actual genjutsu in the Academy.
Bunshin didn't count, even if they were illusions.
"Uzumaki Naruko!" startled her, and the blonde looked up to laugh at a slightly
peeved looking Iruka-sensei. "That's the third time I called you, Naruko! If
you don't pass today I won't buy you ramen tonight."
Naruko snorted. "Of course I'm going to pass, Iruka-sensei! I'm the best ninja
in the whole Academy."
Giving an exasperated but fond smirk, the chuunin shuffled his young charge
through the door and giving a wordless thumbs up to the last student waiting to
be examined before shutting out the classroom.
"First thing's first." Iruka-sensei began as he crossed the same room used for
the taijutsu exam and settling on one edge of the red ring. "The genjutsu
portion is pretty simple – I'm going to cast a weak illusion on you, and you
just have to recognize it and dispel it."
Agreeing with a barked "Sounds good!" Naruko turned a blue gaze on Mizuki
before she strode to stand opposite Iruka-sensei.
Forming three slow hand seals, Iruka sighed out a low "Kasumi Juusha no Jutsu!"
Naruko waited, staring at the chuunin with discerning eyes before darting a
quick gaze around the room. Just three white walls...
A hand settled on the blonde's shoulder and she dove to the side, rolling about
to face against a shadowy figure. The amorphous blob with indistinct, only
retaining the basic hints of human shape. With an amused snort, Naruko brought
her hands together in a ram seal and flared a portion of her enormous chakra.
Wordlessly the wiggling blob dissolved away into faint trails of mist before
fading completely. Naruko quickly spun about to confirm there were no other
dark bodies reaching from the shadows and nothing else obviously different
before nodding to Iruka-sensei. "It's done."
"So it is." the chuunin agreed mildly. "I felt the illusion break well enough,
so you pass that part. What did the illusion look like?"
Naruko shrugged nonchalantly."A blob. Human shaped, but just a blob."
Humming in agreement, Iruka-sensei returned to take a seat beside Mizuki-sensei
and signed off as a witness to her genjutsu grade.
Naruko bounced in place until the silver-haired chuunin shot her a vaguely
irritated look. "Now for the ninjutsu portion of the exam. You have to
demonstrate the 'Academy Three'."
"Those being the Kawarimi, the Henge, and the Bunshin." Iruka-sensei clarified,
reaching down to drag up a log set under the instructor's' desk and heave it
across to their student.
Naruko never even made the effort to catch the flying piece of lumber, merely
rolling her eyes before disappearing in a puff of smoke. Wood clattered to the
ground, followed by the soft pad of Naruko's heels making contact with the
polished floors.
Raising a cocky brow, the blonde laughed. "Next?"
Tightening an easy smile on his lips, Mizuki motioned over at the instructor
beside him. "Now transform into Iruka-sensei, if you can."
Naruko formed a slow series of seals, carefully committing everything she could
observe about Iruka-sensei to memory before calling out "Henge no Jutsu!" Smoke
billowed up to cover the short girl's figure.
Reaching a tanned hand out, Naruko brushed aside the lingering smoke and
revealed her imitation. Towering at almost twice the blonde's height, a perfect
clone of Iruka turned on the spot. Showing off an identical green flak jacket,
the same dark black zori and even the odd bandage twining about the man's right
leg.
"Looks good." Mizuki confirmed, ribbing his colleague in the side with an elbow
before smirking. "Show us a few clones now."
Puffing back to her true form, Naruko absently straightened a wrinkle out of
her orange jumpsuit before lazy forming a cross seal.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" she roared, a blaze of chakra swirling around her.
Smoke exploded in the room, clearing to reveal the small space filled to the
brim with grinning blonde Naruko's. One reached out and poked a finger into
Iruka-sensei's shoulder, confirming the technique's solidity.
Naruko had the strong suspicion that for the rest of her natural life the
blonde would never be able to accomplish the original Bunshin no Jutsu. Even
before Hebi-jiji told her about the dirty furball rolling about in her gut that
got his ass kicked by Hokage-jiji years back, the Uzumaki had struggled to even
measure such a tiny fraction of chakra out to use.
Malformed clones were all Naruko was able to form with the original technique,
until Ero-Sennin taught her the Kage Bunshin in a fit of inspiration. After
confirming with the Hokage that the Kage Bunshin would satisfy all graduation
requirements, the blonde promptly gave up on attempting to master the Bunshin
and never tried the technique again.
Zeroing an expectant gaze on the row of hitai-ates gleaming on the table,
Naruko dismissed her Kage Bunshin with a word and strode boldly across to
snatch at one.
Iruka got there first, offering it up with a proud smile. "Congrats Naruko, I
guess I'll be taking you out to ramen tonight."
"You bet!"
===============================================================================
"Congratulations to you all!" Iruka called out, striding into the classroom
shortly after the last student tried and failed to pass the exam. Taking in the
diminished group that made it through the first and easiest trial of their
shinobi careers, Iruka crushed the feeling that he'd signed them up for death
by passing them.
"As of today, you are all official genin of Konohagakure. However, I'd like you
to remember that it's a dangerous world out there." Casting an imploring gaze
at his graduation students, the man continued. "Some of you may even die, but I
have faith in you – all of you, my students – and I know that all of you will
uphold the Hi no Ishi as proud shinobi of Konohagakure for the rest of your
lives."
Mizuki gave Iruka a commiserating pat before stepping forward and folding his
hands behind his back. "Please rise." the chuunin ordered softly, all playful
mocking absent. "And repeat after me."
"I swear to my ancestors this most sacred oath." After pausing to confirm the
low drone of recitation and giving all the newly minted genin a sharp look,
Mizuki pressed on. "That to the people of Konoha I shall render unconditional
service and that I shall strive to the uttermost end of my strength to uphold
the Hi no Ishi. I shall be prepared to give my life for this oath, or else
become faithless and accursed."
Naruko mumbled along with the rest of the graduating class, dropping down into
her chair as soon as the solemn speech was finished and tugging at her ear
nervously. Watching as Mizuki gave a last significant nod and strode from the
room, Naruko gave Iruka-sensei a shaky grin when the man stepped forward.
"You may request to see your individual test scores at any time after today.
But first, before dismissing you I'd like to offer further congratulations."
Confused mutterings met his words as Iruka swept up two bronze plaques. "First
to Uzumaki Naruko, I'd like to officially recognize you as the Top Rookie of
this year's graduating class. You did well." Tossing the engraved award across
the room, Iruka's eyes warmed when Naruko caught it and blushed.
"Secondly, for scoring both highest overall exam mark and a perfect score, I'd
like to award this to Uchiha Sasuke. You did well."
The raven contemptuously snatched up the plaque and shoved it into the pocket
of his white shorts.
Iruka frowned instinctively at the rudeness before giving a genial shrug.
"You're all dismissed for the day. Report back to this room tomorrow at 0900
for your team placements."
===============================================================================
One step closer to him, Sasuke decided as he glided through the doors and took
his seat at the back of the room the following morning. A small step, and a
late one considering how young his brother had been when he'd made genin. But
then Itachi grew up the favoured elder child in the household of Konoha's
premiere clan leader, learning directly under his father's tutelage as a boy.
Only Okaa-san consistently spent time with Sasuke, being the one to gently
teach him the proper way to hold a kunai, how to throw a shuriken, how to use
wire as a weapon… The only thing Sasuke had learned from his father was his
prized Goukakyuu, at the very end of his childhood, before Itachi destroyed his
innocence.
Sasuke wondered if his father had never suspected there was something offabout
Itachi, whether he'd ever have bothered to teach his younger son anything at
all. Ironically Sasuke's greatest teacher had been Itachi. It had been the
elder brother that smoothed out his childish hands and taught him real
lethality in his movements, refining Okaa-san's affectionate teaching into
skills more deadly than any of his peers.
When he killed Itachi, Sasuke dearly hoped the man regretted ever teaching his
younger brother the right way to kill.
A huff cut into his thoughts, and Sasuke turned to glare at the Uzumaki girl
when she flopped down next to him and plopped her feet up on the table. "How…
elegant," the Uchiha murmured sarcastically, smirking at the annoyed scowl
Naruko sent him.
The bell rang at the stroke of nine, quieting the tittering children into
anticipatory silence. Even Sasuke found himself tracing an absent finger over
his hitai-ate when Iruka stepped into the classroom with a clipboard in hand.
"Hello again." the overtly friendly chuunin greeted, smiling at the group and
beaming particularly affectionately as Sasuke's neighbor. "This class is lucky
to have fifteen graduates, so we don't have to have any squads with extra
members too few."
"Now I'll announce the teams starting from the top with Team Four..."
Tuning out the low drone of Iruka reading off the list, Sasuke folded his hands
under his chin and waited. He had no real team preference, just as long as his
jounin-sensei was strong enough to get him to the next level, that was all that
mattered. It wasn't like Sasuke intended to stick around with his peers, he had
a man to kill.
"...Uchiha Sasuke, and Uzumaki Naruko will form Team Seven under Hatake
Kakashi."
Sasuke blinked in surprise before glaring. He'd missed who would complete his
team besides the blonde idiot, and he knew that there was someone else since
Iruka said all the teams were three... to ask Uzumaki or not to ask?
On the one hand, he hated appearing unknowledgeable. It would definitely make
him look like a fool to have missed his own team placements. But did he hate
not knowing more?
"I wasn't paying attention. Who else is on our squad?" Sasuke grunted after a
moment, leaning an ear closer to his obnoxious blonde teammate.
Blue eyes narrowed in confusion before Naruko shrugged. No water off her back.
"Haruno."
Muttering an "I see." Sasuke fixated on the door and waited, reluctantly
listening as Iruka paired off the so-called Ino-Shika-Cho trio under the
Hokage's son. Chatter started back up for a split second before the classroom
door slid open.
"Team Eight?" A dark-haired woman called out, scanning the room with red eyes
and settling on the quiet Hyuuga girl rising from her seat to hurry across to
the jounin. Joined a moment later by Aburame and the shaggy Inuzuka, the three
students filed out after their new sensei.
A few more teams went out to three more non-descript jounin, and Sasuke sneered
inwardly. One was a feeble-looking man with glasses, another was a redhead
woman in a lab coat, and the third was to a bald brawler with an undoubtedly
soft head. Weak – stronger than him at the moment perhaps, but no where near
Itachi's level.
The Hokage's son came and picked up his three little clan heirs in a stink of
tobacco, the first jounin sensei to really move with a sense of lethality and
Sasuke was briefly jealous. The first woman had seemed more skilled than the
other three, but the Uchiha was quite sure that whoever this Hatake was, he'd
be nowhere near as good as having a Hokage's son as his sensei.
Minutes ticked into hours, and Sasuke grew ever more irritated. Sakura gave in
after the first hour and began to peruse a textbook left abandoned in her desk.
Naruko was worse, fidgeting more and more in her seat as the hours rolled on.
The clock struck eleven with a loud chime, and Sasuke finally snapped at her
"Would you stop that!"
Blue eyes shot back at him, glaring in a dark fury. "Well excuse me for getting
bored because we've apparently got a lazy-ass sensei who's probably face down
drunk somewhere."
"Maa, I don't know about drunk." interrupted, and all three genin turned to
face the door in a whirl.
An easy-going jounin grinned at them. Or at least Sasuke assumed it was a grin
from the way the man's only visible eye crinkled over a mask hiding the rest of
his features.
"I just got lost on the road of life." the jounin mused, shoving hands in his
pockets. "I'd have to say my first impression of you guys is that... I hate
you. Meet on the roof."
Then Hatake simply vanished, and Sasuke's eyes widened unwillingly. There was
no smoke, no technique, no dash. Just pure unadulterated speed.
"For a jounin he doesn't seem very reliable." Haruno pouted before the trio
trudged out of the room in search of a stairwell.
===============================================================================
Kakashi hadn't been lying when he told his new team that his initial impression
of them was terrible. It may be slightly unfair of him to expect them to be
perfectly happy waiting around for him, but the infighting spoke of a dislike
that could be fatal in a team.
This would be the first team he'd truly be forcedto accept. If he had to,
Kakashi was more than prepared to beat them bloody until they figured out they
were a team unit. Obito would have expected nothing less, and Hatake wondered
if he'd even be able to forgive himself if a team – his first team at that,
even if he'd been madeto take them - died on his watch.
Shuffling onto the rooftop, the three children observed him through silent eyes
and Kakashi found himself recounting a little bit of his initial dislike. Those
were strong eyes, and maybe this team could amount to something in the end
after all.
"Take a seat and introduce yourself. Your likes, dislikes, hobbies, dreams for
the future. That kind of thing." the jounin ordered, waiting as the trio
scanned the roof before shrugging and settling down on crossed legs. "First you
- pinky on the right."
Sakura opened her mouth, darting green eyes about before closing her jaw with
an audible click. "I have no idea what to say." the girl admitted. "Perhaps you
could introduce yourself first sensei?"
"Me? Well, my name is Hatake Kakashi." Squinting up at the sky in mock thought,
the jounin drawled, "Things I like and things I hate? I don't feel like telling
you that. My dreams for the future? Never really thought about that. As for my
hobbies... I have lots of hobbies."
"So all we learned was his name?" the blond on the left muttered, pinning him
with a mutinous glare. Kakashi grinned back at his sensei's daughter.
"I'm Haruno Sakura." the pinkette piped up after a moment. "I like my friends,
reading, and playing trivia games. I dislike Naruko." Green eyes glared at blue
as both girls scowled. "My dream for the future is to become the strongest
kunoichi in the world!"
Not a bad ambition, even if it was a high place to aim. After all, Tsunade of
the Sannin had been a giggling little girl once upon a time. Though the
animosity towards her teammate was worrying.
After a moment, Kakashi sighed "Now you blondie."
"I'm Uzumaki Naruko. I like ramen, Iruka-sensei and Ero-Sennin and Hebi-Jiji
and Hokage-jiji-" Naruko paused for a breath before frowning. "I dislike the
three minutes it takes ramen to cook and Sakura. My dream is to be acknowledged
by everyone."
A silvery brow climbed up at the wistful tone Naruko finished her introduction
with, filing away the fact that the animosity in his team was two-sided.
"You're up, broody."
Glaring at the nickname, Sasuke growled "My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I have a lot
of dislikes and don't really like anything. I hate the word 'dream' – it
suggests that what you want won't become reality. I have an ambition to restore
my clan and... to kill a certain man."
The fixation on Itachi and the overall negativity wasn't unexpected, but
Kakashi couldn't help but wish his team was one that wasn't going to be saddled
with so many issues. An inferiority complex, a vengeance fixation, and a
stubbornly antagonistic girl if her sneers to the other two teammates were
anything to guess by.
Kakashi had his work cut out for him.
"Well that's enough for today." the jounin decided. "Report to Training Ground
Three tomorrow morning at 0700 for your genin exam."
"Didn't we just do that?" Sakura pointed out, wrinkling her brow in confusion.
"No. That was merely to decide which of you in the class had the potential to
become genin. Mine is an extremely difficult exam with a sixty-six percent
failure ratio. If you fail the test tomorrow I'll have you sent back to the
Academy for remedial training."
Finishing with a cheerful "Oh, and I recommend that you don't have anything to
eat tomorrow for breakfast, you'll just throw it up."the jounin vanished in a
swirl of leaves.
"This sucks." Naruko muttered after a long moment.
***** The Bell Test *****
Sakura yawned widely, rubbing at her dry eyes as Naruko sidled up through the
early morning chill. The blonde silently joined her other two teammates in
waiting for their sensei.
Tugging her red cheongsam a bit straighter and passing her fingers to count the
brace of kunai strapped over her compression shorts, Sakura scanned out over
the dew-covered field and sighed. "Why do I have the feeling he's going to be
late again?"
"Probably because we could all see that he's a lazy bum yesterday." Naruko
snorted, folding her arms and craning up to look at a cloud rolling by
overhead.
A faint curl of a smile pulled at the corner of Sakura's lip before she
remembered who exactly she was talking to and frowned with a huff.
Leaning back into a tree, Sasuke shoved his hands in his pockets and idly
counted over the handfuls of shuriken in both.
"I suppose if I pointed out that I wish I was on a different team," Sakura
began with a poisonous green gaze at Naruko. "That you'd agree with me?"
"Damned straight." the blonde nodded without any real bite, blowing her bangs
out of her eyes with a huff.
"Shut up." Sasuke cut in, ignoring the irritated gazes the two females shot
him. "Teams are broken up when a shinobi makes chuunin anyway, so let's just
get there and never have to look at each other again."
Blinking in surprise at the taciturn boy, Sakura shrugged "We just became
genin. It'll probably take awhile to get that far."
"I know someone that became chuunin when he was ten, so it can't be that hard."
That drew Naruko's attention, pulling the blonde away from her bored cloud-
watching to stare at the Uchiha with a curious blue gaze. "Oh yeah? Who's
that?"
Sasuke clammed up, turning away from the girls with a grunt and burying
memories of Itachi into the silent corners of his mind where they belonged.
Irritated at the dismissal, Naruko clawed out at the boy's indigo clad shoulder
and spun him about. "Don't ignore me! I asked you a question, teme!"
A sneer crawled over Sasuke's face as he violently shook off the blonde's hand.
"Don't touch me, usuratonkachi."
"Well then don't ignore me, dobe!"
Rage lit in black eyes and Sasuke drew out his fists, stepping into Naruko's
personal space with murderous intent.
Heaving a long-suffering sigh, Sakura glared at the bickering pair. "Idiots the
both of you."
Naruko didn't even turn away from the Uchiha, meeting him sour look for sour
look. "Shut your mouth, forehead-girl!"
A long languorous clap cracked through the air as Kakashi interrupted the
impending squabble. "Well done." the jounin pointed out in sarcastic tones.
"Unable to go even half an hour without tearing each other apart – you three
are really shaping up to be one of the most efficient squads in Konoha's
history."
"You're late!" Sakura and Naruko barked in twin accusatory shouts.
Kakashi shrugged, more than a little annoyed to be drawn away from his typical
early morning grief to babysit a trio of selfish brats. "Half an hour, of me
watching you wait." the jounin agreed, oblivious to the sudden burst of
indignation from his students. "Though with a performance like that I'm not
sure you three should even be out of your diapers, much less here waiting for
me."
The three genin glared in outrage, but subsided into sullen silence at the
upheld hand of their jounin sensei. "I hope you three didn't eat breakfast."
Three stomachs gurgled hungrily and Kakashi smiled, crinkling up his eye with
amusement.
"Good." Drawing out two slightly rusted silver bells, Kakashi shook them in
emphasis and nodded at the dull jangle of metal. From sensei to sensei the
bells had passed to him, and Kakashi would certainly adhere to the handed-down
tradition.
"Your test is to take these bells from me before lunch. Anyone who fails to get
them will get tied to a stump, and I'll eat lunch right in front of you." Dark
frowns crossed the three genins' faces as they realized exactly why they'd been
commanded not to eat, and Kakashi loosed a bark of nostalgic laughter. "You
need to retrieve one bell, but there's only two. So someone will definitely get
tied to a stump, and that person will be the one to go back to the Academy."
Sakura paled as she shot a darting green look at her two teammates. One of the
three of them would fail? Determination hardened her face, and Sakura stepped
into a taijutsu stance. Well it wouldn't be her!
"Pinky has it." Kakashi noted with approval. "You won't succeed if you don't
come at me with the intent to kill."
Leaning away with an intent look, Sasuke drew his hands from his pockets and
dropped into his clan's hereditary taijutsu style. Defence was minimized in
exchange for raw power and explosive speed, depending on the Sharingan to be
truly effective in combat, despite his obvious lack thereof.
Naruko drew her hands up in a cross seal, banking chakra in a low blue surge
under her skin, generating a soft wind to ruffle her orange jumpsuit.
Shrugging in a nonchalant motion that belied that interest gleam in his single
dark eye, Kakashi clapped sharply. "Okay, let's start!"
Smoke exploded in the clearing as Naruko fired off her Kage Bunshin, filling
the surrounding space with identical blonde doppelgangers.
Without missing a beat, Sasuke launched forward in a blur of black and blue
movement. Fists swinging out at perceived openings in the jounin's lazy stance.
Sakura leapt in a split second after her male teammate, ducking low and
punching a textbook fist at Kakashi's gut.
Determined not to lose to the others, Naruko's clones surged forward in a tide
of orange and blonde. The majority leaping at Kakashi with abandon, targeting
limbs to wrap around and weigh down. A couple of them reached out to tackle
Sakura, downing the girl in a whirl of red and smoke.
Kakashi frowned and turned, lashing out with a swinging heel to pulverize the
descending clones. Sweeping back overhead, Kakashi drove the sole of his boot
into Sasuke's shoulder, smashing the Uchiha into the grass.
All without withdrawing a pair of lazy hands from his pockets.
Sparing a dark glance at the squabbling blonde and pinkette, Kakashi dove
forward and grasped the Uchiha by the collar. Kakashi yanked the boy up,
whirling him around with a flourish before throwing him into the crowd of
confused blonde clones.
Vanishing in a swirl of leaves, Kakashi reappeared in the boughs of a tree and
looked down, watching over his genin. Cursing immediately arose when Sasuke
shattered Naruko's clones into smoke with his flying body.
Sakura shoved away the clones gripping her limbs, thrusting a violent fist
through one's forehead before swinging out at the other. The blow surprisingly
connected with the real Uzumaki's face, cracking into her nose and oozing
warmth as a nosebleed began to run down Naruko's face.
Jingling his bells significantly over the noise of the trio, Kakashi sighed
before jumping off further into the forest.
===============================================================================
Sasuke spat out red froth, seething over the bloody fat lip he'd earned after
Kakashi threw him into a pile of his stupid blonde teammate's clones. It was
simply unfathomable why Uzumaki seemed to take every action so personally and
was more than willing to fight over it.
Fleeing into the trees had been easy enough after he dispatched the surrounding
enraged clones, and with nary a glance back at the two bickering girls Sasuke
had done so. He had the feeling that neither of the so-called 'rivals' cared
all that much what he did in either case, and Sasuke curled a disgusted sneer.
"Those two foolish little girls don't deserve to be kunoichi." Reverberated
between his ears, and the Uchiha found himself nodding his head in agreement.
Warm breath puffed against his earlobe "Isn't that what you're thinking,
Sasuke-chan?"
Sasuke dove, hands whipping out in a black blur of shuriken against the jounin
that had snuck up on him. Dark steel hammered into Kakashi's flesh with hollow
thuds, the man's relaxed countenance wavering into smoke a the form of a worn
log.
Darting his gaze about in paranoia, Sasuke pushed through leaves and fled at
his top speed. Heart hammering between his ribs at the thought of being so
desperately outmatched that he couldn't even perceive the jounin when the man
came near him.
Exactly like his brother.
A wordless snarl bubbled through Sasuke's lips and the boy twisted in midair.
Hammering down on a branch and launching back in the direction he'd come from,
the Uchiha clenched a kunai in his murderous grip
I won't be that weak again.
Green leaves brushed past his face as Sasuke burst through the canopy. The
jounin sensei's single visible eye widened minutely at the Uchiha's sudden
reversal, but the nearly mad hatred shining in those dark eyes spurred Kakashi
into movement.
It was over almost before Sasuke could even perceive it, face shoved in the
dirt with the weight of a contemptuous shinobi sitting on his back. A kunai
slammed into the ground inches in front of his eyes, and Sasuke twitched.
"Maa, Sasuke-chan." Kakashi mused lightly. "If those two little girls don't
have what it takes to be a ninja, what makes you think you do?"
Growling "I'm different from them!" through a clenched jaw, Sasuke renewed his
struggles to break free.
"Is that so?" came the jounin's voice, light and airy before it turned dark.
"Then show me."
The pressure on Sasuke's back vanished, and the dark-haired boy vaulted up in a
whirl of limbs and regained his feet.
Kakashi stood several yards away, one hand resting in his pocket and the other
holding open a bright orange book that the jounin was reading with an
expression of vague interest. So contemptuous and dismissive of the genin's
skill that the man wouldn't even bother to pay attention.
Rage exploded through Sasuke's veins, and with a roaring in his ears the raven
flew through a familiar sequence of hand seals. Snake. Ram. Monkey. Boar.
Horse. Tiger.Air filled his lungs, coiling with chakra in his gullet. The
manipulation of fire. The mind of an Uchiha...
"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" Fire flew from his lips, a stream of heat and
light that coiled inward and swelled into a giant rolling ball of flames.
Kakashi's eye widened unwillingly, the jounin shoving his porn literature away
with shock.
A genin shouldn't have enough chakra just after graduating for that kind of
jutsu.
The jounin sunk under the flying fireball. Wood crackled as several trees went
up into merry flames, smoke flying up to curl into the azure sky.
Sasuke sought out the form of the jounin, scanning the trees and grass for the
shinobi's tall form or for a charred corpse. And the thought that he might have
overdone it and actually killed the man sent a frisson of panic through him.
"Below you." came the voice with amusement as a firm hand settled around his
ankle and dragged the Uchiha into the earth. "Doton: Shinjuu Zanshuu no jutsu."
Leaving only Sasuke's head poking out of the dirt like an absurdly oversized
pustule, Kakashi rose up and settled a hand to ruffle dark locks.
"You're not bad." the jounin admitted before giving a shrug. "Well you know
what they say about an exposed nail – it should be hammered down. "
An unforgiving fist slammed into the crown of Sasuke's head, reducing his
vision to a churning mess of stars, filling his ears with ringing.
===============================================================================
Sucking in a surprised breath, Naruko stared at the crackling horizon with wide
blue eyes. "What the fuck is that?"
Naruko only weighed her thoughts for a moment before rushing across the field
and into the woods in the direction of the burning trees.
Flashes of light through the canopy passed overhead as the blonde drew near to
the conflagration. The heat it gave off able to be felt from a significant
distance away.
Contemplating what she could possibly do to end the forest fire – because damn
the test she didn't want to be blamed for burning down the woods – Naruko was
only able to choke on her spit when a huge twisted dragon made of water crashed
through the trees.
The heat was extinguished in an instant before the elemental beast lost its
form and simply rolled in a tide directly at the blonde. Waves crashed over her
and Naruko found herself gurgling and twisting through dark muddy water in an
effort to gain the surface and just breathe.
Pain radiated through her spine when Naruko crashed into a mighty oak, splaying
over the trunk like a rag doll as the water trickled away. Falling into the mud
with an inglorious splat, Naruko spat out the mush coating her face and rolled
woozily onto her back.
Kakashi towered over her blocking out the light of the sun through the trees,
and the blonde drew in a shaky breath. "What the fuck was that for b-bastard?"
Naruko croaked, shoving her elbows into the ground and lifting to a sitting
position.
Huffing a sigh, the jounin cast a dark glance back through the woods. "Oh just
Sasuke-chan getting a little frisky."
Naruko gaped. "That was Sasuke? Where the hell did he learn to burn down the
woods? What kind of irresponsible jackass does things like that?"
Snorting with amusement, Kakashi settled a hand on the girl's shoulder and
pulled her to her feet. "An Uchiha one."
The two stood in silence for a long moment before blue eyes turned intent. "I
don't suppose I can bum one of those bells off of you?"
"Not on your life."
"Well damn."
Chakra pulsed, a instinctive swell as Naruko fell back into her most familiar
and effective technique. The amount of energy the blonde could summon was
greatly diminished after her earlier efforts against the jounin and the lengthy
tangle with Sakura, but it was still enough to fill the trees with clones of
the battered girl.
Yelling in unison, the clones descended in a blonde and orange wave to surround
the jounin. The real Naruko reached out a flashing hand to grasp toward the
pair of rusty bells adorning Kakashi's waist only to be smacked away with a
casual backhand.
Crashing back into the mud with a twinge that echoed through her sore ribs,
Naruko grit her teeth and rose with a determined expression. Watching with a
careful gaze as Kakashi whirled about, Naruko searched for an opening.
The jounin moved at barely a fraction of his true speed, slapping away Naruko's
clones with contemptuously lethal ease. Some were dispelled by the careful
thrusts out of his arms and legs. Other perished through over-extension – legs
or arms seized after a failed strike and snapped with the practice of an
experienced killer.
Naruko repressed the shiver in her spine at the deadly, blank look drinking in
the light in Kakashi's exposed eye. Shattering the last clone with a puncturing
thumb through an eyeball, the jounin merely dropped his hands to his sides and
stared at Naruko.
Shoving aside her intimidation, Naruko forced her hands to hold steady as she
formed another cross seal. Clones again descended on the man, spurring him back
into the killing motions and the blonde drew on every ounce of her tactical
acumen.
Chakra reserves dwindling lower and lower, Naruko knew she wouldn't be able to
wear Kakashi down through keeping him constantly engaged with waves of clones.
She'd tire long before he did and it would be totally useless.
Naruko didn't know any explosive or overly powerful jutsu that could take
Kakashi down either. Simply what they'd learned in the Academy and the Kage
Bunshin she'd learned in order to pass the exams.
That left trickery.
Flushing with the effort of dragging chakra up from her somewhat depleted
reserves, Naruko released another waves of clones with a shout – the smallest
group yet – and waited. Waited for Kakashi to whirl back into his destructive
dance, not concerned with the touching of clones because they were harmless and
destroyed at a touch from the jounin.
Waited until the man turned away to dispatch another clone and Naruko flashed
her hands. Soundlessly switching with a clone with even a hint of smoke, Naruko
blinked at the sudden closeness of the jounin's back and reached out with
desperation.
A bell jingled.
Red exploded in the side of her vision as Kakashi's fist swung back faster than
she could even perceive, slamming into the side of her face like a speeding
wagon and sending the blonde flinging through the trees.
Concern faintly flashed in Kakashi's eye as the jounin stabbed through the last
clone and flung through the trees after his injured student. He hadn't been
really expecting a switch with her clones, since the girl didn't come across as
a very intelligent thinker.
Still, she was the Rookie of the Year and Naruko never would have attained the
title if she'd been stupid.
Touching down on a limb, Kakashi peered down as the blonde curled into a ball
and spit blood from a split lip. When she stumbled back to her feet, the jounin
was satisfied the girl wouldn't need medical attention and vanished to seek out
his last assigned student.
===============================================================================
Sakura rolled to her feet with a groan, pressing a pale hand over her swelling
cheek and seething with rage. What a fine teammate the blonde was turning out
to be, getting into a fist fight with her not minutes into the exam that
determined if they'd truly become genin or flunk back to the Academy.
Well it was irrelevant, Sakura only had to get a bell for herself in the end.
Kakashi-sensei had said at least one of them would have to return, and the
Haruno would be more than pleased if it was the blonde shrew that had to spend
another year studying.
Stupidity was not one of Sakura's weaknesses. Unlike her headstrong teammates,
the pinkette had a vague conception of the sheer difference between the meager
skills of Academy genin and the near mythical figures of accomplished jounin.
Kakashi-sensei had probably slain dozens of men in his time, and with a shudder
Sakura knew that she had no chance of defeating the man in hand-to-hand combat
or with her limited ninjutsu skills.
Casting a considering glance around the abandoned clearing they'd begun their
exam in, Sakura chewed her lip and set to work. The instructor had to return at
some point – for all his talk about them seeking him out, Sakura theorized that
it would more likely be him seeking them out. No genin could realistically hope
to track a jounin, so the instructor would track them out and test their mettle
in an effort to force them to show skill and take a bell from him.
When flames leapt on the edge of the horizon with a distant roar, Sakura
flinched and began to hurry her motions. Apparently their instructor wasn't
above using ninjutsu to drive them off, which further drove home the point that
she had absolutely no chance in beating him in open combat.
Water rushed through the trees minutes later, extinguishing the blaze and
causing Sakura to frown as she retreated from the edge of the trees and began
to spread out her work. It was probably Uzumaki causing the man so much
trouble, since Sakura had sincere doubts that the dead-last of the class could
really force such a fight from their sensei.
It stung Sakura to admit that for all the blonde's obnoxious ways and general
oddness that the girl may really deserve to be called the Top Rookie of their
age group. Sakura had proudly held that position for several years after
enrolling, only surrendering it to Uchiha the first year they'd been classmates
and before the Massacre. Then she'd had it stolen from her again, except that
time by the weird orphan girl her parents always warned her away from.
Unclenching her fist, Sakura smoothed down her dress and turned to face the
trees. And waited. Waited as sweat began to bead down her brow from the sun's
heat pounding overhead. Anxiety thrilled through her. What if her sensei never
came?
Kakashi did come, melting from the underbrush like a grey ghost. Settling an
impassive look on the pink-haired girl, Kakashi cocked an ear at the rustle of
the wind before stepping forward.
"Hello Sakura-chan." he greeted jovially, grass rustling under his feet. "Not
coming to get a bell?" Tutting in fax-disappointment, Kakashi tapped his masked
chin. "That's a bit of a surprise, you seemed so eager before."
Green eyes glimmered with amusement. "Why would I need to go get a bell when
you're bringing it to me?"
A creak of rope was all the warning Kakashi had when a large stump came flying
out of the underbrush straight at the side of his head. Bending forward with
ease as the wood whistled by, Kakashi's eye widened unwillingly when the ground
before his eyes exploded in a shower of dark steel.
Trapped between the thick trunk on one side and shuriken on the other the
jounin leapt to the side while bent over. A sizzling hiss was all the signal
Kakashi had before the ground under his feet exploded in white fire.
The jounin flipped backwards away from the exploding tag to land on a tree
branch that instantly gave way beneath his feet. Dropping towards the ground as
a net shot up, Kakashi whipped out a kunai and sliced through the grasping net.
A further trap was triggered when two suspended logs swung down to attempt to
catch him in the middle. Stumbling forward to avoid the trap aiming to squeeze
his head like a grape, Kakashi smirked in reluctant amusement as a snare
wrapped around an ankle and yanked him heel over head to dangle from a rope.
"I have to say I'm impressed." Kakashi informed Sakura when the pink-haired
genin cautiously crossed the field towards him. "That much strategic foresight
is something I would expect out of a chuunin, not a genin."
Flushing with pleasure, Sakura nodded happily and reached for the pair of bells
shimmering in the sunlight at Kakashi's waist.
"Unfortunately for you, I'm a jounin."
Sakura only had a moment to blink green eyes in confusion before a snare
wrapped around both her legs and dragged her away with a shriek.
Cutting himself loose in a single smooth motion, Kakashi dropped to the loam
and spared an eye for his student swinging from a tree and wrapped in a cocoon
of ropes.
Kakashi glanced at the position of the sun overhead and promptly dug Icha Icha
Paradise out of his pouch. Ignoring the frustrated struggles of the girl
dangling from a nearby branch and her pleas to cut her loose, the jounin read
his literary porn until the sound of an alarm clock rung out over the training
ground.
===============================================================================
Spitting out a clump of dirt, Sasuke ran a tongue over his gums in a last ditch
attempt to clean out any remaining soil from his time spent buried up to his
neck in the ground. The Uchiha spared a sour look for the impassive jounin
looming over the trio of genin and shuffled in an attempt to reduce the chafing
of rope into his skin.
Being hogtied to a stump was degrading enough. Sasuke had no desire to add
cramps and rope burn to the list of things that had gone horribly wrong since
getting out of bed that morning. The only relief was that his two teammates
were also bound to their respective stumps on either side, Kakashi sitting on
top of Sasuke's stump with crossed legs.
Reaching down to further mess up the arrogant Uchiha's hair, Kakashi sighed and
pried the lid off the first of four bentos. Showcasing the onigiri and mochi to
the three obviously hungry children, the jounin slowly tipped the bento and
drunk in the cries of outrage as the food poured out onto the ground.
The second bento followed the first, and then the third. By the time Kakashi
was dumping the fourth and final bento out for the wildlife to consume, the
three had gone silent with defeated looks. "I wonder," Kakashi began, staring
at the last grain of rice tumbling out, "If the three of you are even serious
about becoming ninja."
"Of course we are!" Naruko exploded, kicking against the ground uselessly. "Do
you think we'd be wasting our time taking tests if we weren't?"
"If you can't pass the test, you can't be a shinobi." Staring into a pair of
blue eyes with his single grim look, Kakashi trailed across the Uchiha's sullen
face and settled on the shamed Sakura. "These tests aren't fun and games.
They're meant to make sure you have the knowledge you need to survive in the
world outside of Konohagakure."
"Are you really that naive?" The jounin's voice turned harsh as he snapped a
cold glare back at the jinchuuriki. "If the three of you brought the attitude
you had today to a mission, you would've died. If I had wanted it to be so,
none of you would have left the training ground alive."
Gritting his teeth, Sasuke pointed out, "Because you're a jounin." An elite
shinobi with all the experience and skill that rank requires.
Snapping back "No. Because you three hooligans aren't even a team! Working
together, you might have managed to get the bells." Kakashi traced a weary hand
over the hitai-ate concealing Obito's eye. "Sakura and Naruko couldn't even
make it a minute without fighting amongst themselves. And rather than catching
you that first time I threw you, Naruko turned on you as well. Sasuke, you were
only marginally better by running off on your own and at least not fighting
with your comrades."
Furrowing her brow in confusion, Sakura muttered "But there's only two bells.
Weren't we supposed to fight among ourselves?"
Slashing an impatient hand through the air, Kakashi scowled. "No! You pass or
fail as a team. This test is designed to see if you're able to put the mission
before your own interests."
Swallowing thickly, Naruko looked down at her toes and peered up at the
agitated instructor through dusky lashes. So it was back to the Academy after
all.
Rising to his feet, Kakashi sidled over to settle a hand over a dark ink black
slab of stone and sighed. "Look here at the names carved on this stone." the
jounin called out, turning to eye the three bound genin with a sidelong glance.
"These ninja were recognized as heroes to the village after dying in the course
of duty."
"It's a memorial." Sakura whispered in a hoarse tone, peering at her teammates
and drinking in the stricken looks on their faces.
"My best friend's name is carved on here, along with the rest of my team."
Kakashi pressed, gripping the stone with emotional force. "Most of Sasuke's
family is recorded here." The jounin didn't miss the pitying looks the two
girls gave the young Uchiha as he whirled about.
"Wouldn't you agree that your conduct today is shameful before their
sacrifices?"
Sucking in a breath, Kakashi threw his face back and closed his eyes to listen
to the wind. The three genin were silent, hanging on the jounin's every word.
"By all rights I should fail you three right here."
But unlike every other team that had been thoughtlessly passed to Kakashi, the
Hokage had assigned the trio with strict orders to enroll them in service no
matter the cost. The Council was salivating over the thought of training a
jinchuuriki up into another weapon for the village, and it had been years since
the world had seen the might brought to bear by the Uchiha Clan of the Leaf.
There were too many political concerns to fail the three, not that Kakashi
would ever admit it to them. "I'll give you one more shot." the jounin sighed,
ignoring the looks of relief flooding the faces of the trio. "We'll meet up at
the same place at the same time tomorrow. So help me, I'll hammer you three
into a real team or kill you all trying."
Sakura paled even as Naruko squealed with joy.
Grunting out tiredly, "Welcome to Team Seven," Kakashi turned on his heel and
walked off.
"Are you going to untie us?" Sakura called out with confusion.
Snorting in reply, Kakashi turned back. "What do you think?" Then he vanished
completely.
===============================================================================
Sauntering into the Hokage's office at the end of the day, Kakashi spared an
acknowledging nod for both Asuma and Kurenai. Three other jounin had filed
passed him on the way out, joking about having another year off from training
brats and another year of lucrative missions.
"I've passed Hyuuga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba, and Aburame Shino as Team Eight,
Hokage-sama." Kurenai spoke after the errant Kakashi sidled up beside his
cohorts.
Puffing from his pipe, the Sandaime leaned back in his chair and stroked a
liver-spotted hand over his white beard. "I see." the Hokage mused, dark eyes
lost in thought. "What about their character assessments?"
Kurenai shuffled nervously, the young jounin given her first team licking her
lips and beginning in a steady tone. "They seem to work moderately well
together. Hinata is shy and quiet, but has a kind heart and is nonjudgmental.
That helps with cohesion, since Shino has probably faced discrimination over
his kikaichu like many of the younger Aburame, and Kiba is more boisterous than
most. "
Pausing for breath, the red-eyed woman chewed her bottom lip before pressing
on. "Shino too is quiet and very polite, where Kiba is loud and friendly. But
they treat each other with respect despite their differences."
"I put through Team Ten made up of Yamanaka Ino, Akimichi Chouji, and Nara
Shikamaru, Pops." Ignoring the Hokage's tired glare at being referred to so
informally, Asuma drew a long drag from his cigarette and stamped the stick out
in an ashtray set out on his father's desk. "Lifelong friends those three. Grew
up together, played together, trained together. Ino and Shikamaru fight like an
old married couple, but they unite against external threats without complaining
at all."
"Very well." Hiruzen smiled before pinning the last jounin with a warning look.
"What about you, Kakashi?"
"Uzumaki Naruko, Uchiha Sasuke, and Haruno Sakura pass as Team Seven." Kakashi
sighed wearily, ignoring the blatantly surprised looks that the other jounin
stared at him with.
"They have no team cohesion at all. Sakura and Naruko broke down in a fight
almost as soon as the test started. Sasuke just ran around on his own and they
spent the time waiting for me, all the while insulting each other."
Amusement and nostalgia shone in Hiruzen's eyes as he nodded. "Oh is that all?"
Kakashi scratched at his cheek before shaking his head. "No Hokage-sama. I'd
like to..." Hesitation cost the jounin, and Hiruzen's eyes narrowed.
"Yes?" the Hokage prodded, leaning forward and making a silencing motion to his
son.
"I'd like to nominate Team Seven for your test, Hokage-sama."
Kurenai looked on questioningly as Asuma snorted with laughter.
Folding his hands, Sarutobi Hiruzen blinked down at his wrinkled hands and
turned the thought in his mind. Certainly Team Seven's situation came across
dire, but to ask for the special training that the Sandaime had concocted and
passed down through his own team? Only four squads ever undertook his devised
trials, and three of them were broken as a result.
"Granted." the Hokage sighed with all the immutability of fate. "Don't break
them Kakashi."
"I might have to."
***** The Forest of Death *****
Naruko was terrified.
Fear was not new to the jinchuuriki. Naruko knew fear like an old friend. Fear
of being abandoned. Fear of the violence and the hate directed at the Kyuubi
sealed inside of her. Fear of never being acknowledged, never being loved, and
never being wanted.
But the fear that their tardy but surprisingly stern sensei nurtured in Naruko
was the singularly unique fear of failure. Of having her achievements crushed
underfoot and being dismissed from the future she had chosen for herself.
And that she would never amount to anything again.
Squaring her shoulders and ignoring the cold panic that clawed at the back of
her mind, Naruko turned blue eyes to stare at the Uchiha with clinical
evaluation.
The bored look on Sasuke's face was an obvious lie. Spine stiff as an iron rod
with clenched fists shoved in his pockets and a nervous grind of the heel of
his zori into the dirt, the boy was surely as worried for the second chance
Kakashi had promised them.
Turning to examine Sakura, Naruko cocked a brow at the much more obvious
tension the pink-haired girl displayed. Crouching in the dirt and hugging her
knees, Sakura looked out at the world with black-rimmed green eyes. Her rival
was perhaps even more nervous than Naruko herself was.
The morning was cool, the faint breath of mist puffing through her lips as
Naruko repressed a shiver and stared out over the training ground. Birdsong
marked the waking of the world over still silent streets as civilians just
began to rise from their beds.
Naruko wanted to complain about their tardy sensei, and spit insults about the
man that obviously seemed to enjoy wasting their time as the 0700 came and
went, minutes stretching into an hour. But the memory of a disappointed dark
eye and a serious voice forced the blonde to hold her typically acerbic tongue.
Eventually the jinchuuriki leaned against a tree and slid down to the ground,
dragging a knee up to her chest and yawning with boredom. Sasuke joined the
other two in crouching to the ground, setting elbows on knees and threading his
fingers together.
Floating down from the trees about came a lazy mumble "Well you're doing better
than you were yesterday... by a fraction." Kakashi lay stretched out on a tree
limb, grinning like a satisfied cat when the three genin jumped in shock and
stared up at the jounin.
Crooking two fingers at the trio, Kakashi smirked. "Yo."
"You're late." Sakura and Naruko mumbled in unison without at real heat, still
subdued from the beating they'd received the day before. The two girls
stiffened and spared each other a silent annoyed glance, but kept their lips
firmly shut.
Kakashi slinked to the ground in a lithe motion, dusting off his flak jacket
before jerking his chin to the north. "Come along little ducklings."
All three leapt to their feet, Naruko and Sasuke shoving their hands in their
pockets and Sakura tapping her fingers together as they filed along after their
sensei.
Traipsing along a vibrantly red bridge stretching out over a winding stream,
Kakashi led Team Seven into the waking streets of Konoha. Several villagers
gave nods of recognition to the jounin, knowing Kakashi by his legendary
reputation. Others passed over the group as they blinked bleary eyes and
shuffled along to their jobs.
And some gave Naruko such open looks of malevolence that Sakura couldn't help
but take notice and begin to catalogue her surroundings. Green eyes narrowed in
thought as citizen after citizen stiffened at the sight of her blonde teammate
and either glared, assumed carefully blank looks, or turned away with an
expression of pain.
Staring at Naruko's bright orange back, Sakura chewed a considering lip.
Several years back the kind of looks the blonde was garnering would be more
than expected, considering how much of a little hellraiser Naruko had once
been. Painting buildings in the night, throwing eggs at people – varied pranks
of both good and malicious nature. But the pranks had rapidly stopped after the
blonde turned eight, throwing herself into her schoolwork and stealing Sakura's
place as top of the class.
Shrugging, Sakura rose her face to look at the back of Kakashi's gray head.
Ultimately it wasn't her business and she didn't care whether people liked or
disliked the Uzumaki. Even if Sakura thought it seemed a little odd for people
to hold grudges for so long.
Sasuke clenched his fists, seething but quietly obedient. The threat of being
stripped of his shinobi status hung over his head like a murderous blade,
handled by a deceptively cheery white-haired jounin. Hunting Itachi was
something Sasuke would never give up on, official shinobi or not.
But it would be a great deal easier to amass the strength to kill his brother
if Sasuke had someone to teach him. So the Uchiha would swallow the urge to
walk away from the infuriating older man and bow down for the strength Kakashi
could give him.
Kakashi led them through the Northern gates with a silent nod to the two
chuunin on watch duty, prompting Sasuke to raise a curious brow. The genin the
Uchiha had pulled information out of on his morning rounds all agreed that they
would start off with D-Rank missions – mending fences, milking cows, walking
dogs, and other assorted worthless drudgery.
So why was the their instructor leading them into the countryside?
Veering off the highway and onto a partially overgrown beaten path, Naruko
craned her head about to drink in the surroundings. Trees slowly began to press
in on both sides of the pathway, vegetation and humidity thickening the further
they trampled over the sparse patches of grass.
Unable to suppress the grin of excitement, Naruko threw her hands up and rested
her head in their crossed cradle. Despite the worry of what their odd sensei
had in store, the blonde still revelled in the realization that she was finally
out of Konoha and exploring the world. Not very far in the grand scheme of
things, but it was the first time out of the village's walls and no creepy old
jounin could sour that for her.
The free wind weaving through the branches, untainted by the stink of the city.
Rustlings of birds and other small critters in the underbrush. The tickling of
unmowed grass against the tips of her toes peeking out of her zori. Creeping
wild vines wrapping around the trunks of great oaks. All of it was freedom and
new life.
Except the gleaming iron mesh fence that appeared before Naruko's eyes when
Kakashi led them around a bend in the pathway. Twelve padlocks kept bound a
great tangle of chains, engraved with bloody red seals that pulsed faintly with
palpable chakra.
Halting before the towering gates, Kakashi drew out a great heavy ring of keys
from his belt and fiddled with it to find the first of many keys. Unlocking the
padlocks in the seemingly random but very specific order that wouldn't trigger
Konoha's alarm system and bring a troop of ANBU down on their heads, the jounin
yanked the great length of chain from the fence and tossed them carelessly into
the loam.
Kakashi pulled on the great gate, inwardly amused at how easy such a giant
construct was to open. Every single time it seemed like it was inviting those
unwary to partake of its depths. An invisible barrier stretched and snapped,
releasing the true scent of the trees onto the group.
Rot. Death. Misery. Pain.
Sakura retched at the foul wind, plugging her nose and taking a few desperate
gasps before giving in and releasing her nostrils. Glaring at the cheerful
jounin as he clapped gleeful hands and turned to face them, Sakura chewed the
inside of her cheek in annoyance. "A little more warning next time?"
"You'll get warnings when you earn them Sakura-chan." Kakashi smirked, clearly
conveying that they haven't. "Since the three of you managed to spectacularly
fail the survival exercise yesterday, I've decided it's time for some remedial
training."
Bowing at the waist, the jounin swept a dramatic hand out to the leering forest
through the gates. "So for the next month welcome to your new home. The Forest
of Death."
"The Forest of Death!" Naruko squawked at the same time Sakura stuttered "F-for
the next month!"
"Hn." the Uchiha grunted, giving Kakashi a sour look.
Incredulously Naruko peered at the suddenly forbidding trees and the wind that
seemed less innocent and more violent. "Why couldn't it be the Forest of
Happiness? Or Ramen! Or maybe even just the Forest of Not-Being-A-Cold-Hard-
Rotting-Corpse?"
Squealing when Sasuke went flying overhead through the gates in a tangle of
limbs, Sakura barely had time to blanch when a hand seized the back of her
collar and tossed her into the deadly woods. Naruko followed with an enraged
scream a second later, leaving three genin to pop up out of the bushes and
glare and two grinning Kakashi's at they shut the gates.
Kakashi relocking all twelve padlocks with a gesture and an audible hum as the
chakra barriers re-engaged and walked off into the distance whistling.
"Shit." Naruko muttered, patting herself down to check that at least she hadn't
lost any of her equipment.
Sasuke sent the pair of girls an annoyed glance and stomped off into the trees,
obviously still sulking about being treated like a sack of trash.
Blinking after the boy, Sakura folded her arms and sneered at Naruko before
taking off in the opposite direction.
Settling her chin in the palm of her hand, Naruko sighed. "Double shit."
A faint hiss breathed over her ear, and Naruko whipped about to pin an
overhanging purple snake with a blue eyed glare. Further hissing drew her
attention to a host of the reptiles slithering towards her through the bushes.
"Triple shit!" the blonde screamed out as she took off into the trees.
===============================================================================
Cradling his pale white jaw in a languid hand as he lounged against the
Hokage's desk, Orochimaru flickered amused gold eyes to his sensei before
smirking at the White Fang's son.
"What a delightful surprise Kakashi-kun." the snake purred, raising a dark
eyebrow. "There hasn't been a team signed up for our trial in twenty years. I
wonder what ever will become of them." Grin widening at the stiffening of the
jounin's spine, Orochimaru sauntered across to the window.
Twenty years because of the four teams to try Hiruzen's desperate concoction
that the Sandaime had made to fix his dysfunctional genin team, one became the
Sannin and the other three snapped under the pressure and went homicidal later
in their careers.
"These things will garner you quite a reputation." the Commander of Konoha's
ANBU and Head of the village's Research Division pointed out as he stared out
over Konoha.
Hiruzen poured the last of the ash from his pipe into the trash bin and stared
at the Yondaime's student over his hands. "Are you sure this really was
warranted?" the Hokage fretted, thinking of his successor's daughter and the
undeservingly harsh hand she'd been dealt in life.
"Hai, Hokage-sama." Kakashi answered immediately, folding arms behind his back
and standing at attention. "As I said, there's no team cohesion. I reviewed
their files before I made my request. Naruko and Sakura have been at odds for
years, and it doesn't take more than an offhand comment to set them at each
other's throats. Sasuke doesn't care about anyone or anything besides killing
his brother. If it were any other team..." he trailed off regretfully.
"If it were any other team." Orochimaru agreed, crossing his arms over his flak
vest and narrowing his slitted gaze at the Hokage mountain. "You know as well
as I do, Hiruzen, that Danzo has been salivating for years for a chance to get
his hands on Naruko-chan. Your teammates aren't much better than him. If we
were taking our time with her as we'd desire they'd be arranging something
around us."
Frowning with regret, the Sandaime suppressed the urge to light up his pipe
again and rubbed a wrinkled cheek. "Homura and Koharu have the best interests
of the village at heart. Even Danzo does." Ignoring Orochimaru's scoff, Hiruzen
gave in to his craving and lit his pipe again. "But they're so misguided. How
did I let them get so cruel when I wasn't looking?"
After a moment's pause, during which Kakashi shifted uncomfortably, Orochimaru
sighed. "It's not that those three hardened their hearts, sensei - it was you
that became soft. When we were children you pushed us harder and faster than
I've seen anyone here do in years. Minato-kun's reputation brought us more
peace and stability than we've had in generations, and you were glad for a
Konoha that didn't need children to murder and be killed anymore."
"Maybe if your sensei still lived we wouldn't have a Konoha that returned to
those bloody days." the snake sennin concluded with a nod at Kakashi. The
jounin looked confused, but Hiruzen's eyes tightened at an unspoken name that
floated between them.
Itachi.
Coughing loud and wet, the Sandaime shook his head before turning back to
Kakashi. "I assume that you'll be assigning them the customary three days
reprieve?"
"Yes, Hokage-sama."
Winking with morbid humour, the Hokage dismissed the jounin with a last command
of "No permanent maiming, Kakashi."
"Not physically, Hokage-sama."
Orochimaru snorted.
===============================================================================
Breathing in the chill night air, Sasuke cast a dark glance up at the thick
canopy and strained his eyes to perceive more than vague shapes in the gloom.
With the leaves of giant trees blocking out the starlight and only faint
streams of moonlight managing to power through, the darkness of the Forest of
Death pressed in on all sides.
Faint trickles of paranoia stirred in the Uchiha's muscles that he ruthlessly
stilled through force of will. Despite being a shinobi, supposedly trained to
kill both emotions and his enemies, Sasuke was still a human with all the
primal instincts and fears of his distant ancestors.
Including the burning bile that whispered fear and prey in the night at the
back of his throat.
Palming a black kunai with a sweaty palm, Sasuke crouched low over the hanging
limb he had managed to scramble up to before light perished and peered down.
There was a distant impression of solidity that the Uchiha assumed was the
ground, and hoped wasn't actually moving slightly across the forest floor.
Either his eyes played anxious tricks or there was some beast prowling around
the base of his tree in the night. Sasuke wasn't sure which he preferred.
Oh, but to have Sharingan! Red eyes that conferred the sight and strength that
was his birthright. Gritting his teeth, the Uchiha seethed over the thought of
failing to achieve his clan's doujutsu when he had activated and mastered his
at an early age.
Pinning the writhing motion with a venomous glare, Sasuke sent a frustrated
kunai flying through the dark in a futile attempt to burn away some of the fury
that always clouded his heart.
An inhuman shriek echoed back up to him, an unholy and torturous wail that
trailed off with a burble. Sasuke paled, wrapping legs tighter around the
branch and clenching shuriken in two white-knuckled fists.
Sleep was impossible, and by the time dawn finally broke through the thick
foliage Sasuke had managed to slay two more of the creature's comrades with
flung projectiles. The faint light illuminated the forms of impossibly massive
wolves, the first one torn apart by its fellows in a grisly display of
cannibalism.
His eyes ached.
===============================================================================
Being alone was an old experience, marked in with day after day as a little
girl staring at her walls with no friends and no precious people to be with.
Even after Jiraiya had scooped her from the streets and found her a new home,
Naruko only had four white walls for company on most days.
Sometimes she would read scrolls the Hokage gifted her, or sometimes she would
find a place to train thin arms and a childish body into the shape the life of
a kunoichi demanded. Naruko's favourite thing to do however, was wander the
village or simply sit on her balcony and take in the world.
Padding the streets of Konoha with a fake grin and pretending that the cold
eyes didn't bother her – that people stared at her with admiration. Or she
would dream that Naruko wasn't that blonde jinchuuriki brat, but rather a
beloved daughter with kind parents waiting at home. Sometimes she would pretend
to be someone else – henge into the form of some random child and bitterly
drink in the kindness strangers offered her once Naruko was wearing an
anonymous face.
Naruko decided that the aching solitude of the wild was different. Within
Konoha and even at her most isolated, the blonde had still been keenly aware of
the people that surrounded her. The citizens of the Hidden Village ignored her
and turned their backs on the jinchuuriki, but the villagers were still there.
Filling up the hungry silence with their own movements and conversations, a low
hum that hung on the edge of hearing and reassured Naruko that she was never
truly alone.
The Forest of Death was appropriately named – for the death that swelled in it.
There was no birdsong, no wind in the willows, no distant voices of human
beings. Just the silence of the grave.
Staring down at a stagnant forest pool, Naruko bent low and peered into the
grimy water to take in her reflection. Whisker slashes marked her cheeks,
tracing under high cheekbones and over pale skin like black paint. Her eyes
were visibly only as hollow caverns in the distorted sockets of her skull,
leering back out of the pond scum with a macabre grin.
Naruko shuddered and stepped away. Hunger and thirst were constant companions
in the trees, two days passed with only the barest intake. Water was gleaned
from the dewy canopy shortly after dawn when the sun had yet to burn off the
faint traces of moisture. Naruko didn't trust the water she had encountered –
it reeked of disease.
The sharp knife of hunger that plagued her was dulled by the few berries Naruko
could find in the bushes. Furtively glancing about the foreboding woods for the
lightning movements of snakes in the underbrush. The blonde had vomited twice
when she unsuccessfully attempted to find edible mushrooms.
Shaking her head, Naruko pulled out of her musings and tugged open her orange
jacket. The forest was overly humid and after spending a day covered in sweat,
the blonde had decided that baring her mesh undershirt to the world was a fair
tradeoff to cool down.
Naruko shoved her finger into her pouch and hooked it around the loop of a
kunai, bringing the dark blade out to spin around her digit as she whistled and
wandered through the trees. Not having a map or some form of direction was more
than annoying. But what could she do besides survive the rest of the month
wandering aimlessly?
Merely surviving wasn't that hard.
===============================================================================
Wrinkling her nose at the faint smell of her own sweat and body odour, Sakura
stripped off her clothes and dunked into the river. Smiling at the cool, clear
water rushing past, the pink-haired girl dunked her head under the surface and
let the tangled mess soak through.
Four days in this miserable forest, surviving by following the river. There was
more than enough clean water for Sakura to drink, but she had yet to encounter
anything larger than a few scampering rabbits. Food was hard for the girl to
come by, but her propensity for reading ahead ensured she knew more than enough
about which plants were edible to have a hearty, if vegetarian diet.
Wading up to where the water just touched her waist, Sakura sent a suspicious
glance around her. Satisfied there were no underwater critters liable to swim
up and bite her, she scooped a handful of sand from the river bottom and began
to scrub vigorously. There was no soap or shampoo to use, but Sakura absolutely
refused to allow herself to stink. Even on a survival trip into the woods.
Which was an odd enough thought. Survival wasn't that hard despite the
forbidding name of the woods being called 'The Forest of Death'. Sakura laughed
at the absurd tendency for dramatics that whoever named the woods had. The
trees were overgrown and abnormally thick, and if Sakura wandered deep into the
woods the dark canopy blocked out enough light to be intimidating in the night.
But she'd hardly encountered any creature that truly justified such a title for
the woods.
Little did the girl understand that the Forest's true danger lay not in its
natural fauna, but in the human predators that could be found within.
A hand settled over pink locks, and Sakura shrieked and dove forward. Whirling
about, Sakura pinned Kakashi with a poisonous glare and ducked down into the
water to hide her nakedness.
"Pervert sensei!"
Kakashi merely stared blankly at the girl as she shrieked obscenities and
shuffled further downstream away from him. Shuttering his eye closed, Kakashi
drew in a slow breath and began to follow. Waterlogged clothes dragged around
him, and his hands were wet when he settled a cold gaze on his student.
Swallowing nervously, Sakura shuddered in fear at the change in demeanor the
jounin displayed. Kakashi always came across as jovial and teasing, or at the
worst disappointed and serious. Not empty as the man looked reaching out for
her now.
Frozen in an agony of indecision, Sakura's stilted thoughts couldn't settle on
fighting or fleeing into the trees when and gloved hand settled around her
throat. She had a single second of panic with the concern of – Oh Kami what if
he's going to touch me- and then she was under the water.
Sakura blinked almost dumbly at being submerged, squinting green eyes up at the
surface and taking in the water-distorted image of her sensei. Sluggish
thoughts connected, and Sakura screamed. Bubbles burst forth from her lips as
she struggled, digging her nails into the indomitable hand wrapped around her
neck.
Burning rose in Sakura's lungs as she struggled, writhing about in a frenzy of
desperate punches and kicks that only struck at the iron muscles beneath
Kakashi's clothes. Dark tendrils began to crawl into the corners of her vision
and Sakura ruminated bitterly that she'd die naked and drowned by a man she
trusted.
Then air was rushing past her face, and Sakura gasped greedily. The pounding in
her ears subsided as Kakashi held her aloft and permitted the kunoichi to suck
in precious oxygen. Once satisfied she wasn't going to pass out from lack air,
the jounin shoved the girl's head back under the water and waited for her
struggles to weaken.
Again the strength passed out of Sakura's body, and Kakashi yanked her from the
cool river depths and flung her to the shore. Laying limply and huffing
desperately, Sakura made no effort to move until Kakashi slammed a kunai into
the dirt next to her head.
Eyes wide at the dark blade shoved into the ground hilt deep, Sakura rolled
away from him and crouched. Pure primal fear was written in her face as she
silently accused him with her green gaze.
Tense seconds ticked by until Sakura managed to calm her mind long enough to
remember her nakedness and cover prepubescent breasts and genitalia with her
hands. Flushing red, the kunoichi began to edge towards her rumpled clothes
while keeping a wary eye on the silent adult.
"What are you doing?" Kakashi asked her coldly as she reached a shaking hand
out for her red dress. Clenching a brace of kunai between his fingers, the
jounin twitched them in silent warning. "I am here to kill you, and your first
concern isn't to kill me first, but to get your clothes on?"
Halting with an outstretched arm, Sakura blinked away tears and glared at the
man. No words were exchanged, but in that moment Sakura found the nerve to
disobey the jounin's implicit warnings. She shot forward, reaching to sweep up
her clothes.
Shuriken hammered into the red dress, nailing it to the ground seconds before
Sakura tore it up. Great rips rent along the fabric as the pink haired girl
clutched the bundle to her chest and took off into the wilderness.
Kakashi watched her go, humming all the while before turning off into the
forest in search of his other students.
Leaves flashed by as Sakura fled naked through the trees, branches tearing
scratches along her pale skin and pulling at her hair. Sobbing out "He's a
lunatic!" Sakura pushed herself until her lungs were burning and her legs
wobbling like jelly.
Casting a cautious look about her, Sakura shimmied into her undergarments and
pulled on her dark spats. She held out her cheongsam mournfully, eying the
tears in the dress with sad eyes as she resigned her favourite dress to the
trash bin. She'd have to bin it as soon as she managed to escape the insane
forest.
The first three days had been so deceptively easy that Sakura was convinced it
wouldn't be any real hardship to survive the month alone in it. Even if she was
lonely there. But it was obvious their sadistic sensei would hunt them all.
Sakura needed to get out.
Frowning at the gloomy woods around her, the girl picked a random direction and
set off with a kunai in a tight fist.
===============================================================================
Naruko panted, a low ragged sound as she struggled to regain her wind. Sweat
poured down her back and into her eyes, soaking the tattered remains of her
iconic orange jumpsuit and mixing with the muck to produce a truly foul odor.
Peering back through the quiet forest, the blonde frowned "Did I lose him?"
Shaking her head, Naruko rubbed a knuckle against the quickly healing shallow
gash over her eyebrow. "Not a fucking chance."
The ninth day had dawned with a kick in the ribs, shattering her fitful sleep
as her sadistic sensei booted her from a crevice between two branches. Faint
dark rings shadowed under Naruko's eyes, giving tell to the hectic cat and
mouse game she played with her jounin-sensei. Even the Kyuubi's influence
couldn't fully stave off the creeping exhaustion.
Deciding not to test luck, the blonde formed a hand seal and transformed into a
small orange fox and shuffled off into the undergrowth. Naruko's bastard of a
sensei was unlikely to be far behind, and she didn't have time to waste if she
ever intended to escape Kakashi's tender mercies.
Naruko pressed her nose to the ground, inhaling and detecting with no small
relief no scent but that of the forest. Through the days the blonde had come
across faint trails of her two teammates, and traps from Kakashi almost
inevitably followed.
Pushing through the bushes, Naruko cocked a dark ear at the sound of rushing
water and cautiously meandered toward it. The blonde had nothing to drink in
hours, and after sweating and working to run from the crazy jounin Naruko could
use a drink.
Wuffing irritably, the vixen broke into a trot as the land began to slope down
towards The River. Naruko capitalized it in her mind because in all her
wanderings of the damned forest she'd only ever found one place where constant
fresh water and fish could be found. There was a tower to the rough center of
the fenced-in hell, but the one time Naruko had ventured towards it in an
effort to find shelter and food Kakashi-teme had instantly appeared and kicked
her ass.
Breaking into a run as she stepped out into the blank stretches of field
alongside the river, Naruko drove towards the river and jumped in. The blonde
gulped down as much water as her empty stomach could hold with an expression of
bliss that was odd on the face of a fox. The blonde gave herself a few short
minutes to luxuriate in the feeling of water washing some of the grime from her
fur before she pulled ashore with a huff.
One day she would murder Kakashi in his bed. And burn his orange books.
Naruko padded along towards the trees, confident that since her self-appointed
tormentor hadn't shown up in a long while she may have been lucky enough to
lose the bastard. As she reached the greenery, Naruko curled under a bush and
released her transformation. Chakra machine she may be, but it was exhausting
as hell to have to maintain an intensive henge for so long.
Settling a blue glare on the tree line across the narrow valley, the blonde
drew her knees up her chest and chewed her lip. What an asshole her sensei was,
chasing her around the damn woods and never letting her stop to sleep or eat
much of anything.
A slow blink.
Hebi-jiji had laughed at her when she told him all about what kind of missions
she'd go on as a kunoichi. At the time Naruko had thought the bastard was
making fun of her, but maybe his smirks and remarks were his way of passing
information along?
Another blink.
'You're such an innocent little thing Naruko-chan. How little you know of the
world.'
Naruko drifted off, tense muscles relaxing into restful sleep for the first
time in days. The wind brushed gently over the valley, ruffling the leaves of
the bush concealing Konoha's jinchuuriki as she dreamt of a ramen feast. Drool
trailed out of the side of the girl's lips as she savoured imaginary sustenance
and submerged in better days.
Pain.
Burning pain lancing through her right shoulder, dragging Naruko awake in a
strangled shriek of terror. Cerulean eyes flashed ruby as the blonde snapped
her head about, going pale with pain and fear at the scaled crocodile sinking
fangs into the meat of her shoulder.
"Let go!" she shouted reflexively, lashing out with her unhindered fist at the
reptilian predator. Naruko punched and scratched in a desperate frenzy,
blinking tears of agony away as the blond struggled to force the creature to
release her.
It merely growled in the base of its throat and clenched its jaws harder. Fangs
sliced through fatty tissue and into muscle, cracking bone under the pressure
of the crocodile's jaw. Screaming with the pain, Naruko grappled for something
– anything - to beat the lizard with, scrabbling hands in the dirt and throwing
any small pebble or stick at the animal.
Reduced to a primal frenzy, Naruko never even hesitated when the familiar feel
of steel was nudged into her reaching palm. Slicing through the air
soundlessly, Naruko drove the point of a kunai between the cold-blooded beast's
scales.
The crocodile went wild, bringing stubby clawed paws up to scratch at its
poorly chosen prey's face.
Ignoring the hot seep of blood from the gashes rent into her cheeks, Naruko
struck again and again. The blonde tore the blade through the flesh of her
enemy, rending it with stabs and maddened sawing motions.
Eventually the struggles of the crocodile grew weaker as the loss of its cold
blood and the grievous injuries took their toll. Deadly jaws released their
hold on Naruko's broken and torn shoulder, giving the Kyuubi's chakra ample
space to begin healing.
Naruko continued to tear into the animal like a creature possessed, until a
twig cracked underfoot. Leaping to her feet with an uncivilized roar, blue eyes
in a red face spun to pin a sheepish looking jounin with murderous intent.
Growling out "Stay away!" without any apparent recognition, Naruko made a quick
abortive motion to throw her kunai before thinking better of discarding her
weapon. The girl pressed a hand to her throbbing wound, adrenaline still riding
high as she shuffled off into the deeper gloom of the forest.
Kakashi stared after her, reaching up to scratch the back of his head as he
contained a wince. "Probably not the best idea."
Arranging for Naruko to be woken up by a suitably intimidating predator had
been as easy matter, and when it seemed like the girl might truly be in danger
the Hatake had subtly shoved a kunai into her hand and ensured she'd live to
fight another day.
But there was something profoundly disturbing about the sight of Minato-
sensei's daughter looking through him without any understanding besides that of
threat. Wild blue eyes above blood-soaked cheeks and a fanged snarl.
Perhaps a little more delicacy when handling the jinchuuriki would be better?
===============================================================================
Sasuke's fingers shook, drumming an unsteady tattoo of exhaustion against his
leg as he dragged himself through across the canopy. Each step measured, each
swing branch to branch carefully chosen for soundless movement as the twelfth
night crowned with a half moon. Bloodshot dark eyes scanned through the night,
tracking from pale shafts of light and into the concealing dark.
Nothing.
At least yet.
Hatake was a damned machine. A constant predator that unerringly followed him
through the days and haunted his nights. It was as if the jounin never tired,
conditioned to hunt the flesh of men without surrender like some fairytale
creature of nightmare.
Gritting his teeth at the gap between their skills – the stinging knowledge
that the jounin was so far above the training Sasuke had so painstakingly
amassed, Sasuke settled a cautious hand over the tree's trunk. If Hatake
managed to press him down with such ease, what unimaginable gulfs of power
existed between Itachi and Sasuke?
There is no value in killing the likes of you.
Copper stung his tongue as Sasuke bit a lip to contain the need to scream.
Crouching against the trunk, Sasuke drug around in his emptied kunai pouch and
pulled out a handful of dark roots to shove in his mouth. They were tough and
tasteless, but they were one of the few plants he recognized in the cursed
place that had nutritional value. "Fuck." the boy growled as he choked down a
mouthful of the dry roots.
"Swearing is impolite Sasuke-chan." Kakashi chided as he leapt from the shadows
to thrust a fist at the genin's face. "Should wash your mouth out? Perhaps."
Sasuke went limp, dropping underneath his sensei's swinging punch and sliding
bonelessly to the dark forest floor. Bringing his hands into seals, the Uchiha
hit the forest floor and forced his dry well of chakra to spit out just a
little more.
Fire lit the night, blinding and white as Sasuke coughed out a small ball of
flame and took off with the hope Kakashi was sufficiently blinded or
distracted.
The jounin wasn't, and let Sasuke know with a brace of warning shuriken that
tore into the Uchiha's legs. Blood sprayed from the shallow tears in his legs,
and Sasuke grunted with the pain before leaping to the side.
Rolling along the ground, the Uchiha pulled to his feet and tossed his last
brace of shuriken in the face of the approaching jounin.
Kakashi reached out and hooked a languid finger through one before wheeling
about to deflect the others in a bright shower of sparks.
Scowling with annoyance, the Uchiha pushed forward and swung down an axe kick
that the jounin caught with an iron grasp. Sasuke automatically pulled his
other leg about to drive his heel into Kakashi's shoulder and smirked when he
felt it connect.
Sasuke snarled at his own ineffectuality when the Hatake shrugged the blow off
with similar ease and grasped his other foot.
Whirling the genin about, Kakashi tossed the boy into a tree and watched
passively as Sasuke collided painfully with the bark. The jounin stepped
forward as the Uchiha struggled back to his feet, pushing up his hitai-ate and
catching Sasuke with a red gaze.
Sharingan! Sasuke realized with shock as he caught sight of the red eye with
three tomoe, his mind forced to whirl through memories he desperately wanted to
remove. There was no time to wallow in the past, or even to wonder where
exactly Kakashi had stolen the dojutsu after the man gave him a tremendous
backhand.
Pain exploded in his cheek as Sasuke stumbled away, keeping a furious stare on
his family's implanted kekkai genkai. "Where?" was what he managed to pant out
before Kakashi planted a heel in his chest and kicked him off his feet.
Digging his nails into the dirt, Sasuke shoved back to his knees with an
expression of pure rage and consuming hatred. Was this all his efforts managed
to amount to? A toy to be kicked around at the leisure of some lazy, perverted,
thieving jounin?
"Fuck!" Sasuke cursed again, dredging up chakra and spitting fire in Kakashi's
face.
Kakashi burst into smoke, replacing himself with a log that promptly
incinerated in the wake of the Uchiha's technique. Shaking his head at the boy,
the jounin drew a kunai and dashed in from the corner of Sasuke's vision.
Then drove it into his throat.
Sasuke blinked, failing to comprehend to sharp pain in his neck. His eyes ached
as he trailed an incredulous gaze up to the impassive jounin that had shoved
the dark steel into his trachea. Pale lips struggled to form syllables as
Sasuke attempted to question it. The choice to murder.
Why?
Why nii-san!? Why?
Bitterness rose in him. A slow song of despair and grief as Sasuke gurgled on
his own fountaining blood. Warm and cloying as it slid into his lungs and
drowned him. Tears sparked in the corner of his vision as Sasuke felt death
rising up to exert its claim. Was this all he'd ever amount to? Just another
forgotten runt of the Uchiha clan, left behind by his stronger brother to
wallow in mediocrity and then perish?
His eyes burned.
No! Vengeance was cold and unforgiving. Itachi called behind the horizon – a
singular discordant note that mingled rage and grief. Every moment was
dedicated to that destruction. Endless days of solitude marked by the thrum of
muscles that pushed beyond their limits. Sasuke refused to die here, raging
against the dying light of his vision!
I won't say "good night"!
Sasuke's eyes opened, a tide of black and crimson that glowed in the dark and
spun. A single tomoe swirling over hateful red irises that pinned Kakashi with
a look speaking of the unquenchable fire within.
The genjutsu popped like a dirty soap bubble, peeling away as the world righted
itself and Sasuke found himself with his back pressed to a tree. The first tree
he'd been thrown into, the first time he'd beheld his sensei's stolen eye
Another Sharingan orb blinked in surprise, curving up in a mixture of annoyance
and pleasure. "Aa." Kakashi vocalized, moving forward in a blur towards his
student.
Sasuke caught the dash, marveling in his new ability to finally perceive the
jounin's stride and begin to move against it.
But Sharingan eyes or no, he was still a genin, and the only difference was
that he could actually seeit when Kakashi hammered a fist into his temple and
sent him spiralling into unconsciousness.
***** Chapter 4 *****
Chapter by The_Jingo_(The_King_in_White)
Black receded, giving way to a throb between his ears and a foul taste in his
mouth. Sasuke groaned, cracking open his eyelids to stare blearily at a distant
wall of green. Birdsong tweeted merrily, and the Uchiha winced at the noise.
Twitching numb fingers, Sasuke attempted to reach up and rub his gritty eyes.
Attempted was the operative word.
Swearing at a tight squeeze all along his body, Sasuke glared down at the thick
twirl of rope surrounding him and binding him to an overhanging tree branch.
Craning his head as far as his tightly bound position permitted, the Uchiha
stared at the rosy horizon in confusion before fully processing his
predicament.
He turned an incredulous look to the distant green forest floor and emptied his
stomach of its meager contents.
Spitting the last dregs of bile from behind cracked lips, Sasuke shimmied his
bound limbs in an effort to test the freedom he was allocated.
It wasn't an overly tight fit, which meant his bastard of a jounin sensei
intended for Sasuke to wriggle free sooner or later. The Uchiha moodily
considered remaining still as a matter of spite, but quickly dismissed the
half-hearted idea and began to pull against his restraints.
His entire form, save for the head, was covered in swirls of rope like some
kind of demented caterpillar. Squeezing free was a process that consumed
Sasuke's time and patience, and more than once the Uchiha shouted curses about
the jounin responsible for the mess he was in.
"Insane, inbred maniac!"
Finally Sasuke managed to squeeze forward enough to hang half in and half out
of the loosely woven cocoon. Blood rushed to the Uchiha's head as he rolled
about to face the sky.
Sparing his surroundings a cautious glance for the eventual return of the
evidently sadistic Hatake, Sasuke reached up and pulled free.
His clothes were damp with sweat, mud, and the faint traces of blood. Wrinkling
a nose at the stench building from his filthy attire, Sasuke swung his hips
about before reaching for another branch to try and swing along the canopy.
Weakened by lack of movement and circulation however, Sasuke's numb fingers
misjudged their grasp and let the Uchiha drop to the ground.
Crashing to the earth with a gasp, Sasuke stared up at the sky and drew slow
careful breathes into his lungs and waited for his heart to pump oxygen rich
blood through his veins.
Pins and needles stabbed over him hotly, and Sasuke grimaced as he reached up
to massage a blue-clad shoulder.
"Asshole." he cursed faintly, sitting up and scanning the surrounding foliage
again. If there was one thing he'd learned from his prick of a sensei, it was
that one could never be too careful about their environment.
A pale hand came up to rub across his throat in memory of the genjutsu. Even if
it had been fake, and even if Sasuke had struggled free, the illusion left a
psychological mark.
Such was the fragility of his life – able to be totally undone and destroyed in
a distracted second. Undoubtedly the harsh genjutsu would have driven him into
unconsciousness if not for his eyes.
Black swirled tiredly into red, glittering lit bloody rubies as Sasuke threw
back his head and laughed. Sharingan at last! Tearing the hitai-ate from his
forehead, Sasuke held the dull metal up to the light and polished it with his
thumbs and spit until he could perceive the distorted image of blazing crimson
eyes with a single dark tomoe in each.
Still weak and underdeveloped. Just a fraction of the strength Sasuke's clan
and blood possessed. But it was the beginning. The first true step in closing
the bloody ocean stretching between Itachi and Sasuke's capabilities.
"Itachi," the Uchiha breathed as he marveled over his changed eyes for another
long moment before stuffing the hitai-ate in a pocket and tracking his enhanced
vision back across the environment.
Shafts of light from the mid-afternoon sun slanted down through the forest
surrounding him. Motes of dust floated in the illuminating light as Sasuke
panned his gaze. Trees in all directions, the Uchiha noted with a frustrated
sigh. The raven had no idea how much time he'd lost after being beaten down by
Kakashi, but it had been at least half a day - if not more. Sasuke suppressed a
shiver. Being out for too long after a hit to the head could mean brain damage.
The Uchiha clearly had no idea that it had been two and a half days; a vaguely
worried Kakashi had come back to force chicken broth and water down his
student's unresponsive throat. The sensei had pressed green-wreathed fingers to
Sasuke's temples to calm down the faint cranial swelling. Days of malnutrition,
and the stress of a new Sharingan activation on the Uchiha's nervous system did
not bode well.
The faintest suggestion of a shimmer danced on the edge of his vision, and
Sasuke dove for cover beneath a thick patch of underbrush. A heavy pulse
thrummed in his ears as Sasuke held his breath and strained to hear anything in
the trees.
Birdsong, the rustle of wind over leaves, and faint bubbling of distant water
were the only stimuli his ears could detect.
Had he merely caught a glimpse of light bouncing off of the top of the river?
Sasuke hoped desperately it was something so innocent, not the reflection of
his terrifying sensei's forehead protector. There was nothing to be done for it
but to go and see.
His head ached faintly with remembered pain, and the last thing the Uchiha
wanted at that moment was to encounter Hatake. Sasuke had absolutely no doubt
that if it truly was Kakashi, the jounin would come hunt him down if he
attempted to sneak away.
Better to go and see. If it was simply the river, he could get some water for
his aching throat and wash away the taste of vomit. If it was Kakashi, he might
as well get his daily beating over with.
Pressing ahead cautiously with crimson eyes bright and alert, Sasuke crawled
through the underbrush, body tensed with anticipation.
===============================================================================
It began with the sound of a snapped twig in her ear.
Clumsy.
Naruko crouched in the bushes, exhausted eyes darting around in every
direction. Her heart lurched into frantic motion, signalling for a rush of
adrenaline to snap her out of the lethargy of sleep. Naruko drew the last
remaining kunai from her pouch and drew in a sharp breath.
No more twigs broke. There was a conspicuous absence of rustling clothes or the
faint clinking of metal on metal. Only natural sounds of the forest remained,
and Naruko bit down on her lip until she tasted blood. The blonde had seen
Kakashi flashing in the woods across the river, probably chasing one of her
'teammates'.
And now the jounin sensei was here for her.
Shrinking in on herself, Naruko drew the filthy dark orange scraps of her once
vibrant jacket closer. Another twig snapped, agonizingly close. Just on the
other side of the tree! Naruko held her breath. Clenching the handle of the
kunai until her knuckles went white, the Uzumaki tensed and leapt.
She'd get Kakashi before he got her.
Except it wasn't Kakashi, she realized with comically wide blue eyes as she
skidded to a stop. It was Sasuke. And he was ruining everything.
Seizing his dark locks with a filthy hand, Naruko ignored the way his surprise
faded to outrage and dragged him after her back into hiding.
The blonde covered the Uchiha's mouth with a filthy, dirt-caked hand as Sasuke
opened his lips for a furious question. "Shut up!" Naruko hissed a whisper. "Do
you want our sensei to find us?"
Sasuke suppressed his retort instantly, shoving her hand away and creeping up
beside her to scan the opposite bank with a pointed, crimson gaze. Sharingan,
Naruko realized in an absent corner of her mind, recalling old lessons from
Hebi-jiji about Konoha and the people within it.
They both ignored the mingling of the sour scents of their body odor and vomit.
Neither was in much of a place to complain about the other, considering their
own situations.
They scanned the opposite bank of the river frantically, looking for traces of
the jounin that had only recently been hounding their pink-haired teammate
through the trees. That much had been easy to tell by listening for high-
pitched shrieks of indignation and fear.
Wood creaked, a deliberate and weighty sound that rose over the audible life of
the forest. Then the two genin darted from hiding, diving out of the bushes
with their hands already weaving into seals as they turned in unison to face
the boughs above.
Sasuke brought curled fingers to his lips and blew a short, focused breath.
Fire exploded from the Uchiha's mouth and collected into a small ball of flames
as Kakashi descended from the canopy with a kunai in each fist.
Gleaming with the dull, blue sheen of channeled chakra, Kakashi split the
fireball in halves with a casual swipe. The jounin landed in a crouch, only to
have a dozen frantic blonde Kage Bunshin leap at him with furious cries.
Snatching Sasuke's wrist in a bruising grip, Naruko dragged the unwilling
Uchiha away from the whirling dance of combat and plunged deeper into the
forest. Sasuke resisted for a moment before swallowing his arrogance and
following the blonde in a frenzied rush through the trees.
The duo ran until their lungs and legs burned from the effort, forced to stop
by the weakness of their own flesh.
Panting with exertion, Naruko looked back at the clear broken trail through the
trees they'd left and shook her head with dissatisfaction. It only took a nudge
for the sweating and flushed Uchiha to stumble after her through the
underbrush.
Both understood that the trail they had left behind was far too obvious, and
that the more distance they could put between themselves and it, the better.
"Damn bastard." Naruko wheezed, reaching out to steady herself on a nearby tree
as she nearly slipped over a root. "I'm starting to wonder if he's actually
trying to kill us."
Shaking his head with disagreement, Sasuke gave his weapons pouches a quick pat
down. "Can't be." Seven shuriken and three kunai. "Otherwise he would have just
killed me instead of putting me under genjutsu to make me think he did."
Silence hung for a moment as Naruko digested that, drinking in her surroundings
and grinning at her newfound sense of familiarity. "Sounds rough." The blonde
commented as she traced her fingers along the body of a particularly thick
tree. Sasuke grunted with agreement.
The bark was dark, twisted, and ancient. Thick and tough, but with a hidden
vulnerability. Almost invisible to the naked eye, the blonde's fingers quested
along the trunk until she found a depression where the bark felt weak and soft.
Hooking her fingers under the skin of the tree, Naruko pulled.
Revealing a small hidden depression in the bark that had evidently been covered
over new growth as the tree aged, the blonde stepped inside. Faint carvings in
the wood showcased the names of the few prospective chuunin who had found the
naturally grown hidey-hole.
Naruko ignored the 'Sakumo was here' as she stopped shoving the skin of the
tree away. Darkness flooded the little hollow, black as the void. "I found this
place a few days into the test when I was running from Kakashi-sensei." She
explained as she turned to look at the silent Uchiha.
Red glimmered faintly in the darkness as Sasuke's underdeveloped and weak
Sharingan struggled for some kind of sensory input. "I never found a place like
this." He admitted, stung slightly by the realization that someone else had
found a useful place to hide away, where he had miserably failed.
Both spoke in quiet whispers, keenly aware that even if they were hidden, the
bark separating them from the outside world was not all that thick. Their
jounin sensei could have been standing on the other side of it for all they
knew, ready to plunge a blade into the dark and inflict a world of pain.
But so long as they were quiet, and didn't breathe or speak too heavily, they
had a small space away from the rigors of combat. And with the remembered feel
of crocodile teeth in her shoulder, Naruko had little problem sinking to her
bottom with her back propped against the wood of the tree and knees drawn to
her chest.
The near constant fear was not what Naruko had expected at all from becoming a
kunoichi. Pain? Yes. Fighting? Absolutely. Loss? She'd be damned if she gave
anyone or anything up, but she still knew that she could lose people. But fear
of existence was not something the blonde had ever prepared for. The constant
awareness of how to escape the next beat-down, of how and when to flee, and the
realization that sometimes she was so absolutely outclassed she could do
nothing was humbling. And terrifying.
Naruko knew that even if she survived Kakashi's crazy survival training and
decided to keep being a ninja that she would never be able to go back to what
she had been. There was a gulf too wide of pain and threat of annihilation
between the present and that rose-tinted childhood.
Innocence lost.
Swallowing thickly, Naruko ignored the pounding heartbeat in her veins and
listened. They may have been hidden, but there were not safe. They might never
be safe again.
Naruko refused to release Sasuke's wrist; she hadn't let go despite dragging
him a considerable distance through the trees during their mad dash away from
danger. In the dark silence, there was an unspoken desire for human contact as
they huddled in the heart of a tree.
Sasuke did not complain.
Nor did he move to break the contact.
===============================================================================
Dispatching the last of Naruko's shouting clones with a lazy kick to the
temple, Kakashi stared off after the fleeing pair of his students. To torment
or not to torment was the question of the hour. On the one hand, he could keep
the pressure up on them, breaking them just a little bit further. On the other,
he could give them a few hours to heal up – heal together, most importantly.
Decisions, decisions…
The Hatake gave a lazy shrug and sauntered off towards the nearest part of
Forty-Four's enclosing fence. He had fourteen days or so to spare. Lots of time
to focus his hunt for Sakura and drive her towards the other two. There was
plenty of time to hammer the three of them together into a halfway cohesive
unit.
But first, lunch.
Stepping up to the towering, chakra charged steel fence, Kakashi pulled a strip
of sealing paper from his flak vest pocket. The Hatake pressed the premade seal
over interwoven links of chain and waited.
Dark ink flared red, burnt orange flames curled out to the edges of the seal
and burnt it to nothingness. Metal peeled away with an unnatural shriek,
opening a slight hole large enough for a man to step through.
Shoving his hands in his pocket, Kakashi crossed the fence and blinked. The
Forest of Death was aptly named; it had a distinct, forbidding aura of
violence. Stepping from the world enclosed by the fence to the one outside was
left one's head foggy with disorientation. Tension was released from the
jounin's shoulders as he turned back to watch the fence fold back upon itself,
sealing the forest back up under his watchful eye.
Satisfied that none of his students would be escaping early, Kakashi vanished
in a whirl of leaves. Colors blurred by as the jounin's chakra enhanced-speed
pushed him beyond the limits of human vision. Shunshin was a technique many
shinobi knew, but few ever mastered. It took extremely well-trained vision and
a dextrous mind to apply the shunshin over long distances, and particularly to
maneuver around complex obstacles.
Kakashi had the qualifications in spades. He stopped in the observation room
for training grounds Forty-Four for an instant; he needed to pilfer more of the
'emergency escape' seals that made passing in and out of the Forest of Death so
simple for him. None of the chuunin on duty were even aware of his presence.
The ex-ANBU agent preferred it that way. In a world of shadows and murder, he
who passed undetected was he who survived.
Speeding off towards the heart of the village, he pondered the idea of
reporting the chuunin to their superiors for failure of duty. Konohagakure
could not tolerate lackadaisical active-duty nin, no matter how skilled their
adversary. It was something to decide over tempura.
Home for Kakashi was a cozy apartment, boxed in by passionless whitewashed
walls in a seedy district of the village. Home was cheap and worn, but
familiar. Home was the comforting sight of dog-eared, lurid orange books
scattered about haphazardly. Home was the slight stale scent of barely
disturbed air with the rich, sweet smell of cheap food. Home was the faint ding
as the microwave finished cooking his convenience store meal, but leaving the
center a bit frozen.
Home was the mission, boxed in by emotionless porcelain masks in the dark. Home
was comfortable body armour, well worn and battle-tested. Home was splattered
crimson stains, painted over muddy ground by a practiced artist. Home was the
metallic tang of blood and decaying corpses interspersed with the tinge of
sweat. Home was the whistle of knives in the dark as they darkened the light of
another unfortunate soul.
The clack of Kakashi's chopsticks was simultaneously achingly quiet and
deafeningly loud in confined space he called his own.
The former ANBU captain frowned at the dichotomy, stabbing the point of his
utensils into the deep-fried flesh of his seafood. A sparkle of amusement rang
through him as Kakashi considered the likelihood that his three students were
all doing their best to hide from him even when he wasn't looking for them.
How fearsome he must have become to the genin.
It was good for their development, the jounin mused as he sipped chilled tea.
Their ability to run from him and remain undetected had been absolutely
atrocious the first few days. The children were improving though – not nearly
well enough to hide from him – but their efforts were noted. They were growing
smarter and stronger in response to near constant presence of suffering,
hanging over their heads like a blade. They were fighting better than they had
when they began, despite their clear exhaustion.
Sasuke's Sharingan was an unexpected surprise. Kakashi wouldn't have thought
that it would be so easy to bring the boy's kekkai genkai to bear with a cheap
trick. Perhaps Sasuke had been near to activating it anyway. Or he was a genius
like his monster of a brother.
Technique could be refined at any point, but motivation to survive would take
them further than any textbook.
Rising to his feet, Kakashi dumped the empty takeaway bento in the trash and
gave his weapons pouches a quick pat down.
The first thing to do would be deal with Sakura.
Second, to report those chuunin on guard duty for their laziness.
===============================================================================
The moon was waxing, spilling sallow light through the foliage when Sakura
stopped to rest. Sucking air into her lungs, the genin pressed a hand to her
soaked flank and drank in a gulp of sweet, sweet wind. Coagulated blood ran
down her cheek from a shallow cut where one of Kakashi's kunai had flown too
close for comfort.
This was insanity! Didn't the man have anyone else to bother for hours on end?
The pink-haired girl spared a small pang of guilt for wishing that their
sadistic sensei had chosen one of her other teammates to follow around all
afternoon and beat the hell out of. Still, better anyone other than her.
The faint limbering of wood groaned into the night, and Sakura leapt to her
feet with a nervously darting gaze. Bright green eyes spun wildly as she peered
about in the dark. She didn't spot anyone coming towards her on the ground, nor
was there anyone in the trees above her, ready to pounce down as she had come
to expect.
The fact remained. She was being watched.
Crackling sounded again, and Sakura reached down to pat her weapons pouch.
Empty, the genin despaired before tensing in preparation for a sprint.
"Haruno!" was hissed at her, too quiet and feminine to be Kakashi.
Naruko crouched on a branch a few paces away, tense and drawn like a wild
animal. Tattered remains of her once cheery jacket hung loose to her thin
frame. The darkness reduced normally brilliant blue eyes into sunken pools of
black on the girl's dirty face. "Come here." the blonde whispered, motioning
her teammate closer.
Approaching warily, Sakura licked dry lips as her fight-or-flight instinct
built on the dregs of adrenaline in her system. Naruko grabbed her teammate's
wrist while cocking an ear to the forest and waiting for anything out of the
ordinary to reveal itself.
Only the low buzz of insects and brush of wind responded. It was not
reassuring.
Naruko thinned her lips, gripping Sakura's arm tightly with one hand while
reaching behind to hook her nails beneath an irregular patch of bark, in what
was quickly becoming a familiar motion. Wood creaked again as it split and
revealed a natural hollow where two floating red eyes gazed at them in the
pitch.
Wind rustled, poking holes in the canopy to let in a few shafts of moonlight.
Sasuke to step forward and drag both girls within before their location was
made visible. Bark slapped down, cutting off the light and leaving the three
huddled in close quarters, protected by the darkness.
"What's this about?" Sakura muttered, reaching out to fumble for the back wall
of the hollow. Shuffling and low curses filled the cramped space as the team
nudged around to find a position where they could all sink to the ground in
relief.
"He doesn't seem to be able to find us here." Naruko breathed through her
mouth, grimacing at the taste of stale air and other unmentionables. A fair
trade for some rest and safety at least.
"Guess that's why he decided to chase me around all day." Sakura agreed
bitterly, eliciting a low grunt from Sasuke. The sharingan faded away, red
shuttering into the dark and leaving the other two with nothing to distract
from the utter blackness within their hiding spot.
Minutes ticked by, and ever so slowly Sakura began to relax. Days worth of
tense muscle finally loosened, now that she had somewhere to exist without
constant threat of dismemberment. "Why did you even come and get me anyway?"
Sakura asked, rubbing newly calloused hands over her bare knees for lack of
anything else to do.
Surprisingly, it was Sasuke that spoke up. Some part of them exposed to the
utter isolation they'd experienced for almost two weeks tentatively craved
human contact. To find some sense of normalcy and comfort after a marathon of
violence. "We've all been through that. It seemed appropriate."
That meaning wild dashes for freedom, pushed to the very edge of physical
endurance. That meaning days and nights spent catching minutes of sleep in
between one chase and thenext. That meaning the taste of metal in their mouths
when Kakashi decided it was time for another round of punishment.
Naruko shivered.
"Well as much as I don't want to work with you, I feel I kind of have to." the
blonde began with a mutinous expression neither of the others could actually
see. "Sensei kicks my ass any time I try to fight back."
Humming in agreement, Sakura knuckled her eyes in tiredness. "I guess I can
deal with you."
"You'd better." Naruko pointed out without any real heat. The blonde was simply
too fatigued to muster up a sense of indignation.
"Sleep." Sasuke commanded, Sharingan sputtering back up to shine faintly in the
dark. "I'll keep watch. We can switch in a few hours."
The kunoichi were embraced by sleep in moments.
===============================================================================
Feeling marginally more rested, Sakura crouched in the shallows near the mouth
of the long river that wound through Training Ground Forty-Four and scrubbed
wet sand into her skin with economy of motion. With Sasuke and Naruko standing
guard and watching the trees, Sakura felt safe enough to chance a scrub-down,
but not safe enough to venture out into the deeper portions of the river for a
more thorough cleaning.
The girl's throat closed up in sympathetic memory, scouring the sensation of
drowning away until her skin shone bright pink from the friction. Giving the
deep, murky water a final inspection in case Kakashi had decided to sneak up on
them underwater, Sakura stepped out of the shallows and pulled her wet and
tattered clothes on. For the first time in days, even her clothes were
partially cleaned. Maybe she truly had belonged to civilization once.
Or at least anything other than the primal, instinctive beast she'd felt
herself becoming within a grip of constant fear.
Naruko gave a silent nod when the two girls switched duties so the Uzumaki
could get herself cleaned. It was a positive signal that the coast was still
clear, and Sakura trained sharp green eyes on the deceptively gentle forest.
Save for the trees being so large and the absurdly sized animals, the Forest of
Death looked peaceful enough.
Sakura could practically smell the death.
Water splashed quietly behind her as Naruko stripped and began to scrub away
with the same intensity that Sakura had. The pink-haired girl still gave quick
glances over her shoulder at the other girl every few moments to be sure it was
Naruko splashing about rather than their jounin sensei in a silent ambush.
Their truce was tentative at best, and Sakura had a long memory of the many
sleepless nights she'd sacrificed in the Academy only to have Naruko come
soaring up from dead last to push her down to second place. The Haruno still
had no idea where the other girl had found the motivation and training to
achieve that. Her fists clenched in habitual frustration.
But it was a truce Sakura mused.
Sasuke switched with a chilled and shivering Naruko as he took the chance to
clean up. Both girls did their best to give him privacy and only looked back
when he made any especially loud noises. Once upon a time the Uchiha would have
been torn between embarrassed and furious, and there was a flush rising in his
cheeks as he scrubbed away at his skin. But it seemed almost inconsequential
when compared to what he could possibly be experiencing without the two keeping
watch for him.
It was a strange feeling to be able to trust his back to someone. The Uchiha
didn't trust them to die for him, or go out of their way to make life easier
for him. However, he did respect their common goals of staying alive, and three
together stood a better chance against Kakashi than one. For now, Sasuke
thought darkly - imagining one day being strong enough to peel Itachi's skin
from his bones.
Kakashi was pleased that things seemed to be finally coming together when he
burst from the ground in a blur of silver and black towards Sakura. Not because
the girl leapt back with quick reflexes and put distance between herself and
her sensei, though that was a positive development in and of itself.
No, he was pleased that when Sakura dove away with a shriek, Sasuke stepped in
with a single tomoe twirling in red eyes and met Kakashi with an effective
block. The three were better rested than they had been in days, since Kakashi
had given them a day's respite to work out their personal issues and come
together.
It showed, both in the renewed energy Sasuke displayed in actually meeting his
lazy strikes blow for blow. And in the coordinated way Naruko moved to flank
him with Kage Bunshin while Sakura took pot shots with crude thrown makeshift
spears and rocks.
The three were simply outclassed, nowhere near skilled enough to beat him.
Kakashi saw a dozen niggling holes in Sasuke's offence, and Naruko's Kage
Bunshin crumbled beneath his bored strikes. But they managed to coordinate – to
actually plan an offence together rather than tearing each others' throats out,
and execute it.
So the Hatake swallowed the instinct to crumble Sasuke's form with a single
well-placed blow, hammer a kunai into Sakura's neck, or snap Naruko's kneecaps
with a brutal sweep when the girl stepped back to replenish her clones. He
could afford to give them a little reward for the day, and worry about
shattering their complacency tomorrow.
With a faintly pleased smile etched in his visible dark eye, Kakashi allowed
himself to be driven off, and vanished into the trees. Some rare positive
reinforcement could fundamentally change his students' outlook on teamwork.
The three genin blinked after the jounin's form vanished, confused at having
actually won an encounter with Kakashi.
Naruko laughed, giddy and nearly hysterical with relief. Pumping an excited
fist into the air, the jinchuuriki turned to look at her teammates with an
exuberant smile. "Yatta!"
Pinching her cheek in disbelief, Sakura stared into the trees and wordlessly
accepted Sasuke pressing the little spears she'd carved into her hands. "How?"
she murmured, stupefied in amazement.
"How?" Naruko snorted, jovial mood spreading. "We kicked his ass, that's how!"
A small pleased smirk wound onto Sasuke's face. "Don't get too cocky Uzumaki."
He warned, deactivating his Sharingan and ending the drain on his chakra.
"He'll be back, and it's not like he was going all out at us anyway."
"Yeah, yeah." Naruko rolled her eyes with an exaggerated hand motion. "I think
we've got this one in the bag now."
She was wrong.
===============================================================================
Kakashi shattered Sasuke's concentrated offence to pieces, sliding through gaps
in the Uchiha's half-trained attempt at his clan's taijutsu style to deliver
punishing strikes to the boy's ribs. He held back just enough not to seriously
injure the boy.
Sasuke collapsed in a wheezing wreck once Kakashi drove a heel into the his
student's diaphragm. The son of Konoha's Shiroi Kiba turned to grasp Naruko's
swinging foot, telegraphed and easily avoided. "I wonder if the three of you
understand the concept of overconfidence." The jounin clicked his tongue as he
swung the blonde around with an iron grip around her ankle.
"I give you a day as a reward for finally working together, and the three of
you decide to get soft."
Naruko crashed into a pale, shaking Sakura in a tangle of limbs. The pink-
haired girl held a half-formed curse in her mouth as the blonde's forehead
cracked into her jaw. Struggling to their feet after a moment of groaning, they
were greeted by their sensei standing with his arms crossed and displeased
expression etched across his face.
Limping over to the duo, Sasuke favored the jounin with a murderous red glare.
Every breath sent sharp pains through his chest as his battered lungs fought
through the spasms. "Fuck." The Uchiha swore through gritted teeth, nudging the
other two to retreat before the Hatake decided to take the fight to them again.
"You have more potential individually than most teams combined, but that
amounts to nothing if you squander your talents and behave like squabbling
children," Kakashi hissed.
The sensei craned his head back with an exaggerated stretch, staring up at the
stars overhead and humming thoughtfully. "You've got thirteen days left - let's
make the most of it shall we?" The smile he directed at the trio was chilling.
"I'll allow you a five second head start."
They ran.
===============================================================================
The last day dawned bright and pink, clouds curling away hastily before the
rosy-fingered dawn.
Naruko rubbed her dry eyes and ignored the rough sensation of bark against her
bare feet. She'd lost her zori...some time ago. Time had lost almost all of its
meaning - the only events of note were night versus day, and safety versus
peril. Their experiences within the Forest all blended together into a violent
collage until it was all that any of them could do to keep track of about how
much time was left in this hellhole they'd been consigned to. Losing her
footwear just seemed too irrelevant to force her mind into bothering to
remember.
Kakashi had just pushed them harder and harder, until even the poor excuses for
baths they'd hurried through after their truce became a laughably ephemeral
luxury. The idea of bathing separately was abandoned - their demon of a sensei
punished frivolity and solitude with an iron fist, propriety be damned.
Determining time to eat became ever more difficult once it became clear that
they were never free from the jounin's tireless notice.
Unless they took advantage of the times they assumed Kakashi was off eating or
sleeping (or reading his porno, the old bastard), there was little to no
opportunity for rest. But that was finally coming to an end.
Ignoring the rush of air as Sasuke flew up from the underbrush and settled in a
crouch on the branch beside her, Naruko nudged Sakura awake with an elbow.
"Seems clear for now." The Uchiha reported in a mutter. Red faded to black as
Sasuke cut his eyes from his severely drained supply of Chakra. He wasn't
faring much better than Naruko, with his blue high-collared shirt reduced to
covering just his upper chest and back. Sasuke still had his sandals, even if
the soles were peeling away like skin off of a snake.
Sakura wordlessly stared at the other two with a hard glare. Paranoia was
quickly becoming an old friend. "One of you get some sleep." She ordered
briskly, shuffling to another branch to make room for one of them to curl up in
the comfiest spot for a nap by the trunk. "Sensei is going to push us harder
today than any other I bet. And tonight is going to be an utter shit show."
Manners had a way of degenerating in close company. Telling someone to watch
their mouth just didn't have the same impact when they'd seen each other
spitting blood and dirt after an infinitely more skilled shinobi handed their
collective asses to them.
"Probably." Naruko agreed with a sleepy mumble, leaning against the trunk and
closing her eyes with a sigh of relief.
Sasuke watched the girl's state of rest with longing for a moment before
shaking his head and rescanning the trees around them. Only one more day, and
one more night. He could survive it. He would.
Peeling off the latter tatters of her red cheongsam, Sakura tugged at her thin
underbody mesh with a faint expression of distaste. Shame took a backseat to
freedom of motion when her life was on the line. Raising an eyebrow at Sasuke's
odd look, the girl shook the wadded up red cloth with emphasis.
"Could be used for a decoy."
Motioning at Naruko's ripped jacket with underbody mesh peeking through, Sasuke
shrugged. "Ask her for her's too."
"Only if you give up your's too, you bastard." Naruko sighed, not deigning to
open her tired eyes to stare at him sourly.
Pulling off the last remains of his shirt, Sasuke handed it to Sakura. Naruko
yanked her own off in reply and tossed it over.
"Now, let me sleep," The blonde declared crankily, repositioning herself onto
her side.
The air was warm and humid enough that clad in shorts and body mesh, neither
girl shivered. Nor did the Uchiha, sitting bare-chested and peering into the
canopy.
Scruples had a way of dying when it was a choice between their now trivial
compunction against mutual indignity and pain.
===============================================================================
When Kakashi made his way to the forest on the thirty-first day, he was greeted
by the sight of his three genin. Grim-faced and half naked on the other end of
the fence, the three looked like they almost expected further abuse, or to be
left inside for another month.
And as interesting as psychologists would find them to study if left long
enough - Kakashi had little intent to let the three children grow any more
savage than they had. The Trial had accomplished what had been required.
It had forged three squabbling children into hard-eyed, paranoid genin.
He could work with that.
Chains clattered as the jounin worked through the padlocks in the correct
order. Even as the last lock clanged to the ground and the gates creaked open,
the three never lost the wary look to their faces. Good. Hope for the best,
plan for the worst.
Sasuke would have to do a better job hiding the kunai behind his wrist to fool
someone like Kakashi, however.
Looking over his bruised and battered team – his – Kakashi smirked jovially,
and gave a slow sarcastic clap. Naruko and Sasuke fixed him with twin looks of
annoyance, while Sakura sighed with weary resignation.
"Congratulations genin. Looks like you graduated from civilian rabble and
decided to become common grunts." The sarcasm faded from the jounin's voice as
his eye curved in a small but genuinely pleased smile. "I'm proud of you."
Their sensei sniffed at the air with distaste. "Though I would be prouder if
you were just an itty bit cleaner." Smirking at the look of shame that flooded
the three genin's expressions, Kakashi comically held his nose at the stench of
a month's worth of of dirt, sweat, and blood. "I'll see you at Training Ground
Three tomorrow morning at 0700. Dismissed."
Sakura blinked slowly, turning about to the south to gaze at the distant walls
of Konoha on the horizon. A strange feeling built in her gut and it took a
moment for the pink-haired girl to process it as relief.
Steel clanged behind her as their sensei sealed the Forest of Death back up,
but Sakura couldn't be bothered to look behind and watch. She was too busy
dreaming about the possibilities on the other side of those walls.
Finally, a shower and a change of clothes. After a month of scrounging from the
forest, she'd finally be able to eat a decent meal. Sakura was keenly aware of
the way that Kakashi's 'survival training' had melted away the last of the baby
fat from her frame and left only bones and the beginnings of proper corded
muscle. Her mother was going to have a fit when she got a hold of her!
Safety and home called her, and Sakura was happy enough to share a house with
the parents that had become more confused and distant over the years if the
reward was a roof over her head and warm bed at night. Her parents really did
love her, but they didn't wouldn't understand what she had become.
Sakura had taken three unmolested steps in the direction of home when a
concentrated burst of killing intent stopped her in her tracks. Heavy and
suffocating, the pinkette struggled to breath as she forced herself to turn
back to stare at their sensei.
Ignoring Sasuke's pale, sweating, and newly sanguine visage, Sakura focused on
Kakashi's deceptively kind facade. There was absolutely no tension that she
could detect in the silver-haired jounin's frame. Standing slouched with a
dopey grin in his eye, Kakashi reached a languid hand up to scratch absently
over his mask.
"On second thought, my cute little minions, I thought maybe we could play a bit
of a game first."
Swallowing thickly, Naruko clenched her hands into fist to stop the urge to
shake in fear. "A game?" The blonde stuttered.
"Oh nothing too complex, just a bit of fun." Kakashi reassured mildly. "We're
going to play a bit of tag. I'll even give you a five second head start if you
want."
The grinding of Sasuke's teeth was audible in the tense silence.
"Where's our safe zone then?" Naruko stalled, knowing that tag would merely a
euphemism for 'let's see how far and fast you can run!'.
"Your homes." Kakashi shrugged. "Where else?"
Licking dry lips, Sakura sent her teammates meaningful looks. "Is it just safe
to be in our own homes, or are we safe in each others' homes?"
Pleased at the assumption that the girl was making – that the fragile truce
forged in the forest would persist – Kakashi cut off the suffocating killing
intent. "I don't see why not. You're teammates after all."
"Right." Sasuke grunted, straightening to glare at the jounin with all the
bravado he could muster.
"Go." Kakashi declared with a yawn.
Blinking in confusion, Sakura stared at the man. "What?"
"Five."
"Shit!" Naruko cursed, launching forward like a human bullet. Sakura and Sasuke
cued instantly, falling in behind her as they all pushed their aching and weary
frames for every scrap of speed.
Gasping for breath, Sasuke managed to bark "Whose home is closest to the gate?"
His was probably the furthest away – the Uchiha clan's deserted compound
located in the safest and oldest part of the village. Shoving away the thought
of the empty place he lived, Sasuke shot a quick glance over his shoulder.
Kakashi was nowhere to be seen, which meant the jounin was already in pursuit.
"My parents' house is near the Hyuuga clan compound." Sakura wheezed, sweat
pouring down her brow.
"Then it's mine." Naruko decided with a wheeze, before all vision was lost in a
flash of light and heat.
Rolling through the dirt to extinguish any flames that might be clinging to her
shorts, Naruko gaped incredulously. "That was an exploding tag! Are you
seriously trying to kill us?"
Sakura pulled her teammate to her feet and dragged the other girl into motion.
"Less talking and more running!" the merchants' daughter puffed, sprinting over
the uneven fields with the blonde in close pursuit.
Steel whistled in the air, only to be redirected with a clang and soft curse as
Sasuke stepped in beside the two and redirected the projectile. "That was my
last kunai." The Uchiha informed them, blood rushing to the surface of his pale
skin with exertion.
The walls of the village loomed ahead, taunting salvation as the trio turned
east to follow along the wall until they found the main gate. The three could
practically feel Kakashi's hot breath on the back of their necks, violent and
amused, always just a moment from pouncing.
"Hey you!" A stern voice called out as they broke into the final stretch of
field. The two chuunin guarding the main gates stared at the three Konoha genin
with suspicion. "Stop right there!"
They didn't. Because as much trouble as they could get in from disobeying a
superior – a jounin outranked a chuunin and they could always claim to be
following the orders of a superior officer.
Warning kunai flew from the guards' hands, inches from punching bloody holes
through the genins' legs.
Sharingan no Kakashi appeared, dark and silver with a crimson eye. The two
quailed before the legend even as he shouted in a jovial tone that it was just
a training exercise. Team Seven cleared the gate, ignoring the gaping chuunin
as Kakashi whirled with an axekick that barely rustled the top of Naruko's
head.
A panicked shriek bubbled up from her throat, but Naruko clamped down on it
before screaming at her teammates to follow her with an incomprehensible noise.
Without a second of hesitation, the two genin leapt after the blonde.
Once they were within the village, it became harder for Kakashi to so openly
pursue them without provoking some kind of interference from the Hokage's ANBU
division. The jounin retreated to the rooftops, following the three children
from the sky and tossing shuriken in their general direction when the trio
showed any sign of slowing down.
"Come on, come on, come on…" Naruko repeated a breathless mantra as she dove
between a few market stalls and pushed past affronted civilians. Their annoyed
countenances soured further when that girl was immediately followed up by that
traitor's brother.
Hope blossomed in the Uzumaki's chest, cresting higher and higher the longer
the chase went on when it became clear to her that Kakashi wouldn't pursue so
closely within the village. "There!" she shouted as they crossed from one of
the poorer outer districts into a more affluent neighborhood.
Sasuke followed the direction of the blonde's pointing finger, fixing a red
gaze on the door of an apartment building. There was little to set it apart
from the neighbouring buildings, so it was probably one of the relatively newer
constructions that had gone up after the Kyuubi attack.
The three hit the door at full speed, almost blowing it off its hinges and not
even bothering to close it behind them as they raced to the top floor.
Kakashi was waiting for them, sitting lazily on the window sill on the end of
the hall. He favored the three of them with a friendly wave before heaving a
brace of kunai at them. Sasuke absently noted a string of barely visible wire
threaded through their hilts before shoving his teammates to the ground.
Reeling in the kunai with a jerk before they could hit the wall, and cause
property damage, Kakashi sighed. "You know, back in my day we asked politely
before we climbed on top of a woman, Sasuke-kun."
Sakura sputtered, flushing red and fixing the jounin with a dirty glare.
Shaking her head, Naruko grabbed hold of both her teammate's wrists and
barreled into the nearest door. "Home free!" She shouted gleefully, hoping the
jounin would adhere to the rules he'd set before she slammed the door to her
apartment shut behind her.
"Unbelievable." Sasuke elucidated.
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