章 38: Chapter 37
Chapter 37
Kakashi, Asuma, and Kaen sat in a lodge area as the first exam was conducted. Mostly Asuma was the one who talked about his team, while Kakashi and Kaen kept silent for the most time. Kaen only was here to wait for the end of the exam. Kakashi was reading, barely listening to Asuma. And Asuma continued to talk, not bothered that no one was listening.
"Aren't you worried about your genin?" Asuma suddenly asked. "They are quite unlucky this year as they have Ibiki Morino for their first examiner."
"What is there to be worried about?" Kaen asked.
"It hasn't been long since you were promoted to Jonin," Kakashi replied. "You might not know, but Ibiki Morino is one of the commanding officers of the Konoha Torture and Interrogation Force."
"What's scary about him is that he knows the human mind better than anyone," Asuma added. "By attacking their mind, he can gain control of the human spirit. He will make human weaknesses surface, and then he will crush them."
"I heard about him," Kaen replied. "But I am still not worried. Do you know why?"
"Why?" Asuma asked.
"For my genin don't have any weakness," Kaen answered.
It wasn't wholly accurate. Everyone, even he, had weaknesses. After all, he was still a human, as were his genin. But someone like Ibiki won't easily pull their weaknesses out to the surface. Kaen knew that only his students could pull them out by themselves. And Kaen had worked hard to break their shortcomings beforehand. And most importantly, Kaen knew that his students feared him the most.
"If you say so," Kakashi didn't believe Kaen's words. "And shouldn't you be preparing for the next part of the exam?"
"Oh, I am already prepared."
"Then why are you here?" Asuma asked.
"I am not," Kaen answered. "I am a shadow clone."
"Hmm?" Kakashi took a better look at Kaen. "Wait, don't tell me you were waiting here to gloat about your students?"
"Ha," Kaen laughed before disappearing into a cloud of smoke.
"Tch, I hate that guy," Kakashi and Asuma clicked their tongues at Kaen's antics.
…
Kaen opened his eyes when his shadow clone's memories returned to him. He smiled before looking out to the forest beneath him. The first exam should end soon, and he was in top condition. It was time to prepare to receive his prey. Standing atop the tower in the middle of the forest, Kaen bit his thumb and put his palm on the surface as blood dripped from his thumb. With a cloud of smoke, Bakeneko appeared.
"Nya!" Bakeneko jumped a little in surprise at the place he was at. "Why have you called me Master Kaen?"
"Turn into me and go to the north," Kaen ordered. "Look out for Sasuke. Orochimaru is somewhere there."
"Should I leave him alone otherwise?" Bakeneko asked as he turned to the perfect image of Kaen.
"Yes," Kaen answered. "If I manage to corner Orochimaru first, I will give you a signal, then join me."
Bakeneko nodded and jumped off the tower before disappearing into the forest. Kaen took out his bow and arrows. He unsealed his chains, wrapped them around his arms, and then sat down and waited. Hours passed, and Kaen heard some fighting in the forest but nothing that could indicate Orochimaru. Yet as the day passed, he saw his alarm seal react.
Kaen checked his seal and saw that the signal was coming from the eastern part of the forest. Activating his sharingan, he jumped off the tower and started to jump on the trees, quickly approaching the area where the signal came from. He quickly approached the area and started to hear fighting. Knowing he was close enough, he jumped on the tallest tree and looked at the scene below him.
…
Sasuke would never have expected to fight someone like him so soon. The man was tall and thin, yet he could feel the power radiating from him. If his headband wasn't a forgery, he was a genin from the Village Hidden in Grass. Yet Sasuke could feel danger coming from the man. He was no genin. He was an assassin, and he came to kill them.
Sasuke looked at Naruto and saw his muscles tense and ready for a fight. A grim determination came upon them. Running away didn't feel right. It felt like he would die instantly once he took his eyes off the man. The man's eyes shone with malice beyond everything Sasuke had experienced. He knew that this fight would be hard, and winning seemed impossible.
The man didn't move, but a giant snake appeared behind them. Sasuke had no choice but to jump to dodge it. Naruto tried to do the same, but Sakura was too slow to react, and she was closer to Naruto than him. So, he watched as Naruto pushed Sakura away, and the giant snake swallowed Naruto whole. His eyes flashed in brief panic, but he knew he needed to be calm.
Using fire ball jutsu, Sasuke fired it at the ground between them and the man. The dirt and fire spread around them, creating a smokescreen momentarily. Sasuke used that moment to get to Sakura. Sasuke only said one word to her as he threw her as far as he could from here. Sakura had improved by leaps and bounds over the last few months since the mission in the Land of the Waves, but there was no place for her in this fight.
Without warning, as soon as Sakura was out of the way, the man appeared before him. The kick sent Sasuke flying to the nearby tree. Sasuke coughed in pain. The man was no ordinary opponent. As soon as Sasuke landed on the ground, he felt him. Without looking, he rolled away from the crushing punch and watched as the ground caved in. Getting on his feet, Sasuke looked at the man with his sharingan.
"Just one tomoe, huh?" The man asked as he looked at Sasuke.
Sasuke couldn't move before the man's eyes. Despair has settled on him. The man was too fast, too strong. There was nothing he could do. Even if his eyes blazed in a fury, it was directed at himself. What was he thinking? How could he face Itachi when a random guy can break him? He was weak. He was pathetic. He should give up.
"Sasuke!" Naruto's yell broke Sasuke of his stupor. "Run. I will hold him back."
"What are you…." Sasuke didn't finish his question as he looked at Naruto. A red chakra surrounded him. Maybe because of his sharingan, he could see a ghost of a beast behind Naruto.
Before they could say anything more, they saw the man move again. Naruto jumped at him. His attacks were fast and strong. Yet to the man, they were nothing but child's play as he dodged them all. Not wanting to be outdone by Naruto, Sasuke took kunai from his pouch and ran to support Naruto. It didn't matter; they were soon punched and kicked to the ground.
The man was out of their league. No matter how they tried, they could not touch him. Sasuke knew he was playing with them now, but it won't last long. The man will soon get serious and stop wasting time. Then they will be killed. They couldn't hold him off long enough for help to arrive, if help would even come.
"Naruto," Sasuke called out. "Change of tactics. We can't beat him using taijutsu."
"What the plan, then?" Naruto asked. "Hit and run?"
"Hit hard, run harder."
Naruto instantly understood what Sasuke meant and nodded. Even if they disagreed most of the time and would fight each other, they were still teammates and begrudgingly friends. Jumping as far as they could, they started to use hands seals. Sasuke finished first and made a fireball jutsu. He made it as big as possible. Naruto followed soon and created wind gale jutsu.
Both jutsu combined, making the fire cover the air and hurdle toward the man. There was no escape as on contact, it exploded. Not waiting for the man to react, Naruto used shadow clone jutsu, splitting himself into dozens of clones, and half of them turned into Sasuke. The last thing they saw before they ran in dozens of directions was the man's facial skin peeling off, revealing even paler skin underneath.
"Good, you should do at least that much, but it won't be enough to escape," The man said as he looked at the clones running away. As he took one step, preparing to hunt down the real ones, he was stopped by a valley of arrows striking the ground near his feet. Without a choice, he jumped back and was ready to once again to pursue his target, but the arrows exploited, not letting the man leave.
…
Kaen looked at the clearing his explosive arrows made. It was a good thing he got in time. Orochimaru was too keen on playing with his targets. Kaen knew that Orochimaru was testing Sasuke as he did it with Kaen too. Too bad it would be his downfall. Kaen notched another arrow and aimed his bow at his prey.
It didn't take long to find Orochimaru once the smoke and dirt settled. Kaen's previous attack had destroyed Orochimaru's disguise. He watched Orochimaru with his three tomoe sharingan. The explosion should be enough of a signal for Bakeneko. Now was the time to kill the slimy snake, once and for all.
Without any words, Kaen fired his arrow at Orochimaru, who tilted his head at the last moment to dodge it. Yet another mistake, Kaen didn't play with his prey. As the arrow passed Orochimaru, it turned into a cloud of smoke, and Kaen's shadow clone emerged from it. Chains soon wrapped around Orochimaru, holding him in place.
Kaen let the piercing arrow fly by infusing lighting nature chakra in his arrow. It flew true, piercing Orochimaru's chest and leaving palm size hole. Yet, Kaen only narrowed his eyes at the lack of blood and soon jumped to the ground. Orochimaru's body turned into mud, and countless snakes soon swallowed the tree Kaen had stood on a moment ago.
Kaen didn't bat an eye at the display and notched another arrow before doing hand seals with his left hand. Kaen didn't say a word as his jutsu came to life, and he aimed at the place Orochimaru was hiding. There was no escape from his eyes. Kaen let go of his arrow, and a fire dragon came out, destroying anything on its path and Orochimaru's hiding place.
"There is no use in hiding, Orochimaru," Kaen said as Orochimaru was forced to reveal himself to dodge the attack. "It is the end of the line for you."
Kaen prepared his chains as he rushed at Orochimaru. Orochimaru was preparing to receive Kaen's next attack, yet he smiled at the last moment as six senbon needles flew toward him. He dodged them and batted away Kaen's chains. Two snakes came out of Orochimaru's sleeves flying at Kaen. Kaen kicked one into the air and bit another with his teeth, ripping its head off.
"It is my job, as your former student, to stop you," Anko appeared next to them.
"You fool!" Kaen yelled out, but it was too late.
Orochimaru's tongue extended, wrapping around Anko's hand and forcing her to drop her senbon needles. Before Kaen could warn Anko, she had already let hidden snakes from her sleeves wrap around Orochimaru and then pulled him over to her. Kaen could see her emotions clouded her judgment as she pushed Orochimaru against a tree behind her.
As she tried to make another jutsu, Kaen tackled her away and then used his chains to cut down the snake he had kicked into the air previously. Orochimaru that Anko had pushed to the tree turned into mud. And the real Orochimaru emerged from the ground not far from them. Anko looked shocked but stood up on her feet soon enough.
"Thank you, my dear Anko," Orochimaru said. "We shall meet each other soon, Kaen-kun."
"You aren't leaving," Kaen said as he started to spin his chain and prepare to attack.
"But what is more important to you? Me or your dear friend Anko?" Orochimaru asked as he lifted his hand and created a hand seal.
A scream made Kaen turn to Anko. She had a kunai to her neck, and she was holding the kunai. Kaen's eyes quickly narrowed at the seal burning with the foreign chakra on her neck. Without a choice, he had to leave Orochimaru and run to Anko. He wrapped her hand with his chain before she could do anything and then used another hand to put an evil-suppressing seal on her neck.
"I am sorry, I am so sorry," Anko whimpered as Kaen held her.
"It is fine," Kaen said. "It's all right."
"Leave me. Orochimaru is going to run away."
"He is already gone," Kaen replied.
"I'm sorry," With shame, she turned away from Kaen's eyes.
Kaen sighed. There was nothing he could do. The moment he took his eyes off Orochimaru was the moment he let him go. Kaen should have predicted that Anko would try to interfere and Orochimaru would use Anko to escape. He could only blame himself for the failure. He would have to wait another time to take out the slimy snake.
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