Chương 1302: 7
Lingering Bitterness
Naruto sat on a clearing with his back pressed against a tree. Just a short distance away, Sakura sat right next to the still-unconscious Sasuke, her eyes shifting nervously back and forth between her sleeping teammate and her blond one.
They were already on the second day of the Chunin Exam, yet after the bizarre incident with the notorious missing nin, Orochimaru, there had barely been any words spoken between the members of Team Seven. Instead, everything that she had witnessed in the past 24 hours had been left to simmer inside the pink haired girl's mind, where it had been progressively eating her up from inside since. The situation has proving too much for the Haruno to handle. In the back of her mind she briefly wondered if she was perhaps still on her bed sleeping through the actual Exam and caught in a dream that started with a completely changed and cold Naruto and ended with an unconscious and wounded Sasuke. A short, mirthless laugh escaped the pink haired kunoichi when she realized how much she wished she was currently dreaming.
For his part, Naruto rather liked the silence. After a close encounter with an S-ranked missing nin, it was the perfect thing to calm him down. For the past 24 hours, the conversation between the genins were limited to timid and hushed questions from Sakura, short and dry answer from the blond, and the occasional pained grunt from the unconscious Uchiha. The sudden sound of a chuckle from his teammate finally snapped the Jinchuuriki out of his thoughts. "I'm going to go look for the Earth Scroll." Naruto declared as he stood up.
Sakura was caught off guard by the mere fact that the blond had spoken with a complete sentence. "Wha… What…? Wait…!" She struggled to say, tripping over her own words.
"We can't wait any longer for Sasuke to wake up… The more time we waste the more difficult it will be to find one." The spiky haired boy firmly stated before starting to walk toward the edge of the clearing.
Having regained some of her composure, the young kunoichi stood up as well. "But…" Sakura tried to protest, wanting to say that it would be dangerous for the blond to go off on his own, but then she caught herself when memories of the fight she had witnessed the day before flooded back into her mind, showing the girl how wrong her assessment of her teammate was.
Naruto stopped walking for a couple of seconds and carefully looked back over his shoulder at the rest of Team Seven before returning his gaze forward and continuing on his way.
With each step that the blond took away from them and into the depths of the forest, Sakura could feel her strength being zapped away until her legs finally gave out and she fell down sitting on back on the floor. The kunoichi's gaze fell on her unresponsive crush. In the short time since the second part of the Chunin Exam started she had witnessed more unbelievable events that she ever had in her whole life. "And this is coming from a genin that accidently stumbled upon an A Rank mission…" The Haruno reasoned as she sat there almost by herself.
Unlike when she first entered, the Forest of Death now felt eerily quiet to her. In the silence, Sakura thought that if she concentrated hard enough she could still hear the echo of Naruto's fight with Orochimaru, but, when she closed her eyes, all she could see was Naruto's blue and white Sharingan glaring back at her. The mere thought made the pink haired girl shiver in a mixture of fear, confusion, and curiosity. She could not said that blond had gotten stronger, that word did not even begin to cover it, instead the former class clown, dead-last goofball had simply become powerful. More powerful than any genin Sakura had ever seen, and that list included Sasuke.
About twenty-five minutes had passed since Naruto left in search for an Earth Scroll and Sakura had been left behind to ponder on her thoughts. Unexpectedly, the kunoichi was snapped out of her deep train of thought by a sudden presence nearby. Looking around, the Haruno hoped to see her spiky haired teammate walking into the clearing with the scroll in hand because, if he wasn't him, the girl was unsure that she could protect Sasuke for whatever new horror the Forest of Death was about to throw at them.
A faint thud sound caused Sakura to look up at one of the trees at the edge of the clearing and immediately her hopes were crushed. "What do you want…?" The kunoichi asked trying to muster as much menace and confidence as she could while taking out a kunai and placing her body in front of the unconscious Uchiha.
The three members of the Sound Team looked down at the Leaf genin before sharing a chuckle between all three of them. "It does not concern you…" The bandaged shinobi informed.
"We're here after the Uchiha and if you try to get in our way we will not hesitate to kill you." The black haired boy said, unable to hide the glee in his words.
To her credit, Sakura did not backed down. She was prepared to defend Sasuke no matter what happened next.
Another laugh was shared between the Oto nin as they saw the pink haired girl tighten her grip on her kunai. The bandaged boy rolled up his sleeve reveal some sort of large device strapped to his forearm. However, Sakura was only able to look at it for a single second because, on the next one, all three of them charged towards her at incredible speed.
"I give up! I give up! You can have our scroll!" An Iwa shinobi screamed and flailed his one free arm before using it to take out an Earth Scroll from his pocket and throwing it to the side. As a respond to his words, Naruto released the arm he held behind the Stone ninja's back and unceremoniously let him fall face first into the ground.
"Quick! Let's go! This Leaf nins are crazy!" One of the genin's teammates shouted as he helped his friend back to his and, along with the third member of their team, quickly ran away.
From his position up on the tree branches, the spiky haired boy could see the severely beaten Iwa genin fleeing from him without looking back or caring about their scroll anymore. "Finally…" The blond whispered as he let out a sigh. "This is the third group I found… I was starting to think I was never going to get the damn Earth scroll." He thought to himself before dropping down and picking up his reward for all his efforts. In the back of his mind, the Sharingan users wondered if the Waterfall and Cloud teams he had beaten up had regain consciousness yet.
Placing the Earth Scroll in his pouch, the Jinchuuriki took a moment to ponder over his situation and reflect. For the first time in his life, Naruto actually felt strong. All his life he had always been running away, trying his best not to get carried over and drowned by the waves of hatred in the village. Then the incident with Itachi occurred, and after that the blond had spent almost all of his time training with the Third. His first actual battle since his change had pitted the Sharingan users against Orochimaru of all people, and even though he managed to hold his own, the boy would not kid himself and think that if the Sannin would not have crushed him in less than a second had he really wanted to.
Now though, fighting against other genin teams, Naruto felt vastly superior. He could now see the fruit of his training and all he had gain since his meeting with Itachi. It was a lot better than thinking about all he had lost on that night.
Suddenly, Naruto's basking was cut short when he sensed a very strange chakra signature coming from the direction of his teammates' clearing. The chakra was not as foul as the Kyuubi's, but is still felt extremely hostile and strong. Without another thought, the blond dashed back towards his teammates.
"Damn it…! Are they going to get in trouble every single freaking time I leave them alone for more than a few minutes?!" Naruto raged in his mind as he increased his speed.
Back in the clearing, the faces of Sakura, Lee, Ino, Shikamaru, and Chouji were a mixture of surprise and terror. Soon after the initial attack, Lee and the members of Team Eight had come to Sakura's aid, but, despite their best efforts, they were all eventually overpowered and beaten by the Sound ninjas. It was at that moment that Sasuke had suddenly woken up and things turn really terrifying.
After he regained consciousness, strange, dark flame-like marks appeared on the Uchiha's body as he started to emanate a menacing chakra. The raven haired boy's face was an eerie mixture of madness and malice as he launched himself at the three Oto nins. Within a couple of moments, Sasuke had utterly crushed all three of his opponents much to the shock of the other Leaf shinobi, which only increased with what happened next.
Sasuke took a hold of the black haired Sound nin's arms, both of which he had already broken just a few minutes prior, and now seemed intent in tearing the genin's arms off his body. Meanwhile, the Oto shinobi screamed and pleaded to be spared.
"Sasuke-kun! Stop!" Sakura could have sworn that her heart was beating louder than she screamed. Unfortunately, the pink haired girl's words, or anyone else's in the clearing, seemed to fail to reach the hell-bent Uchiha.
Suddenly, everyone present saw a dark blur swiftly pass by and, the next thing they knew, the raven haired boy was pinned down to the ground. "That's more than enough, Sasuke." Naruto firmly stated as he looked down at his teammate straight in the eyes.
Ino blinked in surprise and a quick look at her surroundings showed that all the other Leaf nins shared the same expression. No one had even sensed, let along heard, the blond approach.
"Get off me, loser…!" Sasuke growled as he tried to kick Naruto off of him. The spiky haired boy jumped away before the foot could make contact with him.
Instantly, Sasuke was back on his feet. Without saying anything, and to Sakura's horror, the Uchiha quickly took out a kunai and charged towards his blond teammate at full force.
On reflex, Naruto pull out a kunai of his own and blocked the raven haired boy's attack. The clash between the two Leaf genin sent a small shockwave throughout their surroundings.
"What the hell are you doing?" The blond asked, his voice getting colder with every word.
A wicked smile appeared in Sasuke's face. "I simply want to know…" He started in a gleeful voice. "The extent of my newfound power!" He exclaimed.
Both teenagers jumped backwards and, in almost synchronized precision, sent their blades flying at each other. The two kunai collided in midair and fell to the ground. "I don't want to fight you, Sasuke…" Naruto firmly stated, glaring at his teammate.
"Like you have a choice." The raven haired boy responded before charging forwards at the blond once again.
Gritting his teeth, the Jinchuuriki had no other choice but to block the incoming attack from his seemingly deranged teammate. With each punch that the Uzumaki stopped, his patience with Sasuke waned.
Some distance away from the clearing, Neji watched the two genin fight each other. At one point he had considered intervening himself, if nothing else to get Lee out of the dilemma he had foolishly gotten himself caught in, lest it became detrimental to their team advancing to the next round, but ultimately decided against it. Instead, the young man watched from his position on top of a tree branch and he could see that the blond one was holding back his strength; however the Uchiha seemed to be getting stronger and stronger with each passing second. Intrigued by the events unfolding before him, the Hyuuga activated his Byakugan to have a better view of the fight.
Meanwhile, back in the clearing, Naruto continue to block Sasuke's strikes. Slowly but surely, annoyance started to turn into anger. For his part, the raven haired kept on attacking. With every single punch, the Uchiha could feel himself getting stronger, with every kick he felt faster, and with every step he pushed his opponent back he felt more powerful.
The blond block a punch with one hand and a kick with the others, but before he could recover he saw one more of Sasuke's punches flying swiftly towards him. With no other option, the Uzumaki had to jump away and put some distance between himself and the Uchiha.
Feeling elated at seeing his opponent forced to back away, Sasuke started to make hand seals; finishing just as Naruto's feet touched the ground. "Housenka no Jutsu!" The young man called out before releasing a barrage of fireball out of his mouth flying straight towards Naruto.
The spiky haired genin was not expecting something like this. Even if his relationship with Sasuke had been antagonistic at best or even if the raven haired boy did not seem in the right state of mind at the moment, he had never expected that his teammate would use lethal force on him. Suddenly, images from his time trap inside the Tsukuyomi world flooded into Naruto's mind, completely freezing the Jinchuuriki in his place and preventing him from evading the incoming attack. Every singly fireball fell on its target.
The people witnessing the fight from the edge of the clearing let out a gasp of horror. They had just seen the blond genin get hit full force by Sasuke's, lethal, attack. The fireballs' impact had created a large cloud of dust and smoke that prevented the spectators from seeing what damage they had done to the spiky haired boy.
A low, uncharacteristic chuckle escaped Sasuke which soon evolved into an all out laugh. In the raven haired teen's tainted mind, Naruto had long since been replaced by the memory of Itachi on the night of the Uchiha Massacre. "I'm strong…! I'm stronger now…!" The lost genin proclaimed in his thoughts.
Away from the commotion, Neji also displayed a look of surprise but for very different reasons. With his Byakugan the black haired teen was able to see how, right before the fireballs hit, a strange, dark blue chakra had seemingly exploded from the blond and protected him from harm. Afterwards, the Hyuuga could literally see the power surging out from the spiky haired genin.
Once more, a gasped escaped the spectators as the dust started to settle and the image of an unharmed Naruto became clear. In the back of their mind, they all shared the same thought: that suddenly, the blond felt far more dangerous than the Uchiha. Immediately, Sasuke stopped laughing.
Naruto's eyes were completely clouded by fury as he glared at his teammate.
The raven haired boy smirked and started dashing towards the blond. The Uchiha directed his fist towards the Uzumaki's face, but Naruto easily caught the incoming punch in his hand and no matter how hard Sasuke tried to pull, he could not get his first freed from his opponents surprisingly strong grip.
The Jinchuuriki took the opportunity to deliver a powerful punch onto Sasuke's stomach. The Uchiha gasped for air as the attack was strong enough to lift his body off the ground and sent him flying towards a tree.
Sasuke recovered immediately and stood up. In one swift move the genin took out a couple of shuriken and sent them flying towards Naruto.
Easily evading the incoming projectiles, the blond started to make a series of hand seals and, immediately, Sasuke started mimicking him. "Goukakyuu no Jutusu!" Both boys called out in unison.
A pair of gigantic fireballs collided with each other in a massive explosion. Dust and smoke covered the entire clearing.
Even with his Sharingan active, Sasuke could not see anything behind the thick black curtain that had risen in front of him as he started to look around for any sign of an incoming attack. Suddenly, a hand emerged from the smoke and grabbed the raven haired genin's neck and violently pinned his body against a tree before he even had time to react. The Uchiha's back hit the trunk of the tree with such tremendous force that the impact immediately scattered most of the lingering dust.
Once things became visible again, Sakura and the others were greeted by the sight of Sasuke backed up against a tree as he struggled against the iron grip Naruto had on his neck.
The purple chakra returned to the Uchiha's body as if it were trying to push the blond genin away, or at least scare him off. Nonetheless, it failed at both as the spiky haired teen's hold did not waver.
Sasuke continue to struggle to free himself. Panic started seeping in as the raven haired boy could feel his newfound strength start to dissipate while his opponent's seem to be increasing. The Uchiha searched for what he thought were his brother's eyes, but instead of the coldness from that night, what he found was unrelenting fury in them. Nevertheless, Sasuke still felt as weak and helpless as he did back then.
Naruto could feel that his teammate was starting to lose consciousness as he saw that the flame-like pattern in his body and the dark chakra both started to retreat. In the back of his mind, the blond wanted to let go before he seriously injured Sasuke, unfortunately the rage that had overwhelmed him preventing him from loosening the grip of his hand, if anything it strengthened.
Sakura watched in horror as Sasuke finally lose consciousness and Naruto still did not let go. "Naruto, stop!" The pink haired girl screamed, but her pleas where either unheard or ignored by her teammate.
Inside his mind, the part of Naruto that wanted to stop was becoming desperate. He was about to kill one of his teammates, one of the people who, despite everything, he still considered a friend and there was some strange force that had taken over his body and was not planning to stop until the person in front of him was no more. In some level of his subconscious, just like the Uchiha had replaced him with Itachi, Naruto had replaced Sasuke with all the pain and suffering that the village had given him all his life.
Suddenly, Naruto felt a tug on his jacket and something pressed against his back. The next second, he felt drops of water fall on his back and ran down. It was then that the Jinchuuriki realized that Sakura had moved behind him. Her hands were desperately clenching the lower part his jacket while her forehead was pressed against the blonde's back, right bellow his neck. "Naruto… Please stop…" She whispered. "I can't bear to watch the two of you kill each other… So please stop…" The kunoichi said, chocking up with her tears.
The ranged started to dissipate off the Uzumaki and his grip on Sasuke's neck finally loosened. Realization of what he was about to do washed over him as he let the Uchiha's body fall onto the ground.
Sakura immediately let go of the blond and when to check on the raven haired boy.
Naruto took a few steps back. "I got the Earth Scroll…" He informed without even looking at his teammates. Then, without saying anything else or acknowledging any of the others present or their questions, the Jinchuuriki simply walked away from the clearing.
Housenka no Jutsu – Mythical Fire Phoenix Jutsu
Goukakyuu no Jutusu – Great Fireball Jutsu
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