I look at the ginormous gate that separates the Konoha from the forest.
"The forest of death!"Anko san introduces us to the playground.
"This will be your battleground for the next 7 days," she declared.
"Each squad will be given a scroll, which will be a heaven or earth scroll. Beat the other group, steal it, fake it, I don't care. As long you bring 2 of the scrolls, your team passes. Remember, killing is illegal, "she says with a finger up in the sky.
Then, she brings it down to her lips.
"As long as your sugar tits don't get caught by the big sis' ", she adds with a wink.
"All righty then...get those IDs and forms rollin', and everyone will have a personal body bag....." her voice and the bustling of the crowd are all there, along with the moving shadows of people.
And there he is.
Under the skin of a woman he just killed, there he stands, looking around, taking in the view.
Gaze of a predator. As if we are nothing but livestock.
Our eyes met.
He broke eye contact as if it were a fluke.
Then he checks again.
My eyes are glued to him, and he understands it.
The world around us becomes darker and dimmer as if there are only two of us.
A smile creeps across his face. Smacks the long tongue on his cheeks.
I smile in return.
"What gave it away?" his face says.
Ha...hahaha... this Mofo is hilarious.
I get turned on at the thought of wiping that smile off of his face when I will shove a hashirama tree log right up his ass.
I can't help but tremble in excitement.
My face is pulling.
I think I'm in love.
"Sasuke kun?"I hear Sakura calling my name.
She is touching my shoulder. Concern in her eyes.
"You are making that face again," she says.
"Oh! That's nothing, princess," I say with a smile.
She isn't convinced.
"What are you not telling ?" she asks.
I raise an eyebrow at her question. Then look at that snake again
He disappeared.
"Someone dangerous is here," I confess.
"Who?" she asks.
"I don't know," I lie. "Doesn't matter if we don't engage, just stay on your toes."
"Stop making weird faces and get movin'. The exam won't pass itself, "Naruro urges.
"Alright. Let's get to the hideout first, "I suggest.
"Hideout?"Sakura asks.
Oh, she has been with us for like ....6 months now?
But even so, we never took her there.
Naruto's face lights up like a bulb.
"Sakura-chan! You don't know, but we have a super secret hideout inside this forest", he says with his teeth out. We have been prowling in these woods for 4 years. Of course, we have hiddyholes here and there.
"Give or take, there are at least 20 teams active here right now. Engagement is inevitable, so be ready for anything and I almost forgot. I've got presents", I say as I rummage through my backpack.
I bring out two hand bands.
"These band seals each have 500 kunai with explosive tags in them. You just have to put chakra in them, and they will pop out" Sakura has a sceptical look as I give it to them.
"Oh yeah! I have enough already, but stashing extra doesn't hurt", he says with a grin.
"These are quite....hard to get", she says.
"What? The explosives tags? Yeah! I've had to stay awake all night to make these", I say.
"Well, that's a fair point. But the seals....?", she is still sceptical.
"Yeah, storage seals. What of it?", I ask.
"Did you make them?", she asks.
"Yeah? How else would I get them?", I say with a shrug.
"Like buy them like everyone else. Each of these utility seals costs more than an "A rank mission", she says with raised eyebrows.
I pause for a second. She is on the edge today.
An understandable attitude, considering today's agenda.
"Look, Sakura Chan. Since you asked, I am to assume that you wish to know how I came across such knowledge that is uncommon to common ninja's normal practice?", I ask with a butler attitude.
She gets taken aback.
"No, I didn't mean to be rude like that. I am happy to have presents. Just curious is all. You don't have to answer if you are uncomfortable?", she says while looking down.
"Hei, Sakura-chan. You know we are past that. You can ask us anything", Naruto tries to cheer her up.
"As Naruto says. At this point, you have the right to know what colour of undies we are wearing if it makes you feel secure", I say with a shrug.
Naruto, as usual, cringes at my words along the lines of "We didn't mean it like that".
Sakura is considerate by saying, " I know, it's okay".
"But ", I raise a finger and point at the forest.
"Right now, we are pressed for time. So, your answers will have to wait until we can get you a cosy couch in our hideout", I suggest.
"And one more thing. I have something special for Sakura-chan", I say as I again dive into my bag.
A very unassuming red wristband with nice embroidery.
"Wow, pretty. Did you make it?" she takes it and puts it on.
"Yeah, I outdid myself with that one".
She looks at my expectant gaze.
I beckon her to shake her hand.
"Put a bit of chakra in it too", I add.
She does so. A long blade comes out.
She shakes again, and it goes back to it.
Naruto has his jaw on the floor with stary eyes.
Sakura is blushing at the sight of her hand.
"It doesn't even make sound!", she murmurs.
"Hei, I want one too!", Naruto grabes my collar and shakes me.
"You ain't worthy", I say while looking down. Naruto clicks his mouth with disappointment.
I see Sakura holding it close to her chest...her blush persisting along with a smile.
Sakura looks at me.
"Arigato", she says. It's as if I forgot to breathe for a moment. She looked beautiful. A beautiful girl with a wrist blade is smiling at me. Something about that feels really hot.
"Hah...hahaha....! Don't mention it!", I say while hastily looking away. Blush is creeping in. I control it with chakra.
"I will cherish it", she adds.
"Yeah...yeah...let's go already!", I urge and start running.
"Hei, we still gotta fill up the body bag forms, though!" I hear Naruto calling.
######
They made us fill up forms, lined us up and set us off like some Olympic marathon.
Shadows fly towards the vast forest; birds fly away from the fear of getting stomped beneath the jumping genins.
What's the point of being ninjas if everything in existence knows of our presence?
We jump around a mile and end up in 2nd fourth of the diameter of the forest. The preliminary grounds are in the middle.
"Shouldn't we go along the rivers? We can get food there", Sakura asks.
"Oh..no. We have enough of everything", I reply.
"We do?", she asks in confusion.
"Yeah. I have scrolls for everything", I say with a shrug.
"You remember the wave mission right? The bastard had a whole hospital sealed in scrolls ", Naruto says.
"And I still do. If necessary!", I add.
Sakura has raised eyebrows. Then she remembered something. Something that happened months ago.
"I see Sasuke Kun is making good use of it", she says with a smile.
Oh fuck...shit...she remembers the night I stole the forbidden scroll from Naruto.
"Ha ha ha...I make good use of everything..." I say while being flustered. These trees have eyes and ears. She puts her finger across her lips.
I would appreciate it if she kept quiet about it.
Hmm...maybe not. Not after today. I won't have to keep it a secret.
That depends on quite a few things actually.
The brain doesn't have enough cells to process that right now.
All we need to focus on...
Me and Sakura stiffen.
They are onto us already? Fuck, doing that stunt with Kabuto wasn't the smartest move.
The one of the sound team is on our tail. I see Naruto has his careless face on. For god's sake, after so many chakra-sensing sessions, this guy just doesn't wanna learn.
Every day I am reminded he needs Jiraya. How many times...
[Naruto throws a kunai at me while we are tree jumping at 40 km per hour.]
I spin and dodge.
It hit a guy that jumped up to grab me by the neck. Were they sitting here to ambush? The exam just started!
The stabbed guy is rattled up, but not done. Still has his arms open on a bear hug to crush.
"Fuck it...!, I summon a kunai and put it right between his eyes. To my surprise, his skin seems to be as hard as a rock. So, I use a pinch of wind chakra at the tip of the kunai. Drove it in with both hands. His head suddenly popped like a watermelon. Oh! Now that's new. Didn't know wind chakra worked like that.
Blood and brain splatter and get into my mouth.
Use the big guy's body as a cushion to fall on the ground.
"Sound village headbands", Sakura recognises.
But I never saw this tank-type sound nin in the canon anime.
Was he a manga material? Did Kishimoto make extras?
"Sasuke kun, look out", Sakura blocks the incoming kunai barrage. We jump and roll away. But the rain continues. They are luring us into a genjutsu area.
"Naruto, Chablast", I order.
On it.
I feel my skin cringe as we enter the genjutsu Jone.
Over a hundred petite ninjas surround us.
"Haaa!", Naruto blasts his chakra disruption.
All the clones just disappear into the air.
The real guy is air-born, hoping to get one of us from above. It happened to be Naruto.
Alas, it was a clone.
The guy falls on empty ground, dispersing the smoke.
Naruto isn't here. Sakura is nowhere to be seen.
The guy looks at me confused.
"Don't look at me, I don't know where they are either!", I say with a chuckle.
"Where are they!", he screams.
"Didn't you hear what I said? I don't know!", I hate repeating myself.
The guy is sweating.
"You....you killed Kotaro....how did you...", he stutters.
I roll my eyes.
"Hei...you guys were the ones who wanted to kill us first!", I argue.
"But....the guy said....is ....is that Kotaro's ..." He points at my shirt.
I see an eyeball dangling from my collar. I guess putting kuna in between people's eyes is messier than I thought. Their eyeballs pop out.
I pull it out and dangle it a bit.
"Yeah...I think...that's your friend's eyeball", I say with a shrug.
"You sick bastard", he curses as he shakes his arms, and dual sickles pop out.
"Hei! Surrender, or you will end up like your friend here", I hear Naruto as he jumps out of the bushes.
Sakura dragging a girl by the hair.
The enemy flinched. Looks like he about to make a run for it. But once he noticed the over-yellow jacket surrounding the vicinity, he gave up.
"I wanted to at least see you use that Sharingan of yours ", he taunts me as he takes a last stand.
"Oooo! Now I get it. You guys are working for someone", I say while pointing my finger.
Of course, he is working for Kabuto. A disguised Konoha ninja. But for the sake of viability, I have to act like some Walmart Sherlock homes.
"Well, duh. They've been waiting for us. Wouldn't be here on the ground if someone didn't tipped them off about us!", Naruto says with a shrug.
All right.
"The question is who ...and also why", I add.
"That's 2 questions", Sakura points out. "You mean the guy you met before the written exam?", she asks.
"Kabuto?" I ask while being astonished at the attention to detail.
"Oh, you guys talked?", Sakura asks.
"Well, Sasuke theme is always talking with weird people", Naruto scoffs.
"No. I just happened to go through a page that contained a list of candidates for certain exams", I say while looking the other way.
"You mother fucker broke into TI again!" Naruto is now grabbing my collar.
Everyone knows the chunin exams are conducted by the Department of Torture and Interrogation.
"I just happened to pass by a hole during my night strolls the other day. I kinda slipped and fell into a hole that directly ended up under the TI department. I swear it, brother!" I say, defending myself.
"What the fuck, even Kakashi makes better excuses than you!" Naruto snaps.
"We had to run for a whole week the last time you pulled me into that mess ", Naruto shrugs as he lets me go.
"So, you guys pranked the TI?", Sakura asks. I smile cheekily.
The sickle guy whips his sickle at me in the middle of my words.
I catch it mid-air. Whip the rope 2 times to bind the enemy in its loops.
He wiggles in frustration.
"Couldn't you just run away? Why are you courting death?", I ask while running a loop around his neck and hog-tying him.
"Doesn't matter. The moment you beat us, we were dead", he says.
"Yeah, I guess your master is like that. Welp! Just hang in there. If everything goes well, you might get out of this alive", I reply.
"So, are you willingly giving me your head?", he asks with a chuckle.
"No", I refuse as I hang him under a branch. Take out the scroll he had on him. It's an earth scroll.
"Useless", I muttered. Let's just booby-trap it and put it away.
"Onwards to our place then?", I ask.
Naruto huffs. Sakura nods as she knocks out the girl. We start moving again.
"You had to kill that guy?", Naruto asks.
Something rattles in me as I hear Naruto's question. I remain silent. Naruto has also become usually silent. Then he nods as if he came to a decision.
"By the way, who'd you make his head go pop?", Naruto asks again. I stop and look around for a second. See if someone cast genjutsu in the area. But that's not why I stopped.
Why would Naruto, of all people, ask about popping heads?
"I used wind chakra at the tip. Somehow, the blunt energy just slipped in through the whole I made", I murmur.
"Hmm...I wonder If I can do that to other parts ", Naruto wonders." You said I have wind affinity ", he adds.
Something breaks down inside me. I look at Sakura. She is cupping her face in her hands as if about to cry.
We.....Naruto....we corrupted him.
"What? You guys are acting weird", Naruto notices.
The protagonist of the story. Whose soul burns like the blazing sun, the worm touch of which melts the heart of the enemy is fading away.
Because of me ....and Sakura....partially.
Now that I think about it, his eyes don't look as round as they used to be. They are becoming kinda like Minato, sharp.
I don't know what to say.
Sakura suddenly rubs her knuckles on Naruto's temple.
"Whoa! What's that for, Sakura Chan!" he rubs the side of his head.
"No!", she says.
"No, what?" Naruto asks in confusion.
"No!!!", she says again while shaking Naruto.
"Okay, okay! Whatever you say, Sakura Chan!" Naruto says with spinning eyes.
"You can't become like that!", Sakura speaks my mind.
"Maybe I do?", Naruto says as he goes through his rebellious phase.
Sakura sighs.
I sigh.
In my case, I'm so fucking scared of this world that all mercy has left through the window . Since I know some of what it holds for us and not ashamed to admit that.
In Sakura's case, it's just how she is brought up. My hunch is , She learned to kill, long before we could even walk. Or, why would a super anbu take her in?
But I don't want us the to be the reason Naruto kills. More like I am scared of the burden. I don't know about Sakura though. What she has in mind.
"Look ....I may be the stupid one in the team. But, this tree top in the middle of the forest full of ninjas that are ready to kill isn't comfy for discussing my life choices ", Naruto snaps at last.
I finished putting up a genjutsu in the area. Just west of here is a river. So, many will pass by. I hope we can get a heaven scroll by night.
"Yeah", I agree with him. This may seem like a light topic to fuck around, but in truth it's not.