Genin
By Flashfyre5
Chapter
Seven: Team Seven, Broken?
High in the central tower of the Konoha central offices, over thirty
ninja sat and talked amongst themselves, filling the room with a pervasive and
loud murmur. Seated in various
positions, these ninja were the pride of Konoha’s fighting force. Jounin all, the group numbered amongst
their members such figures as Hatake Kakashi, the copy ninja, and Maito Gai, the
self-titled ‘Green Beast of Konoha.’
One of their number, a fairly nondescript ninja who wore his black hair
somewhat long and spiky checked the clock and, with a sigh, stepped up to the
front of the room.
“People,” he called out, adjusting his glasses. When the crowd didn’t quiet at all, he
repeated somewhat more loudly, “People, please? We’re five minutes late already. Can we please get through this so that I
can get home to dinner?” Slowly,
the jounin stopped their conversations and paid attention to the man in
front. “All right,” he said once
the noise level had dropped enough.
“The jounin exams begin tomorrow morning. As you all know, this is your final
briefing before the first section of the test, so pay
attention.”
“Oh, before we start,” he said, motioning to a couple on ninja dressed
differently than the rest of the crowd.
“I want to thank the representatives from the Hidden Sand, Hidden Cloud,
and Hidden Mist for coming. As you
all know, they’re here to ensure objectivity when we decide who gets to join
us.” Two jounin, sitting quietly,
nodded back to the man in front.
One, a woman from Hidden Cloud, was dressed snugly in warm, winter
clothes, having just recently arrived.
Beside her, the representative from the Hidden Mist was unidentifiable
underneath his or her cloak and respirator. The representative from the Hidden Sand,
however, had engaged a Konoha jounin in conversation, and had not yet bothered
to stop.
“Sorano-san?” the man in front called, trying to get the ninja’s
attention. The Sand ninja seemed to
hear his name and turned to face the front. Unlike most of the shinobi in the room,
he was old. At least sixty, his
face was wrinkled and leathery from a lifetime in the Sand country. He wore his forehead protector low; so
low, in fact, that is obscured his brow from view, and made it look as if his
eyes were capped off by the dull brown of the cloth. His hair was an intense shade of red, or
had been when he was young. Now, it
was liberally speckled with gray strands.
He wore it long and swept back; his mane terminated at the base of his
skull. His nose was a great
hawk-like bill that dominated the rest of his face. Beneath it, his chin came to an almost
unnatural point, and was tipped by a goatee, which was almost completely red,
despite his age.
His clothing was simple; he wore a white sleeveless t-shirt, which
exposed the tattoos he bore on each of his upper arms. Beyond that, he wore only a pair of
baggy breeches, secured at the ankle by strips of old cloth. His feet were propped up on a nearby
chair. He had kicked his shoes off
upon seating himself.
“Just call me Taka, kiddo,” he said with a grin, raising a hand to wave
at the miffed jounin. Armoring the
hand was an odd gauntlet; It was painted white, and offered functionally no
protection to the hand, aside from a thick plate on the back of the hand. Hinged, it attached to a bulky,
hexagonal armguard that stretched almost all the way to the Sand jounin’s
elbow. The whole contraption was
painted white, and the hourglass symbol of the Sand was etched in the side of
the gauntlet. Taka wore another
just like it on his other arm.
“Well, thank you for your attention. I hope that I’m not infringing on your
conversation time,” the jounin at the front of the room said sarcastically,
flipping off the room’s lights.
Taka just laughed, his aged cackle bringing several other jounin to
mirth. In the back of the room, a
slide projector came on, and the symbol of Konoha was displayed proudly on a
screen that had been previously pulled down. Someone in the back focused the
projector for a minute, and then the man in front stepped forward
again.
“All right,” he said, looking down at his notes. “We’ve gone over the particulars of each
of the tests. Now, since it’s just
about time to leave,” he said, glancing up at the clock, “We’re gonna look at
the statistics of the candidates.”
In the back, someone pushed the forward button, and the pictures of six
people were displayed in two lines.
“We’ve got two teams taking the exam this time. We’ll call them Team Haruno and Team
Hyuuga.”
“Why?” someone asked.
“Because we’re lazy, and those were the two last names on each team that
come first, alphabetically,” the man at the front replied, and everybody shared
a laugh. The slide projector
advanced again, and Sakura’s picture was displayed, alongside an octagonal
graph. It was marked with a
question mark. Below her picture
were several sections, which detailed her known
techniques.
“First off is Haruno Sakura.
She’s been a chuunin for two years, and does pretty well on her
missions. She’s a smart one,” the
man in the front read off. “The
graph here is blank because we have some very badly conflicting data about
her. On one hand, she seems to
demonstrate a pretty remarkable level of skill in taijutsu. On the other, we’ve seen her performing
very poorly at taijutsu, instead relying on powerful genjutsu and some ninjutsu
to accomplish her missions. We’re
not sure what’s going on, but be careful.
As long as you don’t get surprised, you shouldn’t have too much trouble
with her,” he finished, looking up.
“Slide,” he said, and the machine advanced.
“This is Uchiha Sasuke,” he announced as the named boy’s picture
appeared. The graph next to his
name displayed highly in terms of speed and moderately in terms of ninjutsu, but
poorly in almost all other areas.
“He’s not very good, I know, but I have orders from the top in regards to
him. We’re going to pass him,
period. Apparently,” he continued,
looking down at his notes, “This boy has come into possession of a very powerful
technique. Forbidden jutsu of the
highest level.” There was some
derisive murmuring in the room, but it was quieted by the man’s next
statement. “We’re not talking
Scroll of Seals forbidden here, people, we’re talking ‘should have been
destroyed generations ago’ forbidden.
We can not let him use it.
If you see the kid pull out a cream-colored scroll, pass him on the
spot.”
“How bad can it be?” someone interjected, which was followed by sounds of
general agreement from most of the assembled jounin.
“If he uses it, the Hokage herself is going to put him down. That bad,” he replied flatly, silencing
the disruption. The man noticed
someone near the line of the projector’s light, and sighed in exasperation. “Kakashi, put down the damn book,” he
demanded, and Kakashi barely spared the man an upwards
glance.
“This first team are all former students of mine,” Kakashi replied
lazily, turning a page. “I know
them better than anyone in this room, especially Sasuke.” The man at the front sighed, but didn’t
fight Kakashi on the issue. He
nodded to the man in the back, and the slide advanced.
“All right. Everybody in
here knows Uzumaki Naruto,” the man stated without preamble. Naruto’s graph displayed very highly;
his taijutsu statistics were fairly high up the graph, and his ninjutsu
statistics were all at the highest displaying level. His genjutsu was considerably lower,
however. “This kid is an absolute
monster in a fight, and I’m not talking about Kyuubi, either. First of all, he’s got more stamina than
anyone in this room, bar none. His
chakra reserves are through the roof too.
Do not get into a war of attrition with this kid. You’ll lose if you do. In terms of techniques, watch out. He doesn’t have too many high level
jutsus, but he’s very good at those he does have. Watch for the Kage Bunshin and the
Kuchiyose. With as much chakra as
he has, he can summon anything from any of the three tribes he’s allied
with. Slide.”
“Hyuuga Neji, Hyuuga clan prodigy,” the man introduced. Neji’s graph showed great talent in
taijutsu and ninjutsu. “He’s
mastered the Hyuuga clan taijutsu style, so watch out for seemingly harmless
blows. Since then, he’s been
studying some of the more specialized Hyuuga clan techniques. We don’t know exactly what he’s got, so
be ready for anything. He’ll be a
tough fight for anyone he gets matched up against. Any questions so far?” he asked, looking
up. Nobody said anything, and the
slide was advanced.
“Rock Lee,” the man said with a sigh and a shake of the head. Lee’s graph was the most unusual of all
of the graphs; his showed only skill in taijutsu, but it was at its’ highest
possible level. “This kid… is
nuts. He’s got no ninjutsu or
genjutsu at all.”
“Then why’s he taking the test?” Taka asked, his gauntlet obscuring the
projection for a minute as he raised his hand.
“Because he’s the best taijutsu practitioner we’ve ever had,” the man
replied, and a ripple of uneasy murmuring ran through the room. Regardless, he continued, “When
Tsunade-sama performed an operation to fix the kid up a few years ago, she
triggered something accidentally.
Ever since, any training he does seems to pay off double for him. He’s already broken every record the
village has for speed trials, and he’s getting damn close to breaking strength
records too. Tsunade-sama’s worried
that she might have reduced his lifespan a bit by turning up the intensity with
which his muscles grow, but we haven’t seen any adverse side effects yet, so
we’ve got no real reason to do anything.
Anyway, he fights with dai-kunai on chains, and he can perform the
Renge. Don’t get into close combat
with Lee. Just for standards of
comparison, he beat Gai in a straight fight about four years ago. Since then, he’s only gotten
better.
Slide.”
“Iruka?” Asuma’s voice exclaimed in surprise before the man could say
anything. Several others also
voiced their surprise.
“Yes, Umino Iruka. Unlike
the rest of the random crazies we have taking the test, Iruka-san is pretty much
your average chuunin,” the man continued brusquely, annoyed at being interrupted
before he could even start. Iruka’s
graph showed that he had fairly average skill in all of the varied areas of
ranking. “He’s not really
remarkable in any way, but he does have much more experience than the rest of
the candidates. He’ll be a factor
in the Assassination and Espionage sections. Just keep an eye out, and don’t let
yourself be surprised.” The lights
came up, and the projection was dimmed to near-invisibility. “Any questions? No? Good. Go rest up, guys. I’ll see you all bright and early
tomorrow morning.” That said, the
various jounin rose and made their way out of the room, either alone or in
groups. A few left in pairs, and it
was fairly obvious that some of those intended to take advantage of their
off-duty night. Once everyone else
had left, the foreign shinobi also took their leave, and were escorted to their
quarters by a few waiting chuunin.
The man who had done the presentation gathered his notes and put them in
order, waiting for someone. After a
few minutes, Tsunade entered the room.
“You have her information?” she asked simply, walking over to join him at
the front of the room.
“Tsunade-sama! Yes, I do,”
he replied, dimming the lights again and moving to advance the slide
projector. “I’m sorry it took so
long, but she seems to be going by an alias now. Here we go,” he said, advancing the
picture. “Toru Masako, also known
as Toru Michino, age twenty-six.
Graduated from the academy at age eleven, passed the chuunin exams at
thirteen, made jounin at sixteen.
She went into the Anbu, where she excelled in high-risk single-person
assassinations. There, she met
Uchiha Itachi, and the two fell in love.
Or lust. At seventeen, who
knows?”
“Anyway, when Itachi murdered his family, she decided to leave with
him. She’s listed under her old
name as a Class A criminal, not to be engaged in a one-on-one fight unless
absolutely necessary. Nobody’s seen
or heard from her since she left Konoha,” he finished.
“That’s it?” Tsunade asked in surprise, turning to look at the
bespectacled man.
“Well,” he said nervously, diving for his records. “It says here that she was good at
taijutsu and genjutsu, but these reports are nine years old. I didn’t present them to you because
they’re inaccurate. Umm…” he
trailed off, searching through his papers for more information. “The only other information we have
about her is that her father was a Class A criminal as well. He left the village shortly after she
was born and was never seen or heard from again.”
“Odd,” Tsunade mused to herself, mulling over that last bit of
information. Then, she nodded to
the man and left the room, her mind whirling. /What connection is there? This doesn’t make sense,/ she wondered
as she walked down the hallways and away from the room. /Something about this woman doesn’t add
up./
* * * * * *
/It’s a beautiful morning,/ Sakura thought to herself, a smile on her
face. /A beautiful morning to show
everybody just what kind of person I’ve grown up to become./ It was almost seven o’clock in the
morning, yet Sakura was already up and dressed, her hair held tightly in place
by her forehead protector. Now, she
was cinching her sword across the small of her back. It blended in well with her shirt-vest
today; she was wearing the black one that Inner Sakura had purchased a week
ago. It was an odd setup; the
sheath was attached by loose metal bands to a long strip of cushioned metal,
which was in turn held in place by the ties she was now tightening. It was almost like there was a sheath
for the sheath.
/Let’s kick some ass,/ Inner Sakura grinned, sending her waves of
encouragement.
“For once,” Sakura said aloud as she opened her window. “I agree with you completely.” Silently, Sakura stepped through the
window, then shut it behind her.
That done, she leapt up to her roof, then off to a nearby house. Knowing that she had only half an hour
until the jounin exams started, she made her way quickly towards the red bridge
where team seven had once met every morning. Now, it was the site of the first
section of the jounin exams. /They
still haven’t told me what they’re testing,/ she mused as she pulled a granola
bar from her supplies pouch. She
ate the largely tasteless bar without complaint, knowing that the carbohydrates
in it would help fuel her through whatever test she had to
perform.
“Hey! Sakura!” Naruto’s
voice called out to her. Sakura
barely had time to look around before the blonde eased in beside her as she made
her building leaps. “’Morning!” he
greeted her, a great grin on his face.
He was outfitted for combat as well, his kunai pouch strapped to his
thigh, and a shuriken pouch hanging from his belt. He was wearing his jacket open this
morning, and Tsunade’s pendant bounced against his black undershirt as he jumped
from building to building.
“Good morning, Naruto. Have
you eaten yet?” Sakura asked between jumps. She had a second bar if he needed it,
but she had intended to save it for later, just in case.
“Only two cups of ramen!” he returned cheerfully, prompting laughter from
Sakura.
“Good,” she said as she vaulted over another building. After that, she was forced to return to
the ground, since she had arrived at the area where the town turned into a
forest, and the paved road turned into a dirt one. She could see, ahead of her, a large
gathering of people. In the midst
of them all, Tsunade stood, wearing her ceremonial vestments as
Hokage.
“Looks like everybody’s already there,” Naruto noted, and Sakura nodded
in reply. The two quickly made
their way to join the group, even though they were still quite
early.
“Naruto-kun, Sakura-san, good morning!” Lee declared, stepping out of the
crowd. He was wearing his training
weights today: heavy, segmented boots made out of the incredibly dense metal
that his original weights had been made of. On each of his arms was an oversized
reel, differing from a fishing reel only in size. Wrapped around each of these reels was a
great length of chain. In his
hands, Lee carried a pair of massive, three-and-a-half foot long kunai, attached
to the chains on his wrist-reels by quick-release
carabineers.
“Why didn’t you tell me that you were taking the jounin exams?” Naruto
asked, smacking Lee on the back in a familiar manner.
“I wanted to surprise you both!” Lee smiled, his far-too-white teeth
reflecting the morning light in an almost painful
intensity.
“Who are you taking the test with, Lee-san?” Sakura asked, stepping
forward a bit. Tsunade seemed to
have noticed their arrival, and was calling people to order. Much to her surprise, Sakura saw Kakashi
among the early arrivals.
“Neji-kun and Iruka-sensei!
We can’t lose!” Lee declared confidently. Naruto looked back at Sakura in
surprise. Her face reflected his
own emotions.
“Well, since everybody seems to be here already, let’s get started,”
Tsunade called from the front. Lee
nodded to the two and ran forward to join his teammates in a line in front of
Tsunade. Behind her was a table,
burdened only by a long row of scrolls.
Behind the table, almost all of the village’s jounin were assembled in a
long line. Naruto noted a couple
that he knew were from other villages, but he didn’t have the time to ask about
them. He waited for Sakura to catch
up to him.
“Iruka-sensei, Lee and Neji?” Naruto asked out of the corner of his mouth
as he made his way forward to join Sasuke, where he was waiting
impatiently.
“I know. It’s like some sort
of sick dream team,” Sakura agreed.
The two, however, had no more time for conversation, since they had
arrived in position next to Sasuke.
“Welcome to the jounin exams.
I am pleased to congratulate everybody on passing their first test,”
Tsunade announced proudly. Before a
member of either team could ask, she continued, “The first test was to assemble
a team for a series of missions of unknown duration and objective. Both teams have a particular emphasis in
one area, but they are well-rounded, and should be capable of accomplishing any
mission.”
“Now we will begin the second test,” Tsunade announced, stepping aside to
more completely reveal the long table full of scrolls behind her. “For this test, each of you will act as
though you were an Anbu member.
Each of these scrolls contain the name and key information of one of the
jounin you see behind me. Each of
you will select a scroll, and announce that person’s name. They will then be given a fifteen-minute
head start, after which you will have to track them down and subdue them. You have until nightfall to accomplish
this. You may work individually or
in pairs for this test.” Sakura
glanced over at Naruto, who met her gaze.
With a smile, they each nodded.
“Now, there is only one rule here: you may not kill the jounin that you
are pursuing. If you do, you will
be disqualified immediately. Your
target will inform you when you have defeated them. They will do their best not to kill you,
but it is ultimately up to each of you to surrender when you’re outmatched, if
it comes to that,” Tsunade explained.
“Also, it is not up to me to decide weather or not each of you are
promoted. Only by a majority vote
among the village’s jounin is someone allowed to join their ranks. So work hard, good luck, and choose a
scroll,” she finished with a grin, sweeping her arm towards the line of unmarked
scrolls. Neji and Iruka immediately
stepped forward together.
“We’ll need Iruka’s experience later, if there are less… obvious missions
later,” Neji said by way of explanation as the two advanced to the table. Sakura and Naruto stepped forward too,
but did not offer an explanation.
“In that case,” Tsunade replied to the brown-haired boy. “One of you chooses a scroll. When you’ve beaten the first target,
return here for the second scroll.
You’ve still got to finish by nightfall. Also, wait until everyone has picked a
scroll.” Neji nodded, and Iruka
picked a scroll.
“Are you sure?” Sakura asked, worried that she would slow Naruto
down.
“Don’t worry about it,” Naruto grinned, grabbing a scroll. Behind them, Lee and Sasuke were glaring
at each other.
“Feh. I don’t need him,”
Sasuke snorted dismissively, stepping forward. He snatched a scroll from the table and
broke the seal, but didn’t open it.
“I’ll show you!” Lee declared, flashing a raised thumb behind the hilt of
his massive kunai. He shoved it
into the ground and retrieved a scroll for himself. “The Green Beast of Konoha will prove
that he’s the best!”
“Way to go, Lee-kun!” Gai shouted from his place in line. He flashed a thumbs-up to Lee, which Lee
returned cheerfully.
“All right, everybody,” Tsunade said, nodding towards a man with a
stopwatch. He pressed a
button. “Open your scrolls!” she
announced.
“Maito Gai!” Lee shouted ecstatically.
“Behold the power of the flame of youth!” Gai returned with equal volume
before leaping off into the treetops.
“Mitarashi Anko,” Iruka announced.
The trench coat-wearing woman nodded and vanished into the trees without
a word, which was more than unusual for her.
“Hatake Kakashi,” Sasuke announced dispassionately. Kakashi sighed from his place in line
and took off down the trail, racing towards the monument. There was a bit of uncomfortable
shuffling as he left. Some of the
jounin looked at each other nervously.
They all remembered his attitude from the briefing last
night.
“Sorano Taka?” Naruto said, confused. A red-haired man stepped forward from
the line and grinned at Naruto.
Both Naruto and Sakura could see the Sand symbol on his
hitai-ate.
“I’ll see ya soon, kiddo.
Let’s see if you measure up to Gaara,” he said with a grin, then leapt
straight up. The wake of his
departure made enough wind to roll several scrolls off of the table, and ruffled
even Sakura’s rather tight clothing.
Naruto opened the scroll further and groaned when he saw his target’s
skill graph.
“Damn it, he’s a speed specialist,” he told his partner, and she groaned
as well. Iruka was examining his
scroll carefully as well. Naruto
thought about walking over to talk to his old teacher, but decided against it
for now. /I’ll talk to him after
the test is over,/ Naruto decided, turning back to the scroll. Sakura peered over his shoulder at it,
reading off their target’s known techniques in a soft
voice.
“Kukan no Jutsu, Hayasa no Oto no Jutsu, Hiko no Jutsu… What are these?”
Sakura wondered aloud, reading only the first three of Taka’s listed
jutsus. “I’ve never heard of any of
them,” she said, shaking her head.
“I don’t like the sound of the Hayasa no Oto no Jutsu,” Naruto agreed,
rolling the scroll back up. To his
left, he saw Sasuke discarding his scroll without looking at anything more than
the name. /Dumbass,/ Naruto thought
to himself, shaking his head.
“I know. ‘Speed of Sound,’
with a speed specialist? That’s
scary,” Sakura said worriedly as Naruto turned to face
her.
“Well, he’s old, and this is our home turf. We’ll kick his ass!” Naruto declared
confidently, pumping his fist into the air. Sakura laughed at this, the tension of
the moment dispelled.
“One minute!” the man with the stopwatch announced.
“Already?” Sakura exclaimed, surprised. Naruto grinned at her, and walked up to
the place in line where Taka had been standing. The remaining jounin stepped back as
Naruto considered the location.
After a moment, Sakura joined him.
“What are you doing?” she asked curiously.
“I didn’t see that Taka guy use any jutsus before he left. That means that he has to be running,
even though he jumped straight up,” Naruto reasoned, pulling up his right
sleeve. “Which means that I can
track him.”
Before Sakura could ask him what he meant, the man with the stopwatch
shouted, “Go!” Sasuke immediately
dashed down the main path, following Kakashi’s trail directly. Lee too, took off directly after his old
teacher. Even Iruka and Neji
hurried into the forest, an action that Sakura had intended to take
herself.
Naruto,
on the other hand, immediately fished a scroll out of his supplies pouch with
one hand and bit the thumb on his other hand hard enough for a bit of blood to
squirt up. Naruto rolled the scroll
open, and smeared a long line of blood across the lines of text. Sakura’s eyes widened in understanding
when she saw him whipping the bloodied scroll around in complex patters before
rolling it back up. He performed a
few quick hand seals before raising it up in one hand, then slamming it down
into the ground hard enough to crack the hard-packed
earth.
“Doton:
Tsuiga no Jutsu!” Naruto shouted, and lines of characters erupted from the
scroll, inscribing a circle around him.
With an explosion of ninja smoke, a pack of six wolves appeared before
them. They seemed completely
normal, except for the way they calmly regarded Naruto and Sakura. That and, of course, the miniature blue
kimonos that they wore, cinched around their waists by black strips of
cloth. On each wolf’s back was a
circle of white cloth, upon which a black spiral was drawn. The pack leader, a bit larger than the
other wolves, had his spiral drawn in red.
Naruto patted the ground where Taka had stood.
“Five of
you, find and distract this guy.
You,” Naruto commanded, pointing at the pack leader. “Lead us to him. Got it?” The wolves did not answer directly,
instead crowding around the patch of earth that Naruto had indicated. After a moment, they howled together,
and five of them jumped up and seemed to dive into the
ground.
“What
the…?” Sakura uttered, confused.
The last wolf turned and sped into the forest, moving very quickly. Naruto and Sakura tore off after it,
each of them struggling to keep up with the wolf’s rather remarkable pace. “I thought that you had to have dogs to
use that jutsu,” Sakura shouted to Naruto over the noise created by the swishing
branches they passed.
“A dog’s
just a wolf by another name,” Naruto called back, and the two concentrated on
keeping up with the wolf as best they could. Soon enough, they could hear the sounds
of a scuffle. In a small clearing
just ahead of them, Taka was doing his best to fight off a trio of wolves while
one was already clamped onto his left hand and leg.
“Damnit!”
he exclaimed in exasperation, his burdened taijutsu no match for the quickly
dodging wolves. “Stupid mutts,” he
muttered, spreading his arms wide.
“Was always a cat person myself.”
“Kamaitachi!”
Taka shouted, slamming his hands together.
Naruto heard a sickening crunch as the skull of the wolf on Taka’s left
hand collapsed, but then it exploded into ninja smoke. The Kamaitachi blasted outwards,
lacerating the wolves, which were unable to escape the huge area of effect of
the jutsu. They too, having
suffered lacerations all over their bodies, exploded into ninja smoke. Taka kicked the wolf on his left leg
hard enough to force it to dispel.
With a quiet growl, the pack leader vanished too, dispelling the
jutsu.
“He did
it without a fan,” Sakura noted in a whispered tone, impressed. Naruto nodded solemnly, studying his
opponent as Taka looked around the clearing. Sakura glanced over at Naruto; this was
unusual for him. She couldn’t
remember the last time he was this quiet and focused.
Suddenly,
a lancing pain drove through her skull from two points in the front: her
pupils. Sakura gripped her head,
biting her lower lip in a desperate effort to keep herself from crying out in
pain. Naruto looked over at her in
concern, wondering what was happening to her. The pain intensified, consuming the
front of her head in its’ entirety, but still focused mostly on her
eyes.
“Sakura,
what’s wrong?” Naruto asked in a hurried whisper, his hand lightly resting on
her bent back. He could feel her
whole body shiver with pain.
“I…
don’t… know…” Sakura replied, doing her best to keep her voice in a
whisper. Then the pain intensified,
and she arched her back. Sakura’s
mouth opened, and out of it issued an ear-wrenching scream of
pain.
* * * * * *
Sasuke skidded out of the forest, stopping in the clearing in front of
the monument of fallen ninja.
Kakashi was calmly squatting next to it, running his hand over a
name.
“You didn’t go very far, Kakashi-sensei,” Sasuke said, walking up behind
his old teacher.
“I’m not supposed to,” Kakashi replied, holding his hand over the name of
his best friend, his head bowed.
“I’m just supposed to pass you after pretending to fight
you.”
“What?” Sasuke exclaimed his eyes widening.
“You’ve got something you’re not supposed to, it seems,” Kakashi
explained, standing up. He then
turned to face Sasuke, a very serious expression on his face. “A scroll with a dangerous
jutsu.”
“How did you find out?” Sasuke asked, his hand slipping protectively into
the pocket of his jacket, where that very scroll was resting. Kakashi noted
this.
“You can’t get much by Tsunade-sama,” Kakashi smiled wanly, the motion
barely noticeable through his facemask.
Then his face hardened again, and he addressed Sasuke seriously
again. “Don’t use that thing,
whatever it is. Earn your promotion
the hard way,” Kakashi told his old student. “You’ve got what it takes.” Slowly, Sasuke withdrew his hand from
his jacket, and Kakashi smiled.
“Fight me for real, Kakashi-sensei,” Sasuke quietly said, his head
bowed. It was almost a command, in
the tone he used. Then he snapped
his head up, his Sharingan eyes whirling.
“Show me what you’ve really got!”
“I wouldn’t dishonor either of us by doing anything less,” Kakashi
smiled, pulling up his headband to reveal his own Sharingan eye. Then, both of the combatants leapt away
to the side, moving in opposite directions. Sasuke rebounded low off of a tree and
shot upwards toward Kakashi, while Kakashi rebounded off of another and shot
straight towards Sasuke. Each f
them reared back and punched the other hard. Sasuke’s blow landed from above on
Kakashi’s shoulder, sending the older ninja tumbling down, but Kakashi his
Sasuke hard in the stomach, which sent the raven-haired boy tumbling into the
upper trees. Evan as he tumbled,
however, Sasuke was forming hand seals, then brought his right hand to his
mouth.
“Katon! Goukakyu no Jutsu!” Sasuke shouted, exhaling into his
fingers. A great gout of flame
burst downwards and engulfed the vast majority of the large clearing. Kakashi seemed to be within the radius
of the blast, but Sasuke’s Sharingan eyes saw Kakashi’s hands moving. When the fire cleared and there were
only the smoldering remains of a log, Sasuke was not surprised in the
least. Not even the grass was
singed. He landed lightly on a tree
and jumped off, landing himself firmly on the ground underneath
it.
“Very nice, Sasuke-kun.
You’re almost as fast as I am!”
Kakashi complimented him, his voice seeming to call out from everywhere
and nowhere at once. Sasuke
recognized what Kakashi was doing, and calmed himself, while forming a quick
hand seal.
Summoning
both his chakra and the strength of his Sharingan eyes, he shouted, “Kai!” The world seemed to waver a bit, then
dispelled. In its’ place, Kakashi
stood, performing hand seals quickly.
The grass all around him was burnt badly, and even some of the trees at
the edges of the clearing were smoldering.
Sasuke dashed forward as fast as he could, forming quick hand seals along
the way.
“You
forgot the grass, sensei!” he called, finishing his seals. “Raimei Genkotsu!” Sasuke announced, his
hands crackling with electricity.
He punched Kakashi hard in the shoulder. His teacher absorbed the blow well, the
flow of his hand seals uninterrupted.
Then his body convulsed a bit as the Raimei Genkotsu discharged, and his
hands missed the seal that they were about to make, ruining the
jutsu.
“See
what I mean?” Kakashi grinned, leaping away from Sasuke. Sasuke landed on the still-hot grass and
leapt towards his mentor. /I’ve
used up too much chakra,/ Sasuke thought worriedly as he flew towards his
gray-haired mentor. /I can’t keep
this up for much longer. I’ve gotta
bring him down quickly!/
“You’re
smart, and you can figure out a way to counter almost any move with the
techniques that you have,” Kakashi complimented him, leaping upwards. Sasuke landed where Kakashi had landed a
moment ago and leapt up as well, chasing the gray-haired man as he talked. “You’ve got the best kind of power
already, Sasuke. Between your
friends and your skills, you can beat anyone,” Kakashi finished, turning to face
Sasuke and smiling, even while meeting the top of his jump’s arc and beginning
to descend. Sasuke’s eyes widened
in surprise.
He
thought of Naruto, grinning over him, a hand on either of his Honshitsu Bunshin
clones. He thought of Sakura, on
her knees and weeping after their last meeting. He’d walked away so casually, so
coldly. He thought of all the times
he’d pushed them away, rejected their pleas for friendship. Kakashi landed and waited for Sasuke to
land as well, the Sharingan draining from his eyes and the Raimei Genkotsu
fading from his fingers. The
raven-haired boy landed heavily next to his mentor, and Kakashi put a comforting
hand on Sasuke’s shoulder.
“You’ve
already passed the important tests, Sasuke. I’ll pass you on this one too. You earned it,” Kakashi smiled at
Sasuke, his facemask wrinkling around his mouth.
“You’re
wrong, sensei,” Sasuke said quietly, his head bowed.
“What?” Kakashi asked, his smile vanishing. Sasuke suddenly reared back and punched
his teacher hard in the face, sending the gray-haired shinobi stumbling
backwards, then eventually falling to the ground. Kakashi worked quickly to get up, but
Sasuke was already moving. With the
hand that he hadn’t punched with, he’d pulled out a small, cream-colored scroll,
and flipped it into the air. While
it hung suspended, he performed hand seals, and the world seemed to slow
down.
“You’re wrong, sensei. I
wasted my friends and my strength,” Sasuke explained calmly as the scroll
reached its’ apex. His eyes were
narrow, and resigned. “You haven’t
seen me in too long. I’m not who I
used to be.”
“Sasuke, don’t!” Kakashi shouted as he gathered himself to dive towards
his student.
“This is the only way I’ll ever be strong, now,” Sasuke said, catching
the scroll cleanly between his thumbs.
Then, he continued to make hand seals, balancing the scroll over each
one. /If I can’t beat Kakashi for
real,/ he thought as he finished the last hand seal, /I’ll never be able to beat
Naruto. If I can’t beat Naruto…
Then Itachi will kill me for sure./
His eyes closed for a moment, then they flared
open.
(A/N: If
you have “Need to be Strong” from the Naruto soundtrack, play it
now.)
“Shijuukaigan Sharingan!” Sasuke shouted, and the world seemed to explode
around him with color. He saw
nothing but chakra, in the grass around him, in the rocks in the path that he’d
used to come here, and in Kakashi’s body as his former teacher jumped towards
him. Then, something seemed to
force itself into his mind, and everything changed. In the scroll, and beyond anyone’s
notice, the name ‘Haruno Sakura’ melted, reforming itself into ‘Uchiha
Sakura.’
/He’s out to get me,/ Sasuke thought, panicked, as Kakashi flew towards
him. /He wants to kill me, I’m sure
if it!/ He dodged to the side as
quickly as he could, and amazed even himself at the speed of his dodge. It seemed like Kakashi was moving in
slow motion. The gray-haired jounin
fell to the ground, skidding to a stop.
His hands came together in front of his body, and Sasuke’s eyes widened
again. /He’s going to use a
jutsu. It’s probably the
Chidori! He’s trying to kill me
with the Chidori!/ Sasuke thought, his mind beyond all semblance of
reason.
As fast as he could, he ran over to Kakashi’s position and made a little jump, coming down hard in
a crouch with his heels on Kakashi’s fingers. Sasuke heard the crunch of breaking
bones, and he couldn’t help but smile at his accomplishment. /He can’t kill me with broken fingers,/
Sasuke thought smugly, but his smile soon faded. /But his fingers will heal. Then he’ll kill me when I’m not looking,
when I’m not ready!/
“I won’t let you kill me!” he shouted into Kakashi’s face.
Kakashi
did his best to keep from crying out pain from his broken fingers, but when he
heard Sasuke’s declaration, he couldn’t help but exclaim, “What are you talking
about?”
“Don’t
try to confuse me!” Sasuke shouted again, hopping off of Kakashi’s fingers. He kicked the gray-haired jounin hard,
in the chin. Kakashi’s head snapped
back hard, his jaw clacking shut hard.
Sasuke kicked again, this time catching Kakashi in his freshly exposed
chest. As he reeled back, Kakashi
couldn’t help but notice Sasuke’s eyes.
They glowed a malevolent red, and were surrounded by four Sharingan
pupils, whirling around the center, true pupil of Sasuke’s eyes.
Sasuke’s
blow knocked Kakashi upwards a bit more, and Sasuke rushed in, delivering a
witheringly powerful kick to Kakashi’s chin, which sent the jounin flying into
the air. Sasuke crouched for a
moment, then followed Kakashi into the air, taking up a position behind the
battered man.
“I won’t
let you kill me, ever!” Sasuke declared, his wild eyes wide. “I’ll kill you to keep you from killing
me!” With that, he kicked Kakashi
on his left side. Kakashi,
recognizing the jutsu, and the presence of mind to bring his arm up to guard,
and readied his other arm to defend himself from Sasuke’s next kick. Instead of rolling to the other side to
kick, however, Sasuke hooked his foot around Kakashi’s arm, then pulled
hard. The gray-haired jounin was
sent spinning by Sasuke’s unexpected maneuver, and as he spun, he noticed that
Sasuke had pulled a pair of kunai out of his holster. As Kakashi spun, Sasuke sliced his arms,
legs, and torso along key points, cutting his most important
muscles.
Then,
with a grin, Sasuke flipped backwards, landing with both feet on Kakashi’s chest
from above. The jounin plummeted to
the ground and landed hard. Then,
the two kunai that Sasuke had been using thudded into each of his shoulders, the
force of Sasuke’s throw sending them through his chest and into the ground
beneath him. As Kakashi watched,
dazed, Sasuke clutched his right hand, chakra flowing into
it.
“Chidori!”
Sasuke shouted as he plummeted towards his teacher. He reared his hand back as he fell,
crying, “Tatsu rendan!”
“But I
didn’t…” Kakashi managed to say before Sasuke buried his hand in his former
teacher’s throat. His hand went
through cleanly, and buried itself into the ground beneath Kakashi, until he was
up to his elbow in Kakashi’s neck.
Blood spurted out of the already dead jounin, splashing itself onto
Sasuke’s face and body. Slowly, the
raven-haired boy pulled his hand from the corpse and stepped
away.
A scream rang out through the trees, and Sasuke looked towards it. /Sakura,/ he thought, then his face
darkened. /And with her is
Naruto. He’ll try to kill me too,
if I don’t stop him,/ Sasuke mused grimly.
/I won’t let him./
Paying no mind to the blood that coated most of his body, Sasuke made his
way into the forest and in the direction that the scream came from. He did not use his full speed. /After all,/ he thought, /I have to
fight Naruto at the end, and he’s better than Kakashi-sensei
was./
Behind him, the mutilated corpse of a jounin who had lived such a hard
life stared sightlessly at the skies.
Then, his mouth seemed to twist into a smile.
Like a whisper, the wind seemed to say, “Obito-san,” but nobody was there
to hear it.
“Gotta
Knock a Little Higher,” by The Seatbelts, Cowboy Bebop OST. This song is more than a little sad, and
is very fitting for my favorite masked ninja’s last fight scene. If you disagree, just replace this
suggestion with “Need to be Strong,” of the Naruto OST. It fits as well.
Character
Themes:
Kakashi:
“Fukai Mori,” Do As Infinity, Inu Yasha OST. This is a nice, wistful and happy
song. It fits Kakashi, while being
a bit sadder, considering his role in the fic.
New
Jutsus:
Tatsu
Rendan- Dragon Combo: This combo is
used as a dramatically definitive way to kill one’s opponent, without the hope
that they will survive. First, the
fingers of the target are crushed, to prevent them from using jutsu to
escape. Then, they are kicked high
in the air. After that, the user
uses their foot to twist the target into a spin, allowing them to slash critical
muscles all over the body with their kunai. Next, the target is knocked to the
ground and pinned there by the user’s kunai. Finally, the target is finished off by a
charged Chidori to the throat, heart, or brain.
Translations:
Sorano
Taka: “Hawk of the Sky,” literally.
When I named Taka-san, I decided to maintain the great Naruto tradition
of pun names.
Kukan:
“Void,” literally.
Hayasa
no Oto: “Speed of Sound,” literally.
Scary, huh?
Hiko:
“Flight,” literally. Even scarier,
huh? Whee!
Tatsu:
“Dragon,” literally.
Rendan: “Combo,” literally.