"Uhhh… Alright everyone. It's time for the second match of the prelims to begin!"
"I hope Shino's up for this." Hinata said.
"He's pretty tough. Out of all the people here, he's the only one I wouldn't want to go up against." Kiba said.
"Okay… You may begin." Hayate said.
"So… Zaku… How do you expect to fight him? I can't wait to see." Dosu thought.
Dosu then noticed his sensei body flicker away.
"..." Dosu looked back to see him already gone, he then looked forward and continued to observe the fight.
But, while everyone else was focused on the fight, one other person noticed the sound team sensei's disappearance and followed suit.
"If you go through with this, you'll get hurt so badly you'll never be the same. Walk away while you can." Shino said.
"Don't flatter yourself, I can take you with one arm tied behind my back." Zaku said and attacked with a punch.
Shino raised his arm and blocked the attack. "It'll take more than one arm to beat me." Shino said.
"Heh," Zaku chucked. 'It's over.' He thought.
A blast of sound blew out the hole from Zaku's palm and hit Shino point blank. Shino's body was blown away and he rolled on the ground and was unmoving.
__________
At the medical facility in the central building of the forest of death, Sasuke was being healed. A medic-nin with glasses walked in and began to examine Sasuke. Then, he looked around and pulled a kunai out of his sleeve hidden behind his clipboard. He attacked Sasuke and just as he was about to slice his neck, Kakashi appeared and held his arm.
The medic-nin looked at Kakashi and smiled.
"It's been a while Kakashi, looks like you're all grown up." The medic-nin said.
"Who are you?" Kakashi asked.
"I'm hurt, you don't remember me? Your father used to help me with my training when I was younger. I came over to your house often." The medic-nin said.
Kakashi didn't say anything, but he frowned thinking about who he could be.
The medic-nin smiled and laughed. "He he he." The man then reached up and removed his glasses and then touched his forehead and peeled off his skin to reveal a pale face underneath and purple markings around his snake-like eyes.
When he saw this, he was shocked, but immediately attacked. The man backed away and laughed even more. He took off the fake face he had on and looked up.
"Orochimaru…" Kakashi said in recognition.
"Well done, really. But unfortunately, I have no use for you. I'm here for the boy behind you." Orochimaru said.
"What do you want with Sasuke?" Kakashi asked.
"Well it's not really a secret, I've been incredibly enamored by the Sharingan and I must have it. Unfortunately you have an incomplete set and the older one is impossible to get close to." Orochimaru said.
"What for?" Kakashi asked.
" Well, you see… the newly created village Hidden in Sound, Otogakure is my home…" Orochimaru said.
"..."
"Is it becoming clear?" Orochimaru asked.
"So it's just your greed and delusion of grandeur." Kakashi said.
"I suppose you could say that. Good help is so hard to find these days… and I need all sorts of pawns at my disposal." Orochimaru said.
"So you think that Sasuke is one of your pawns?" Kakashi asked.
"Oh, he's a very special pawn… a real keeper. Unlike the boys going through the rigors of the exam right now. Those boys are disposable." Orochimaru said.
__________
Back with Shino and Zaku
__________
"On your feet, loser!" Zaku said.
Shino slowly got up as dust slowly blew in front of him. As the dust settled, Shino looked up to reveal bugs moving around under his skin as they moved to heal the damaged skin where he got hit earlier.
Zaku looked alarmed at this, suddenly he sensed something behind him and he turned to see a swarm of bugs on the ground moving towards him.
"Do you like my little friends? They're called Kikaichu - Parasitic Destruction Beetles. They attack in swarms and devour the chakra of their prey. There's no way you'll survive an onslaught of this magnitude. So… if you value your life, you'd better surrender, it's your only way out. Attack me and they'll swarm you from behind, attack them and you'll be open to an attack from me. You're finished either way. Unless, of course, you had the foresight to prepare a backup plan." Shino said.
"Augh…" Zaku looked distressed as he remembered something from the past.
__________
10 years ago
__________
"I see a certain potential in you, boy… would you like to see it develop?" Orochimaru said.
He is talking to a young Zaku in a dilapidated village. He looks to be dirty, and his knuckles are red and bruised. He has a fire in his eyes that is too bright to stay in such a small village.
Orochimaru recognized this look, the same look that Nawaki had as a child.
"Join me, fight for me, and we'll develop it together! Don't let me down!"
'I won't, I won't be disgraced any further!' Zaku thought.
"Who do you think you're talking to?!!" Zaku yelled out.
"Heh, you wanna see a back up plan?! How about this?!" Zaku screamed out as he took out his 'injured' arm from the sling.
Shino looked alarmed seeing this.
"What?! He can use his right arm!" Kiba yelled.
'Smooth… The first part of the battle was all a scam to make it look like his right arm was still paralyzed. Good one, Zaku.' Dosu thought.
'Take this!!' Zaku thought as he spread an arm each in the direction of Shino to his right and the bug swarm to his left.
"Hunh?" Instead of the wind coming out of the holes in the palms of his hand. They erupted from his elbow and forearms. His left hand blew off his body and fell to the floor while his right hand was seriously injured.
Team Dosu and Team Kiba were all surprised by what happened.
Shino appeared behind Zaku and said. "Just now, while I distracted you with all that helpful advice, my little friends were making their quiet way to key points upon your body, creeping down the tunnels you blast your gale winds through. And that, my friend, is a true backup plan." Shino said.
"Y-You!" Zaku said as he turned around to attack but he was swiftly shut up by an attack to the face by Shino.
__________
Back with Kakashi and Orochimaru
__________
"Stay away from Sasuke. Even if you are one of the Sannin, I will do everything in my power to take you down." Kakashi said as he revealed his Sharingan and started up the Chidori.
"Heh… Heh heh… ha ha ha ha ha." Orochimaru laughed.
"What's so funny?" Kakashi asked.
"You say one thing, and do another." Orochimaru said.
"What?!" Kakashi said,
"What you are doing is futile. When a heart is sufficiently focused and ruthless in its desires, then, for good or evil, the end will justify any means. Sasuke possesses such a heart, the heart of an avenger." Orochimaru said.
"So that's your plan, to take advantage of his vulnerabilities to get your hooks into him. But that won't-" Kakashi said but was cut off by Orochimaru as he turned around and walked away.
"A day will come when he will seek me out… hungry for power. Meanwhile… I believe you were offering to kill me. Care to try? Or are you all talk?" Orochimaru said, without turning around, he unleashed his killing intent that made Kakashi feel like his head was cut off.
Orochimaru walked away as Kakashi was left in the room huffing and holding his hand up to his neck.
'Did I miscalculate?! What a fool I was.' Kakashi said.
Shortly after, Seishin appeared.
"Kakashi are you alright?" Seishin asked.
"Yeah, did you manage to catch him?" Kakashi asked.
"No, he disappeared. It seems he found a new way to escape undetected." Seishin said.
"Why didn't you attack him while he was here?" Kakashi asked.
"I can't take him down with simple attacks and my more powerful skills will raze this building to the ground." Seishin explained.
"I'll go report this to the Hokage, you go back and watch the rest of the exam." Seishin said.
__________
Back at the preliminary area.
__________
Hayate Gekko, crouched down to have a closer look at Zaku, then he said. "He's finished."
"Wh-what the…? How did…? Neji…?" Lee asked, looking utterly confused.
'Byakugan!' Neji thought.
As he looked at Shino.
"Whoa, I thought he'd used a summoning spell to bring out the bugs, but his whole body's infested with them." Neji said.
"WH-What?!" Lee looked shocked at this revelation.
"There's a clan of Beetle Masters in Konoha who are one with their bugs." Gai said.
"Yes, now that you mention it, I've heard that anyone born into the clan will have their bodies given over to the crawling vermin to use as nests." Neji said.
"The Beetle-Masters enter into a contract with the bugs, wherein the swarms will answer to the master's call, fighting his battles and bending to his will, and the beetles are compensated by the abundance of the Master's chakra, which they consume for food." Gai finished.
"And you're telling me that Shino is a member of this clan?!" Lee said.
"Poor Zaku." Dosu said.
"Why did his arms explode?" Kin asked.
"It looks like this Shino guy blocked the exit holes in Zaku's hands with his bugs and when he tried to unleash his technique, the pressure built up inside his arms and found its own way out." Dosu said.
"The winner is Aburame Shino!" Hayate said.
"So, uh… Shino, nice job." Hinata said.
"That was awesome!!" Kiba said.
"Yep, so don't let the team down." Shino said.
"Hey!" Kiba said, angry. 'Suddenly, he's acting like he's the boss of us.' Kiba thought.
"So, uhhh, we're moving on to the next match." Hayate said.
Kakashi appeared behind his team with a body flicker. Naruto turned around and said, "Kakashi-sensei."
"Yo." Kakashi said.
"What do you mean, 'yo'?! How's Sasuke?" Sakura exclaimed.
"He's fine, he's just exhausted." Kakashi said. 'Under the guard of an Anbu team.' Kakashi thought.
"Phew." Sakura sighed, relieved at the news.
"Oh." Naruto perked up as the screen revealed the next matchup.
"Tsurugi Misumi vs Kankuro, please come down to the arena to fight." Hayate said.
Kankuro took off the big wrapped object that he was carrying and put it on the floor.
Kankuro and Misumi fought, Misumi used his special body to wrap around Kankuro and hold him in a choke hold.
Misumi squeezed Kankuro until he broke his neck. Misumi let down his guard and released his hold, believing he was dead. But then Kankuro's body was revealed to be a puppet that was being controlled by Kankuro who was the wrapped up 'object' that the puppet was carrying. The puppet fully revealed itself as did Kankuro and controlled his puppet to grab hold of his opponent.
Seeing Misumi's inability to move, Hayate said, "Due to Misumi's inability to fight back, the winner of the match is Kankuro!!" He said.
"Now, it's time for the fourth match." Hayate moved on.
"Whoa! Whoa! This is like a never-ending freak show!" Naruto said.
"Look who's talking." Kakashi said,
"Good one sensei." Sakura said.
"Not cool, you know." Naruto said.
"I don't think you'll be laughing in a minute, Sakura." Kakashi said as he tapped her shoulder.
"Eh?" Sakura asked.
"Look." Kakashi said as he pointed towards the screen.
Sakura looked at the screen.
"Ino Yamanaka vs Sakura Haruno! Please come down to the arena." Hayate said.
"So, Sakura, it's you and me going head to head. I never saw it coming." Ino said.
Sakura, with a serious look on her face, took off her headband and wrapped it around her forehead.
Ino smiled and did the same.
Their fight ended as fast as it started. Ino did not have the chance to do anything, Sakura body flicked behind Ino and delivered a hard kick to the side of her head that immediately dropped Ino to the floor and ended the fight immediately.
"Awesome, nice one Sakura!" Naruto yelled in support.
"Shut up, you idiot!" Sakura yelled back as she got back to her team.
"Well, I was gonna put in a good word for you when I see Sasuke. But I guess that's out the window." Naruto said.
"Wha-!" Sakura exclaimed.
Sakura's face went red and started to squirm in place as she had an internal struggle in her mind of whether to suck up to Naruto or not to put in a good word for her.
Naruto saw this and chuckled as he focused on the next match.
"The fifth match of the preliminaries, Tenten vs Temari, please step forward." Hayate said.
"Mmm… unh." Ino said, as she woke up.
"So you finally came to, eh, Ino?" Sakura said.
"Tenten, use the power of your youth!" Lee yelled out.
"That's the spirit! Keep cheering her on!!" Gai yelled out as well.
"I lost?" Ino said.
"Don't feel bad, I had to become much stronger so that I didn't become a burden to my team members." Sakura said.
"I don't feel bad. Here," Ino said, giving Sakura her headband.
"Huh?" Sakura said.
"By the way, you've blossomed into a lovely flower." Ino said.
"... Ino…" Sakura said, tearing up and taking the headband and tying it around her hair.
"There you go crying again, you crybaby. Next time won't be such an easy fight. Also, this does not mean I'm going to hand Sasuke to you!" Ino said.
"Oh really? Well, maybe I'll have to kick you a couple more times in the head to make sure you remember that Sasuke doesn't like weak women!" Sakura snapped back.
""Hmph!"" They both said and turned away from each other.
"She shut down Tenten's attack like it was nothing!" Neji said.
"Impossible!!" Lee exclaimed.
"How dull… it's a shame, really…" Temari said as she had Tenten all beaten and bloody hanging on her fan with weapons and blood on the ground.
"Damn, she took her down like it was nothing." Naruto said.
'The shinobi from Suna are truly fearsome.' The Third Hokage thought.
"Nara Shikamaru vs Kon Tsuchi, please step forward." Hayate said.
The fight went down exactly as expected. Shikamaru outsmarted Tsuchi, caught her with his shadow possession jutsu and made her hit her head hard on the wall and she knocked herself out.
"The winner is Nara Shikamaru!" Hayate said.
"Next up is Uzumaki Naruto vs Inuzuka Kiba. Please step forward." Hayate said.
"Well, it's about damn time." Naruto said.
"We can do this, Akamaru!" Kiba said.
"Woof!" Akamaru barked back.
"Alright, come at me. I'll give you the chance to show off a bit before finishing you off." Naruto said.
"Stop with the cool guy act, you're not fooling anyone." Kiba said.
A few minutes later, Kiba and Akamaru are on the floor beaten and bloody while Naruto is standing without a scratch on him.
'That kid's terrifying, he took down that guy without getting a scratch on him. I wouldn't have been able to do that.' Temari thought.
'...' Gaara just looked at Naruto with his normal bloodshot eyes.
Kankuro stood next to his brother with sweat rolling down his cheek, feeling uneasy with the aura his younger brother was emitting.
"Heh, piece of cake." Naruto said as he walked over to Kiba and picked him up as well as Akamaru and body flickered back to where his team was.
"And the winner is Naruto Uzumaki." Hayate said.
'Yes!' Hinata thought.
'Sh… Should I?' Hinata struggled with doing something and decided to just go for it.
"N-Naruto." Hinata said as she held up something for Naruto.
"Oh, hey Hinata. Is this for me?" Naruto asked.
Hinata just nodded vigorously with a blush on her face.
"Wow, thanks a bunch, I get hurt all the time. I'll make sure to ask for more when I run out. I hope that's alright?" Naruto said.
Hinata just nodded again with her entire face going red this time.
Naruto took the ointment, accidentally brushing her hand in the process. Hinata felt the touch and immediately feinted, with smoke coming off her head.
"Whoa, are you all right?" Naruto exclaimed and caught her.
"It's fine, Naruto. I'll take care of her. You go ahead and go back to your team." Kurenai said.
"Hyuga Neji vs Hyuga Hinata. Please step forward." Hayate said.
"You got this Hinata, wake up and beat that insufferable genius!" Rock Lee said as he fanned Hinata after she fainted.
"Stay away from my teammate you weirdo!" Kiba yelled as he took the fan and proceeded to fan even harder than Lee did.
Shino simply stood in the background and murmured something that nobody heard.
Kurenai pushed the boys away and said, "You okay Hinata?"
"I-I'm fine, thank you." Hinata said as she went down towards her battlefield.
The fight between Neji and Hinata was just as one sided as the fight between Naruto and Kiba. But Neji was much more brutal, severely damaging Hinata's internal organs and causing internal bleeding. Just as Hayate was about to call the end of the fight, Hinata said something that made Neji angry and he went for the kill shot.
The second he twitched, Naruto appeared next to him in the air and kneed him in the face and sent him flying.
Naruto then ran over to Hinata and said, "Hey Hinata, are you alright?"
"N-Naruto. T-thank you." Hinata said.
"It's alright, you did great. You can rest now. I'm sure you'll be able to beat him one day. For now, I'll get back at him for hurting you so much." Naruto said.
Hinata lost consciousness after hearing that.
"Hey, you! Demon Fox!" Neji said as he got up and wiped the blood off his mouth.
"A couple words of advice. A true shinobi wouldn't make a spectacle of himself by cheering during a serious match. Also, you may as well accept who you are. You are much worse than her. If you have any shame, you'll just kill yourself so the village will finally be rid of you once and for all." Neji finished.
Naruto got up and looked angrily at Neji, "You wanna try me?"
Neji simply smirked. Naruto simply disappeared and reappeared behind Neji with his hand cocked ready to deliver a chakra enhanced punch.
Four Jonin appeared to stop his punch. Gai stood in front of Naruto to hold him back. Kakashi appeared and held his arm. Hayate Gekko appeared in front of the punch with his arm stretched out and his other hand making a sign ready to cast a Jutsu. Kurenai appeared and moved Neji out of the way.
"Naruto, that's enough. I know you're angry, but you can't fight him here. You can settle your differences during the match."
Hinata then started to cough up blood behind them. Kurenai went over to quickly check on her.
'She's going into Ventricular Fibrillation. He really intended to kill her.' Kurenai thought while scowling at Neji.
"Instead of wasting time scowling at me, you'd better take care of her." Neji said with a smirk.
"Where the hell are the medics!" Kurenai yelled.
"We're here! Here!" One medic said.
After checking her pulse, the medic said. "She doesn't have a lot of time, get her on the stretcher!"
'Hinata…' Naruto thought, remembering Hinata's resolve.
'I gave you my word.' Naruto thought.
Naruto crouched down and smeared Hinata's blood on his hand and held it up in front of Neji.
"I vow to win!" Naruto said.
"That kid is something else." Kankuro said.
'Now we know there are three monsters here, but ours has an inner nature that's uniquely bad.' Kankuro thought.
'This isn't good, Gaara's smelled blood and now the demon that lives within him is starting to wake up.' Kankuro thought as he looked at Gaara, watching him shake and his eyes going more bloodshot.
'Naruto and Neji, I can't believe that those two still have hidden reserves of strength. We've got to start planning ahead for the final rounds.' Kankuro thought.
"Now then, it's time for the next round. Gaara vs Rock Lee." Hayate said.
"All right! Finally! My reverse psychology worked!" Lee said.
"Lee! I've noticed something crucial that I need to tell you. That gourd thing of his is quite suspicious." Gai said.
"Thank your for the advice Gai sensei!" Lee exclaimed.
Although it looked like Gaara was losing due to Lee's immense physical abilities. Gaara managed to turn things around by taking advantage of the self harming nature of Lee's abilities.
A few minutes later, Gai interrupted the fight after Gaara tried to kill Lee.
Gaara looked shocked at his interruption. Gai gave Gaara a look that reminded him of the many looks he got during his childhood. "UNH! Why are you helping him?" He said while shaking and holding his head.
"He's my lovable, and precious protege!" Gai said.
Gaara stared at him for a bit, then turned around and said, "Forget it."
"The victor is Gaara!" Hayate said.
Shocked looks and gasps could be heard by everyone around the hall. Gai turned around and was shocked to see a shaking Lee standing up in a battle stance. His arm and leg were bleeding.
'I can't believe it…' Gai thought.
'He opened five gates. His arm and leg are crushed… How can he still stand?' Kakashi thought.
"Lee, it's all right… it's over. You're in no shape to be standing…" Gai said.
Then he saw Lee's face and started to cry. '...Lee… You…'
'You incredible kid… Even though you've been knocked unconscious, you're still trying to stay true to your shinobi way.' Gai thought.
He hugged Lee, 'You're already a splendid ninja!'
Gaara looked at the scene frowning.
"Sakura! How do you intend to help him? Your presence will only cause him pain." Kakashi said, stopping Sakura from going down there.
Naruto on the other hand jumped down and ran towards him, giving Gaara a scowl as he passed him.
"Excuse us!" A medic-nin said.
The medic-nin looked a bit shocked as he examined Lee.
"Are you the Jonin responsible for him? If I may have a word. Though he's breathing on his own, he has compound compressive fractures and torn muscles throughout his body. If that was it he would've been fine, but the damage to his left arm and leg are especially severe. I'm sorry to say this, but I don't see a high possibility of him ever being able to be a shinobi again." He said.
"No way…" Naruto said, clenching his fists.
'Lee, I never let myself think that you could lose, I wanted to help you achieve your shinobi path. Please forgive me Lee, for not stopping you before it was too late.' Gai thought.
"There must be something we can do…" Naruto whispered.
"Naruto, that's enough. Let's go back up." Kakashi said.
Naruto clenched his fists hard while shaking. He looked at Lee one more time as the medic-nin took him away on a stretcher, then turned around and went back up to the viewing platform.
Neji looked down on Lee from the viewing platform, he closed his eyes and thought, 'Lee… Even at the bitter end, you didn't realize the heavens would never allow you to advance further, given that your triumph came at a heavy cost.'
"Well… it's the finale, the 10th round. Both contestants please step forward!" Hayate said.
"Looks like I'm last…" Dosu said. 'In any case, I've got to make it to the finals and fight Sasuke. Otherwise I'll fail to meet your expectations lord Orochimaru. I think I finally understand what you were up to when you hunted down Sasuke in the forest and didn't kill him. You want us to test him. What you want is not Sasuke's life but Sasuke himself.'
"You've been toying with me too." Dosu said.
"Uh… Well… Let the 10th round battle begin!"
"Go get him!" Shikamaru yelled.
"You can do it, fatso!!" Ino yelled.
"Ugh! Shut your mouth and keep your eyes open! I'm gonna end this match fast so I can go up there and beat you up!" Choji yelled back.
"Well then… I'll dispense with the games and quickly finish it for you, fatso!" Dosu said.
'You mummified, rain-poncho-wearing creep! I fought you before, so I already know your weaknesses! You release sound waves from those holes in your arm, so…' Choji thought.
Expansion Jutsu!
'So long as I protect my ears, I should be fine.' Choji thought.
Human Boulder!
"I'm not fat, I'm chubby!" Choji said as he spun towards Dosu.
"All right! Crush him, Choji!" Ino yelled.
'He uses sound to attack without ever being in direct contact with his opponent, but that's when his enemy's ears are exposed. Choji's head is buried within his body so his ears are completely plugged up. How can this guy use sound to attack an earless rotating meatball?' Shikamaru thought.
Dosu backed up to the wall and as Choji got close, he jumped out the way and Choji rammed into the wall.
'To get free from there, he's going to have to stop rotating to reverse his rotation to back out of the wall. I'll use that as my opportunity.' Dosu thought as he stuck his fist into Choji's belly.
"My ears are plugged, so it's useless!" Choji said.
"No… you're done for!" Dosu said as he released sound waves into Choji's body.
Smoke burst out from Choji as he reverted to his normal form after getting disoriented from the sound waves.
'Over 70% of the human body is composed of water. A great conductor for sound so it's not hard to transmit shock waves through a wall of flesh. As long as he's not spinning it's easy to approximate the location of his eardrums and disorient him.' Dosu thought.
"We have a winner!! Dosu Kinuta!!" Hayate said.
'Orochimaru, I'm not just your guinea pig!' Dosu thought.
Medic ninja rushed to Choji and asked, "Hey, are you alright?!"
"I -I want… to eat… meat…" Choji said.
"He even went easy on him." Shikamaru said.
"Well… He lost, but I guess I'll still take him out for barbecue." Asuma said.
"Uh… Well then, as of this moment, the preliminaries to the third exam are now complete." Hayate said.
"To those of you who have passed, congratulations!" Hayate said.
__________
Meanwhile, somewhere else.
__________
"The preliminaries have now concluded. They will now proceed to the finals." Kabuto said while kneeling.
Orochimaru looked over at some birds chirping on a railing.
"How tranquil… or rather… how naively peaceful this nation has become while all the other countries are busy with military expansion races." Orochimaru said.
Kabuto stood up and said, "So if we strike now…?"
"Well, yes. Although I doubt it would be any fun to kill that feeble old geezer." Orochimaru said with a smile.
"Are you so sure of yourself?" Kabuto said.
Orochimaru's smile disappeared when he heard that.
"To me, it still seems like you're faltering." Kabuto continued. "Soon the powers of each hidden village will collide and enter a fierce, lengthy conflict. And the hidden sound village will be one of those involved, and you're planning to be the trigger of that. That boy, he's the bullet right? Sasuke Uchiha, wasn't it?"
"Heh, your insights are disgustingly accurate." Orochimaru said.
"Well, obviously not, because I didn't know about Dosu, Zaku and Kin. When I was assigned to gather intelligence on Sasuke, I wanted to understand the power of those three sound ninja. I made a foolish tactical error, I even provoked them into attacking me and overestimated my own defenses. It seems you still don't put your full trust in me, isn't that right?" Kabuto said.
"Those three are so inconsequential, is it really necessary for me to tell you of such trivialities? You're my right-hand man. That itself is evidence of my trust. That's why I was thinking of entrusting Sasuke to you, I couldn't put my curse mark on him. And now that they know I'm after him, they put that woman's child to protect him. So I need you to kidnap Sasuke." Orochimaru said.
"How unlike you, you're worried!" Kabuto said.
"There is something else causing me a bit of concern…" Orochimaru said.
"You mean… Uzumaki Naruto?" Kabuto said.
'Heh… A sharp child indeed…' Orochimaru thought.
"Sasuke is an embodiment of vengeance, his sole reason for living is the desire to kill his older brother. Until he achieves that goal, he cannot die. And yet, when we fought each other, even though he knew he couldn't prevail against me he came at me without any fear of death. And I hadn't thought he was a child who would rush so eagerly to his demise. According to your notes, it seems that his contact with the nine-tailed fox child and that cursed clan is changing his purpose and soul. Since Naruto possesses so much influence over Sasuke, I must separate them immediately. As soon as I can, I've got to stain him with my colors." Orochimaru said, as he trembled and licked his lips towards the end of his sentence.
This unnerved Kabuto greatly.
"Well then…" Kabuto said as he started to walk away.
"Kabuto… You…" Orochimaru called out to him which caused Kabuto to pause.
"If you want to stop me, your only chance is to kill Sasuke now." Orochimaru said, which shocked Kabuto.
"There's no way you could kill me, right? Even if you're strong, you're no stronger than Kakashi, so…" Orochimaru continued. "Heh… I'm joking. Now, you may go. I'm putting my trust in you."
Kabuto body flickered away without saying anything.
'Heh, that face. I wonder what he's thinking.' Orochimaru said.
__________
"As I mentioned earlier, you will conduct your final round battles in front of everyone. Each of you represents the battle strengths of your respective lands, so we want you to exhibit and fully showcase your various talents. And thus the finals will commence one month from now!" Hiruzen said.
"We're not doing it right here, right now?"
"Well-" Hiruzen was about to explain, but he was cut off when an Anbu in a featureless mask appeared and whispered something in Hiruzen's ear and disappeared again.
"Sigh, it seems I have some work that I need to attend to. I will have the explanations done by Hayate here." Hiruzen said as he turned around and walked away. As he walked away, leaves appeared and slowly covered the Hokage's body and got blown away in non-existent wind as he disappeared.
"Well, uh. The tournament will be held a month from now because we need time to contact the rulers and shinobi leaders of each land and relay the results of the preliminaries so they can send people to witness the tournament. Also it's a way for you to prepare for the finals. Some of you may have revealed all your cards during this fight, and others got injured. So we make it fair by giving you a month to train and relax." Hayate said.
'There isn't enough time to rest. I don't think I can beat Gaara without using that power. I should train harder.' Naruto thought.
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Thud! Thud! Thud!
Multiple ninja fell to the floor, dead after facing Kabuto.
"Sigh… An excess of brilliance can be a disadvantage. We stood out too much. I wonder if catching lord Orochimaru's eye will mean ruin for both of us." Kabuto said, referring to himself and Sasuke.
'He's so young… How could he have this demon dwelling in his heart? It will serve lord Orochimaru's purposes nicely. When he eventually uses that technique to make this kid into…' Kabuto thought.
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'Kabuto… Perhaps you really will kill Sasuke after all.' Orochimaru thought with a smile as he took in the view of the village.
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Kabuto took out his scalpel and was about to slice Sasuke's neck, but then.
Fwip!
Snatch!
Kabuto threw the scalpel behind him and Kakashi caught it.
"Only you, Kakashi, would think to stop my attack from my blind spot." Kabuto said with a smile.
"You're no ordinary Genin are you?" Kakashi asked. "You made your attack immediately upon noticing my presence, you're pretty impressive."
"No, I'm not so great." Kabuto said.
"What do you want with Sasuke? Depending on the circumstances, I'll have to arrest and interrogate you." Kakashi said.
"I wonder if you can…? Someone like you?" Kabuto said.
"You want to test "Someone like me"...?" Kakashi asked.
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Meanwhile
__________
"Orochimaru…" Seishin said.
"Shin…" Orochimaru said.
"I should really teach those barrier guys a lesson if an S-Rank rogue-nin like you can walk into the village like he owns the place." Seishin said.
"Hehehe… Those guys can't really hold a candle to the Uzumaki clan. It's a shame really, what happened to them. I wonder where your mother was when the village's biggest ally was completely annihilated?" Orochimaru said with a chuckle.
"..." Seishin's demeanor instantly flipped, as he went quiet and his killing intent roared to life and wind erupted from him like a tornado.
Seishin bit his thumb, crouched and put his hand on the ground.
"Summoning jutsu."
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Sorry for the late upload. Like I said, I procrastinate a lot.
Anyway, I like where this story is headed. I already have the tournament arc planned out. But I don't know how I'm going to do the Konoha crush arc. I guess I just have to wait until some inspiration hits me. By the way, if you were disappointed by me skipping the Rock Lee vs Gaara fight. Let me know, I can definitely write it out and put it up during a flash back or something.
So vote right here:
Yes, write the fight.
No, don't bother.
I don't care either way.