In flight from branch to branch, Orochimaru began feeling irritation. Everything went according to plan, but at the same time, not.
The Grass shinobi bodies were found too fast. Even after finding them, concluding he was involved... As far as he knew, they should wait for his exit from the forest, since one participant's death most benefited another, especially those who failed the first stage and might try advancing disguised, but perhaps their goal wasn't rank but espionage.
ANBU and other services should check those leads first, not search for him in the Forest so soon. Also, he factored time for coordination with Hiruzen and concluded no one could make such non-obvious decisions that fast. Even if they ID'd him by disguise technique and style... Too quick. They acted too quick, and now he sensed pursuers closing. Despite trying to throw them off with all the chakra released in the kid fight, he felt they tracked him specifically. Not his men, not the clones he made retreating... Him.
Making another long jump, he cleared a near branch, landing a level down and dropping twenty meters. There he stopped, focused, and smiled.
Seconds later, his two subordinates appeared beside him, stopping unsignaled on either side.
Both experienced shinobi, lacking special skills but each strong Chunin level across basics.
"Orochimaru-sama, shall we hold the pursuer?" One said, kneeling right.
"No." He replied calmly. "Your job's done. Find Kabuto, report what happened; he'll transfer you to the hideout via scroll. There, continue troop prep and return to posts."
"Understood." They synced and vanished.
Orochimaru stood full height on the branch.
"Now it's clear..." He thought.
"If it was you, no wonder you guessed. Can't fool you." He smiled at his thoughts.
"After all, you're one who'll always sense me infallibly. Like all I've bestowed my gift upon..."
He made several more long jumps, scanning for a meeting spot, chose a thick branch sprouting from a thick but not tall tree trunk. Creating a clone, he used a relatively small snake into which he slipped, making it slither down the tree, head under the branch. Thus, he could exit quick or attack through the snake, ignoring its life.
His pursuer appeared minutes later. With every step, he sensed her better.
Mitarashi Anko.
Having the clone climb into the trunk, he anticipated. She was his best student back when loyal to the village. He valued her talents highly; she near-worshipped her teacher, ready to give all. It happened once... Ended with her as one of the first survivors, the only one still alive. But too cowardly to develop his gift, and by then his Konoha exit was imminent.
He betrayed her like many, but now, even as she charged full throttle radiating bloodlust, he was glad.
Orochimaru anticipated.
He wanted to see and feel just how much stronger she'd become at the jonin rank. How much power could she unleash from his gift?
This anticipation of meeting Anko boldly swept away all the irritation from his failed attempt to brand the boy from the Uchiha Clan he'd so desired.
The boy left without serious protection.
A lonely fledgling, left with only one reason to live...
Revenge!
He should have only one strong emotion...
Hatred!
That was exactly what he should use to overcome his fear of him. Hatred was supposed to push him up a step, allowing him to resist. Allowing him to put up a fight even against an opponent of his level. Though...
Orochimaru still planned to hold back. He based his power level on roughly the time when he himself had become a Chunin. Maybe a bit higher, but... Holding back that much wasn't easy even for him. Especially against an opponent at the level of a genius genin. It was still dangerous...
But from the moment that blond appeared, everything went off the rails.
With his appearance, he shattered the chains of fear binding these children.
He himself seemed utterly unafraid of it, though Orochimaru knew for sure that wasn't true. He was definitely afraid, or at least wary of him. But in the end, he understood the reason for the brat's such confidence.
Nine-Tails...
Even he hadn't expected that.
The blue eyes of that blond irritated him. His smirk and unfounded confidence irritated Orochimaru. Looking into his blue eyes, he involuntarily recalled the smiling face of the man he'd prefer to erase from memory forever. He'd never truly hated anyone... Even when killing, he did it without hatred in his heart. More out of grim necessity, and later as part of executing his plans.
However, there was one man who could enrage him.
Jiraiya...
But the one he remembered had surpassed even him... He managed to smile even in war. Even when his comrades grieved for loved ones, that man always tried to focus on the good. Always smiled and said he wouldn't let his comrades die before his eyes. He always burned like a damn blinding sun, which Orochimaru had never liked.
This sudden association threw off his concentration on the need to hold back. Even when fighting him, every attack from that child was so useless against him that it irritated him more and more. He was irritated by the pointless, mindless resistance...
But most importantly, Sasuke had used not hatred for his brother to overcome himself, but his bond with that brat! A damn bond that shouldn't exist!
That bond became a thread of hope that wouldn't let the Uchiha brat fully sink into despair, and that enraged him!
It was also important that this damn brat knew too much!
From somewhere, he knew his name, which didn't particularly ruin his plans, but the very fact of that knowledge found no rational explanation in Orochimaru's mind.
The appearance of the Nine-Tails' chakra completely scrambled all his assumptions, which were becoming more and more irrational and implausible.
Everything, just like back then when his teacher had chosen to recommend another student for Hokage despite all rational arguments. Despite even the difference in power and arsenal of techniques...
However, then as now, they'd managed to completely throw him off balance by choosing not even Jiraiya.
Then as now, he'd managed to completely throw him off balance.
The Fourth Hokage.
Even after death, that guy still managed to piss him off...
Could it be that not only the Fox survived?
Feeling that Anko would be there in less than a minute, Orochimaru decided to put those thoughts aside. There were too many unknowns right now, and every assumption of his was becoming more and more irrational, which only irritated him further.
Seeing her, he and his clone simultaneously licked their lips and stuck out their tongues.
Now she was even more beautiful than in her teenage years, the last time he'd been with her, still hoping to help her cope with her fears and doubts about his gift.
However, if back then there had still been a glimmer of trust and infatuation in her eyes, now...
They say there's a thin line between love and hate...
Now he saw vivid proof of that saying.
"You've finally come back here!" she shouted upon seeing him and landed in the middle of the branch. "You dared... to return. You're one of the most wanted rogue ninja, and to defeat you, I'll use all my strength—even the techniques you taught me will turn against you!" With that shout, she immediately launched into battle without giving him a chance to respond.
Four snakes shot from her sleeve like arrows, slamming their heads into the tree and grabbing the Orochimaru pinned in the trunk.
When she pulled out poison needles to pierce him with them, he used his tongue to wrap around her wrist and prevent her from using the weapon, but in the tug-of-war, he still lost. The shadow clone couldn't use his full strength.
With a crack, she yanked his body from the tree, swung it properly, and slammed his back into a parallel trunk.
Rushing at him, she pierced his and her left arms with a kunai, nailing them to the tree, and with her right formed the forbidden seal.
"This..." he said, stunned and with a hint of fear.
"Correct." She smiled, standing face-to-face with him, even slightly brushing her chest against his torso. "We'll die together!" she declared and began gathering chakra for the suicidal technique.
No matter how he felt about Anko, right now he definitely didn't want her death, and laughter echoed from everywhere as the real him appeared behind her back.
"I'm afraid if you go through with it, you'll still die alone." With those words, his clone dispersed, making her eyes widen to the limit.
He'd tricked her... Again!
In desperation, she yanked the kunai from her palm, which she'd nailed herself with to the tree, and hurled it at his face with full force.
At his smiling face!
However, as if those years apart had never happened, he casually stopped the fast-flying kunai, this time fully charged with chakra, with just two fingers and didn't even get scratched.
"You can't defeat me," he said with a smile. "Ha!" Forming his fingers into a blade, he focused all his killing intent on her, and from the unbearable pressure of inevitable death, she collapsed to her knees like the lowliest genin before his sensei.
She had enough strength to resist...
Right now, even Hokage-level killing intent would only slow her a bit, but with it, all her power was useless.
On her neck, the old scar burned like hot coals, causing her excruciating pain. That part of her power, left by him as a "gift" as he called it, now refused to obey her will. Now she understood that this "gift" was actually a cursed mark from a powerful shinobi. A powerful and malevolent one who grants power this way but in return forces submission and uses you like a thing. Not many can even survive the process, let alone resist it...
After he left, the Hokage had taught her. Taught her to suppress his power and even use it for her own purposes. Use it for good...
Those possibilities intoxicated her. So much that she thought she could use that power against its true master, but now she realized how wrong she was.
"You shouldn't use those forbidden techniques I taught you," he said calmly, approaching her closer and squatting down. Taking advantage of her barely being able to move from the pain in her neck and the killing intent pressure, he calmly extended a cold hand into the moonlight and, looking into her eyes, continued speaking while touching her cheek and neck. Each touch sent shivers through her, and he felt it, but seemed to even derive some perverse pleasure from it. "Do you hate me, child? Heh-heh-heh-heh... Who would've thought. And yet we once had such good times together." With those words, he stood up.
"Bastard!" she hissed through clenched teeth. "You... Why are you here?!" She managed to speak again, getting used to the pain and pressure. "Did you come to kill the Lord Hokage?"
"Ha-ha-ha..." He laughed out loud. "No. I'm afraid I don't have enough people for that."
"Then... What do you want?!"
"It's a shame you still reject my gift and resist, but besides you, this village has others more worthy."
"What?!" Anko began to understand.
"A young boy in the prime of his strength... The blood of an ancient and mighty clan boils in him. The power of the Sharingan... I intend to claim it!"
"You bastard! You... You won't succeed!"
"Even if so, I'll be watching him. Ones like you won't hold him back from his thirst for revenge, and he'll find me himself." Anko could only click her tongue in response and felt the pain intensify again.
"Tell the old man and all yours to stay out of my way." With those words, he seemed to burn up in violet flames.
"Otherwise, the Hidden Leaf Village will cease to exist forever!" echoed from everywhere.
In Sasuke's eyes, too many impossible things had happened in the last hour or so.
One of the participants in the Chunin Exams turned out to be too strong. His damn power resembled Kakashi's or other jonin more. Naruto...
Sasuke had grown used to Naruto always knowing a bit more than it seemed. Always being one step ahead. From that very day he'd whimsically come to his clan quarter as a kid. Maybe even earlier. In their very first sparring, Naruto had slightly exceeded all expectations, and underestimating the opponent had nearly cost Sasuke the win.
The son of the Fourth Hokage...
Since Naruto had said as much, Sasuke had found indirect confirmations, as if trying to convince himself that the one before him wasn't just some ordinary stray. Geniuses like him don't just appear... But he'd always doubted.
Until this very minute.
Even Mizuki's words, who had betrayed him by sending him for the Kage techniques scroll, and the part of the sealing description for the tailed beast he'd managed to read and comprehend didn't convince him it was about Naruto. Considering the mention of the Shinigami, Sasuke decided it was beyond his understanding.
Sasuke felt he'd spoken sincerely, maybe holding back a little, but not lying. There was hope that Naruto himself was deluded. Sasuke wanted answers, and if he found them, he'd definitely share with the one who'd become his best friend.
Now none of that mattered.
The bastard who'd clearly only pretended to be a genin survived a direct hit from the incineration technique. If he'd dodged... But he'd definitely been hit by their combined technique. He'd definitely been under the burning pile of thick branches. The fire from them was so intense that Sasuke had seriously feared a full forest fire.
The damage from a technique that should kill anyone on direct hit wasn't even enough to seriously injure that monster. Orochimaru... That was what Naruto had called him, which he later confirmed. His killing intent was off the charts. Sasuke, far stronger than any genin, had no chance to resist.
At that moment, when Sasuke had nearly missed some strange head attack attempt on Naruto, against all odds he'd not just resisted but given him a full fight.
It was like he'd been swapped out temporarily. The chakra was completely different. Sasuke had never felt such power. The paralysis chains seemed blown off him; he desperately wanted to activate his Sharingan and see the source of that power, but though he could move, this new power of Naruto suppressed him no less than that freak's with the unnaturally long tongue ripping off his molten face like a mask.
The fight Naruto gave him using that incredible power, from which moisture seemed to evaporate from the air, went beyond ordinary shinobi. It was beyond human limits. It was a battle of monsters.
Even with all that power, Naruto was losing. Sasuke saw him take blow after blow. The sword sliced his muscles, but Naruto didn't care about the wounds that healed quickly without even bleeding. Even the explosion did nothing to him. The cloak of that crimson chakra was blasted off his body, covered in burns and lacerations, but they healed even faster, and the chakra swirled around him again like a vortex with a will of its own.
Orochimaru had mentioned the Nine-Tails, it seemed. Like Mizuki... Sasuke had no reason to trust their words, but he couldn't explain it otherwise.
Naruto had sent Sakura for help. He knew even together they couldn't beat an opponent of that level, but that one was naturally several steps ahead of three genin.
Sakura was captured, and suddenly retreating, that bastard impaled her with his sword.
Naruto acted fast; one of his pouches was a field kit, but such a severe wound wasn't something first aid could fix. She needed to be rushed to the central hospital. Sasuke understood that clearly. Sakura's death in any other case was a matter of ten to fifteen minutes.
Gathering his strength, he barely stood on his feet. His vision swam, and his eyes burned and teared up. Intensive Sharingan use was taking its toll. He was shivering, and taking those dozen steps to Naruto bent over Sakura's body was no easier than crawling kilometers without legs.
Suddenly, Naruto struck with five clawed fingers at the wound area, first slicing her clothes with a kunai and exposing her chest. Crimson chakra blazed like a bonfire around the two...
Catching Sakura, I nearly dropped her from nerves. The sword had pierced her chest area, and the through wound, from which blood and life were draining, was neatly under her right breast.
Opening the kit with shaking hands, I realized her right lung was fucked and bandages and painkillers wouldn't help here. Stitching a through wound was pointless. It wasn't a sliced muscle or embedded shard. Slicing her clothes, I wanted to do something... I treated the wound with alcohol on both sides, loaded a syringe with hemostatic, laid her body on her left side so she wouldn't choke on her own blood.
"Stranger..." I heard a voice in my head. "Give me control. I can save her..."
I sensed the Fox's gaze and presence behind me. Could he really do something about it? I didn't remember anything like this; maybe so. Most likely he wasn't lying, but I still didn't trust him enough to hand over control and ignored him, continuing what I could. Applying patches on both sides, I wanted to start wrapping her body with bandages to keep her from bleeding out. Then I planned to run full speed for hospital help. Beyond that, I was powerless.
"Stranger... You heard me." Time seemed to slow, and I was back in that room with the cage. "You can't save her. I'll help. Give me control, and I'll help you and this child!"
"And how exactly do you plan to do that, huh?" I barked at him a bit.
"I can give her my chakra. I know how to merge anyone's chakra with mine. Only I can do it! I can make that wound close and heal her. With my power, she'll have a chance to beat the poison that'll slowly devour her soon."
"Poison?!" I was surprised. "You can see the poison inside her?"
"I can sense the poison inside you—you got multiple wounds from that sword too and aren't paralyzed only thanks to my power!" Well, considering that sword had been inside a snake, that was to be expected. Especially from Orochimaru. "What's the matter, Stranger? You think? You doubt and don't trust me? I thought so... You're just like all the others... You won't even risk trusting the beast for a comrade's sake."
"Shut up!" I snapped. "Shut up and tell me how I give you control?!" His eyes widened significantly. Then he exhaled noisily and closed his eyes.
"Stay here and don't resist." On the other side of the cage, he rose to a sitting position. Water kept rising and rising until it covered my head and carried me into the cage right to him. It flooded us both, but I felt no cold. The water was warm and pleasant, and my body gradually went numb. I didn't need to breathe, and relaxing, I entrusted myself to the Fox.
I didn't care about myself anymore, but who said he wouldn't try to break out, and if he succeeded even partially, how many would he kill before the old man stopped him?
That would all be on my conscience if something went wrong...
But the Fox didn't let me down. Closing my eyes underwater, I saw and felt everything that happened...
Kurama concentrated chakra and, extending his claws, laid Sakura on his back, holding her body aloft with one hand. With five clawed fingers, he struck her chest area.
From his palm flowed much denser, thicker chakra like crimson foam. It filled the space between palm and fingers, surging into Sakura's wound. The vortex of ethereal chakra reignited with new force around us. Her eyes opened, and she sharply vomited a fountain of blood from her mouth and throat. Her green eyes shifted to Kurama's blood-red and back.
"AAAAAHHH!!!" she began screaming in pain. But the bleeding had already stopped. A small puddle formed under us on the ground, but no more blood dripped. The head laceration also began closing.
"What are you doing?!" Sasuke shouted indignantly and tried to lunge at me but stumbled and fell face-first into ash and charred branches.
Seconds later, Sakura stopped screaming. The chakra vortex enveloped us both in several streams, and Kurama withdrew his claws from her body. The small punctures closed instantly. The crimson foam evaporated, leaving only a tiny scar under her breast from the wound.
"What the hell did you do to her?!" Sasuke yelled indignantly, rising to his feet as Kurama gently lowered Sakura to the ground. In an instant no human could even blink, he grabbed Sasuke by the throat with one hand and lifted him off the ground like he weighed nothing.
"Shut up!" Kurama hissed at him through my body.
"What the hell are you?!"
"The Nine-Tails speaks to you!"
"Kurama! Stop! Enough!" I mentally screamed, desperately flailing in the water trying to escape the cage, making my body tremble.
"Be grateful, Sharingan brat! She'll live..." Releasing his grip, he softly pushed him away with chakra. Softly, by Kurama's standards. In reality, Sasuke flew ten meters and slammed into a tree hard. After that, I felt control gradually returning to me as the fox's chakra left the body.
Back in my body, I felt my muscles ache and bones throb with fatigue. Joints cracked despite my age.
Ah, you fuck... Your mother, everything hurts so much...
"Fu...cking goblin..." I muttered in Russian and fell to my knees after trying to stretch. Sweat on my body began evaporating.
"And if you hadn't rushed to take back control, there wouldn't have been such consequences," the voice sounded in my head.
"Shut up. Damn..." I switched to Japanese, rising to my feet. Glancing at Sasuke, I asked... "And why? You knocked him out!"
"So no one trips underfoot..."
"Damn..." I picked up Sakura's body and created a shadow clone who headed toward Sasuke. Checking myself, I realized my black shirt was fucked. Pants weren't much better. I won't even mention the dirt, soot, and bloodstains. Or the smoke smell. Only thanks to the wind raging from our chakra had we not suffocated yet—the smoke had mostly been blown away.
Convenient things, these shadow clones. One carried their stuff, a second Sasuke; I carried my backpack and Sakura, and several more scattered to find a safe spot sheltered from the rain promised by morning and the wind.
While I wandered the forest looking for shelter, the sun had already set.
Soon, one clone dispersed, reporting a cave two kilometers south of me.
Moving there, I and the clones scouted the area and successfully claimed the cave. Unpacking, I stuffed Sasuke, who was shivering hard, into a sleeping bag. He had no serious wounds, so he'd manage for now. Sakura was another story. She'd lost about a liter of blood.
All her clothes were soaked in blood, and I had to change her somehow. Shoving aside embarrassment and shame, I managed... Luckily, her stuff had spare underwear and athletic shorts, but I had to give her my T-shirt and wear a white tank top myself. Naturally, I bothered to wipe her down a bit with clean cloth. In the process, I noticed she was burning up. Thermometer showed over 40°C. Sasuke was bad too, but 39.5—he'd cope. Gave him a shot of some local paracetamol-like stuff... Her too, but after half an hour of compress changes every ten minutes, I realized if Sasuke had eased a bit, she wasn't getting any better.
Clones finished setting traps. Several tripwires around, a small pit with a full mine from my last three explosive seals, plus leftover nails from my backpack. Also, one branch an enemy might jump on was thoughtfully sawed by me, with fishing line tied to the edge. Yank hard, and under enemy weight, the branch would definitely crash down.
"Kurama!" I woke the fox. "You said she'd live? To me, she's getting worse..."
"Don't yell. Not everyone can adapt even to a small dose of my chakra, but here the poison's doing more harm. I gave her strength to resist, but it depends on the body too."
"And if that's not enough?"
"50/50. If she survives the night. But she lost too much blood and weakened significantly."
"So she might die? From poison or what?"
"I nearly destroyed the poison, but consequences nothing removes. Now just wait. Or call someone with healing power..."
"Right!" flashed in my head.
I immediately created several shadow clones and sent three groups of three in different directions with orders to find Kabuto.
If anyone can help, it's him.
"Aaargh..." Sasuke started waking and tried to rise, but I stopped him.
"Lie down already..."
"Y-you!" he said frightened, eyes widening to the limit. "N-Nine-Tails!" He jerked up and tried to pull away from me.
"Don't be scared. It's Naruto again." I said. "The Nine-Tails went to crash—what I advise you too."
"Why should I believe you?!" Sasuke said frightened.
"Because we swore, Sasuke. Remember? You're my sworn brother, and I hope nothing changes that."
"Naruto?" he asked. "Really you? You suppressed the demon fox?"
"Suppressed? No... More like negotiated."
"Negotiated?"
"Not important now. We're safe for now; we can rest."
"The hell we are, in this forest! Cough-cough..." He grimaced in pain, spitting some blood. "Damn..."
"Don't strain. I sent clones for Kabuto. Sakura's still bad, though her wound's healed."
"You healed such a wound?"
"The Nine-Tails..." I said, closing my eyes.
"Damn... Mind-blowing. But can we trust Kabuto?"
"No other options. We need help to survive here."
Trying to stand, Sasuke finally realized he'd best lie till morning. He couldn't stand and quickly fell asleep lying back.
My energy charge was enough to feel normal, maybe even enough for a fight.
Though I'm not sure I could handle Sound kids now, but worst case, ask Kurama. If, as I recall, no full squad gathers here...
Thanks to ANBU guys for good training spotting tails.
Nearer dawn, I spotted observation from a fallen thick oak—handy hiding spot, only trap my mine.
"Fine..." Exiting the cave, I shouted their way. "Hide-and-seek's over! Come out!"
A bandaged one jumped onto the oak trunk.
A cocky gypsy-looking kid sat on a branch to the right, not far from the sawn one. Behind the bandaged in shadow, a young girl barely visible, maybe a bit older than me.
"Ha! Who taught you to set traps?" With that, the 14-ish gypsy kid jumped from the branch, tossing an explosive kunai at the one I'd sawn mid-air, destroying my trap.
"Zaku... Don't underestimate the opponent. This guy's considered a generation genius on par with the Uchiha!"
"Pfft, look at his mug? Less brains than a cockroach. Right, mustache?! What's with the wrinkles?!" He shouted provocations landing on ground and backing up facing me. He stopped five steps from my mine, and I squatted smirking.
"Better shut up..." I said and sharply yanked the line, detonating the mine from three seals at once. Blast was solid; should've hit him for sure. Behind me, I felt Sasuke jolt awake too and should join the fight I started sans prelude.
Gathering chakra, I charged the opponent fifty meters away who'd conveniently fallen from the blast. Hoped shrapnel wounded him. But no luck. Zaku was rising to one knee. Bandaged ran to intercept, rolling up sleeve exposing his speaker glove.
"Dosu! Back! I'll cover him with a wave!" Zaku yelled, slowing his teammate—and rightly so. Several mini fireballs flew at him.
Spotting the attack into stance, he activated the glove with a sound wave dispersing the flames, but shuriken hid under fire cover, and he noticed too late. He blocked some with glove, but about four hit, and I ran straight at Zaku's face knowing his hand blast would blow me away.
But I sensed something else too...
After the Orochimaru fight, our teamwork with Sasuke reached a whole new level. I felt him from behind using shadow replacement and gathering chakra in hands. Probably for fire shield.
Using Body Flicker Technique, I leaped up several meters, swapping with Sasuke. Unsynchronized, we pulled off group replacement. Mid-air, I pushed off the shadow clone as usual.
Zaku blasted full force from both hands, but couldn't compare to Orochimaru's wind nature.
Sasuke's shield cracked but held. Zaku flinched at sudden flames nearly singeing his brows and stopped, surprised to see not me but heavily breathing Sasuke on one knee before him.
"Huh? Awake?" Zaku raised hands again. His right arm lightly shrapnel-wounded. Small forehead cut, clothes blast-torn. Likely concussed too from yelling louder.
He clearly planned to repeat, but Sasuke's words stopped him.
"Idiot, something's behind you..." Right then I landed behind him and spun a full-force punch to his face. My best face shot ever. It spun him, flying three meters before crashing.
Girl jumped to oak trunk trying to throw needles, but her arm was caught. I calmly exited cave knowing backup near.
Kabuto masterfully did shadow replacement. Even from behind, she didn't sense him. He struck under knee, elbowed her back, wrenched arm behind. Then pressed kunai to her throat.
"Surrender, Sound kids! Shouldn't test techniques on me..."
Dosu, about to fight Sasuke, glanced away a second—suddenly three Sasuke around via phantom clones. Dosu tried hand-to-hand several times, but Sasuke smartly distracted with running phantoms and copied Lee's chin strike from Guy, launching opponent up. No follow-up; Dosu got the first hit's message—advantage lost. Barely somersaulted to feet.
My punch wasn't enough for Zaku alone.
Sitting up, he raised hands at me and Sasuke behind.
"Die!" he spat blood from mouth.
Didn't expect such zeal from him; thought they'd stop with Kabuto's arrival, but even Dosu, drawing second kunai prepping Sasuke attack, seemed to say they didn't care about the hostage.
Sharply thrusting hands out, I gathered chakra in them, spinning multidirectionally, ramping speed and pressure fast.
Rasengan's basically just chakra shape control. Effort to hit even one-third real rasengan from both hands against Zaku's blast wave.
Zaku's chakra and mine clashed. Fucking hard and painful. Chakra in my feet let me hold.
Blast wave dispersed, but at cost of my hands. Nails ripped out, palms chakra-burned, recoil throbbed bones to shoulders.
"What the hell?! How?!" Zaku screamed trying to stand. I lunged. Hands temporarily out, barely movable, but legs... Full soccer kick to head, knocking the asshole out.
Dosu threw two kunai one-handed at Sasuke, who raised one arm while sealing fire nature with other. Flames insufficient for Dosu but enough to deflect kunai. Sasuke charged, sliding under glove-hand strike.
Light knee sweep dropping him, Sasuke pounced top, grabbed kunai mid-slide, wrenched glove arm stabbing speaker.
"Aaarggh!" Bandaged screamed from shock as device pierced. Sasuke jolted too, but weaker.
"You lost!" I summed up and walked to Dosu.
Continuing to hold his arm in the lock, Sasuke rummaged into his pouch and, finding the Scroll of Earth there, tossed it to me. I caught the scroll with difficulty and nearly dropped it.
"This, I think I'll keep for myself, and if you see Orochimaru again..." Kabuto's eyes widened, but only for a moment, while Dosu didn't hide his surprise. "Tell him..." I leaned in close to his ear and whispered.
"Sasuke Uchiha is under my protection. If he ignores this warning, he'll experience the full wrath of the Nine-Tails fox on himself!"
"Understood." He said after ten seconds. "We're leaving. Let her go." He nodded toward the girl.
"Maybe I should just kill her to teach you to respect your elders, huh?" Kabuto said calmly and coldly.
"Y-you..." Dosu said angrily.
"Kabuto, please... Let them get the hell out of here. There's no need for killing."
"Ha! You're too soft, Naruto." He said, twirling a kunai showily on his finger before holstering it on his leg. With a snort, he let the girl go.
Dosu admitted defeat and promised we'd meet again at the exams and that he wasn't planning to give up so easily. Picking up the unconscious Zaku, he and the girl hurriedly scrammed.
"Thanks for responding, Kabuto. Looks like I owe you now."
"Nah." He said, scratching the back of his head. "I'll need a favor from you in return, so I'm not helping for free, and scaring off those Sound ninja was a nice bonus. Come on, let's check out your hands..."
"They'll heal..." I waved him off. "Help her instead... Before it's too late."
Kabuto went into the cave and immediately began examining Sakura, who was still unconscious.
Adjusting his glasses several times and putting on a wise expression during the examination, at the end he double-checked her pulse at the neck and on her forearm at the wrist.
"Overall, it's clear... Naruto, Sasuke, what's your blood type?"
***
Read the story months ahead of the public release — early chapters are available on my Patreon: patreon.com/Granulan