Chapter 9
"He is dying," and Sarutobi was surprised by those words, for while Hatake's injuries were rather brutal, they did not seem life threatening to him.
"How?" he wondered, and Jiraiya gave a deep sigh.
"The Sharingan itself drains quite a lot of chakra, but Gojo's chakra has always been special," and Hiruzen knew of that. Sakumo's youngest child had been born with a rather drastic chakra imbalance. His yin chakra was nearly a hundred times that of his yang chakra.
Imbalances were not rare, but such a drastic imbalance was not the norm. But in another way, it was a symbol of his genius for yin represented the mind, intelligence and so forth.
"His body sensed the foreign nature of the Sharingan and simply flooded the foreign tissue with concentrated yin chakra, changing the entire nature of the Kekkei Genkai," and Hiruzen rubbed his chin at that.
"The Hatake have always had rather fluid and adaptable chakra," and while most shinobi could master chakra natures apart from their natural affinity, such a thing was much easier for those of the Hatake blood given the more flexible nature of their chakra.
"We can only guess how it happened, but somehow the idiot ended up creating a whole new Kekkei Genkai unique to himself," and even his older brother had not ended up in such a way, and that just went to show the talent and genius of the younger son.
"A rather terrifying one at that," Hiruzen answered, and that explained all his newfound abilities.
"Still that thing is a major drain on his reserves, and given the fact that he cannot turn off those eyes as he is not an Uchiha, unless something is done about them the boy could die," and while his death would solve many of his worries, Sarutobi knew that the village could not handle such a loss of talent.
Not now. They had just lost the Uchiha clan, and while Hatake may hate him and Danzo, he was his father's son. He would protect the village, and so in that moment he made his decision.
"I have an idea..."
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SAKURA HARUNO
The first phase of the Exam had been rather surprising. The questions had been really hard, but what had been most surprising about it was the premise of it. She had nearly thought about forfeiting the exam herself to protect her teammates, but the Naruto had made his speech.
The idiot had managed to luck his way into the next part and this time luck would have little role to play in the exam.
It had been half a day since they had entered into the forest of death, and they had been ambushed once already by a ninja from Ame trying to trick them with his transformation jutsu. But thankfully Sasuke-kun was able to see through his plan.
There was a reason he was the best student in their class.
In the end they decided to use a password to avoid any other such incident, only to be ambushed a second time by a massive futon ninjutsu, and once more they were quick to separate and hide.
She hid away in the bushes until she heard Sasuke-kun's signal and jumped out of the trees, and came together with him.
"Are you fine, Sakura?" and she nodded, and the jutsu had been rather devastating but they were able to save themselves.
"Hey guys, I hope you are fine," Naruto came rushing in but Sakura was quick to stop him.
"Naruto, wait!" and the blonde stopped.
"The password," she reminded him and he stopped.
"Oh," and then he began to recite it, as Sakura felt her shoulders come down.
But out of nowhere, Sasuke-kun threw a kunai at him forcing him to jump to the side.
"HEY WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" Naruto screamed.
"Why are you attacking him, Sasuke-kun? He just told us the password," and he had been right.
"Do you really think a fool like Naruto could remember all that?" he asked, and it all clicked together at once as her head snapped towards the blonde in question.
"Plus, his movements when he avoided my attack. This is not Naruto at all," and Sakura's heart began to race as she prepared herself for battle, as Naruto pushed himself off of the ground as Sasuke-kun raised his kunai.
"Who are you?" and the blonde smirked.
"Impressive," he whispered, before a cloud of smoke erupted and the pretender revealed her true form. It was a kunoichi from Kusagakure.
"You knew your friend would forget the password, yet you still refused to make it smaller," and they were both ready to face him.
The kunoichi. She seemed too strange.
"Are you here for our scroll?" she asked, and she smirked and took out a scroll out of her pocket.
"This is not a battle about scrolls," and it was an Earth scroll, just the one they needed but then she saw her put the scroll into her mouth and swallow it whole like a snake.
"This is a battle for life and death," and suddenly she felt the air thicken as foreign chakra poured into her body, and she felt a kunai pierce through her head as her breathing became labored.
Genjutsu.
And it was not just a regular one at that. No. This was at least a B-grade technique. The scenery. The smells. The way the jutsu had overwhelmed her entire being.
This was not just a usual genjutsu, and some days ago she might have been helpless against it.
But not now, as she closed her eyes and used her control to isolate the foreign chakra flushed into her networks.
Both her and Sasuke-kun were on the ground as their bodies trembled from the shock. She saw Sasuke-kun force himself back to his feet as she saw the Kusa-nin reach into her pocket.
"Can't move already?" she taunted, and there was bloodlust in her tone. Pure. Unadultered blood lust.
But Sasuke-kun took out a kunai, as the woman smirked.
"What do you intend to do with that?" and she was nearly done with breaking the genjutsu.
"Don't worry I will end this quickly," and at that the Kusa-nin threw the kunai towards their heands, as Sakura finished with her work.
"Kai!" she whispered, and with a thrust the foreign chakra was out of her system as she quietly reached for Sasuke-kun and pushed her chakra into his system, and he was surprised by it but without the genjutsu holding him back he was quick to parry away the kunai headed there way.
"Run!" he shouted, as she threw a smoke bomb on the ground as they both jumped away into the woods, and began to rush.
"Naruto," she asked and Sasuke-kun seemed troubled.
"We will chase after him once we are away from...," but suddenly he looked ahead.
"Watch out!" and he pulled her back behind himself as he quickly threw out a few shuriken, and she heard them hit the kunai headed their way as they landed on a tree branch, as the Kusa-nin appeared in front of them.
"You did well in breaking out of that genjutsu," and it seemed like she was not going to leave them that easily.
"But I am not quite done with you just yet," and Sakura was quick to put on the gloves from her pocket, as the Kusa-nin bit her thumb and put it on the tattoo on her arm.
"Summoning Jutsu!" and with a large cloud of smoke, a massive snake came at them, as Sasuke-kun jumped up.
"JUMP!" he said, and she followed after him, but the Snake chased after them, and she saw Sasuke-kun make a few handsigns.
"Katon:..." but before he could finish up, the Kusa-nin kicked him in the chest and sent him flying.
"You are coming with me," and they both vanished as she began to fall down right into the snake's mouth, and in that moment she felt her breath hitch as she was reminded of her newfound sensei's words.
"Why do you wish to be a kunoichi?"
And she could die now. She could die right now.
But no. She refused to give up as she spun in the air, and channelled her chakra into the tenketsu of her fist.
"I am not dying today you big bastard!" and just as the Snake opened its mouth, she swung down her fist with all her might as she caught its head.
"CHAAAAAAAA!"
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ANKO MITARASHI
Something was wrong. Something was very wrong.
Anko had bene appointed as the overseer of the second phase of the Chunin exams, and it was her duty to provide the genin with an even battleground, but given the sight in front of her she had failed in that duty.
Konoha had failed in that duty.
"That is," the ANBU besides her gasped as they stared at the liquified remains of the team from Kusa, and she could already imagine the headache this was going to cause.
But the more worrisome part was that she recognised this jutsu. She recognised it rather well, for she had seen it some dozen time with her own eyes.
"Orochimaru," she whispered, as rage burned through her entire being.
"We need to go," and now that she knew that the bastard was here, she had no choice but to intervene.
"But," and she was not listening.
"The bastard is here! Do you have any idea what that means," and the Forest of Death was vast, and they did not know about his intentions or his ambitions at all.
But the mere fact that Orochimaru was here meant that an intervention was necessary.
She had been waiting for such a day, for a long time now. The man had been her sensei once, and he had ruined her life through his defection. For years she had to endure as the specter of his defection hung over her head, and now it was her chance to be rid of that and exact her revenge.
"Go," she ordered, and the ANBU vanished into the forest as she jumped into the place herself. Given its vastness, they would have to go in alone and she preferred it that way.
She rushed through the trees, as she reached for the seal on her neck.
"I am coming for you," she whispered, and he was as dangerous a shinobi could be. She knew well that it was nearly impossible for a regular shinobi to find him, but Anko was no regular shinobi as she bit into her thumb and made a few handseals.
"Summoning jutsu," she screamed as she slapped her hand on the ground, and a plethora of snakes appeared on the ground.
"Spread out," she ordered, and snakes had a rather keen sense of hearing and no shinobi no matter how good could stop himself from making a sound.
Their senses were so sharp that they could pick up the sound of one's breathing, and so her summons spread out and some half an hour later Anko found the signal.
"Found you," she whispered, and she jumped forward, and within a few minutes she could see the signs of battle around her, and she saw a few broken trees and finally she saw him.
He stood atop a giant snake, one of his summons and was about to swallow up one of the genins, and she bit her lip.
"Shit," she cursed herself, for she was too far to help.
"Run!" she screamed but it was too late, and he was about to swallow the dark-haired kid when suddenly, another figure jumped down from above.
"CHAAAA!" and it was the girl with those obnoxious pink hair, and she thought her suicidal, but that was until her fist caught the snake's head just before it could bit down on the boy.
BOOOOOOM!
And the resulting explosion shocked her, as a gust of wind rushed out of the place as Anko jumped in.
"Sakura," and it was the Uchiha kid, as she finally recognised Orochimaru's target.
"Are fine kid?" she asked, as she jumped in front of them, kunai drawn.
"Yes," the girl barely eked out, as she held her arm, as blood dripped down from it.
"Your arm, its broken," the boy called out.
"Take your teammate and get out of here," she ordered, making the boy frown.
"Bu..."
"Just go," she ordered, and if it were any other shinobi they would died from the force of that strike, but Orochimaru was not just any other shinobi.
"Let's go Sakura," at least the boy was smart enough to realise the danger they were in.
"And listen," she whispered.
"Do not speak of this to anyone but your sensei, do you understand?" and they could not have this leaking out.
And with that the duo ran away, and as the dust cleared away the body of the Kusa-nin Orochimaru had taken over lay there, limp and lifeless on the ground.
For a second, Anko hoped that the strike had killed him, but that was all wishful thinking on her part.
Suddenly, she heard the sound of bones cracking, as she ground her teeth as the man slowly pushed himself off of the ground like a puppet.
"That technique of hers," he whispered, and a shiver ran down her spine as she heard that familiar voice.
And she saw him relocate his head, as he looked at her.
"It brings back quite some memories," and of course it would. Anko had seen such attacks many a times with her own eyes, and she knew well that he was even more familiar with them.
Afterall, the only other kunoichi to use chakra to strike in the way the girl had was Orochimaru's former teammate, the Lady Tsunade herself.
"It really is you, Orochimaru," she snarled a portion of the girl's face had been burnt away to reveal his real face underneath.
"It has been sometime, Anko...."
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And miles away, in an entirely different corner of the village Gojo stood polishing his silverware, and suddenly he stopped as a smile came on his face as he whispered into the air.
"Good job, kid...."
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