Chapter 10
"A seal," Jiraiya rubbed his chin at his sensei's idea.
"It is the only way," and it was luck then that Jiraiya was in the village, for with Minato and Kushina gone he was perhaps the only Fuinjutsu master in the village.
His sensei knew his way around the art, but he was not a master. But Jiraiya was.
"Until he has adapted to his newfound Kekkei Genkai, you should design a seal that limits the chakra to his eyes to the absolute limit and let him recover," and that seemed to be the most sound idea.
"To restrict the flow of chakra into the ocular pathways," but it was easier said than done. The ocular pathways were perhaps the most intricate of all the chakra networks, and if the amount of chakra passing through was too little or too erratic it could destroy his eyes.
"I can design the seal, but I don't have the control or the finesse to apply it to such an area," he whispered, and his sensei must have reached the same conclusion.
"I can think of only person who can help you with that," and they both knew her name, and normally getting Tsunade to help with such a thing would be a chore.
"Well then it is a good thing the idiot is one of her prized students," and just as Jiraiya whispered that, an angry and frustrated Tsunade Senju walked into the Konoha Hospital, to a rather surprised crowd.
"WHERE IS THAT IDIOT!"
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SASUKE UCHIHA
They were alive.
He could not believe it for a second, but they were alive. They had managed to survive whatever this was. The intervention from the proctor had made it clear that this was not part of the regular exam and that the shinobi who had attacked them was no ordinary genin.
Still, Sasuke had thought their lives forfeit when the monster had survived his attacks and he had poured all of his power into his retaliation after Naruto had fallen but yet somehow he had managed to survive even that.
If it was not for Sakura, then he would not be standing here.
And that had been another surprise. The two of them quickly found a safe place to rest, and Sasuke wasted no time in laying out the traps as he left Sakura with the unconscious form of Naruto.
He returned shortly after, and by then Sakura had made herself a splint for her broken arm. And just a week ago, she had been nothing more than a simple bookworm, and while her basics were strong he knew for a fact that she did not possess any of her newfound prowess.
"You are back Sasuke-kun," she greeted him, and he walked to her side.
"Let me help with that," and began to help with the splint, and the bones in her forearm were shattered, and a splint was but a half measure.
She was practically out of the exam, but he believed that they would be fine as long as they did not face another such threat.
"There," he finished tying up the splint as the girl winced, and he turned towards the blonde still lying there unconscious, and finally he let himself fall to the ground.
"I can't believe we survived that," the pink haired girl added, and he turned towards her.
"Only because of you," and if it was not her intervention Sasuke would not be sitting here, and she blushed at the compliment and it bothered her a bit less than it used to.
"Still, what was that?" he asked, and she had defeated not just one but two of his summons, and the power in that last punch was enough to blow apart an entire tree.
"It's something Gojo-sensei taught me," she answered, and there was that name again.
Gojo Hatake. Sasuke had heard it before, and after raking his mind he was certain of one thing. He had been there that night.
He did not know why, or how but he remembered his hair. He remembered Itachi's whisper.
Kakashi sensei's brother had confronted Itachi on that night, and Sasuke intended to find out why.
"But I have barely scratched the surface," she laughed, as she rubbed her head.
"I shattered my bones trying to use it, and my punch could only do like ten percent of the damage sensei's strike could do," and even then it was rather impressive.
"I am still rather useless," and that was a lie.
The only one useless here was Sasuke. He had let that bastard's genjutsu affect him. He had let fear control him.
"No," he cut in as his fists balled up.
"You are not useless," he assured her, and the exams had made one thing clear to him.
Sasuke was not ready to face Itachi yet. No. He needed to become stronger. Much stronger for that.
"Really," the girl asked, and just as he turned to nod he felt an attack coming towards them.
"AIR CUTTER!"
"Get down," he ordered as his hands hit the ground in a blink.
BOOOOOM!
The attack tore through the ground, as an Earthen wall came out of the ground to protect them, and Sasuke had not been sitting idle over the last few weeks himself.
Kakashi had put him and Naruto through a ringer himself, and he was getting rather tired of being underestimated.
"Haa. It seems like you have gotten rusty Zaku," a girl's taunting voice cut through the air as Sasuke lowered the Earthen wall, and found himself facing a trio from Otogakure.
"Don't worry. I will end them with the next strike," and Sakura tried to stand up, but Sasuke told her to sit down.
"Rest," he said as he walked out of the cave, and put himself between his team and the trio, as his chakra roared with his rage and the world shifted in a blink as the Sharingan made its appearance.
"His eyes. They have changed," one of them whispered, and he wore huge gauntlets on his arms.
"It makes me feel bad bullying a kid like this," the one with the wild hair taunted, and Sasuke cracked his neck and in the next blink he was behind him, and before he could even fully turn he smashed his foot into his face and sent him flying into a tree as he the other two jumped back.
BOOOOM!
"Zaku!" "Zaku!" they called out in alarm, as Sasuke faced them both with a menacing glare.
"Who exactly is the one getting bullied here?"
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GOJO HATAKE
The second Exam finished, and the results were not much surprising to him. Mitarashi Anko failed in capturing her former teacher, and the second round came to an end with two members of Team Kakashi making it to the third and final round.
Sakura could have advanced further herself, but the girl made him proud by choosing to forfeit her match against the Oto-nin because of her shattered arm. A few rounds remained, but the results were more or less final already as he found himself facing a rather interesting visitor.
"You are supposed to be at the exams as a guest," and the Third Hokage sat opposite to him, and it had been years since the two of them had sat down like this.
"I believe one round still remains," Gojo whispered and those eyes narrowed.
"Huh, so you really can see it all," and the man had sent a clone to the exams, and usually that would be risky but the Professor's clone jutsu was so refined that Gojo doubted that it would make any difference.
"Would you mind telling me the results?" and he would only learn of them once his clone had dispersed itself.
"It has gone just as you hoped. Most of the clan kids were able to make it to the final round, along with a few of our guests from Sunagakure," and only a fool would think that the exams were fair.
It was an open secret that the Exams were always manipulated, and the purpose was to highlight and push forward your own next generation while projecting the incompetence of the other villages.
This was why most of the genin in the final round belonged to Konoha, while no shinobi from any other village except Suna had managed to make it past the second round.
"What about your own apprentice?" the old man asked, and Gojo's eyes narrowed behind his mask.
"She forfeited her match," and the smile on his face must have surprised.
"You seem rather proud of that," and he was.
"She made the best choice for herself," and if she had let pride, or loyalty cloud her judgement she could continued on despite her injury but she had prioritised herself, and Gojo was proud of that.
"But what of the village? Did she make the best choice for the village by forfeiting her match?" and that was a direct challenge to him as Gojo answered back sharply.
"Did you?" he countered, and that was why he was here.
By now, he must have been given the report about Orochimaru's sighting and what that meant. The village defences had failed to stop the man, and the old Hokage knew well the devastation his former student could bring.
The Snake Sanin may lack the pure destructive power of his teammates, but his wicked nature and complete disregard for morals and sanity made him a greater threat than any other person.
And with the failure of the defences, the Hokage was now looking at the only person who could stop the man from destroying the village.
"I know that you do not agree with my choices, but I have only ever acted in the best interests of this village," Hiruzen Sarutobi countered.
"I am afraid I do not quite agree," Gojo answered back, and the Hokage's eyes narrowed.
"So, you will not help the village in its time of need?" and that was why he was here, to seek his help to stop the Snake Sanin.
"I am retired," Gojo countered, and everyone knew that was a hoax.
"Sakumo would have laid dow...." and that crossed a line, as Gojo's chakra roared forth, and filled the room. Hiruzen was quick to react, and the clash of their chakra only was enough to make the table in between them crack.
"Do not speak of my father," Gojo warned, and they did not deserve to speak of him.
"He was a true shinobi," Hiruzen continued.
"What happened to him was a tragedy, but Sakumo Hatake remained loyal to the village despite his suffering," and the cracks spread, as Gojo's fists challenged.
"And what did he get in return for his loyalty. Betrayal!" he countered as the old man's lips thinned.
"In many ways, he suffered the same fate as everyone loyal to this village has. You failed to protect him, just as you failed the Senju and the Uchiha," and in his reign Konoha's most influential clans had become a shell of themselves.
"Yet you did not even hesitate to protect your dear old traitorus friends, even as he feasted on the corpses of the Uchiha nin who were killed on your order," and Hiruzen's face paled slightly as he reminded him of Danzo's crimes.
"I never gave that order," he defended himself weakly.
"But you did nothing to stop it either," and they pulled back their chakra as the old man sighed and he had nothing to offer in his defence.
"I am old now. You think of me as some kind of monster, but I have only ever tried to do right by this village," and Gojo could remember the younger Hiruzen Sarutobi from more than a decade ago.
"I have failed in that duty, but I only ever wished to see Konoha prosper," and he did not quite believe it.
"Why are you here?" Gojo asked, and he had no reason to come here. Jiraiya must have told him of his intentions already, and while Gojo would not betray the village by helping out Orochimaru, he had no intentions of helping them out either.
Not as long as Danzo Shimura and the rest drew their breath.
"I have come here to seek your help in protecting this village," and he was looking directly into his eyes now.
"I believe you already know the answer to that," Gojo countered.
"Even if I were to promise you your desire..."
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