Chunin Exam: Forest of Death Part 2
Sasuke had hidden both Naruto and Suki deep inside of a fallen tree before placing several traps outside where their purpose wasn't to attack the enemy. They were made to discreetly warn Sasuke that there were people out there without telling the enemy that he knew.
He looked over at Naruto but couldn't tell the exact reason why he was knocked out. He couldn't find any injuries that were dangerous enough to be the cause of it. However, he did remember seeing Orochimaru jab his hand into his stomach. When he checked that, he didn't find anything.
It left him completely confused and unsure how he was supposed to help him if he didn't even know the reason why he was like this.
He looked at Suki next.
Other than a few scrapes and that mark on her shoulder, there was nothing wrong with her either. Besides a slight fever she seemed to be running.
Sasuke gripped his hands while staring at the mark, feeling rage that it was even in a similar pattern to their Sharingan. He couldn't make heads or tails of what it was used for, but could connect the dots himself that her condition was due to said mark.
He quickly spun and threw a kunai.
It stuck into the ground in front of a squirrel. It stopped and quickly ran away.
His eyes narrowed. 'Someone placed an explosive tag on the back of that squirrel.'
It was quiet for a few moments before he heard movement.
"So, you're Sasuke Uchiha?" A man with over half of his face covered in white bandages asked.
Sasuke grabbed a kunai in his left hand.
"And what of it?"
Next to speak was the man with some kind of metal protector that wrapped around the top and sides of his face.
"Well, it's good to know who we are killing."
They charged forward.
Sasuke quickly slashed through several wires, causing a large amount of shuriken and kunai to fly at the three.
The boy with the metal protector swung his arms forward before doing something that caused all of the weapons that were flying at them to scatter.
The three of them continued their charge, causing Sasuke to activate his Sharingan.
And saw a figure quickly moving to intercept them.
"Leaf Whirlwind!"
Sasuke could see that it was Lee and he spun himself multitudes of times, kicking all three away.
The three seemed to pay attention to Lee before the mummy man threw a black Earth scroll to his teammate.
"Zaku, you can deal with Sasuke-kun. I'll deal with him."
"Sure thing Dosu." Zaku told him.
Dosu charged Lee and threw a punch, only for Lee to duck and and kick him into the air. Lee jumped after him before wrapping Dosu in his bandages that he had on his arms before flipping them over.
"Initial Lotus!"
Sasuke, seeing Zaku about to do something, charged at him, only for their third female team member to get in the way by making a wall of dirt.
Lee and Dosu slammed into the ground, causing dirt to fly into the air and Lee to jump backwards, creating space between them.
"Made it." Zaku muttered before Dosu stood up, only a bit hurt.
"That hurt despite the spongy dirt." Dosu commented. "That is a rather strong technique."
He charged at Lee, who couldn't get out of the way due to the strain the Initial Lotus put on his muscles before being hit.
He was disorientated.
"Lee! Your ear!" Sasuke warned, blocking a kick from the girl and ducking under a blast of either sound or air. He hadn't determined which just yet.
Lee held his left ear, feeling blood, telling him it may have been a ruptured ear drum.
"By rupturing your ear drums, my vibrations can travel further in and attack your inner ear membrane. When something strikes that, it causes you to lose your balance. You won't be moving the way you want for a little while." Dosu told.
Dosu looked behind Lee, seeming to finally acknowledge the rest of the people in the area.
"Well, it may be entertaining to see how Sasuke-kun reacts after we kill his teammates."
Lee's eyes widened, quickly understanding just why Sasuke seemed to be fighting alone.
His teammates couldn't.
Dosu dashed forward, intending on attacking the two, until Lee quickly moved in the way. "What!?"
"Leaf Spinning Wind!"
Lee spun himself before slamming the heel of his right leg into Dosu's side.
Or planned to at least.
Just as he about did, his body slightly lost its balance causing it to stop his attack.
"You worried me for a second." Dosu told before slamming his arm into Lee, who blocked it with his arms. "It doesn't matter if you block it. This gauntlet on my arm acts similar to a speaker and enhances the sound. And I can use my chakra to control the direction of the sound!"
No later, did Lee get struck in the ear by said sound, causing him to drop to the ground.
"I'll finish you off now."
"Lee!" Sasuke exclaimed.
"Pay attention to your fight!" Zaku exclaimed, pointing his hands at Sasuke.
Sasuke jumped into the air before forming signs.
"Fire Style: Great Fireball!"
He shot a large fireball at the two before grabbing kunai from his pouch and throwing them at Dosu, causing him to back away from Lee.
He was blasted in the side, sending him flying through the air before he righted himself and charged back, now having to protect three people instead of two.
'Damn, I could take out 1 of them quickly, but that would leave these three undefended for too long. By the time I finished one, they will reach both of them.' Sasuke determined.
He formed signs quickly.
"Lightning Style: Lightning Orbs!"
About 12 orbs appeared around him before 4 shot after each of them.
Not letting up, he continued forming signs.
"Fire Style: Multi Fireball!"
He shot out several small fireballs in a large area.
He huffed slightly, using all that chakra all at once strained his chakra pathways slightly.
He stayed on guard, waiting for any of the three, only to feel the ground shift under him, as if becoming like sand where his feet started to sink.
He jumped slightly backwards, only to feel a stream of vibrations slam into his chest, sending him to the ground and falling to his knees, his breath slightly ragged.
Vibrations don't mix well with lungs.
"Is this it?" Dosu asked. "I truly expected more from you. Finish him." He told Zaku.
Zaku pointed his hands at Sasuke but jumped to the side, dodging a few kunai.
Suddenly, Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji appeared between them.
Not too long after them, Neji and Tenten appeared on a branch further up.
Neji looked down at Lee and narrowed his eyes.
"You've made a mistake. That knocked out guy down there is our teammate." Neji activated his Byakugan, causing veins around his eyes to become more pronounced. "If you continue to fight, I'll have to go all out against you."
"Just more cockroaches, one after the other." Dosu muttered annoyed.
Neji's eyes suddenly widened before deactivating his Byakugan.
"Oh? After all that talk you're going to do nothing?"
"I don't seem to need to. For the record, I almost pity you."
Sasuke felt a hand on his shoulder.
"For she likely won't."
"Suki." Sasuke voice sounded throughout the area.
That caused everyone to look back and see Suki.
Her Mangekyou Sharingan seemed to be blazing red, which stuck out against the strange black flame-like markings that covered her shoulder and the right side of her face. Anyone in the area that could feel chakra, all came to the conclusion that her chakra felt very dark.
Only...Sasuke recognized the dark feeling of her chakra.
Suki seemed to look over the area before landing on Lee.
"Sasuke." Her voice, despite being relatively quiet, boomed across the area. "Who did this to you and Lee?"
Sasuke couldn't say anything in shock at the markings on her.
She swung her eyes back to him. "Who."
It was no longer a question, but a command.
"That would be us." Zaku told.
Her eyes went to Zaku.
"Ino! Get back to your body! Choji!" Shikamaru yelled.
Early on, Ino had used her clan's jutsu to take control of the girl which left her body vulnerable.
The girl seemed to change as Ino left the body, giving her control of her own body again.
"Zaku! Get back!" Dosu exclaimed.
"No need! I can take down a little girl." He swung both arms forward. "Ultimate Blast!"
A large amount of air pressure shot forward at them.
*BOOM*
A large carved line had appeared in front of Zaku with Suki and Sasuke no where in sight.
"See? Nothing to worry abo-" He had started before feeling something wasn't right.
He looked down at his hands.
Or hand.
His left arm had been cut off from the elbow.
"No, I don't think you do see." A voice told him. He saw a hand in his peripherals. "You likely won't again."
He felt said hand place itself over his eye before screaming in pain.
As his eye burned and boiled.
"Now, were you the one that hurt Lee as well? Or was that one of your teammates?" She asked.
He couldn't answer because he was still screaming.
"I asked you a question."
She slammed her foot into his back and grabbed his other arm.
"And you better answer it before I decide to just turn you to ash."
"Wait!" Dosu yelled, causing Suki to look at him.
He held out an Earth scroll. "Let us go and it's all yours. No fight."
Suki just stared at him.
"What's to stop me from simply killing you three and taking it?"
The other teams nearby couldn't believe that this was Suki. She never seemed the type to be able to say such a thing nonchalantly.
'Somethings up with Suki. My money is on those troublesome markings.' Shikamaru thought.
Sasuke clamped a hand on her shoulder.
"Let's just take the scroll. Our mission will be complete once we do so."
She glanced at him.
Her Mangekyou meeting his, now, three tomoe Sharingan.
She didn't say a word before grabbing and pulling the boy to his feet.
"Throw the scroll and you'll get him back." She then narrowed her eyes. "Don't try and argue. You're in no position to."
Dosu threw the scroll to Sasuke.
She then threw Zaku to Dosu.
"Next time we meet-"
"You better pray to whoever or whatever you believe in that we never meet as enemies." She cut him off. "If so, I can promise that there will not be another meeting after."
Dosu grabbed Zaku before disappearing, retreating with their teammate.
Suki looked over and saw Zaku's dismembered hand.
"Amaterasu."
She only weakly used it and quickly burnt it to ash.
Sasuke watched as the marks started moving and centered at the mark on her shoulder.
Her Mangekyou also deactivated and she took a slight step backward.
"Ugh." She muttered, feeling like some of her energy was sapped.
"You back?" Sasuke asked.
"Yeah, just give me a moment." She told.
A groan nearby caused to look and see Naruto getting up.
Suki held her hand out where Sasuke gave her the scroll.
She placed it in her storage seal on her left shoulder.
They now had both scrolls and both were sealed on her, making it more difficult for anyone trying to take their scrolls.
"We make for the tower in 15." Suki told. "Since it is only the third day, we should be able to get there without running into too many enemies."
Sasuke nodded.
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1 hour later
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"Here we are." Suki muttered as they looked at the tower.
It was a giant tower that they could likely see out of the forest if they climbed all the way up.
Sasuke walked forward and opened the doors before they all walked in.
As they reached the middle of the room, Naruto spotted text on the wall.
"Without Heaven?" Naruto read aloud.
With a soft pop, two scrolls fell into Suki's hands.
She handed the Earth Scroll to Naruto.
"We open them at the same time."
"3, 2, 1..." Sasuke counted down before a large poof appeared in the middle of the now opened scroll.
When the smoke went away, it revealed Iruka.
"Iruka-sensei?!" Naruto exclaimed.
"Man, looks like you three took a beating." Iruka told, giving them a glance over. "Congratulations you three."
"You passed the second stage of the Chunin Exams."
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That ends the Forest of Death.
Next chapter: Preliminaries?