Chapter 37

"Al... Alvarcus?" Ino ask in uncertainty.

"Shit."

Instantly the hold on my mind is released. Ino retreats back to her own body, and not a moment too soon. Who knew when the Jiongu would start its attack? At least this time she made it out at least unscathed by the Jiongu. I'm sure realizing who I really am was a hefty blow.

I open my eyes to see Hiro standing over me. I collapsed when Ino's jutsu connected. She's just waking up too, the free twin is by her side. We both rise to our feet.

Her eyes are wide in hope and disbelief. "Al-"

"Earth Flow Spears!" I call out.

Spears rise out of the earth and surge towards Ino and her companion. He dodges right while she dodges left. I waste no time, I don't have any to spare. I tear across the field straight at Ino, nothing is going to stop me. I viciously attack her with taijutsu.

"Wait! Stop! I know it's you!" She dances away from me, dodging my assault.

That doesn't matter right now. What matters is that no one else can know. With a burst of speed I manage to get past her guard and sock her right in the gut. Her eyes go wide and all the air rushes out of her lungs. She doubles over in pain and is trying to breath regularly.

"Ino, I am sorry for this." I quietly say as I form a few hand signs. "Earth release: Rolling Hill." The ground beneath the downed Ino surges to life and carts her away into the forest. This has the added effect of getting her tangled up in my webs, with the speed and height she was at there's no hope to doge them.

It still isn't good enough. I need to make sure she's caught. I can't risk her not being traped, plus I also can't risk her shouting out my name. I need to gag her.

I chase after Ino and find her all tangled up in webs. I snag some webs that are nearby and make a makeshift gag. It isn't pretty and frankly is pretty gross but I don't exactly have any other options.

"You -wheeze- bastard." Ino rasps out once she knows what my plan is.

"We'll talk later."I assure her as I put the gag in place. "I promise. I'll be right back."

"MMMMPPH!" Her eyes are furious.

This is ridiculous. Sai knows who I am. Ino knows who I am. What's next? Naruto popping out of nowhere and figuring it out too? Better yet Itachi shows up and unmasks Sasuke. At this rate it could happen.

I go back to the clearing, there are still two shinobi to deal with. Or there were two shinobi to deal with, my teammates caught them. At least something is going my way today.

Ikki has trapped the Ame kunoichi in another prism barrier seal and Hiro has knocked the twin unconscious.

"Well done team. This round goes to us." I say to my teammates. The words feel hollow. We might have won the battle, but I have to deal with Sai and Ino now. That's going to be terrible, I guarantee Sai has a message from Danzo for me and I need to convince Ino to keep her mouth shut.

Fan-fucking-tastic.

Who first? Sai or Ino? Danzo's schemes or my friend's need to bring me home? Definitely Sai first, I'd rather deal with the schemes of a wannabe dictator.

"Alright Ikki, Hiro. I'm going to go chat with their leader, maybe he'll give me some information about his defenses. Might as well get a back up plan for our offense."

I make my way to the trapped Sai. He's stuck spreadeagled on a mess of webs. He's not going anywhere on his own. Once he sees me he respectfully nods his head. Unfortunately that's the only thing not stuck to a web.

"Spider." He respectfully greets me.

"Sai." I calmly respond. Freaking out here won't get me anywhere. I need to know why he's here first then I can freak out later.

"You know who I am?" His face gives nothing away, it's void of all emotion but I think I surprised him. I'm not supposed to know who he is after all.

"I know many things. I know you're part of an organization based in Konoha's ANBU unit called ROOT. I know that you're actually skilled enough to have dodge me when I lunged at you. I know that you want to talk to me. It is what I don't know that concerns me. For instance, why do you know that name? Why do you know that it is my name? What is your purpose? Sai, why are you here?"

"I'm here on orders, I'm supposed to give you a scroll." He nods towards his hip pouch.

"That's it? You came all this way, interrogated my old friends -yes I know about that too- and enrolled in the Chunin Exams on the off chance that I'd be here to give me a scroll?"

"Yes."

"Orders from who?" I want to see if he's allowed to tell me.

"Danzo-sama." So he is allowed to tell me about Danzo. Interesting. "The leader of ROOT."

Danzo does have the Hokage's office under surveillance, I always wondered if he did. That is very bad, I'll need to tell Tsunade to do a very detailed sweep for eavesdropping equipment. Actually, it's very possible that it isn't equipment but people. Danzo seals ROOT members, he could have one of them on the Hokage's bodyguard roster. Plus, what is limiting him to just one member? For all I know it could be half!

"Do you have the scroll on you?" I ask. I might as well see what is in it. Even though it is a slim chance, maybe Danzo will turn out to be on my side.

"Yes, it's in my hip pouch." He nods at it again.

Then again, it could be an elaborate ruse to kill me. I wouldn't be surprised. "I'm not going to blow up if I touch it am I?"

"I don't think so. I am not allowed to open it."

"Yay."

I reach into Sai's pouch and pull out the scroll. It's a simple one, obviously intended as a message or a very well made trap. Well, no time like the present. I open the scroll, it's a lengthy letter. Thankfully it didn't explode or something like that.

"So it's safe. I'll read it later." I roll it back up and tuck it away into one of my coats pockets. "Don't worry about taking my reply, I'll get it to him myself. Nice talking with you, but I have to go now."

"Of course."

I walk away from the trapped Sai. I wonder what Danzo wants with me? It isn't everyday you receive a hand written letter from someone like him, it has to be important. I'll figure it out later, now I have to go talk to Ino. Kami this is going to suck.

I cross through the clearing to get to Ino, she's on the opposite side from Sai. I made sure they were when I tossed them into the forest, I didn't want either of them to overhear something sensitive. As I pass Ikki and Hiro I give them a casual wave, no need to be rude.

"Hello Ino." I greet the bound and gagged Ino. She's livid. "If I take off the gag are you going to scream and yell?"

She shakes her head. The fury in her eyes doesn't lessen at all. I reach out and take off the gag.

"You son of a bitch! Alvarcus you're a despicable person! This whole time you've said nothing to us? You didn't even think to say 'Hey guys I'm alright!' Then when I figure out who you are you attack and gag me? What is wrong with you?! I think I hate you."

I raise my hands in mock surrender. "Hear me out before you judge."

"No! I don't want to listen to a thing you have to say!" Her tone is scathing, it cuts me to my core. She's still my friend. I hope.

"Too bad, you're not going anywhere." I pointedly look at her bound limbs.

"Then I'll start screaming!"

"Then the gag goes back on." I threaten her. "I don't need you to talk, I need you to listen."

"...Fine."

"Ino, you have to understand I wanted to talk to everyone. I wanted to reach out to you all, to assure you I'm okay." I calmly explain. I want her to understand, I need her to.

"Then why didn't you?" She spitefully asks.

"Because if I did then you all would try to force me back to Konoha! I can't go back, I won't abandon Sasuke to face Orochimaru by himself."

"Then we'll bring him back too! You both belong in Konoha! It's your home." She demands.

"He doesn't want to go back to Konoha. He wasn't kidnapped, he wasn't forced to go to Sound. He decided for himself, he willingly chose to go to Orochimaru for power."

"He wanted to leave? He chose to leave us? To leave me?" She sounds defeated, all of her anger is gone now. She must have thought he was kidnapped, I bet the idea that he left willingly never occurred to her.

"I'm sorry Ino, he did." I somberly confirm her fears.

"Then why did you leave? Did you abandon us too?" She accuses me with tears forming in her eyes.

"He asked me to go with him. I think it was because he didn't want to be alone again. I went missing nin to protect Sasuke, you of all people should know how fragile he really is. He needs me there, I'm the only person who will look out for him."

"So... you didn't leave us, you just went with him?" Wow, that sounds really shitty when someone says it out loud. That makes it sound like I picked Sasuke over everyone else. Well I did, but I still care about the others too.

"Basically yeah. I'm still a Konoha shinobi, I still serve her interests even if I'm wearing the wrong shinobi symbol." I flick the music notes. "Who chooses music notes? Talk about stupid."

"It does look bad." She sounds a bit happier. Happier isn't the right word, she's less distraught. She's still a long ways from happy. "Are you going to be okay?"

Bye Gina. I'll miss you. SNAP!

The only thing left is a thick reddish brown chunky paste. I did that to a child!

Hell no I'm not going to be okay. Orochimaru is a vile sadistic creature that take great pleasure in testing me and trying to figure out how I work. Not only that he loves to torture me during training, he wears a crazed grin every damn time. It gets wider with every wound he inflicts.

I don't think I'll ever be okay again.

"Me? I'll be fine. It isn't anything I can't handle." I boast with false bravado.

"You're lying. You've always been a terrible liar." She saw right through my facade.

"Dammit. I can get away with spying on Orochimaru but I can't sneak a sentence past you." Please get distracted. I don't want to explain the horrible things I've been forced to do. I want them to be buried forever.

"You're spying on Orochimaru?" She sounds skeptical. I'll give her that, it is a hard pill to swallow.

"Yep. Tsunade gets weekly reports from me and everything. Actually you should talk to her when you get back. She can fill you in on some stuff, clear some things up that I don't have time to explain."

"I... wow. That's actually really cool."

"I know right? If hell freezes over and I make it back to Konoha this better be a damn S-rank mission!"

"Leader-sama! We have a problem!" Hiro calls out to me from the clearing.

"That isn't good. I've got to go, sorry about causing you to fail the exams, but I do need to pass."

"Yeah whatever. Just go." She huffs in annoyance.

"Remember, don't tell anyone about me."

"I promise to not tell a soul. No one will find out from me."

"Good, because if people knew there's a good chance I'll be killed or have to kill everyone you tell. I really don't want that to happen. I'm taking a huge risk with letting you know about me." But I can't bring myself to silence you. I can't. I won't.

"I know, I know. Don't tell anyone I've got it!"

I rush back to the clearing. I wonder what the problem is?

"I'm back. Fill me in." I order.

"My seals are going to fade soon. They were never made for prolonged usage, they're reaching their limit." Ikki informs me.

"That's the problem? Hiro and I know earth jutsu, we'll box them in so they can't go anywhere. Simple."

"How didn't I think of that?" Hiro face palms. Huh, I didn't know that was a cultural thing in Taki. "As amazing as usual Leader-sama!"

"I'll box in the Ame kunoichi. You get the Kiri shinobi." I make my way over to the kunoichi.

"Earth Release: Triangular Prism!" I slam a hand to the ground and three walls or earth rise up and form a new cage around the still imprisoned kunoichi.

I rejoin Ikki and Hiro next to our flagpole.

"There, all done. Like I said, simple."

"So, how do you think our attackers are doing?" Ikki asks.

"They'll be fine. I'm confident in Leader-sama's plan." Hiro boldly states.

"We can always find out. Summoning Jutsu!"

POOF

"Sup Green. How's everything been on your end?" Shirokumo asks once the smoke clears.

"Good. We've caught two different groups. How goes the offense?"

"Two groups? Not bad! Glad the Weavers came through, they're a finicky bunch. Anyways, the rest of your group should be here in about ten minutes. They had some difficulty getting to the White team's flag, but in the end they came out on top."

"White team? That's one of the groups we caught." Ikki adds to our conversation.

"Sucks to be them." I feel bad for Ino, her team had it rough. Not only did the offense fail but so did their defense.

"Yeah, it was a good call to have a seven/three split. I really should go meet up with them, they have no hope of getting through the webs on their own." Shirokumo says.

"Go ahead. We'll be fine here." I assure him. He scampers off into the forest.

We wait in silence for the rest of our group to come back.

"Did you miss us?" Temari cockily asks the moment she's back in the clearing. She's wearing the White team's flag like a cape. She's really full of herself.

Her group is a little worse for the wear, they've definitely been in a fight. There's cuts, scrapes and bruises on everyone, but they also have the most ridiculous grins plastered onto their faces.

"Not really. It was a lot quieter when you were gone." I jest back to her. "I take it everything went well? No problems?"

"Nothing major. They were really disorganized, there was no teamwork at all."

"Well that sounds boring."

"It was. Kind of a let down really. I expected this grand showdown but we spent more time traveling than we did fighting. How'd your side go? Any problems?"

"Oh, you know nothing major." Just had my secret identity revealed to two people and had to convince one of my friends to not tell anyone else and I got a letter from the leader of Konoha's underworld black ops division that I still need to read. "We did catch two teams."

"That explains the yelling we heard coming back through your webs. Really glad we're on the same side for this, I don't think I could have gotten through them without a guide."

"What, if we weren't on the same team would you have come for my flag?"

"Probably. You have a bone to pick with Suna, I would have loved to knock you out." She nonchalantly says.

"There's no way in hell I would choose to go against this guy." The Kiri shinobi on my team says. "I was near him in the first exam."

"I wouldn't want to either." The Ame gennin adds. "Sound sent two gennin, they've got to be good. Really good. Orochimaru is a lot of things, but stupid isn't one of them."

"Good doesn't do Leader-sama's skill justice!" Hiro happily chimes in. That kid is obsessed with me. "He's crazy fast! You should have seen it, he blew past everyone to attack White team's leader. And when he got there all he did was throw him into the forest!"

"Really?" Temari asks. "That sounds..."

"Lame?" I don't think I like the Ame shinobi anymore.

"Lame." Temari agrees. "You just tossed him in the forest?"

"Well... yeah. My webs more specifically." Everyone is looking at me in disappointment. "Did you expect me to use high level jutsu on them or something? I didn't want to kill them, I just needed them out of the way. I went to all that work setting up the webs, how could I not use them? Besides, tossing them into a web is way easier than knocking them out."

"It's still lame." Temari isn't convinced.

"Hey, Hyuuga. Tell me how many people are caught in my webs. Go on, tell me." I deserve to gloat about my summons.

Hinata turns beet red. Huh, she must not like the spotlight. She activates her Byakugan and meekly replies, "Seven. You've trapped seven shinobi." She pauses. "Is that Ino and Sai?"

"See! Eight shinobi caught by myself! Impressive right?" My summons are amazing! Could I have taken all eight gennin alone without using something that would give me away? Probably, but this way I never have to face them! They're defeated without a single punch.

"Did you hurt Ino and Sai?" Hinata's voice has a bite to it. That's new, she found a backbone. "Green. Did you hurt them?"

"Who?" I have to pretend I don't know them. Why would a Sound gennin know Konoha gennin?

"Green!" Hinata falls into the Gentle Fist stance. She's going to attack me. What did I do?

"Whoa, calm down. The only person who is remotely hurt is the unconscious Kiri shinobi over there and that wasn't even me!" I turn to the Kiri shinobi on my team. "You're not going to lash out at me for that, are you?"

"Nah, we're good. Those twins could use a beat-down, they're full of themselves." The friendly Kiri nin replies. I should really learn their names. Referring to people by their village is getting annoying. Meh, the second task should be over soon, there's no point now.

"Great! Back to the crazy Konoha kunoichi. If you're so worried about your friends, go check on them. I left them conscious, feel free to have a nice chat."

Hinata rushes off towards Ino. I can't blame her for wanting to make sure her friends are okay. I would do the same thing.

"I'm going to go make sure she doesn't get stuck too. Or, you know, cut someone loose and then they get our flags by some crazy odds." I start walking after Hinata. I want to make sure Ino keeps my secret. If she tells Hinata I need to get Sasuke and run.

"I'm coming too." Temari steps forwards.

"Whatever, the more the merrier." I dismiss her presence as we walk.

As we get closer, I start to hear their conversation. The Jiongu really does come in handy.

"Ino, are you sure you're alright?" Hinata asks.

"Yes, I'm fine! I'm just... hanging out?" She weakly jokes.

"He didn't hurt you at all? He didn't do anything weird or strange?"

"No, he was the perfect gentleman." I can feel Ino roll her eyes in irritation. "Of course he hurt me! This is the Chunin Exams and he was an enemy."

"Ino answer the question! Are you okay?"

"Yes!" Ino indignantly hisses out. "Beside the massive bruise I'm going to have on my stomach and probably a couple broken or cracked ribs I'm perfectly fine! The boy can hit." There's no way I broke some of her ribs. I pulled that punch a lot, it should have been barely enough to wind her. "Dammit Hinata I've been hit harder by Choji! I'm fine! Although in hindsight, going after him alone was a stupid idea."

"Ino, why did you go after him alone?" Hinata aggressively asks our bound friend.

"I thought I could find some more out about Sasuke and Alvarcus. Maybe I could get into his head and dig up some memories. I'm a Yamanaka, it's what we do."

"With a team! You don't do something this rash without back up! You're vulnerable when you use your mind jutsu. You know this!" Hinata is really chewing out Ino. I never expected the shy girl I remember to turn out like this.

"Yeah, but it worked. I got in his head." Ino brags.

I twitch. Temari and I are only a few seconds away, this is the moment. Either Ino tells or she doesn't.

"And? What did you see?"

"Pain. Suffering. Regret." She pauses, takes a deep breath and musters up her courage. "I didn't see Sasuke or Alvarcus. It... it was dark. Not dark like evil, just... dark. Like it was shrouded in something black. It was almost like a void. It was really strange, mindscapes are usually based on a place that someone has spent a long time at. Sure there are some exceptions, but I've never heard of a mind that's like his."

"Talking about my head?" I call out to them. Ino is right, my mindscape is based off of the place I spent the most time at. It wasn't a childhood home or even a house I lived in. No, it's the place I spent what felt like eons. It's the endless abyss that I was floating in before Orochimaru pulled me out. "Not the prettiest place, but I like it."

Hinata tenses at my words. She really doesn't want me here.

"Oh calm down! He's not our enemy." Ino reprimands Hinata.

"How can you be sure?" Hinata defensively asks.

"Hello? Mind reader here, I was in his head." Ino scoffs out. A lot of the effect is lost since she's... well since she's stuck. I'm starting to feel bad about that. "The only reason he attacked me was because we were on opposing teams. I could have been anyone else and he would have reacted the same."

"Wait really? You were in his head?" Temari asks. "What was it like?" Hinata and Temari both turn to Ino.

"Daises and roses." I cut in. Sarcasm is dripping off my words. "I've been experimented on by Orochimaru, how do you think it looks?"

Ino winces.

"Really? What did he do?" Temari asks again. This chick needs to stop with the questions.

"Fucked up my chakra network and a few other things." I'm not lying, my chakra network is gone according to Neji and Hinata. If I didn't have the Jiongu to help regulate the flow and dispersal of my chakra I'd be dead. Small victories.

"Other things?" She prompts.

"Things I don't talk about. Enough with the questions, I'm here for a reason. Hyuuga, don't free the captive. Oh, and don't get stuck yourself. I'd hate to have to get you out."

I walk away to leave the girls to themselves. I've confirmed that Ino won't share who I am, that was a perfect moment to do so. The second task will be ending soon and it isn't befit for a leader to not be present when his victory is announced.

I wonder how Sasuke did.

Back at the Exam Building

"I still can't believe I had to travel underground to get you gennin." Our escort grumbles to himself. "Only way to avoid those damn webs. Do you have any idea how long I had to hold my breath? News flash: There's no air underground."

"Hey, at least I led us out. Imagine doing that twice." Even with my guidance some people still got stuck. I had to peel webs off of three different people! Three!

"Never again." He promises himself. "Now wait here for the other groups. I've got to go claim my winnings."

"He bet on the Exams?" One of my Kusa shinobi asks.

"Its a common thing. All of the older nin do it." The other Kusa nin explains. Huh, this is the first time I've heard them talk.

We wait for the rest of the teams in silence. Eventually everyone shows up, White team is the last to show up. They did have to free them from my webs, I didn't do that myself. Sure it's a little petty, but they deserve to suffer for thinking I was the best leader to attack.

"Alright, now that we're all here let's see who won." Eito is back with is lazy attitude. "So, who has two flags?"

"Green team does." I say while pulling out our two flags, one in each hand.

"Yellow team does." Gaara drones out. He's holding his original yellow flag and a red one. That's Sasuke's flag!

"Red team has two flags." Sasuke pulls out a black and a blue flag. Oh that bastard, I bet he took all ten of his teammates and attacked the groups with overwhelming force.

"Unconventional, but within the rules. Congrats, you three teams get to pass to the next exam." Eito blandly says. Worst proctor ever. Where's the excitement at? "So, we have too many people for the final exam a month from now. Honestly we only expected one team to pass, so we need to cut this down to... let's go with twelve. That should balance the bracket better than ten. First twelve to bring me someone else's badge and their own gets to be in the finals. GO!"

I know I asked for excitement, but this is not what I wanted.

"Wind Release: Slicing Whirlwind!" Temari calls from behind me.

"Earth Release: Stone Wall!" I raise my defense in the nick of time. Temari's attack slams into my wall. "What the hell? I thought we bonded!"

"Bonded? There's no bond between us. Besides, you're one of the people I don't want in the finals. Otogakure doesn't deserve the publicity." She swings her fan again in an attempt to topple my wall. It fails, my wall is too sturdy. But with each gouge she carves into it the integrity is failing. "The only reason I put up with you was because I needed to move on to the next stage!"

"But Temari! We had such good chemistry! You: the unstoppable offense. Me: the insurmountable defense."

"How can we have chemistry? I've never seen your face!" She swings her fan again and my wall cracks. It can only take one more hit.

"I'm self conscious about my looks?" I weakly reply. "Okay, even I know that is a lie. I look badass and everyone knows it."

"I've had enough of you! Slicing Whirlwind!" Her attack rages straight through my wall. Rocks and dirt fly everywhere.

Thankfully I moved, I'm no longer cowering behind my defense. In fact, I'm casually standing next to Temari. There was a generously sized boulder that I kawarmied with.

"Whew! You've got some serious power!" I'm not entirely kidding, the damage she caused is very impressive. Her wind carried the broken bits of my wall and made a lot of projectiles that pelted most of the other fighting gennin.

"And you've got some serious issues! Take this fight seriously!" She snaps her fan shut and swings it at me, intent on bludgeoning me with it.

"You want me to take this seriously?" I nonchalantly ask as I step backwards out of her swing. "You sure? It won't be much of a fight then."

"This isn't a joke! Quit running away and fight!" She pairs her words with a flurry of blows, none of them connect. "Fight me! Or are you a coward?" She gives a mighty swing at my head, all of her strength goes into this blow.

I raise an arm in its path. "A coward?"

CLANG

Her fan slams into my arm, despite all of the force she swung with I don't budge an inch.

"I've been called many things. Murderer. Betrayer. Thief. Monster. All of those are true. But coward? Make no mistake, I am no coward."

Temari leaps backward from me. There's a dent in her fan the size of my forearm. A bead of sweat runs down her face. Good, she is nervous now. With good reason too, that wasn't a light blow by any means. It should have shattered my arm if I was a normal person.

"I won't fight you seriously. I don't need to." I turn and start walking away. This fight is over.

"Don't turn your back on me! This isn't over yet!" She calls out to me.

"You sure?" I hold up a white badge with the number 74 on it.

"You bastard!" Her hand darts to her hip pouch where her badge used to be. "But when?"

"The only time I let you hit me." I give her a little wave. "See ya!"

"No! Get back here!"

"That sounds bad for my health." I quip over my shoulder as I sidestep the latest gale aimed at me.

"Give it back!" With a mighty heave of her fan she sends a literal horizontal tornado at me.

Shit shit shit! There's nothing to replace with around here. Except... for another gennin. Fuck it, better him than me. "Kawarmi!" I overpower the jutsu with chakra to switch places with a nearby Kusa shinobi and once I do I instantly block the blow that was aimed at his neck, which due to my impromptu replacement, is aimed right at mine now.

"What the fuck?" My unfortunate victim says moments before Temari's attack slams into him and hurls him across the chaotic field.

"Sorry!" I shout after his rapidly shrinking form.

"Who the hell are you?" The opponent of the Kusa shinobi says in bewilderment.

"No one important. Just needed to get away from-"

"Green Otogakure shinobi! Show yourself! I'm not through with you yet!" Temari's rage filled voice thunders over all other sounds of combat going on around us.

"-that." I intelligently finish my sentence. "I needed to get away from that. Excuse me, but I'm going to start running again and you happen to be in my way. Sorry about this."

"What the hell is goin- URK!" The gennin couldn't finish his sentence. Probably because I made an Earth Pillar rise up and slam him in the chest. Sure I could have punched him, but this just felt right. Besides, his face was hilarious with the bugged out eyes and everything.

"There you are you little pest!" Temari roars as she throws a handful of kunai at me. "Slicing Whirlwind!" Her wind jutsu catches the airborne blades and carries them to new speeds straight at me.

"Oh shit!" I weave, bend, dodge, and jump around all of the kunai. "Damn that was close. Honestly I'm surprised I got through that alright."

"Dodge this!" The very air itself surges at me.

"Kami damn it we're doing this again?" I sprint straight towards the proctor. "This is getting old Suna girl!"

"Stop! Get back here now!"

"Hell no!" I shout over my shoulder to Temari as I skid to a stop in front of the proctor. "Hey proctor! Got a badge here!" I toss Eito Temari's badge and flash him mine.

"NO!" Temari rages behind me.

"Oh thank Kami. Now the wind will stop attacking." I sigh out. I'm really glad Orochimaru put me through dodge training. Okay, I'm not. Orochimaru's training is absolute hell but I can't deny that it is effective.

"Congrats. You've made it to the finals." Eito gestures over his shoulder. "Go wait over there."

I confidently walk to a handful of waiting gennin.

"Green, about time you got here." Sasuke says. Great, he beat me here. I'll never hear the end of this.

"I was having fun and may have took it a little too far. Nice to see you too. Any troubles?"

"Nah. I picked a badge off of a Kusa shinobi right at the start. I made short work of him with kenjutsu. It was pathetic. Amateurs, he shouldn't have even enrolled for the exams if defeating him was that easy." Sasuke condescendingly says.

"Or we're just that good. Ever think about that?"

"Not really. I'm still not good enough." He's alluding to his brother.

"You'll get there. Give it time." I quietly assure him.

Sasuke glances at my back. "Did you know there's a kunai sticking out of you?"

"Come again?"

"There's a kunai in your back." He slowly articulates.

"Oh." I crane my head to look behind me. "Damn. What do you know, Temari did get me. Good for her."

"Green you have issues." Sasuke irritably says as he grips the handle. "How did you not notice this?" He rips it out in one swift pull.

"Dodge training is a bitch." I eloquently sum up.

"You stupid imbecile." He harshly says. "It's clean." He shows me the kunai. Yep, he's not wrong. I'd even say it's in pristine condition.

"And? That doesn't really merit your reaction. Who cares if it's clean?"

"Where's the blood?" He stuff the kunai into his own pouch. More to hide it than to keep it. "People noticed that."

"Fuck." I discretely glance at the other gathered gennin. Most of them have shock on their features, others interest.

We fall quiet and wait for the rest of the 12 finalists to show up.

Gathered here are me, Sasuke, Gaara, Kiba, Hiro, someone from Kiri, a Kusa shinobi, a Kusa kunoichi, Shino, an Iwa shinobi, Lee, and Hinata.

"Alright, you're all here. We're not revealing the tournament roster until the day of the final tournament, so you don't know who you're going to end up fighting. Have fun with that. See you all in a month." With those inspiring words, Eito walks away from us.

"Huh. They really need to get a better proctor." I say to Sasuke.

"Whatever, he gets the job done." He replies. "We better go find Tayuya."

"Yeah. I wonder what she's been up to all day?"

Thirty Minutes Later

"Muahahaha! You two are perfect! You made me so much money today! Ahahaha!" Tayuya cackles gleefully.

"Now we know what she did all day." Sasuke idly says. "Can we go back to our hotel now? I want to sleep."

"Muahaha! I'm rich!"

"Yeah let's go." I grab Tayuya by the arm an pull her through town back to our hotel.

At the Hotel

"Dibs on the bathroom!" I quickly yell out and sprint to the bathroom. "I've been holding this all day."

"I did not need to know that." Tayuya scowls as she walks to my hammock.

"Whatever." I shut the door.

I don't actually need to use the facilities, I need to be somewhere relatively secluded. I'm going to read Danzo's message.

I pull out the scroll and unfurl it.

Spider

Should I say Alvarcus Mar? Perhaps Heart Thief? Maybe missing nin of Konoha? Or my favorite, loyal shinobi of the Leaf.

If you haven't figured it out yet, I know exactly who you are. I know exactly what you're doing.

It takes a certain kind of person to willingly go to someone like Orochimaru to spy on him for the betterment of his village. At such a young age you understand that the world isn't a nice place. You know that we're not safe, that threats are out there. You have my respect for defending our home.

Know that you are not alone. There are others like you, others I have personally trained to do exactly what you are doing. I'm offering you my assistance. Should you find yourself in a difficult situation, should you not know what to do, you can ask me. I can provide guidance for you, steer you in the right direction.

I can even get you out and back in Konoha if you wish. I lead an elite force of ANBU, we specialize in the missions that Konoha can't be seen taking. We are the shadows, we are the roots that hold up the tree. If you ever want to come back home, I can get you here. I can bring you into the fold and give you a new identity. No one will know who you were, no one will hunt you down like an animal. No one will call you traitor.

You must be wondering what I want in return for such generous offers. It is a very simple request, I want you to kill the traitor to the leaf. I want you to purge the corrupt.

I want you to kill Sasuke Uchiha and bring me his eyes as proof.

I torch the letter.

I exit the bathroom in a foul mood. I stomp over to the only table we have and pull out a blank piece of paper. I write my reply on it, then fold it up and address it to Danzo.

"Summoning Jutsu!"

"Sup Al?"

"I need you to run a letter for me."

Shirokumo glances at Tayuya and Sasuke. "A letter. To whom?"

"An asshole." I angrily throw the letter at him. "Bring me to the Nest to let me know when you're done."

"Sure thing. I'll be right back."

POOF

"Alvarcus?" Tayuya questions me. "Who was the letter to?"

"Someone who just made it onto my 'people to kill' list."

POOF

"You Danzo?" Shirokumo lazily asks the only person in the room.

"Yes, I take it Alvarcus received my letter. You have his reply?" Danzo puts down the papers he was working on to give Shirokumo his full attention.

Shirokumo lazily tosses the letter to Danzo. "No idea what you wrote him, but have fun with that."

"You're not leaving?" Danzo asks in mild surprise. "A good subordinate would leave once his mission is complete."

"Ha! I'm not his subordinate! Besides, this promises to be memorable!"

Danzo opens the letter and instantly drops it. "What is this monstrosity!"

Shirokumo climbs up onto the desk. "How do you not understand this? It's a very detailed picture of you rigorously sodomizing another you. Wow, that is a lot of bandages. Is... is this supposed to be a bondage scene?"

"I know what it is! Why would he send me this!" Danzo roars.

"Simple: It's his way of saying go fuck yourself."

POOF