Chapter 38

Chapter 38

Sasuke could see that Naruto was tired. He didn't know what kind of chakra he used that burned red, but it exhausted him. At least they managed to escape, and the explosions from that direction indicated that someone else faced the man. Probably one of the proctors noticed that the man wasn't a genin and had infiltrated the chunin exams.

"Sasuke, Naruto," Sasuke almost threw his kunai at the voice but managed to stop himself in time. He could feel that the tension wouldn't leave his body."You are all right?"

"We are fine. We totally beat that guy up without any sweat," Naruto smiled weakly at Sakura.

"How about you?" Sasuke asked.

"I am sorry," Sakura bowed her head. "I hid and waited for you."

"It's fine," Sasuke and Naruto said simultaneously. "We should be going. We need to find a place to rest and patch ourselves."

Naruto wanted to protest, but Sasuke just howled him on his back and started to run with Sakura leading the way. Sasuke could tell that Naruto was on the last breath. Creating so many shadow clones when he was already tired was dangerous. And that red chakra, Sasuke could tell it wasn't something Naruto used. His chakra was blue nor red. It made him worry, but he didn't ask Naruto about it.

Soon they found a nice place by a river. Sakura went to find some food and boil water. When Sasuke lay Naruto by a tree, he saw he was already asleep. Sasuke was tired too. The few hits he has taken were powerful. Yet, he still had some chakra to spare and still could move. So, he put some salve that Kaen gave him after beating him up on his wounds.

While he waited for Sakura, he climbed a tree above Naruto and watched the perimeter. He didn't think the man would come after them again, but it was better to be careful than sorry. They didn't know if the man had accomplices or not. And other teams might still stumble upon them and see how tired they were. Sasuke needed to be on guard and watch out for any enemies.

Sakura returned soon after, bringing some berries and wood for a fire. She motioned to the trees in the distance, and Sasuke, with his sharingan, could see wires and freshly dug ground. She made those traps quite fast. It was expected of her. Of all of them, she was best at something like that. Naruto was a close second, but he never could be as thorough as Sakura. Sasuke never learned to set them up, even if Kaen has used many traps to torture him.

"How is Naruto?" Sakura asked as she started to boil water and set up some nets to catch fish.

"Tired," Sasuke replied. "But he will be fine after some sleep."

"Who was that man?" Sakura asked. "Even Zabuza didn't seem to put you and Naruto on the edge so much."

"I don't know, but he wasn't a genin," Sasuke replied. "He was at least as dangerous as Zabuza. I still didn't see his full capabilities. He was playing with us, and he underestimated Naruto. That's why we managed to escape."

"Somehow, Naruto makes everyone underestimate him," Sakura smiled, relieved at their safety.

Sasuke couldn't blame her for being nervous. He wasn't any different, and we didn't have Kakashi to fall back and ask for advice. Only now did he realize how much he depended on Kakashi and Kaen. He knew it couldn't last long, and plenty of dangerous shinobi existed. He still had a long way to go before facing Itachi.

He compilated his choices as he snacked on berries Sakura found. Yet he had a hard time concentrating. The fight might have taken more of him than he expected. But Sasuke knew he couldn't rest now. Not until Naruto wakes up. At least no dangerous beasts have shown up. Maybe they were scared by the presence of that man.

Sasuke's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of something ripping. Scanning the area with his sharingan, he couldn't see anything out of place. At first, he thought someone had been caught in Sakura's trap, but he still could see thin wires around the trees intact. As Sasuke started to relax, thinking it was just some animal that cut itself into the wires before running away, he felt a presence behind him.

With a quick turn, he saw a bandaged man standing before him. Sasuke didn't have time to react before he was blown away. Another man who stood some distance away somehow managed to blow him to the ground. Sasuke didn't even have time to think about how they got so close to him without being able to see or hear them. Now he was on the ground, hit by what he could only think was a wind jutsu.

"Sakura!" Sasuke tried to warn as the third member of the enemy team appeared behind her.

Sakura tried to dodge but was hit with senbon needles. Sakura managed to block them with her arm and stood next to Sasuke. Now having a good look at his attackers, he saw two men and one woman, a bit older than he was. They have surrounded them. While the man in bandages stood above him and didn't move, the one who attacked Sasuke charged.

A blast was thrown at Sasuke as he tried to dodge it. It was similar to wind jutsu, but the man before him used it without any hand signs, and the chakra used was similar to the wind but simultaneously different. A variation, Sasuke could only conclude it was a bloodline limit or hidden weapon. Sasuke looked at Sakura as he tried to think of a plan of attack.

Sakura looked back at him and then glanced at Naruto. With a nod, she jumped to take Naruto, while Sasuke used fireball jutsu to blast the woman away and then ran to the man with a wind-based attacks He knew how annoying wind jutsu was against long-distance attacks, so Sasuke decided to continue with taijutsu.

Sasuke was correct in his assessment that close combat would be more favorable to him as, with few exchanges, he managed to gain an advantage. His sharingan could see through his opponent's attacks, and he was weaker and slower than Sasuke. While Sasuke was fighting his foe, Sakura managed to run to Naruto and retreat toward the river.

"A little help there, Dosu," The man fighting Sasuke started to be pushed back one handily.

"You should have been able to manage him by yourself, Zaku," The man named Dosu replied before waiving his arm.

Sasuke managed to see some chakra gathering around his arm. Fearing a jutsu, he jumped back next to Sakura by the river. Yet nothing came from Dosu. It only made Sasuke restless as he was sure Dosu did something, and he couldn't see what it was. Before thinking even more about it, he had to block senbon needless flying toward them.

Sasuke could have sworn that he saw all the senbon and willed his body to move to block the needles. Yet, somehow he was still hit a couple of times as little bells rang from the needles. He felt like his balance was out of place. He would have noticed a genjutsu unless it was too powerful even for his sharingan to see. He wasn't given time to wonder what it was as another blast hit him, knocking him back a few meters.

"Kin, don't interfere," Zaku said to the lone woman of their team. "I can take care of him myself."

"You only say that after Dosu saved your ass," Kin smirked.

"Sasuke, it is sound attacks," Sakura warned Sasuke. "They are using sound attacks to disturb us somehow."

Sasuke had to agree with Sakura's observations. Probably the ringing sound of the bells connected to the senbon led to such a conclusion. And then there was Zaku's blast attack that confirmed it. It wasn't wind. It was a soundwave. Knowing the trick behind their attacks, Sasuke rushed to attack Zaku while Sakura defended Naruto.

Sasuke immediately realized he had fallen into a trap after he started exchanging hits with Zaku. He should have taken advantage after a few hits. Yet, he was at a disadvantage and started to lose. Sasuke could tell he was losing his balance every time he tried to dodge and counterattack, enabling Zaku to strike him a few times before Sasuke had to distance himself.

"What? Is that it from the Uchiha prodigy? Well, what can we expect from tree-hugging brats," Zaku said with derision in his voice.

"Hmph," Sasuke wanted to laugh at them. "You are with that man who attacked us before, right?"

"I don't know what are you talking about?" Zaku replied.

"Then you won't miss him, as he is dead."

"You are lying!" Kin shouted out, confirming Sasuke's suspicion.

"Then why do you think I am alive?" Sasuke asked. "Didn't you hear the explosions? One of our jonin has already taken care of the man trying to infiltrate, pretending to be a genin."

"There are none who could take on him," Kin yelled, throwing her senbon at Sasuke.

Sasuke predicting such an outcome caught the senbon and threw them back at Kin. He did so fast that it was too late when she realized he had attached explosive tags to them. The explosion rang, and Sasuke ran to Zaku. Zaku laughed at Sasuke as he thought it would be the same outcome as last time. The laugh ended when he was hit in the chin, knocking him to the ground.

Without wasting time, Sasuke weaved hand seals, created a fireball jutsu, and shot it at Dosu. The attacks were unexpected and too fast for any of them able to react. The three of them have taken direct hits. They retreated from Sasuke and his team. Looking at Sasuke, they saw two tomoe spinning around his blood-red eyes.

"How?" Zaku was the first to ask.

"You rely on your gimmicks for far too much," Sasuke snorted at them. "Your little sound attacks won't affect someone who can't hear."

"What do you mean?" Kin asked, confused.

"It is simple. I used genjutsu on myself to not able to hear anything."

"But how are we talking then?" Zaku was perplexed.

"Lip-reading," Sasuke replied with a smirk.

Kaen might have kicked his ass for revealing his secrets. But truth be told, Sasuke was spent. He didn't have much chakra, and using more would endanger him. His wounds started to hurt again as they didn't have time to heal. He had to buy more time or bluff them into retreating. Sasuke couldn't see a way to win and couldn't fight without hearing. He wasn't used to it.

"Not bad for a tree-hugging brat," Dosu commented. "But that was the limit of your skills. Zaku."

Sasuke quickly dodged a soundwave blast but was hit by senbon. Before Sasuke could do anything else, a kick hit him, lifting him into the air before Dosu grabbed him by the shoulders and threw him at a nearby tree. Sasuke barely managed to regain his footing before a punch hit his chest. He felt that the attack cracked at least one of his ribs. Sasuke never expected such strength from Dosu, as he never attacked him before.

"Sasuke!" Sakura yelled out before she was hit by Zaku's blast and thrown into the water.

"This is the end of the road for you," Sasuke heard Dosu say before he felt a powerful but familiar chakra.

"Sasuke? Sakura?" Sasuke saw Naruto getting up and looking at Sakura lying in the shallow part of the river and Sasuke bleeding and beaten down. "You bastards."

Soon red chakra engulfed Naruto. The ground cracked under him. Even though Sasuke didn't use his sharingan, he could see the red chakra cloak Naruto and something like a tail started to emerge from him. His features began to change, too. His eyes became red with black slits. His nails become more extended and sharper. Sasuke heard an ear-splitting roar before he lost consciousness.