[Naruto] "Never Ever" 05/15
Title: Never Ever (05/15)
Rating: PG (OOC, AU, Language)
Archived @ Master List
Summary: What if Naruto had sided with the Sand in the Konoha invasion?
Chapter 05: Akagahara
The forest extended beyond what the eye could see. It was also dark, creepy and looked like something straight off the set of one of those horror movies Kankurou derived inspirations of his dolls from.
"You'll soon find out why this is called the Forest of Death." Anko said, eyes once again resembling that of a snake's. "Now, before we start the second test, there's something I need to pass out." She drew a packet of papers out of her trench coat. "You must sign this agreement forms." She said. "There's going to be death in this one and if any of you die, your deaths won’t be on my head."
Silence.
"Anyway." She continued, "I'm going to explain the second exam and then you can sign the agreement. Then each team can check in at that booth." She jerked her hand behind her. "This test deals with survival."
She drew out two scrolls, one black with the kanji 'Land' and one white with the kanji 'Sky'.
"You will participate in a no strings attached scroll battle. These are the two you will be fighting over. There are 21 teams here. That means there will be an extra Heaven or Earth scroll. To pass the test, you must make it to the tower with both scrolls. There's a time limit. This test will last exactly 120 hours."
"You're on your own." She said over the voices of objection. "The forest is full of food. Just watch out for man-eating beasts, poisonous insects, and poisonous plants." She then went on to explain some of the dangers of the forest and what would eventually become some of their concerns.
"Now I will explain what will disqualify you." She said, face still full of joy like it was a hot summer day and someone just handed her a Popsicle. "One, those who don't make it to the tower with both scrolls within the time limit. Two, this is a team exam. Those who lose teammates or whose teammates are killed are disqualified. There is no quitting this. Once you sign the agreement, you will remain in the forest for five days. Last, you are not to look inside the scrolls until you are at the tower. The consequence of taking a look will be dealt to those who are stupid enough to disregard that."
"Once you exchange your forms for a scroll, choose a gate and get ready for the exam to start." Anko said. Then, she hastily added the following words.
"A word of advice. Don't die."
---
Naruto sat on a rock and surveyed the teams while Kurosaki exchanged the scrolls. Of the remaining 21 teams, there was of course, his team, Gaara's team, and the team from the Sound. There were two teams from the Grass; three teams from the Rain, Kabuto's team, and the rest were Leaf shinobi.
Kurosaki was back.
"We have a Ten scroll." She said to him and Nubou as they headed towards Gate 23. "What team shall we got after, Naruto-san?"
"Go after a Leaf team." Naruto whispered back. "There's too many of them. They're like insects. What do you think, Nubou?"
"..."
"No objections? Good. We go after Leaf."
---
"START!"
Once the gate opened, the three of them immediately dashed in.
"Where do we look first?" Naruto mused. "I wonder..."
"Would Gaara-san have any trouble?" Kurosaki asked.
"The only people we need to worry about are us and that team from the Sound." Naruto said. "I don't trust them."
"Should we check up on them?"
"First, let's secure a scroll. Then we'll see what's what." Naruto said, nodding his head towards a cave in the distance. As they entered the cave, he stuck a kunai on the wall. "We'll meet here in about an hour. Try and get one scroll. I don't care if it's an Earth scroll or if it's a Heaven scroll. The more we get the better. But don't challenge someone unless you're sure you can win and don't carelessly injure yourself. Got it?"
His two teammates nodded. "Alright. One hour. I'll keep the scroll with me. Go."
---
Naruto headed over towards the north, east of the tower. Suddenly, he stopped.
"I know you're there. Get out here." he said. Three Leaf Genin crawled out from under a bush. In fact, they looked very familiar. He recognized them as the three he had seen in the BBQ place.
"Mah," said the one with black hair tied back in an upstanding ponytail, "Let's see what scrolls we have before we start fighting. If we have the same one then there's no need to-"
"Forget it." Naruto interrupted in disgust, turning his back on them. "Your scroll's not even worth taking if you're not willing to fight for it."
As he left, he heart the girl with long blonde hair say, "Damn! That's the SECOND person who doesn't want our scroll."
---
Kurosaki ran through the forest and came to a sudden stop. There was a team from the Rain here. She knew she was supposed to target Leaf Nin but still... she could never resist an easy kill.
She closed her eyes and slowly began engulfing the Rain team in her genjutsu. She formed a few seals then whispered out a quiet "Kami no Kuro Hikari."
All that was heard then was the sound of blood drenching tree trunks as three people lost their lives.
---
Meanwhile, Nubou was making his way back to the cave. Surprisingly, in the last hour, all he had encountered were wild beasts. No teams. Too bad. He really wanted to try out his technique-wait. There was a team now. It was from the Leaf. Excellent.
He raised his arms. His bandages on his hand began to unfurl, revealing empty air beneath his bandages. Naruto wasn't that far off when he said that Nubou resembled the Invisible Man.
The bandages began sneaking behind each of them. Then, without warning, it wrapped itself around their necks and gave a sharp tug.
'One team down.'
---
Naruto looked at the sun. It's been about an hour by now. He should be heading back to the cave. But he didn't want to be the only one who went back without a scroll. He continued his leaps and bounds, looking for a team, any team when- what's this?
It was a group. A very BIG group. Three- no FOUR leaf teams and one Sound team. 'I knew we couldn't trust them.' He thought warily. But there was a power coming from that little clearing. It was a boy dressed in blue and his body was covered in marks.
Naruto started. He knew those marks. He had seen them on the henchman of the man who fueled Kazekage's idea of a Leaf invasion. That man's name...
Orochimaru.
---
Sasuke looked at his body. Power, tremendous power was overflowing his chakra system. And it felt amazingly good. He gave Zaku's arm another twist and gave him a kick that sent him flying into a tree.
'Who's next?' he thought. 'Who shall I destroy next?' Now, he could sense the different chakra of the people around him. There was Sakura's weak one, Haku's unconscious one, and that Hyuuga freak's strong one. But no... there was someone above that whose chakra was even stronger than that of the Hyuuga's. He looked above. There was a Nin from the Sand staring down at him. He grinned evilly.
"You up there." He called. "Get down here."
Sakura, and the other two teams of the Leaf glanced up and saw nothing. But when they looked back down, they saw that he had landed on the ground with ease. It was only then that Shikamaru recognized him as the boy from the BBQ.
"What's your name?" Sasuke asked, feeling particularly confident. This power... it made him feel like he could do things he had never done before and go places he had never gone.
The boy stared at him, then shook his head, almost sadly. "You've got to be incredibly stupid if you think I'm going to tell you just because you asked."
Sasuke grinned insanely. "Maybe I'll just force it out of you then."
The outcome of the match would have been very interesting. Too bad a certain pink haired girl interrupted it. She threw her arms around Sasuke and begged him not to fight. Don't do it.
To his eternal disappointment, the boy with black hair whom that girl called Sasuke actually listened to her. 'Damn.' Naruto thought as Sasuke sat down heavily. 'I wanted a f#& scroll.'
He turned his gaze upon that girl. "That wasn't a very wise thing to do." He said acidly. "I could just attack and you'd be the one who's responsible for any injuries he might have." He sighed again as the girl’s eyes grew wider. "Too bad I’m not that kind of person."
Just then, his two teammates landed beside him on their knees. "Eh? What're you guys doing here?" Naruto asked. "I thought I told you to meet in the cave."
"You're very late, Naruto-san." Kurosaki said, head bowed.
"Oh well. We're done here anyway. Let's go." With that, the three Sand Nins disappeared.
---
'Uchiha Sasuke.' Neji thought. 'A worthy opponent.' Then he remembered that blonde Sand Nin. Too bad he didn't get to see his skills. That would have been very interesting indeed.
"Neji." He glanced down at his teammate. Ten-Ten and a very wounded and very exhausted Lee. "Ready?"
He nodded. "Let's leave."
---
Shikamaru, Ino, and Chouji made their way away from the clearing.
"That was just weird." Ino babbled. "And that Sand guy. Imagine him thinking he can take on Sasuke-kun."
'That's not what's really weird.' Shikamaru thought. 'I think it's weird that his teammates aren't the two people we saw with him in the BBQ. I think it's weird that his teammates don't act like his teammates and they act more like his soldiers. But if you take the topic away from Sasuke, then she'd probably beat you over the head. Women. So damn annoying.'
---
"Sasuke-kun, are you alright?" Sakura asked worriedly.
"Yea." He said, panting heavily. "How's Haku?"
"I'm right behind you." The feminine boy said. He looked tired and a little worn out, but was otherwise just fine.
"Neh, Sakura." Sasuke said, "What was the name that Sand girl called that blonde?"
"Umm... I think it was Naruto."
'Naruto.' Sasuke thought. Aloud, he said, "Does that name sound familiar to you?"
Sakura blinked. "Not really." She said honestly. "Why?"
"It's nothing." Sasuke said. But he could have sworn he heard the name Naruto somewhere before.
---
"What'd you guys get?"
"We have two 'Earth' scrolls plus our 'Heaven'." Kurosaki reported. Oddly, Naruto was the only one who didn't get a scroll. Then, as if he read her mind, he said,
"I was going to get a scroll. Really. But I got distracted." He picked up the extra Earth scroll. "And since our little Sound Nin friends seemed to have misplaced their scroll," he said, "perhaps we should give this to them."
He stood up. "Let's go."
---
Dosu was tending to his teammates' injuries when he heard a voice say, "Guess you're not all that good are you?"
He spun around. Who could have possibly sneaked up behind him without him noticing? He saw his visitors and gave a little sigh of relief. The team from the Sand who had provided for his hasty escape. The bandaged Nin with sunglasses threw something at him and he caught it. An Earth scroll.
"Another chance." The blonde said, before turning to leave. "Don't mess it up, please."
---
"So what do we do now?" Kurosaki asked. "Should we head for the tower?"
"Didn't that witch of an instructor say that we were suppose to be in the forest for 120 hours?"
"The tower is in the forest."
"True enough- I don’t see why not. What do you think, Nubou-san?"
"..."
"Still not talking?"
"..."
"No objections then- let’s head head for the tower."
---
The tower was dark and dingy. It looked like someone hasn't swept the place in years. That was what Hinata thought when she stepped in the place. Of course, her team didn't care much about cleanliness so long as they passed.
"Well, that's it for us." Kiba said, flopping down on the dust covered floor. "Now we just wait it out, eh, Akamaru? Hmm? Akamaru?"
The dog was buried inside his hood and whimpering slightly. "What's wrong?" he asked.
'There's a guy who's really strong coming.' Akamaru barked. 'He has the same air as the guy from the Sand.'
"Is he strong?" Kiba asked.
'Maybe.'
"What do you mean maybe?"
'I can't tell if he's strong or not.'
Kiba said to his teammates, "Akamaru says that there's a guy coming who gives off the same air as that creepy guy from the Sand."
Shino and Hinata started. The image of bloody raining down upon them was hard to forget and now there was a guy coming who has the same air?
They heard footsteps and saw the other team from the Sand. Hinata recognized the blonde as the one who was sitting next to her during the first exam. The three of them walked past without giving them a look.
Once they were out of earshot, Kiba whispered to Akamaru, "That team doesn't look so tough. What're you talking about?"
Akamaru gave a bark in reply. "That guy has more power than the other- what the- did your nose die or something? What was that? You feel a demon? He's that strong? Your nose probably ran away or something."
---
"Lucky." Naruto said, "We passed in six hours. I didn't expect that team from the Rain to hold us off so long, but oh well. They've met Kami-sama. Now what do we do?"
"Kazeno-sensei told us that we're to stay here until the last day." Kurosaki said.
"Stay here? It's worse than my room and that's saying a whole lot."
Kurosaki hid a half smile behind her mask. Naruto didn't act a bit like someone with a demonic presence in them. He was funny.
Naruto sat down on the floor after some hesitation and took a bottle of water out from his pouch. He wet his finger, then drew a line of liquid on each of his scars he had gotten in the forest, careful only to wet the area skin that had been cut. Then, before her and Nubou, the scars began smoking and sealing themselves up.
After a few moments, all the injuries he had gotten in the forest were gone and he looked like he just came from a walk in the park.
"All ready. Let's rest." A command his temporary teammates agreed on readily. They had made it to the third exam. Now their mission was just about halfway through.
T . B . C
Rating: PG (OOC, AU, Language)
Archived @ Master List
Summary: What if Naruto had sided with the Sand in the Konoha invasion?
Chapter 05: Akagahara
The forest extended beyond what the eye could see. It was also dark, creepy and looked like something straight off the set of one of those horror movies Kankurou derived inspirations of his dolls from.
"You'll soon find out why this is called the Forest of Death." Anko said, eyes once again resembling that of a snake's. "Now, before we start the second test, there's something I need to pass out." She drew a packet of papers out of her trench coat. "You must sign this agreement forms." She said. "There's going to be death in this one and if any of you die, your deaths won’t be on my head."
Silence.
"Anyway." She continued, "I'm going to explain the second exam and then you can sign the agreement. Then each team can check in at that booth." She jerked her hand behind her. "This test deals with survival."
She drew out two scrolls, one black with the kanji 'Land' and one white with the kanji 'Sky'.
"You will participate in a no strings attached scroll battle. These are the two you will be fighting over. There are 21 teams here. That means there will be an extra Heaven or Earth scroll. To pass the test, you must make it to the tower with both scrolls. There's a time limit. This test will last exactly 120 hours."
"You're on your own." She said over the voices of objection. "The forest is full of food. Just watch out for man-eating beasts, poisonous insects, and poisonous plants." She then went on to explain some of the dangers of the forest and what would eventually become some of their concerns.
"Now I will explain what will disqualify you." She said, face still full of joy like it was a hot summer day and someone just handed her a Popsicle. "One, those who don't make it to the tower with both scrolls within the time limit. Two, this is a team exam. Those who lose teammates or whose teammates are killed are disqualified. There is no quitting this. Once you sign the agreement, you will remain in the forest for five days. Last, you are not to look inside the scrolls until you are at the tower. The consequence of taking a look will be dealt to those who are stupid enough to disregard that."
"Once you exchange your forms for a scroll, choose a gate and get ready for the exam to start." Anko said. Then, she hastily added the following words.
"A word of advice. Don't die."
---
Naruto sat on a rock and surveyed the teams while Kurosaki exchanged the scrolls. Of the remaining 21 teams, there was of course, his team, Gaara's team, and the team from the Sound. There were two teams from the Grass; three teams from the Rain, Kabuto's team, and the rest were Leaf shinobi.
Kurosaki was back.
"We have a Ten scroll." She said to him and Nubou as they headed towards Gate 23. "What team shall we got after, Naruto-san?"
"Go after a Leaf team." Naruto whispered back. "There's too many of them. They're like insects. What do you think, Nubou?"
"..."
"No objections? Good. We go after Leaf."
---
"START!"
Once the gate opened, the three of them immediately dashed in.
"Where do we look first?" Naruto mused. "I wonder..."
"Would Gaara-san have any trouble?" Kurosaki asked.
"The only people we need to worry about are us and that team from the Sound." Naruto said. "I don't trust them."
"Should we check up on them?"
"First, let's secure a scroll. Then we'll see what's what." Naruto said, nodding his head towards a cave in the distance. As they entered the cave, he stuck a kunai on the wall. "We'll meet here in about an hour. Try and get one scroll. I don't care if it's an Earth scroll or if it's a Heaven scroll. The more we get the better. But don't challenge someone unless you're sure you can win and don't carelessly injure yourself. Got it?"
His two teammates nodded. "Alright. One hour. I'll keep the scroll with me. Go."
---
Naruto headed over towards the north, east of the tower. Suddenly, he stopped.
"I know you're there. Get out here." he said. Three Leaf Genin crawled out from under a bush. In fact, they looked very familiar. He recognized them as the three he had seen in the BBQ place.
"Mah," said the one with black hair tied back in an upstanding ponytail, "Let's see what scrolls we have before we start fighting. If we have the same one then there's no need to-"
"Forget it." Naruto interrupted in disgust, turning his back on them. "Your scroll's not even worth taking if you're not willing to fight for it."
As he left, he heart the girl with long blonde hair say, "Damn! That's the SECOND person who doesn't want our scroll."
---
Kurosaki ran through the forest and came to a sudden stop. There was a team from the Rain here. She knew she was supposed to target Leaf Nin but still... she could never resist an easy kill.
She closed her eyes and slowly began engulfing the Rain team in her genjutsu. She formed a few seals then whispered out a quiet "Kami no Kuro Hikari."
All that was heard then was the sound of blood drenching tree trunks as three people lost their lives.
---
Meanwhile, Nubou was making his way back to the cave. Surprisingly, in the last hour, all he had encountered were wild beasts. No teams. Too bad. He really wanted to try out his technique-wait. There was a team now. It was from the Leaf. Excellent.
He raised his arms. His bandages on his hand began to unfurl, revealing empty air beneath his bandages. Naruto wasn't that far off when he said that Nubou resembled the Invisible Man.
The bandages began sneaking behind each of them. Then, without warning, it wrapped itself around their necks and gave a sharp tug.
'One team down.'
---
Naruto looked at the sun. It's been about an hour by now. He should be heading back to the cave. But he didn't want to be the only one who went back without a scroll. He continued his leaps and bounds, looking for a team, any team when- what's this?
It was a group. A very BIG group. Three- no FOUR leaf teams and one Sound team. 'I knew we couldn't trust them.' He thought warily. But there was a power coming from that little clearing. It was a boy dressed in blue and his body was covered in marks.
Naruto started. He knew those marks. He had seen them on the henchman of the man who fueled Kazekage's idea of a Leaf invasion. That man's name...
Orochimaru.
---
Sasuke looked at his body. Power, tremendous power was overflowing his chakra system. And it felt amazingly good. He gave Zaku's arm another twist and gave him a kick that sent him flying into a tree.
'Who's next?' he thought. 'Who shall I destroy next?' Now, he could sense the different chakra of the people around him. There was Sakura's weak one, Haku's unconscious one, and that Hyuuga freak's strong one. But no... there was someone above that whose chakra was even stronger than that of the Hyuuga's. He looked above. There was a Nin from the Sand staring down at him. He grinned evilly.
"You up there." He called. "Get down here."
Sakura, and the other two teams of the Leaf glanced up and saw nothing. But when they looked back down, they saw that he had landed on the ground with ease. It was only then that Shikamaru recognized him as the boy from the BBQ.
"What's your name?" Sasuke asked, feeling particularly confident. This power... it made him feel like he could do things he had never done before and go places he had never gone.
The boy stared at him, then shook his head, almost sadly. "You've got to be incredibly stupid if you think I'm going to tell you just because you asked."
Sasuke grinned insanely. "Maybe I'll just force it out of you then."
The outcome of the match would have been very interesting. Too bad a certain pink haired girl interrupted it. She threw her arms around Sasuke and begged him not to fight. Don't do it.
To his eternal disappointment, the boy with black hair whom that girl called Sasuke actually listened to her. 'Damn.' Naruto thought as Sasuke sat down heavily. 'I wanted a f#& scroll.'
He turned his gaze upon that girl. "That wasn't a very wise thing to do." He said acidly. "I could just attack and you'd be the one who's responsible for any injuries he might have." He sighed again as the girl’s eyes grew wider. "Too bad I’m not that kind of person."
Just then, his two teammates landed beside him on their knees. "Eh? What're you guys doing here?" Naruto asked. "I thought I told you to meet in the cave."
"You're very late, Naruto-san." Kurosaki said, head bowed.
"Oh well. We're done here anyway. Let's go." With that, the three Sand Nins disappeared.
---
'Uchiha Sasuke.' Neji thought. 'A worthy opponent.' Then he remembered that blonde Sand Nin. Too bad he didn't get to see his skills. That would have been very interesting indeed.
"Neji." He glanced down at his teammate. Ten-Ten and a very wounded and very exhausted Lee. "Ready?"
He nodded. "Let's leave."
---
Shikamaru, Ino, and Chouji made their way away from the clearing.
"That was just weird." Ino babbled. "And that Sand guy. Imagine him thinking he can take on Sasuke-kun."
'That's not what's really weird.' Shikamaru thought. 'I think it's weird that his teammates aren't the two people we saw with him in the BBQ. I think it's weird that his teammates don't act like his teammates and they act more like his soldiers. But if you take the topic away from Sasuke, then she'd probably beat you over the head. Women. So damn annoying.'
---
"Sasuke-kun, are you alright?" Sakura asked worriedly.
"Yea." He said, panting heavily. "How's Haku?"
"I'm right behind you." The feminine boy said. He looked tired and a little worn out, but was otherwise just fine.
"Neh, Sakura." Sasuke said, "What was the name that Sand girl called that blonde?"
"Umm... I think it was Naruto."
'Naruto.' Sasuke thought. Aloud, he said, "Does that name sound familiar to you?"
Sakura blinked. "Not really." She said honestly. "Why?"
"It's nothing." Sasuke said. But he could have sworn he heard the name Naruto somewhere before.
---
"What'd you guys get?"
"We have two 'Earth' scrolls plus our 'Heaven'." Kurosaki reported. Oddly, Naruto was the only one who didn't get a scroll. Then, as if he read her mind, he said,
"I was going to get a scroll. Really. But I got distracted." He picked up the extra Earth scroll. "And since our little Sound Nin friends seemed to have misplaced their scroll," he said, "perhaps we should give this to them."
He stood up. "Let's go."
---
Dosu was tending to his teammates' injuries when he heard a voice say, "Guess you're not all that good are you?"
He spun around. Who could have possibly sneaked up behind him without him noticing? He saw his visitors and gave a little sigh of relief. The team from the Sand who had provided for his hasty escape. The bandaged Nin with sunglasses threw something at him and he caught it. An Earth scroll.
"Another chance." The blonde said, before turning to leave. "Don't mess it up, please."
---
"So what do we do now?" Kurosaki asked. "Should we head for the tower?"
"Didn't that witch of an instructor say that we were suppose to be in the forest for 120 hours?"
"The tower is in the forest."
"True enough- I don’t see why not. What do you think, Nubou-san?"
"..."
"Still not talking?"
"..."
"No objections then- let’s head head for the tower."
---
The tower was dark and dingy. It looked like someone hasn't swept the place in years. That was what Hinata thought when she stepped in the place. Of course, her team didn't care much about cleanliness so long as they passed.
"Well, that's it for us." Kiba said, flopping down on the dust covered floor. "Now we just wait it out, eh, Akamaru? Hmm? Akamaru?"
The dog was buried inside his hood and whimpering slightly. "What's wrong?" he asked.
'There's a guy who's really strong coming.' Akamaru barked. 'He has the same air as the guy from the Sand.'
"Is he strong?" Kiba asked.
'Maybe.'
"What do you mean maybe?"
'I can't tell if he's strong or not.'
Kiba said to his teammates, "Akamaru says that there's a guy coming who gives off the same air as that creepy guy from the Sand."
Shino and Hinata started. The image of bloody raining down upon them was hard to forget and now there was a guy coming who has the same air?
They heard footsteps and saw the other team from the Sand. Hinata recognized the blonde as the one who was sitting next to her during the first exam. The three of them walked past without giving them a look.
Once they were out of earshot, Kiba whispered to Akamaru, "That team doesn't look so tough. What're you talking about?"
Akamaru gave a bark in reply. "That guy has more power than the other- what the- did your nose die or something? What was that? You feel a demon? He's that strong? Your nose probably ran away or something."
---
"Lucky." Naruto said, "We passed in six hours. I didn't expect that team from the Rain to hold us off so long, but oh well. They've met Kami-sama. Now what do we do?"
"Kazeno-sensei told us that we're to stay here until the last day." Kurosaki said.
"Stay here? It's worse than my room and that's saying a whole lot."
Kurosaki hid a half smile behind her mask. Naruto didn't act a bit like someone with a demonic presence in them. He was funny.
Naruto sat down on the floor after some hesitation and took a bottle of water out from his pouch. He wet his finger, then drew a line of liquid on each of his scars he had gotten in the forest, careful only to wet the area skin that had been cut. Then, before her and Nubou, the scars began smoking and sealing themselves up.
After a few moments, all the injuries he had gotten in the forest were gone and he looked like he just came from a walk in the park.
"All ready. Let's rest." A command his temporary teammates agreed on readily. They had made it to the third exam. Now their mission was just about halfway through.
T . B . C