A Shinobi Story (Reader x Various)

Sasuke's New Power

We waited in the tower for three days. It was kinda boring since we couldn't leave until the 5 days were up. But my friends slowly trickled in as they each passed. I spent my days talking with my squad, and hanging out with the other rookies. What worried me the most was that Naruto and his team never came.

All the other squads except for his arrived and for each passing day, I became more and more nervous. When the 5th day arrived, I couldn't sit still. I was wondering the halls, and came to a stop by the entrance, waiting and waiting for their arrival.

"We passed!!"

I jerked as I heard that oh-so-familiar voice. "Naruto!" I ran to the entrance and tackled him into a big hug. "I was so worried when you guys never came!"

Naruto's face flushed at my warm embrace as he hugged me back. "Ahem." I turned to see Sasuke glaring at Naruto. I ran to him and gave him a hug too. "You too! I was worried...especially since..." I trailed off, not daring to finish my sentence. I noticed Sasuke and Sakura stiffen at this.

"What did he do to you?" Sasuke whispered in my ear. I could tell he was worried, Sakura probably told him about when she woke up she found me unconscious. Now it was my turn to freeze up. I ignored his question and let go of him. That's when I noticed a weird mark on his neck where Orochimaru bit his neck.

"What is that" I asked him. Sasuke remained silent. I turned to Sakura. "What happened when I was gone?" I asked her.

She glanced over at Sasuke, who gave her a nod, indicating she could tell me. "Come with me." She told me and we went to the opposite side of the room.

"Right after you left, we were attacked by Sound Ninja. Sasuke-kun and Naruto were unconscious and so they attacked me. I was weak." She looked sad for a moment. "Then Rock Lee came to save me, but then the Sound Ninja were attacking him fiercely. And then Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji came too. We were fighting them but we just could not beat them. Neji and Tenten were looking for Rock Lee, so they came to the scene as well.

"Then," Sakura eyes filled with fear. "Sasuke-kun awoke, but the mark on his neck was spreading all across his body. He wasn't acting like himself. He had a chakra like... Orochimaru. It wasn't exactly like his, but it was similar. It was filled with hate and revenge. Sasuke-kun then defeated the Sound Ninja with ease, and he almost...killed them. Until I stopped him, and the mark disappeared and he turned back to normal."

Sakura finished, and my eyes widened at her story. "Will Sasuke be alright?!"  I asked her.

"I hope so," Sakura gazed at Sasuke with worried eyes, "Can you not tell Naruto?" She added.

I gave her a confused look. Why wouldn't Sasuke want his own teammate to know what had happened to him? Naruto was there with all of us and he fought Orochimaru too.

"Sasuke-kun doesn't want Naruto to know or to worry about it..." She explained. I nodded slowly. I don't get why Naruto can't know, but it isn't my place to tell him. Then again, I wasn't telling anyone either about what Orochimaru told me privately. So, I guess I can't judge Sasuke.

Sakura and I walked back to the boys. I gave them a big smile. "Congrats on passing!"

......

"Congratulations on passing the second exam!" Anko announced. All of the remaining competitors were taken from the Tower and into an arena like room. I had no idea what we were going to do here now, but it looked oddly like a fighting pit almost.

Anko was standing with The Hokage and many other jounin. Many of which consisted of each Squad's leader. The Hokage came forward and began to talk. "Now, congratulations on passing this far, but now I must tell you the real reason behind the Chuunin exams."

We looked at him confused. The true meaning?

"It is acts as a replacement for war among the countries. Watching the upcoming third exam will act as battles between the country. It does choose whether or not you are fit to be a chuunin or not, but in the third exam, each shinobi fights to protect their countries prestige against their opponent. If a country has many strong shinobi, it'll receive more clients, and if a country has weak ones, they will lose clients."

The Hokage continued, "This isn't the third exam, but we will have to take preliminaries to decide who will participate in the 3rd event."

A ninja appeared in a puff of smoke in front of the Hokage. He turned to us, "I am the referee of the prelims. You can call me Hayate."

Shikamaru looked pissed, "Why the hell are we taking preliminaries?"

I nodded at his words. Why do we have to take prelims? I thought we would just go straight to the next round. All the other ninjas looked pissed off too. Hayate began to explain. "We have too many people, and by the rules, we have to reduce the numbers by preliminaries so that there aren't too many people in the final exam. Now if anyone wants to drop out now, raise your hand."

Kabuto raised his hand, "I'm going to quit."

I stared at him in shock. Why is he quitting when he's gotten so far!?

Other shinobi watched in shock as well. I mean, we've all gotten this far. Why would someone give up when they were so close to getting to the end of the exams? Kabuto then left the arena. Hayate cleared his throat, "Now we will continue the one on one battles. They will be decided by the electronic board above. It will show the match ups."

He stopped talking and turned around. This signaled a small break for everyone to have before the matches were decided. I let out a sigh. At least I can get a little break before I have to fight someone one on one. I tried to collect myself, figuring out if I was in a good state to fight. So far so good. I smirked to myself. This will be fun.

"(Y/N)!"

I turned to see Naruto heading my way. "Who do you wanna fight? I want to go against that Sasuke!"

I laughed at his enthusiasm, "Honestly I don't really care. I can go against anyone in this room... except for two people."

This made Sasuke and Sakura perk up. "Who are they?" Sakura asked me. I pointed at Gaara, "First, Gaara of the Sand. He has a dark aura to him, and it seems dangerous. I would go against him if I had too, but I would be wary of it."

Then I pointed at Kyo. "Then, Kyo."

"What?! Why him?" Naruto exclaimed. I turned dark. "His jutsu is...let's just say it's the worst match up with me."

Kyo sheepishly scratched the back of his head, "Yeah, I guess you could say that...But, on the good side, I have (Y/N) conceding defeat to me already!"

I snorted as I hit his head, "Who said I was giving up?"

"Now quiet down! I'll announce the first match!" Hayate called out. The talking stopped right away as everyone put there attention to Hayate.

We waited in anticipation as the electronic board was sorting through names. When the match up was shown, my heart dropped to the ground. I felt like dying then and there. I wasn't joking when I said I didn't want to go up against him.

(Y/N) Hanninzowa

vs.

Kyo Akiyama