• Dark Dawn •

Ep 21 - Couldn't

(Arc 3 - Curse - pt 2)
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Naruto

Naruto slumped back and leaned on the wall as he was breathing heavily. His face was covered in sweat again.

He slid down to the ground and sat in a moment of silence in the night scene. The dim streetlights lightly lit up the roads.

"I'm glad I did that..." He sighed. He clutched his shoulder again. He's safe now.

Kit, you know what you have to do now.

Yeah.... he sighed. I do. 

A few minutes earlier

"Sasuke, I want to try something." Naruto tapped his shoulder.

Sasuke aimed and then threw a shuriken at a target in a second, hitting the bullseye. "Yeah, what's up?"

The prelims has ended a few hour earlier. The pair had been out practicing. The moon had risen a while ago. For the most time, they'd been refining their jutsus. Naruto watched Sasuke for some of the time, unsure about how to approach him.

Eventually, he found a good time to budge in.

"Trun your back to me." Naruto said.

"....okay..." He stepped a little to the side.

Naruto put a hand on the back of Sasuke's body. Okay, so is this how you do it?

Almost. Try a bit harder and send more chakara to his curse mark.

Naruto's face strained abut as the curse mark on Sasuke's body slowly seeped into his own. A minute later, he fell to one knee, successfully removing the curse from Sasuke.

The raven-haired genin immediately sensed something odd in Naruto when he turned to see what had happened. "Naruto! What did you do??"

With one look at the receding curse mark did he realize that the presence of the curse mark couldn't be felt anymore.

He clapped his hand on his shoulder in surprise and then glared at Naruto. "You better have not done what I think you did..."

Naruto let out a strained laugh. A small grin appeared on his face despite the sweat on his facd. "Yea, i might've... So I probably won't be seeing you soon, so take care, Sasuke."

Immediately as he said that, he Hirashined. Disappearing before Sasuke's eyes. "That idiot!!-"

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Present time

"So how do I get there again??" Naruto asked out loud.

I'm not your library! Remember the information that you gather, don't leave it up to me!

Yeah yeah. You're inside me, so what's the difference?

"Kit..."

Okay fine. Whatever. It should be straight northwest from here.

Okay, how far?

How am I supposed to know?!

You're my Google?

You're hopeless.

Naruto couldn't help but laugh at that moment. He finally had a time to relax for a while.

"Well, it's going to take a while before I manage to get there." Me muttered to himself. Especially when I'm in a weakened state. He also added.

Just a few minutes later, a pair of hands grabbed him from behind, and dragged him down to the ground. A needle pieces his neck before he could react.

Impossibly, he managed to feel weaker than he already was. Naruto's vision blurred as his head hit the ground.

Naruto!

Hah...my senses are dulled...I couldn't even tell that this person snuck up on me... I sure am popular these days, huh?

That's nothing to be proud about!

Naruto let out a small laugh before completely blacking out.

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Sasuke

Sasuke wasn't sure what to think anymore.

Things had just up and went downhill.

"That idiot!" He shouted.

What the hell was he thinking?!

Sasuke groaned in frustration. He started to rush around the rooftops of Konoha. He couldn't sense Naruto anywhere. That only frustrated Sasuke even more.

He rubbed the skin where the curse mark had been. He clenched his teeth. This was something we were supposed to bear together!

That stupid Naruto!!

Sasuke frantically swiveled his head from side to side. He tried to pick up a trace of Naruto's chakara signature.

He searched all over the village for almost 40 minutes before he stopped. He slapped his hands on his cheeks.

"Concentrate!" He said to himself. "Where could he be?!"

Then Sasuke started walking back home, uncertainty lingering in his mind. "I'll have to try tomorrow..."

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Sakura

Sakura gripped her hands on the railing. What's happening? Everything feels sorta off ever since the Chunin Exams second round. But what is it?!

She thought longer as she stared into the sky. Just what happened between those two?

Sakura heard a sound from the distance and turned to face the noise.

A figure jumped across the buildings and  rooftops. A shinobi.

"What's going on do late?"

She stared at the figure. He was heading her way. Sakura tensed a little, trying to prepare herself for what was going to happen.

Just as the figure passed by, Sakura could see him.

Sasuke.

He looked stressed, angry, and worried all at the same time.

"That stupid Naruto!!"

Sakura heard that as he passed by her balcony window, seemingly unnoticed.

Sakura stared at Sasuke's disappearing figure in the distance.

What happened?

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I'm so sorry for the short chapter! I just don't know how to end this off...
But I have a good idea as to how I'll start next chapter!

I hope you'll forgive me;-;
I promise to publish next ep earlier!

See you guys in a bit!
Word count: 888 words
(Yes it's short.)