He answered with a wave off his hand. Then he was gone.
Sasuke traversed the dense swamps that were before him, before spotting a few teams to hunt, as he trailed them. There were 3 teams that looked to be apparently in some sort of coalition together. This rung some bells for the Uchiha, as he had expected for people to be at each other's throats, trying to find their missing scroll, not making friends with each other and then being extremely passive with each other. He eyed the person that was giving directions and orders most often. She had emerald eyes with a bandana that covered her hair. Her facial features were grotesque, so Sasuke could see why everybody was obeying her. Well, Sasuke thought the was grotesque. They were just scared.
He hid inside some branches of a huge oak tree which the team Sasuke was scouting was sitting in. Sasuke looked down on them. Then, he saw something red sticking out of the women's ripped shorts. A red scroll! This was the opportune moment for them to try and complete the challenge.
So he took his chances, dived down for the scroll, and had succeeded in taking it. He had completed his objective, and he headed back to where his tracker pointed him to go. But strangely, the woman didn't seem unhappy that her lifeline had been stolen. Sasuke took out the scroll, and it disintegrated and turned to ash while he was in the process of taking it out of his hands. The woman snickered with the 3 teams around her.
"Looking for this?" The woman questioned, as she pulled out an exact replica of the fake scroll. The woman's robotic voice sounded uglier than her face. Sasuke had been tricked.
"You should probably give that to me now, otherwise I will just have to kill you for it." Sasuke politely asked.
"You think you can kill us? Don't make me laugh. In fact, that blue scroll will fit us just fine. " Said a boy with purple face paint on, and a bandaged gourd on his back. He wore a black jumpsuit, which made Sasuke feel like he was in a circus. The woman next to him took out a fan, a giant one at that, and was about to swing it, when all of a sudden...
"Temari, stop. You're disturbing my penance. Shut up, or I'll kill you. Mother needs the best meal that she can have. And you're disturbing it. If you want to fight him, do it quickly. I am losing my patience." Whispered a boy with another gourd on him, and had red hair with the kanji 'Love' tattooed on his forehead.
"Gaara..." She said nervously.
The other teams around tried to get the scroll, (which they had just seen), from Sasuke, but he took them all out with a quick kick to the head.
She then swung her fan at Sasuke, which made a huge gale of wind blow. Sasuke instinctively ducked. She tried to muster enough strength for another blow, but she was too slow.
"Herufaiabureizu!" Sasuke exclaimed.
Flames had scorched the surroundings of the area that Sasuke and the trio were in. All 4 of them were trapped inside of a ring of fire, it growing closer to them at any second. If they tried to run, they wouldn't survive, the fire was searing hot. Their only option was to fight.
"You are causing a lot of trouble to me, I will have to get rid of you. Don't worry, this won't hurt at all, it'll be over quick." The red-haired spoke hoarsely, as the other two took a step back. As the red-haired advanced to Sasuke, he pulled out a hand, and sand started to flood the gourd as it ruffled out.
"Izo." The red-haired commanded. Spikes were formed within the sand as they darted towards Sasuke. Luckily, his reflexes kept him safe as he ducked down to keep himself safe. He knew from his on-point instincts told him to run away, so he listened.
"I give." Sasuke surrendered.
"What's your name?" Sasuke asked.
"Gaara."
"Gaara what?"
"Hm."
"Hey, that's my-."
"Are you going back to your team or not?" Gaara interrupted.
"Yeah. See you around." Sasuke turned to walk away.
But after that, he took out a stick of dynamite inside his pocket, lit it, and dropped it on the ground 5 feet away from the trio. Sasuke jumped away, so that he wouldn't get blasted.
Boom!
"Shine it through the ceiling with a little funk and soul, So I wanna. Light. It. Up. Like Dynamite. Woah-oh." Sasuke sung as he walked away.
"He probably survived that. I wanna face him again." Sasuke thought with a smirk.
"Sasuke...that name sounds familiar. He'll satisfy you, Mother." Gaara had shielded his team with a sand sphere, which protected them from the explosion.
"What's this satisfaction for?" Kankuro asked, prying.
"Dinner..." Gaara rasped, creepily.
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"That's about it." Sasuke concluded.
"Um...So to recap what you just said, you walked into a forest. You saw 3 teams around a tree that you were on. You saw a red scroll. You tried to get the red scroll. You failed as it was a decoy scroll and it turned to ash when you touched it. Then the team who's scroll you were trying to take tried to take our scroll. Then you knocked out 6 people who tried to take our scroll. Then you trapped yourself and the other team consisting of; an apparent psychopath, a puppeteer and a woman with a big fan. Then you tried to battle with the psychopath but it turned out that he could control sand so you gave in. Then you unloaded a stick of dynamite and tried to blow them up...am I missing something here?" Sakura tried to ask.
"No, that's pretty much it. Except the psychopath's team survived. Oh yeah, I also killed a bear and saved a girl with glasses from dying."
Sakura just fainted. She couldn't keep up with the action that was going on in Sasuke's story.
"So is the psychopath going to try and kill us? What's his name?" The blonde asked.
"Apparently, his name's Gaara. He has red hair and also has the kanji 'love' written on his forehead."
"So...he's not a psychopath?"
"No, no, To. He's a psychopath." Sasuke affirmed.
"Excuse me?" A voice spoke.
Sasuke turned to look around where the voice was coming from. He spotted an older boy walking up to them wearing spectacles and with grey hair pulled back in a bunch to look like a ponytail.
"My name's Kabu-"
"Buzz off!" Sasuke threw a shuriken at him.
Poof!
He disappeared at sight.
"So he was a simple shadow clone." Sasuke and Naruto thought.
"I'm tired." Naruto announced.
"So am I." Sasuke agreed.
"And so am I, but here we are." Came the same voice again.
"Ugh! You again, we already told you to buzz off!" As Naruto threw the kunai this time.
Albeit, this time he just caught it. He walked over and sat down next to Sasuke and Naruto.
"Do you want to form a coalition with-" He asked.
"No." Sasuke and Naruto replied together.
"Why not?" The man asked.
"What's your name?" Sasuke questioned.
"Kabuto."
"Well Kabuto, you seem to have a very interesting red scroll there. It would be a shame if someone was to take it." Naruto continued suspiciously.
"Are you trying to threaten me?" Kabuto enquired nervously.
"Maybe." Naruto stretched out the 'm'.
"So denying all peace talks with you, what happens if I try to take your scroll by force?" Kabuto questioned.
"You don't go home alive." The boys said together.
"Okay, I surrender, I'll go back." Kabuto put his hand in the air to signify surrender. At this moment, Sasuke and Naruto's guards lowered a bit and they were about to go to sleep.
"Or not." Kabuto whispered slyly, as he rushed to the two boys, his eyes on the scroll.
"Don't touch them, or you will regret it." Sakura growled, as she latched her hand onto Kabuto's arm. She had woken up from her 'slumber' and was glaring daggers into Kabuto as he looked shocked at Sakura.
"I thought that she was sleeping! Damn it! Her grip is insane!"
"Okay, can you let go?"
"NO. You tried to hurt my brothers, so now I will hurt you." Sakura stated firmly.
Sasuke smirked at the brothers comment as he laid down on the tree with Naruto to get some sleep.
"Hey, Ra. If you are going to hurt him, can you do it over there?" Naruto pointed in a random direction.
"Sure thing, To." She smiled sweetly as she then punched Kabuto over to where Naruto specified.
"What's the bet that she doesn't kill him, Ke?"
"300 ryō."
"You're on."
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"So Ra, did you kill that guy?" Naruto innocently asked her after waking up from his nap.
"No, but with the way he looks right now, you might say I did."
"300 ryō, Ke! Pay the piper, give me the mula, cough it up!"
Sasuke just looked at the blonde with an unsurprised reaction, even bored.
"Give me it!" Naruto was getting annoyed.
"I don't have it." Sasuke yawned.
"Heh?"
"What do you expect? You came up with the bet. Who in their right mind would bring money to an event where you could possibly die? Plus, even if they did, what are they going to do with it? Bribe people into not killing them? Puh-lease." Sasuke came in with his 'philosophical' arguments.
"Fine, teme. Once we finish this, I better receive my money." Naruto warned him.
"So, should we just get the scroll, or should we just play around with other teams? We're stronger than most people in the Exams, and you all know it. That includes Sunagakure." Sakura pointed out.
"What's Sunagakure?"
"It's the village hidden in the sand, dobe."
"So the psychopath was probably part of Suna, right?" Naruto looked around for conformation.
"Probably."
"All right. We're going to get the scroll now." Naruto announced.
"To, take it easy."
"No! I want to get out of here as soon as I can, so Ke has to pay me his money! Then I'll go to Ichiraku and buy some ramen, cause I'm starving!"
Sasuke sighed.
"I'd rather finish the challenge than listen to To whine about ramen. What do you think, Ra?"
"I mean, why not? I need some training to catch up on with Lady Tsunade."
"So how do we get the scroll, do we just probe people for information, or...?" Naruto asked.
"Yeah, we'll just capture teams and interrogate them for information." Sasuke agreed.
"So what type of interrogation are we talking about here?" Sakura tried to confirm.
Sasuke eyes changed to a full phased Mangekyo Sharingan.
"...Torture." As he snickered evilly.
"Just don't be to hard on them, alright Ke?"
Sasuke was bummed out.
"Fine." He enunciated the 'f'.
"Hey, I heard that teams are falling left and right now. Do you think we should try get a blue scroll and then meet up with Dosu, who has the red scroll, or we should just stick to our plan and try to find anybody and ruin their day." Came an unknown voice. Team 7's ears piped up after this.
"I'd pick the latter, it's way more fun and convenient, plus it can cure my sadness in, like, 2 seconds." Another voice.
It looked like Team 7 had found their torture target.
They hid in place behind some trees that the 2 shinobi that were talking before, walked by. Then, like an animal pouncing on its prey, they snapped.
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"Oh good. You two are awake now." A cheerful voice called out.
"What the hell are you talking about?" A brash voice exclaimed, his mind finally regaining consciousness.
"What's your name?"
"Uhh...Zaku." Said the brash voice, rubbing and shaking his head, his spiky hair bouncing up and down.
Once Zaku had regained consciousness, he checked to amplify his surroundings. But to his surprise, he couldn't move. He had been firmly tied to a tree trunk, with his hands spread far apart from each other.
"Let's get down to business." A calm tone rang out through Zaku's ears. He looked up to see a raven-haired boy looking down on him.
"Where's your third teamate?" Sasuke asked.
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"If your not willing to spit it out, we have tonnes of other ways to get the information out of you."
Zaku had just realised something.
"Where's Kin?" He screamed.
"Who is Kin?" Naruto walked up and questioned.
"The girl who was with me-Where is she?" Zaku's tone was becoming more extreme by the minute.
"I might happen to know, if you told me where your third teamate is right now." Naruto tried to play mind games with him.
"No way! That's classified information."
"Think of this 'Kin' person though. Her fate rests in your hands." Sasuke voice sounded more ominous.
"So she's alive!" Zaku's face was filled with hope.
"Possibly. But she might not be after this encounter." The blonde responded.
Zaku gritted his teeth and turned his head away from the duo.
"These kids are actually pretty strong. What should I do? I can't give these kids the information, or HE'LL come and kill me regardless! And although Kin is alive, I wouldn't put it pass these kids to kill anybody. They'll really kill Kin if I don't give them the location of the red scroll. These kids think like that, huh?"
"Fine. I'll tell you where he is. He's headed towards the Sand kids' coalition, he's trying to steal a blue scroll. The sand kids are located not to far from here. The last time I saw them, they were over there." Zaku nodded his head to the right.
"Gaara..." Sasuke let out.
"A deal's a deal. Give Kin back now!" He screamed.
"You mean her?" Sakura came onto the scene with a battered and bruised girl, blood streaming down her neck, huge bumps stationed around her eyes and mouth, with a purple nose. Her long hair was cut up into strips and shambles.
"KIN!! WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER?" Zaku exclaimed.
"She was our insurance policy." Sakura responded cooly.
"Ok." Zaku stayed calm.
"Let me go." He released.
"No." All three of them stated simply.
"Why not?"
"Do it yourself." Naruto chuckled as they then jumped to the direction Zaku was pointing them to earlier.
"Oh, by the way, Dosu's not coming back if we don't get there first. He's going to be killed by the Sand." Sasuke added.
"Hurry up, Ke!" HIs two friends shouted.
"See ya."
"That sneaky little rat! How does he know who Dosu even is? Plus, I don't have any energy to get myself free! My best option is to wait until Kin wakes up. But that's going to take a long time, and Dosu might not have made it back by then. Ugh! Wake up already, Kin!"
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"You don't want to do this. I-I have the support of the Sand siblings. Temari, Kankuro and Gaara. Th...they're...they're all coming to get you if you hurt me." Uttered an incredibly scared voice.
"The Sand Siblings left and deserted you because you were a burden for them. As a matter of fact, I passed by them and I saw that they had taken a red and blue scroll. They must've taken the other scroll from the other team in your 3-team deadlock. That means there's only your team...which I cannot see as they most likely deserted you, and the Sand Siblings." A soft, cool voice opined, the person's face and right eye covered in bandages and a feather coat behind him.
"No! They-They would nev-never ever betray me!" The scared voice exclaimed.
"Wake up to reality." The cool voice affirmed.
The next moment, the cool voice had taken a blue scroll right of the boy he had been talking to, and slit his throat for good measure.
"Hey, you! Give us that scroll if you know what's good for you."
"Shut up, To! You're going to attract the whole of Konoha!"
"Well, Ke, you're doing a worse job then To right now."
3 voices reached Dosu's ears.
"Well, well, well. What do we have here? Three rats caught in a person's business that they don't understand." Dosu mumbled.
"What's there to understand? You took the scroll from him, now we're going to take that red scroll from you." A raven smirked.
"Yeah. Then I'm gonna eat my ramen, that Sasuke here is going to give me." A blonde foolishly cut in.
"Sasuke?" Dosu enquired with interest.
"Yeah. That's my name." Sasuke responded wittily.
"Interesting. I have a proposition for you from one of my benefactors." Dosu came forward.
"Who's your benefactor? What's his name?" Sakura spoke in a calm voice.
"That's taboo for us." Dosu lowered his left eye.
"I see. Well, what's this proposition then?" She continued.
"If Sasuke over there comes with me, I will make sure that-"
"No deal!" All three of them called out.
"I haven't even-"
"NO DEAL!"
"I see. I was pretty sure you wouldn't want to take the option anyway. My benefactor was right."
"Can we have that red scroll?" Sasuke asked, his voice robotic and hinted no emotion.
"Sure." Dosu said with a smirk.
"Wait, that worked?!" Sasuke questioned.
"I won't want to fight an Uchiha, the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki and the disciple of Tsunade right now." He reasoned with them.
"Kay, bye!" Sasuke and Sakura made their way to the tower to complete the challenge.
"Oh yeah, your teamates are somewhere in that direction. One's tied to a tree trunk and the other one is probably on the verge of death." Naruto chuckled sheepishly.
"Useless" Dosu muttered and shook his head.