One thousand views!!!! Omg!!! Thank you all for your support, sorry for the late update- the school year's coming to an end, and tests are killing meeee. Anyway. Back to the story!
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Naruto's POV
We appear inside an underground cavern underneath the Forest Tower. The room is damp, the ceiling held up by columns of marble stone with patterns drawn on. I release my grip on Sasuke, and form a handsign. Circles of sealing runes surround us, with Sasuke at the center. The outermost runes glow with an eerily neon green.
"Sasuke. I'm going to remove the curse mark now." I say, flitting my eyes over to him, his body crouched on the floor. He turns to me weakly, and nods, his eyebrows furrowed in determination.
"It'll hurt like hell." I admit, outstretching my hand to him. "You can hold my hand if you want." He frowns a bit and hesitates, but takes it.
I nod, signalling the start of the removal. I form a one-handed handsign, watching as a rune appears on my palm. Then I place my hand on the curse mark, pulsing a bit of chakra in. The circles of runes are all glowing now, and I feel Sasuke squeeze my hand from the pain.
Eyebrows furrowed in concentration, I pulse more chakra in. Sasuke chokes out a scream of agony, and I lift my hand, starting to pull the curse with it. His screams echo throughout the room, and someway through the procedure, I feel his nails dig into my hand, drawing blood. Ignoring an odd weight in my chest whenever I hear his screams, I pulse a bit more chakra and lift my hand higher. Pulsing, and lifting. This goes on for about an hour.
Frowning, I pull my hand up one last time, and the curse finally gives. The runes turn back to normal, and I feel Sasuke's body give out. He falls to the floor, having already used up his voice from all the screaming. He's unconscious.
Realizing he's still grabbing my hand, I try to pry my hand away, but he holds on tight. Pursing my lips into a thin line, I sigh, and sit down next to him as he sleeps, letting him hold my hand.
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Also ignoring the fluttering in the chest as I watch him sleep, I stay on high alert. It's been a few hours now. I sense more chakra signatures in the Forest Tower. More teams have made it. The One-tail is one of them. No surprise there.
It's the first time I've removed something like that. Perks of being in the Uzumaki clan.
Suddenly, I sense Sasuke stir beside me. I turn to him, and he gets up groggily, wincing as he tries to move his neck.
"The curse is removed, but I left the mark on there, so Orochimaru won't be suspicious." I say slowly, when he seems to come to his senses. "There might be some lingering pain, but it'll go away. I suspect that there'll be a decent number of people left after the second part of the exams, so there'll be a preliminary round. It's where you fight one on one. I don't want you activating your sharingan, or ninjutsu- anything that requires chakra, since that might make Orochimaru know somethings up."
Sasuke nods, rubbing the back of your neck and sitting up. I stare at him awkwardly.
"....How are you feeling?"
He turns to me, a deadpan on his face. "Like hell." I snort.
"At least your personality's normal." I mused. Then he perks up, an eyebrow raised. His head slowly turns to our hands still entwined with each other.
I watch in amusement as his face turns red, and he sputters, pulling his hand away and bringing it to his chest. My hand lingers in the air, not sure what to do. I drop it awkwardly. Then he seems to notice the scratches on my hand.
"Did I-"
"It's fine." I say, cutting him off and waving my hand dismissively. "It's almost healed anyway."
"...." Sasuke stares at me uneasily. Then I sigh, getting up.
"We should get back before Sakura wonders where we are. Still got a few days before the second part of the exams end."
I hold out my hand to him. He takes it, and gets up, and we shunshin back to the Forest Tower.
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(Skipping to the preliminaries!)
A few days later
Twenty one people, or seven teams, managed to survive the second part of the exams. My team, Guy's team, team 10, team 9, a Sound team, Gaara's team, and the grey-haired, snake man's team, who I've learned to be Kabuto.
We stand in an arena, facing the Hokage at the front of the arena. There he stands with all the jonin senseis, and the proctors.
"Due to the amount of people still remaining-" The old man begins, "We will hold a preliminary round. Each of you will be paired, and you will fight until one forfeits or isn't able to continue. The third part of the exams will be held one month after this, giving you time to prepare. May I warn you that citizens, ninja, and different feudal lords will all be at the final part of the exams. I want to let you know that it isn't the person who wins that becomes a chunin- it's the person we find to have the most potential and would make a good chunin."
"Of course, since we have an odd number of participants, does anyone want to leave?" He asks. A hand shoots up, and I narrow my eyes. The hand belongs to Kabuto.
"I don't think I'm cut out for all this." He says innocently, shrugging. "It'll make it easier for the rest of you if I just leave. Good luck!" He turns and begins to walk away, and I send a glare at him. He merely smirks at me, pushing up his glasses with his fingers.
When Kabuto leaves, the hokage clears his throat. "Right. Now that we have an even number of people, please feel free to go upstairs to the ledge and wait for your name to be called on the board."
As the teams start to split to go to separate ledges, I stick my hands in my pockets and start walking up the stairs. I see the old man sending me a pointed look from the corner of my eye. I give him a silent nod, letting him know that everything's taken care of.
On the ledge, I meet up with Sakura and Sasuke, who've somehow made it before me. Kakashi appears behind us, a serious but proud face under his mask.
"I'm very proud of you all for making it this far. Continue to work hard, and I'm sure you can all ascend to great heights." He says, smiling. His eyes flit to Sasuke's neck momentarily, but he doesn't say anything. I'm sure the old man filled him in.
"....kit. Look at the board."
Oh? You're back. I thought healing me would've taken most out of you.
"Yeah. Just look at the board."
Repressing a sigh, I turn to look at the board in the far side of the arena. On there are two names: Sasuke Uchiha and.... Yoroi. Ah shit. He's from Kabuto's team, isn't he?
Sasuke notices his name on the board, and starts to walk toward the stairs. When he brushes passes me, I mumble a warning. "Don't use chakra."
"I know." He says, looking ahead. At the arena, Hayate stands between Sasuke and Yoroi, in the middle of another fit.
"This match (cough) will end when one of you (cough) are not able to continue or (cough) quits." He raises his hand in the air, stepping back a bit. "Begin!"
I watch as Sasuke shifts into a taijutsu stance. Yoroi launches at him, and they launch into a taijutsu fight, a flurry of punches and kicks. I notice Sasuke's a bit messy without his sharingan. Sasuke swings at Yoroi's stomach, and misses. Seeing the opening, Yoroi sweeps Sasuke's legs from under him, then grabs his throat, sending him slamming into the floor.
Yoroi eye-smiles, his glasses shining. "I'm going to enjoy taking away your chakra." He muses, his hands glowing bright blue with chakra. Sasuke chokes, swatting at the bigger man's arms. I cross my arms, frowning, and see Yoroi lean closer to him. "Without your chakra, you'll be forced to use the curse mark." He whispers, and I catch this due to my over-sensitive ears. Sasuke freezes, and I sense his chakra seeping away with every second. My index finger twitches slightly. I have the urge to go and help him-
"Don't, kit. They aren't breaking any rules yet. Don't underestimate him."
My frowns deepens. I can do nothing but watch. Sasuke struggles for a few moments- before he sends a kick at Yoroi's stomach, sending him flying up into the air. Then Sasuke sends him a few more kicks in the back, before appearing below him. My eyes widen. That's Guy and Lee's technique. "Where did he copy that?"
"Back in the Forest of Death. We witnessed Lee's team fighting. He had his sharingan on, so that must be when he copied it." I hear Sakura mumble from next to me. I turn to her, my eyes still wide.
"...Oh." Is all I can say. Did I just say that aloud?
Looking back at the arena, I see Sasuke swing his leg up, landing a blow on Yoroi's chest. Yoroi lets out a strangled cough, only to be interrupted by another kick in the stomach.
"Lion's Barrage!" I hear Sasuke shout, before sending a flurry of kicks to Yoroi, slamming him into the ground. Then he raises his elbow up, colliding with Yoroi's chest. A deafening crack echoes throughout the arena. Sasuke jumps back, panting. Yoroi's motionless, his glasses cracked- and there's a hole in the arena floor from when he hit the ground.
"....The winner! Sasuke Uchiha!" Hayate says, breaking the awkward silence. Medical nin come rushing forward to come pick up Yoroi, and I see Sasuke breath a breath of relief. He's about to collapse on the floor, when Kakashi shunshins down there, bringing him back up to the balcony.
"Good job." I offer, smiling at him. He lets out a dry chuckle, breathing heavily. Chakra exhausted.
"Naruto." Sakura says, pointing to the board. I turn to look at it, and raise an eyebrow.
Naruto Uzumaki vs Kiba Inuzuka. ...This'll be quick.
Sighing, I flash my team one last look, before hopping over the balcony rails, landing on the floor with a thump. I walk over to where Kiba's there waiting. He scoffs.
"I know I haven't known you for long, but I'm pretty sure Akamaru and I can beat a shorty like you." He sneers, and his mutt barks a yelp of approval. I stare at him, impassive, and stick my hands in my pockets.
"I haven't known you for long either, but I'm sure I can beat you and your mutt without my hands." I mused. His composure falters a bit, and he sputters, growling.
"You wanna test that out, shorty?!" He barks. I raise my eyebrow in amusement.
"Ah- my apologies. I'm sure I can beat two mutts without my hands."
".....I'm honestly surprised you haven't offended everyone in the village by now."
"What the hell did you just say?!" Kiba shouts, baring his teeth. He crouches to a defensive position, his nails turned into claws. Hayate takes this as a signal.
"Naruto Uzumaki and Kiba Inuzuka. You know the rules. Begin!"
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Ooooooh, suspenseful. Ah- here's a quick drawing I drew of my version of Naruto-