The mysterious man turned out to be Iruka. He congratulated them on passing the second exam and soon after that, they were led to a giant room. The others who passed the exam were also there, alongside their team Jounin. The Third Hokage gave a speech about the exam’s real intentions. “Now, I’d like to explain the third exam…”. He coughed at the end and a ninja appeared in front of him.
“Excuse me, Hokage-sama…”. The ninja knelt in front of him with his head bowed down. “I, Gekko Hayate, the judge, will explain”. He said and stood up. “Everyone it’s nice to meet you”. He added and turned around. He had half-lidded eyes, but what caught Akashi’s attention, were the prominent dark lines under his eyes, as if he hadn’t slept for a while. He wore his forehead protector as a bandanna.
“Everyone, before the third exam…”. He started and then coughed. “There’s something I want you to do…”. He covered his lips with an arm as a cough ripped out of his throat. Is he ill? Akashi furrowed his brows as he observed the man’s body shake with each cough. He calmed down and looked at them. “Fight in some preliminary matches to see who gets to advance to the Third Exam’s main battle”. He finished.
There were a few gasps and a few questions. He answered and said that they will have to fight in preliminary matches because there’s too many of them left. The remaining Genin’s stood in lines, so Akashi had a clear view of Sasuke. The boy was gripping his shoulder in pain. Sakura also noticed that, and leaned forward to him. Her next words left Akashi surprised. “Sasuke, maybe you should withdraw from the preliminary matches”.
She told him he was acting weird ever since he fought with Orochimaru. Akashi gritted his teeth at the mention of the man. He wanted to kill everyone in my team. His fists clench at his sides and he looks at the ground beneath his feet. I was too weak to do anything about it. His lip ended up in between his teeth and he harshly bit down. I was useless, and now Sasuke is suffering. He squeezes his eyes shut, trying to get rid of the thoughts in his head.
You’re right, you are weak, you are useless. The monstrous voice speaks in his mind. His eyes snap open as a wave of anger washes over him. Shut up, damned fox!. He snarls back in his head. A low chuckle echoed inside. Why are you angry? Is it because I speak the truth? The fox asked, humor clear in its tone. Leave me alone, I have no need for you! He looked to the side and was met with lavender colored eyes.
A surprised look appeared on the girl’s face and she hurriedly looked away. Oh you will… you used my power for revenge… who says you won’t use it again? Its laughter grew quieter and quieter, until Akashi was left in silence. A moment passes and the girl looks back at him. She didn’t notice he was looking at her as her eyes flashed down to his hand. Akashi looked down and noticed his hand was bleeding. When he saw his nails were digging into the skin, he relaxed his hands.
He exhaled and looked ahead, focusing Chakra in his hand. A second later, a small green glow covered his hand. The bleeding stopped soon after. Sakura and Sasuke were still quietly arguing. She started raising her hand to tell everyone about Sasuke’s bruise, but was interrupted by someone else. Kabuto raised his hand and said he was quitting. His explanation was that his body was too worn out for life-or-death matches.
Two more hands were raised and they exited the room, leaving their teammate alone. Akashi glanced at the guy that was left. A Suna headband was tied around his forehead. The most eye-catching thing about him was the black katana strapped to his back. They sent two teams from Suna? He tilted his head when the guy turned his way and winked at him. His silver eyes shinning in mirth. What the…? He furrowed his brows in confusion. The guy’s lips curled up in a smirk as he turned away. Well that was weird. Akashi shook his head.
Sakura was about to raise her hand again, but Sasuke grabbed it and lowered it. “This doesn’t concern you, you’re being nosy… I told you already, I’m an avenger”. He told her, staring directly into her eyes. Her eyes filled up with tears. Akashi narrowed his eyes and grabbed Sasuke’s wrist, removing it from Sakura’s. “Don’t be so harsh towards her”. He gripped Sasuke’s wrist, glaring at him.
“I agree with her. You should withdraw from the matches”. Akashi added. Sasuke gritted his teeth and pulled his arm back. “Stay out of this!” He snarled at him. “I don’t care about the Chuunin exam, I just want to know if I am strong. I’m going to fight strong guys, and those guys are here”. He declared and turned to Akashi and Sakura. “I won’t allow you two to take away my path”. Sakura took a step back, eyes filling with tears once more.
Naruto started saying how Sakura was just worried about him, but Sasuke interrupted him. “Naruto, I want to fight you, too”. That made Naruto freeze, disbelief written all over his face. “Then, let’s begin the preliminary matches”. Hayate spoke up. “It will be a one-on-one match, in other words, it will be like real combat”. He added. “Since there are 22 people, we will have 11 matches and the winners will advance to the Third Exam. There are no rules, you fight until the other person dies, gets knocked out or admits defeat. If you don’t want to die, please give up immediately”. He said.
“However, if I judge that the match is over…”. He went into another coughing fit, before getting back to normal. “I may stop you to prevent any unnecessary deaths. The thing that will hold your destiny is this”. He looked at Anko and she nodded. Behind them, a panel opened, showing a black board. “That board will randomly choose two people and those two will fight”. A few moments later, the board lit up and names started flashing. “The names of the first two people are…”. The board slowed and two names showed up.
“…Akadou Yoroi vs Uchiha Sasuke”. You’re kidding me? What the hell? Akashi had a look of pure disbelief on his face. The two of them stepped out and the others went to sit up at the stands. The match began and Yoroi threw shurikens at Sasuke. Sasuke deflected them back at him using a kunai. When he hit them, he stumbled and fell onto the ground. The seal on his neck is messing him up… Akashi observed the fight. Yoroi disappeared from in front of Sasuke and reappeared in front of him.
Sasuke pushed away from the ground to dodge the hit and stabbed a kunai into the ground to stop himself. He shifted on the ground and managed to knock the guy down. He wrapped his legs around his shoulder and twisted his arm. Akashi sensed that Yoroi used a big amount of Chakra and his eyes widen when Sasuke just lets go of the guy. Yoroi stood up and took a few steps away from the boy on the ground.
As Sasuke sat up, the guy dashed at him and grabbed him by the head, forcing him back down. “Sasuke!” Akashi yelled as he watched him slam his head into the concrete. He gripped the railing under his fingers. “What is that technique? Is he stealing Chakra?” Akashi whispered to himself as he saw Sasuke’s arms fall beside him. He had no strength. A moment later, Yoroi was kicked away by Sasuke.
The man dashed back at Sasuke, intent on stealing the Chakra from his body. Sasuke dodged from his hand. “Sasuke! You call yourself Uchiha Sasuke with that?! Stop acting like an idiot! Get serious!” Akashi flinched as Naruto started shouting from besides him. Yoroi attacked him again and he continued to dodge. Akashi raised his brows when he saw Sasuke smirk. What’s he smirking about? Then, Sasuke crouched down and kicked Yorio in the air.
That’s..! Sasuke jumped up after him. That’s Lee’s technique? As Sasuke prepared to do what he planned to do, the curse mark on his neck started spreading over the left side of his face. Come on! You’re stronger than that, Sasuke! Akashi slammed his fist onto the railing, making it bend under the force. As if he heard him, the marks on Sasuke’s neck started withdrawing back into the seal.
Sasuke spun in the air as he hit Yoroi and slammed his fist into the guy’s face, forcing him towards the ground. As they both neared the ground, he shifted and slammed the heel of his foot into Yoroi’s stomach, hitting him into the ground. Hayate stepped towards the unconscious Yoroi. “The winner of the first match is Uchiha Sasuke, that means he passes the preliminary round”. He declared. From beside’s Akashi, Naruto let out an excited ‘yeah!’, and a smile appeared on Sakura’s face.
Akashi let out a sigh of relief when he saw that Sasuke was relatively unharmed. As Sasuke started falling onto the ground, Kakashi appeared behind him in a puff of smoke, and stopped him. “Sasuke! You won in such an idiotic way! You’re all worn out, idiot!” Naruto pointed at him and started mocking him, the grin ever-present on his face. “Na-ru-to!” Akashi growled from besides him.
“Stop pointing at people, how many times do I have to repeat myself?!” He raised a fist and slammed it on top of Naruto’s head. The said boy grabbed his head in pain. “Why do you hit me every time?! It hurts, ya know?!” He pouted. Akashi grimaced at that. “It’s supposed to hurt!” Sakura sweat-dropped from next to them. Akashi’s attention was brought back to Sasuke when he saw him stand up.
Kakashi was walking behind him, and they exited the room. “We will now begin the second match”. Hayate declared and everyone looked at the board. Names were flashing and it slowed down. “The fighters of the second match are….”. The names appeared on the board. “… Uzumaki Akashi vs Andou Yu”. Akashi sighed out. So soon… “Akashi! Kick his ass!” Naruto grinned from besides him. “Don’t worry about that”. He assured him and jumped down.
“Now, who’s the other guy?” He wondered out loud as he awaited the other person. Not even 5 seconds pass and someone jumps down. That guy…! Akashi watched the other guy come closer. His dark blue hair swishing side to side, eyes filled with amusement. He stopped a few feet in front of Akashi. “Ready?” Hayate asked. As the two of them nodded at the same time, Andou’s hand on his katana, Hayate shouted ‘start!’.
Andou lunged forward and slashed, he missed Akashi by an inch. He’s fast! Akashi rolled to the side and brought out a kunai. “How cute”. He wiggled his brows and looked at the kunai in Akashi’s hand. “Aren’t you being too relaxed in a situation like this?”. Akashi nodded at the katana which rested on Andou’s left shoulder. The boy let out a laugh. “And what is this situation?” He asked. Akashi blinked. “A one-on-one fight? What else?” The other guy snorted at his words.
“That’s where you’re wrong”. He grinned, white teeth flashing. “This isn’t a one-on-one fight… this is a slaughter…”. He looked at him, silver eyes wide open. “And I’m the butcher!” With a sing-song tone, he gripped the hilt of the blade, bringing it close to his body. Bending his knees, he lowered himself. “I can’t wait to see the pretty color”. Andou dashed forward and Akashi had no time to move away.
He felt the cold steel of the blade, before he could blink.
It felt like he was ripped apart. Taking a breath in surprise, the pain intensified. He punctured my lung. He let out a gasp as the blade twisted inside him. “Such a pretty red~”. The blade was ripped away and Andou jumped back. Akashi clamped a hand over the wound and placed another one over his lips. As a cough ripped from his throat, he felt something wet splash against his hand. He didn’t need to look to know what it was.
Wiping his lips with the back of his hand, he focused Chakra in the other one. I can’t heal internal wounds… A shuddering breath exited his lips as the world around started spinning. I’m losing too much blood, damn it! He weakly looked ahead of himself and saw Andou inspecting his blade. He had an amazed look in his eyes as he inspected the blood on the steel. “Oh, definitely a pretty color!” He giggled to himself.
“You’re sick”. Akashi forced the words out, his throat constricting in pain. The immediate change in Andou’s behavior was evident. “Sick? Because I love the color red?” He narrowed his eyes and pointed the bloodied blade at Akashi. “You don’t understand”. He snarled at him. Akashi dropped to his knees, blood splattering onto the ground as he gasped and coughed. “Neither do I want to understand”. He growled out, blood dripping from his lips.
He spat the blood from his mouth and wiped his lips. He’s too fast, what the hell do I do? As he tried to stand up, his knees gave out and he fell onto the ground again. Damn it… I can’t… As his eyes slowly closed and the darkness started consuming him, he heard a desperate yell. “Akashi! Get up!” Naruto? Is that you? “Naruto…”. He weakly whispered out and blacked out before he hit the floor.
_
He found himself surrounded by a familiar scenery. The sewers spread all around him, infinite darkness beyond that. “Why am I here?” He asked out loud when he looked at the giant red gate. A single orange tail wrapped around the steel bar. “You know why you are here”. The fox answered in its gravelly voice. “I’m in danger, aren’t I?” Akashi asked, hands clenched at his sides.
The fox let out a chuckle. “You are… and you know what you need to do”. Teeth gritting together, Akashi looks away. “I know… but I don’t want to…”. Why was this happening? Is this how things are supposed to go? Is this how he’s going to go? Is this when he’s supposed to go? He’s going to be killed at the age of 12, by another kid. He did nothing in his life. Achieved nothing. He barely started his life and it was already ending.
Is this the ninja world? Kids killing one another for the glory of their village? Kids being sent to fight in a war… a war they had no need to be in. The children are supposed to be the future of the villages, so why are they being killed off? This is wrong… this is so, so wrong. Ninja’s are being used as tools for conquering territories, used for killing, used for destruction. This shouldn’t be happening!
Is that what he is going to become? A tool for someone else’s use? To be thrown away later on? Is this to what the world has come to? It’s filled with pain, filled with fear… Why can’t there be peace? Why must there always be death and destruction? “Because humans are corrupted… they are full of sin”. The Nine-Tails spoke up.
“War will always exist”. It felt wrong, to be able to agree with the fox on that. “Even if one war ends, another one will come to be, because the consequences of the previous one will be the cause for the next”. Nine-Tails watched the expression on the boy’s face. This boy… “Time is running out… accept me and your pain will end… accept me and I will make everything better… accept me and you will live”. Akashi stumbled back. “I can’t do that… I won’t do that!” He shouted at the fox, voice trembling.
The Nine-Tails could sense the boy’s internal conflict. “Your brother… he will be sad, won’t he?” Akashi’s eyes widen and he looks at the fox. “Naruto… yes he would be sad”. His hands relaxed at his sides. “We don’t want that… do we?” The fox continued its plan, coming closer and closer to completion each moment. “No, we don’t”. When he uttered those words, his violet eyes dulled out.
Perfect… each time my Chakra enters your body, the seal will weaken… and one day… I will escape from this forsaken prison inside your mind. Red Chakra swirled from underneath Akashi’s feet, sending ripples through the water around him. His nails extended into sharp claws, his hair spiked up… but the biggest change were his eyes. The violet color dissolving into a crimson red.
“Kill him”. The foxes voice rang clear in his mind.
_
As his eyes opened, everything seemed so much clearer than before. Andou was standing a couple of feet away from him, a grin on his face. His blade was settled onto his shoulder, posture relaxed, no worries at all. When he saw Akashi slowly standing up, his grin faltered, replaced by a look of confusion. “How can you stand up?” He asked, but when he received no answer from the boy, he took a better look.
His eyes slowly widen in realisation as he noticed the changes. The wound had stopped bleeding and his knees were no longer shaking. But, his Chakra, that was a whole other thing. It was red, spiraling in waves around him. The air became denser, almost unbreathable. Shock waves shook the ground beneath their feet, but Akashi didn’t look disturbed at all.
“What the…?” Andou started, but when Akashi raised his head and looked at him, the words got caught in his throat. Crimson red eyes, glowing, staring straight at him. “What the hell are you?!” He took a step back in something akin to fear. Not that he would admit that he was afraid. Akashi didn’t answer him. He raised a clawed hand in the air and pulled an arm back. Prepared to attack.
As he remembered the foxes last words, his slit eyes dilated and he lunged forward.
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