Naruto : Venom

Our strategy works for a half hour. Slowly the others got used to our presence, their wariness left them as they observed us do nothing. Conversations started back up, people willingly turned their backs to us and the atmosphere isn’t anywhere near as tense as before.

...

It didn’t last long enough, as the shinobi here got used to our presence they also got their courage back. Not entirely unexpected, we’re approached by a group of three Suna shinobi who have an air of violence about them. Honestly I’m more surprised that it isn’t our friends who are the first people to approach us.

It’s a group of three gennin, by the way they move in unison it’s obvious they are all part of the same gennin team. Two of them are definitely submissive to the third, so that makes him the leader of their merry band. The two sidekicks are decked out in standard shinobi gear for Suna nin with only a few stylistic changes to it. The leader is also dressed in standard Suna shinobi gear except he has an addition of a sword strapped to his back. One that is eerily familiar.

Don’t kill him! Don’t kill Fujita! Not him! Please!

I flinch backwards. Memories flash through my head almost too quickly to decipher but slow enough to force me to remember.

The sun glints off the raised blade of the Suna shinobi. He swings it down.

”Green?”

My tou-san’s head rolls off his body and falls to the ground.

”So, you two are who Oto decided to send into slaughter.” The leader of the group addresses Sasuke and I. He’s a tall imposing teenager, probably around 18 years old.

We always loved you.

”Suna shinobi talking about slaughter. Ironic.” I aggressively say back to him. If it is a fight he wants, I am more than happy to oblige.

~They will learn their place. Teach them to respect their betters.~

”The little puppy can bark!” He jabs back at me.

”Oh I can do much more than bark.” I step forward and take a battle stance. I will not be insulted by these murderers!

~Yes! Show them what we can do! Use me like before, remember what they’ve done to you! They deserve death, give it to them!~

”Green!” Sasuke’s firm voice comes from behind me. He grabs my shoulder and crushes it. ”You know they didn’t do it.”

”Didn’t do what?” One of the sidekicks asks.

”Murder my family.” I venomously spit out.

”Quiet! You know they had nothing to do with it, don’t blame them for the actions of others. You’ve already had your revenge. Or is your trophy not enough? Since when do you lash out at people?” Sasuke attempts to talk reason into me.

They didn’t do it, I know they didn’t. I can’t get rid of this pit in my gut, this growing knot of tension. Just seeing these Suna shinobi has set me on edge, made me paranoid. I don’t know if I can let it go.

”Fine. I won’t attack them.” I still don’t relax my battle stance. Sasuke doesn’t remove his hand.

”You think you’re the only one who lost someone important? Oto is responsible for the death of our Kazekage! You deserve to be punished for that!” The leader falls into a battle stance to match my own.

”I wish they sent more. I don’t think I’ll be satisfied with only two.” One of his cronies chimes in as he falls in line beside his leader.

Adorable, they’re trying to scare us. They have no idea that they are facing a monster. I can kill them in seconds.

~Yes, just let me out! Let me kill them for you! It is like you said, all it will take is seconds!~

”Leave the Oto shinobi alone.” A voice I didn’t expect to hear anytime soon cuts into our conversation before anything can happen. ”This proves nothing.”

Sand swirls both menacingly and protectively around the Suna nin. Before us is none other than Gaara himself. He’s flanked by Temari and Kankuro. The Sand Siblings are here, probably to save their idiotic allies.

”They killed our Kage!” The leader roars at Gaara through the swirling sands. ”They deserve to die for what they did!”

”Are you forgetting that it is my father that died?” Gaara says in his monotonous voice. ”Are you forgetting who you are talking to? Who is standing beside me?”

The leader cringes away in fear. ”O-of course not. If anyone should kill them it’s-”

”No one is going to kill them.” Temari cuts off the scared leader. ”They didn’t kill my father, our Kazekage. Orochimaru did. Only he will be punished for that crime. A friend once told me, I will not condemn you for something you had no part in. Do you really think gennin had any influence on Orochimaru’s plans?”

”Fine. They’ll get to breath a little bit longer.” The leader straightens up and walks away with his head held high. I can’t wait to see him fail these exams, in fact I might make him fail myself. That would be very therapeutic.

”They couldn’t kill us if they tried.” Sasuke finally had enough of being ignored.

”That remains to be seen.” Kankuro blandly says. ”Who knows, maybe they are more skilled than you give them credit for.”

”I doubt that. If they had any skill they wouldn’t have caused a scene.”

”Enough. Temari, Kankuro we will leave the Oto shinobi alone. I do not blame them for our father’s death, but I don’t like being in their presence.” Gaara orders his siblings as he starts walking away from us. Kankuro is soon to follow, but Temari hesitates for a moment.

”Does the name Alvarcus Mar mean anything to either of you?”

Sasuke and I both tense. Since when does Temari know that I went rouge? What could possibly inspire her to ask hostile shinobi about me? Did I have that big of an impact on her?

”No. It means nothing to us.” Sasuke replies.

”Thank you for your time.” Temari walks away to rejoin her brothers.

”That went well.” I sarcastically say to Sasuke.

”It would have gone much better if you didn’t react so badly. Since when do you ever react badly? I’ve seen you handle much worse than three gennin with a smile. Hell I’ve done worse to you and you laughed it off!”

”You know how you get tunnel vision when it comes to your ambition? Same thing.” Itachi killed Sasuke’s parents. A Suna nin killed mine. Surely he can relate to that.

”It isn’t the same. You know they had nothing to do with it.”

”What about our teammate? We never found out what exactly happened.”

”Those idiots couldn’t have done it. What the hell is going on with you? You’re the level headed one, you’re the one who is supposed to reign me in.”

”They made me see it again. The leader has the same kind of sword that was used to cut off their heads.”

”Oh.” Sasuke’s voice softens. ”I never knew how it happened.”

No one else has the courage to approach us. After another half hour wait the proctor appears.

He lazily strolls out from the stands with his hands shoved into his pockets. He’s giving of a strong Kakashi vibe, someone who comes off as lazy yet is really hiding behind that to mask their strength.

”Alright gennin, quiet down.” He calls out to the crowd. ”I’m your proctor for the exams. You don’t need to know my name, most of you will fail this first test anyways. I’m going to be sitting at that table over there.” He gestures to a table near the filled stadium, ”How you pass is simple. There are around 150 of you here. You’ll need to bring me three badges. Any three will do.”

The unnamed proctor starts lazily walking over to the table.

No one moves. Everyone is on guard, waiting for him to say start.

There are only a few exceptions to that, both Sasuke and I instantly start moving towards the other gennin. Orochimaru has taught us both that playing fair is something you should never do. The others who aren’t waiting are the Suna team that confronted us earlier. They’re seeking us out, cutting through the crowd to get to us.

”Will you be okay on your own?” Sasuke asks me.

”Yeah. I got it out of my system earlier. Now that I know what to expect I can control myself.” Hopefully, if I can’t then Suna will be down three gennin and I’ll need to haul ass out of here.

”Good. There are some Konoha nin that need to be taught their place. Don’t kill them.” Sasuke says to me as the Suna nin finally stop before us. He vanishes into a swirl of leafs.

”Don’t kill them either!” I call out after him. I feel sorry for those poor Konoha gennin. They pushed Sasuke’s most delicate button. They questioned his strength and are about to get a first hand lesson in how strong he really is.

...

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