The Red Flash Chapter 64 (Preliminary) (Patreon)

Sasuke

Opening his eyes, he heard someone banging on the door, looking around, he saw he was still alone in the room, getting in a sitting position on the couch, he grabbed his blue shirt from the head of the chair near the bed, soon he wore his clothes before he stood up and walked over to the door.

Opening it, he raised an eyebrow at the sudden and unusual early visit of his sensei...

"Yoo, can I walk in?" Kakashi-sensei asked with a carefree attitude; Sasuke spoke nothing but stepped aside to let him in.

Kakashi stopped leaning against the door's framing, walking inside; his visible eye checked the room. To his surprise, he saw a book about medicine lying on the chair near the bed, and he looked at the title.

"How to Heal a Wound," Kakashi read the title with a hushed tone before turning to look at Sasuke, who was leaning against the closed door, his arms crossed and waiting for him to explain.

"I wanted to come and congratulate my team for passing the second Exam but looking at the condition of Sakura and Naruto," Kakashi started and noticed how Sasuke's ears perked up at the mention of his teammates, but yet he spoke nothing and gave him an uncaring look.

"So what? I just hope they are awake for the third exam," Sasuke said, with an uncaring tone; Kakashi noted his eyes were looking anywhere but to him.

Kakashi understood Sasuke thought that he would need his teammates well and able to function for the third exam, thankfully that wasn't the case.

"If it makes you feel any better, you don't need your teammate to start the third exam," Kakashi spoke, paying extra attention to his reaction, he expected perhaps a sigh of relief, but Sasuke looked tenser.

"Sakura is better now; her legs are saved," Kakashi spoke and saw the way his neck immediately twitched towards him. Kakashi half wondered how his neck didn't snap, as his eyes were widened before turning back to normal.

"Her legs are saved? What do you mean?" Sasuke with a calm tone.

"Her legs were infected, the smell was terrible, but the staff here healed the infection before it could potentially force them to cut off her legs to save her," Kakashi said.

Sasuke's eyes widened once again before he slightly lowered his head, shame, is he feeling shame? Kakashi asked himself out loud.

Silence took over them as Sasuke grabbed his right wrist with his left hand before looking up at Kakashi-sensei again.

"What about Naruto?" Sasuke asked with a dreadful tone, and he knew the enemy he faced was a Sannin; someone like him should never be underestimated.

Kakashi sighed, not exactly knowing how to answer.

"We don't know, at least the staff of medical Shinobi don't know what to make of it, he is suffering a high fever, the doctors guessed that must be poison, but checking his body, there was no trace of poison anywhere, so far he's not better," Kakashi spoke, holding back the terrifying thought of losing Naruto.

Tsunade arrived yesterday to check on him, but even she couldn't do anything; she said she healed his wounds, but the fever wasn't going away. When she forcefully opened his eyelid, his sclera was red like blood, Tsunade had almost a heart attack.

A red sclera usually meant he had internal bleeding, usually from his brain, but doing a double-check, there was no bleeding whatsoever.

Right now, Tsunade said all they could do right now was hope he would survive.

Kakashi saw that Sasuke looked messed up by the news; he might try to hide behind an indifferent mask, but knew he was worried for his teammates.

"If you want, you can visit them if you want," Kakashi suggested walking closer to him.

Sasuke spoke nothing but followed him outside the room.

Walking through a long corridor, the lights every three meters, Sasuke followed behind, not uttering a word.

Soon they reached a door; Kakashi-sensei grabbed the door handle before he turned to look at Sasuke; the Uchiha spoke nothing as Kakashi opened the door.

Walking inside, Sasuke was hit by the smell inside, walking inside he saw several beds inside, all of them occupied, he soon found Naruto sleeping on his bed, his face was slightly red, he saw Ashara was sleeping close to his bed, her head resting on his bed.

His eyes found Sakura who was unconscious and looked peacefully, in a deep slumber, her breathing normal, her face looked normal, her lips didn't look purple like in his dream, her pink had covered most of her pillow below her head, she looked alive, her legs weren't red anymore.

Sasuke released a small sigh of relief at seeing them alright.

He walked up to Sakura, putting his palm on her forehead; she wasn't burning hot anymore, moving his hand away.

Kakashi brought a chair over to him, giving him an eye smile.

"You have gotten better, Sasuke," Kakashi suddenly spoke, breaking the silence between them.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow in confusion, "Better? I was barely hurt," he spoke since his headache and his ears pounding on his head were gone; he didn't feel pain anymore.

"Never mind", Kakashi spoke, instead completely ignoring his question, annoying Sasuke.

"I heard what happened in the forest; both Iruka and Hokage-sama gave me a brief recap of what happened," Kakashi looking at Naruto behind Sasuke before his visible eye turned to look at Sasuke.

"But I want to hear it from you as well," Kakashi-sensei said, or maybe he ordered, the Uchiha wasn't sure.

Sasuke started speaking, giving him a full report of what happened from the moment they entered the Forest of Death until they walked inside the Tower.

"That was the End," Sasuke finished; he, of course, didn't give him a full detail of the dream he saw; he still could see the dead eye of his mother looking back at him.

Kakashi was silent after hearing Sasuke's explanation, and he was both proud and angry with his little brother.

Proud that he had made sure to protect his friend, that he hadn't just run away from danger, Naruto knew that Orochimaru was targeting only Sasuke, he could have just run away or acted as if he saw nothing amiss, but chose to stay and protect his friends and teammates, despite risking his own life, he stood his ground against the Sannin, That's a True Shinobi, Kakashi thought proud like never before.

You would be so proud of him Minato-sensei and Kushina-san, Kakashi thought with a smile.

But seeing him in a condition like that made him angry that he had decided to keep fighting even after Sasuke had gotten away and were probably safe.

Sighing, he knew it was pointless to dwell on things of the past, despite himself not doing an excellent job at it.

"Kakashi-sensei," he escaped his thoughts when he heard the voice of his student; looking up again, he saw Sasuke looking at him with a curious look.

"Do you think Naruto will survive this?" He asked, sounding strong and uncaring, making Kakashi wonder why his student was trying so hard to act as if he didn't care for the well being of his teammates.

Kakashi eye smiled, making it look like it wasn't that bad. "Don't worry, Sasuke, Naruto is strong; he won't go down that easily," Kakashi spoke with confidence, but he wondered who he was trying to convince.

Before Sasuke could ask something else, they heard whimpering; looking down, he saw Sakura moving around, uncontrollably, murmuring words he couldn't hear.

He saw as she opened her eyes slowly, only half-opened looking up at him, a smile slowly spread on her face.

"How are you feeling, Sakura?" Kakashi asked, seeing her student was waking up.

Sakura turned her eyes at Kakashi in confusion. "What... Happened?" She asked, uncertain, not remembering much, and not knowing where she even was.

"Don't worry, Sakura, you're in the hospital; you're safe here," Kakashi spoke gently.

"As for what happened, well, you were attacked by Orochimaru, the Sannin..." Kakashi explained what had happened based on what Sasuke had told him.

In the end, Sakura stood silent, will only one thought in mind, I wasn't able to protect anyone. I failed, I failed Naruto, Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei, Sakura thought, trying hard to not cry in front of her team.

"Hey, Sakura, what's wr" "I'm sorry. I failed. I just wasn't able to do anything helpful. Again. I'm nothing but a terrible kunoichi," Sakura spoke as tears rolled down her cheek, burying her face on her pillow.

"You're right," Sasuke spoke, grabbing her and Kakashi's attention; the sensei wanted to tell him to shut his mouth when the Uchiha raised his hand before looking at Sakura again.

"You failed us, But I failed the team as well; where was I when Naruto needed our help, hiding under a tree, not being able to help my teammate. But do you see me crying about it, do you think the tears you're spilling will fix anything, do you think anything you say will fix anything. No. Sadly No, tears won't bring you anywhere; the only thing you can do now is Stand Up, you failed us, you're at the bottom, the only thing left for you is to Stand Up and show everyone that you have Changed," Sasuke with a sincere smile on his face.

"What if I fail again?"

"Then you will fail again, and again, and again until you succeed."

Sakura looked up at Sasuke in a new light, while Kakashi stood stunned at what Sasuke said; he couldn't help but smile at his students; Sasuke had really gone a long way, from the emo who didn't care about anyone to someone who wanted to protect his friends.

Sakura just nodded, not saying anything as she smiled at him, and for the first time, she was smiling in a new way.

Their moment was broken when they heard movements, looking up from Sakura; Kakashi's eye widened at seeing Naruto moving around his bed.

"Naruto," Kakashi shouted, standing up and moving towards him. Reaching him, he saw Naruto's eyes were still closed, but he kept moving his chest up and down, his hands touching his forehead.

This caused Ashara to wake up and see Naruto moving his body around; she started shaking him to wake up, shouting his name in concern.

"Naruto," Kakashi shouted again before turning his head behind at Sasuke.

"Find Tsunade or anyone," he shouted; Sasuke left immediately, even Sakura tried to stand up to try and perhaps help him, but one slight move of her legs caused her to cry out in pain.

Naruto suddenly opened his eyes; Kakashi gasped at seeing his eyes were bright red, almost like a red fire burning inside his eyes. But not like Kyuubi's Eyes.

Before Kakashi could ask if he was alright, a scream of agony echoed throughout the whole room and beyond.

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH"

Naruto kept screaming as a red circle slowly appeared in the centre of his forehead; the ring was small, but the edges looked like it was made of fire, and inside the ring was the word "意思".

As soon as the word appeared, Naruto suddenly stopped screaming, he stopped moving, and for a moment, Kakashi feared the worst, but Naruto opened his eyes much to his relief, and they were back to normal blue.

"Naruto, how are you feeling?" Ashara asked, immediately checking on his pulse around his wrist, but to her surprise, it was normal; his heartbeat wasn't fast.

Naruto smiled at her question, but his eyes kept looking up at the ceiling.

"I have never felt as Good as Now," Naruto spoke as he stood in a sitting position on his bed.

"I Did It,"

Three Days Later

After giving his speech on the reason why the Chunin exam existed other than to promote Genin to Chunin. The Hokage stared at the many different Genin that were before him and could not help but be impressed at how many made it this far, especially at the fact all the rookie Genin from Konoha made it.

"It's impressive that so many made it this far...and many of them are recently made Genin, this Generation certainly has a lot of promise," thought the Sandaime, before his eyes fixed on Naruto where a look of relief and concern spread across his face.

After being informed that Team 7 had reached the gates, Hiruzen had been relieved, but then his condition was worrying; the fever wasn't disappearing. But even with Naruto in front of him alive and seemly well. New concerns started to appear in Sandaime's mind; the seal on his forehead hadn't disappeared, despite Naruto reassuring them that he felt good.

As Sandaime continued to stare at Naruto, he planned to talk with Naruto about what happened later. Even though his ANBU didn't find Naruto, they had found the area where Naruto appeared to have fought Orochimaru and given what the ANBU described to him. Sarutobi knew Naruto had given it his all and put up a fight.

The Hokage was, of course, not the only one who was surprised that so many Genin had made it this far since the second head examiner Anko was equally surprised

"There were eighty Genin who entered the forest, and forty-eight were able to pass it. Sure I said that I would make more than half of them fail. But still, I never expected more than ten to make it to this point," thought Anko in surprise. Since out of them, all the teams entered the forest, Kiri, Suna, Taki, Oto, and Kumo each had one team who passed, while the remaining five came from Konoha.

Eventually, Anko's eyes fell on Naruto and Sasuke, where she narrowed her eyes at his seal on the forehead.

"As expected, you came out of the forest unharmed, Gaara," thought the Suna Jonin-sensei Baki.

"I'm impressed that your team has made it this far, Kakashi. But as long as my team is here, I fear they'll go no further. Since the next exam stage, personal skills and abilities are critical. For Youth is sweet and sour, and sometimes strict," spoke Gai, as he turned to Kakashi as he stood behind the Hokage with the other Jonin-sensei's, whose teams passed.

Kakashi, of course, just ignored Gai's little speech, where once he finished, he turned to Gai and said, "Did you say something, Gai?"

Naturally, of course, the self-proclaimed Konoha no Kedakaki Aoi Mōjū (Konoha's Sublime Green Beast of Prey) did not take this well and started to cry out in disbelief. After which, he began to curse Kakashi's "cool hip" attitude and said he wouldn't lose to him next time.

Tsunade, of course, shook her head at Gai's antics since she always wondered if he was normal.

"Trust me, Gai, when I say this, your team is the least of Naruto's concerns..." said Tsunade, with a slight frown, as she looked at her godson and saw him place his hand on his forehead. The Hokage had informed her and Jiraiya that Orochimaru had attacked team seven. "...Besides, if I were you, I would have been more worried about your team because if you knew what Naruto could do, you'd know that your team stands no chance against him."

At this remark, Gai frowned slightly and wondered what Naruto could do, to have Tsunade have such fate in his abilities. However, Gai had spent a bit of time with the youthful kid.

As the Jonin-sensei looked over the remaining Genin, the Genin themselves analysed their situation and looked around those who passed with them.

The Oto team, of course, glared angrily at Sasuke, remembering they had failed their mission, where Zaku swore revenge on Sasuke for humiliating him. However, Dosu narrowed his eye at Naruto since he still didn't know what to make of the redhead boy.

"So out of the thirty-two teams who entered the second exam, only sixteen made it here..." thought Temari, before she lost her train of thought when she saw her younger brother looking to their left.

When she looked, she saw that her brother was staring at Uzumaki Naruto and the guy from Iwa and had a bloodthirsty look on his face, as if he was glad that they had passed the second test.

"This isn't good," thought the blonde girl, as she feared that her brother would lose control of himself again, should he ever have to fight either boys, since she knew that bloodthirsty look all too well.

"So Naruto-kun passed as well, I'm glad," thought Hinata when she turned to look at Naruto.

"Just as I thought, all the ones who stood out made it", Neji thought, before he glanced to Naruto and Sasuke, who stood next to him and narrowed his eyes slightly. Where he remembered that Naruto had apparently fought against a Sannin, not mentioning the seal on his forehead was unsettling.

"Looks like Naruto made it", commented Omoi, in a low voice to his teammates when he glanced at Naruto on his right.

"As expected", stated Yugito with a slight smirk.

"Indeed, but there's something here, amiss Kitten," Nibi warned her with a serious tone, something that caught Yugito by surprise.

"What is it?" Yugito asked, concerned.

"I'm not sure yet, but the way your boyfriend feels is quite different; before entering the second exam, I could feel him and Kurama inside him, but now I feel something new, but I'm not sure where have I felt this before," Nibi spoke.

Yugito listened to her and wondered what she meant, completely missing what she said about Naruto being her boyfriend.

Sasuke looked at each team, one by one, he saw the ones that interested him, but the one who interested him the most was standing at the other side.

The Uchiha gritted his teeth at the Iwa Shinobi; the dammed dream was still fresh on his mind, sometimes just closing his eyes, and Sasuke felt like he was back in that nightmare.

It seemed the Iwa Shinobi had felt the glare; turning his head around, he made eye contact with Sasuke, who narrowed his eyes at him, but the Uchiha suddenly felt a chill spread throughout his body, his throat as dry as a desert, he noticed the Iwa Shinobi smirking before turning to look forward again.

Gitago looked at the Team 7 of Konoha, especially Naruto, who seemed not to notice or care to acknowledge his glare; Gitago didn't know why but the Uzumaki seemed different, he wasn't a sensor, but he could feel something new around him, he wondered what it was.

Shikamaru glanced at the Iwa Shinobi, he couldn't help but think something was amiss here when he arrived in front of them at the forest of death, Shika remembered his eyes going dark, and that was it, Shikamaru couldn't remember anything else, the next thing he remembered was waking up and seeing Ino asleep and Neji shouting at Lee to wake up.

Shika had asked Ino, but she was in the same situation as him, but when he had asked Sasuke.

The face of the Uchiha had turned pale, almost like Snow, and for a moment, Shika had thought that he might lose consciousness, but his skin colour turned slightly normal soon and just walked past him without saying anything.

What is your secret?

Ashara glanced from the corner of her eyes at Naruto, who seemed to be in a world of his own; she saw the red circle around his forehead, reminding her of her own red circle. Still, unlike him, her seal had disappeared one year ago without any explanation.

She wondered what it was that she was feeling around him.

"I take it from here," a voice suddenly said. The Jonin's left the area along with the Hokage; in front of the Genins was a Shinobi with a sword tightened behind his back.

He coughed before speaking. "Now, before you reach the final exam, we will have a preliminary round," he spoke.

This caused an uproar amongst some of the genins who were still tired by the second exam.

"This is the rule" coughing, "We hadn't predicted that so many teams would pass the second exam. Therefore, we have prepared this preliminary round before we move into the final Exam," he spoke, coughing again.

"Now, does anyone wants to quit, just raise your hand,"

All of the gathered ninjas stared at Kabuto, largely in dismay, as he raised his gloved hand in the surrender of a competition he apparently had no energy left to be a part of. He had made it to the competitive stage of the Chūnin Exams, and after everything he had been through in the Forest of Death, his sudden withdraw shook up his comrades.

Naruto narrowed his eyes at the lier, and if he ever met him outside Konoha, in a mission, he would make sure to kill him.

The exam proctor, Hayate Gekkō, glanced through his dossier of the genin participating in the Chūnin Exams.

"You're...Kabuto, right?" Hayate coughed. "You may leave now..."

"Umm...does anyone else want to retire? Oh...umm...I forgot to tell you that from here on, it will be individual battling. You may raise your hand based on your own judgment." Before anyone had a chance to answer.

Hayate coughed, drawing everyone's attention back on him. "Umm...now...there's no one else retiring, right?" Sakura started to raise her hand, but Sasuke gripped it menacingly.

"Don't you dare say a word," he muttered, his eyes boring into hers with an intensity she had never seen. Defeated, she lowered her hand, and Hayate surveyed the group nonchalantly.

"Umm...now...let's begin the preliminary. The preliminary will consist of one-on-one fighting. You are to fight as if it is a real-life confrontation. The winners will advance to the third test." Hayate paused for a momentary coughing spasm, and the group watched with apprehension as he continued as though nothing had happened.

"There are basically no rules. The fight continues until one of you dies or is knocked out or admits defeat. Umm...if you don't want to die, then quickly acknowledge your defeat. But (cough) when I decide that the winner has been clearly established...umm...since we don't want to increase the amount of corpses pointlessly, I'll jump in and stop things. And the object that controls your destiny is..."

The genin snapped to attention as a low humming filled the room. The back wall began to shift as a large screen was unveiled. "Is this," Hayate finished. "This electronic scoreboard will...show the match-ups for each fight. Now, this is sudden, but let's announce the two names of the first fight."

Everyone faced the screen nervously in anticipation. The first name appeared. Misumi Tsurugi. "That is one of Kabuto's teammates," Sakura whispered to Naruto. The two turned and faced Misumi. He was slightly taller than Kabuto, wearing thin-rimmed glasses and a black mask that concealed his face from the nose down. Although he was a Leaf ninja, there was something off about him.

"Lulja Łetaka"

Naruto heard Ikano whisper to his teammate.

The girl in question rolled her eyes before she turned to stare at her opponent.

"Ready to fight, Blind Eye," she spoke, seeing his dark, what seemed like thick dark eyeglasses covering his eyes.

As the others left the arena, Naruto focused on the girl.

"Do you think she will win?" Naruto heard Sakura asking at his right.

Naruto spoke nothing as Hayate shouted they could fight.

The man prepared to attack, but before he could move, Lulja moved her leg slightly, causing a column of earth to rise from the ground out of nowhere and hit her enemy square in the chest, sending him crashing against the wall, taking everyone by surprise except the Iwa Team.

"How did the ground taste?"