35You were running towards the arena as you saw a few familiar faces.
"Hey Deidara, isn't that the kid Sensei warned us about?" Kurotsuchi asked her teammate.
"Yeah," Deidara mumbled.
You didn't have time for this and it was best to just stay away from that bastard so you tried to get past them.
"Hey, don't be rude, we wanna talk to you," she said.
"I've to get to the arena and shouldn't you too?" You asked.
"We've plenty of time, and this dumbhead forgot his clay in our room and we have to be with him."
"I'd like to be early," you said.
"I'd expected something scarier, Deidara had nightmares about you."
"I didn't have a nightmare!" Deidara yelled out.
"Then why were you thrashing around in your sleep keeping the rest of us awake?"
"The bedsheets was crap, that's why," Deidara grunted.
"Too harsh for your sensitive skin?" She asked.
"That's not what I meant," he mumbled.
She then turned to look at you again. "I'd expected something more like he'd be big for his age or being an Uchiha. Not an innocent-looking five-year-old," she said.
"I'm seven," you replied.
"So you did attend the academy before becoming a genin. I wonder if you really are a prodigy or if Konoha has started just graduating small innocent children in hopes of tricking us into believing you're the next Kakashi or something."
"You wouldn't call him innocent if you'd seen him in action," Deidara mumbled.
"What did you say?" She asked.
"I said you wouldn't call him innocent if you'd seen him brutally murder a guy only for him to let out a chilling childish laughter afterwards," Deidara raised his voice.
"Come on Deidara, you're not scaring me. This isn't a prank you and sensei are pulling, right?"
"He's a fucking monster, he got stabbed and electrocuted, then moments later he just got up as if nothing had happened," he yelled out.
"I'm not a monster," you said bluntly and looked him in the eyes. You were acting in self-defence. It wasn't your fault that you had little experience in fending off kidnappers through less violent means.
He flinched back a bit. "I'm going, come with me Akatsuchi, if Kurotsuchi wants to get herself killed, it's her choice," he told his teammate, before leaving along with him.
"I'm sorry about him," she said. "Not all Iwa-nin lack manners."
"It's fine," you said. Not that she was much better.
"Your eyes are quite interesting," she said and crunched down to see better. "Green and yellow… Wait, you're Nibi's Jinchuuriki, you're not supposed to be here you know?"
"Stuff happened."
"What kind of cheating village sends their Jinchuuriki into the Chuunin Exam?" She mumbled.
"Don't tell anyone, especially that bastard of your teammate," you said. You couldn't let him know your secret, he'd sell you out to Akatsuki in no time and you were still in no shape to fend off even a single one of them.
"You don't tell me what to do," she grunted.
"It's up to you if you want to sleep at night or not," you replied.
"Are you t… I won't tell anyone, it's not like telling Deidara would do anything, he'll probably chicken out and surrender to you straight away anyway."
"Good," you replied and walked past her towards the arena again. You were glad that was over.
-x-
As you arrived, you saw the two friendly faces of Shisui and Itachi.
"HI," you waved to them.
"Hi," they greeted back.
"Mother wanted to come to see you too, but she's too busy today. But she promised to watch if you get through to the finals," Itachi said.
"It's fine, it too much pressure with just you alone, it would just be worse with her here too."
Shisui put a hand on your shoulder. "It's okay, we can leave if you want. We just want you to perform the best, so if you feel it's better without, we won't get insulted."
"It is fine, I was just joking. Yeah, I feel the pressure on me, but I think some might be good and it's nice to have someone who believes in me here. I kind of want to win," you said.
"Alright, let's find some good seats," Shisui said and you followed the two of them to the stands.
There weren't too many people there, so finding a good seat wasn't hard. So now it was just to wait, you should have bought some dango…
"Have you any new tricks up your sleeves for the fight?" Shisui asked.
"Not really, I've just been focusing on the basics. But I'll make sure to pay attention so I know what to prepare for in the finals," you said.
"Tell us if you need help with anything," he said.
"I will."
It didn't take long before you heard the loudspeakers announcing the start of the preliminaries.
"Welcome candidates, as there is only room for eight in the finals, half of you have to leave us today.
"For the first round, we'll have our own Akimichi Maruten, and Kurotsuchi all the way from Iwagakure, as the Tsuchikage granddaughter, she has a lot of expectations bearing her down. Can she pull off a surprise win despite her small size, or will she end up getting steamrolled by a much stronger and experienced opponent?" You heard the announcer call out. You weren't sure if you'd heard their voice or not, but you knew for sure it wasn't Genma as he was down in the centre of the arena.
It didn't take long before the two competitors got down there with him. After exchanging some words you couldn't hear, he got out of the way and gave the signal to start.
"Alright. Three… Two… One… Go!" The announcer yelled out. And the two didn't wait to get into action. Maruten curled up in a ball and began to roll at a high speed towards Kurotsuchi spraying sand everywhere.
She responded by spewing lava in his path, but that only caused him to sway away from his path and quickly aim right back at her.
"He was one of my classmates when I attended the academy. I think he'll win this one," Itachi said.
"I'll bet you one round of dango that he loses," you said.
"Deal," Itachi quickly replied. "What makes you so sure about that?"
"The Hokage wants to humiliate Iwa by having her lose to me in the finals. So I think the matchup is rigged in her favour. Even if it might not look like that," you said as she narrowly avoided being rolled over.
She ran towards the outer walls of the arena and spewed more lava behind her to get him off her back for a second. As he came speeding at her, she put up a slanted earth wall and as he hit it, he got bounced towards the wall, but instead of ending in a crash, leant hard to the left and began to roll on the sidewalls instead.
"Are you still sure about the bet?" Itachi asked.
"Hmmph, how would you beat him?" You asked.
"I'd try genjutsu or use my Sharingan to get close. She should be a lot more aggressive, but I guess she's limited on chakra. Though if you end up fighting him, you won't have that issue."
"I'm sure she'll figure out something," you muttered.
And it didn't get much better through the match. Maruten showed no sign of slowing down and she just continued much like before, creating new walls and having him bounce away to no effect.
"What do you think Shisui?" You asked.
"Hmm… I think you'll win this bet Sota. He's not changing his tactics and seems to be betting on her slipping up, but I think it's more likely that she'll adapt and outsmart him in the end."
The air got filled with more and more sand. "I think I'll get a pair of goggles if he wins this one. It's getting hard to see here, I cannot imagine how it is in her position."
"I look forwards to the dango," Itachi replied.
This continued until she messed up hard. Trapped by her own earth walls, Maruten was on a straight collision course without anywhere for her to go. As they connected, Kurotsuchi turned into mud and as he breached the wall behind the mud clone, lava came rushing out.
The older boy screamed out in pain. "I surrender, I surrender." Genma blew loudly in a flute and instantly several ninja were on the place to help him out, some gently putting out the fires before the medic-nin started their work.
"The winner is Kurotsuchi of Iwagakure. Congratulations and don't worry about Maruten, our medics are the best and I'm sure he'll recover completely," the announcer called out. "And next up is Uzumaki Sota vs Yakushi Kabuto. Please wait in the waiting rooms while we're fixing the arena. To ensure a fair competition, you won't have to fight in someone else's mess, at least not today"
Shit, you weren't prepared for this to happen this soon.
"Good luck," Itachi and Shisui said.
"Thanks," you mumbled as you got up and followed the directions from one of the Chuunin standing around the arena. You weren't sure what you were going to do. You had to talk to your clone.
-x-
"I don't know what to do," you told your clone.
"You kill him, simple like that."
"I'm getting unsure, what if I'm wrong? What about the consequences?" You asked. One thing was talking about doing it, another thing was actually doing it.
"Accidents are bound to happen during tournaments like this, so I'm sure they'll just sweep it under the rug as part of the game. And if that were to fail, Danzo will bail us out, or we'll just say he put us up to it," he said.
"Still, I cannot kill one person just because I think it might save many more."
"Then you just need to analyze the situation. You know what he's going to do, you just have to weigh the consequences, will you let hundreds die because you think he might be innocent?" He asked.
"There is always a chance," you said. Why couldn't you just send him out on the arena?
"And how likely do you think it is that he's going to turn into a murderous bastard?" Your clone asked.
"80-90% I think."
"So, you want to sacrifice hundreds if not thousands because you think it's a 10-20% chance that Kabuto is innocent? Doesn't sound like a good idea," he said.
"You cannot just kill someone innocent just because you think it's for the greater good, that's how Danzo thinks."
"You're not killing one innocent person. You're killing someone you're quite certain is guilty to save his victims. And if it sounds like something Danzo would come up with, it will only be easier to get away with it."
"I'm still not sure," you muttered.
He placed his hands on your shoulders and smiled at you. "You can do it. We won't get an opportunity like this again. We're not monsters, we're just doing what we have to do to save our friends. And if we're wrong, it's not our fault. We tried telling Raidou but he refused to listen. We're just lucky that Kabuto hasn't decided to silence us yet."
You looked at him and sighed. "You're right. We only get one chance on this, so we cannot give him the chance to surrender. Help me roll up explosive tags under my sleeves and make sure I've enough protective seals to not kill myself in the process."
Your clone nodded. "But we don't have much time, you should make more of me."
You nodded back and summoned two additional clones. "You there, make as many explosion absorption seals as you can. And you, look out in the hallway and signal us when they come to get us."
"You could be a bit nicer," your original clone said.
"I'm sorry, I'm just a bit stressed," you said.
-x-
"Welcome to the second match for the day. Between Yakushi Kabuto, genin for four years and already competed in this exam several times. Versus his teammate Uzumaki Sota, half the age and genin for about four months. Will experience or talent win out?"
You were not sure if the time was right, or if it was only a joke on your behalf.
"Though given Kabuto's reputation for giving up, Sota might have a chance," the announcer continued.
No, you're not giving up this time Kabuto.
"I ask both competitors to get into position."
You got down and gave Genma a short nod to greet him before you turned your eyes towards Kabuto. The plan was simple. Body flicker towards him and then boom!
"Stop when I blow the whistle, or when you see that your opponent is unable to continue. Don't attack an opponent that's down. I will rule in your favour if it's clear that you'd won if you could attack. Understood?" Genma asked.
"Yes," both of you said.
"Are you both ready?" He asked.
"Yes," you said.
"Are you ready Kabuto?" Genma prompted.
"Uh, yes. Good luck Sota," he replied.
You just looked at him as Genma got out of the way.
"Alright. Three… Two… One… Go!" The announcer yelled out.
In a quick well-prepared motion, you formed the tiger seal and shoot towards him. Without slowing down, you activated your hidden seals as you couldn't let him dodge. There was no turning back now, the deed was done.
A bright light flashed and your ears rang as the explosions did their work. Sand and dust were thrown everywhere, sending you backwards with it. The air was filled with yellow dust with a hint of red. You shut your eyes, ready in a blocking stance, just in case. But as the dust started to settle, you opened your eyes and saw a bloodied body leaning into the wall, not moving, Kabuto was sitting in a position you didn't know the human body was capable of. Positions only a dead person could manage.
On reflex, you began to chuckle. One big threat was gone. And just to make sure it wasn't a genjutsu, you bit hard down on your lip. But the pain and blood told you that no, it was real.
Your creep laugh continued as you stepped closer. You tried to hold it back, but you couldn't help it.
As you got a better look at his broken body, a hit of guilt finally snapped you out of your laughter. People looked more innocent when they weren't awake.
Guilt because he trusted you despite how you acted. Guilt because he still tried to be your friend despite how you pushed him away. Guilt because his last words were to wish you good luck. Guilt because you realized that you had asked the wrong question. It wasn't whenever he'd repeat his actions from the original timeline, but whenever you could get him on the right path. You had every opportunity to change this timeline, you just threw it away.
You got down on your knees and began to clutch and shake your head. You were no hero, you were a murderer and a monster.
It wasn't before now you realized that the dust had settled and everyone could see you. You let go of your head before they started to think you were crazy and got up.
Behind you, you saw several ninja running towards Kabuto's dead body. You could see them shouting something at you, but all you heard was the constant ringing in your ears.
One of them grabbed your shoulder and pointed towards the tunnel entrance as they noticed you couldn't hear them.
"Did I win?" You asked them.
They gave you a careful nod before pushing you towards the exit.
Why did you ask that? It wasn't the right priority at the moment. You probably gave them the impression that you were a heartless psychopath.
As you dragged your tiny feet through the sand, you looked up at where Shisui and Itachi were seated, only to see the latter was gone.
The walk felt as long as the trip through the deserts of Suna. Your body was feeling more irresponsive than ever and you wished you could just bury your head in the sand.
You looked behind you again, Kabuto's body was being carried towards the other tunnel on a stretcher, with a black sheet covering both the body and the head, so it was official.
As you got inside, you started to feel more and more nauseous. And further in the lights started to flicker.
Even the lights were conspiring against you, like some big clichè, the only thing missing now was a tiny raincloud located right above your head to rub it in.
Then it went completely dark and you felt some hands pushing you into the ground.
Shit, though this wasn't the first kidnapping attempt. So you tried grabbing for your tags, but before you could do anything, the kidnapper had grabbed both your wrists and were using the rest of their body to you in place. Before you could think about using Matatabi, you could feel something being slapped on your forehead before covering your mouth with a moist piece of cloth that had a strong smell of chemicals.
You tried struggling out of their grasp, but it was hopeless.
feeling something pressing against your neck.
Weren't there guards in the tunnels. Surely there would be some ANBU watching you that could come to your rescue.
Being completely immobilized and with no help in sight, there was nothing you could do other than to wait out the seconds it took for you to lose consciousness.