Chapter 79: Cursed Seal
Disclaimer: Naruto and all of its characters belong to Shueisha and Masashi Kishimoto. I own nothing but the original characters I create.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 79: Cursed Seal
"Kakashi-sensei, wait up!" Sakura was the first to spot him as he passed by their room.
Kakashi stopped and looked at them.
"Oh, Sakura…Naruto."
He seemed distressed enough that he had forgotten they were there.
"Sorry…I…"
"What happened to Sasuke?" Ino asked hurriedly.
"Yes, is he okay? I want to see him!" Sakura added.
"I was just told what happened, but…I need to speak with Sasuke first…alone."
"But…" Sakura looked extremely worried.
"I'll let you talk to him as soon as possible…I have to go now." Kakashi turned around and left without letting them say anything else.
"This isn't fair! He's my teammate...I should be able to see him!" Sakura pouted.
"Calm down. I'm sure your sensei has a good reason for wanting to speak with him alone first, right?" Ino glanced at Naruto for support.
"If Sasuke was ambushed by some enemy, it would make sense that Kakashi wants to get all the details as soon as possible so Konoha can take proper action," Naruto suggested. This was the most likely scenario he could think of.
"Ambushed?!" Sakura exclaimed with dread.
"That makes sense…I wouldn't be surprised if they sent someone from my family too." Ino was already used to this type of thing. Her family was often in charge of gathering information from others.
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With no other choice, Naruto, Ino, and Sakura stayed in the room, waiting for Kakashi to return and explain what had happened.
It took well over thirty minutes before their sensei finally opened the door. After walking out of Sasuke's room, he came directly to theirs.
"Well?" Naruto asked.
"Can you leave the bed?" Kakashi looked at Sakura.
She was still wearing hospital clothes, but she quickly nodded.
"Yes, they were going to discharge me in the afternoon."
"Then you and Naruto come with me." His eye moved to Ino. "My apologies, but this matter concerns Team Seven…"
The blonde girl was obviously displeased not to be included but did her best to hide it. Ino has been taught to always behave politely when in front of authority figures since her behavior also represents her clan.
"It's okay, Kakashi-sensei. I understand..." She was definitely going to interrogate Sakura later.
The next room was as big as the one they had just left, but Sasuke was the only occupant. He sat on the bed, looking out of the window.
Naruto noticed a bandage covering his neck, but other than that, Sasuke didn't seem to have any serious injuries.
"I have nothing else to add…"
The black-haired boy turned his head around and saw Naruto and Sakura standing in front of Kakashi.
"Ah…you're here too."
"Sasuke!" Sakura rushed to his bed.
"Are you okay? What happened to you? Who did this?!" She started bombarding him with questions while checking him with her eyes.
"Sakura…please be calm. Sasuke had a rough night," Kakashi said in a stern tone.
"So?… Who beat you up this time?" Naruto asked in his usual calm tone and Sasuke gave him a very hostile glare.
"Naruto…" Kakashi warned before approaching Sasuke.
"Do you want to tell them, or should I explain it to them later? They're involved in this too, so they need to know regardless."
"Hmph…there is not much to say. It was Orochimaru," Sasuke grunted.
"What?!" Sakura's eyes widened like plates.
"The one we met in the forest?…The Sannin?" Naruto didn't expect to hear about that person so soon after their last encounter.
"What did he want?"
It was obvious that Orochimaru didn't want to kill Sasuke, or he wouldn't be sitting there.
Sasuke looked away and grasped his neck.
"He just attacked me out of nowhere when I was at my house…" He removed the bandage, revealing a strange black mark on his neck.
Sakura gasped in horror.
"What is that?!"
"A seal?…" Naruto said trying to take a better look.
The mark on Sasuke's neck looked like three black tomoe, similar to those in the Sharingan. Surrounding the three shapes was another one—a circle with symbols in it.
It looked very much like the seals used in fūinjutsu.
"A cursed seal…" Kakashi added.
"He bit me on the neck, and…I don't really remember much after that. When I woke up, I had this mark..." Sasuke said.
"He just attacked you without uttering a single word?" Naruto felt that something was missing.
Sasuke didn't look at him, continuing to stare out the window.
"He only said that I'd see him again if I passed the test…"
"Test? What test?" Naruto asked.
Sasuke shrugged but didn't answer.
"For what we know…victims of the cursed seal often die on the first day," Kakashi said.
While Sakura looked as if she might faint, Naruto gave Kakashi a suspicious glance.
"You understand a lot about this thing…how many people have Orochimaru done this to?."
"We don't know…our information comes from one of the few survivors who used to be very close to him. But that happened many years ago… The seal on Sasuke is a bit different." Kakashi seemed reluctant to reveal more.
"And what does this seal do?" Naruto continued to inquire. The lack of reaction from Sasuke's part meant he likely already knew the answer to these questions.
"We're not certain…my mastery of seals is a bit lacking." Kakashi glanced at Sasuke for a moment.
"And this creation of Orochimaru's is more than just fūinjutsu… In any case, there's a true expert coming to the village. He should be here in a week or so. We'll know more then. For now, I've placed a five-element seal around it…that should prevent it from activating."
Naruto could tell that Kakashi knew more than he was sharing with them. But then realized something as he thought back to their encounter with the Sannin.
"So…this was his objective from the beginning…he wanted to put that seal on Sasuke." For whatever reason, this seal must be extremely important for his plan. He was a wanted criminal but risked being caught twice, just to get this thing on Sasukes neck.
'I don't understand it...' Naruto could not figure out yet what the Sannin was thinking. But then, while looking at Sasuke, an idea came to his mind.
'Oh...I see. That's what he wanted.'
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