Kushina, meanwhile, was hard at work, readying for the other village leaders for the upcoming Chunin exams. She was signing off on proctors and planned tests.
All the while, Hiruzen was there trying to help her figure out which tests were best.
As this went down, though, she suddenly receives a visit from Jiraiya, who she welcomes with a hug. Together they go about planning the exams.
It's then that Jiraiya asks if she's going to let Naruto take the exam. Kushina states that it's not her place to decide whether he should or shouldn't, and that it's Itachi who gets to decide. She mentions, though, that when team seven returns from the land of waves, that she will recommend allowing team seven to take the exams regardless of if they're allowed to join or not.
Kushina states that she wants Jiraiya to train Naruto. When the old sage asks why, she mentions that it would do Naruto some good to train under his father's mentor and learn the same techniques that Minato did as a for her to allow Naruto to grow closer to the father he never knew.
However, she did have a secondary objective. She wanted to pull Naruto away for a while and force Sasuke into training with Itachi, hoping that if she really forces it, they just might reconcile.
Hiruzen would then mention Sakura, asking how Kushina plans to deal with her, as she would then have nowhere to go if she is forcing Sasuke and Itachi into some alone time. Kushina mentions that she will take her under her wing personally teaching her some techniques that will make any girl into a weapon to rival the greatest warriors in the Shinobi world.
Team seven returned and Kushina would ask Itachi to see if he thinks it's feasible to allow team seven to take the exam.
Itachi replied," They can."
And so they're allowed to join.
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Kushina, like many other heads of the village, was paying attention to the test, but isn't seeing what's happening outside of it.
A new game of shogi has started, and the king is in check. As the test continues and the second stage begins, Kushina is informed that a set of three bodies have been found.
She goes to check it out and finds a group of shinobi from the hidden grass. What she finds so peculiar about this group is that they no longer possess faces.
Hiruzen identifies the jutsu and informs Kushina, who would immediately send Shinobi into the forest of death, to find whoever are impersonating the Chunin.
They don't find anything, but they do find the unconscious Sasuke laying by Naruto and Sakura. Naruto and Sakura both agree that they need to get Sasuke help and so they forfeit the match.
They bring Sasuke back and he's admitted to the hospital. Kushina is the first to rush in and see him. Itachi comes as soon as he can.
The doctors inform them that Sasuke has been affected by a cursed mark placed on the base of his neck. Hiruzen recognizes it and calls for Anko and reveals that she also has the same pattern. The curse mark of heaven.
Hiruzen informs her that the jutsu he has witnessed leads to in the village and that he's up to no good. Hiruzen would mention that Sasuke bearing the curse mark would mean that Orochimaru is hoping to take his body.
Itachi confirms that this is likely the case. He informs both Hiruzen and Kushina that Orochimaru had been with the in the akatsuki for a time, but had left the organization without honor and only one of his hands.
After trying to take Itachi's body over the sharingan which now only he had, he mentions how he fought Orochimaru off and that now he may be going after Sasuke as he is the only Uchiha left with a natural sharingan to Itachi's knowledge.
Well, besides the masked man that he believed to be Madara or someone using that name as a guise, Hiruzen tells them that they need to be very careful, and so for a time, they put Sasuke under surveillance to protect him. Itachi eventually decides to use his little brother's visage as bait, but using the transformation jutsu to become an exact replica of him.
The Chunin exams continue on without a hitch, and eventually a month comes for training. By this time, Naruto has already left with Jiraiya to do some training of his own. At the moment, Naruto is learning rasengan and sage mode.
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Sasuke, though, has had the evil sealing jutsu placed on him and is recovering far from the sight of anyone but those trusted within Konoha. As time passes, Itachi would return to Sasuke to check up on him, but Sasuke seems as distant as ever. Itachi feels unworthy to actually interact with him, but Kushina is tired of watching this, so she basically commands Itachi to go in and talk to Sasuke.
Itachi obliges and goes in to speak with his brother. For a time they sit in silence with Itachi, breaking it with small talk only to receive the cold shoulder. Itachi would try to work through it and speak of something else, something maybe they had in common. Itachi, despite everything, is actually beginning to feel affected by this. He thought he was willing to take on any burden, any pain, to keep Sasuke safe. But now that he no longer needed to play the villain anymore, Sasuke still hated him, and that stung a lot more than he could admit.
In an effort to connect, he asks Sasuke for a sign, anything that proves he still loves him, no matter how small, but Sasuke doesnt speak, merely keeping his back turned. Itachi would wait a moment, and upon receiving no answer, he would nod and say that he probably deserves it anyway before standing up to leave. But before he leaves the room, a voice speaks.
