The Little Senju (Little Senju Series Book One): A Naruto Fanfiction

The Senju and Kabuto's Help

Sauske's POV

Izumi... How long had she been there? I thought while still gasping for breath as the sound ninja took their leave. She allowed her sword to turn to a brown dust that fell to the forest floor before walking towards Sakura and I.

"Sasuke... Sakura... Are you two alright?" she asked with concerned eyes as she noticed the bruises and cuts that lined both of our bodies and she fell to her knees clenching her fists, "If I hadn't left... You wouldn't have gotten so many injuries... and Sakura your hair... please, forgive me!"

"Sakura's in danger..." Naruto mumbled suddenly a slight amount of red dusting his cheeks, "I'll protect her...!"

As the Ino-Shika-Cho trio reappeared I gripped my wrist, "Just what am I...?" my voice almost trembled.

"Sasuke..." Izumi took my hand and again her eyes flashed the look of concern that she had worn earlier, "We can't worry about that right now... We still have to get through this exam after all." Somehow, since meeting Orochimaru Izumi had been different. She had even called me Sauske rather than Uchiha.

Naruto jumped to the ground suddenly after being woken up, "Everyone get down!!!" he spewed nonsense, "That grass ninja... Where could she be hiding?!?"

. . .

Izumi's POV

"It's already been four days since the second exam began..." Sasuke said as the fish he and Naruto caught cooked over the fire, "We're sure not going to break any records and we only have 24 hours left to find a heaven scroll."

"Let's face it..." Sakura mumbled with a saddening look, "It's possible that there aren't any heaven scrolls left..."

"Well, that's a cheerful thought."

"You said it yourself Sasuke." she started again, "It's already the fourth day. That means that we've already used up half of the exam and only 13 teams can pass because there are only 13 pairs of scrolls." I swallowed down a bite of fish to look up at her, "And you've got 26 teams... and if those odds weren't bad enough... They've gotten even worse. Don't forget that Orochimaru took care of both the heaven scroll we had and an earth scroll."

I don't like all this negativity... I thought with a grumpy attitude, "I know that just as well as you do, Sakura." I looked into the fire before looking back up, "But, I'm not ready to give up quite yet."

"But..."

"Maybe we did give ourselves too much time to recover from our last fight..." Sasuke mentioned, "I don't know... What I do know is that we've got to get serious now. Make up for lost time." he continued, "The next enemy we face could be our last chance." he slowly rose to his feet, "I'm going to get water."

"I'm coming too, Uchiha!" I hurried to catch up as he headed back towards the stream in which the fish had been caught, "I'm sorry for leaving you alone back then... if I hadn't... Maybe we wouldn't be in this mess to begin with."

"Stop apologizing..." he sighed handing me the container for the water, "It wasn't your fault!"

"Right.... Just next time don't be so reckless, okay Uchiha?"

"Kyaaaaa!" two screams were heard as we made our way back.

"That was..." Sauske started looking just as startled by it as I was.

"Sakura and Naruto!" I finished for him as we dropped the water in an instant and ran to their location only to find what must've been an enemy right next to them.

. . .

"I can't believe you guys..." Sasuke and I grumbled in unison glaring at our two teammates.

"If I hadn't come along when I did..." Kabuto mumbled, "There have been others that have broken the rules and tried to peek inside the scrolls. I've seen what happens..." Why is he telling us all this...? And why did he stop these two? I looked at the silver-haired boy suspiciously, What good reason does he have to help the competition...? "They're protected by a powerful hypnosis Jutsu. A kind of booby trap for anyone unwise enough to try and read them. It'll knock you senseless and by the time you wake up the exam is over." he explained.

"Kabuto... Right?" Sasuke questioned also staring at the silver-haired boy, "We met at the registration. What're you doing wandering around all by yourself?"

"Don't worry." Kabuto countered Sasuke's suspicions, "I'm not after your earth scroll..."

"I suppose not... If you were you would've just swiped it from Naruto when you had the chance, so you're looking for a heaven scroll too, huh?"

. . .

Why're we still following this guy...? I pondered as Kabuto took the lead toward the tower and he explained how things ordinarily work, but I was more focused on his chakra... It felt ominous and much stronger than that of any genin I'd ever encountered. It was on the same level of someone such as Kakashi Sensei. Why has he never passed the exams if he has such a chakra? As night began to fall I heard a scuttling just behind us. With a swift motion I flung a katana into the head of a giant centipede and a bit of liquid dripped down. I then took the time to lecture Naruto on being too loud as it could attract unwanted attention.

"How long has it been...?!?" I muttered shooting a look at our silver-haired guide, "No way...." I breathed finally noticing that we truly hadn't gotten any closer to the tower as we came upon the dead centipede again. Had we been walking in circles?

"It would seem we've been spotted... and someone is playing games with us." Kabuto stated looking at the same place I was, "Genjutsu... And we fell for it completely..."

"What's their goal?"

"They're probably trying to wear us down and strike when we're frustrated and physically exhausted..." Kabuto explained.

"You mean like we are right now..." Sauske commented with a sigh.

"Right they'll be coming soon..."