An Itachi Fanfiction

Preliminary Rounds - Part 1

We walked through the door to see the rookie ten, the Sound ninja, Kabuto's team, Lee's team, and the Sand Siblings. We all lined up next to them. The Hokage was about to explain the exams. He was in the middle of explaining the next test when a man jumped down in front of him. Apparently we were having a preliminary round so there wouldn't be as many ninja for the final exam.

That's when the Proctor, Hayate Gekkō explained the rules. "There's something I would like all of you to do before the exam. We have to have a preliminary exam before we can move on to the real one. The first and second exam might have been too easy. We never expected so many of you to still be here. According to the rules of the Chūnin exam, a preliminary round can be held at any stage, in order to reduce the number of candidates remaining. If there are any of you who feel you're not in top physical condition, now's your chance to bow out. The winner will be determined by one-on-one combat, sudden death".

While we were waiting, Sasuke started clutching his neck in pain. I subconsciously reached up to touch mine. I glanced at my father disguised as a Hidden Sound instructor and saw him smiling at us, almost as though he was enjoying this.

I heard Sakura whisper to Sasuke, "You have got to quit. You've been like this ever since you tangled with Orochimaru, and it's getting worse. It's that mark he put on you, isn't it? You can't deny it, Sasuke". Sakura had already started crying out of fear for Sasuke's life.

"Sakura's right," I butted in. "You're in no condition to fight".

"You're one to talk," Sasuke replied. I looked at him confused before I realised that I still had my hand on my curse mark.

"That's different! I learned how to control mine. I may not know how to fully control it anymore, but I still have a bit of that knowledge in the back of my head. Besides, I've had mine for ten years! You only just got yours, that's why it's affecting you so much. Look Sasuke, we're just worried about you".

"Well stop worrying! I can take care of myself!" I was taken aback by his statement.

I blinked at him before narrowing my eyes. "I hate to break it to you, brother, but that's not going to cut it! I worry about you whether you like it or not!" I closed my eyes and took a deep breath to calm down. "We're not going to force you to do anything you don't want to do. As I said, we're just worried about you, but if you insist on still fighting in the Chūnin exams, then I'll support you. Besides, I know how much this means to you". I knew that Sasuke was only taking the Chūnin exams so he could get stronger so he could kill Itachi.

After that, everyone stood there in silence until Kabuto put his hand up. Naruto didn't seem too pleased with his decision. Right before he walked out, we locked eyes. I just smirked at him with my arms crossed and an eyebrow raised, indicating that I knew his little secret. As he walked out, I turned back around and glanced at my father again.

With Kabuto's withdrawal, that left 22 ninja left. With that, the preliminary round began. The first round was with Sasuke and a member of Kabuto's team, Yoroi. I glanced nervously at Sasuke. I could tell Sakura was just as worried, so I squeezed her hand in reassurance. We all moved to the balconies to clear the way for the fight.

"Why did his have to be first?" I heard Sakura matter beside me.

"They wanted to get it out of the way," I replied, not looking away from Sasuke. Sakura looked at me confused. I placed my hand over my curse mark. "They know about the curse mark. They didn't want to risk waiting and it getting worse. They wanted to get it out of the way so they could deal with it as soon as possible".

We focused our attention back to the fight as it began. Yoroi made the first move by throwing shuriken at Sasuke. Sasuke dodged then winced in pain. The curse mark was already affecting him. Sasuke looked down for a second but when he looked back up, Yoroi was right in front of him ready to attack. Sasuke dodged just in time then kicked him in the leg, causing him to lose his balance. When Yoroi was on the ground, Sasuke disarmed him, or so we thought. Yoroi used this opportunity to paralyse Sasuke using a form of medical Ninjutsu I had yet to learn. He managed to break free and punched Sasuke in the chest. Yoroi seemed to be winning until Sasuke used a technique I'm pretty sure he copied from Rock Lee. While they were in the air, he used the Dancing Leaf Shadow. I could see the curse mark growing, I was getting worried. He somehow overpowered the curse mark and won the fight. Right after that, Kakashi Sensei took him away. I wasn't worried, I had a feeling it had something to do with the curse mark.

The next fight was with Shino and Zaku. Zaku seemed to still be recovering from when Sasuke broke his arms. Zaku made the first move but Shino blocked his punch. Zaku used a sound technique, sending Shino flying. They continued to fight. Eventually, Zaku revealed that he was only pretending to be crippled and that both his arms had already healed. It seemed that Zaku was winning until it was revealed that Shino had sent bugs to clog the sound pipes starting on his hands. That won him the fight.

The next fight was with Gaara's brother, Kankurō, and the last remaining member of Kabuto's team, Misumi. Kankurō easily won against Misumi by tricking him into attacking Kankurō's puppet. In retaliation, the puppet snapped Misumi's neck, though he survived due to his ability to contort himself.

After that was Sakura vs Ino. I had to admit I was expecting this fight, given their rivalry. They began fighting using Taijutsu, however, they proved to be evenly matched. The fight seemed to go on forever. Eventually, they both put their ninja headbands on their forehead. It seemed they were finally taking the fight seriously. Eventually, Ino tried using her clan's famous Ninja Art, the Mind Transfer Jutsu. With a lot of trouble, she succeeded and was about to get Sakura to forfeit the match when Naruto started cheering her on, giving her the opportunity to take back her body. Both drained of their chakra, they give each other one final punch before they're both knocked out and both end up losing the match.

I moved my eyes to the screen and waited anxiously for the screen to decide who was going next. My eyes widened when I saw the names. (Y/N) vs Katsumi Kuroda. I moved to the lower level, aware of everyone's eyes on me. I came face-to-face with a woman with unusual red hair and the Sound headband.

As soon as Hayate gave the signal, Katsumi disappeared into the ground. 'Earth style, huh?' I activated my snake senses and saw that she was heading straight for me. I jumped out of the way just as she rose up from the ground. While I was in the air, I did the Fire Style Fireball Jutsu. I realised too late that she had appeared behind me. 'She's as fast as Sasuke!' She went to kick me but I blocked just in time and we both landed on the ground. I placed my hands on the ground, making snakes come out of it and head straight for her. I had my snakes wrap themselves around her body and just kept squeezing.

I could tell that she was running out of air, but I didn't care. I hadn't even noticed that this was just the curse mark trying to take control in its own way. I had almost killed her when I heard Naruto calling to me. I looked at my father to see him smiling, almost urging me on. I then turned to my friends to see them looking at me with worried expressions. That's when I realised the truth. 'This isn't me; this is just the curse mark, and I'm not about to give my father the opportunity to prove that I'm just like him. I let her go, leaving her to crumble onto the floor. As soon as Hayate declared me the winner, I felt my legs grow weak. I fell to my knees. I placed my hand over my curse mark and started breathing heavily, already running out of chakra thanks to the curse mark.

I summoned the energy to get up and walked over to Katsumi still on the floor. Using my one good hand, I stretched my hand out towards her to help her get up in an effort to call a truce. "Sorry about that". After some hesitation, she took it. As I helped her up, I whispered in her ear, "I don't care that you're working for my father, but I wouldn't trust him as much if I were you". Her eyes widened as I turned and walked back to my team on the upper level.

The next fight was with Lee's teammate, Tenten, and Gaara's sister, Temari. That's when Sakura and Ino woke up. "You missed (Y/N) fight," Shikamaru told them.

Sakura looked at me sheepishly. "Sorry".

I turned towards her with a smile. "It's fine. I won".

Her face lit up. "I knew you would!"

We turned our attention back to the fight about to begin. Tenten made the first move by throwing a weapon at Temari, which she easily dodged. Tenten then tried another attack that Temari repelled using wind from her Giant Folding Fan that she kept on her back. Tenten used her Rising Twin Dragons technique. , which Temari repelled. Tenten then used strings to re-use the weapons. Once again, Temari repelled the attack and then trapped Tenten in a cyclone. When Tenten fell from the cyclone, Temari made her land on her fan, knocking her out. After Hayate declared her the winner, Temari tried to throw Tenten on the many weapons scattered on the floor, but Rock Lee jumped down and caught her. I rushed to heal her as much as I could before she was taken away by the paramedics.