Naruto: God of Shinobi

Chapter 38: The Curse Mark's Shadow

The balconies ringed the upper level of the main hall in a square, stone railings worn to a dull smoothness by the hands of generations. Below, through the open center of the floor, torchlight pooled brightest where the fighting space had been marked out, a pale square that looked almost clean from this height.

Naruto climbed the stairs with his hands in his pockets.

He reached the balcony and stopped. He looked across the space.

The Sound team stood on the far side. Dosu with his arms crossed and his bandaged face turned toward the floor below. Kin beside him, dark hair pulled back, sharp eyes tracking the movement. Zaku behind them, arms wrapped in bandages, his face pale and set like something drying in cold air.

To the left, the Sand siblings. Gaara stood alone, his sand moving in slow, thoughtless circles around his feet, and neither Temari nor Kankuro stood close to him. Temari had her fan folded at her back. Her eyes were on the fight.

The Leaf teams were scattered across the balconies in loose clusters. Team 10: Shikamaru with his shoulder against the railing, Choji eating, Ino watching with her chin in her hand. Team 8: Kiba with Akamaru perched on his shoulder, Hinata standing slightly apart from both of them, Shino in his high collar. Team Guy: Lee watching the fight below with the particular focused intensity he seemed to carry everywhere, Tenten beside him, Neji with his arms crossed and his pale eyes moving across the room like he was cataloguing things.

Naruto walked toward the Sound team.

Kin saw him coming first. Her hand moved toward her weapon pouch.

Dosu put his hand on her arm without looking at her, without looking at Naruto. His face stayed turned toward the floor.

Naruto stopped in front of them. He did not take his hands out of his pockets.

"Naruto Uzumaki," he said. "Son of the Fourth Hokage."

The words settled into the space between them and the space was not the same after.

Kin's hand went still. Zaku looked up. Dosu turned.

"The Fourth Hokage's son?"

"You heard me."

Dosu's bandaged face was unreadable, but something shifted in how he was carrying himself. The killing intent in the clearing. The weight of it. The flatness behind the boy's eyes. It made a certain kind of sense now, lined up against what he was. The jinchuriki. The son of the man who had sealed the Nine Tails in the first place, and then died for it.

Kin stepped forward. Her eyes were bright.

"Kin Tsuchi," she said. "Full name. I didn't expect to meet the Yondaime's son at a chunin exam."

Naruto looked at her. "You're the one who answered me in the clearing. When your friend wouldn't."

"I was." She tilted her head. "And I'm not afraid of you."

"You should be."

"Maybe." A small smile. "But you didn't kill me. You could've."

Naruto said nothing.

"So." Kin tilted her head the other way. "Ichiraku Ramen. After all this is done. You and me."

Something moved behind Naruto's eyes. It was not a large movement. It did not reach his face.

"Maybe."

Zaku pushed forward. "Kin, what the hell are you doing? He's a Konoha genin."

"I'm doing what I want."

"We're from the Sound. He's the enemy."

"I don't care."

Zaku reached for her arm. His bandaged hands couldn't grip properly, the bones still healing and stiff, but the intent was there. The motion was there.

Naruto looked at him.

The killing intent came narrow and focused, like a line drawn in the air between his eyes and Zaku's face. Not the wide cold wave from the clearing. Something smaller. Something aimed.

Zaku's hand stopped in midair. His face went the color of old wax.

Dosu grabbed Zaku's shoulder and pulled him back fast and without ceremony.

"Enough. Stand down."

Zaku did not argue. He stepped back.

Naruto looked at Dosu. "You're not stupid."

Dosu said nothing.

"Your friend was about to disappear from this planet."

Dosu nodded once, slowly, holding Naruto's gaze.

Naruto turned back to Kin. "Maybe I'll see you at Ichiraku."

Kin smiled. "I'll hold you to that."

Naruto turned and walked away. He walked toward the far end of the balcony, where the Sound jonin was standing alone with his back against the wall.

The man was tall. Lean. His arms were crossed, his hood throwing shadow across the upper half of his face. But not enough shadow.

The eyes were yellow. The pupils were wrong.

Naruto stopped in front of him. He looked at the man's face. Then he turned and looked back at Dosu. Dosu was watching. Then he turned back.

He thought about what Kin had said in the clearing. That Orochimaru had sent them. That the target had been Sasuke.

"I see," Naruto said.

The jonin did not move.

"What are you doing here?" Naruto's voice was low. Low enough that it did not carry. "And don't bother with the cover. The eyes are a giveaway."

The jonin said nothing. The yellow irises held his.

"You gave Sasuke that mark. You sent those three to test it. And now you're here to see how the project's holding up." Naruto tilted his head slightly. "That about right?"

Still nothing.

"Doesn't matter." Naruto's voice did not change. "Here's what does. You put something on me too. In the clearing, when you were moving through. Whenever that was. I felt it." He paused. "You're gonna remove it. Right now. Or I walk straight to the Hokage's box and tell him who's standing on this balcony."

For the first time, the jonin's expression shifted. The yellow eyes narrowed, the pupils contracting to thin lines.

"You don't know what you're saying, little boy."

"I know exactly what I'm saying. You're Orochimaru. And you inconvenienced me. I want it undone."

The name settled into the air between them.

Orochimaru did not smile. He looked at the boy for a long moment, the way someone might look at a bug that had chosen to stand in the road instead of moving.

"You think I can't kill everyone in this room?"

Naruto looked back at him. His face was blank. His eyes were flat.

"I think you can't kill the Third. Not here. Not with Kakashi watching. Not with every jonin in this building within shouting distance." He paused. "And besides. You've got other plans. I can see it. Whatever you came here to do, killing me isn't worth blowing it up."

Orochimaru was silent.

"So," Naruto said. "The seal."

Orochimaru looked at him for a long time. The eyes were cold in the way old things get cold, the cold of things that have stopped finding other things surprising.

"Careful who you threaten. You have no idea who I am."

"I don't give a fuck who you are." Naruto's voice stayed low, stayed even, stayed cold. "I don't care about your plans. I don't care about this village or these exams or any of it. You messed with my business. That's all I care about. My own business."

The words landed.

Orochimaru looked at him. And the boy was not bluffing. That was the thing. He was not performing indifference. He genuinely did not care. About the Hokage. About Konoha. About anything except the seal on his stomach.

It was, in its way, almost interesting.

"Very well."

He brought his hands together. The signs were fast, three of them, fingers crossing and uncrossing. A scroll appeared in a puff of smoke and he held it out without ceremony.

"The scroll explains the removal. Follow the instructions exactly. If you deviate at any step, the seal will worsen."

Naruto took the scroll. He tucked it inside his jacket. He did not thank Orochimaru. He did not nod. He turned and walked away.

He walked across the balcony. Down the stairs. Across the floor below. Up the far stairs to the opposite side.

He did not look back.

The Leaf genin were gathered on the far balcony in a loose group. Sakura, Lee, Tenten, Neji, Kiba, Hinata, Shino. Shikamaru at the railing with his hands in his pockets. Choji eating. Ino watching the fight. Their jonin stood nearby, the four of them spread out, Kakashi leaning against the wall with his book open.

Sakura saw him. "Naruto. What were you doing over there?"

He walked past her. "It doesn't concern you."

Sakura's face tightened. She did not ask again.

He walked to the railing and put his back to it. He crossed his arms. He looked at the fight below, at Sasuke moving across the floor, at Yoroi reaching for him with those draining hands.

He felt it.

The feeling was not new. He had known it for years, in the academy hallways, in the training grounds, in the village streets. The specific weight of eyes that were watching him with something other than contempt.

He turned. His kunai was in his hand before the thought finished.

Hinata Hyuga was standing three meters behind him. Her fingers were pressed together at her chest. Her face was red. Her pale eyes were fixed on him.

The movement was sudden. Everyone on the balcony turned.

Lee blinked. "Naruto? What's wrong?"

Naruto did not look at Lee. He looked at Hinata.

"What the fuck is your problem?"

The words were loud. They carried.

Hinata's face went from red to white.

"Always staring at me. Every time I turn around, you're watching. What is your problem?"

Hinata opened her mouth. Nothing came out.

Naruto looked past her. At Kurenai Yuhi, who stood with her red eyes narrowed and her arms crossed, her expression not quite still.

"You. Jonin dressed like that. Talk to your genin. Tell her to mind her own fucking business."

Kurenai's face did not change. But something shifted in the set of her jaw.

Naruto turned back to the railing. He put his kunai away. He crossed his arms. He looked at the fight.

The balcony was quiet.

Kakashi stepped up beside him. His voice was low. "That was unnecessary."

Naruto did not look at him. "She's been doing that for years. It creeps me the fuck out."

Kakashi said nothing. He opened his book and stood beside Naruto and watched the fight below.

Neji watched from the far end of the balcony. His arms were crossed, his pale eyes on Naruto's back.

Tenten stood beside him. She waited a moment. "That was harsh. She didn't do anything wrong."

"Didn't she?"

Tenten looked at him. "Neji."

"She has been watching him for years. He noticed. He didn't like it. He said so." Neji's voice was flat, neutral, in the way of someone reporting weather. "That's the end of it."

"That's not how you talk to people."

"It is how he talks." Neji looked at her briefly. "And he's not wrong."

He looked at Hinata. Kurenai was beside her now, a hand on her shoulder, her voice low and close. Hinata's shoulders were shaking.

"You deserve it," Neji said, quiet, not unkindly, in the way of someone who believes a thing and does not bother dressing it.

He turned back to Naruto.

He was quiet for a moment.

"Naruto Uzumaki," he said, only loud enough for Tenten. "I think you and I are going to get along."

Tenten stared at him. "Neji, that's..."

He was not listening. He was watching Naruto.

Guy had heard him. He turned to look at Neji, then at Naruto, then back at Neji with

something working in his face that had not settled yet.

From the floor below, Hayate's voice echoed through the hall.

"The winner. Sasuke Uchiha."

The genin looked down. Sasuke was standing in the center of the floor. Yoroi was on the ground behind him, unconscious, bandaged hands limp. Sasuke was breathing hard. His Sharingan was active and the veins at his neck were pulsing visibly, the curse mark trying to push through the exertion, trying to climb.

But he was standing.

Kakashi moved. He was off the balcony and on the floor before the announcement finished, his hand on Sasuke's shoulder, guiding him toward the edge of the room without slowing.

"Come with me. We need to seal that mark before it opens again."

Sasuke nodded. He went.

On the balcony, no one spoke for a moment.

Naruto watched Sasuke disappear through the far door. His face was blank. His hands were back in his pockets. Through the fabric, through the layers of his jacket, the scroll from Orochimaru pressed warm against his chest, like something alive.

The next match would be called soon.

---

Next Time: Naruto makes his mark – Naruto vs Kiba

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