The thick canopy of the Forest of Death cast deep shadows over Team 7's temporary shelter. The air was damp, the scent of moss and blood lingering in the stillness. The battle with Orochimaru had left them shaken, exhaustion pressing down like a suffocating weight. Naruto sat cross-legged near the base of a gnarled tree, staring at his clenched fists. His ramen clones had been destroyed effortlessly. His strongest attacks hadn't even scratched that snake-faced freak. He punched the dirt. "Damn it… we were nothing to him."
Sakura knelt beside Sasuke, who was still unconscious. His breathing was shallow, his body twitching from the remnants of the Cursed Seal's corruption. "Sasuke… wake up." Her voice was edged with worry. She brushed damp strands of hair from his forehead, watching for any sign of movement.
Raven leaned against a rock, watching the scene unfold with her usual unreadable smirk, though her mind was far from relaxed. She needed to inform Mikoto. She glanced at Sasuke's shoulder, where the dark tendrils of the Curse Mark pulsed against his pale skin. She could remove it now—but should she? No. This wasn't her decision to make. Instead, she refocused on Naruto, who was still glaring at the ground, his body stiff with frustration. "You're sulking," she noted casually.
Naruto's head snapped up. "I'm not sulking!"
"You're definitely sulking."
Naruto scowled, but before he could argue further, he felt his chakra flow returning fully. His eyes widened. Wait… wasn't I sealed? He looked down, touching his stomach. The tight, suffocating pressure from Orochimaru's Five-Pronged Seal was… gone. His chakra was moving freely again.
He blinked, turning toward Raven, who had already turned away, feigning indifference. "Wait…" Naruto narrowed his eyes. "Did you—"
"Nope."
"But—"
"Must've been the power of friendship or something," Raven said dryly, stretching her arms. "Or maybe your chakra just decided it didn't like being sealed."
Naruto stared at her, suspicion creeping in, but before he could push the matter further, a rustling in the bushes put them all on edge.
Sakura tensed, kunai in hand. "Something's coming."
Raven flicked her eyes toward the darkness. "I know."
A low growl rumbled through the trees. A pair of yellow eyes gleamed from the underbrush, followed by three shadowy figures moving closer. Another genin team.
Naruto grinned, already cracking his knuckles. "Looks like we've got company."
Miles away from the Forest of Death, inside the grand Hyuga estate, Hiashi Hyuga sat in his private chambers, a vein pulsing at his temple as he listened to the disastrous report from his latest team of guards. "You're telling me…" Hiashi's voice was eerily calm, "that Hinata escaped you. Again."
The leader of the guard, an older Hyuga, bowed deeply, sweat beading down his face. "L-Lord Hiashi, we did everything we could—"
"Clearly not." Hiashi's fingers twitched. His hands were shaking. "How. Did. She. Escape?"
Another guard hesitated before answering. "She used Ice Release to create a frozen decoy of herself, which we foolishly followed. By the time we realized, she was gone."
Hiashi's eye twitched.
Another guard, looking equally terrified, added, "After that, she used the Byakugan blind spots against us. She… she knew exactly where we were looking."
The room went silent.
Hiashi gripped his teacup so tightly that it cracked.
"She has outside help," he muttered darkly.
The guards exchanged nervous glances. "My Lord, I don't think—"
"No," Hiashi cut them off. "Hinata is too weak to have developed these tactics on her own. Someone—someone—is training her in secret."
A third guard hesitantly spoke. "With all due respect, Lord Hiashi, she has been training at the Academy and in the field. Perhaps she is simply—"
"She is NOT capable of this." Hiashi's hands slammed onto the table, his composure breaking for the first time.
"She must have an outside mentor."
The guards wisely said nothing.
Hiashi began pacing. "She's being influenced. She's being corrupted. I will not allow it." He turned to his men, his expression dark. "Deploy more guards. Double the surveillance. If that does not work… we escalate."
The lead guard gulped. "Escalate, sir?"
Hiashi's fingers flexed. "We neutralize the influence at its source. Whoever is training her must be found and dealt with."
His gaze burned. "No one steals my heir from me."
Hinata crouched behind a fallen tree, suppressing a giggle as she watched her father's guards scramble through the underbrush, panicked and confused. "They're getting worse at this," she whispered to herself.
Raven's training had paid off. Not only was she faster, but she knew how to play to her strengths—subtlety, misdirection, and deception. She had created a series of ice clones to scatter across the area, each one moving just enough to confuse the guards. Meanwhile, she had already slipped past them entirely, heading deeper into the forest.
She sighed in contentment.
She was free.
For the first time, truly free.
She grinned, watching the Hyuga guards curse in frustration as they chased after nothing. "Sorry, Father," she murmured under her breath, "but I think I'll decide my own fate."
Then, with a final glance back, she vanished into the trees.
The enemy genin stepped into view, their faces partially obscured by dark masks. One of them, a kunoichi with sharp green eyes, smirked. "Looks like we found the weakest team in the exam."
Sakura stiffened. "Excuse me?!"
Naruto cracked his knuckles. "You sure you wanna pick this fight?"
Sasuke, though still unconscious, shifted slightly, his body responding to the lingering effects of the Curse Mark.
Raven merely rolled her shoulders, looking bored. "Look, I'd love to play, but you're not worth my time. If you want to fight, fight him." She gestured to Naruto.
The opposing genin scoffed. "Him? The idiot?"
Naruto smirked. "Oh, buddy. You messed up."
His hands flew into a seal. "Ramen Clone Jutsu!"
The clearing filled with solid, perfect replicas of Naruto, each one grinning as their bodies flexed with enhanced durability and combat readiness.
Raven smirked. Time to see what you've learned, Naruto.
The enemy team hesitated, suddenly realizing their mistake.
The air shifted.
Naruto pointed forward. "Let's do this."
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