Chapter 43

"Absolutely not," said Kakashi firmly. "You will not teleport. I don't allow it. You're literally shaking right now. You're gonna take us into the middle of the Land of Waves or something." 

"I'm fine," I smiled, "I got this." 

"Nope," he saidm "We're walking."

"Well if we're walking," said Anko, "We better start walking. We need to tell Sandaime." 

We started walking. Anko and I walked slowly, occasionally stopping from pain. "Damn it," muttered Kakashi, "Come on you two." He hoisted us up and hung us by his shoulders while walking. 

I sighed. We got out of the forest and arrived on an open grass field. There were large stones every where. Kakashi stopped. "What?" asked Anko. 

"I'm going to put you down…" said Kakashi. He put us down and we stood up. 

We were surrounded by three extremely large tigers. "Just our luck," muttered Anko before doubling over, gripping her neck, "Ow!" 

The tigers advanced, growling, feeling that we were in a weakened state. Anko and I were in no condition to fight. Well… we could fight but we would probably not do so well. And Kakashi just used up most of his chakra on Chidori paired with Sharingan. 

"Stay behind me," said Kakashi. He prepared to fight. 

Suddenly, one of the tigers froze and fell sideways. The other two followed suit. "This is…" I recognized it, "This is paralysis." 

Anko and I exchanged worried glances. I knew we were both thinking the same thing. Snake poison could cause paralysis. Was this Orochimaru's doing? Kakashi relaxed and we saw that two ANBU were standing in front of us. 

"Anko-san, Kakashi-san, Rin-sama," they said in acknowledgement. 

"For ANBU Black Ops, you guys are pretty late," said Anko. 

"Apologies." 

I sighed and sat down, leaning against one of the rocks. I clutched the side of my neck and groaned. At the same time, Anko fell to her knees, grabbing her neck, gasping, and shaking. "Is it getting worse?" asked Kakashi and I responded with a slight nod. 

"Hey, are you okay?" asked the ANBU in alarm, crouching next to Anko. He saw the seal and froze. "This is-this is… the cursed seal?" 

"No way," said his partner, "Could it be Orochimaru." 

Kakashi nodded, "Lets head to the tower." 

"We need to raise the alarm!" said the ANBU. 

"No need," I said, "Just take us to Hokae-sama." 

… 

"Will you stop moving?" muttered Kakashi, painting on my neck. 

"I can do it myself," I responded, "Give me the brush." 

"No you can't," said Kakashi, "You can't even see it." 

We stood on one side of the room. Anko was sitting on the couch, Sandaime helping her with the seal. "Alright," warned Kakashi, "I'm gonna seal it. Three… two… one… Evil Sealing Method!" 

Pain engulfed me and I collapsed. One of the ANBU caught me. "I'm fine," I waved him off and stood up straight. The pain faded and I turned back to the conversation. 

"We must remove Sasuke from the exams!" protested Anko, "It's too dangerous!"

"We will go through with Orochimarus request." 

"But-" 

"Theres no need to worry," I said, "I sealed it. And it wasn't fully formed anyways." 

"What do you mean not fully formed?" asked Anko. 

I pointed to mine and Anko's, "We have the Cursed Seal of Heaven, like Sasuke. Except, we have three tomoe, but his only had one. I think Orochimaru didn't fully bite down on Sasuke because we showed up and… pushed him away." 

"What are the effects then?" asked Sandaime, "Will he be alright?" 

"He's a strong kid," I shrugged, "As for the effects… all I know is it is probably easier to control and seal. But anyways, lets just go on with the exam. All is well." 

…

All was not well. At least it wasn't well until Rock Lee and his team had showed up. Then all was well again. Sakura had a new haircut and both the boys were awake. Then they had gone on their merry way and gotten the second scroll. 

Now they were in the tower. "Three two one!" They pulled open both scrolls. 

"Its a summon!" shouted Sasuke, "Throw it!" 

They threw it. POOF! A cloud of white exploded from the scroll. "Iruka sensei?" shouted Naruto. 

"Congrats!" smiled Iruka-sensei, "Good job to all of you for passing the second exam!" 

"Are we done?" asked Sakura. 

"Uh… no"