"Did you see this?" asked Sakura, pointing to Sasuke's shoulder where he'd been bitten.
"No, that wasn't there before," answered Naruto, his [Observe] activating with a flashing red warning.
Ten no Juin – The Cursed Seal of Heaven grants its bearer increased chakra and physical capabilities but at a great cost assuming the bearer even survives the initial bonding process. It slowly erodes the bearer sanity while also acting as addictive as the strongest opiate.
"That is a nasty fucking piece of work," said Naruto, shivering slightly.
"What is it?" asked Sakura.
Naruto relayed what he'd learned of it, leaving Sakura worried.
"Look, we're in the tower now, we just need to get some help but the doors are all locked," said Naruto.
Sakura looked around the room. "Did you even read the riddle?"
"That was a riddle? How the hell was I supposed to know that?"
"Give me the scrolls," said Sakura, holding out an impatient hand.
Naruto pulled the scrolls they'd acquired and handed them to Sakura.
Sakura then opened the earth scroll and one of the heaven scrolls at the same time before tossing them on the ground in front of them.
"Yo," greeted Kakashi, as the smoke cleared. "You got here fast."
"Sensei, Sasuke's in real trouble," said Naruto, cutting straight to the point.
Kakashi moved smoothly around the genin, before kneeling down to examine Sasuke, his eye zeroing in on the cursed seal immediately. "You need to tell me everything that happened in that forest."
Sakura gave a quick explanation of the fight with Orochimaru.
"And you didn't see him before the start of the exam?" asked Kakashi.
"I did, but I thought he might have been another plant like in the first test or maybe something else. I mean, that Kabuto guy was all question marks too so I thought maybe it was a trick."
"And the name Orochimaru didn't ring any bells?"
"I thought it was familiar but I couldn't remember where I'd heard it before."
"You idiot," Sakura all but screamed. "Orochimaru is a wanted criminal, he's S-Class for kami's sake. He was one of the Sannin."
Naruto felt the blood drain from his face. "Oh shit. I didn't remember. All of this could have been avoided if I had just remembered. I could have warned the proctor before the exam even started."
"Stop worrying about it. You did the best you could in the situation, at least you were suspicious that something was up. You were also smart enough to get your team here as fast as possible once they were both down," Kakashi reassured him.
Unfortunately, Kakashi's attempt at reassuring him did nothing to assuage the guilt he was feeling at that moment. "I need a bingo book," he said suddenly. "I can't ever make a mistake like this again."
"We'll get you one after the exam," said Kakashi, picking up Sasuke, carrying the limp and feverish boy. "Follow me, this part of the exam is done for now."
Bonus Completion Awarded: 50000 Exp.
Bonus Completion Awarded: 50000 Exp.
Bonus Completion Awarded: 50000 Exp.
Bonus Completion Awarded: 50000 Exp.
Quest Completion Awarded: 100000 Exp.
Quest Alert: Chuunin Selection Exam Stage 2.
Successfully complete the second stage of the Chuunin Selection Exam.
Objectives:
Acquire a Heaven scroll and Earth scroll.
Reach the central tower inside of five days.
Survive Orochimaru's onslaught.
Solve the riddle of heaven and earth to complete stage two of the exam.
Bonus Objectives:
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Reach the central tower in less than 24 hours.
Reach the central tower in less than 48 hours.
Reach the central tower in less than 72 hours.
Reach the central tower in less than 96 hours.
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Acquire an extra Heaven scroll.
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Completion Award: 100000 Exp
50000 Exp per Bonus Objective
Completion Failure: 10000 Exp
Death or End of Chuunin Selection Exam
Congratulations! Your level has increased by 1.
Your teammate Sakura's level has increased by 1.
Naruto closed the message windows and followed his sensei and Sakura into the building.
"Dorms up and to the right, I'll be taking Sasuke for treatment. You have a few days to recover here in the tower. That said, don't leave the tower for any reason, you won't be able to get back in without two more scrolls." Kakashi explained before vanishing with Sasuke in his arms.
"That sucked," said Naruto.
"Yeah, I'm sorry I yelled at you."
"It's okay, it was moronic of me to miss that," Naruto recriminated. "I still can't believe we survived that."
"Thanks in no small part to you I'm sure," said Sakura, hanging her head a bit. "He was so powerful. I tried to just slow him down a bit with a genjutsu, it didn't even work. He just shrugged it off like it was nothing, the he hit me, just once. That was all it took to take me out of that fight. He back handed me and I vaguely remember bouncing off the tree trunk before everything went dark."
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