The bandaged genin exploded into action, rushing headlong at the pink haired ninja, arm cocked back to swing. Sakura responded by closing the gap and engaging him in a close combat battle, dodging and feinting in attempt to land a solid hit. In practice she was the middle ground between Sasuke's speed and Naruto's endurance, but in raw strength even Kakashi had moments of envy. Her opportunity came as Scootaloo joined the fray, sweeping in low with a double back kick to the enemy ninja's shin. He dodged, but the distraction allowed her a quick palm strike to the head, which was quickly followed by a combo of strikes to his upper torso, the finale, a leaping round house kick to the head, was blocked by the strange device on his arm.
All at once a sense of vertigo overwhelmed her, and she had to jump back to regain her bearings. "This device produces a sound, so high pitched you cannot hear it, but it effects your inner ear, with a little bit of chakra, you lose your balance." He said, likely grinning against the coverings on his face.
"It's a stupid policy, to tell the enemy your tricks." Sakura grunted, as the ground steadied underfoot. Scootaloo got into position next to her, ready again to be of assistance.
"Zaku, take out that damn orange thing, it's getting in my way." The bandaged man grunted, again darting towards Sakura, who was hard pressed to defend while focusing on her balance.
The other male genin, Zaku, dashed in to strike at Scootaloo, who put up a valiant effort in keeping pace with him, Gai's training sessions had already begun to pay off. She leapt airborne, little wings giving her hang time as she prepared for a drop kick, at the same time Zaku brought his plam out towards her, and she noticed the glint of metal in his palm. "Decapitating Air Wave." He said with a twisted smile.
With a blur of movement Scootaloo found herself being pushed down towards the ground, at the same time a blast of wind scoured the trees above of leaves. The blur turned out to be a ninja in green spandex, with one hand gently placed on Scootaloo's head, and the other clutching the genin's arm. "Well done so far my little pony friend. Let us show these sound ninja our flames of youth." He said, giving her a quick thumbs up and smile.
He rounded on the genin in his grasp, as Zaku moved his other arm into firing position, and immediately dodged and countered, leading into a several hit combo. He finished with a jumping straight kick to Zaku's chest, sending him crashing into the foliage at the end of the clearing. Scootaloo looked on with starry eyes.
Sakura fought passed the nauseating effects of her opponent and countered a barrage of punches with a sweep kick, which the bandaged genin quickly leapt over. He underestimated her speed, however when she decked him with a haymaker before he could turn around. He landed with a thunk, sliding down a now cracked tree to lay next to Zaku.
"Dosu, quit messing around, turn up the volume and lets finish these guys." Said the female of the group, throwing a barrage of needles at her opponents, Sakura tried to retaliate with shuriken of her own, but her vision went crazy the moment they hit her hand. At her feet she noticed bells attached to the needles. Ahead of her she got the blurry image of Zaku, raising both arms towards the two genin and filly.
O~O~O~O~O
"Ah wish we could help." Apple Bloom said, seeing Sakura and Scootaloo working hard to defend the tree.
"I know, but we'll get in the way if we try and help either group." Sweetie Belle said, watching as Sakura suddenly backed off.
"This device produces a sound, so high pitched you cannot hear it, but it effects your inner ear, with a little bit of chakra, you lose your balance." The scary looking human said.
"That's it!" Sweetie Belle said, leaping up and heading for the tree house.
"What's it? We ain't s'posed to go in there!" Apple Bloom said, following the white unicorn filly inside.
"You know how I've been taking lessons with Lyra? On music?" Sweetie Belle said, as they snuck about the edge of the room towards Pinkie Pie's saddle bag.
"Yeah, yer tryin' ta get yer cutie mark in singing right?" Apple Bloom replied quietly as they scooted along the wall.
"Well she was teaching me about harmonics, how certain sounds can complement each other, making them stronger. We also learned about Distortion. That's when a sound interferes with another and cancels it out. You can also use one sound to overpower another." Sweetie Belle said, rummaging around in the saddlebags.
"So what?" Apple Bloom said, coming over to help.
"Help me find a set of speakers, and a microphone. Pinkie has all of her party supplies in these seals, but they should be labeled." Sweetie replied. The two of them worked away at sorting through piles of papers, ignoring the battle that raged within the room. At last they found one labeled 'sound system', and rushed outside with it.
A quick application of some chakra from a battery seal, and several speakers and a microphone appeared. "How do ya know what kind of sound to make?" Apple Bloom asked.
"I don't, but I haven't been taking lessons for nothing." Sweetie Belle said, turning on the mic and cranking up the volume. What followed was a song so truly amazing that those present would swear it was the greatest song they ever heard, and to this day only a rough tribute to its glory has ever been recorded. The sound waves immediately overwhelmed those produced by the bells, and even those generated within the sound gauntlet.
Freed from their sound based afflictions, and inspired by the amazing music behind them, the two genin and a filly rushed their attackers, Lee ducked the first, and then leapt a second barrage of compressed air. Now in close combat he let fly with years of speed training, raining blows on his opponent while deflecting any attempts at aiming the deadly pressure cannons at him. In a display of brutality he bent low, sending a kick to Zaku's jaw, and leaving the boy airborne. In a blur of speed he leapt up behind the boy and wrapped him in his arm bandages, then spun the captured genin into the ground, leaving him buried head first in the mossy loam of the forest floor.
Scootaloo, not to be out done by her latest idol, rushed the female sound ninja. The filly struck with several leaping strikes, dancing around rather clumsy attempts by the genin to hit the smaller target. The girl leapt backwards, pulling out more needles as Scootaloo was forced on the defensive, dodging the sharpened instruments.
Without the aid of his sound gauntlet, Dosu was heavily outmatched. Sakura closed in with a flurry of sweeping kicks that had him hard pressed to do anything but back peddle. With a cry Sakura lunged with a right hay maker, charging chakra to her fist like she had practiced, as expected Dosu blocked with his gauntlet. There was a reverberation of sound heard even over the music, as Sakura released the chakra, shattering the delicate components within and knocking everyone in the clearing off their feet.
"Enough!" The female sound genin yelled over the noise. "Take the damn scroll, we've had enough. Let's go guys!" She said, tossing a while 'Heaven' scroll to the floor of the clearing, and helping a still dazed Zaku to his feet. The three of them beat a hasty retreat into the forest, just as Sweetie Belle's song finished.
Before Sakura could collect the scroll, another blur shot forward, revealing Neji, who scooped up the scroll and put it into a pouch. "Good work Lee." He said calmly.
"What the hay do you mean good work? He was just helpin' us out! Give us back that scroll!" Apple Bloom shouted at the white eyed thief.
"You would have lost that fight if not for Lee's assistance, we'll take this scroll as payment." Neji said coldly.
"Why of all the no good low down double crossing..." Apple Bloom began, storming forward. She was halted when a kunai drove itself handle deep into the dirt before her. Neji's other teammate made herself known in one of the upper branches.
"You should consider yourself lucky we don't eliminate you while you are weakened. I wish to... humiliate your teammates in front of all of Konoha, not in some dark forest where no one would see it." Neji continued, leveling a glare at Sakura and the ponies.
Sakura's hand twitched, a strong part of her wanted to pound the thief's smug face through several trees. Her inner voice spouted obscenities at his entire lineage, her blood boiled as thoughts of grabbing him by his ankles, and beating his scrawny female teammate with him filled her mind. She had won that fight, had protected her friends and won their place in the next round, and now that was all taken away. She wanted to yell and scream and shout, and so she decided to act a little rashly for once.
Neji turned towards his female teammate, taking the scroll and tossing it towards her "Seal this in one of your scrolls." he called, turning back around to face the pink haired genin. He was confident Lee would stop her if she chose to act with his back turned. He failed to notice Lee was busy giving advice to the little orange summon. So when Neji turned around, he was met with a gloved fist, flying with enough force to break his nose.
Neji went flying backwards off his feet, and while the shock lasted Sakura pulled her legs up, before vaulting off his stomach an diving for the scroll. A hail of kunai struck her, just as she pulled the scroll lose to her, but she managed to protect any vital areas on her body. With no course of action left she drove her forehead down upon Tenten's, and tumbled out of the tree.
"You've made yourself a serious enemy." Came Neji's voice, sounding wonky through his broken nose. "I was willing to let your team walk away from this, but we will take that scroll from you, here and now, and you will not be advancing past this exam."
Sakura flinched, from where she lay on the ground, curled protectively over the white scroll.
O~O~O~O~O
Sasuke awoke with a surge of chakra that nearly knocked over everyone present. It was a dark purple color, and swirled around him like a living creature, lashing out at nearby objects. "Sasuke... are you alright?" Called Naruto from a safe distance.
"I've never felt better." Came his response, the grin on his face suggesting otherwise. He turned to face Naruto and the 6 ponies present, red eyes spinning lazily as dark markings began to crawl across his skin. "This much power... I could do anything I want with this much power. I could kill him... I could kill him so very easily."
"You don't want to kill him, remember? Not unless he comes after your family again." Naruto reminded him, already getting ready for the fight he knew was coming. The ponies took a step backwards, as Twilight encased them within a shield.
"My family is Dead! He murdered every single one! I'll never hear my father tell me he's proud of me, because my Brother took him away!" Saskue yelled, bristling with the urge to fight.
"Get a hold of yourself Sasuke, that isn't you talking. I thought you were stronger than this!" Naruto taunted.
"I'll show you my strength right now!" Sasuke yelled, lunging towards the blonde. They had had the foresight to take away any tools he'd have on him in advance, leaving the two only able to brawl with hands and feet. Even so the tree house took damage as the two boys went all out. Sasuke held nothing back, and Naruto knew he'd need to wear him down before the ponies could do their thing.
Sasuke cried out in rage as Naruto hit a wall hard and came back swinging, his Shining Armor taking the brunt of the blow. Focusing for a moment Sasuke pulled the miasma of tainted chakra around himself, gathering it together until it formed a cloak of armor around him. Where Naruto's armor was a sharply defined blue, a testament of its solid nature, Sasuke's was a polluted purple, and clung to him like shadows.
"I really hate those infernal eyes." Naruto muttered, knowing that Sasuke had just copied the basis of his technique. From somewhere outside music began, as the fight resumed in earnest. The two went blow for blow, wailing on each other and coming back for more like unyielding forces of nature.
Still, the black haired boy didn't possess Naruto's endurance, and after a very prolonged struggle, Naruto had him on the ropes. The orange boy flew in with a flurry of hits that had Sasuke curling up to endure, when suddenly a loud "NOW!" pierced the air. Naruto jumped, just in time for a beam of solid light to slam into Sasuke like a train. His armor was ripped away an shattered like a physical presence, as the light pinned him to the far wall, before coalescing around his upper shoulder. With a final hoarse scream the light blinked out, and he slumped forwards, gasping for air.
"Thanks..." he muttered, as Naruto helped him into a sitting position, "I couldn't think straight, I wanted so many terrible things. I was willing to do so many terrible things to get them."
"It's alright now Sasuke, it's all sealed away, you never have to use that power again if you don't want to." Naruto said, trying to comfort his friend.
"I already feel the urge to use it, there in the back of my mind. I feel so weak without it now." He said, rubbing his neck where the seal was still sore. Karin brought over a mirror so he could look at it, while Twilight explained what was done.
"Karin explained how the seal works. It takes in a bit of your chakra over time, generally not a noticeable amount, but enough that when you need it, a sizable reserve of chakra is there for you. The downside is that the stored chakra is converted into something more... potent. You get a very noticeable burst of power when you use it, but it comes with a sort of taint that effects your brain chemistry. It'll make you more aggressive, among other undesirable traits. Cruelty, Deceit, Treachery, Greed. That sort of thing." Twilight said, letting Sasuke get a good look at it.
On his shoulder sat a rather intricate design, it was an ornate circle, with the phases of the moon arrayed like hours on a clock. In the middle was empty space. "I based the design off of suggestions from Princess Luna. When the seal is totally closed, as it is now, the inner circle is empty, as if it was a full moon. As you open the seal, more and more of the circle becomes shaded in, like what would happen during an eclipse. This allows for more and more of the chakra to enter your system, if you need it. Overcoming the urges that come with using the seal can be done, Luna technically has no seal on her taint, but keeps it suppressed through sheer force of will, as I believe you will be able to as well one day, so long as you take it slow."
Sasuke nodded, letting Naruto help himself up, outside the music had stopped. The group decided to check on the others, and as one headed for the doorway. They arrived outside in time to see Neji's teammate hit the floor, with a very hurt Sakura landing near her, clutching a scroll. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle ran towards the group in a panic.
"Sweetie! Your flank!" Rarity gasped, upon the little white unicorn's flank was a bright pink heart, with ornate microphone inside.
"Never mind that! That white eyed boy and the girl just came and stole the scroll that Sakura worked so hard for!" Sweetie cried, urging for her sister to do something.
"Yeah, Sakura got it back but now she's really hurt!" Apple Bloom added.
"You've made yourself a serious enemy." Came Neji's voice, sounding wonky through his broken nose. "I was willing to let your team walk away from this, but we will take that scroll from you, here and now, and you will not be advancing past this exam."
Neji glared down at Sakura, who merely tightened her grip on the scroll and refused to give in, and activated his bloodline. Without having to turn around, he could now see what awaited him for that decision.
In front of the large tree stood 6 ponies, 3 fillies, and two genin. Behind them, clinging to every surface in the nearby forest, was an army of orange. "Neji!" came the booming cry of over a hundred Narutos. "You'll have to go through us!"