---Forest of Death - Day 2---
Sunlight filtered through the dense canopy in thin, dusty beams, signaling that morning had fully broken.
Haku opened his eyes inside the hollow of the giant tree from his unnecessary sleep. He didn't groggy blink or stretch; he simply transitioned from asleep to awake in a single breath. He checked the position of the sun shafts.
'Around 10 AM,' he estimated. 'Few hours of sleep. More than enough.'
He hopped down from his perch, landing silently on the mossy floor. His stomach gave a demanding growl, echoing slightly in the quiet forest.
'Breakfast,' Haku thought, patting his stomach. 'Alaric-sensei would probably conjure a five-course meal right now.'
He began to walk, his pace leisurely but his senses fully extended. The forest was waking up... predators were bedding down, and prey was emerging.
A fat rabbit hopped out from behind a fern, freezing as it saw him.
Haku raised a senbon, then paused. He looked at the rabbit. The rabbit wiggled its nose.
'Rabbit... again?' Haku lowered his hand, a look of mild distaste crossing his face behind his mask. 'I had rabbit last night. It's dry and stringy. I'd kill for some chicken... or maybe a boar.'
He shook his head in disappointment, shooing the lucky rabbit away. "Go. You're too boring to eat."
He turned to find a different path, hoping for better game. But before he could take a step, he froze.
A wave of chakra washed over him from the east. It wasn't the usual signature of a Genin fighting for their life. It was cold, sticky, and profoundly vile. It tasted like purple sludge on his spiritual tongue.
'This energy...' Haku frowned, the Ashura no Mon seal on his back heating up in response to the malice. 'It feels similar to that Grass Ninja... but wilder. Uncontrolled.'
Curiosity piqued... and thinking that perhaps the source of the energy might have better food supplies... Haku changed course, dashing toward the disturbance.
When Haku arrived at the scene, he stayed in the shadows of the trees, observing.
It was chaos.
The trees were scarred with wind blades and fire burns. Naruto was lying unconscious under a tree root. A girl with short, jaggedly cut pink hair... Sakura... stood trembling in the center of the clearing.
And then there was Sasuke Uchiha.
But it wasn't the Sasuke from the exam hall. His skin was covered in flame-like black markings that pulsed with a sickening purple light. He stood over a terrified Sound Genin... Zaku... who was clutching his arms, his face pale with pain.
"Please..." Zaku stammered but still trying to keep his composure, kicking a scroll across the dirt toward Sasuke. "Take it... We surrender... Just let us go..."
Sasuke stared at the scroll, then back at Zaku. A cruel, maniacal grin split his face.
"Surrender?" Sasuke laughed, but the voice sounded distorted, layered with a power that wasn't his own. "You don't get to surrender. You attacked us. You hurt her."
He stepped forward, purple chakra flaring around his hand like a claw. "I'm just getting started."
"Sasuke-kun, stop!" Sakura screamed, tears streaming down her bruised face. She rushed forward, grabbing Sasuke's arm from behind. "They gave up! It's over! Please, stop it! The mark... it's taking you over!"
Sasuke whipped around, his Sharingan spinning wildly, the tomoe bleeding into the black markings. He didn't see a teammate. He saw an obstacle.
"Let go," he snarled.
"No!" Sakura tightened her grip, sobbing. "This isn't you!"
Sasuke's patience snapped. The vile energy surged. His hand shot out, not to push her away, but to grab her throat. His fingers closed around her neck, lifting her off the ground with terrifying strength.
"I said... let go!" Sasuke roared, his grip tightening.
"G-Gah..." Sakura clawed at his hand, her legs kicking uselessly. Her eyes bulged in betrayal and horror.
Whoosh.
A silver flash cut through the purple aura.
Sasuke flinched, his hand spasming as a sharp pain shot through his wrist. His grip faltered, and Sakura dropped to the ground, coughing and gasping for air.
Sasuke stared at his hand. A single senbon was embedded deep in the nerve cluster of his wrist, disrupting the chakra flow.
"Who!?" He snapped his head up, scanning the trees.
Haku dropped from the canopy, landing softly between Sasuke and the gasping Sakura. He stood tall, his arms crossed, looking at the Uchiha with a mixture of disappointment and boredom.
"You!?" Sasuke gritted his teeth, the black markings spreading further across his face as rage fueled the curse mark. "The solo exam taker..."
Haku ignored him for a moment, glancing back at Sakura to ensure she was breathing, then turned his cold gaze back to Sasuke.
"I don't know what situation you currently have," Haku said, his voice calm and lecturing, like a teacher scolding a unruly student. "But you almost killed your own teammate. That is poor form."
"Shut up!" Sasuke screamed. The power was intoxicating, driving him into a frenzy. "She was in my way! Everyone is in my way! I have power now... true power!"
He ripped the senbon out of his wrist with a spray of blood, not even flinching.
"I'll kill you too!"
"Haku-san! Run!" Sakura screamed, her voice hoarse. "He's not himself!"
Sasuke didn't wait. He lunged, a trail of purple chakra following him. He was fast... much faster than he had been in the exam hall. His hand, wreathed in dark lightning, aimed straight for Haku's heart.
Haku didn't move. He watched the Uchiha approach, analyzing the speed, the trajectory, the wasted energy.
'Wow, he's gotten faster,' Haku noted. 'But he's too sloppy.'
Just as Sasuke's claw was about to make contact, Haku sighed.
He stepped inside Sasuke's guard... a movement so fluid it looked like he had teleported.
"Sleep."
Haku's hand chopped down onto the side of Sasuke's neck. But this wasn't a normal strike. He channeled a spike of his own chakra directly into the Uchiha's pressure point, aiming to forcefully disrupt the chaotic flow of the curse mark.
THUD.
Sasuke's eyes rolled back into his head. The purple aura sputtered and died instantly. The black markings began to recede, retreating back to the seal on his neck. He collapsed forward, unconscious before he hit the ground.
Haku caught him by the back of his shirt, holding him up effortlessly, preventing him from face-planting into the dirt.
"Unrefined," Haku muttered, dropping Sasuke unceremoniously next to Sakura.
The clearing fell silent.
Zaku, the Sound Genin who had been seconds away from death, stared at Haku with wide, terrified eyes. He clutched his broken arms, trembling.
Haku turned his head slowly, his mask glinting in the sunlight.
"You," Haku said softly.
Zaku flinched. "I-I..."
"You already surrendered your scroll," Haku pointed to the Earth scroll lying in the dust. "Take your teammates and disappear."
Zaku didn't need to be told twice. He scrambled backward, kicking his unconscious teammate awake and dragging the other one up.
"Y-Yes. We're going."
As Zaku retreated into the bushes, he cast one last look at the boy in the grey vest who had swatted down the monster that was Sasuke Uchiha like a fly.
'That speed... that precision...' Zaku thought, a cold sweat drenching his back. 'He's dangerous. More dangerous than the Uchiha. I have to tell Orochimaru-sama about this.'
Haku watched them go, then turned back to Sakura, who was staring at him with awe and fear, clutching her bruised throat.
"Do you have food?" Haku asked abruptly.
"H-Huh?" Sakura blinked, completely thrown off.
"Food," Haku repeated, looking hopeful. "Chicken? Boar? I'm sick of rabbit."
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