15 The Forest of Death (2)

'It definitely looks foreign to all the chakra types I saw until now! No, it's absorbing something! It's truly related to natural energy!', Neji looked toward Sasuke like he was watching a fascinating animal. One of the things he was probably the most interested in right now, was natural energy.

'So, that's how it is!? That was the way all along!?', Neji didn't realize but his expression got overly excited and everyone around started looking at him strangely. Even Tenten and Lee rarely saw him being so excited about anything. And gradually he started getting more intense expressions.

Orochimaru's cursed seal is a forbidden technique that is designed to give its bearer more powerful chakra, transform their body and enslave them to his will. It contains his senjutsu chakra, a specially-engineered enzyme, extracted from Jugo's blood, and a fragment of Orochimaru's consciousness.

The curse seal appears as three identical symbols in a circular pattern on the bearer's body in its dormant state which then spreads across the body when activated. Unlike other juinjutsu, almost every individual with this cursed seal will have a symbol unique to them.

Orochimaru is the only person capable of branding someone with his cursed seal which he casts by injecting his chakra into the victim with a bite from his fangs and a unique hand-seal, a ritual similar to how the White Snake Sage of the Ryuuchi Cave selects his students for teaching senjutsu. After the branding, the victim falls unconscious as their body is forced to adapt to its tainted power. Only one in ten subjects is able to survive the process.

Sasuke currently activated the first state of the cursed seal. It functions by absorbing the bearer's chakra and the natural energy from their surroundings, converting it into senjutsu chakra through the consciousness within the cursed seal, and then pumping it back into their chakra pathway system to enhance their abilities.

The symbol of the cursed seal replicates itself to cover their body in its markings; how far the pattern spreads is in proportion to how much power the bearer is drawing from the cursed seal. One can achieve at least twice as much chakra of higher quality, making their techniques more powerful and strengthening their physical capabilities such as their speed, strength, and reflexes. It is a temporary but significant boost to their power that can allow them to fight harder and longer than they normally could.

However, the cursed seal has its drawbacks, in addition, as it is meant to invade the mind and body of the bearer. After it has first manifested, its presence leaves the bearer in constant pain for a time and it reacts whenever the bearer tries to release chakra to force its activation by drawing out more of their chakra regardless of their will. It requires an adjustment period for someone to consciously control the cursed seal's activation without it acting against their will, something with depends on the bearer's own strength of will.

Every time its power is released, the malignant spiritual energy hidden inside slowly erodes their will and stimulates their darker emotions to make them susceptible to Orochimaru's control. An example of this control is that when he is nearby, he can make them suffer crippling pain through their cursed seal which leaves them helpless in his presence.

"Why are you looking at me like that, Hyuga?", Sasuke suddenly furrowed his brows and slowly started walking toward Neji, while ignoring Sakura's pleas to calm down. He really was not in a normal state right now, moreover, Neji really did look at him like he was some kind of idiot, or better said an interesting experiment. Seeing that something was not right, everyone moved further away than Neji. Neji looked at Sasuke, with his Byakugan, without missing a second, analyzing everything. Combining his current vision of Sasuke's inner chakra pathway system and his canon knowledge, Neji was getting more and more sure of something.

Even Tenten and Lee looked at Neji worriedly, but he cut them off once he regained his composure a little, "Tenten, Lee, take everyone away from here, even Sakura and Naruto, once you get a chance. I'll have to fight with him now. Sasuke is not in a normal state right now, or it could be said that he is currently possessed by something. Only I can solve this problem for him out of you all!"

Tenten suddenly, to the surprise of Rock Lee and others, clenched her fists a little and said seriously first, "I understand, Lee and I will take Sakura with us as soon as we get the chance. Everyone, you sense the level of chakra in Sasuke currently, it's dangerous to be here, let's move a little further!",

Tenten wasn't stupid, judging by Neji's sudden, once-in-lifetime expression, she realized that there was something really important related to the current Sasuke Uchiha that Neji wanted to explore, 'This may even be related to his biggest wish in life, that wish that can't even be talked about...'

Tenten's face was solemn, she now remembered exactly how happy Neji was when he learned a fuinjutsu technique, from her, sufficient enough to seal his eyes away, when he thought that she wouldn't know, she realized it all silently, 'Maybe this time is something related to that as well...'

Neji got surprised at Tenten's resoluteness, and wrote it down in his heart a bit, while explaining to the restless Sakura, "Sakura, look after Naruto and keep yourself away, I need to help Sasuke next."

'Damn, damn, as this day didn't have to get any more troublesome...', Shikamaru groaned as he walked back, with Ino and Choji, while watching Neji's and Sasuke's weird standoff in front.

'Why did their faces get so mad, and what's with Sasuke's weird body and chakra?', Ino thought.

"You bastard, Hyuga, why would I need your help? Fine, if you want it. I wanted to beat you a long time ago already, ever since that time in the hospital!", Sasuke's face suddenly got more violent.

"Sasuke, you should feel it already, this power isn't yours and it's actually harming you! Let me help you!", Neji smirked and slowly started walking closer to Sasuke.

"What the heck do you know! I'm an avenger, any kind of power is welcomed by me! Moreover, I feel like with this I can easily beat that proud face of yours!", Sasuke shouted remembering his dream and everything that happened inside of it when his clan was killed by Itachi once again.

"Then there is no other way, I'll help you myself.", Neji and Sasuke suddenly disappeared from their places and clashed somewhere in the air. Everyone around the area looked in awe at such a speed.

'Seeing it this close, it certainly appears possible to do, hehe, Sasuke, you've given me the best present in this life so far!', Neji and Sasuke quickly traded a couple of blows. Sasuke was seriously using his kunai to hurt Neji, while Neji looked like he was constantly checking something more.

However, after a few more minutes, Sasuke started cutting Neji around, here and there, a little bit, 'My body is no match for his current, enhanced one. It's time I turn serious.',

Small, blue chakra-like projectiles, from a couple of Neji's individual Tenketsu points, suddenly started protruding toward all of Sasuke's weak points, which Neji determined to be weak judging from the movements of Sasuke's muscle contractions. However, surprisingly, Sasuke dodged the most vital ones, with his Sharingan, and then jumped back, now also a little bit grazed, by the impact of those non-lethal projectiles of Neji that managed to land on a few areas of his body.

'Is that Sharingan's Eye of Insight and allowing him to quickly figure out the patterns of my attacks and dodge on time? To think it was this good in a state with just two tomoe on...', Neji suddenly marveled at his Sharingan.

'Not just that, his Sharingan is probably also quite capable at kinetic vision.', Kinetic vision is the unique ability of the Sharingan, allowing its user to see things relatively fast thing in slow-motion, making them appear slower inside their brain processing center than they truly were in reality. It was one of the abilities that Byakugan didn't have, but Sharingan did, alongside genjutsu, ability to evolve through mental disturbances and already mentioned pattern recognition and copying skills.

'He is much stronger than I expected, this is already a low jonin level strength. Then he was also on the elite level of strength by the time the first part of the Naruto series ended. Truly Indra for you...'

'Second Gate should be enough to end this in combination with my Gentle Fist sneak attack. And if I keep it open for less than five minutes, there won't be any problems with the exhaustion like the last time...', Neji jokingly looked at the overly confident Sasuke in front of him, as he made a plan.

"Hyuga, it seems that I somewhat overestimated you, to be honest. Then let me show you just who is the real genius!", Sasuke suddenly moved his hands up quickly and launched a ninjutsu attack, as a diversion, for his following main finishing physical attack, "Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!",

The user of this technique spits a volley of small fireballs into the air; at a glance, it can appear as though there was only one fireball that then burst into many. The many small flames move wildly through the area, potentially mesmerizing targets as they're surrounded.

The user controls each individual flame with their chakra, allowing them to guide each at the target and, consequently, making this technique difficult to evade. Shuriken can be hidden within the flames, as Sasuke currently did, not only making them more deadly upon impact but also, by controlling the flames' movements, giving users a means of controlling the shuriken in addition.

'I just need to sever the connection between the curse mark and the rest of his chakra system. That's where all of that chakra is coming from...', "Alright Sasuke, Second Gate: Gate of Healing!"

This time around, Sasuke was surprised by Neji's burst of speed as he dodged all the upcoming flames and as he got right in front of him in a second. Therefore, Sasuke could only pull his kunai out again to try and stab Neji immediately up close.

However, this time it's different. In this Inner Gate heightened state, Neji could actually seal some of Sasuke's tenketsu points, on his tights, with his arms quickly, after he dodged the kunai stab in front.

"Damn, I can't move!", Sasuke yelled and turned around, then waved his sharp kunai toward Neji who attempted to sneak attack him from his back. Sasuke sensed it immediately with his dojutsu.

'Hehe, Sasuke, let me try this new one on you.', In a moment once Neji apparently wanted to land a palm on Sasuke's back, and when Sasuke's Kunai was coming straight toward his heart, Neji suddenly did an unbelievable thing. He straight abandoned his attack, jumped horizontally to dodge the kunai, exerted his Byakugan to the maximum, and made a high-precision shot toward the chakra line that connected the Curse Mark to the rest of Sasuke's body. "Enhanced Chakra Scalpel!", This was a technique mainly used by medical shinobi as their main means of attack.

However, anyone could learn to make and use it if they have a high enough level of chakra control, especially Hyugas. Moreover, this time around, Neji's chakra scalpel wasn't just around a palm size, like the one Kabuto or Tsunade used in the original series, it was a whole arm or more in length.

And Neji didn't stop, once Sasuke got dizzy and gradually started collapsing down. For him, these next few moments were the most important! Before Sasuke completely fell, he quickly caught him after he turned off his Second Gate.

At an unbelievable speed, he brought his right hand and placed it on top of the Curse Mark. Then he activated his chakra control ability, trying to take away Orochimaru's Senjutsu, still active, from it!

The only way to gather natural energy in this world, into your body, was to learn the secret method from the Snake, Toad, or Slug Sage, the last one being just Neji's own hypothesis.

There was one completely different additional method. And that was to be born into Jugo's clan. But that one, wasn't a good choice, mainly because you couldn't control when you wanted to absorb natural energy and when to not. Neji did not want that. And more so, he did not want to be bitten by a White Snake Sage, nor did he think it was realistic to go the Toad or Slug route as well.

But, after he saw Sasuke's inner chakra pathway system just a while ago, he thought of another brilliant idea. The Curse Mark worked on the principle that Orochimaru's senjutsu chakra constantly brought in the natural energy, from the atmosphere, when it was activated, then mixed it with the host's chakra, to finally produce some kind of a new chakra, with Jugo's enzyme, for the host's body.

Orochimaru never mastered the Sage Mode, as his body wasn't strong enough for that, but he mastered the means of gathering natural energy around him, and then creating senjutsu chakra.

Natural energy is the energy that is created by the air, water, and earth of the world. It exists anywhere and everywhere, constantly circulating throughout the planet as a part of nature itself.

Senjutsu is the process of drawing natural energy inside your body, and then blending it with your own chakra to create senjutsu chakra for adding power to your existing techniques, while also allowing for the use of techniques that would not otherwise be possible, the Curse Mark of Orochimaru being an example for the second.

And the Sage Mode was the state achieved when a practitioner empowers the entirety of themselves with senjutsu chakra. It then circulates throughout their entire chakra pathway system to activate the body by significantly enhancing its strength, speed, reflexes, senses, healing, and durability as well as strengthening every aspect of their ninjutsu, genjutsu, and taijutsu. Fire is hotter, water is fiercer, lightning is faster, the wind is sharper and the earth is harder. Illusions are more tenacious in binding the victim's senses and leaving a deeper effect on their psyche. And physical blows are easily capable of shattering steel or collapsing buildings with their might. Just as chakra makes a ninja superior to ordinary humans, senjutsu chakra makes a sage superior to an ordinary ninja.

A sage's connection to natural energy amplifies their innate sense of chakra to a level beyond the ability of all but the most skilled of sensors in both range and accuracy. At close range, it serves as a type of threat perception which aids the sage by helping them predict their opponent's moves to avoid incoming attacks and set up the ideal counterattack. At long range, they can perceive the chakra of anyone within several kilometers at the very least and perhaps surpass even that with training and focus.

And as a sage has mastered the ability to absorb natural energy, they can directly manipulate the natural energy around them as well. They can use it as an extension of their own bodies to attack beyond their physical reach, infuse it into their surroundings to control the terrain, or interfere with its flow to bend the atmosphere to their will.

And what Neji needed for his new theoretical jutsu, which he always dreamed of and visualized in his head, a long time ago, wasn't entering Sage Mode like Naruto and Jiraiya, for example, it wasn't the ability to produce senjutsu chakra like Orochimaru either. It was just the ability to gather the natural energy around him when and where he wanted! And he will presently obtain such means!

Neji's face sweated hard, his Byakugan urged to the maximum, as he slowly moved that part of the Orochimaru's Senjutsu chakra from Sasuke's Curse Mark, into himself!

After a dozen or more seconds, it miraculously worked! Neji successfully moved it from his right hand to the area of his stomach, where the strongest and the most present part of the human chakra pathway system was, so that he would successfully keep that part of Orochimaru's senjutsu chakra always tightly and consciously sealed inside until he wanted to use it and draw natural energy. He would from now on, be keeping an eye on it for twenty-four hours, seven days a week. But thankfully, he was still a Hyuga and a Hyuga with the strongest chakra control skills in history!

Those weird markings already disappeared from Sasuke's body, and Neji relaxedly fell down to the ground, 'No, I can't relax yet until I successfully master that technique, I must hide from Orochimaru before that!', Orochimaru certainly wouldn't take it kindly that he destroyed Sasuke's Curse Mark.

Neji now felt a foreign-like chakra sealed tightly by himself inside his stomach area. It wasn't a part of Orochimaru's soul, but just a part of Orochimaru's senjutsu chakra, so he wasn't feeling weird about it. And he would currently do anything to get more strength, he had no time to feel weird!

And soon, everyone who watched the fight from the side suddenly came closer in amazement. Firstly, crying Sakura checked Sasuke's pulse, and then she bowed hard in thanks, after noticing everything was right, "Thank you, Neji"!, She started dumbly repeating it many times while crying.

"Are you all right, Neji!?", Pretty worried Tenten quickly went to Neji and picked him up on her pale shoulders.

However, what happened next, stunned her whole being. Neji suddenly smiled, for the first time, at her warmly, from the heart, and whispered, "Thank you for understanding me during all this time!"

Her whole face suddenly blushed and she couldn't remember anything she could say at that time.

Meanwhile, Lee, Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji, just looked dumbly at the weird scene, not understanding a thing. Shikamaru asked first, "Neji, what happened there with Sasuke?"

"He was possessed by some kind of evil chakra. That's the best way I could describe it. Then I led that chakra out of his body with my Byakugan and chakra control.", Neji, still in Tenten's embrace, answered, "We should all ask Sakura about that? Was Sasuke in contact with something weird recently?", Neji pretended like he didn't know anything, which could help him better explain it to the village higher-ups later if needed.

"What, you really solved it, Neji?", "No, I mean, we were attacked by a very powerful enemy who bit Sasuke on his neck and then Sasuke became sick after that. He also got some kind of a curse mark!", Sakura immediately excitedly started explaining that whole encounter to the present teens.

"Well, Sakura, I don't know if that snake-women, you said, would suddenly find that her seal got destroyed by me, but we must go now. I feel like I also have no chance against such an opponent.",

"You need to be careful from now on. I can't help you any more than this, I'm sorry!", Neji patiently explained after she finished speaking. He prepared to run the hell out of there before Orochimaru came after him. Until he fully developed that jutsu he felt like even personally running away from Orochimaru would be hard, not to mention fighting him, 'Orochimaru will certainly go and plant Sasuke another Curse Mark again, and he will not go after me immediately. He probably doesn't even know who did it yet. We're going straight to the Central Tower and then out of this forest!'

After hearing him, Shikamaru also opened his eyes wide and said, "Yes, Ino, Choji, we should also go. There is nothing we could do against an opponent of such a level. Neji, you already got your scrolls right? Then you should report all of this to the higher-ups once you pass the exam. I feel like that person certainly isn't a genin, more like some kind of a malicious intruder, and her goal is Sasuke!", Shikamaru quickly spoke while everyone remained quiet and listen to him seriously.

"Yes, Neji, you should do that! And I don't blame anyone, especially you Neji, who already helped us this much today. Please just report it to the village higher-ups, if you get the chance, we'll hopefully manage to survive until that!", Sakura clenched her fists as she spoke, again feeling restless after realizing that monstrous person could make a move on Sasuke and them again.

At this time, Naruto woke up, but nobody had time for his stupid antics, and everyone quickly left.