First chapter of my first story her on FF. Review as you please, and flamers are welcome. I use the heat to make the popcorn I eat while watching the anime. Big thanks to my temporary beta, InfiniteDragon! If you are not currently, than read his story The Ruins of Love's Legacy.

Note: I don't own Naruto. If I did, he wouldn't have 20 different versions of the Rasengan.

Deep within the Forest of Death, during the second phase of the Chunin exam, three young Genin face off against a superior opponent. One of them, a blond wearing an orange jumpsuit, is pinned to a tree by a kunai and is out cold. The other two face off against their opponent, the pink-haired one staring as the dark-haired one use a fire jutsu.

With Sakura

Sakura stood in horror as the sudden and blinding flash of the fire jutsu died down, revealing their assailants face. The grass nin's face was half burnt off, but it was… Odd. One half of the skin was burned off, but it seemed to have regular, healthy skin underneath. The other half of the Grass ninja's face hung loose, almost like a shed snake skin.

Their opponent laughed at their shocked and disgusted expressions. He paid particular attention to Sasuke, speaking towards the young Genin. "To be able to use the Sharingan at such a young age… You truly are the man that carries the Uchiha blood." Their opponent lifted up his face, letting them better see his scorched face and his voice takes on an odd tone. One that could only be described as… Hungry? "Just as I thought… I want you!"

"S-Sasuke-kun!" Sakura shouted, jumping over to her crush's side. "I had fun testing your powers… The grass nin said, lifting his hand to his hitae-ite. Suddenly, an enormous wave of killing intent spilled out, freezing Sasuke and Sakura in place. "You really are his brother…" The ninja in front of them said, moving his hand to show that the hidden grass symbol on his protector was changed to the one of the hidden sound village. "I sense power in your eyes that surpasses Itachi."

Sasuke focused on the ninja with a sudden, razor intensity. "WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!" Sasuke called out, fighting the ki pinning him in place with the rage brought up from hearing his brother's name.

"My name is Orochimaru." The sound nin said, taking the dropped heaven scroll that team 7 had been given. "If you want to see me again… Then survive and pass this exam." Without a single sign or motion, the scroll in Orochimaru's hands began to smolder and burn.

"Ah! The scroll!" Sakura cried in shock as it burst into flame.

"Of course, you'll also have defeat my kin, the Sound ninja trio." Orochimaru said, turning his hand and letting the ashes of the scroll fall onto the branch that he stood on. "What the hell are you talking about?!" Sakura shouted at the smirking ninja. "We never want to see your face again!"

"He he he… It won't go that way…" Orochimaru said, hands forming into a strange seal. Suddenly, the Sound ninjas neck stretched out, his head racing for Sasuke. Both Sakura and Sasuke stood, frozen in shock. But a single thought ran through Sakura's mind. "Not Sasuke! Not Sasuke! NOT SASUKE!" Moving with a swiftness not normally seen by the young kunoichi, Sakura jumped and pushed Sasuke away, allowing Orochimaru's teeth to sink into her neck instead.

Orochimaru's eyes widened as he pulled his fangs out of Sakura's neck, his own neck pulled back to its normal position as Sakura clutched at her neck, ink seeming to swirl underneath her skin as a mark appeared on the skin between her fourth and fifth Cervical Vertebra. The symbol consisted of three slightly curved lines, spread out in a rip-like pattern.

"Ku ku ku… How interesting…" Orochimaru chuckled as Sakura fell to her knees. "I intended to mark Sasuke but perhaps this is for the best. An opponent for him to pit himself against." Orochimaru began sinking into the branch. "Even weak as she is, that girl will obtain great power with my mark. Defeat her and prove yourself worthy of the power I can bestow upon you!"

Sasuke could only stare as Orochimaru disappeared. He growled and punched the tree he was standing in as Sakura passed out. He hopped over to Naruto and pulled out the kunai pinning him to the tree and catching him before going over to collect Sakura as well. Burdened as he was, Sasuke could only move a short distance away before descending to the forest floor and putting his two teammates underneath the giant roots of one of the trees, briefly checking on them to ensure that they weren't currently dying. Afterwords, even with as tired as he was, Sasuke began to work around the area, setting up traps in case any more ninjas tried attacking them.

With Orochimaru

The snake Sannin smirked as he moved throughout the forest. He could feel his old apprentice, Anko, moving in on his position. He considered having a brief spar with her for old time's sake. Well, spar for him and killing attempt for her. He decided against it though. For all of his chuckling and bravado, Orochimaru was actually a bit disappointed. He hadn't expected the Kunoichi brat to get in his way. No, this had definitely put him in an off mood. Suppressing his chakra, Orochimaru veered away from his old apprentice's course, heading back to his temporary hideout.

Appearing out of the earth, Orochimaru didn't even bother to acknowledge Kidomaru and Tayuya who were on barrier duty. "You seem disappointed." Called a voice, the speaker stepping into the dim light of a single burning candle. "Kabuto…" Orochimaru hissed at his second. Kabuto flinched slightly and took a step back at the wave of killing intent that Orochimaru threw his way.

"Change of plans." Orochimaru said to his assistant. "I infected one of his teammates, the pink-haired weakling."

"Why? I thought you wanted the Uchiha to be your next body." Kabuto said, curious as his master walked over to a table and idly picked up a scroll and began reading it.

"A miss." The sannin said, grimacing in disgust. "His teammate managed to leap in front of me and take the bite instead. And with the face-swapping jutsu as well as the juinjutsu… I felt Jonin moving through the forest and had to preserve my strength just in case. Is this intelligence report recent?"

"Yes, it is." Kabuto said, picking up a separate scroll and holding it out. "Also, a message from Baki. His team has already entered the tower. He also informed us that he's going to arrange for five platoons worth of sand Jonin and Chunin to show up on the day of the invasion, as well as ten platoons of Genin."

"Good, good…" Orochimaru said absently, still reading. "Hm… Change of plans Kabuto."

"Sir?" The silver-haired ninja asked uncertainly.

"We will keep the Kazekage alive. I want a scapegoat, just in case."

Kabuto was stunned. Orochimaru was always filled with a cool confidence and more than a little arrogance. Covering his trail and arranging for a scapegoat was NOT his style. "But sir… Why?"

Orochimaru stared into the distance for a bit, the intelligence scroll having already been read and burned. "I having a feeling..." The snake sannin said carefully. "That this plan won't go well. I intend to remove myself from it as far as I can. It will still have my prints, but I can't help that. Now go, inform the sound trio to attack the Uchiha immediately. I want to see his strength tested."

"Yes, sir." Kabuto said, bowing and doing as he was told.

With Sasuke

Sasuke grunted as he sat down, finally resting after all of his work. He had set up a number of traps around the area, and now he was monitoring his two teammates. Naruto seemed to just be knocked out. Sasuke was going to allow him to rest for another hour before waking him. Much as he disliked admitting it, Naruto was an unpredictable powerhouse and Sasuke had a feeling he'd need that. Sakura on the other hand…

Sakura was shivering, with beads of sweat rolling down her forehead. He put a hand on her forehead. Feverish. Sighing, Sasuke dug a cloth out of the pouch on his waist and poured some of the water onto it before placing it on her head. Smiling a bit, he gently stroked her hair. He would deny it until the end of his days, or at least until his revenge on Itachi, but he was honestly really fond of the pink-haired Kunoichi.

"Well well… Isn't that sweet…" Said a gravelly voice behind Sasuke.

Sasuke whirled around, standing in front of him were three Genin, the same ones who had accosted their group at the beginning of the first examine. Their headbands indicating that they were from Otogakure, the Village Hidden in the Sound. The one that spoke was man with a heavily bandaged head with a strange metal device on his arm. To his right was a another man, with a hairdo eerily similar to Sasuke's, with the kanji for 'death' written on his shirt. And to the left, a girl with long black hair, but no otherwise distinguishing charecteristics.

"Dosu." The bandaged man said, indicating himself. "Zaku." Dosu said, pointing to the man on his right. "And Kin." Dosu finished, pointing to the girl on his left. "Lord Orochimaru ordered us to kill you. So it is fitting that you know the name of your killers."

With no other words, Zaku lifted up his hands, showing the holed bored through either palm. "Zankūha!" Zaku shouted, a blast of air coming out of his palm and heading straight towards Sasuke. Knowing that if he dodged his unconscious teammates would take the full brunt of his attack, Sasuke instead channeled chakra to his feet and braced himself. He grunted as the ball of air crashed into him. Sasuke could hear a few of his ribs crack, but thankfully his idea of sticking himself to the ground worked, making sure he didn't go crashing into his team.

Not missing a beat, Sasuke performed a quick flurry of seals. "Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!" He shouted, taking a deep breath and releasing a fireball at the Sound team. Unfortunately, Sasuke was still tired from his fight with Orochimaru and what should have been a large fireball was instead much smaller, and also easily dodged as Dosu demonstrated, simply leaping over it.

"Not a bad jutsu twerp, but it's still not enough to catch us." Dosu said, rushing ahead at Sasuke. The Uchiha smiled, however. Dosu's visible eye widened as he saw Sasukes smirk and jumped back, but not quick enough to entirely avoid the giant stake that dropped down from the trees, a trap set off by Sasuskes "dodged" fireball.

The stake came crashing down, glancing off of Dosu's metal gauntlet, cracking it while sending him spiraling to the ground. "Impressive." Dosu grunted, picking himself up off the ground.

"What's the matter, Dosu, can't handle a half-dead twerp and his simple traps?" Zaku said, grinning as he got up from where he was sitting. "I can't believe Orochimaru-sama wanted us to fight you, you're just a pathetic bag of tricks." Zaku said, this time addressing Sasuke.

Orochimaru! Sasuke thought, grabbing a kunai and readying himself into stance. Zaku charged him, a kunai of his own held in his hand. Taking a gamble, Sasuke threw his weapon at Zaku, who blasted it away with his strange jutsu. "Gotcha!" Zaku said, lunging forward with his kunai.

CLANG!

Sasuke blinked. Standing in front of him was a girl in a pink blouse with two large buns in her hair. "Who the fuck are you?! Zaku shouted angrily, jumping back and shifting into a peculiar stance, with both of us palms open and faced outward, revealing the two air tubes in his palms.

"The name's Tenten of Team Gai!" The kunoichi said, shifting into a battle-ready pose.

Jutsu used:

Zankūha - Decapitating Airwaves

Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu - Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique