"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"
Naruto created several shadow clones and jumped into the river located inside the Forest of Death. He flailed about in the water, grabbing as many fish as possible. He then threw three fish out of the water, allowing Sasuke to catch the fish with his kunai.
"Do it again dumbass, we need to conserve food," said Sasuke. "Three fish isn't enough. Do it at least three more times."
"Shut up! This is really tiring," retorted a wet Naruto. "Why don't you try doing this?"
"Because you can't aim for crap."
"Oh you're begging for an ass kicking!"
"Sasuke-kun, it's all set up for a fire!" called Sakura. "All we need now is a Goukakyu!"
"Geez, am I the only one who can do anything around here?" wondered Sasuke aloud, just in earshot of a certain someone.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean!"
ONE FIREBALL LATER
Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke were sitting in a circle around the fire where their fish were cooking.
"It's been four afternoons since the second test started," noted Sasuke. "We entered the Forest of Death at around 2:30. So we have about 25-26 hours left.
"Many teams may have already passed by now, which means…" Sakura trailed off.
"This fish better get to cooking right now," thought Naruto. "This one here is the largest."
"This is getting really bad," thought Sasuke, looking at his earth scroll.
"You know guys, there might not be any more Heaven scrolls," said Sakura.
"What do you mean?" asked Sasuke.
"If you remember, there were 78 genin who took the test, in other words 26 teams. There were thirteen of each scroll given out, of the maximum amount of teams that could pass is thirteen. But that weird snake guy burned one of the scrolls, meaning that the potential passing teams went from thirteen to twelve. Plus eighty percent of the exam is over. If I were to make an estimate, I'd say that there are probably only two or three more teams left."
"That means that the next enemy is our last chance," noted Sasuke. He then stood up. "I'm going to get some water."
"Hey, Sakura," said Naruto after Sasuke had left. "I think there's a way to get scrolls without fighting."
Naruto unpacked his bag, revealing at least six scrolls.
"You don't mean…"
"That's exactly what I mean. I have ton's of scrolls, ninjutsu manuals, poison manual, black ones. If we change just one to look like a heaven scroll…"
"Wait, we don't know what's on the inside. When the next examiner looks in we'll be caught red-handed."
"These things usually have some sort of password that needs two parts to understand. Basically if we know the password, we get in."
"But we don't know what's written in the-"
"That's exactly why we're going to look inside it."
"You idiot! The examiner told us not to look into the scroll under any circumstances! This would make us cheaters!"
"Well this is our last option."
"… Fine but just a peek okay?"
Naruto held the scroll tightly as his and Sakura's hearts both pounded heavily. Naruto had just gotten his thumb under the fold of the scroll when a hand stopped him. The hand belonged to a young man with a silver ponytail and glasses.
"K-Kabuto-san!"
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," warned Kabuto.
It was at this exact moment that Sasuke had returned and only saw Kabuto's silhoutte. Thinking he was an enemy, Sasuke rushed to his teammates' aide. The ponytailed genin managed to block Sasuke's kick. Then, upon seeing the genin's face, Sasuke stopped his attack.
ONE EXPLANATION LATER
"What the hell were you two thinking?" berated Sasuke.
"We're sorry…"
"You could've gotten us disqualified!"
"We're sorry…"
"You guys are lucky that I showed up when I did," said Kabuto.
"We're sorry…"
"If you ignore the rules, you'll be forced into a condition of retirement from the exam. Last year they put a hypnosis jutsu in the scroll so that if you looked inside you'd be knocked out until the end of the exam."
"By the way, Kabuto, what are you doing out here alone?" inquired Sasuke.
"Well, it's not like I'm after your scroll."
"True. If you were, you could've just taken it from Naruto back then. I assume that means that you also have an Earth scroll."
"Actually, I already have both," said Kabuto, taking out the two scrolls. "I was just on my way to the tower to meet up with my teammates. And I best get going now."
"Hold up," ordered Sasuke, just as Kabuto was about to leave. "Fight me."
"Sasuke-kun!"
"Hey you jackass, Kabuto-san helped us! Ingrate!"
"Sorry, Kabuto, but we don't have any more time left. I said that the next opponent would be our last chance, and I meant it."
"You're a bad liar, Sasuke-kun," said Kabuto. "You don't want to fight me at all, otherwise you would've attacked me without asking. You're not as cold hearted as you put on."
"You're right about that, I'm not much of a cold-hearted person… but, as a ninja, there are things I don't want to do that I have to do!"
Sasuke attacked Kabuto, but the older genin blocked his punch. Sasuke then jumped back and threw a kunai at Kabuto, which was easily deflected. However, this was merely a distraction for Sasuke to get under Kabuto and kick him several feet away.
"I see, you're serious aren't you?" asked Kabuto. "This could prove a good opportunity to test his abilities."
"Sasuke, you're being a prick you know that right!"
Sasuke answered both questions with silence as he sized up his opponent-to-be.
"Very well," said Kabuto, making a series of handseals. "Doton: Moguragakure no Jutsu!"
Kabuto then disappeared underground. Sasuke looked around in order to detect his foe with little success. However, through experience from fighting Kakashi, Sasuke jumped into the air to avoid being pulled underground by Kabuto's attack. Kabuto was left wide open to a Goukakyu from Sasuke. The fireball collided with the earth, creating a large smokescreen. Sasuke landed on the ground, still on his guard in case Kabuto somehow evaded the attack.
"Damn it, Sasuke!" cursed Naruto. "You're always taking things too far!"
"Shut up, dumb-ass! I'm doing what I have to!"
"You'd best not get distracted, Sasuke-kun," said Kabuto from behind Sasuke. The ponytailed ninja's foot collided with Sasuke's back knocking him face-first onto the ground.
"You really deserved that, Sasuke," laughed Naruto.
"Shut up, Naruto," ordered Sakura. "Sasuke-kun's right about this, we don't have any other choice but to fight at this point.
"But Sakura-chan…"
"You won't be able to take my scroll at this rate," said Kabuto.
"Damn it, I didn't want to have to use this… but…" thought Sasuke, activating his Sharingan.
"So that's the famed Sharingan," thought Kabuto.
However, strange markings began to form from the odd bruise on Sasuke's neck. The raven-haired genin clutched his neck in pain.
"Sasuke-kun!" called Sakura in worry.
"Crap! Kagebunshin no Jutsu!" called Naruto, creating several clones of himself.
The Naruto clones charged at Kabuto, however the ponytailed teen was able to dispatch of each one without much effort.
"Kabuto-san has really taken the Chunin Exam seven times without passing, even with his strength?" wondered Sakura. "Just what are the Chunin Exams?"
"I can't get too serious here," thought Kabuto. "There are still other things I need to take care of."
Kabuto was distracted by his thoughts and hadn't noticed a Curse Marked Sasuke sneak up in front of him. Sasuke kicked Kabuto into the air, akin to Rock Lee's Omote Renge. He then followed up by appearing behind Kabuto, imitating his shadow.
"Kage Buyou (Dancing Leaf Shadow)?" thought Kabuto in surprise.
Sasuke then threw a kick, but Kabuto blocked the attack. However, the raven-hair used his momentum to land a backhand to Kabuto's face, causing him to fall to the ground. Sasuke then wrapped up by delivering an axe kick to Kabuto's chest, slamming him against the ground.
"Shishi Rendan (Lion Combo)!"
Kabuto was rendered immobile by the attack and Sasuke also felt the effects from the attack. Sasuke then deactivated his Sharingan, also causing his Curse Mark to recede.
"Naruto, Sakura, root through his pockets and try to find the scrolls," ordered Sasuke. "It's time we headed off to that castle."
ONE STRIP SEARCH LATER
Team 7 had left the vicinity to go off towards the goal, having retrieved the scrolls from Kabuto. Kabuto was now standing where Sasuke had "defeated" him, completely uninjured.
"Interesting, he was able to fight through the Curse Mark," he mused aloud. "Well, I should probably meet back up with the others so we can deliver the information to Orochimaru-sama."
TO BE CONTINUED…
And thus ends the first chapter of the Naruto: Winds of Change rewrite. The next chapter is likely going to be a little less action packed, but this story will be AWESOMER than before :D