The Second Test…
…Naruto's Point of view…
Standing in front of the closed gates of Practice Arena 44 or as the proctor so lovingly called it 'Forest of Death', the place where the second test was going to be held, Naruto looked completely bored as he eyed the creepy looking forest. He could clearly see that most of the chuunin hopefuls were clearly scared by the creepiness of both the forest and the proctor of this exam. Even he couldn't fault others of thinking of the forest being creepy as it did give an aura of creepiness and danger, but he certainly had an objection of others thinking of the proctor as a creepy one as her creepiness had a certain level of charm to it adding to her sexiness.
Now that looking at all the remaining competition, he felt a bit silly about his little outburst against the proctor of the first exam. That scar faced proctor was grating on his nerves as he played his little mind game against the genins before asking the tenth question. But when he had decided to confront the proctor in hopes the man would stop his mind games and get on with the final questions in hope of leaving the examination hall as soon as possible, he had no idea that his outburst would have an effect of installing courage in the hearts of others to stay put in their seats and pass the exam. A total of 30 teams along with him had passed the first part of the exam which according the second proctor was something unusual. The more the teams meant more competition which he was happy about, but at the same time he also felt a bit stupid because some of the remaining genins seemed not much of a competition and he would be responsible for some teams passing easily in the upcoming tests as the second test seemed to be some kind of survival test.
His eyes silently gauged the competition/threat a team would pose him in the upcoming tests. A few teams had already caught his attention from the beginning of the exams and some even before the exams which included the team of the Yondaime's daughter and Konoha's last loyal Uchiha, the Hyuuga boy and his team, the only team from Iwa and the team of Gaara and his siblings. Then there was Kabuto and the ninja from Kusa of whom his instincts were screaming to him to stay out of their way.
…Anko's point of view…
'I so love this…' she thought as she watched the nervous and scared faces of the genins as their eyes feasted upon the magnificent view of Training Ground 44. Though there were few among the genins who didn't seem scared, but rather seemed to her as if they were looking forward to the upcoming challenge.
As she went on explaining the rules of the second part of the exams, her eyes steadily surveyed the genins in front of her. As she had thought and told Ibiki, most of the bunch was certainly not of the chuunin caliber. But there were certainly a good crop of genins in this lot as Ibiki had told her.
Her eyes then laid on the rookie teams of Konoha which were the most hyped teams from Konoha to join this year's exam. Three of the rookie teams were the most recently graduated teams from the academy, while the last was the team of genins who passed a year before them. Even she could tell that of the four teams, a few of the genins did seem to have potential from what she had heard of them.
Next her eyes laid on the teams that the Yondaime had ordered to keep a close eye on. First was the team from Otogakure, which in her opinion was a skilled team, but whether they had the potential or not of that she wasn't certain of. Next was one of the team from Sunagakure, which not only seemed skilled, but also in her accords the team with the highest potential of all the teams she had laid her eyes on so far. Last, but not the least was the ronin who had joined the exams without the aid of any team member.
Just like any ronin who entered a ninja village, the boy was under constant surveillance to gauge whether he was a threat to Konoha or not. She too had been on the watch in the last week once and in that time the only thing that she had learned about the boy was that he had an unhealthy obsession of ramen. It was really embarrassing to report the Hokage with only that information after being on the surveillance of the boy for twelve hours. She did feel relieved when she was informed that all those on the boy's surveillance had brought back information which was similar to hers. She like many on the watch of the boy knew of the bounty the boy had on his head through the recent bingo books, but till now she had seen the boy display any skills that had put him in the bingo books. A small tick mark appeared on her forehead as her eyes lay on the said boy as his head was currently buried deep in a book.
'Wasn't it enough for the brat to wear a mask like Kakashi…? As he now as his head buried deep in a book…' she thought. Though she had nothing against the boy, but she certainly had a grudge against Kakashi as he had recently eluded her from her rightful dango which he was to purchase for her as per a bet they made.
With a practiced ease and speed only one of a jounin rank and with years of training and experience could attain, a kunai left her wrist directly towards the boy. The kunai didn't seem to deflect from its intended target and the target itself didn't seem to notice the kunai approaching him. She watched with a small hidden smirk as the kunai graced the masked right cheek of the ronin and cut enough to draw some blood. This was her chance to rile up all the participants as she with a burst of speed appeared behind the boy lightly hugging him from the back.
"So little enthusiasm…" she started speaking cupping the face of the boy with her hands and bringing her face closer to his "… It is kids like you that are quickly killed… Hehehe… spraying the red blood I love…" she said as she licked the blood on his masked face.
She was mentally getting annoyed as she didn't get the desired response from the red head as he looked completely bored at her scaring tactics. But there was some relief when her eyes swept on the other contestants to find them scared by her little fun play.
At that moment she sensed someone creep on her from behind and on instinct she activated the hidden kunai mechanism in her sleeves which shot forth a kunai in her palms and blocked the incoming attack (hopefully).
"Here's your kunai…" she heard the voice of the female who held her kunai (previously thrown) by that elongated tongue of hers.
"Why thank you", she replied in mock happiness as she pressed her kunai a little further on that disgustingly long tongue of the Kusa-nin.
She didn't know why but something about the Kusa kunoichi was sending her bad vibes, but she ignored it for the time being.
"But you know, don't sneak up behind me unless you want to die", she said as she pocketed both her kunai.
"No… I just get excited when I see red blood… plus you cut my precious hair, I couldn't help it…" she smirked at the Kusa-nins reply.
"Sorry about that", she couldn't help but say as she as a woman understood the importance of hair to a woman.
"Looks like we have a lot of blood thirsty ones in this test. Hehehe, this should be fun", she couldn't help as the words left her lips.
'And some interesting ones…' she thought as she eyed the ronin standing next to her. It was clear to her when she tried to freak the boy out with her little crazy-blood-loving act that the boy had already anticipated her attack and could have possibly dodged it if he were to try. But her interest in him roused when she saw his eyes which had turned cold and calculating when the Kusa-nin sneaked on her. There was no sign of boredom or childish enthusiasm in his eyes which she had seen far as his eyes looked at the Kusa-nin. Somehow those cold and calculating bright blue eyes made her feel like being in the presence of the Yondaime Hokage which nerved her a bit.
…Normal point of view…
The nervousness could clearly be seen written on the faces of more than half the genins who had qualified for the second round of the Chuunin Selection Exams and the proctor was making sure that the nervousness was increased ten folds. The little stunt pulled by the proctor Mitarashi Anko on the ronin Naruto and the way she cheerfully explained the rules of the test made even the non nervous genins to be a bit nervous.
The second round were self explanatory as one just had to acquire either the heaven scroll or earth scroll considering which they had in possession and gather at the tower in the middle of training area 44. It was a survival test which was going to last for the maximum of five days. The things that made the test complicated was that no one knew of who carried which scroll making all teams each other's enemies. This along with some rules and the proctor's speech made some wish they had not participated in the exams.
After receiving one of the scrolls, all team had headed to the gates which were assigned to them from which they would enter the training area.
…With Naruto…
Currently he was standing in front of gate 30 with the scroll placed in the utility pouch. He knew well enough that he would be a major target of most of the teams inside the forest as they would hunt/scout the other teams for the second scroll considering his team consisted of him alone. Though there would be some doubt in some teams considering that they had learned of him being in the bingo book of Sunagakure.
His eyes then went onto the watch on his hand to find that only a few seconds remained for the second round of the exams to begin. He watched as the chuunin in front of the gate bought out the key of the lock which had the door shackled signifying that his wristwatch was on time. Just as his wristwatch indicated the time to be 3:30 pm, the voice of the proctor Anko roared from the speaker at the gate.
"THE SECOND TEST OF THE CHUUNIN EXAMS… NOW BEGINS!"
The moment the gates opened, he sped inside the forest leaping from one tree to another. After a few minutes of hoping from one tree to another, he stopped in a clearing after he felt that he had travelled a good distance away from the gate.
His first priority at this point was to ascertain the locations of the other teams and if possible their plans and the scroll they carried on them. For that he would need to go scout each of the 30 teams in the exams which was a very difficult task, but for him it wasn't. Scouting and information gathering was one of his specialty… one of his favorite jutsu was the Kage Bunshin no jutsu and the variations of the jutsu that the Old Man had helped him create… of the variations his Fūton Kage Bunshin no jutsu (Wind Release: Shadow Clone) was the most perfect jutsu for scouting and information gathering purposes… it was this very jutsu that had helped him advance through the First Round of the Exam… the Fūton Kage Bunshin had the ability to blend in the surrounding or rather the surrounding making it impossible to detect and only the best sensors could plot it…
Taking a deep breath all the while as his hands moved through the required hand seals for the Fūton Kage Bunshin no jutsu… as he finished with the hand seals, he blew huge amount of chakra infused air from his mouth which gathered around and formed clones of him… eight solid clones of him were formed… and with them being his doppelgangers and knowing his plan, moved into play with each taking one of the eight directions.
Now that the clones of him were on their job, Naruto decided to use his sensory abilities to find a couple of teams for him to go against… he just hoped the teams he would find would have the scroll he required… confronting team after team and depend on his luck that he would get the required scroll at the earliest was something he didn't wish to… but at the same time didn't mind kicking as much as ass as he could… after all he declared so before the start of the First Round.
But before he could make his way towards the closest team he had sensed, he was surrounded by enemies by all four sides… and this weren't the genins participating in the exams… rather this were tigers around 15 to 20 feet in height… the residents of the forest and by their look it seemed that he had walked into their territory… and they certainly didn't like him being there… just his luck to get him in such sticky situations.
"This is not something I was expecting…" muttered Naruto as he stared directly into the eyes of the tiger which seemed to be the leader of the four… there seemed to be no way out of this other than carving his way out.
Unsealing the chokutō (similar to that of Uchiha Sasuke uses with red scabbard and matching handle with the symbol of the Uzumaki Clan on both the scabbard and the handle) he kept sealed on his right wrist… letting his chakra flow through the blade to make it more effective, he was ready to fight.
It seemed that the tigers understood his gesture as the smallest of the group sprung upon with its sharp claws and teeth ready to tear him apart.
…With Ran…
She and her team had entered the Training Area 44 through gate 12 and had covered a good amount of ground before encountering a ninja from other qualified teams. The ninja she and her teammates had faced was from one of the teams of Amegakure. It seemed to her that the masked ninja they face had separated from his team in order to scout potential opponents from whom his team could easily take their scroll and seeing that her team was a rookie, the masked ninja had taken his chance and failed miserably.
Sasuke with a little help from her had easily defeated the Ame-nin. But because of his quick attack they had failed to capture the masked-nin as he fled from the scene at the quickest moment possible after an injury to his left arm. She really wanted to claw the Uchiha for his arrogance because if he hadn't rushed into the attack, they could have captured the masked-nin and if luck was on their side they would have had the Earth scroll.
She didn't know what gave the Uchiha the idea, but he suddenly started acting as if he was the leader of their squad. She wanted to object, but decided to against knowing well enough that Sakura would support him blindly and she didn't want to argue with her teammates for as long as they were in the forest.
But before the team could make any decision on the tactics they would implement to find the Earth scroll, they were attacked. A huge and powerful gust of wind swept the three teammates of Team 7 in three different directions.
By the time she regained herself from the gust of wind, she could easily tell that the three of them had completely separated from each other. It was clear to her that this was an enemy-nin idea of dividing the team as she was certain that the gust of wind was a Fuuton jutsu. But she didn't have any time to think about her teammates when she found a huge shadow above her which happened to be a gigantic snake.
'Are there really these big snakes in this forest…' though Ran with fear evident in her eyes.
She didn't have much time to think as the snake charged at her with its jaws wide open. She avoided the strike by jumping away. She kept on jumping until she was certain that she would be out of the striking area of the snake until she prepared her counter-attack. She watched as the snake slithered close to her as she removed some kunai from her pouch and attached exploding tags to them.
The kunai found their target after leaving the hands of Ran and exploded right on the face of the snake. At first she thought that the explosion might be enough to take down the snake, but her father's words rang in her mind. Always expect the unexpected. So she quickly created a couple of Kage Bunshins as they too prepared some kunais which had exploding tags attached to them.
And true to her dad's words, even before the smoke cleared the snake attacked again as its tail grabbed one of her clones. But this time she was ready for the snake. The moment the snake opened its jaw to swallow the clone it had grabbed in its tail, she and the remaining clone threw the kunais directly in its open mouth. And with a big bang the head of the snake was blasted into smithereens.
She decided to not wait any longer and rushed to search for her teammates before a predator like the snake found her.
If only she had waited for even a few seconds, she could have seen the body of the snake disappear in a cloud of smoke similar to summoning animals which would have given her the idea of the danger up ahead.
…With Naruto…
It was now just down to Naruto and the leader of the group of the tigers as the others were already unconscious with cuts on their bodies… though none of the damage he had inflicted on them was life threatening. Throughout the fight, Naruto had also not left unharmed as he now had a large slash across the length of his left arm. Meanwhile the leader of the tigers had a vertical scar on the left side of his face (similar to Kakashi's scar) and a rather big wound on his right front leg.
The fight between the two had long since stopped since the defeat of the other tigers… the surrounding seemed to have seen better days… the destruction was one worthy site with trees uprooted and holes in the ground… and now in the clearing only stood Naruto and the leader of the tigers… and both of them just kept staring at each other waiting for the right moment to attack.
The moment of their final exchange was drawn with the last of the tigers excluding the leader fell unconscious… with that the leader gave a menacing roar and charged at him. Naruto too charged at the tiger with his chokutō outstretched he let lightning chakra flow through the blade as lightning seemed to crackle of it.
It was at the very last moment that Naruto dodged the claw strike from the leader at the very last moment and slashed the right side of the tiger with the lightning chakra enhanced blade. That slash along with numbing effect of lightning seemed to be enough as the leader dropped down with a large howl and lost the battle to consciousness.
Naruto breathed a huge sigh of relief as finally the fight was over… it really was troublesome to go against ten tigers at once that were around 15 to 20 feet in height. Sealing the chokutō back in its seal his mind pondered on the situation… somehow the tigers seemed more skilful for normal tigers… taking their height into consideration and that they lived in a forest where ninjas come to train… something he just couldn't understand. Then there was the part where he could have used another way to get out of this fight unscathed… but for some reason his guts refused to do so… using that method would had been so much easier… yet he went along with his gut feeling and fought the tigers in a fight for superiority… it was stupid of him he knew, but his gut feeling him never wrong till date, so he had went along with it.
Deciding to ponder on that a little later he worked on healing the large cut on his left arm with medical ninjutsu… and being skilled in that area it didn't take more than a couple of seconds for his wound to heal… he had no intention of fighting other team in the competition or another predator with a injured arm.
But before he could leave the clearing and walk on his path to the nearest team he felt another presence approaching him from the woods and whatever it was… it certainly wasn't human… it seemed to be moving at a relaxed pace. Unsealing the Chakra Blade once more he got ready to fight as Lightning chakra flowed through the blade.
To his utter surprise from the woods walked out a very old looking white tiger waling only on his hind legs holding a staff in one of his front legs. The tiger stood about four feet in height and a dark yellow cloak draped over his body.
'What in the world…?' Naruto couldn't help but think out loud.
"You are certainly an interesting cub…" spoke the old white tiger.
…With Ran…
By the time she arrived at the place where her other two teammates were, she wished she was a bit early or at the least a few seconds late. The reason for this was a sight in front of her. She watched in disgust as the Kusa-nin from earlier had somehow elongated his neck and his jaws were currently on the neck of Sasuke as it bit him on the neck. She didn't know what the Kusa-nin intended to do by biting on the neck of Sasuke, but it certainly was causing the Uchiha a hell lot of pain as she saw him trash around holding his neck.
"So the daughter of the Yondaime Hokage finally arrives… so that means you were able to defeat my pet snake…" said the Kusa-nin as she now focused on Ran.
'Pet snake…' thought Ran while she jumped down to stand in front of Sasuke and Sakura (who was hugging him to make him stop from writhing around in pain).
"I must say I am impressed… to defeat my summons so quickly… you truly are your parent's child, Ran-chan", continued the Kusa-nin with a small glee in her voice.
'Summon…' "You, what did you do to Sasuke?" asked Ran as anger started to boil in her. Even though she hated the Uchiha for his arrogance and cockiness, they were still teammates.
"I just intend to give him a little present. Something which will make him seek me for power", replied the Kusa-nin.
"What in the world are you talking about?" Ran shouted seeing the sadistic grin on the Kusa-nin's face.
"That aside… At first I had no intention of confronting you as my only target was Sasuke-kun, but now that you are here… how about you show me what the daughter of the Yondaime is capable of", said the Kusa-nin with a very terrifying grin on her face.
She knew that there was no escaping this situation, especially seeing the condition of Sasuke and knowing that Sakura was not going to be of any use as she seemed more concerned about Sasuke as it was now onto her to save them from this situation.
Forming the specific hand seal required for one of her most useful jutsu, five identical clones of her popped into existence next to her as she called out, "Kage Bunshin no jutsu."
The fight started the moment as her clones charged at the Kusa-nin with a kunai in each hand. Even at their best it was clear that the five clones were no match for the Kusa-nin as Ran watched her dodge and parry each of her clones strikes and slashes with relative ease. It was as if the Kusa-nin was playing with her which frustrated her to no extent. Attaching special sealing tags she had created to four different kunais, she too charged in the fray.
Throughout the fight which had gone for about couple of minutes, she and her clones had only been able to hurt the Kusa-nin a few times and that too couldn't be considered serious enough to damper his dodging skills. Luckily for her the Kusa-nin didn't seem much obliged on offence which helped her to execute the plan she had in mind.
She jumped back to attain some distance between herself and the Kusa-nin as her hand quickly formed the hand seals required for the jutsu. While performing the hand seals she molded as much as chakra she could into the required nature of the jutsu. Finally finishing the hand seals, she brought her fingers of her right hand to her lips in an half Ram hand seal as water gushed from her mouth like a waterfall making its way towards the Kusa-nin as she used the Suiton: Mizurappa (Water Release: Wild Water Wave) jutsu.
As the torrent of water made its way towards the Kusa-nin who by now had already defeated four out of her five clones, she formed a half Ram hand seal with her free left hand activating the tags on the four kunais which were now placed in four different directions with the Kusa-nin as its centre. The tags on the kunais glowed and started releasing lightning as the Kekkai Shihō Raijin (Four-Corner Lightning Formation Barrier) was activated binding and zapping the unsuspecting Kusa-nin and destroying the clone.
Ran watched as the Kusa-nin released a loud scream as the water from the Suiton: Mizurappa (Water Release: Wild Water Wave) connected with him increasing the shock form the Kekkai Shihō Raijin (Four-Corner Lightning Formation Barrier). This was her strongest combo she had worked out recently and she didn't think she would need it so early. But for some reason just watching the Kusa kunoichi sent shivers down her spine that she decided that she decided to use every best possible jutsu she could use at the moment to defeat or at least stall the kunoichi.
"Kukuku… Impressive… to be able to pull off such a deadly combo… truly impressive…" the Kusa-nin said as she walked out of the combo jutsu nearly unscathed.
Ran couldn't believe her eyes, this was her best combo and yet the Kusa-nin had brushed it off as if it was nothing. The only sign that the Kusa-nin was under any attack was that the skin of her face was being peeled off as if it was a mask. This put her on the edge. She knew she had to keep attacking in hope that she might defeat or at least make a way for her and her teammates to rush out of this situation. Speaking of teammates, Sasuke was still writhing in pain while Sakura was busy trying to comfort the boy. It really irritated her seeing Sakura as she thought that she should help her find a way for them to escape this crisis rather than sit there idly holding Sasuke.
Leaving the anger at Sakura aside, she charged at the Kusa-nin. She quickly flicked a handful of kunai to whom exploding tags were attached before jumping high above the ground as her hands started forming hand seals for another jutsu which would be more effective from high ground. But before she could complete her jutsu, she watched in horror as the Kusa-nin use the Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Technique) to summon a very large snake. It didn't take her much to recognize the ninja she was facing as there were only two people she knew were capable of summoning snakes in a battle. So the person in front of her would either be a new student of the Sannin Orochimaru or Orochimaru himself.
Unfortunately for her, her train of thoughts stopped there as the tail of the snake hit her directly sending her higher above where her back collided with few branches making blood splutter out of her mouth before gravity brought her down back.
"Hehehe… Go ahead and eat her", Orochimaru commanded the snake as he watched the girl barrel downwards.
On her way down seeing her death approaching by means of being eaten by the snake, Ran subconsciously tapped into the Kyuubi chakra as her eyes turned red with slits, her whiskers darkened and nails grew longer.
"Eat this!" Ran shouted as she punched the snake in the face completely shaking its base.
But before she could touch the ground, she was blasted by what seemed to her to be a Fuuton- Katon (Wind Release- Fire Release) combo. Again before she could steady herself, she was captured by the long tongue of the Kusa-nin and was brought face-to-face with the Kusa-nin.
"I see… when your emotions are heightened… the power of the Kyuubi overflows… very interesting…" she heard the Kusa-nin say as he formed a unique hand seal and his tongue lifted her kimono-like blouse enough for him to see the seal on her stomach.
"Oh my… the seal is visible…" she heard him say as his eyes lay on her seal.
Ran watched in horror as the Kusa-nin slammed his fingers of his right hand which were glowing with purple chakra directly on her seal. Just seconds later after the Kusa-nin placed the unknown seal on her seal as she lost her battle against consciousness.
…With Sakura…
Things looked good for her and her team since they had entered the forest as the first person they faced was defeated with ease by Sasuke-kun. Seeing the ease with which Sasuke-kun had defeated the Ame-nin, her mind had already made up an image of her and her team breezing the second test with ease. But just moments later everything had gone downhill when her team was hit by a powerful gust.
At this moment she would sincerely accept after seeing Ran selflessly fight for the team against the Kusa-nin for the team that she didn't even think of searching for her after being separated from her team by the powerful gust. She had only sought for Sasuke at that moment and only after reuniting with Sasuke did she remember of Ran because of Sasuke.
But before the two could search for her, the Kusa-nin had appeared in front of them with her eyes set on Sasuke. Only one look by the Kusa-nin, both she and Sasuke were gripped with fear to their core. For the first time she had seen death and it was only by looking into the Kusa-nin's eyes. She couldn't even react to save Sasuke when the Kusa-nin attacked him and bit down him on his neck. She only could helplessly try to calm the Sasuke who was writhing in pain while Ran fight of the Kusa-nin who had arrived just seconds after the Kusa-nin bit down Sasuke's neck.
Now not only Sasuke, but even Ran was incapacitated. It was really lucky on her part that she was able to act at the last moment when she saw the Kusa-nin throw Ran high above in the air. She flicked a kunai which caught her in midair saving her from a fate from dying from falling from high above.
"Who are you?" she couldn't help but ask the freakish Kusa-nin who seemed to be doing some fixing with her/his peeled of face.
"My name is Orochimaru… If you want to see me again, then survive and pass this exam… of course, defeating my men, the Oto-nin trio on the way", she heard his reply, though it caught her attention that he seemed to be mostly speaking to Sasuke who albeit the pain was still somehow conscious.
"What the hell are you talking about? We'd never want to see your face again!" Sakura shouted finding her voice.
"Hehe… it won't go that way…" she heard the Kusa-nin say as he/she made a hand seal which she was not familiar with.
She watched in horror as the moment the Kusa-nin formed the weird hand seal, Sasuke cried out in agony and started trashing around as if his pain was increased ten folds. Albeit all this, she didn't miss the formation of some sort of a tattoo-seal on Sasuke's neck where moments ago the Kusa-nin had bit.
"Sasuke-kun will seek me… to seek power…" she heard the Kusa-nin say.
"What did you do to Sasuke-kun?" she shouted at the Kusa-nin who seemed to be being engulfed by the ground.
"Just as I said to Ran-chan, I gave him a present", answered the Kusa-nin as he was devoured by the ground.
…With Naruto…
Not even a day had passed since the start of the Chuunin Selection Exams and Naruto had already received something only a few ninjas throughout the Elemental Nations could say of having. He just couldn't believe his luck as he had unknowingly stumbled upon something so precious. A really big smile plastered his face remembering the encounter with the old white tiger.
Just an hour after he had left the side of the Old White Tiger, he had come across a team from Takigakure no Sato. To say he was disappointed with that encounter was an understatement, he was royally pissed. Those idiots had gone far as to taunt him of how lowly shinobi he was and that him being in the bingo books was nothing but a fluke. It only took him a minute for take them down after the three had attacked him with the best jutsu they possibly could use, those jutsus were hardly at genin level. It was only his happy mood and them having the Earth scroll that he wanted that he left them unconscious with hardly any severe injuries to boot.
Now that he made his way towards the tower in the centre of the forest as he took his sweet, calm time that he felt a familiar chakra signature close by. His body stiffened as he felt that evil and tainted chakra that he had once sensed a couple of months back when he had been visited by one of Orochimaru's most loyal lackey. Though the feel of the tainted chakra was nowhere close to that of Kimimaro, still he knew it was better for him to investigate on the source of that tainted chakra. Focusing for a couple of seconds with his eyes closed as he expanded his senses to find the exact location of the one emitting that tainted chakra. The moment he found the exact location, with a burst of chakra to his feet he dashed in the direction where he located the ninja with Orochimaru's Juinjutsu (Cursed Seal Technique).
Finally arriving at the place, he saw a sight which shocked and to some extent disgusted him. There he was, Uchiha Sasuke breaking the arms of one the Oto-nins with more than half his body covered in the markings of Orochimaru's Juinjutsu (Cursed Seal Technique). It was clear that the boy was relishing the moment he snapped the arms of the Oto-nin and above all seemed to be relishing in the power that the curse mark was granting him.
Before he could decide whether he should interfere and stop the Uchiha, he watched with slack jaw as the pink haired girl hug him from behind begging him to stop and to his utter amusement the seal receded back. It made him conclude that there was still hope to save the Uchiha. But the interference of the pink haired girl made him look around to find that there were actually four teams in the clearing of which two genins were unconscious. He focused on sensing the chakra of the unconscious genins and found that there seemed nothing wrong with the boy in green jumpsuit, but the flow of the chakra in the blonde girl seemed to be in a mess. His focus was disrupted when he heard the pink haired girl scream a question at the Oto-mummy-nin and mentioned the name of Orochimaru.
'So Orochimaru is indeed here…' he thought as he watched the Oto-tri leave and couldn't help but be worried with the news he had received before deciding to enter the Chuunin Selection Exam.
As he watched the girl with Chinese-style buns hairdo on either side of her head attend to her unconscious green jumpsuit teammate and the blonde in purple attend the unconscious blonde, he wondered whether should he wait a little longer or leave now before his presence was known or make his presence known.
…With everyone…
Sasuke mind was completely clouded as he just couldn't figure what the hell had happened when he fought the Oto-nin. He knew that he was responsible for the defeat of the Oto-trio, but just how he couldn't fathom. While he fought the Oto-nin, he had felt a power which was not his coursing through his body and that was the puzzle he couldn't put in piece to. Where had he received that power? Suddenly he remembered the words of the fake Kusa-nin and his eyes drifted to the seal-tattoo on his neck. 'Was that the source of that power?' he wondered.
Yamanaka Ino didn't understand as to what make of the situation. She along with her teammates had come along to help Sakura after Chouji pointing out that she was in a peril and that Ran and Sasuke were unconscious. She along with Shikamaru and Chouji had confronted the Oto-trio before they dealt some serious damage to Sakura, but even their team combo had failed. Then Sasuke had entered the fight with his weird black marks on his body and weirder chakra and with ease defeated one of the Oto-nin and scared the shit out of the other. It was only timely intervention of Sakura that stopped Sasuke from going on a rampage, though she hated how she had taken the chance to hug Sasuke. Now she had taken on herself to wake up Ran. This was what had scared her the most as she saw the unconscious figure of Ran. She had known her since childhood and knew that there were hardly any things that could render the girl unconscious, especially during something so important. And to know that there was someone who was able to that to not only Sasuke, but Ran too really scared her. She gently nudged the sleeping blonde as she had long since learned the way to wake up the other blonde during their childhood stay at each other's home.
"Ino! What are you doing here?" Ran asked the moment she woke up anticipating the Kusa-nin close by, but to come fact-to-face with the blonde hair and green eyes of her childhood friend Ino.
"Me and my team and Tenten's team were here to save you guys", answered Ino.
"Save us…" muttered Ran as her eyes swept around the clearing and through to Ino's words, both Ino and Tenten's team were present. While her eyes swept across the field, she didn't miss the injuries of Rock Lee and Sakura and also Sakura's short hair.
"What in the world happened while I was unconscious?" Ran asked out loud catching the attention of Sakura.
The glare Ran shot her when she was unwilling to speak made Sakura speak like a parrot. She told Ran everything that had transpired from the time she had been rendered unconscious by the Kusa-nin who called himself Orochimaru not noticing the widening of Ran's eyes. As she recounted the events to Ran, she omitted the part of Sasuke receiving the curse mark as she saw the look in Sasuke's eyes. (Same events took place as in canon Naruto.)
A lot of things had happened since she had been rendered unconscious that Ran could understand, but to know that the Kusa-nin she fought was Orochimaru shocked her. She had thought of that possibility when she saw the Kusa-nin summon the snake, but to know it was really him was a completely different matter. She knew that Orochimaru is considered the biggest threat to Konoha and she knew that she had to go and inform her dad about him being here, but at the same time she just couldn't leave this Exams as she also a knew a lot rid on this particular exam. All that matters aside, she decided to concentrate on the exam and her team's current situation as she was certain that somehow that her dad would come to know of it. The first being that she had to thank Ino and Tenten's team, especially Lee (who had been woken up by Tenten), Ino, Chouji and Shikamaru for helping her team in their crisis. But before she could thank them, she felt a presence hiding in the nearby trees. Deciding to not take any chances she flicked the kunai in the direction of the place she felt someone hiding.
Ran's flicking a kunai towards the trees caught the eyes of few of the genins present there, but the resounding boom from the kunai got everyone's attention as they looked at the source of the explosion.
"Say, by any chance you like explosions, because most shinobis would flick a handful of kunai and shuriken at an hiding target rather than flicking a kunai with an exploding tag attached to it", Ran heard a familiar voice she had recently heard from behind her.
'When did he…?' was the thought of all the genins present there as they watched the bright red head boy with blue mask appear behind Ran.
'Yet again I couldn't sense him…' thought Sasuke with a frown on his face. He wanted to go attack the boy, but couldn't as his body did not respond to his mental command.
'I couldn't even sense him…' thought Hyuuga Neji with a frown similar to that of the Uchiha. For now he decided to wait and watch what the boy was capable of as he was certain that Namikaze would attack him.
Ran decided not to wait for answers as she quickly brought out a kunai from her pouch and went for a slash at the ronin behind her. But to her surprise he blocked her kunai with his own with relative ease and easily overpowered her.
"Now guys, I have no intention of fighting any of you", said Naruto as he watched almost everyone ready to attack him.
"Then why are you here?" asked Ino who was closest to Ran and him.
"Oh, simple really! I sensed the tainted chakra released when the Uchiha went berserk and decided to come and investigate", answered Naruto as his eyes laid on the Uchiha causing the eyes of the others to widen.
"Lies… I bet you are here for our scroll…" Sakura shouted at Naruto as she wanted to completely deny his accusations of Sasuke posing tainted chakra.
"You know I am not lying (looking at Sakura)… apart from her (pointing at Ran), you all saw the Uchiha use it…and as for the scroll, I already have both", replied Naruto as he fiercely gazed at Sakura making her flinch.
The news of him having both the scrolls everyone's attention, but it dwarfed at his mention of them seeing the use of the tainted chakra by the Uchiha. It was true; they had all seen it except Ran.
"How about as a show of good faith, I help your team…" said Naruto startling everyone.
"Your chakra it is all messed up isn't it?" asked Naruto directly looking at Ran to the surprise of everyone.
"How did you…?" muttered Ran in a low voice which only Naruto could hear. She had felt it from the moment she had awakened that the flow of chakra in her chakra coils was all messed up and only because of her huge chakra reserve was she able to still access her chakra.
"Sensory-nin…" Naruto answered simply.
"I see…" muttered Ran.
"So how do you intend to help us?" asked Ran as she relaxed a bit yet being on guard.
"If I am not mistaken, the disturbance in your chakra flow must be because of some seal that Orochimaru placed on you during your teams encounter with him", answered Naruto with a serious look on his face.
Ran was stunned, as the boy had with such ease depicted the cause of the disturbance in her chakra flow. Normally she would have been on guard on someone who knew so much, especially if the person was not on the scene, but the look in his eyes it reminded her so much of her dad when he was serious while he fought for something precious to him that it made her relax.
"Yes", she replied.
"Can I see it?" asked Naruto.
Ran knew that she shouldn't be doing this, but she was doing it. She knew she shouldn't trust a complete stranger, but she was. She lifted her blouse exposing her stomach to the bright red haired boy in front of her, enough for him to see the seal that Orochimaru placed on her. She then started molding her chakra for making the seal visible. She knew by doing this she was also exposing the Hakke no Fuuin (Eight Trigrams Seal) that was keeping the Kyuubi no Youko (Nine-Tailed Demon Fox) at bay. A small blush crept on her face as she watched Naruto stare at the stomach (seal) with intense concentration.
"Beautiful…" the word subconsciously left Naruto's mouth.
"W-What!" stuttered Ran as he heard the word that left Naruto's lips as her face started heating up with more intensity.
On the side, all the genins were dumbfounded, especially those who were friends with Ran, to see her act the way she was currently and especially the blush on her face, they were having a mental breakdown.
Oblivious to world around him, Naruto kept on analyzing Ran's seal, "No wonder… to be able to combine two Shishō Fuuin (Four Symbols Seal) and forming a stronger and more potent seal… the Yondaime Hokage truly is one of the greatest Seal Masters to grace the shinobi world…"
The entire blush on Ran's face vanished in a second and her face heated up in annoyance as a tick mark appeared on her forehead as she heard him speak about the Hakke no Fuuin (Eight Trigrams Seal) as if it was his long lost lover. Meanwhile the others face faulted at what they heard him say as none had much knowledge on Fuuinjutsu.
Still oblivious to the people around him, Naruto continued speaking "… And on top of it… the Gogyō Fuuin (Five Elements Seal)… it must be placed by Orochimaru… an even and odd sealing methods on top of each other… no wonder your chakra is a mess…"
Directly looking into the eyes of Ran, startling her, he formed a specialized hand seal as he said with a serious voice, "Brace yourself."
"What do you…?" Ran couldn't complete her question as she watched Naruto's finger glow with blue chakra and different characters appearing on his fingers similar to Orochimaru. Before she could ask what he intended to do, he slammed his fingers on her stomach and she understood why he had ordered her to brace herself as the moment he had slammed his fingers into her stomach she felt as if hit by a one of mom's punch. Kushina had one hell of a right hook.
"What did you do to Ran?" asked Ino as looked at the kneeling form of Ran as she held her stomach as if in great pain. Even though her friendship with Ran had not been similar to that when they were children since she didn't approve of her stupidly idolizing the Uchiha, she was still her friend. She just like the others got into a fighting stance to fight the ronin if it would come to it.
Completely disregarding the others who had taken a fighting stance, Naruto held out his hand for Ran who took it and stood up. "I believe your problem should be solved", Naruto said.
"Yes…" answered Ran as she could feel her chakra flow and control back to the way it was before the fight with Orochimaru.
"What did you do?" Ran couldn't help but ask.
"Oh… I just used a counter seal Gogyō Kaiin (Five Elements Unseal) which removed the Gogyō Fuuin (Five Elements Seal) Orochimaru placed over you", answered Naruto.
"Thanks", Ran replied with utmost sincerity. But on the inside she was awed at his skills at Fuuinjutsu as she had heard of the Gogyō Fuuin (Five Elements Seal) and Gogyō Kaiin (Five Elements Unseal) and it required great skill to use those jutsus. And as far as she knew, only her parents, Ero-jii-san, Tsunade-baa-chan and Sandaime-O-jii-san were capable of using the two jutsus.
"How about this… as thanks the two of us could hitch a date when we get a break from the exams", said Naruto to the shock of everyone present.
Ran was completely dumbfounded. The first time he had asked her out or rather one of the three (Hinata, Ino and her) on a date, she knew it was to aggravate Temari. But this time there was no such thing as he was actually asking her out on a date. Being the daughter of the Yondaime Hokage no boy had tried to hit on her and even then she had no interest in the boys around her age she had known so far, but so couldn't be said about Naruto. The boy had been on her mind since the day she had seen him and had developed a little interest in him.
Seeing no response been given for a couple of minutes Naruto spoke in a dejected tone, "Well it seems a no…"
'No, it is not a NO, it is a YES… SPEAK UP YOU IDIOT…' Ran berated herself but no voice left her mouth.
The dejected Naruto didn't last longer as he perked up and directly facing Ino, Sakura and Tenten and said, "Since she is a no (pointing at Ran)… how about one of you?"
The girls were surprised at this person standing in front of him asking them on a date after being hopefully rejected by Ran. But before any of the three could reject him, though hesitantly, they all felt a very terrifying aura behind the blonde which was being emanated by Ran.
"It just like that girl Temari said, you are a FLIRT!" Ran cried out as she tried to punch the blonde who easily dodged her enraged punch.
Dodging, avoiding and parrying Ran's onslaught of punches Naruto said, "I disagree… I am no flirt… it is just that I can't decide on a single girl with so many beautiful girls around."
That answer stopped Ran in her track enough for Naruto to escape her proximity and stand at a length which would certain his escape. Meanwhile all the girls in the clearing had a blush on their face at the words of Naruto. As for the boys, Shikamaru, Chouji and Lee were enjoying popcorn which the chubby Akimichi brought out of nowhere and Sasuke and Neji didn't seem to care.
"Your accusations aside (looking at Ran who had a tick mark on her forehead)… I can help the Uchiha by sealing away the curse mark, but it will take some time and render him unconscious for a couple of days… but because of this test we don't have that much time, so take him to your sensei the minute this test ends" said Naruto with a serious look on his face which left no room for any reply.
"Serious talk's aside… the offer still is valid for all four of you…" Naruto said with a huge grin behind the mask.
"See you guys at the tower", Naruto called out as he watched Ran burn with anger and dashed towards the direction of the tower.
"That…. that… Flirt…" Ran muttered in anger as she watched the red head disappear.
"You had decided to agree to go on a date with him, hadn't you?" Ino whispered into her ears for only her to hear.
"Indeed I did", Ran said out loud.
The snickering of Ino brought her back to the right state of mind as she understood what she had just blurted out and she went on damage control as she said, "I mean that I was going to pound him for his flirting."
"But you aren't denying to what I asked to you", replied Ino as her giggles increased.
"It's nothing like that", shouted Ran.
"You can't fool me Ran", said Ino.
Meanwhile at the sidelines the trio of Lee, Chouji and Shikamaru were enjoying the show that was taking place in front of them. The fight of words between Ino and Ran was getting more interesting and at some point Tenten and Sakura had joined sides with Ino too.
"This is better than any show I have ever watched", said Chouji munching down handful of popcorn.
"Their flames of youth are burning with the intensity of the sun", Lee added his penny of thought.
"Troublesome… are lives were already enough troublesome… but with that boy's intrusion it will be more troublesome then ever", said Shikamaru as he watched the argument heat up with Ino deciding that she wouldn't mind dating the red head.
…With Naruto…
In less than an hour after separating from the group Naruto arrived at the tower in the centre of forest. He with a small disappointed look on his walked inside the room which seemed to be assigned for him which when entered was completely empty. He had thought that there would be get to see the violet haired proctor wearing the mesh body suit that showed her form perfectly after arriving at the tower, but it was just his thought after all.
Inside the empty room, the big scroll that was attached on the wall directly opposite from the entrance door caught his attention. It was not exactly the scroll, but what was written on it was what garnered his interests.
If you lack HEAVEN, seek wisdom, be prepared. If you lack EARTH, run in the fields, seek advantage. And if you HEAVEN and EARTH, you can succeed in even the most dangerous mission. These rules will guide a - extreme.
It only took a glance at the scroll for him to understand that this had something to do with the two scrolls as the words Heaven and Earth were highlighted on that large scroll. It seemed to him that he was supposed to open the two scrolls. Bringing out the scroll, in one swift motion he unfurled the scrolls. But the moment he opened the scroll, his eyes widen at the seal for a teleportation jutsu inscribed on the two scrolls with the kanji for person at the seals centre. Quickly placing the two scrolls on the ground, he quickly jumped back forming some distance between him and the scrolls.
With a small bang and a lot of smoke, a person stood where Naruto had placed the two scrolls. When the smoke cleared, Naruto's eyes lay on one of the most beautiful women he had seen in his entire life. She was wearing the standard Konohagakure jounin outfit. But what caught his major attention was her bright red hair whose shade was similar to his.
Now that he thought about it clearly, he seemed to remember her from somewhere as his mind took a look at her smiling face. Then it came to him that he had seen her when he had peeked upon the onsen here at Konohagakure on his first day here, the woman in front of him was there at the bath house. Yes, that's where he had seen her. But something inside him was telling him that was not the only time which he just shrugged of considering he would remember someone as beautiful as this woman if he had seen her before.
He was a pervert, which he would admit. It was the fault of the old man. He had from a young age thought him to appreciate the art, whether manmade or created by nature and according to him women/girls were the most precious and beautiful creation of nature. Also introducing him to the world of Icha-Icha was another step towards sending him joining the world of perverts. Though he had learned how to control his inner pervert self unlike the old man or Jiraya.
But for some unknown reason there was not even a hint of perverseness in his thoughts as he looked at the woman in front of her. Now that he thought about it, it was similar during the bath house incident. At that time instead of staring at the curves of the woman, he kept on staring at her face as if searching for something. Heck, he even felt a bit nervous when she had asked him a simple question. He just chalked it to be because of the age gap, which he knew was just his idea of answering his questions and feelings which had no answers and no meaning. The feeling of warmth that was filling his heart seeing the woman smile at him just had no meaning to it or to simply put it, he didn't understand why.
Though to all his thoughts he completely missed the torrents of emotions run through the violet orbs of the Kushina at seeing him. Somehow Kushina was able to keep the outer façade of calm and gentle while on the inside she was holding herself back from holding the boy in her arms.
"Not that I mind company, but you wouldn't happen to be on some sort of congratulatory committee for the genin teams who pass this round", said Naruto breaking the silence between the two.
Kushina was quite astounded by Naruto's perceptiveness, though she couldn't help but a small laughter left her lips at the sarcasm that dripped his words even after they were meant for their brilliant idea of surprising the genins.
"Yes… Yes I am", Kushina replied still giggles escaping her lips.
Even Naruto couldn't help it as a small smile graced his lips as he heard the woman laugh; it somehow made him happy too.
"So… ehh…" Naruto said unsure about what next.
"Yes… right…" Kushina scratched the back of her head in embarrassment as she had completely forgotten the reason she was here "… Congratulations are in order of you passing the test within 24 hours Naruto-kun…" she saw him stiffen a bit at her using his name "… You don't mind me calling you Naruto-kun, do you?"
"N-No… No, it is fine… ehh…" replied Naruto though he felt strangely happy.
"Oh right… My name is Uzumaki-Namikaze Kushina", she replied and was not the surprised to see his eyes widen.
"Akai Chishio no Habanero (Red Hot-Blooded Habanero)!" Naruto muttered as he looked at the woman in awe. He had heard of her from the old man and also knew that she was one of the strongest and most feared kunoichi of all times.
This did surprise Kushina; she had expected him to recall her as the wife of the Yondaime Hokage and not as the title she received when she was in the academy and had attached to her throughout her carrier.
"So… Is that all?" asked Naruto.
"Oh, no! I am supposed to also tell you the meaning of the motto of the Chuunin written by Sandaime Hokage-sama… The Heaven in the motto refers to Human Mind and the Earth refers to Human Body…" she said as she started explaining the motto, but abruptly stopped when she heard the words that left the mouth of Naruto.
"Yin and Yang… so that's how it is…" muttered Naruto as it didn't take much time for him to understand the motto after the reference that Kushina gave.
"You understand?" she asked with a questioning look.
"It means that if you have shortage of one you should train harder for it and only a balance of the two will see you to greatness. If I am not mistaken, the missing word from the line 'These rules will guide a - extreme' must be either shinobi or person", replied Naruto completely stunning Kushina.
"Y-Yes, that's what it means", replied a dumbfounded Kushina.
"So… What I am supposed to do for the next four days of the test?" asked Naruto.
"You will have to stay at the tower for the next four days until the test is over…" she answered.
"… And you aren't allowed to leave the tower", she added seeing the glint in the blue eyes of Naruto which faded away at her words which caused her to chuckle further.
TO BE CONTINUED…
Finally a big puzzle that had pieced my mind about this story was solved. As stated in the summary, Naruto will possess Kekkei Genkai and I intended it to be more than one. The question was how many and the puzzle was which ones. Finally both question and puzzle was solved. Naruto will possess 4 Kekkei Genkai… though you will have to wait for which one's he would posses.
Also he might possess some Hiden jutsus too.
