Grace of the Fallen

by TheSadGuy666

Naruto's mind is shattered over time due to abuse and neglect, and then when he has enough, Naruto embarks on a journey of the ages, a journey of revenge, of perfect insanity. Graphic Blood, Horrific Violence, Mutilation, Torture, etc.

3. From the Edge of Madness, I Come

Disclaimer: I truly don't own this.

Chapter 3: From the Edge of Madness, I Come

This was the bright morning where many hopefuls from around the Elemental Nations gathered in Konoha, where the international Chunin exams were taking place this year. Ninja and civilians from across the nations gathered here at this time, and of course with the increased flow of people the security was amped up a tad bit more than usual. It was this crowded, early morning that Naruto arrived at the front of the Academy, where the first test of the Chunin exams were going to take place, of course he couldn't go in without his team mates to show up. So, this obscure cloaked boy sat in the tree, the shade keeping him cool from the rays of the early morning sun, awaiting his team mates to arrive. Naruto actually awakened much earlier than normal to apply a relatively new shinobi weapon to his arsenal, one that enemies would not see coming from beneath his cloak, metallic armored gauntlets with razor sharp claws on each finger, made of a special durable metal that did not glint or reflect light easily. He was a bit early, since the exam didn't start until ten a.m., so he could wait a while before his team was due to enter, unless they decided not to, in which case this was a waste of time. But Naruto himself understood that Sasuke couldn't allow himself to not participate, essentially forcing the last team mate Sakura to join as well. So this was simply a time for waiting for Naruto, who was tired due to his less than satisfactory sleep for the last week… Although to him, it has seemed like an eternity of tormenting dreams ever since Haku died.

At any rate, in less than an hour, after Naruto had been quietly unnoticed in the tree in front of the Academy observing as genin squad after genin squad entered, he finally noticed his two team mates coming down the road, Sakura looking worried at the thought of fighting other ninja her age after the last fiasco with Haku, and Sasuke looking a bit too confident for it to be healthy, as surely it would lead to his downfall. None the less, Naruto leapt down from his perch into the shade of the tree, his team mates and others around jumping back a bit at seeing this tall shrouded figure appear with a dull thud from nowhere. He waited for his team to catch up to him before he led them into the building, his silent strides alerting few to his oppressive presence. They were a bit late, as the exam only had minutes until starting. Upon entering the class room, Naruto immediately went to a corner nearest to his team, to lean against the wall away from everyone, but also prepared to intervene should anything happen. Sakura and Sasuke however couldn't help but gloat to their fellow Konoha genin that recently graduated with them about their amazing new abilities and fanciful training sessions that Naruto couldn't recall ever happening, imagining that as a glorified version of tree walking and other basic exercises that Kakashi-sensei had Sakura and Sasuke complete during the week in the land of Waves. He watched as the "Rookie Nine" as it was popularly dubbed, socialized for the first time in over a month, having done missions and training since their professional careers began.

Ino of the Yamanaka clan happened to find Sasuke and wrapped her arms around him in a bit too friendly embrace, causing Sakura to go red with embarrassment as she tore Ino off and the two started bickering over the boy that slowly began inching away from the two. Kiba Inuzuka was catching up with Choji Akimichi and Shikamaru Nara, the three were longtime friends. Shino was keeping Hinata Hyuuga company while she spoke with them as well. "So Sakura, I heard from my father that your team went on an A-rank mission, is that true?" Ino asked her friendly rival Sakura, after they had stopped their bickering. The pink haired girl smirked when she answered the other genin who were listening, "Yes, as a matter of fact we did. We even fought and killed Zabuza, Demon of the Mist, and freed the land of Waves from the control of the extorting tyrant Gato. We're heroes there!" Ino was shocked to say the least, and Shikamaru spoke up, "You mean one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist? Do you mean you killed him or was it your sensei?" He was skeptical for good reason. "Sasuke was the one who took him out," Sakura exclaimed, causing the others to gawk in awe at the confused Uchiha heir. "He even took out Zabuza's apprentice," she continued, catching Naruto's head turning towards her from behind everyone else. "Yes, she was a weak little girl; Sasuke easily defeated her, left a hole in her chest the size of his fist." The other genin gasped in awe that Sasuke was so strong, of course Shikamaru was a bit skeptical as always, but he accepted it nonetheless. "Speaking of Zabuza's apprentice," Sakura continued with a wicked grin on her face, "it turns out our friend Naruto is fond of promiscuous sex with enemy ninja." At this, Kiba immediately barked out laughing, while Shikamaru had a face of incredulity, Hinata's face was the shade of a tomato, and Ino stared at the cloaked boy before slowly shuffling her way behind her team away from him. The laughing stopped when Naruto left the wall he was leaning against and took a step towards Sakura who stopped smirking and also took a step back. "Sakura…" he rasped, the room quiet once more, his empty, dark, and threatening voice echoing slightly before he continued. "Silence thyself, lest thy tongue thou shalt forfeit to mine own hand." The girl blanched, noticing his eerily glowing red eyes beneath his hood and eyeing his dangerously close clawed metal gauntlet revealed from beneath his cloak before nodding graciously as the boy returned to his corner, the darkness under his hood no longer glowing red. The other genin began their conversation again, albeit a bit less light hearted than before. Ino asked Sakura while Hinata was also listening in, "Sakura is that true? Did that monster really do it with an enemy ninja girl? What did your sensei say?" This and the other conversations about their newly exposed "friend" that they graduated with continued, Naruto was struggling to keep himself from shaking in anger, wanting to tear Sakura apart and show them all a real monster. He did not understand why she angered him so often, so purposefully as if it was her life's effort to impose upon his psyche various deteriorating emotional states of negativity.

During the ruckus they were causing, the other, much quieter teams in the room carefully observed this "fresh meat", since all of the other squads looked more than professional compared to these bickering, laughing children that Konoha considered the "best of the best." With haste, another Konoha genin approached the rookies, a young man a bit older than them, who sported thin wire glasses and silver hair in a ponytail, who suggested to them sound advice: "You know, for rookies, you guys sure are lively. Perhaps you should calm yourselves; you seem to be oblivious to the other genin around you, after all." He smirked as the rather raucous genin looked along the room to see threatening and despotic visages staring back at them, before the weight of the situation settled upon them like an overbearing blanket of doubt. "Who are you?" Sasuke asked, first of the rookies to say anything since the arrival of the silver haired boy. "Oh, I'm glad you asked. I'm a Konoha ninja like you guys, Kabuto is the name. I've actually taken this test seven times, heh," the boy answered while chuckling to himself. "Wow, you must really be terrible at this," Sasuke added, causing a few of the raucous bunch to agree and chuckle at the Uchiha's little joke. Kabuto smiled and adjusted his glasses slightly, "Well you see, Uchiha-san, I've actually been gathering information over time about these exams and the students taking them ever since I first started. I have stats on everyone and I daresay my time here was not spent in vain," smugly explained Kabuto to his rookie audience.

He displayed a stack of cards from his supplies pack, and showed them how all were blank until he drew one and everything about Sasuke appeared on that card. The Uchiha was dumbfounded, surprised that Kabuto really did have all of his stats accurate for all to scrutinize with cold apathy. "Whatever. Do you have cards for Naruto? What of Neji Hyuuga or Rock Lee?" asked Sasuke with glee in his voice, since he could learn his opponents' weaknesses. Kabuto chuckled again before drawing three cards to display to the rookie nine. "Rock Lee, it seems he's a prodigy in the arts of Taijutsu, but his other skills are practically non-existent. He has extremely fast reflexes and speed, and his strength is a force to be reckoned with, like his teacher Might Guy. His team mates are Neji Hyuuga and Tenten, both of whom are excellent Taijutsu users. Neji Hyuuga, prodigy of the Hyuuga clan, known for his extremely talented Byakugan techniques. He is known to be an extremely powerful melee fighter. He and Rock Lee have both been genin for over a year now. Last is Naruto Uzumaki, and it seems his skills are... unknown. This is odd. I have everyone's techniques and stats… But… All it has on his card is that he is a very skilled ninja that completed multiple A-rank missions; one was with his team where he defeated Zabuza, the Demon of the Mist! Incredible… And it says he's been trained by the Hokage." The rookies gasped at this revelation and all turned to scrutinize Naruto while Sasuke glowed with fury, he learned nothing of his rival that he didn't already know, except that he was trained by the Hokage personally, not to mention the others now knew that Naruto was more powerful than he, and that was unacceptable, but he swallowed his pride and kept silent and cool. The other squads from the other nations were watching the cloaked boy as well, knowing full and well that anyone powerful enough to take out the Demon of the Mist was a force to be cautious about. "Regardless, I think you guys will do fine," continued Kabuto while putting up his cards. "Most of these villages are new, and probably have weaker ninja due to their lesser amount of time to train for the exams here." At this point, a Sound team that was apparently offended at this and they made their way to the front of the room quickly, one hunched over genin went to punch Kabuto when he dodged out of the way and smirked, but shortly afterwards he doubled over in agony and retched, his glasses breaking simultaneously. The other genin were dumbfounded and took a step back. Naruto stood his ground and watched the whole event, noticing that Kabuto wasn't even touched, that this sound ninja probably used some sort of sound jutsu to harm his opponent from afar. Naruto knew these were dangerous ninja, he simply hoped his team was observant as he.

While Kabuto was down on his knees, the proctor for the exam entered with many other ninja in tow. He was very tall, had scars over his face, and a vile grimace that scared more than half of the attending genin. He immediately saw Kabuto picking himself off of the floor who was very near the front of the room with the rookie nine and shouted to the apparently guilty sound ninja, "No fighting, you scum, unless you want to be escorted out of here!"

"Sorry proctor, we were just a little… anxious to get started," said the hunched one as he and his team made their way back to their previous area. "At any rate… I want you guys to shut up, pick a number, and sit in your assigned seat! Now, move!"

Only a short while later, after introducing himself as Ibiki and explaining the test to the genin, the proctor started the timer. He stood in front of the room to watch for cheaters, while the secondary proctors around the room sat in various positions to best catch the students who dared to cheat. Naruto's resolve was firm as he began his exam, a paper so greatly difficult he doubted any genin, or chunin, or Jounin for that matter could pass it. He immediately knew that he was either supposed to cheat, or they were all meant to fail the exam, which he highly doubted. He realized what must be done, noticing that certain genin around the room had papers that were already complete, even though the test only just began. With his goal in mind, Naruto did the stealthiest, most unprecedented and by far the most effective method of cheating he could do: he looked at the paper next to his and copied.

Sasuke on the other hand was thinking about the goal of the exam for a while longer before he, too, discovered that many of the people around the room were already scratching down answers to these impossible questions, without even stopping. He knew they were cheating, for if they weren't, it was highly unlikely that ALL of the people writing could go on to the next answer without stopping to consider the question for even a moment. Sasuke noticed that above, someone was manipulating mirrors to reflect the answers to their paper, and it just happened that through that reflective lens he could also spy the answers that he required. He made haste to copy them down before the person controlling the mirrors could move them once more.

Sakura meanwhile was busy writing away, her answers appearing quite quickly compared to others around her. Ironically, the person sitting in front of her finished very quickly, deciding to take a nap, leaving his answers revealed, especially to her own eye. With the perfect vantage point of all the correct answers, Sakura easily completed every question. By the time she finished and looked up from her paper, she also noticed Naruto and Sasuke along with most of the other genin scratching away as well. She simply had to bide her time for the proctor to reveal the final, tenth question, which was due in just a few minutes.

After an excruciating amount of time had passed, and many genin having failed and been asked to leave the room with their teams after being caught cheating, about half of the original number remained, most of whom had finished their test. It was at this point Ibiki, the instructor in the black trench coat, told everyone after nearly an hour of silence, "Stop! Put your writing utensils down, and listen up!" practically causing some of the snoozing genin to jump out of their seats. Even Naruto, the emotionless brick, turned his head is surprise quickly toward the outburst, although nobody noticed. "Alright now it's time for the final question, although with it comes an ultimatum. It is up to each and every one of you whether your team fails or passes, but you either go all or nothing. If you choose to take the tenth question and fail it, you will remain genin… forever. If you choose to leave now with your team, then you will fail but you will be able to attempt the Chunin exams again another day. You have five minutes to give up or stay." Immediately after that, although nobody was speaking, the tension was palpable. Then, after a tense, silent minute or two, one genin called out his surrender, and stood. His team was called to exit the room. Immediately afterwards, various other genin who were frightened of the future and didn't want to let their team down surrendered, forfeiting their promotions for another six months, at least. Naruto sat, still and silent, not even considering forfeit, the suggestive thoughts in the back of his mind insinuated that this was merely a test of will, and that he should stay. Sasuke knew what was happening, he knew they were weeding out the weaklings, he knew he would be with the survivors and wait out the storm with them, he sat, silent, and waiting, although nervous either of his team mates may surrender and thus force his hand. He turned towards Naruto, who was sitting about twenty feet away, and noticed he was not moving. He felt confident that at this point, his team mate would pull though for him. He turned the other way to spy upon Sakura, who was nervous and shaking. Sakura was quite anxious, knowing that she could potentially ruin Sasuke's future, and by proxy her own and Naruto's futures. Only at the brink of forfeiture did she notice that her two team mates where sitting, calm and sure that they were doing the right thing. Sakura was worried, that was sure, but seeing her proud allies stand firm, or at least spotting Sasuke's firm visage looking back at her, knowing she couldn't surrender either. The time had passed as Ibiki shouted aloud once more, "Well… all of you who remain pass. Well done."

"What!?"

"You have to be kidding me. What a drag…"

"Munch, munch, munch…"

"Ah, what the hell, man."

"What was all that about?"

Ibiki laughed loudly, chortling at the expressions looking back at him. He so loved torturing the minds of genin, as oft as he could, which ironically wasn't that often. "Well, what kind of genin could I allow to pass who didn't have the guts to finish the mission eh? And for the ones caught cheating, they certainly lack the skills needed in the life of a ninja, stealth, especially regarding information, since information can prove invaluable to the right hands… or the wrong ones. In either case, I hereby pass all remaining genin, as aforementioned, and leave you to your second proctor for the second part of the exam, who should be here any moment—" And before Ibiki could finish, a figure burst through the window, wrapped in a trench coat, nobody was able to make out the figure until she landed, unfurling from her coat, revealing a mesh shirt, short skirt, shin guards, and purple hair, of course all this was noticed by the genin who were also being pelted with glass shards and annoyance. "How irksome, it seems she's actually here on time, and I wasn't done having fun with you kiddies yet. Alas, it cannot be helped. Anko, treat them well, you hear me?" Ibiki smirked before disappearing with his chunin proctors.

"Alright you worthless sods, I'm Anko, certainly-not-over-the-top proctor of the second part of this exam. We shall be meeting at training ground forty-four, also known as the forest of death. With haste, ladies, we don't have all day. Now, move it!"

Within the next thirty minutes, after the arrival of the genin at the outside of the forest of death, Anko explained this portion of the exam for the genin, who were anxiously peering past her and into the dark abyssal labyrinthine maze of titanic flora. "Alright kiddies, here's the objective. You all have five days to get two scrolls, one Earth scroll, and one Heaven scroll, and then get to the tower at the middle of the forest. Each team will begin with one scroll, so this is guaranteed to at least cut this party down to half. Now in this portion, everything is permitted, which may include your death at the hands of the enemy, or worse… and so we have these cool little pain waivers for you all to sign in order to continue, aye? Each team will come up when called, sign your waivers, and get your scroll before being escorted to your entrance to the forest of death. You CANNOT open your scrolls or anyone else's scrolls during the test. Are there any questions?" Anko asked with a malicious smirk. "No? Then let us begin immediately."

Team after team was called up into a small tent so that their scroll could be obtained in secrecy, before being escorted out by chunin to their beginning destination. Team seven of Konoha was called up eventually and they entered the tent after the previous team left. "Alright guys, sign these waivers quickly…" asked one of the chunin in the tent while Anko made sure they did everything right. She smirked at seeing Naruto and Sasuke enter, knowing full and well that these two were the golden boys of Konoha and they were going to shine in the exams. She's heard the stories that the other jounin speak of, and knows full and well what happened to Mizuki due to her friends in the Torture and Interrogation squad, although from what she heard, that night they acted more like the clean-up crew… In any case, she was anxious to see how they would do, and how much blood they would spill. She smiled slightly seeing the team exit, Naruto pocketing their Earth scroll in the satchel he kept on his back, under his cloak, a difficult place for enemies to reach without having to fight him. She watched him exit, knowing he would be a great shinobi before calling up the next team.

Team seven arrived at their entrance area, and they had about five minutes to prepare before the exam started officially, and a chunin was there with them to open the gate when the time started. They decided it was now time to tactically assess the situation and come up with a game plan. "Alright, Sakura, Naruto, we need to get a Heaven scroll, and whatever team we run into, there's obviously a fifty-fifty chance that they would have the scroll we need…" Sasuke started, grabbing Sakura's serious visage for once, knowing this was important. Naruto, too, was listening intently, prepared to give his advice if needed. "Teams start at least a kilometer away from each other, and we have five days. Chances are, there will be quite a bit of combat as well starting as this day ends, and a safe place to stay will be hard to find, to say the least. What I think we should do is begin waiting upon entering instead of heading in without any clue what we're doing. We wait and rest until night and then—" Sasuke was interrupted as Sakura's eyes gleamed with understanding as she continued. "We attack during the night while they're all resting. Sasuke, you're so smart!" "Is this fine, Naruto?" Sasuke seriously asked his repressively silent team mate. Sasuke would never admit it, but he knew that Naruto knew what he was doing, and he could trust the boy's judgment, even if he didn't like him. Naruto waited for a second before hesitantly nodding. "Alright, then we find a "safe" place within twenty minutes, and rest there until night fall. Get ready guys…" Sakura gulped and Naruto stood, silent as ever, a testament to his enduring self.

"So Kakashi, what do you think of your team?" asked a dark haired woman with red eyes, wearing naught but a bandage type outfit, almost as if she were a mummy. She sat in a jounin lounge with other notable jounin, particularly sensei of the teams in the chunin exams. Heads turned towards Kakashi who took a quick sip of his sake before recovering his face and looking at his friend, Kurenai. "Heh, well, let us just say that my team will pass." "Kakashi, you're so full of confidence, and arrogance! Don't you think that kind of pride is counterproductive for a team?" Kurenai asked him. Kakashi looked at her with a calm look in his eye, before responding, "Kurenai, you weren't there in Wave. I know you guys have heard the stories…" Kakashi started as the other jounin turned towards him, lending their ears to his every word, for none were familiar with the exact details of the mission. "Trust me, Sakura may be lacking physically, and Sasuke may be a prodigy, but Naruto… Naruto is something else, far out of this league he's competing in. He's much smarter than he has let on, not even the Hokage, the person he's closest to, knows how smart he truly is. And his physical prowess is… well, he could take Zabuza on in a fight, without trying. He would possibly defeat me, maybe not in outright strength but in cunning and manipulation..." The others gasped at this while Kakashi sat, still and contemplative. "He trains harder than most his age. Itachi Uchiha has nothing on him. This boy is the precursor of a new age, and something immense, although what it is exactly remains to be seen." A blonde jounin, a certain Inoichi Yamanaka listened, contemplating, wondering how he could assist the boy.

It was nightfall now, and the well-rested team seven left the tree hollow where they had camped for the day, packing up their bags and preparing to move out. Sakura noticed that Naruto was taking longer than her or Sasuke, having had more of his materials out, in preparation for their nightly upcoming escapade. "Naruto, hurry yourself up! We don't have all night and we need to get moving, immediately! Stop screwing around you knucklehead!" Naruto stopped what he was doing to look at her menacingly, she couldn't make out his face like normal, but she could see the reflections of his eyes in the black void from the dark twilight about. He was staring right at her, almost an inaudible way to silence her. Sasuke sighed and pulled her away while Naruto resumed packing his materials. "Sasuke! Tell Naruto that—" Sakura started but Sasuke cut her off. "Sakura, leave Naruto alone. What is your problem with him? I don't like him much either but he is on our team, and I don't like admitting this but… he's stronger than I. We need him. And you berating him is only going to slow us down. I want you to stop this nonsense, and stop treating your own team mate like trash, especially in dangerous territory. We have to work together, no matter our differences, alright? Now leave him alone, if you don't feel like helping him, don't say anything about him working and you not working." Sakura looked shocked; surprised that Sasuke would defend Naruto, even though he openly admitted to not liking him. Sakura nodded, knowing he spoke the truth, and proceeded to wait silently for Naruto, who appeared momentarily with a fully packed sealing scroll and nodded to their assurance that everything would be okay with him around. Unbeknownst to them, Naruto heard what Sasuke said, and although Naruto liked absolutely nobody, he did appreciate with slight animosity what Sasuke had said, and appreciating that Sakura would leave him be.

Sasuke thought to himself as team seven took to the trees in the darkness, using advanced scouting techniques to search for nearby teams, mostly on the part of Naruto, who was the subject of Sasuke's thoughts. 'That genin… he's something else. I don't know why, but he gives me the creeps. I know Sakura doesn't like him, and I sure as hell don't like him, but we need him to win this. Not to mention her constant bickering was annoying, and her constant antagonizing of Naruto would've led to our collective downfall, and I cannot let myself be held back. I need to defeat him… and if Naruto is this strong, I'm sure cooperating with him will grant me more of an edge against him… Itachi… I wonder how strong he really is. Was he this strong at Naruto's age? Is Naruto stronger than him? There's no way, no matter how formidable he is… I wonder why Sakura kept mocking him and trying to humiliate him in public. Perhaps he has done something to cause her ire? In any case, at least now that she will stop badgering us we can cooperate at least a bit better without aliening our powerhouse team mate…'

'Sasuke, why did you say that to me, I thought you loved me! Oh, Sasuke, that Naruto has you so intimidated you don't want to anger him at all… Mother was correct; Naruto is a demon, a monster. He isn't fit to be a ninja, especially not on me and Sasuke's team. Mother was always right, he was always alone, and always will be alone because he's not right. Sasuke-kun has been alone, but he won't be forever, he isn't a freak like Naruto. That… thing is too powerful, even if it pains Sasuke-kun to admit it, I could tell in his voice. He is too powerful; no wonder Sasuke doesn't want to anger him, he's probably scared, although I am too… Mother said he couldn't do anything to us because we're ninja, so I'm not as frightened as I used to be... But if this is what Sasuke wants then I'll leave that sick freak alone for now… I just hope he doesn't want in my pants, too. I'm saved for Sasuke-kun, thank you very much!'

Naruto however was focused at the task at hand, and soon, within minutes of leaving their camp, his jutsu succeeded. Naruto, after witnessing Zabuza's repeated mist techniques, came up with his own versions of it. Since he had mass amounts of chakra to spare, he could expel quite a bit, creating a 'field' of sorts around himself. Within this field, he could observe faster than the eyes or ears could perceive movement, he could detect life, heat, and even the quietest of noises. Naruto had nearly a half-kilometer of this chakra field around himself as he advanced towards the center of the forest in order to search for nearby teams, and he found two teams nearby, one's chakra signatures felt familiar, but the other not so much. Naruto stopped his team and pointed in two different directions, Sasuke and Sakura realizing there were two enemy camps nearby. "We should take out both," stated Naruto. "He's right, that would limit our opponents in the next part of the exam," agreed Sasuke. "Are they asleep Naruto, or do you sense them moving around?" Naruto focused a bit more for a few more moments before responding, "Asleep." His laconic nature was enraging Sakura, but little did she or Sasuke know how it hurt him to speak. "Good," responded Sasuke, "let's move out."

They came upon a small clearing, with three ninja from Ame sleeping out in the open, like… well, genin. Sasuke quietly advanced first, and prepared poisoned senbon in order to paralyze his enemy, Sakura came second and prepared a genin-level genjutsu that would keep her opponent asleep, while Naruto simply crouched over his target, his hand outstretched. Sasuke nodded and simultaneously, the three incapacitated their enemies, although Sakura and Sasuke gasped at seeing blood spray from Naruto's opponent. "Naruto, are you insane!" Sakura whispered loudly at him, not wanting to alert the other team that was less than a hundred meters away. Naruto didn't respond as he wiped blood from his clawed gauntlet and ransacked all of their possessions, taking all useable supplies and finding another earth scroll in their possession. They left in the direction of the next team, leaving this one with no supplies whatsoever, no weapons, no scroll, and one dead team mate. Sakura had to feel bad for them, knowing when they awakened they would certainly be distraught. Sasuke knew it was his job, his duty, he had to ruthlessly do what had to be done, but even he had some compassion compared to Naruto's actions.

They arrived within eyesight of their next targets, seeing a snoring Shikamaru and Choji next to Ino. Sakura's eyes widened as she looked to Naruto quickly, who nodded before she could open her mouth. She may not have particularly liked them, but even Naruto knew that Sakura wouldn't want to watch her fellow Konoha ninja die before her. They arrived quickly and found the scroll in Ino's possession, taking it and leaving the extra Earth scroll as a "payment" of sorts. Team seven successfully exited the campsite and made for the center of the forest, knowing they had successfully crippled at least one opponent team. After a few hours, it was late at night, or early in the morning as Naruto estimated, when Sasuke stopped, causing Sakura to cease along with Naruto. "It's late, and we already have our scrolls. Let's set up camp and rest for a few hours and start again during the morning." Naruto and Sakura both nodded, and the three ate and prepared a well hidden encampment where they would be hidden from view, although that didn't stop the cloaked boy from setting a few discrete traps around their position.

"Kakashi, how could you possibly say that a genin, and of all people, Naruto…" started Kurenai again, much later. She along with a few other of the Konoha jounin sensei were still waiting in the tower at the center of the Forest of Death. "You don't understand, Kurenai," Kakashi started tiredly, closing his orange book yet again with an exasperated sigh, "Naruto is unlike others his age, or even our age. Since he was young, Sarutobi has been assisting with his growth, and even beyond that, the boy spends much of his time off somewhere, nobody knows where he goes usually. But Sarutobi explains that he trains, and trains, and trains himself to the point of exhaustion, and then some. The beast within him augments his body beyond what we can imagine, to survive even the deadliest of encounters and harshest environments. We even suspect that he may be able to regenerate limbs. We don't know exactly, and that's all we do know. Naruto is… he is something else. He was trained for the last few years by the Hokage personally, and that means something." The jounin pondered in silence for a few moments, for Guy to speak up moments later. "Kakashi, what would you say about his… self, his being? We know he wasn't exactly living optimally, but… you and I both know, we ALL know that people who live like that and attain great powers turn eventually, my rival. They turn from the fires of youth into the darkness of madness associated with aforementioned powers. We can't possibly allow another Itachi event to unfold before us, especially since you say he has much more potential than even that Uchiha... and perhaps even worse is the thought that he contains further untold powers with the bijuu. This is a recipe for disaster." Guy was about to continue when Inoichi spoke up and interrupted the green man's thoughts. "Guy, Sarutobi-sama and I are both working to heal his wounds, past and present. We can't do any more than we already are. We have to observe, understand, and then we may help. There is much work ahead of us, but so much to gain if he were to regain his lost humanity. His power as an ally would be beyond beneficial to our country…" Inoichi trailed off as the other jounin further mused about the boy they wished had been taken care of in his youth before he posed this potential threat. "Kakashi… do you think we stand a chance at stopping him and his inner beast if he were to go rogue?"

It was morning, although in the thick, claustrophobic density of the dark forest, only the faintest, emerald shade of light pierced the canopy, only stretching the ambient shadows rather than removing them with the sun's revealing rays. It was then that the most perceptive of the three genin awakened, feeling something odd, as if something weren't right with his surroundings. He made to move when his neck burned with a slight pain, when he reached up to touch his neck, he noticed his hand was covered with dried blood… he quickly stood and looked around before screaming, startling his other companion to consciousness before she, too, screamed, their third team mate was dead, his neck ripped to ribbons, the surrounding clearing splattered with blood, along with the remaining two genin. They didn't even think to check their scroll, which they would not have found anyway. Only a few hundred meters away, a cloaked blonde ninja stirred, hearing even from that distance in the stifling forest the screams of his enemies. He noticed his two fellow genin were still fast asleep, not hearing the faint cries in the distance. He decided to allow them to rest longer, they were weaker than him after all, or so he rationalized. He made sure all the traps were still intact, to ensure no enemies had attempted anything, before dismantling them and returning them to his satchel. He then posted himself in the canopy above, to keep an eye out for nearby threats while his team slept. He lowered his hood, to feel the cool morning breeze brush against his upper face, if only for a moment. Only an hour later, the genin squad left their camp, leaving no detectable trace of them ever being there. They jumped with great agility through the trees, and made for the center of the forest, their goal, wasting little time.

Naruto and his team stealthily navigated through the brush, Naruto's advanced senses providing great assistance in avoiding threats. It was later on that they stopped to eat in one of the larger trees, so far above the ground they couldn't make it out. Sasuke suggested they rest for a bit and eat, so that they could potentially make it to the tower by nightfall. Naruto nodded an agreement and Sakura sang her approval. Sakura and Sasuke began working on their small meals, while Naruto kept guard, which slightly confused the other two. "Naruto, you should eat. If you're weak from hunger, you'll hold us back," argued an annoyed pink-haired girl. Naruto didn't respond, just kept sitting on the branch next to his allies. "Naruto, Sakura is correct. You should eat, you haven't eaten all day…" began the prodigy. Again, Naruto held still and silent, as stone. Sakura let out an annoyed grunt and Sasuke sighed exasperatedly. Then, without warning, Naruto jumped up from his sitting position into an alert stance, alerting the other two to potential danger. They put their food away and stood up quickly, their guard raised, before Sakura asked, "Naruto, why the hell can't I finish eating…?" Before Naruto had a chance to answer, as if he was going to anyway, something monstrous crashed through the trees below, the team could see massive amounts of shrubbery and wood moving away from the path of what was apparently a massive creature. Sakura watched in horror as an absolutely gigantic lavender serpent quickly rose through the brush and attempted to eat her, or swallow her whole. She screamed as Sasuke, with quick thinking, tackled her out of the way before the branch she was on splintered into thousands of shreds of wood, Naruto was already gone. "Damn him, he almost let me die! Thank you so much Sasuke for saving me!" she exclaimed, although Sasuke wasn't paying attention to her… he was staring face-to-face with a rather large adversary.

The snake lunged again forcing the two genin to leap out of the way, Sakura's heart was throbbing, not only did a giant snake tried to eat her, but as she glanced down, the earth seemed to plummet into oblivion, the gaping abyss of the forest made a primal fear of heights affect her. She shakily landed on a branch away from the serpent before crouching and grasping it tightly, determined not to move from her safe perch above the dark, emerald pit. Sasuke landed, disregarding the height at which he was fighting, focused solely on his enemy. He threw shuriken, kunai, and cast one of his fire jutsu, nothing wounded it, but it certainly gained the snake's attention. It lashed out with its tail, throwing Sasuke into another tree, winding him and leaving him unable to move momentarily. The snake's primal instincts knew his prey was weak, and thus the prime target was Sasuke. It lunged, its maw ready to swallow the boy, who couldn't move from the previous blow. Before he was destroyed, he saw Sakura on a branch nearby, too scared to move, she was screaming a name, he couldn't make it out, the adrenaline and blood flowing through his system blocking out all sound. He was forcibly pushed or tackled so veritably, he absolutely flew towards Sakura, who caught him. Sasuke, in a daze, turned, seeing a flash of grey garb being swallowed by the serpent, but he was certain Naruto was too far advanced to be eaten by a mere snake, no matter the size… Moments later, as the snake turned, he realized what Naruto had planned. "Sakura, get down!"

An explosion rocked the forest's very foundations, dozens of paper bombs were planted on that shadow clone.

The two genin rose again, to see gruesome remains of what resembled a ruptured intestine with scales, and their cloaked friend before them, his back turned to them, still standing alert. "Naruto, why are you still alert? I'm relatively certain that the creature shall not rise again." Sasuke noted, before feeling a dread aura consume him, and he felt Sakura next to him tense as well. A deadly shroud of hatred and immense power surrounded them, the source unknown…

They heard a wicked laugh. The laugh died down, but it seemed to come from all directions. Naruto was far too distracted by the aura that he couldn't focus on his detection abilities. "Ha, it seems the 'almighty' team seven isn't as powerful as I've heard… what a shame. I was certain after witnessing you destroy my pet that you would be able to withstand my killer intent. Apparently I overestimated you brats. Well, our time together is nearly at an end, so I must go ahead and kill you all now!" spoke a pale man who stepped onto a branch not too far away. He looked young, and his visage was twisted, and surreal, but demented. His tongue was swathing about, absurdly long dangling from his mouth, and his eyes gleamed with an evil yellow glow. He smirked as Naruto launched, faster than Sakura and Sasuke could witness, towards the wicked man, who stood his ground and continued smirking. The boy landed a solid blow to the man's… hand. He blocked even faster than Naruto had moved. What the man didn't suspect was the actual Naruto coming from behind and kicking his smug grin off of the branch, utterly surprising the man who grunted in pain as he landed farther away and the first 'Naruto' disappeared. "You brat! What a lucky shot…" the man grimaced. He realized he did underestimate one of them.

He realized who this was, hearing stories of the infamous grey-cloaked boy from his spies. The pariah. The demon. The orphan. Naruto Uzumaki, container of the Kyuubi. He knew that this power was from the fox, and he knew a special seal that would distort the connection, allowing him to continue on with his plans. It was then he realized what he had to do in order to acquire his true prize. "Well, well, well… who do we have here? A little nobody who thinks he's a somebody? Indeed… I think we'll have to do something about that, now won't we?" The pale man vanished from sight, and Naruto continued his detection ability, realizing a quickly incoming difference in air pressure was directly behind him. He leaped out of the way as the branch he was on exploded into a shower of wooden shrapnel. "Oh, it seems you have some skill after all, boy. I'll have to deal with you the old-fashioned way then!" The pale man appeared before Naruto, giving the boy no time to react. He knew he was slower than the pale man, only tactics could win this battle, but he also knew brute force could triumph over tactics in some cases… well, as the pale man's hand was moving faster than Naruto could see, towards him, he knew brute force would win this day. The man didn't punch, but utterly socked Naruto in the chest, causing him to fly through a massive tree trunk and into another tree. Naruto couldn't move… he could barely sustain this damage but the sheer force overwhelmed his senses… he couldn't move. He was shocked that the man was so fast and powerful, wondering why he was in the genin exams… before he realized. Earlier, before the snake attacked, he knew someone else was nearby, waiting to attack based on the snake battle. He created two clones and hid his chakra signature and himself farther away, and used his detection ability. He detected someone, but their dermal layer felt so odd in his chakra net, as if it were spongy, or bloated. He also smelled death on the man. He now knew, he was wearing a dead skin mask. As the man chuckled and briskly paced toward Naruto, the boy lifted two fingers toward the man, his pale visage not revealing anything but satisfaction at the boy's torment. "Oh, what's this? You plan to point at me until I die? Ha!" Naruto smirked through the pain, knowing that arrogance allowed Naruto to win today, before the man's head exploded into mud. Naruto's eyes widened, he thought it was the real man. "You think I'd let you use any ability against me boy? Now I know you hold some serious power in that pointing technique of yours… thanks for the warning, imbecile. I think you have too much power, and not enough experience… It's too bad, you could have really become a prodigy yourself…" started the pale man, again walking toward the boy, before he stopped, knowing a split second in advance that he needed to defend himself against massive force. The boy exploded, another clone with paper bombs, shooting the man into another tree, causing him to leave an indent. He groaned as he slipped down, landing on a lower branch. Sakura and Sasuke were shocked, and in awe, observing Naruto's skill, and also observing how the man's face was half sloughing off.

The man stood, his smirk replaced with a scowl, and he said no more words, but took note of where the boy was. He ripped the dead skin mask off of his face, revealing a very serpentine visage, with slit yellow eyes and thin, even paler skin. He then leaped toward the boy who was crouched on a much higher branch than the other nearby people, who had no time to react as the pale man tackled him down into a branch, cracking it severely and causing the boy to cry out in pain. The pale man did not relent, he continued laying blows on the boy, punching quickly, fiercely, soaking the boy's scarf with blood and saliva. At this point, as Naruto was being beaten on a branch while being held, his hood fell back, revealing his blue eyes contorting with pain. He cried out again as the wind was knocked out of him. The man stood back up and kicked with all his might, the boy's back bending at odd angles as his body wrapped around a tree trunk backwards before falling to a lower branch again, unmoving. The pale man chuckled darkly and advanced toward him as his team mates cried out for him. Sasuke knew he had to act then.

He couldn't stop it though. He couldn't make it to that distance in time. He noticed the man's hand radiating a venomous looking purple aura before he jabbed it into Naruto's stomach. He cried out in pain once more before falling silent, Sasuke feared the worst… The pale snake man casually threw the body aside, and he began plummeting toward the ground far below, falling out of sight… Naruto's senses died down, he was falling into unconsciousness, the last thing he sensed before darkness was Sasuke screaming and moving toward the man… and then blackness.

It was already noon, as the three genin travelling through the forest felt a series of large explosions in the distance. "What the hell was that!?" exclaimed a blonde haired girl with blue eyes. "I don't know but… I think we need to get as far away from that event as possible. I still can't believe someone switched scrolls with us last night… what a drag," replied a bored looking thin boy with his hair in a ponytail. "Yeah, I can't believe they evaded our detection!" said a notably shorter and fatter boy, who was eating a bag of chips. "Our detection?" the blonde girl turned on the fat boy with a look of annoyance. "Detection!? You sleep like a rock! If someone stabbed you with kunai, you'd still sleep! You only would have awakened if you heard the rustle of food bags!" After a long silent pause, the trio continued, away from a second blast they heard in the distance. "It doesn't matter now, Ino. The fact is we need the other scroll now. So, the next teams we come across, we have to fight. We need that scroll to pass." Ino and Choji, albeit hesitantly, agreed with a nod. Ino shut up and led the way, Shikamaru followed, keeping an eye out for threats. Choji followed last, munching on his favorite dried fruits.

It was late at night while the Jounin were sitting in the tower, still waiting for their genin squads to return. Three days were left after this night, so some of the remaining Jounin were becoming a bit nervous, although Kakashi kept reading his book. Multiple, general discussions were going on, mostly to keep from boredom, when Anko came in looking worried, which was very rare. Kakashi took note of this but said nothing, Kurenai couldn't help herself, though. "Anko, what's the matter? Did something happen?" Other conversations continued, ninja were worried all the time, and they didn't want to eavesdrop, or at least not much. "It seems that… we have unexpected visitors here in our exam," the purple haired woman replied. The other jounin stopped speaking, silence prevalent. Unwanted guests usually meant something bad was going on. "We don't know yet, but from what we found, we may have a serious issue. The team from the Land of Grass was found dead, and their faces were flayed. They've been dead for a couple days, so when we saw that team last before they entered the forest, it was impostors, using their faces as dead skin masks..." Kakashi closed his book, his one visible eye was widened slightly, and worry was shown by all, including him. She was then bombarded with questions from all the jounin, before she silenced them all with a stern look. "We have our best trackers and investigators on it. All we have to go on is what the Inuzuka observed, that the corpses smelled of snakes…" Kakashi's face darkened as he muttered a name the other jounin feared to hear as the potential cause. "Orochimaru…"

Naruto slowly awakened, not knowing where he was. Something was off. Many things were unseemly. He felt cold, weak, but he felt clarity. As if he had been living with restraints on his brain, it wasn't that he felt smarter, but as if a fog that unknowingly befuddled him before was gone. First thing he realized, his shirt and scarf were gone and his cloak and hood were off, although fresh bandages were applied to his wounds, which weren't healed yet... He shakily scrambled to his knees, seeing that he was in a small cave of some sort, unable to stand up entirely. His eyes were adjusting to the darkness when he saw his scarf and adorned it immediately, before realizing his ally Sasuke was asleep next to him, with a rather painful looking new addition to his neck, a small, dark, tribal tattoo. He heard a cry of pain from outside before he could take note of anything else. He ran outside, leaving his satchel behind, only donning his scarf, without his cloak, shirt and hood. He stood before a scene, quickly taking note of how low the sun was in the sky, late afternoon.

Naruto witnessed Sakura, engaged, or once engaged, in a battle with three tougher enemy ninja, the sound ninja he remembered from the first exam. Nobody noticed him yet, his grey clothing allowing him to easily blend in with his surroundings with the decent level of darkness this late in the day. One of the ninja, the female, was holding Sakura's head back by her hair, kunai to her throat. She was on the verge of crying, knowing she was about to die. The two men were laughing at her face when a green flash appeared from nowhere, alerting the three enemy ninja to its presence. Rock Lee then stood battle ready. "I'll not allow you to endanger young Sakura! Keep away from her!" He cried out and quickly landed a series of blows on the female Sound ninja, after Sakura cut off her own luscious hair with a kunai to get away. She was exhausted, apparently having fought the enemy for some time before Naruto awakened. She rolled toward some bushes to keep out of the center of the clearing where Rock Lee was battling against the Sound genin. Only then did she utter a gasp in fear, seeing the genin with the sound gauntlet disable Rock Lee and make him vomit. He was kicked to the side, disoriented and unable to fight. Sakura was sure his unmatched speed and strength would save her this day… Naruto barely sensed three more genin before they appeared from the shrubbery, a feat that appalled him. He was usually able to sense all nearby people with his advanced senses… before he realized his advanced senses weren't so advanced anymore. He realized it was the team they stole the scroll from, the Ino-Shika-Cho trio. They did battle with these superior genin, who quickly thwarted their attempts, although it was not gone unheeded, as it weakened them. The female of the sound team was out of commission, while the sound boy with the tubes embedded in his hands tended her wounds dealt by the newly arrived squad. Now Ino and Choji lay defeated and nearly unconscious on the ground, whimpering in pain, Shikamaru stood, still ready to do battle with the remaining enemy with the gauntlet. Rock Lee was slowly recovering, almost ready to get back into action, and Sakura was continuously on the verge of passing out.

Naruto stood, shakily at first, but then slowly he regained his strength, apparently not having used his muscles for some time, signaling to him that he had not been out for only a few hours… Nonetheless, nobody paid attention to the boy, nobody even realized he was now conscious, but that made it easier to do what had to be done. As the sound genin charged toward Shikamaru with his sound gauntlet raised, something happened that shocked all present, even some that weren't present but observing. A shirtless Naruto without his cloak or hood, only his scarf, appeared behind the charging man, and although not as quickly as he usually would, it was still faster than most genin. The sound genin didn't realize what was about to happen, until his other male team mate yelled his name, "Dosu! Watch out behind you!" The boy Dosu had no idea any of his opponents would be ready to attack his unprotected back, he ceased his charge and turned quickly, only to come face-to-face with a horrific visage of an angry Naruto, whose metal clawed gauntlet was stretched toward him. Being experienced, and Naruto being weakened from his earlier endeavor, Dosu was able to barely dodge the fatal blow that was to come, instead being inflicted by a painful but nonfatal wound. The clawed gauntlet was open, the claws were meant to rend and tear his throat, but instead seriously sliced Dosu's chest, and blood splattered outward from him as he fell, alive, but unconscious from the excruciating attack. Shikamaru was shocked, but thankful as he nodded towards Naruto, for the first time being able to see the upper part of the genin's pale face and pale blonde hair. The sound ninja departed, the conscious male dragging both of his allies away, furiously swearing revenge on them all.

Rock Lee went to attend to Sakura, exclaiming about his passion and youth and being her savior. On the other hand, Naruto was approached by the Ino-Shika-Cho trio. "Thanks for your help, Naruto. I fear that without you, this would have been a most unfortunate and troublesome day," said Shikamaru, both Choji and Ino being too intimidated by Naruto's cold gaze and blood splattered gauntlets and chest to say anything, much less thank him. Naruto nodded in response, as the other team left hastily, leaving team seven alone as Lee had gone already. Sakura approached Naruto. "Naruto! I thought you were in a coma! I tried everything and couldn't awaken you… Thank you for… saving us today…" She paused and allowed Naruto to nod. "Well, I suppose you want to know what happened yesterday." Naruto paused for a moment. "Yesterday?"

"Naruto, the snake man, he… he finished you. We thought you were dead… he fought us and, well, he mostly fought Sasuke. While Sasuke was fighting the man, Sasuke's Sharingan activated! But even then, he defeated Sasuke as well and bit him. The weirdo BIT Sasuke, on the neck! It left some weird, glowing tattoo or seal but I've never seen anything like it. Sasuke passed out from it and the snake man left. I brought Sasuke safely to the ground, and searched for you as well. I found you in pretty bad condition, I was almost sure you had a few broken bones, but you seem fine now… I found this hollow tree for us to recuperate in. You've been unconscious for over a day. Right before you awakened, those Sound genin came here and wanted to fight Sasuke, but I couldn't allow them to. I fought them and did pretty… poorly. Luckily I had allies to assist," Sakura explained. Naruto nodded. "Also, there's a creek right over there, if you want to wash up or anything. I'll be tending to Sasuke." Naruto nodded once more, before beginning to set up basic traps around the encampment to prevent further intrusions. When he finished, and before he went to wash up at the creek, he heard Sakura say something just barely audible to him, "Naruto, I never knew… those scars..." Naruto replied shortly and coldly before going to the water source nearby, "And you still don't," letting Sakura know she wasn't allowed to tell anyone else what tales his face told…

He came back fresh, rejuvenated, although still feeling a bit cool and weaker than normal, and his senses still seemed a bit restrained, but his mind still seemed so vividly clear, as if a faint shroud had been removed. He found Sakura inside the tree stump tending to Sasuke. He quickly adorned his spare clothing from his satchel, as the clothing he was wearing previously was bloodstained and ripped. Once he seemed like new, he noticed Sasuke stirring, much to Sakura's pleasure. "What… why does my neck hurt…?" Sasuke first moaned out, barely conscious. "Sasuke, try not to worry too much about it… please. The snake man bit you on the neck and it left some sort of tattoo or seal…" Sakura tried to ease the news unto him, but he didn't take it well. "What!?" echoed through the forest from a very unhappy genin.

It was late in the day, the sun beginning to dip below what little horizon could be seen, and darkness befalling the world. Team seven had been travelling all day, and strangely enough they nearly stumbled upon other squads, which would have been bad considering the condition of the two fighters on the team. Naruto could barely make out their presences from ten yards away, so more than once they were nearly attacked, and saved only by quick reflexes and clone distractions. The tower could be seen in the distance, barely, and the team of genin, being tired, beaten, and unable to continue for much more, made haste toward their destination. Although without Naruto's detection field working properly, none of them realized they were being followed…

"We're so close!" Sakura squealed, annoying her two team members, although they, too, were glad to some extent that this portion of the test would be over and done with. "Yes, and once we arrive I can have this neck seal looked at…" Sasuke added. They thought wrong. A dark feeling plagued the edge of Sasuke's senses, and before he could react, Naruto barely had time to warn them, "Move!" The three jumped away from each other where a hail of crossbow bolts immediately plagued the ground, the genin knew had they not moved they would be pincushions. They looked for the source of the attack, seeing a squad of Ame ninja walking out of the shrubbery on the ground, one of them holding a very nasty looking crossbow, which he was reloading. "Give up your scrolls now, Konoha trash, and we'll consider going easy on you," their leader asked, his hand outstretched in the common 'give me' motion. Sakura shouted back, "Yeah right! You should give up now and leave while you can!" Sasuke growled low as his eyes turned to red and black swirls, the notorious Sharingan. The young man growled beneath his rebreather before nodding and his two subordinates went to work. One of them disappeared into the mud, the other aimed his crossbow, and the leader held his ground, not moving. Sakura moved to hide behind a tree, the place where she was standing a second earlier now coated with bolts. Naruto made straight for Sasuke and pushed him out of the way, toward the crossbow-wielding enemy, before the other ninja burst from the earth below, now before Naruto, who reared back and released a massive blow, which combined with his metal gauntlets left quite the impression with the Ame ninja, who was literally knocked out from one hit to his head.

Sasuke, using Naruto's throw, straightened himself in the air as the ninja he was speeding towards shot bolts at him. A few tore at his body, but with his Sharingan he was able to deflect and dodge most. Sasuke landed on the Ame ninja, and landed blows on him repeatedly. The ninja seemed to rely on his crossbow far too much, meaning his melee skills were less than a match for the prodigy. With a final kick, Sasuke launched the ninja into the air, jumped up after him, and landed an axe kick which sent his enemy speeding into the ground below, obviously unable to fight further.

The leader still stood, unfazed. Before Naruto or Sasuke attempted attacking him, however, Sakura appeared near him, within the bushes, and launched shuriken at him. Apparently she was useful after all. Naruto watched, waiting for his enemy to fall like the two before him… as the shuriken passed through the ninja and he leapt out of the way. He realized what was happening when Sakura screamed and Sasuke shouted for Naruto. The Ame ninja appeared from the ground behind him and ran Naruto through with a blade. Naruto fell to his knees, not even turning to see his attacker, before he disappeared with a poof and a stabbed log appeared in his place. Naruto was in the bushes panting, exertion shrouded over him in a way he'd never known before. He'd never been this tired, this slow, this dulled during combat. It was frightening to him. He would have nearly died if it wasn't for his advanced experience from training with the Hokage. Sakura calmed herself and pulled out more shuriken and kunai, prepared to engage the enemy from afar and not allow him to get close to her. Sasuke entered his preferred battle stance, Sharingan active and spinning in a vortex of crimson and blackness. Sasuke charged at the Ame ninja, who held his blade at the ready, when suddenly a dozen sprung up from the earth between him and the charging Konoha prodigy, who didn't even cease his charge, and began battling the closest ones. Sakura watched in awe as Sasuke dived, spun, flipped, and otherwise dodged the attacks while countering with his own brutal kicks and hits, causing the clones to disperse into globs of mud. He was nicked a few times, blood and torn clothing making him seem that much more amazing to the girl, who apparently forgot she was holding weapons that would help her comrade. Before Sasuke arrived at the backing Ame ninja, who was about to call upon more mud clones, Sasuke jumped backwards, surprising the Ame ninja who stood still… before his chest exploded outwards, causing Sakura to scream and widen her eyes, and Sasuke scowled in slight disgust. Naruto used his special chakra bullet ability to take care of the situation while Sasuke kept him occupied. Naruto emerged from the flora, tired, panting, shaking. He checked all the bodies for scrolls and supplies, walking past Sasuke and Sakura, before motioning for them to follow him to the tower. They left the carnage behind, the two unconscious Ame ninja destined to wake up and find their team mate ruined before them.

They arrived at the tower within half an hour, it was at least eleven o'clock, and all three genin were absolutely exhausted. It was inside that they found… nothing. A large room with a sign, upon which was written a rather interesting metaphorical riddle regarding heaven and earth, the trio easily realizing it was about the heaven and earth scrolls. Once opened, they realized it was a summoning scroll, and before they knew it, Kakashi stood before them, looking as indifferent as ever. "Greetings my students, it seems you have successfully treaded the great forest dreaded, and decrypted the rather simplistic riddle above. And, it just so seems that the lucky duty of this jounin is to tell you what's next. You guys actually did fairly well; it's only been three days. There's still a couple days' time remaining, so why don't you go rest up in the barracks? Take this key upstairs. There's food, warm water, and soft beds, which I'm sure you all miss. There's a gym that a few of the genin have been using to train, if you're so inclined… Otherwise, great job, guys. You did really well. And now that's taken care of. Sasuke, we need to talk in private. Sakura, Naruto, take this key to the room upstairs for team seven, rest." Kakashi pressed for them to take their leave, as he led Sasuke down a separate hallway.

Naruto could feel Sakura was tense, although not nearly as obnoxious as usual, due to her silence, surprisingly. They arrived at the room where Sakura left him immediately heading for the shower and locking it loud enough for Naruto to hear. Naruto on the other hand simply removed his cloak, hood, satchel and belts so that he could rest on one of the beds. He fell asleep shortly, his mind wandering, his spirit draining slowly as he considered himself growing weaker ever since that battle with the snake…

"Anko, is your seal aching much as of late?" asked the aged Hokage worriedly to the purple-haired woman in his office. "Yeah… It's not hurting nearly as much since you've helped, Hokage-sama…" she answered, sighing as she gently massaged the recently tended-to tattoo on her shoulder. "Hokage-sama, you know that… this means without a doubt that..." the Hokage interrupted her with a slight wave of his hand, silencing her. After a moment of silence, he sighed loudly, slowly, exasperated. He motioned toward the scarred man in the black trench coat and a couple of higher ranked masked ANBU. "Anko, Ibiki, I want you to continue monitoring the exams, and if you see or hear ANYTHING, you will call for backup and let me know as soon as possible, but keep this quiet, keep this clean, we don't want the enemy to know what we know." Anko and Ibiki nodded solemnly. "The rest of you… I want full ANBU updates on the hour, constantly. Something is going on here, and with Orochimaru around, I don't want chances to be taken. I want all ANBU notified post-haste, but covertly. We have a delicate situation… I pray for our own sakes that we can prevail…"

It was late at night, or early in the morning, Naruto knew exactly not, due to only the dull blackness he could see through the window in the room. In the faint outline of the night's pale light, he could make out on the other beds in the room two other breathing figures, and he could hear them as well. One was slightly silhouetted in pink, in the other in dark blue or black, Sakura and Sasuke respectively. He felt so weak, but he could not sleep any further this night, his natural instincts keeping him from sleeping any more than six to seven hours at a time. He arose, clad in his shirt, pants, and scarf only, and left the room silently, not alerting his team mates. In the hallway, although his senses were dulled as compared to what he was used to, he could still hear or otherwise sense other genin squads in the surrounding rooms, but he knew not where his sensei or any other jounin would be. He went onward, exploring the tower alone in the darkness, searching for someone who may or may not be able to take him to the Hokage…

"Gaara, are you well? You've been… off recently," asked a blonde girl to a rather distressed looking red-headed boy, whose eyes were twitching along with the corner of his mouth. He and his two siblings were present during the Rookie Nine event that took place directly before the first exam, and since then, his siblings have noticed how much more off he was, how stressed he seemed to be, and even though he barely spoke, as of late he spoke even less. "I'm fine, Temari…" trailed the red-head, growling slightly. "Gaara, we all know something is up. Let us know what the problem is, bro. We're here as a team, and-" the war-paint covered boy was cut off by the red head, aptly named Gaara, "I said I'm FINE. Silence yourself, Kankuro…" The red head was growling darkly, twitching more and sweating. His siblings knew not that he could feel something, somebody more dangerous than even the snake that his country and father had secretly allied with. He could feel a powerful bijuu in the exam, even though he couldn't pinpoint the source, he suspected that powerful cloaked lad from earlier that silenced the entire room with his aura alone was the purpose of his tenant's rather bloodlust-like attitude as of late…

"Zaku, what was that!? Why didn't you protect us while you had the chance! You saw him before I did; you could have prevented my defeat, and these new damn scars on me… You are absolutely worthless, almost as terribly useless as Kin, here. You two should be beyond dignified at how much Orochimaru-sama trusted us, and we failed. What do you think he thinks of us now? What do you think!?" shouted Dosu at his team mates, furious with the fiasco in the forest, they had just barely made it before nightfall. They stood in their room with the door closed, trying not to alert others who may be eavesdropping, but Dosu was nowhere near finished. "Kin, your genjutsu could have prevented all of this. Why didn't you use it? What do you think we were trained for all that time for? To NOT use our abilities? Konoha trash defeated us, are you proud of this? You sicken me." A thud was heard along with a female's whimper, a punch perhaps. "You two… you know what Orochimaru-sama wants. We will not fail him again. We will kill Sasuke Uchiha, or die trying, damn it. We have to finish our task before the finals, you know…" trailed off the mummified Dosu character. Quieted whispers were heard from inside the room, a dark figure outside the doorway listening intently to the whole conversation. Without being able to hear another word, Naruto left the door silently, not wanting to alert his targets to his presence. Now he really had to find the Hokage. He continued climbing flights of stairs, upwards…

The Hokage stood before the jounin audience upstairs, consisting of only the Konoha ninja, as the foreign ninja were currently being kept in their private rooms. A few ANBU were with him, along with Anko. He just finished explaining the direness of the situation, about how Orochimaru is planning something. Suddenly one of the ANBU standing near him tensed and whispered into the Hokage's ear, stopping what he was saying to the austere jounin, solemn with the knowledge that they would probably have to face a ninja that could easily kill them all. The Hokage motioned as his ANBU immediately moved to intercept whatever eavesdropper may have been outside the door to the room. His ANBU were so skilled, able to detect even a silenced person outside of the room, due to the person being unable to mask their chakra signature… the Hokage didn't prepare for any fight, knowing this was a rookie mistake, and probably a genin, but the jounin sensei in the room stood from their places and drew their weapons, just in case, as they were all surprised to see Naruto escorted in. "Naruto, my boy… it seems we may have heard more than we needed, eh?" asked the Hokage, knowingly, understandingly, but with a tone that displayed a bit of expectance. "I think, Jiji, that it is I who you need to see now…" A few jounin around the room raised their eyebrows, wondering what a genin, even a prodigious one, would know about the situation. "I intercepted Orochimaru in the forest and overheard about a plan involving him." The room was silent, and the Hokage's bleak visage grew grimmer, but pleased that his pupil had the skill to relay this directly to him.

"Well, Naruto let us know. You've overheard quite a bit of our situation, apparently. You know we know only that Orochimaru is potentially impersonating the Grass team, and Anko's mark has been hurting a bit more as of late, as we all know that means Orochimaru is nearby… Now what is it you know that we do not? How exactly did you engage him? Was it him, without a doubt?"

"Hokage-sama," began Naruto with a grim tone, no different than usual, really. "Team seven was participating in the exam when a single grass ninja attacked us, summoning a large violet snake to kill us, but it was exterminated by my hand." The jounin and even an ANBU gasped lightly, not ever hearing of a genin being able to destroy one of Orochimaru's pets, much less a summoned snake. "During the engagement with the actual ninja, part of his face sloughed off, revealing it was a dead skin mask as I anticipated from the scent. He was a pale man, golden eyes with slit pupils, purple makeup, long black hair, and sounds quite similar to the snake Sannin's portrayal. I engaged him in melee combat, and used my chakra bullet on him once, but he dodged it easily. He was much faster than any previous opponent I have faced… he easily made short work of me. He used some sort of sealing jutsu on my stomach, which since then has severely impacted my skills, but seems to have… cleared my head a bit, so to speak. I was out cold from whatever seal he used, and woke up a day later to save my team from the sound team, while Sasuke was unconscious and Sakura was incapacitated. Sasuke was apparently given a different seal by Orochimaru as well, from a bite." Anko blanched at this, and Kakashi tensed, feeling a few eyes on him. "And just a few minutes ago, looking for Konoha jounin, I stumbled upon a shouting match in the sound ninja room, which I felt compelled to eavesdrop on. They were given a mission by Orochimaru directly, they were to kill Sasuke. And this suggests that Orochimaru has a strong connection to Otogakure…" The jounin were amazed at how this genin's information gathering was so resound, especially compared to the little they knew. Immediately however, wasting no time, the Hokage turned to Kakashi and inquired seriously, "Kakashi, did you know of this? Have you seen Sasuke's mark? Is it…" Kakashi sighed. "Yes, Hokage-sama, I re-sealed it, using the same counter-seal you use on Anko, and it's a new kind I've never seen before," explained the white-haired man. Anko sighed, knowing how this would turn out badly… "Naruto, I thank you for relaying this information to us, truly. I have some other things to discuss with you momentarily, would you wait a moment, my boy?" Naruto nodded and stepped just outside the room with one ANBU to wait patiently, slowly nursing his bleeding face beneath his scarf as best he could; the ANBU watched not knowing what the boy was doing. Naruto hated speaking, but at times it was a necessary pain…

Naruto was later alone in the room with the Hokage, a couple ANBU, and Inoichi Yamanaka, the other jounin having already left to do their duties. "Naruto, I want you to tell me exactly what you experienced when Orochimaru produced the counter-seal. Tell me exactly how you feel different, and let me see your new seal," the Hokage wasted no time in ordering, Naruto lifting his shirt, showing the basic seal with a new, intricate five-point seal over it. "Jiji, I… when he hit me with this jutsu, I instantly blacked out from the pain, and fell several hundreds of feet from the tree. When I awoke, I felt so much… weaker than normal, as if I've not slept for days, but my mind seems clear, as if I was enshrouded before the seal. I feel exposed, Jiji..." explained Naruto. "Naruto," Inoichi began, "how exactly do you feel 'clear' now?" The Hokage stayed quiet, prodding and studying the seal, but listening intently. "I can't explain it, Inoichi-san. It's as if I was slightly drunk without knowing it for the longest time, and now everything feels more vivid, more sharp, but… Not as sharp. It's hard to explain…" The older blonde nodded to Sarutobi who sighed. "Well, my boy, it seems that this seal did, in fact, repress much of your power… Naruto, it's time to tell you the truth…" The boy looked up questioningly. "You know the legend of the Kyuubi, the great nine-tailed demon fox that nearly destroyed our village?" The boy nodded. "Well, being unable to defeat it, the Yondaime did the only thing he could possibly do to cease its attack—he sealed it into a child. A baby, a newborn to be precise, had to be used to seal the fox away… and that child was you, Naruto…" Sarutobi trailed off, watching the boy's exposed features crease slightly, whether in confusion, distress, or anger he could not know. "And as of the last few years, Inoichi here has been studying you from what we could gleam, and we both have made the same hypothesis: the demon fox inside of you is slowly corrupting you. The blanket that you couldn't detect until your demonic powers were sealed was that beast's influence and power surging through you. Without it, you are more normal, less aggressive from what we think, but less powerful than what you may be accustomed to, and you most likely would heal less quickly." Naruto stared blankly; neither of the two elder ninja talking to him knew what he thought at this point. "Naruto, I'm going to offer this, and it is your choice," Sarutobi began, and Naruto looked him dead in the eye with his own cold gaze. "I can unseal this counter-seal, giving your powers and strengths back, but of course you would be altered by the beast again. Or you can choose to accept yourself as a human and learn to live and excel in your limitations." Inoichi gazed quietly, hoping that what little humanity the boy may have had left would realize the ethical option…

"I want it back, Jiji. It's the only way to make you proud; I am not strong enough without it."

The Hokage, god amongst men, shed a single unseen tear, yet again, for the same child. Inoichi sighed inwardly, knowing this choice was Naruto's alone, and that it would lead the boy to ruin, as power oft does.

"Very well, my boy. Know that I am proud of you no matter what choices you make, and that I am always here for you should you need anything, as is Inoichi. Please hold still, Naruto," Sarutobi said lowly, preparing a rather complicated chain of hand seals before five seals appeared over his hand that he slammed into the recently acquired seal from Orochimaru. Naruto screamed as Inoichi and the ANBU watched and waited. After only a blindingly agonizing moment of torture, Naruto stopped, the seal released, and something was immediately noted to be different. His very aura had changed instantly, very different than he was before the encounter with Orochimaru. It was darker, more stifling, more powerful, his eyes now a dull crimson stared at the ninja around him with an expression akin to a hunter to its prey… "Thank you, Hokage-sama," Naruto stressed rather disrespectfully, much different than normally. The men looked shocked at this disrespectful outburst from the boy, knowing this wasn't him, but the beast within him. Something had happened, something worsened in the boy, although to him, he would say something strengthened. "I… must retire. I feel fatigued yet again. Jiji, I will make you proud in the final exam," he said before departing quickly, the demonic stifling presence slowly drifting away. The Hokage gasped as it left entirely, Inoichi still silenced with shock, stared at the Hokage. "Hokage-sama… what have we unleashed?"

Untrue to his word, Naruto headed straight for the training room in the tower, as it was still a day away from the end of the exam, and the sun had already risen, preventing him from sleeping anyway. With his powers regained, and slightly even more vivid than he realized, he didn't even feel a bit tired. He felt more empowered than ever before, and Naruto wished to test this against some training dummies.

Only hours later, other genin began pouring into the training room immediately and simultaneously, expecting it to be empty, but what they were greeted with instead of the clean and kempt training room from only a few hours ago was a torn and demolished room, with a panting Naruto still in it clad in minimal gear aggressively attacking a wooden post, which looked ready to topple like the others had. The genin were awed to say the least, leaving the room intact only a few hours prior. "Naruto, what the hell did you do, you idiot!? This room was for all of us, not your personal demolition derby!" shouted a rather annoyed Kiba at Naruto's negligence of the public training room. Naruto was facing away from them while attacking the post, but stopped as one last swipe sent it flying toward the wall, shattering it. It was silent for but a moment before he turned slowly, the genin gasping as they saw an eerie dull crimson glow from his eyes, which were now a dull crimson instead of icy blue. "Care to repeat that, Kiba?" he questioned with a rasp, the genin shivered at his voice which belayed something darker. They couldn't shake the feeling of dread and paranoia. Hinata was nearly ready to pass out, along with some weaker looking Suna and Ame ninja, who were all shivering with fear. Naruto scoffed and walked past all of them slowly, the tension rising as even Kiba silenced himself. "You aren't worth the time, idiot," Naruto whispered, before disappearing from view, the oppressive aura dispersing.

It had been hours, nearly midafternoon at this point, and Naruto hungered, after not eating for a few days' time. He made quickly for team seven's room, hoping his "team" wasn't there so he could feast in privacy. Without even having his chakra field active, he could sense nearly as well as he could with it activated, he could feel the very presences of the weak trash around him, pacing back and forth in their rooms, or doing other… unmentionable things, in one case that made Naruto want to hurl from the oppressive musk his sensitive nostrils sensed from outside the room. He continued to his room where, gladly, no annoyances were present. He tore into the room and slammed the door shut, not knowing why he was being as aggressive as of late, but not caring in the least. In the food compartment of their room, he found loads of delicious food, albeit slightly stale from last night when Sakura must have eaten last. He ate it quickly, absolutely famished from his tribulations as of late. Not five minutes later, all the food, which was a rather respectable amount of food, was eaten by the now contented Naruto. Not a moment too soon, either, as he felt the presences of his annoying team mates fast approaching, one's aura seemingly pained, the other annoyed. He quickly donned his mask that he had to temporarily discard while eating, before facing the now opening door to face his team mates.

"Naruto, what did you do to the training room? All of the other genin are pissed at us now because of you-" Sakura began her abhorrent ranting before Naruto uncharacteristically silenced her with words rather than a motion. "Sakura, shut up." Both she and Sasuke looked taken aback, never hearing Naruto say that before, nor knowing him to say anything if actions or motions could be used. "Naruto, what has gotten into you? You're acting different…" Sasuke inquired slowly, as to not raise the ire of their rather hostile associate. "Sasuke, nothing is wrong with me, nothing more than is wrong with you," he said coldly. This ended the "conversation" as Naruto walked past them to walk around the tower. He simply spent his time tracking people stealthily down the hallways, running into people, acting so much more volatile that by the time Naruto retired that night, nearly all the genin were frightened out of their mind, thinking some bastard Konoha ninja would slay them in their sleep without mercy.

It was early the next morn when a light siren wailed to wake up all the genin, signaling the end of the second exam, before a radio buzzed on, ordering all genin to the entrance hall downstairs with their teams. Without a moment to spare, even for breakfast for poor, starving Sakura, they made haste toward the hall, Naruto just itching for a fight, hoping he would get one. Once all teams were assembled in the dreary, stifling hall, the Hokage stepped up to explain how only the teams with all three members were allowed to stay, and any who weren't ready to continue onward could leave voluntarily, not endangering their team's chances. Kabuto quit, surprisingly, but left Naruto totally unfazed. Then the Hokage went to explain about how these exams were not only to prove one's strength, but were to cement allied relationships with other countries by making new friends. Many genin scoffed, slightly annoying the Hokage. The Hokage then called up a chunin, Genma, to explain what was to happen next.

"Alright guys, it seems due to the relative strength of the teams this year, or the lack of any good challenges," he coughed while Anko off to the side seemed a bit irked, "too many genin have made it this far. As you all know, nobles and important figures from around the world will arrive to see the strength of the prodigies competing this year, so to keep the tournament short, sweet, and to the point, we've decided to have preliminaries to lessen the amount of fights in the true finals." Many genin gasped, groaned, or otherwise protested. "Yes, and it is here in this room where the matches will be fought. When I call your names, step onto the arena, as for everyone else, join your sensei along the spectator booths. First match is… Naruto Uzumaki versus Kiba Inuzuka. Everyone else, clear the arena. We're keeping this clean, guys, when I say stop the match and when I call a winner, you WILL stop the match, or you will forfeit your spot in the competition. If killing is the only means of victory, then so be it, but know that you will not be forfeited for killing your enemy unless I already call off the match. Do you understand?" Naruto and Kiba nodded as they were the last standing on the battleground. "Well then, fight!" Genma jumped out of the way to not interfere in the battle as Kiba and his partner dog Akamaru entered a taijutsu stance to combat the cloaked boy who chuckled lightly.

"What are you laughing at, Naruto? Too scared to forfeit?" Kiba smirked as he taunted, causing the dark chuckling to increase slightly. Naruto died down and quieted as Kiba and Akamaru rushed towards him. Naruto did not hesitate and dodged the first attack, before hopping and rolling over Kiba as he made for a low attack, Naruto not having raised his hands yet. "What the… damn you Naruto! Fang Passing Fang!" Kiba and Akamaru blurred into tornados of raw power as they charged towards Naruto who simply dodged again, annoyed. Before Kiba and Akamaru could react, the place where Naruto was standing exploded, sending both flying from such a basic trap. "Akamaru, we can't let him catch us off guard again!" They charged again with their Fang technique, not fazing Naruto in the least. Before they impacted him, Naruto threw down a smoke bomb and shrouded himself from view, leaving Kiba and Akamaru outside the smoke cloud, wondering where he would exit from. Without warning, a loud boom echoed, and Akamaru was sent flying into the wall of the arena, causing spectators to gasp.

"What just happened?" Kurenai questioned, worried for her student while looking at Kakashi for answers. The grey-haired man shrugged and responded: "I don't know Kurenai. I can't see through smoke," at which the female ninja scoffed, and returned her attention downward, worried along with her team for Kiba.

"Sasuke, did you see that? What did he do…?" Sakura asked, while Sasuke stared, his mouth open slightly in awe, not knowing how to answer.

Akamaru barely had time to pick himself up before Naruto charged out of the cloud of smoke opposite of Kiba, so that Kiba could not see him, and beat down the poor ninja dog mercilessly, causing loud whimpers to echo before Kiba rushed through the smoke at Naruto, screaming for his partner. Naruto effortlessly chucked the severely wounded dog at Kiba, who caught him and landed roughly to keep the dog safe from further harm, and laid him down on the floor to rest momentarily as Kiba returned his full, undivided attention toward his enemy. He screamed as he rushed the cloaked boy, who didn't move to dodge. Kurenai looked worried, and even Kakashi and Guy and Asuma watched slightly bothered, not knowing what would happen. In a flash, it ended. Before Kiba could strike, Naruto caught the boy by his neck and lifted him off the ground. Kiba struggled in the literal iron grip of the metal gauntlet, blood slightly dripping from his neck where the claws rent at his flesh. He choked, slowly, struggling to get free and defeat this force, sadly even he knew he had no chance. Naruto treated him as a puppet and disposed of his partner in less than two minutes. He was sure to be doomed. He continued to struggle when he heard his sensei scream for him to forfeit.

Kurenai watched as Naruto picked the boy up, not even struggling a bit to lift him, and watched worriedly as blood dripped slightly. Then she saw the other clawed gauntlet reared back, ready to disembowel the boy who could not see it, as his face was held upward by the other fist of Naruto. She screamed for him to forfeit before it was too late.

"Sensei," Kiba gasped, barely able to breath, "I can take him on, I won't forfeit-" Kiba was cut off as Naruto heard all he needed to hear, he plunged his free hand into the abdomen of Kiba, who screamed loudly before Naruto released his grip on Kiba's neck, only keeping the dog boy above ground by the hand in his abdomen. The spectators, particularly the Konoha ninja, gasped loudly, and Ino screamed for her friend's life. The Hokage watched with horror as his grandson-like figure coldly murdered his fellow Konoha ninja and academy graduate. Inoichi, too, watched with shock, knowing full and well this was due to the Kyuubi's stronger influence as of late. Anko, although she was used to seeing death, watched sickeningly as one man killed his ally, no better than a wild animal.

Naruto chucked the body before Genma could call the match, watching with sick glee as the limp body of Kiba cracked awkwardly loud against the wall of the arena, leaving a massive splatter of blood, before slumping to the ground with a fist-sized hole in his chest, his eyes open and glazed with the cold embrace of death. Only a moment later, after a brief period of silence, Naruto walked out of the arena, to the spectator's area, where people shuffled out of his way so he could stand alone, nobody near him, as he dripped fresh blood from his body that wasn't his own. Genma needed not call for anyone; medics appeared in a moment of their own volition moments later to take the corpse and the still-living, but unconscious dog. "Winner… The winner is Naruto. Next is…"

Naruto didn't even pay attention. He was so adrenalized from the rush of battle and blood he could not focus, he merely basked in the scent and feel of his opponent's blood, something he'd never done before, but with the feeling he was getting, he surely would not mind doing it again. Nearby, Kakashi shivered, not seeing such merciless killing of allies since the Uchiha massacre. The arena was dead silent except for the sounds of the combatants.

Gaara watched with glee, at the first match, not feeling so excited for a battle in so long. His mother wanted to come out and play with this Naruto boy now, but he had to wait for the opportune moment…

"Well, it seems you all have passed with flying colors, and it seems you are all ready for the finals," Genma began explaining after all matches had finished. Notables among the survivors of the preliminaries included Gaara, Sasuke, Neji, and a few others. Genma continued after a short pause, "The finals will commence in a month's time, at the grand arena in the Konoha main district. Until then, you are all allowed to train and prepare for your opponents in the finals, and until then, we all wish you luck."

The genin had returned to their sensei for the most part, and their teams, discussing what could be done to prepare. Naruto left his team and Kakashi in his overbearing wake, returning to the forest of death, ready to route through it at top speed and return to his humble abode to prepare alone for his trial.

It was later the same day, after the genin potentials had left the forest and returned to their homes, or in a few cases temporary living quarters, to rest after the totally exhausting tests within the last few days. Well, in most cases, that is. A ghostly figure was awake, and quite active, weaving through the trees in the training grounds late this night, training of course. It was through a crystal orb that this was seen in the Hokage's rather dark office, as Sarutobi sat, hatless and distraught, among a gathering of quite a few people. He sighs, thinking about the counter seal he applied to Naruto, knowing that it was his fault Naruto lost control and thus led to this situation. Before him was a fuming group of Inuzuka, begging for the boy's blood. And it was at the forefront of this throng that the most voracious and powerful leader of the Inuzuka stood, Tsume Inuzuka, the mother of the recently deceased Kiba.

"Hokage-sama, you know this is madness! That bastard child killed my only son, and you won't take action? You know he made the choice to do that, he could've just as easily incapacitated Kiba otherwise! And now my son is dead because of that waste of space…"

"Tsume, I know what Naruto did was absolutely uncalled for! But according to the parameters of this exam, and the waivers they signed, they knew they could have died! Those were the risks when Kiba entered, and there was as good a chance as any that he would've died by another's hand if not Naruto's!" the Hokage argued, defending his rules, his examinee, and his student.

"Hokage… sama…" Tsume growled, "I will exact a terrible and utterly inescapable vengeance upon that child if you do not fix this situation in a way that satisfies me. Keep in mind…" Tsume continued threateningly, "I am the head of an entire clan, and he's just one boy. Keep that in mind when you make your choice, Hokage-sama…" Tsume growled one final time and stormed out of the room, snarling Inuzuka and ninja-dogs following her.

The Hokage sighed, knowing that Naruto was putting him in the most difficult of places, between rocks and hard places. It was then that the Hokage did what he vowed never to do. He broke out the sake he kept in his lowest drawer in his desk and drank, unsparingly. Minutes after the heated affair, he felt a presence at his window behind him. Years of training immediately left his senses screaming at him to attack, but he knew this presence felt familiar, and unaggressive, but powerful and wise. "Jiraiya, you've arrived finally." An old man, although younger than the Hokage, was sitting at the window, wearing an odd green and red suit with long white hair.

"Yes, sensei…" Jiraiya started, but faltered in the midst of beginning his next sentence. "Sensei, I've heard about what Naruto did. What's happened to him over the years? What exactly caused this? I looked over Minato's seal, it was perfected. There's no reason he should be acting out so vehemently… without reason."

The Hokage sighed and drank again. "Jiraiya, you've been gone for a long, long while… Things have changed much since you've left, and not exactly for the better. I'm sure you heard through the grapevine about the…" Sarutobi paused momentarily and drank again before continuing, "Orochimaru incident." At the mention of Orochimaru, Jiraya growled. "I've heard what I needed to. My spies didn't know about this, I only learned once I returned that he has successfully infiltrated the village. What have you done about this sensei?" The Hokage finished off his bottle of liquor before standing and walking to the window next to his aged pupil. "Jiraiya, there is nothing I could do at the moment and you know that. We don't know who his allies are, if any, yet. Arresting anyone at this point would be… political suicide, at best. And although we have somewhat reliable information regarding his possible connection to the village of Sound, we aren't positive. Doing anything, as I said, is a very bad move with our allies' connections as tense as they already are." Jiraiya understood, but persisted nonetheless. "Then what will you do? You know he's after high-level targets, such as the apparent heir to the Uchiha throne. And he may as well be here after you and me, and possibly the Kazekage." The Hokage turned a tired eye towards his pupil. "And it is going to be when we discover his motives and his next move that we make ours. We are busy preparing a counter-attack; all Jounin and ANBU are prepared for the worst, at any moment."

They both turned toward the city, the perfect portrait of a good life, they watched for a few moments the flickering lights of night life, the occasional crowd of people, the bustle of restaurants and bars. The sky was a bit dark this night, although the clouds were coming and going, silhouetting buildings in pale light before the light dispersed momentarily.

"Sensei, you never told me about Naruto."

The Hokage sighed again. "Jiraiya, you know as well as I what's happened to Naruto, what's happened to every Jinchuriki. You know what these people have done to the boy." Jiraiya's eyes seemed to flicker with anger before he spitefully responded. "And you let it be so?" The Hokage quickly retorted with a rebuttal. You know I didn't. I did what I could for him, but for the most part, you know what happened to him would have happened inevitably. You know that…" Jiraiya again responded spitefully. "You didn't do enough, apparently. I would risk title, life, and limb for the boy, whereas you apparently didn't." The Hokage sighed again. "Jiraiya, you know you old fool that as Hokage-" he was interrupted by Jiraiya's interruption, less spiteful and more humble. "I know, sensei, I know…"

"Just… tell me what happened, sensei. Tell me what happened to him. Tell me why he did that to the Inuzuka boy."

"Jiraiya, he's been tortured over the course of his young life. He's gone through physically and mentally traumatic experiences, but has always returned, ready to do what needs to be done to the best of his abilities. He always heals from every wound, even if they leave scars. You and I know this isn't natural; it's either him repressing himself, keeping his darkest emotions at bay… Or himself being repressed by the Kyuubi. He's not right, Jiraiya, and it pains me to say it. I've had Inoichi helping me with Naruto's psyche for a while now, but even then… I think Naruto has only become worse with time. Not to mention Naruto faced Orochimaru a few days ago, fought him, and survived."

Jiraiya perked up, eyes widened in disbelief.

"Exactly my response, Jiraiya… Although during that entanglement, Naruto was given an inhibitor seal by Orochimaru, a seal that drastically reduced Naruto's powers given by the Kyuubi. I thought this was an improvement, but Naruto told me how weak he felt, how open and vulnerable. I gave him a choice, to live with this inhibitor or to take it off and regain his powers." Jiraiya's eyes narrowed slightly, knowing the answer he feared the most. "He chose power, Jiraiya. He said he chose power because it was the only way to make me proud, that it was the only way he could be strong." The Hokage exhaled deeply, a pressure like no other he bore on his shoulders, alone. "He had since become more aggressive than usual, and more powerful. It was during the preliminaries where he murdered Kiba Inuzuka in cold blood, due to the unsealing of the inhibitor. It was overly violent, as well, not a clean, precise kill, but a powerful, messy massacre. Even after his opponent was dead, he threw the boy clear across the arena into a stone wall, and shattered it, Jiraiya… What-what have I done?"

Jiraiya's face was a strange contortion of anger and pity, but a frown nonetheless. "I think that you fucked up, sensei, and that's all. You shouldn't have offered that unsealing to Naruto. Now we have a possibly demon-influenced homicidal maniac, who is possibly invincible, and he's being allowed to kill as a living. What did you do sensei? You created a mess of things. It may not have been intentional, mind you, and I don't blame you for it all, but you fucked up Minato's only prodigy, who's now possibly going to be decommissioned at the age of fourteen or killed. I heard those Inuzuka. They want his blood, and that was because you unsealed him. That was possibly the only chance we would ever have to bring him back from the precipice of madness, but instead, you allowed him to have his powers back, the one thing you should have ever refused him."

The Hokage was silent, staring into the shadowy outlines of the Hokage monument, a cliff that surrounded the north part of the village with the four faces of the four Kage etched into the stone. Jiraiya knew he was looking at Minato's blank, stone visage.

"Sensei, I'm not going to let him go. I'm not going to let Orochimaru have a chance to kill him again, and I won't give the Inuzuka the opportunity. His life is already going off course, so what we do now won't change his probable future, and all we can do is help him. I'm going to give him his gifts from his father. I'm going to give him his legacy. Tell Kakashi that he won't have to train Naruto for the finals, because I am personally going to see to it that the boy will not fail any confrontation, ever."

"Jiraiya, Kakashi isn't even going to train him. He was going to train Sasuke in the art of the Sharingan, since he only recently acquired it. And Sasuke needs to learn to control that new seal from Orochimaru."

"Yes, regarding that sensei…" Jiraiya muttered, "You know what he wants. You know why he wants Sasuke… You know we have to keep an eye on him."

"Of course, Jiraiya, I have it covered. ANBU will watch the boy day and night, nobody, and I mean nobody, is going to see Sasuke Uchiha without me knowing. It simply bewilders me why Orochimaru would send the Sound team to kill Sasuke if he wants Sasuke alive…"

"That's simple, sensei. Orochimaru wants to know firsthand how powerful Sasuke is by engaging him in a fight against his most powerful genin, seems like something Orochimaru would do, anyway, just an inference. In any case, I'm off, now. I'll talk to Naruto in the morning, I need to rest from my travel, and I'm sure you need to rest as well. I'll let you know how Naruto is doing."

Jiraiya left on a rather aggressive but understanding tone, jumping from the window sill to a nearby building before disappearing from sight in the gloom of night. The Hokage stood silently at the window only for a moment before returning to his desk. He put his crystal orb away, and retired to his home for the night. However, far away from the Hokage's tower, a presence felt his presence disperse. Naruto's "suggestive" thoughts in the back of his head told him that he was no longer being observed, and so he decided to do some reconnaissance on some of his potential enemies, now that nobody was watching. Naruto stopped his training for the night, finished beating trees to pulp when he donned his cloak and took off towards town. He was outside the village walls training, so when he arrived at the closest part of town, he simply jumped over the village wall and landed on a civilian roof, not alerting the patrolling Jounin and Chunin on the wall to his "infiltration". He advanced slowly toward the visitors' residency area, not alerting the expert patrols to his presence, which was rather odd considering security was increased for the exam. Naruto didn't notice that it wasn't their lack of skill that kept him hidden, but an actual subconscious increase in his own.

It was the first building he arrived at in the foreign quarter of the village, the first presence he could practically smell was the Sound team, the ones that he fought off in the forest after his inhibitor seal was so graciously applied by a certain Snake. Naruto used his most basic abilities, wall climbing and transformation jutsu, to blend in with the building itself while residing outside on the balcony, only to hear another whispered argument between the Sound team's members, although with his newly regained sense of hearing, he was able to eavesdrop clearly unlike the last time. He chuckled inwardly and grinned slightly under his mask, thinking to himself how easy these fools were to track and scout. "Dosu, are you insane! Did you see that boy's powers? There's no possible way we can…" Dosu interrupted angrily. "Don't you dare say it! Otokage-sama has entrusted us with this mission to destroy the Uchiha, and I don't care what demons the Sharingan-wielder has on his team, we will complete or die trying to complete our assignment from Orochimaru-sama." The girl in the group was silent. "Listen, demon, monster, whatever hellish allies this guy has, it is still as vulnerable to my sound gauntlet as any other being. We will take care of him for our Otokage, Orochimaru-sama. We will prove to him that we are and will always be superior to any of his loyal servants. We will, I guarantee it." Naruto listened on for a while more before leaving, hearing only minor talk of strategy and tactics of general one-on-one combat. He now knew what he suspected before but could not prove, that the leader of the Sound team, and the leader of the village of Sound itself was no other than Orochimaru. Naruto silently left to go to another nearby building.

He arrived, feeling the presence of a powerful contestant he recognized all too well. This boy was outside on his balcony, so Naruto had to observe from a neighboring rooftop, listening intently, and remaining unseen by the sand genin who had power over the sands, the redhead he knew to be named "Gaara." He watched, and he could see the slight trembling of the boy. He listened closely, beyond any sounds of the night, and heard the heart beating quickly within his prey. He could hear the slightly quick breathing of him, as well. He could practically smell both the excitement and the fear on the sand genin, along with adrenaline and sweat, though from fear or excitement Naruto could not tell. He remembered being confused as well during the preliminaries when the boy exhibited similar behaviors and smells. Naruto inferred that he had a rather joyful disposition toward battle, and that he could probably sense the closeness of Naruto's own demon. He remembered how Gaara was acting tense when he was eavesdropping last time, in the Forbidden Forest tower. It was while remembering what he knew of the boy that he noticed Gaara's blonde sister Temari walked out and joined him. "Gaara, what has gotten in to you? You've never acted like this before… Please, tell me what's wrong brother, and I will help if I can…" Gaara turned his angry eyes towards her, and although he looked like he would respond with nothing but hatred, his voice was calm. "Temari… There is a power at work here greater than mine." Temari's eyes widened. "Gaara, you're too powerful! You can't be scared of anything when we-" Gaara stopped her with a glare. "I think it's the cloaked boy… Uzumaki. I think it's him that has powers that exceed my own. It is him that will stop me, I can feel it." Naruto listened closely, not wanting to miss a single detail. "Temari, the boy is more powerful than me. Mother fears him, but will not allow the thrill of the fight to wither away to fear. But I… I fear him." Naruto grinned wickedly, ever so slightly. Temari opened her mouth to ask more but Gaara silenced her with another look before retreating to his room for the night, Temari stayed out for a bit longer, looking at where Naruto was hidden, although she didn't know he was there, surely. "Gaara… Only you can save us," she whispered to herself before retreating inside as well. Naruto wondered what she meant, but left, knowing he wouldn't glean any more information this night.

It is on the way to his "humble abode" when he remembered another possible threat to his power: his own team mate, Sasuke. He knew the Uchiha heir had skill and power, and the ability if not the experience required to defeat him. He decided to make one final detour, towards the Uchiha compound. Upon arriving, he clearly noticed four or five ANBU stationed about the compound, hidden from normal view, but not Naruto's advanced senses. Naruto expanded his field so that he could clearly detect where each of the ANBU were. With great success, he stole into the compound, towards Sasuke, who he could sense with his ability as well. The boy was moving, Naruto thought he was awakened and reading or some such. However, when he arrived, he realized his mistake, Sasuke was throwing a fit in some sort of nightmare, something Naruto found to be quite odd. He knew he would learn nothing of his team mate this night and went to leave, however as he stood, he remembered he didn't have his transformation jutsu active, leaving his cast shadow on the wall of the bedroom where Sasuke was sleeping, the moon having appeared behind him within the last minute or so. He noticed Sasuke stir before leaping away silently, not wanting Sasuke to realize Naruto was watching him.

Sasuke on the other hand was dreaming terrible dreams about his past, about his brother and family. He woke up, frightened, pained, exhausted; it was nearly four a.m. in the morning. Only after panting for a few seconds, he rolled over to get some more rest, only to see in his half-sleeping stupor a ghostly shadow emblazoned upon his bedroom wall before disappearing. Sasuke jolted up and looked about his room, noticing the shadows from a nearby building being cast into his room, and he looked up expecting to see the ghost standing before the moon, but he saw naught but lunar light.

Naruto has had enough for one night, not having slept very well for a couple of days. Without more recourse, Naruto trekked back to his mangy apartment, before falling asleep on his substandard bed, less than two hours before the sun's first light. He was absolutely exhausted having not slept and eaten but training and sneaking for more than twenty four hours. He fell asleep, nearly immediately, not even taking off his satchel or armor or cloak. That night, or morning really, Naruto experienced strange sleep. As opposed to nightmares and horrific visions that haunt his sleep, especially since Wave, he had a strange blackness, absence of any subconscious thought or vision. He did hear dark whispers throughout his sleep though. Incoherent, and if multiple people were whispering, just so vaguely that Naruto could barely hear them. Naruto twisted and turned in his sleep, not understanding the meaning of his strange dreaming, or lack thereof. One of the whispers quickly ascended in decibel, and became louder and louder, the voice nearly screaming incoherently until- Naruto jumped up from his sleep as a rapt series of knocks sounded from his front door, which was locked. Naruto's pounding heart slowed, knowing the last phrase he caught in his dream was the one he didn't want to hear, but the only one he could coherently understand.

You are alone.

Naruto raised himself from his inadequate bed and made for the door, whose knocker had just begun knocking again. Naruto couldn't tell who it was, the presence did not seem familiar at all, although judging from the power he felt radiating from the person, and he knew he was in real trouble or someone was lost. He made sure his equipment was secured, just in case he needed to fly from this location at maximum speed, without hindrance. He carefully unlatched his locks before cracking open the door and seeing a widely smiling old man at his doorstep. "So, you're Naruto, I take it?"

A/N:
Like I said, I am not going to abandon the story. As repentance, I've created a chapter nearly twice as long as the previous ones. Initially, I wanted to continue writing, but I realized that this chapter is enough for now, it has good content. The rest of the chapter I was going to write will be adapted into the following chapter. But don't worry, everything will be taken care of, this story is not dead! Keep in mind, the next chapter will be shorter, so it will probably be out sooner, with a more intense cliffhanger than you could possibly imagine. But of course it won't be the end of the story.

As always, the more critically responsive reviews I receive, the more motivation I have to write. Without motivation, I am slow and uninspired.

But as always, I truly, truly hope you enjoy the story. I am practicing my writing as much as possible, as I do eventually want to write my own original stories…

In any case, I'll try to post the next chapter with haste!

P.S.
Anyone who likes my style of storytelling and writing, I have a surprise that may be coming sooner than the next chapter of this. And that surprise is none other than a new story.

I have a few awesome stories I would like to write, but I never like to work on more than two or three at a time, therefore, I still haven't chosen which I will choose to begin along with the fourth chapter of this. But I promise you all, that the story I will begin will be as epic as this, and it will contain shorter chapters for quicker updates.

Farewell, my faithful readers.