Hey peoples, it's me again, with yet another chapter

Hey peoples, it's me again, with yet another chapter!

Ino, Shikamaru, and Chouji have entered the scene and are ready to fight! Meanwhile, Naruto's condition continued to get worse, and Sasuke is STILL knocked out! Let's see what happens!

Geez, I have over 600 hits already…Has no one else thought of this? Seriously…

The Naruto Cast does not belong to me. They belong to Kishimoto Mashashi.

Any character that does not belong in Naruto belongs to me. (Unless said otherwise.)

Key

"Word" Talking

'Thought' Thinking

"Go for it Chouji!" Ino cheered on her teammate.

"Okay!" Chouji formed a hand seal. "Baika no jutsu!"

Chouji suddenly expanded to triple his size.

"And Konoha style hand to hand combat!" Chouji's head, arms, and legs withdrew, and chakra blew out of the sleeves, leg pants, and muffler.

The ball of fat jumped into the air. "Meat Tank!"

Chouji started spinning rapidly as he plummeted to the earth, gaining speed.

He sped towards Zaku at a frightening speed.

"What the hell is this?" Zaku mused. "It's just a fat ass rolling."

The sound village ninja stretched out his arms towards Chouji. "Air Cutter!"

Air shot out of the holes in his hands, hitting Chouji, but Chouji had too much momentum, as the air ran around him.

"Why you…!" Zaku increased the air pressure, but the air just keep going around Chouji.

Then suddenly Chouji jumped up.

Zaku gasped. "He flew up!"

But what goes up, must come down.

Chouji hurtled downwards to the earth, right above Zaku.

'With his rotation, the air pressure from air cutter doesn't work very well. But even if I want to send supersonic into him, my arms would break just by touching him.' Zaku gritted his teeth.

"Tch." Dosu rushed forward to save his comrade.

Shikamaru formed a hand sign of his own. 'I won't let you…Since you're the most troublesome one…Ninpou, Kage Mane no Jutsu!'

Shikamaru's shadow started to stretch forward.

Dosu was a few feet away from Zaku when he found himself unable to move. 'My Body…'

Turning his head he saw Shikamaru holding him in place with his shadow.

Shikamaru grinned.

Zaku dodged right before Chouji hit him.

Meanwhile, Dosu was being forced into the most ridiculous positions by Shikamaru.

"Dosu! What are you doing?" Kin demanded. Then she saw what Shikamaru was doing.

'This must be the Shadow Bind Technique…' Dosu thought, still being forced into stupid poses.

"Ino, now it's up to you women." Shikamaru said.

"Okay, Shikamaru. Take care of my body."

"Sure."

Ino formed a hand sign. "Nipou, Shintenshin no Jutsu!"

Kin gasped, but before she could do anything, she felt her mind slip away.

Kin's pupils grew to dots, but then slowly expanded, getting bigger than before. Her eyelids drooped down some.

"Here we go." Shikamaru caught Ino as she fell. Dosu mimicked the same pose, although there was no one to catch.

Zaku continued to dodge Chouji. "Damn it! Kin!" Zaku looked to his teammate for aid.

Kin's eyes were closed, and she said nothing.

"What's wrong!?" Dosu demanded when Kin did not respond.

Suddenly Kin took out a kunai and raised it to her own throat. "This is it!"

Dosu's and Zaku's eyes widened.

"If you move, this Kin girl is dead." Kin/Ino said. "If you don't want to retire here, leave your scroll and get out of here."

Zaku and Dosu smirked as Kin/Ino continued on.

"Once you two back off far enough where we can't sense your chakra, I'll let this girl go."

'Why are they laughing?' Ino thought from within Kin.

Kin/Ino turned. "Chouji!"

"Okay!" Chouji shouted, appearing from a dense tangle of trees.

"No!" Sakura shouted. "They trying to…!"

Zaku shot a blast of air Kin. Ino's way, but at the last moment Chouji blocked it. However, Kin/Ino was thrown up against a tree.

Blood trickled from a corner of Ino's body.

"Ino!" Shikamaru cried, alarmed.

The dust cleared, revealing a very sick looking Chouji. "I'm dizzy…" He wavered.

Kin/Ino looked up. "What's wrong with them…? They hurt their own teammate."

"You took us too lightly." Zaku said.

"Our purpose is not a dumb scroll or to get through this exam." Dosu added.

"What?" Kin/Ino said, shocked.

"It's Sasuke-kun." Dosu said.

Sakura's eyes widened.

Abruptly, the shadow holding Dosu in place thinned out, and then disappeared.

"Oh?" Dosu noticed.

Shikamaru gritted his teeth. 'My technique…'

"I see that your Shadow Bind technique can only be used for five minutes at most." Dosu commented.

"It's not Shadow Bind, it's Shadow Imitation!" Shikamaru corrected.

Dosu gave no sign that heard, already saying something else. "And that girl's technique…IT seems she is able to slip into another persons mind and take control of their body. Seeing that blood from her mouth, it looks like that if we kill Kin, the girl will die too."

"You're going to kill a teammate?" Shikamaru questioned.

Zaku raised an arm towards where Kin/Ino still lay on the ground. "If we have to, yes."

Shikamaru frowned, but then his shoulders sagged. "This is over."

"Damn it…" Chouji said, having collapsed onto the ground.

"Close. You almost had us." Zaku straightened up.

"You let your guard down." Dosu said.

"Hmph. How disgusting." Said a new voice.

They all looked up to see Neji and Tenten.

"A mere sound ninja…acting like victors by beating those second class ninja?" Neji continued.

"What!?" Dosu said angrily.

"They're from Lee-sans team…" Sakura quietly said.

Tenten spotted her unconscious comrade. "Lee!"

"It looks like he screwed up." Neji noted.

"You guys just keep coming out like cockroaches." Zaku said.

"That bobbed hair kid there is on our team." Neji said. "Looks like you went overboard!" He activated his Byakuugan.

'What is with his eyes?' Dosu wondered. 'It looks like he's able to see everything with it.'

"If you're going to continue to fight, we will fight with everything we have." Neji warned.

Tenten reached for some shuriken, but stopped when an alarm appeared on Neji's face.

"What is it Neji?" The kunoichi asked.

'This chakra is…' Neji's thought trailed off when Dosu spoke up.

"If you don't like what we're doing, stop showing off and come down here." The sound ninja challenged.

"No. It seems there's no need for me to do that." Neji said.

It was then that Dosu finally noticed the dark purple chakra that emitted from Naruto in great columns.

It grew so that it practically surrounding Naruto completely and partially hiding him from view...

In Naruto's Dream…

The young Naruto faced the older one, his eyes cast downward.

"They won't recognize me…because I'm too weak!" The Young Naruto said.

"If only I had more power…they would finally notice me!"

The young Naruto looked up now, but instead of blue eyes, there were snake eyes.

"Come to me…I have the power you seek…" A snake like voice hissed. "To me Naruto-kun, to me, and you will be recognized…to me…"

Out of Naruto's Dream

The purple chakra formed into spirals, revealing Naruto in a crouching position.

Sakura looked towards him, a smile on her face, having not realized just what was wrong. "Naruto-kun, you woke up…?" She saw the formidable chakra that swirled around the Jinchuuriki as he slowly stood up.

"That's…Naruto-kun?" Ino's eyes were like saucers.

Shikamaru and Chouji looked on, afraid.

Strange markings covered half of Naruto's body.

He took a step forward, and instantly dark chakra swirled around his foot.

"Sakura…" Naruto said. "Who did that to you…?"

'The cursed seal has covered his body!' Dosu thought, alarmed.

"Naruto-kun…Your body…" Sakura said in a trembling voice.

Naruto raised a hand, looking at the strange black marks covering it, then lowered it.

"Don't worry. More importantly, I can feel power surging inside me." Naruto's fist tightened. "I'm feeling good right now. He gave it to me…" Naruto's mind flashed back to those snake eyes.

Sakura's eyes widened.

"I finally understand now. I'm the future Hokage. I must obtain the power to do that, no matter what, even I must let the devil take hold of my body."

'I see…' Dosu thought, 'Just as I thought. The bruise on his neck that the Sakura girl was talking about was that cursed seal. Still, I can't believe he woke up.'

"Sakura, say it!" Naruto commanded. "Who the hell hurt you?"

Zaku grinned. "I did!" he declared.

Naruto's gaze locked onto Zaku.

'What?' Kin/Ino thought, hearing a voice.

"Ino!" Shikamaru shouted as she turned her head his way. "You're going to get confused as the enemy like that! Return to your own body!"

Shikamaru's attention turned to Chouji. "Chouji, you come here too. We're going to hide."

"Okay!" Chouji ran over to where Shikamaru was.

'Shoot!' Kin/Ino formed a hand sign. 'Cancel!' In an instant Ino's mind had returned to her body, and Kin crumpled to the ground.

"Okay, you're back." Shikamaru said as Ino stirred.

"Shikamaru, what's going to happen now?" Chouji asked.

"How should I know?" Shikamaru answered.

Suddenly the black marks spread, now almost fully covering Naruto's body.

Dosu's eyes widened. 'This is…This is too much for us…! His chakra is too huge!'

"Dosu!" Zaku called to his teammate. "Don't be afraid of that half-dead guy!"

"No! Stop Zaku! Don't you understand!?" Dosu shouted.

Zaku ignored him. "I'll kill them all with this!" He raised his arms. "Maximum Air Cutter!"

A gigantic blast of air erupted from the holes on his hand, completely enveloping the area Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura where in.

Even those who weren't front of it were attacked by gusts of wind and supersonic waves.

When the air finally stopped, there was a deep and somewhat wide trail in front of Zaku, who was panting heavily.

"They blew up into pieces." Zaku said, smirking.

"Who did?" Naruto asked from behind Zaku.

Zaku's eyes widened in shock, right before Naruto sent him flying several meters.

"Zaku!" Dosu shouted.

Zaku coughed and got up.

'He's fast. On top of that, he moved instantly while holding those two.'

Naruto turned to face them, and started performing handsigns.

"Hayai Fuuryu no Jutsu!"

Naruto's breath formed Small spheres of rapidly whirling air, and he sent them hurtling towards Zaku.

"Don't get so cocky! I'll just dispel the air with my own!" Zaku raised his arms again and shot out air.

The spheres disappeared, revealing shuriken that had been hidden in them.

"What!?" Zaku exclaimed as the air flow from his hands stopped. "There were shurikens in the air spheres!?"

Before Zaku could redirect them though, they cut into him like thousands of tiny needles.

"Zaku, below you!" Dosu shouted.

An almost invisible blur shot in front of Zaku.

It was Naruto, who was crouched low to the ground.

And suddenly he was gone again, but Zaku felt a foot on his back as someone grabbed his arms.

Naruto smiled cruelly.

'His chakra is totally different from before!' Ino thought. 'Is this really Naruto? What happened to him?'

Chouji cowered, his back to the scene.

Naruto's cruel smile got bigger as he pushed on Zaku's back with his foot while pulling his arms in the opposite direction.

"You seem to be proud of your arms." Naruto commented.

"Stop it…" Zaku pleaded.

But Naruto didn't stop. Instead, he pulled/pushed even more.

There was a sickening snap as both Zaku's arms were broken.

After hearing the satisfying crunch, Naruto let Zaku go, who fell to the ground, unconscious.

Naruto's back was turned to Dosu, but he turned his head so that he could see the sound Ninja.

"That leaves just you."

Naruto full turned around now. "You better entertain me more than him."

Dosu trembled in fear.

Naruto slowly headed towards Dosu, past Sakura, who watched.

Dosu was unable to move from sheer terror.

'That isn't…' Sakura watched the back of Naruto as he continued to walk. 'That isn't…That isn't the Naruto-kun I know!' Tears welled up in her eyes, slowly trickling down her face.

"Stop!" Sakura rushed forward.

She wrapped her arms around Naruto from behind. "Stop!"

Naruto's head turned so he could see Sakura.

She looked up at him, green eyes wide with tears freely flowing down her cheeks.

"Please….Stop…"

'Sakura is…hugging me…she cares…?'

The curse mark slowly disappeared from Naruto, into the small seal on his neck.

Dosu was still trembling. 'The cursed seals are disappearing…looks like I'm safe for now.'

Suddenly Naruto fell down, Sakura helped keep him in a sitting position. "Naruto-kun…"

He was breathing heavily, hand to his chest.

"You are strong." Dosu suddenly spoke up, holding out his Earth Scroll.

"Naruto-kun, we can not defeat you." He set the Earth Scroll on the ground. "Let's make a deal…Please let us leave for now."

Dosu got up and stepped away from the Earth Scroll, proceeding to pick up his fallen comrades.

"We might be asking for too much, but we have something to confirm. In exchange, I will promise this. If we are to fight each other in the exam for the second time…We will not run or hide." Dosu started to walk away.

"Wait!" Sakura called.

Dosu paused, turning to face her.

"Who is Orochimaru!? What did he do to Naruto-kun!? Why Naruto-kun!?" She demanded.

Dosu did not say anything for a moment, then, "I do not know. We were just ordered to kill Naruto-kun."

Dosu turned away. 'You ordered us to assassinate Naruto-kun, yet you went ahead and did something. And instead of killing Naruto-kun, you left that cursed seal. What are you thinking?'

Naruto and Sakura watched him go until he was out of sight.

"Hey, are you okay?" Chouji asked, rushing forward with Shikamaru and Ino.

"It's troublesome, Ino, but you take care of that Lee guy." Shikamaru said.

"Okay." Ino split off to where Lee still lay.

Neji quietly watched. 'That chakra was abnormal. Perhaps Uzumaki is stronger than I first thought.'

Sasuke started to stir. "Sakura-chan, watch out…I'll protect you!"

Chouji and Shikamaru approached him.

"What should we do with him?" Shikamaru wondered. "Let's kick him awake."

"Can I do it?" Chouji asked.

Naruto tried clenching his fingers, but it hurt. "What was I…?

Sakura watched him. 'Naruto-kun…'

Suddenly Sasuke shouted, sitting up and rubbing his head where Chouji had hit him with a stick.

Shikamaru and Chouji knelt next to him, Chouji still holding said stick.

Sasuke glared at him, but then he caught sight of Naruto and Sakura.

Ino had carefully wrapped one of Lee's arms around her and was now heading towards them.

Sasuke looked around. 'They're gone…' Then he noticed that a good portion of Sakura's hair was gone.

"Sakura!" he shouted.

She looked at him. "What?"

Sasuke walked up to them. "What happened to your hair?"

"Oh this?" She pointed at the badly cut hair. "Just changing my image."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.

"I like long hair…but, you know, it gets in the way when I move around in a forest like this." She smiled.

Chouji and Shikamaru walked up behind him.

Sasuke looked at them. "By the way, what are you doing here?"

Shikamaru sighed. "Explaining to you is just to troublesome."

Sasuke glared.

Sakura answered. "Everyone helped us."

Ino smiled from where she was. 'That Sakura…she's trying to act all tough.'

Tenten jumped down in front of Ino. "I'll take him now."

"Okay…" Ino said, giving Lee to Tenten.

Suddenly Tenten started shaking Lee violently by the shoulders. "Wake up, Lee!"

Ino stared.

Tenten let go of Lee, and he fell to his knees. He looked up, now conscious. "Tenten…Why are you here?"

Tenten knelt down. "We came to help you."

Lee looked around. "Huh? Where did the sound ninja go?"

"That Naruto boy drove them away." Tenten answered.

Lee looked at Naruto. "I see…."

"Why did you take action on your own?" Tenten demanded. "On top of that, you're hurt badly!"

Lee looked down. "Sakura-san was in danger, so as a man I had to…" His voice trailed off.

Tenten frowned. 'Geez, if Lee was alone he wouldn't have lost to them…'She looked Lee in the eye. "You really are an idiot!"

Lee pulled his knees up to his chin. "I can't argue with that…"

Sasuke surveyed the scene quietly. 'What happened while I was unconscious?'

Shikamaru and Chouji had moved to a farther distance.

"Sasuke is totally out of it." Shikamaru said. "He's the type of person who can't become a main character in a story.

Sakura walked over to Lee, Naruto following somewhat behind.. "Lee-san…" She said quietly.

He looked up.

"Arigato." Sakura smiled. "Thanks to you, my eyes are wide open now. I think I've become a little stronger.

Lee blushed, and in a choked up voice said, "Sakura-san…"He wiped away tears that had trickled out of his eyes. "I…it looks like I need more training."

Lee turned his attention to Naruto.

"Naruto-kun…You...are very strong. Perhaps stronger than I am." Lee looked away. "You drove the Sound Ninja away. You truly possess great potential and power…While I lost horribly."

Naruto's eyes widened in surprise. 'What? He lost? What's going on? Were they that strong?'

Lee looked back at Sakura. "Sakura-san…"

Sakura looked at him.

"The Lotus in Konoha blooms twice."

"What?" Sakura wondered.

Lee smiled. "The next time we meet, I promise I will be a stronger man."

Sakura smiled as well. "Okay."

"Hey, Sakura!" Ino shouted, a few feet away. "Over here!" She waved her hand as Sakura looked over. "I'll fix your hair."

"Thanks." Sakura headed over there.

In moments, Ino had taken out a kunai was carefully trimming Sakura's hair with it.

Neither said anything for a while, then;

"Sakura…what influenced you to hug Naruto like that?" Ino asked.

Sakura thought for a moment. "I…I don't know. I was just so afraid, after what he did to that one guy…and…I think he wasn't aware of what he was doing…He looked almost…lonely." She shrugged.

"Hmmm…" Ino continued trimming away.

Out of all the Konoha Ninja, Neji was the only one who hadn't come down. His eyes were trained on Naruto.

'Uzumaki Naruto…He is a powerful rival.' The wind blew through the trees, making the straps on Neji's headband whip about.

After Ino was done, she joined her comrades. "We hate to leave, but we can't stick around. Perhaps we'll see you at the tower." Ino smiled at them before leaving with her comrades.

"We should be leaving too." Lee got up, as well as Tenten.

"Alright." Sakura nodded. "Again…thank you, Lee-san."

He gave a sparkling smile, before joining Neji and Tenten on the branch, where they headed off.

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura were alone now.

Sasuke looked at Naruto. "I'm not sure what happened, but it has something to do with that bruise on your neck, doesn't it?"

Naruto looked shocked. "Yes. AT least, I think it does. It's kind of hard to remember…." He frowned, scratching the back of his head.

Sasuke sighed.

"Ummm…"

Sasuke and Naruto looked at Sakura. "What is it, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked.

"Well, we shouldn't tell anyone about it. I mean, besides those who already know. We're not sure what it exactly does, yet."

The two thought about it for a moment, then Sasuke nodded.

"You're right. We shouldn't. Let's keep this a secret, at least until we figure out what it does." The Uchiha said. "If it gets really bad though, we'll tell Kakashi-sensei. But only if it's absolutely necessary."

"Alright then." Naruto looked away. "Anyways, I'm tired. Let's get some rest."

Woohoo! It's done! And only two days after completing the second chapter, YES!

Okay, to explain Naruto's jutsu, Hayai Fuuryu no Jutsu, this is what it means.

"Hayai" means "fast", "Fuu" from the alternate you say wind and "ryu" from an alternate way to say current. It kind
of translates into "Fast Wind Current" so... Yeah. I don't know if it's grammically correct but...

Thanks Ninja-Fox-Chan for helping me out with that! Cheers!

Anyways, I think I've decided who to use in the Preliminaries, but I'm still open! I need an opponent for Sasuke and Naruto, so if you want to submit someone, here's the form!

Full Name:

Age:

Gender:

Clan/Bloodline: (If they Have One)

Personality:

Description:

Jutsus: (Do they Use, Taijutsu, Ninjutsu, or Genjutsu?)

Village: (Preferred to be Sound or Sand, but it can be different. They'll be disguised as one of Kabuto's teammates.)

History: (Optional, unless they have a tie to Orochimaru.)

Likes:

Dislikes:

Interesting Fact: (optional)

And that's all that's needed. Thanks for reading!

Review please! (No flames, constructive criticism welcome!)

Tropi