Time Skip 4 Years
The Sarutobi sighed as he traveled to the tower in the center of the Forest of Death with two ANBU acting as bodyguards. There were quite a lot of Chunin hopefuls this year and mostly they were from Konoha. Although that was probably because they were the ones hosting it this year, whenever or wherever the Chunin exam was held the hosting village usually put more contestants in to make a show of strength. Usually that practice was disavowed in Konoha but this year there were some very talented Genin that were participating and they carried there instructors endorsement that they could survive.
The Hokage of Konoha looked about the forest he walked through and could not help the wave of guilt and shame that overtook him. In this forest a tragedy was committed; a young boy was driven into this forest and had been never seen again. There was simply no way for him to have survived in the place. He remembered with no little amount of satisfaction as he announced the boy's heritage to the village council and especially the look on Danzo's face had been extremely satisfying.
The village had been celebrating the 'demon brats' demise when the entire village had been summoned to the stadium where the Hokage addressed them. The listened gleeful to his confirmation that the demon was dead until he reached the part about the boys heritage. When the entire village learned his father had been there beloved Yondiame the happiness they felt turned to ash in their hearts. A day of celebrating turned into a day of mourning for their sin.
On that day Danzo's power base on the council had been broken many of his former allies had turned on him and had switched allegiance when they understood that it had been Danzo's ROOT ANBU that had incited the assault on an innocent child. The entire village finally understood why the fourth had requested that Naruto be seen as a hero. Then to make that afternoon even more miserable it had started to rain and an unnatural fog had rolled into the village. The villagers had slunk away miserable in the thought that they had all participated in the murder of a child.
Sarutobi shook himself back to the present and continued on his way.
He never saw the red slitted eyes that followed him, the dark figure that those eyes shown from lept away to the same destination.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
The tired forms of all the Genin shuffled into the tower's main room exhausted but alert. They listened in silence as the Hokage explained the purpose of the second exam and the role it played in the larger picture in the elemental nations.
"Now since there are too many genin too proceed to the finals you will participate in a one on one tournament to reduce the number of competitors" Sarutobi finished stepping away from the podium. "Hayate if you would please."
"Hai Hokage-sama" a sickly looking Jounin proctor stepped forward, "Alright your names will appear on the screen up there," Hayate pointed to a large screen on the top of the room. "When your name comes up please come to the arena the rest of you wait on the balcony."
The screen flashed
Sasuke Uchiha
Vs.
Akadoi Youri
Both contestants stayed in the ring, the fight if it could be called that was decided when Sasuke unveiled his latest move the Lion combo knocking Youri out cold.
The second fight was more interesting it pitted the lazy genius Shikamaru against Tsuchi Kin of Sound. Shikamaru complained the whole time but managed to outwit and defeat the sound Kunoichi by using his shadow binding spell and ramming his opponents head against the wall.
"Hey Shikamaru," Kiba shouted as Shikamaru walked back up the stairs and the medics tended to Kin, "try being a little less enthusiastic about fighting uh." The lazy genius just muttered "troublesome" and sat down for a nap.
The screen began flashing again and everyone's attention was drawn back to the giant screen. By this time Kakashi had returned with Sasuke to the main room after his confrontation with Orochimaru. Eventually the first name stopped on
Inuzuka Kiba
Vs.
The screen suddenly went blank and everyone in the room blinked, then the screen fizzed with static and then the normal screen appeared. But where there should have been another competitors name there was only a symbol. A capital T with two spikes going through it.
Then everything went dark.