A few weeks later Mikoto and Naruto were in a room with the Hokage and the Jounnin instructors, all looking in the crystal ball, which showed the Konoha Eleven passing a written test as part of the Chunnin Exams.

"Will they be fine?" Asuma asked, a little concerned.

"They'll be fine." Mikoto smiled.

"But the first examiner's Ibiki." Kakashi noted.

"Ibiki?" Came the question from a confused Kurenai.

"Right, you don't know. Ibiki is the head of the Torture and Interrogation division of the Konoha military." Kakashi explained.

"He won't hurt them, will he?"

"No, Ibiki uses mental manipulations when interrogating. He won't lay a hand on them. Can't speak of their sanity, though."

"Oh." Now she was worried.

"Relax. The cubs'll be fine. T'is the Second Task what concerns me."

"Ah, yes, young Anko-chan will be the proctor. It is, after all, 'her' forest." The Hokage chuckled.

"Don't worry, love." Naruto wrapped his large arms around the Uchiha matriarch, who was a little scared for her son. "He'll be fine."

The next day found all the teams that had passed Ibiki's test, a little over twenty, standing in groups at the fence of the Forest of Death, waiting for the scary, scantily-clad woman to give them the go-ahead.

"Sasuke-kun, will everything be fine?" The Uchiha rolled his eyes at the girl.

"You're annoying, pinky. Shut up, will ya."

"You know, Dickless, for someone claiming to refuse calling that red-headed giant a father, you're starting to talk like him." Their teammate gave a creepy smile at Sasuke, making the Uchiha shiver in disgust.

"You're even worse than her."

"But Sasuke-kun…"

"For the love of crap, shut up!" He was saved from more harassing by the proctor's shout to 'Charge, motherfuckers!'. Crazy woman, that.

As soon as Team Seven passed the one mile mark into the forest an extremely strong gale of wind picked up Sakura and Sai and sent them off into the forest.

"Aw, crap. What's next?" A creepy-looking woman from Grass landed in front of him. "Of course." He muttered to himself. "What the hell do you want?"

"Oh so rude, Sasuke-kun." She gave a smile, licking her lips with an extremely large tongue.

"Please stop. You're even creepier than my teammate." Her smile stayed fixed, but a snake shot from her sleeve and attacked Sasuke, forcing him to dodge, right into a mud trap. "Dammit, it's Orochimaru."

"Bingo." The woman ripped her face off, revealing another one beneath, more snake-like, and definitely male. "You're very smart, Sasuke-kun."

"Not really. Your disguises just suck." Orochimaru frowned and extended his neck.

"Oh yeah? Take this." He sunk his teeth into the Uchiha's shoulder, sending the boy crashing down to his knees in agony, and making an oily black mark appear at the wound.

"Grah! What the hell was that!" He yelled in pain.

"Consider it a gift. You'll come looking for me little Sa-" He jumped to the left, dodging an axe that would've cleaved him in two.

"Oy, that's me future son yer molestin'." Naruto jumped down from the trees and Bera rushed to the clearing.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Naruto-kun. Trying to stop me, are you? I'm afraid I can't allow you to do that." A very big snake crashed through the trees, charging at Naruto, only to be intercepted by his bear, killing it in an instant and growling at Orochimaru.

"That all ya got, Orochimaru? Bring it!"

"It seems you have me at somewhat of a disadvantage. So, I gotta go. Bye Sasuke-kun." He melted into the ground, waving at the Uchiha who was in agony on the ground.

"Pussy." Naruto snorted. "C'mon cub, I'll get ya to th' tower." He picked up the boy who drifted into unconsciousness.

The next thing Sasuke saw when he woke up was a white ceiling, his mother's sleeping form at the side of his hospital bed and Naruto leaning on the wall.

"Alive, are ya?" He grunted. "Good boy."

"Where are my teammates?"

"In their room. They got picked up when Anko sensed Orochimaru. You a'right?"

"Exhausted. But I'll live." His hand went to the mark on his back, rubbing it. "What the hell is this on my back?"

"Cursed Seal." Naruto said. "Kakashi sealed it up, but ther's no way to get rid of it. Well…" He trailed off.

"What?"

"There is always the ritual."

"What ritual?"

"The one I did on Mikoto an' me. It'll turn ya into a Berserker, but it'll also destroy the seal on yer back. Your choice." Naruto said. "But whatever it be, there's nothing I can do until the preliminaries're over."

"And when are they?" The Uchiha's throat was feeling a little dry.

"Tomorrow. I'll get ya somethin' to drink." Naruto walked out the door, followed by an incredulous look from the hospitalized boy.