Next chapter is here!

*MadaMag - other two big Hidden Villages (there are participants from other villages ofc). Kabuto... what if he wants them to be suspicious of him? Yes, the tenth question is at its core similar, but this way, the statements from Team 7 members connects to it smoother. Kazekage was poisoned more than 2 months ago, and the exams were postponned more than 2 months too. Maybe there is a few days hole I didn't notice, sorry. What purpose? Heh, you probably missed one small detail in the chapter. You'll see.

*Otherguy14 - thanks for the tip.

*azure_sea - yeah, after the second part.

*John - near the end, Temari understood the point of the question thanks to Naruto and convinced them to raise their hands too.

*NaruCrazy - you probably misunderstood the ending.

*kidneysrgood - well... they aren't the most effective way, but it helps to know how to do them. However, thanks for the thought.

*McCabeRz - hmm, that's true but no matter how much they train, a 12 year-old can't just ignore a scene so fucked up and not react to it. Not without previous experience.

Thanks to TheVastEmptiness for beta.

Chapter 7: Become a Chunin! Part 2 (Steal from the opponents)

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

"Normal speech"

'Inner speech/thoughts'

'Kyuubi/Tailed beast speech'

xxx

Naruto felt his hands tremble a bit, the adrenaline in his blood slowly disappearing. He took a deep breath to calm himself down and swallowed his own saliva. All around him people were yelling, shouting, complaining but he paid them no heed. Right now, his focus was on his own heartbeat. He did it. He was able to discover the catch in the 10th question. The relief washed over him and with his right sleeve, he wiped the sweat from his forehead. He closed his eyes and pushed his eyelids against each other, forming a grimace on his face. Shaking his head and blinking repeatedly, he slightly turned his head to glance at his teammates.

Sakura was sprawled across the table, breathing heavily and awkwardly trying to blink away the few tears in her eyes, the remnants of her earlier loud exclamation. On the other side of the room, Sasuke appeared to be quite calm but the movements of his throat and the white fingers, with which he was gripping the table were saying otherwise. However, every member of Team 7 had something in common, they were happy.

The virtual shutters in his ears opening, Naruto grimaced when his brain began to register the loud noises, loud voices all around him, echoing in the room. Many Genin were protesting against the definite verdict of their proctor, who was busy explaining the true reason behind the test and the 10th question. It was exactly as Naruto had thought and stated a few minutes back. Seeing how hard it was for the Genin to accept his reasoning, the proctor took off his bandana and forehead protector to show his head, which was full of terrible burn-marks, scars, screw-holes and many more. The Genin, along with Naruto, gulped at the sight.

"On missions, on the battlefield, you risk everything and those who don't know how to act in a desperate situation cannot hope to become a Chunin or better."

Ibiki grinned and ushered his assistants to kick out those who didn't pass the first test. Amidst the chaos, a person from the outside smashed through a window and landed next to Ibiki, quickly getting up with a loud exclamation.

"Yo, punks! It's time for the second test of the exams! Follow me, Anko Mitarashi!"

The kunoichi with purple hair tied into a ponytail was met with dozens of glares and a substantial amount of growls, causing her to raise an eyebrow and glance at Ibiki.

"Bad time, eh?"

Ibiki returned her gaze with a slight nod.

"Could have been worse, considering it's you."

Anko glared at him, embarrassed and sat on a nearby chair. She waited until the Genin who failed the first test left the room before standing up again. She scrutinized the room and, with a frown, looked at Ibiki.

"You allowed 22 teams to pass? Getting old, Ibiki?"

The proctor of the first test grinned and inconspicuously shifted his gaze to the members of Team 7, causing his grin to widen further. Anko noticed it and followed the line of his sight to see Naruto sitting behind the desk, trying to avoid her eyes. She grinned.

"Nah, we just have Genin with good potential this time." Ibiki replied.

Anko said nothing and, with a grin, she turned back to the half-empty room.

"All right, punks, as I said, I'm Anko Mitarashi, the proctor for the second test of the Chunin Exams. It'll take place in Area 44, otherwise known as the 'Forest of Death'. I'll explain the details of the test there, so get off your asses." She exclaimed and, after the Genin got up, disappeared the same way she had arrived, by jumping through the window.

As the Genin slowly left the room, Naruto caught up with his teammates and knocked on their shoulders to gain their attention.

"You guys go ahead without me, I have to stop at my apartment for something."

Sakura hastily grabbed his sleeve before he could leave.

"Wait! Is it that important? If you're late…" She trailed off but Naruto reassured her.

"It may help us in the second test. Don't worry, it'll only be a minute." He replied and quickly disappeared.

"…but we don't even know what the second test is…" Sakura quietly protested and turned to Sasuke, who appeared to be deep in thought.

Naruto arrived at the meeting place in front of the Forest of Death only two minutes after the group of Genin did and he nervously patted his pockets and shifted the paper for sealing inside of it. While Anko was busy trying to scare them with the reputation of the Area 44, Naruto quietly found and joined his two teammates, dodging Sakura's question about his stop with a shake of his head.

'Later.' He gestured with his hands.

It left Sakura dissatisfied but she couldn't protest either, as Anko finished her tale and cleared her throat.

"Well, your scared faces are making me excited but before we can begin, I need all of you to sign these." She stated, taking a bunch of papers from behind her.

"These are agreement forms. Since there will be deaths in this test, without signing these, it would all be my responsibility." She said with a wide smile and passed the forms to everybody.

"You know… she's creepy." Sakura muttered quietly, reading the form over.

"The proctor? Yeah, she is…" Naruto agreed but when a shadow fell over him from behind, he gulped and raised his head. He glanced at Sakura, who was nervously smiling and closed his eyes for a second.

"She's behind me, isn't she?" He asked with a hint of resignation in his voice.

"Oh? So… I'm creepy now? That's not nice of you, brat." Anko said, faking a hurt tone. She crouched and leaned to him, making him feel a bit uncomfortable, as her chest was pressing onto his back and her breath was tickling his ear.

"Especially since you wear clothes I helped you choose." She whispered and licked his earlobe. Naruto widened his eyes and rolled away from her, hastily rubbing his ear with an annoyed expression on his face. Sakura raised her eyebrow and looked at Naruto.

"You know each other? Honestly… who else do you know, Naruto?" She inquired with puffed cheeks.

Seeing Naruto's expression, Anko laughed and returned to stand in front of the crowd.

"Now, while you sign these forms, I'm going to explain the second test for you. After that, each team will check in at the booth on my left." She stated and cleared her throat again. She gestured behind her with her left hand and grinned.

"I already told you about this place; Area 44 or the so-called Forest of Death. Many of you have probably realized it but for those who haven't, this test will be about your ability to survive in an inhospitable environment. It's to simulate a mission, which takes you deep into unknown enemy territory. What you will know is that this area consists of 44 gates all around it. Inside is a forest, one main river and a tower in the center. The distance from any gate to the tower is about ten kilometers." She explained and showed them a map of the area.

"However, your survival skills aren't the only thing that will be tested. You will be asked to complete another task. How you'll do it is completely on you. You can use any jutsu or weapon. You can disarm, knock out or even kill your opponents. And the task is an all-out scroll battle." Seeing a raised hand from one of the Genin, she pulled out two scrolls; one black and one white.

"These are the scrolls. One is a 'heaven' scroll and the other is an 'earth' scroll. Since there are 22 teams, one half will get the heaven scroll, the other half the earth scroll. Your mission is to fight over these scrolls as the condition to pass this test is to reach the tower with both scrolls." Anko grinned; the anxious faces of the Genin were making her more and more excited.

"Additionally, you will have a time limit of 120 hours, which is five days." When she noticed the protests of some Genin, one especially loud coming from Chōji, she raised her voice.

"I told you, didn't I? This is a simulation of a real mission. Don't even ask about the food... how do you expect to be a Chunin and complete a mission like this if you whine about little things like this? If you don't like it, turn around and go back to the Academy!" She proclaimed with a small glare, shutting the Genin down.

"The forest is full of edible stuff. Just avoid man-eating plants, poisonous insects, beasts, poisonous plants… and be careful not to fall asleep too hard. As the time will be running out, many of you will become desperate, you will be dehydrated, hungry, scared, angry... anything could happen. So, if you think you can lose just by not getting the other scroll, think again." Measuring the Genin with her eyes, Anko frowned.

'Yep, I can already see at least twenty punks who will definitely fail.' She thought and continued her speech.

"Moreover, you can also get disqualified for some things. First, if you don't get to the tower with both scrolls within the time limit. Second, if one of your teammates dies. Third, if you attempt to leave the area. The five days limit is mandatory, you will spend them in the forest whether you like it or not. Last but not least, you must not look inside the scroll." She said and teasingly started to untie the strings on one of the scrolls, only to stop in the middle.

"What if we do look?" Ino asked with a gulp.

"Try it if you dare." Anko replied and chuckled at Ino's expression.

"A Chunin is often asked to carry classified information he cannot look at so this is another purpose of this test. To see if you're trustworthy." She finished and pointed at the booth at her left.

"Now, enough explanations. Check in at the booth and exchange your forms for the scroll. After that, we can finally begin the test."

Naruto was sitting with his teammates, waiting for their turn in the booth. His eyes flew over the rest of the Genin, trying to study them. He slowed down when a person with red hair entered the line of his sight but then he found Kabuto standing in front of the row with his own team, getting ready to check in. He let his gaze stay with the older boy for a moment and tried to shake off that odd feeling he'd had back before the first test.

'Yeah… there's definitely something off about that guy…' He wondered and sighed. Turning his head slightly to the side, he noticed Sasuke intently staring at him.

"What?" Naruto asked with a frown.

"You're thinking Kabuto is suspicious, too?" Sasuke replied quietly, causing the blonde to widen his eyes. Sakura joined in with a confused face.

"Kabuto-san is?" She asked. Sasuke frowned deeply.

"Yeah, don't you think it's strange how he knew all those things back then? I guess he could know about Rock Lee and maybe even Gaara but how did he know about Naruto? Not even Kakashi-sensei knows that much." He whispered and stared at Naruto, who averted his gaze.

"I'm not going to pry, dobe. We all have our secrets. But his knowledge surprised you too, right? I saw your eyes. You were shocked to hear all of that from Kabuto."

Naruto sighed and rubbed his temple.

"Thanks… and yeah, I've been training alone for some time. There is no way he would know it unless he spied on me and why would he do that? I'm not anybody special. If he should have been spying on anybody, it's you. You're the last Uchiha." The blonde retorted, feeling a headache coming his way. Sasuke went silent and sneaked a peek at Kabuto, just as the older Genin entered the booth.

"E-even if he's suspicious, we have our own worries. If we don't get the second scroll, we're out of these exams." Sakura quietly reminded. Naruto grimaced but she told the truth. They couldn't afford to spend their time overthinking stuff.

"Fine, but we should stay out of his way for now. I noticed a few rather weak-looking teams." He stated and when Anko called out to them, they got up and walked to the booth, where they received a heaven scroll. Despite her protest, Sasuke and Naruto insisted on Sakura to take it.

"Most of those idiots probably think I'd take the scroll to keep." Sasuke informed her and resolutely stashed the scroll in her pocket.

Half an hour later, Team 7 stood before their gate, waiting to be unleashed for the second test.

Anko glanced at her pocket watch and pressed the starter.

"The second test of the Chunin Exams begins!"

As per the map Anko had showed them earlier, after they had entered the Forest of Death through Gate 12, Team 7 had been heading straight to the tower. Since the river mentioned on the map was flowing in visible distance of their position, they used it as an orientation point in case they got lost. The river was supposed to go straight through the virtual diameter of the area, leading the team precisely to the tower.

So far they hadn't encountered any other Genin, just a few animals that were easy enough to beat, some irritating bugs they smashed and plants they cut down. But the rather peaceful atmosphere wasn't making the trio feel safe at all. Once or twice they had heard obscure, vague screams, loud and painful enough to make them sweat.

As they travelled further into the forest, Sasuke raised his hand, causing the other two to land next to him, behind a tree. Without any sound, the Uchiha mouthed "enemy" and gestured around the tree. Naruto caught him before he could move and showed him a grin. With a single hand-seal, the blonde created one clone of himself and made him do the Henge. The clone, masked as a tired and injured looking Sakura, expectantly glanced at Team 7, to see Sasuke nodding and Sakura shaking her fist in annoyance.

Seeing that they understood his plan, Naruto sent out the clone and the trio quietly positioned themselves around the area, so that they could watch the scene.

From his location on a tree, Naruto could see a Genin with the sign of Takigakure on his forehead protector suspiciously watching the Sakura clone slowly approaching him.

"Konoha Genin and already done? Heh." The boy laughed but remained careful and threw his kunai at the clone's feet.

"H-how can you attack a helpless girl… I just lost my teammates…" The clone cried.

"Well, that makes two of us, girly." The boy retorted and prepared another kunai, motioning the clone to stop. Cautiously, he approached the clone, prepared to throw the kunai in an instant. When he reached it and saw no real danger, he grinned and moved his hands closer to the clone's shoulders.

"How about I, Hōki, helping you find your teammates?" He whispered and in the next instant, he was surrounded from three sides. He felt three kunai pressed against his sides and so he cursed and quickly raised his arms.

"I give up!" He hastily announced and watched as the clone disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Did you see the perverted look on his face when he neared the clone? I think I want to punch him." Sakura growled in disgust.

"You heard the lady. So, if you don't want to get punched, I suggest you give us your scroll." Naruto stated from behind the boy.

"I don't have one! My teammates have it." The boy protested. When Sasuke reached into his pocket, took out a scroll and shook it before the boy's eyes, the Takigakure Genin gulped. Seeing the color of the scroll, Sakura sighed.

"Heaven scroll… to think I risked my purity for that…" She shuddered, causing Naruto to sigh.

"Nevertheless, we'll take it. It's always good to have a reserve in case something happens." Sasuke said and tucked the scroll into his pouch. The trio slowly backed off from the Genin, allowing him to breathe. When he glanced around and saw Naruto's retreating form, he widened his eyes and called out to them.

"You, you're the one who helped that monster!"

Naruto froze and slowly turned around.

"What?"

Sasuke and Sakura appeared to be confused and looked at the blonde but his eyes were focused on the foreign Genin.

"Because of you, Shibuki-sama is trying to convince the monster to return to the village… making me sick to th-" The boy was cut off when Naruto appeared in front of him and delivered a powerful punch to his jaw, sending him crashing into a tree. The Genin's head hit the hard surface and he instantly lost consciousness.

Naruto growled, he wanted to smack the bastard around more. Clenching his fists, he turned around and slowly returned to his teammates, who were watching him with curious eyes, in Sakura's case even a bit apprehensive.

"Don't ask…" Naruto muttered.

"Uhm, N-naruto, your…" Sakura gulped and when Naruto turned to her, she pointed at her canines. Frowning, Naruto touched his own and widened his eyes. They were a bit more profound and longer than normal.

He knew what it meant. With a few deep breaths, he tried to calm himself.

'I can't believe this much was enough to unconsciously tap into the Kyuubi's chakra… even if by a tiny margin. This is the first time after the mission in Wave… did his words anger me that much?' He thought and nodded to Sakura.

"Thanks…" He said and walked forward, the other two following him shortly.

Five minutes later, as they were cautiously circling around a man-eating plant, Naruto quietly spoke to his teammates.

"It just pissed me off you know, how he called Fū… that's the girl that helped me and Sasuke during out mission in Takigakure."

Sasuke just made a quiet throat sound while Sakura carefully asked.

"…why did he even call her monster? From what you said, she was nice…"

Naruto didn't answer for a moment, as he was busy cutting down a large centipede that fell on his shoulder.

"Not sure… must be their village thing." He grumbled, glancing back at Sakura. She offered him a small smile and a nod.

They continued further in silence until they reached a small clearing. From their position, they clearly saw the tower a fairly far distance away. Deciding it was unnecessary to rush forward when they didn't even have the second scroll, they sat down and took a small break. Sakura opened her pouch and determined if she still had everything while Naruto tapped his pocket, reassuring himself that the paper for sealing was still there. Sasuke quietly studied his surroundings, taking occasional gulps of water from his bottle. He didn't like the silence around them. After half an hour, they started to get bored and nervous, so Team 7 took off, leaving no trace they had been there.

Another half an hour later, Sasuke frowned and activated his Sharingan. He turned his head from side to side, causing Naruto to narrow his eyes.

"See something?" He quietly asked, prompting Sakura to get closer too. Sasuke bit his lip and almost imperceptibly nodded.

"I think we're in a Genjutsu."

Sakura and Naruto widened their eyes.

"What? You sure? I don't feel anything…" Naruto whispered and even Sakura nodded in agreement.

Sasuke grimaced and looked down, prompting the other two to do the same. When Naruto noticed the large centipede on the ground, the same as he'd cut down when he talked about Fū, he quietly cursed and cautiously glanced at the trees. Meanwhile, Sakura almost casually reached to her back-pocket and took out a kunai.

"I'm not sure what kind of Genjutsu it is but I can definitely see faint traces of a foreign chakra around us." Sasuke informed them.

"But they aren't using it to attack us… why?" Sakura responded, nervously glancing at the trees around her.

"Maybe they are waiting for something." Naruto muttered. Sasuke nodded and a small grin appeared on his face.

"That centipede is the same as before and we haven't closed the distance to the tower at all, meaning this Genjutsu causes us to go in circles… they are probably trying to tire us out. It would likely be a good strategy to go by their rules and think of something but if they are trying to tire us out before engaging, it means one thing. They don't think they could handle us." He explained and formed a single hand-seal.

"So I say we break their little game and force them to come out."

Closing his eyes, Sasuke focused on his chakra, prompting Naruto and Sakura to do the same.

'I'm glad I can do at least this.' Naruto thought.

The trio forcibly suppressed the flow of the chakra in their bodies and with a sudden surge, they released a bigger amount than usual, overriding the foreign chakra in their bodies.

'Genjutsu: Kai!'

When they opened their eyes, it seemed that nothing happened, as their surroundings were still the same, but it was clear that they had broken the enemy Genjutsu, as their opponents appeared all around them.

"Clever of you to notice our little illusion." A voice from nowhere entered their ears as they narrowed their eyes and studied the men around them.

"Clones?" Naruto, having a lot of experiences with clones, muttered when looking closer at the black ninjas. In a quick movement, he took out a kunai and flicked it at the closest ninja. He watched as the kunai pierced the man's body and caused it to momentarily deform.

"Clones." Sasuke confirmed.

"Want to guess again?" The unknown voice stated and Naruto leaned to the side, avoiding a kunai that embed itself in a tree behind him.

'That was a real kunai.' He mentally cursed and narrowed his eyes, looking at the ninja more cautiously.

"Say what you want, my Sharingan sees the truth. Naruto, Sakura, don't listen to them. They are indeed clones, the real ones are probably just hidden and throwing their real kunai when the clones move, creating an illusion of the clones being real." Sasuke exclaimed and took out his own kunai to deflect a projectile coming from the left.

"It's useless to know it if you can't find us…" The voice mockingly spoke, making Sasuke grit his teeth. When Naruto jumped in the air to evade another kunai and landed next to him, the Uchiha glanced at the blonde.

"Even with my Sharingan I can't find the real ones… these clones are made from chakra and since they cover the whole area, my vision is blocked." He stated and crouched to see a kunai fly over his head. Naruto patted him on the shoulder.

"… if traces of my chakra were to cover the area, would you be able to see them?"

Sasuke frowned.

"It'd be difficult but anything's better than this."

Naruto nodded and jumped above a kunai, landing at the edge of the area, with a view to all of the clones.

"Both of you, grab a hold of something!" He exclaimed and flashed through the hand-seals.

'Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!' He thought and, putting his hands forward, a powerful gust of wind washed over the whole area, causing the clones to dissolve under the wind-pressure and almost blowing his two teammates away.

"Now!" He called to Sasuke, who ignored his surprise at the jutsu and instead focused on the enemies.

'There!' He thought and in rapid succession threw multiple shuriken at the position where he saw the enemy chakra trace. While Naruto helped Sakura back on her feet, Sasuke smirked as three Genin clad in the same yellow jumpsuit and a rebreather on their mouth landed in front of him.

"Tch, you got us." The one standing in the center muttered. When Sasuke and Naruto jumped in the air, trying to close the distance, the same Genin continued with a smirk.

"Or not! We're still lucky!" In a puff of smoke, dozens of clones, looking exactly the same as the three Genin appeared, filling half of the area.

Naruto and Sasuke's punches hit the clones and went straight through them.

'Normal clones?' Naruto thought and sharply spun around when he heard Sakura's voice.

"Naruto, behind you!" She yelled and threw a kunai on Sasuke's left, to block the enemy kunai.

Heeding her words, Naruto leaned backwards and evaded the enemy kunai too.

"Damn it. Where are the real ones?" He cursed, irritated. Sasuke tried to use his Sharingan to look for the real enemy again but he was busy dodging a barrage of kunai. They were mostly only illusions but one or two were real, making it harder for the Uchiha.

Getting annoyed with the clones, Naruto flashed through hand-seals, preparing to unleash the Great Breakthrough technique once more but Sakura yelled at him again.

"Below you!"

The blonde hastily looked at his feet to see a hand with a kunai slashing at him from below. Seeing the opportunity, he jumped over the hand and grabbed it. With a strong pull, he plucked the Genin from the ground and sent him flying at Sakura.

She looked surprised only for a moment but then she steeled herself and when the body of the Genin flew closer to her, she moved to the side and delivered a jaw-crushing punch to the man's face. It sent him downward and with a thud, he painfully hit the ground. His eyes rolled to the back of his head and he lost consciousness.

"Huh, what do you know, they actually are weak." Sakura exclaimed and showed her teammates a thumbs up.

'Geez, look at her as if she just won the exams… we're still in the middle of a fight you know. It's just like back at the mission in Takigakure.' Naruto thought, rolling his eyes at her antics. Seeing the way they knocked one of their opponents down, Sasuke pointed his eyes at the ground and grinned.

'Bingo.'

He pretended to fall on his back and waited till the real ones tried to stab him from below, grabbing their arms. Same as Naruto, Sasuke pulled and yanked them from the ground. The energy behind his fling sent them flying and Naruto and Sakura quickly jumped in the air, knocking the duo down with a single punch to their skulls.

As they landed, Sasuke searched their pockets and with a grin, pulled out an earth scroll, causing Naruto and Sakura to smirk victoriously.

"Great, now we can head to the tower." Sakura stated with a smile and pictured herself in a relaxing bath already.

Turning around, Team 7 was leaving the defeated team on the ground, when one of them woke up and coughed. Straining his muscles to support himself on his arms, he called out to Team 7.

"You… the b-blonde." He weakly called out, making the trio turn around.

"What do you want?" Naruto looked at him with narrowed eyes.

The Genin took a heavy breath.

"Our l-leader wants you to know… that he's watching you…" He muttered and fainted again.

Naruto widened his eyes and turned to his equally surprised teammates.

"…the hell? Their leader?"

Sasuke crouched and aimed his eyes at the forehead protectors of the beaten Genin.

"That is a sign of… Amegakure, the Village Hidden by Rain. As far as I know, their leader is a person called Hanzō or something. We met shinobi from their village back in Takigakure." He stated and glanced at Naruto, who returned his gaze with a frown.

"Never heard of him."

Sakura widened her eyes and looked at Naruto.

"You don't know? He's the guy that took on all of the three Sannin and defeated them!" She exclaimed, recalling the book of history they were supposed to read during the Academy.

"Great…" Naruto groaned, cursing his luck.

"But why he would watch you is beyond me…" Sasuke muttered with a frown and glanced at Naruto who shook his head.

"Beats me."

Sometime later, when they were travelling across a rather dense part of the forest, Sasuke sighed, causing his other teammates to look at him with raised eyebrows; Sasuke rarely sighed. The Uchiha caught their stares and scowled.

"This is nothing like I expected the exams to be. I wanted to test myself, to see how strong I really am and we only came across those weaklings. It was an annoying fight, yes, but also too easy. After them, we've met nobody. Not even a single team to fight." He brooded. Naruto saw Sakura trying to decide whether to squeal at 'her Sasuke-kun's coolness' or to grimace at the thought of getting to fight somebody else and shook his head with a snort.

"Just be glad this will be over soon. You can have an exciting fight in the finals." The blonde stated but then his senses screamed at him. He noticed a strong gust of wind coming straight at them and cursed.

"Watch out!"

He managed to warn his teammates at the last moment and so they were able to use chakra to stick their feet on the tree. But even with that, they got blasted backwards and crashed into the tree far behind them.

"Ow." Sakura groaned and let Sasuke help her get up. Naruto rubbed his head and narrowed his eyes.

'That wasn't normal wind… it felt more like the Great Breakthrough jutsu…' He thought and carefully studied his surroundings. He didn't have to look for long as just mere seconds after they got up, the new opponent for Team 7 landed on a tree-branch above them. It was a lone Genin with a Kusagakure sign on his forehead protector.

"Seems like we have company." Naruto muttered and along with his teammates, took out his kunai.

The Genin formed a small, yet creepy smile and tilted his head to the side. His licked his mouth with an abnormally long tongue and rubbed his hands.

"All ready to fight I see. This should be interesting." He stated.

Naruto watched the man and felt a bead of sweat forming on his forehead. He wasn't sure as to why but something about the Genin was giving him the creeps, sending shivers down his spine. It was a bit similar to what he felt when watching Kabuto only thousands of times stronger.

"Th-this guy… something's off about him." He whispered and took an unconscious step back. Sakura frowned but Sasuke did the same thing as Naruto.

"Hehe, the prey often feels pressure when facing the predator." The Genin stated and bared his teeth, letting his nasty tongue hang down from his open mouth.

"I know you have the Heaven scroll… I have an Earth scroll." He continued and after showing them the scroll, he opened his mouth wide and pushed it down his throat. This action only further cemented Naruto's hunch, that the one in front of them was bad news.

"What do you say, we fight for our scrolls… to death!"

Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto widened their eyes after the last word escaped from the Genin's mouth and started to hyperventilate. They didn't know what he did but the look in the man's eyes paralyzed them and a scene flashed before their eyes. A scene of their flesh getting torn, their bones getting broken, their eyes getting gauged out and their skulls getting smashed to bits. It lasted only for a short moment but the effects stayed until the illusion ended.

Naruto didn't know what was going on inside the minds of his teammates but he knew one thing. He was scared. His brain was able to comprehend only one thing. The feeling of fear. It caused him to gulp and swallow back to contents of his stomach that were threatening to burst out of him. He blinked and his brain became able to comprehend one more thing. What he saw was just an illusion. However, knowing this didn't change anything. He was scared. The fingers of his hand twitched. He realized that what he just saw and felt was a killing intent from the weird guy. Whoever he was, his killing intent was strong enough to cause him and his teammates to see images of their deaths. He was scared. Feeling his own heart beating and pumping like his life was on the stake, the blonde blinked again. What was he supposed to do? He was scared.

A brief image of a smiling Haku saying something entered his mind and his fingers twitched again. His eyes registered kunai flying at him and the other two and his fingers twitched again. He growled.

'What the hell am I doing!? I swore to Haku! I can't let this fear overcome me… move! We'll die if I don't do something.' From the corner of his eye he saw Sasuke puking and trying to reach a kunai with a trembling hand.

'Move! I can't die here! MOVE!' He growled and a yell escaped his lips. Clenching his hands, he pushed himself from the ground and jumped at Sakura, pushing her out of the harm's way while Sasuke used his own kunai to stab himself in the leg and jump away.

The three kunai meant for them hit nothing but ground, causing their opponent to grin.

"How interesting."

Naruto was supporting himself on the ground, breathing heavily. Keeping his eyes on Sakura, who was still shaking, he called out to Sasuke.

"Y-you all right?" Hearing no response, he turned his head to see Sasuke frantically looking all around them.

"Sasuke."

"Sasuke!" The blonde repeated and watched as the Uchiha sharply turned to him. Seeing the look in the boy's eyes, Naruto growled and lightly punched him in the jaw. It was sound enough for Sakura to stop shaking and look at them and for Sasuke to snap out of it.

"What are yo-?" Sasuke yelled only to meet Naruto's stare.

"Better?"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes and saw the same fear he felt, reflected in Naruto's eyes but it was overshadowed with an even stronger resolve. He took a deep breath and rubbed his face.

"Y-yeah."

The blonde turned to Sakura.

"Sakura?"

The girl nodded but didn't dare to open her mouth, afraid she might vomit as soon as she would do it. Since his teammates were like that, Naruto took the lead.

"I don't know who that guy is but we're in big trouble."

"You're exactly right."

Naruto spun around and with wide eyes quickly plunged a kunai in the head of a snake that appeared behind him. The splashing blood caused Sakura and Sasuke to react too and jump away. The trio looked up to see the weird Genin, his body wrapped around the tree, looking at them with a hungry expression.

"Damn…" Naruto cursed and together with Sasuke, they showered the guy with a barrage of shuriken. They watched as their opponent slithered around the tree and dodged every single one of their projectiles like it was nothing.

"…no other choice, we have to fight." Naruto muttered, causing Sasuke to stare at him with a deep frown.

"Are you insane?"

Naruto shook his head.

"No. I already thought about trying to escape or giving him our scrolls but there is no guarantee he'd let us live. That leaves only one option… whether I like it or not." He steeled himself and formed a hand seal.

'Gravity seals: Release.' The sudden absence of weight, constantly pressing on his limbs made him feel a bit uncomfortable but he quickly snapped out of it and taking out a kunai, he spoke to his teammate.

"I'm going to go all out. I suggest you do the same thing." He said with narrowed eyes as kicking the dirt, he shot into the air. Appearing on the same level as his opponent in a flash, he rapidly formed a set of hand-seals and pointed his palms in front of him.

'Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!' The blast of air forced the man to fly backwards but he quickly grabbed a tree-branch and using his chakra, he stuck himself to it.

Feeling a strong heat behind him, Naruto jumped to the side. He watched as a Great Fireball flew past him and glanced down to see Sasuke nodding to him. He noticed the Uchiha had his Sharingan activated and so he nodded back.

Using his speed, he crossed the distance between him and the enemy Genin and aimed a kick at the man's head. Still uninjured, the man crouched under the strike and retaliated with a punch to the guts. Before his fist could touch the blonde however, a barrage of shuriken forced him to retract his arm and jump backwards.

Naruto used the situation to from a hand-seal and create a dozen Shadow Clones. He ordered them to attack the enemy and backing up a bit, he watched as the copies of him systematically attempted to hit the man, all while Sasuke was using the small spaces between their attacks to throw his shuriken. Since the constant attacks were keeping the opponent busy, the blonde reached to his pocket and took out a bunch of explosive tags. He wrapped them around some of his kunai and threw them at the places around his clones and the enemy.

He waited for the perfect chance and then dispelled all of his clones in one turn, leaving only a small smokescreen after them. In that moment, he detonated the explosive tags and watched as the enemy got caught in flames.

Cautiously, he eyed the scene, not even for a second convinced that it was already over. He was proved right when a barrage of kunai emerged from the smoke, heading towards Sasuke and Sakura. He was spared but in the next instant, something exploded within the smoke and a huge snake tail flew towards him. Mentally cursing, he rolled to the side but one of his legs got hit. He was sent spiraling towards the ground.

The smokescreen all of a sudden getting blown away, the blonde and the rest of Team 7 watched as their opponent stood atop a large snake, grinning widely.

"For being prey, you don't seem that scared of the predator." The Kusa Genin stated and the snake below him shot forward, towards Sasuke.

'Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire jutsu!' The Uchiha thought and quickly released a volley of small fireballs, controlling their movements with chakra, so they would hit the snake's head. Taking precautions, he jumped backwards. It was a good action, as his jutsu barely slowed down the snake and the reptile's mouth bit the place where Sasuke stood just a moment ago.

From behind the man on the snake, Naruto appeared and tried to get closer to deliver a blow to his jaw. However, he widened his eyes when the man swiftly turned around and sent a kunai his way. It got knocked away by another flying kunai and Naruto trailed its trajectory with his eyes to see Sakura with her hand full of them. She had been intently watching the fight, anxiously waiting for an opportunity to help. Naruto mentally thanked her but in the next moment, he found himself hanging upside down by his foot.

Raising his head, he saw the man holding him with his extremely long tongue. The blonde tried to reach for it, to try and loosen the grip on his foot, but he was pulled closer and punched in the stomach. The blow knocked the wind out of his lungs and caused him to violently cough. This also caused his shirt to get loose and roll down, showing his bare abdomen. Seeing the seal on Naruto's skin, the man ever so slightly widened his eyes.

"I see… but right now, you're in the way, Kyuubi brat."

Naruto froze.

'H-he knows?'

Looking up, he saw the man's fingertips on his right hand glowing with chakra. He didn't really know what it meant but his instinct was telling him to avoid their touch at all costs. With a sharp intake of breath, he filled his lungs and flashed through a set of hand-seals.

'Wind Release: Air Bullets!' From his position, hanging upside down, he spit a few concentrated blasts of air at his opponent. It blew the man backwards and in the process, he was forced to drop Naruto. The blonde landed on his back, just as Sasuke landed next to him on his feet.

"This guy is-" The young Uchiha was immediately interrupted when the snake followed him and hit the tree where the two of them stood. The power behind the blow shook the whole tree and caused them to stumble. In that moment, the enemy Genin flew through the air, coming straight at them.

"Damn…" Naruto cursed and tried to regain his balance, same as Sasuke. To their surprise, Sakura appeared next to them, going through the last hand-seal of her technique.

'Demonic Illusion: String Bean Binding Illusion jutsu!' She thought and activated the Genjutsu.

Naruto and Sasuke finally regained their footing and watched as the enemy abruptly came to a stop. Without turning her head to them, Sakura nervously exclaimed.

"Now!"

Not wasting a second, Sasuke threw a set of shuriken on strings around the man, binding him tightly and deeply inhaled.

'Fire Release: Dragon Fire jutsu!' Multiple flames travelled across the strings and hit the man in the face. From the side, Naruto jumped to him and vertically slashed with the palm of his hand, cutting the man's left arm off.

Just when the trio thought it was over, the snake disappeared in a cloud of smoke and their opponent dissolved into a heap of mud.

"What?" Naruto widened his eyes and groaned when a kunai coming from his blind spot hit him in the shoulder.

"I knew I'd see something very interesting while testing you but I've never thought you could defeat my Earth Clone, even if it was a weak one. You're making it almost hard for me to choose from the three of you." They turned around to see the completely uninjured man staring at them from a nearby tree-branch. His eyes were especially focused on Sasuke, who frowned.

"Your Sharingan is developing nicely, Sasuke-kun… just as expected from Itachi's little brother."

As soon as those words entered his ears, Sasuke widened his eyes.

"How do you know that name? Who the hell are you?!" He yelled with clenched fists.

The man raised his right hand and covered his face with it. Before Team 7's very eyes, he tore and peeled a bit of his skin, revealing a different face underneath the current one. Seeing their shocked expressions, the man grinned.

"My name is Orochimaru." He reached to his mouth and took out the Earth scroll. With a snap of his fingers, he set it on fire.

"If you want to know more, survive these exams, defeat my minions from the Otogakure and after that… come find me."

Naruto gulped and glanced at his teammates in shock.

'O-Orochimaru? This guy is the freaking Sannin?! D-damn…' He gulped and felt a new rush of adrenaline flowing into his veins.

"W-who would be stupid enough to try and f-find you?" Sakura shouted in a scared tone. The man frowned and then bared his teeth, his eyes boring into Sasuke.

"Well then, I guess I'll have to make sure you'd want to do that, Sasuke-kun." He stated maliciously and the trio watched in horror as the man's neck unnaturally lengthened and his head shot towards them. As he opened his mouth and revealed a set of profound canines, Sakura screamed and moved.

"No!"

The proctor for the second test of the Chunin Exams, a tokubetsu Jōnin Anko Mitarashi was immensely gritting her teeth, the enamel creaking under the pressure. Her breathing was elevated, her hands clenched and beads of sweat were appearing on her forehead. She thought that what she was seeing with her eyes was just a joke. But the empty faces of three Genin lying on the ground, hidden by the bushes were real. She knew what it meant. Her nightmare, the man of her past was here in Konoha. Closing her eyes for a short moment, she saw nothing but the inside of her eyelids.

"Alert the Hokage and send an ANBU squad to the Forest of Death. I'm going in!" She ordered the few Konoha Chūnin that were helping with the exams.

"Huh?"

She growled and grabbed the papers from one of the Chūnin hands. They contained detailed information on the three men lying in front of her. Quickly reading through them in her mind, she saved their faces in her brain and dropped the papers.

Just a few minutes ago, she had been chewing on her favorite food, Dango. Just a few minutes ago, she had been lazily leaning on a tree, throwing the empty Dango sticks on a small piece of wood. Now, she felt like puking those Dango out. The amount of adrenaline in her blood was high, almost making her hands numb.

'Why is he here? Shit, this is bad…' She thought and hurried to the Forest of Death, before anything really serious could happen.

Sakura didn't know what she was doing. One moment, her body was frozen, paralyzed with fear as she watched Orochimaru's head flying towards Sasuke and the next one, she was already moving as fast as she possibly could. She had no idea what was going on. Seeing the opened mouth, intent on biting, her heart just skipped a beat. That small and fragile organ felt like it was getting squeezed and her brain unconsciously showed her images of her memories, from the first moment she had seen the Uchiha prodigy until the present time. It forced her to relive all those times, to relive all the emotions she felt. She remembered being amazed by the boy with black hair, a cool attitude and a sharp look in his eyes. The blush that crept on her cheeks whenever she saw him afterwards. She remembered the crush she had on him.

Now, this boy was in danger and she could feel it. She could feel that whatever was going to happen to him now would deeply influence him. It would scar him, leave a taint on him he could never get rid of. As the mouth opened and she saw the canines inside of it, her brain made its decision without her conscious thought. It send an electric signal into her limbs that overcame any fear and horror she felt. Her small muscles were straining to their limits as she hurried to try and stop the madman from reaching the boy.

The air was passing her face, washing away the tears forming in her eyes. She was afraid to lose him and because of that, she would try to stop even one of the Sannin. It was in that moment, when Sakura realized that what she was feeling towards Sasuke was slowly becoming less of a crush and more of something deeper.

Desperately, she kicked the ground and jumped forward. Her body hit Sasuke an instant later, knocking him down. A scream escaped her lips when the two canines meant for Sasuke dug into her neck, piercing the skin like butter. Vaguely, her body felt the foreign chakra entering her blood stream, invading and raping her insides like a savage beast. With her last thought on the boy she cared about, she blacked out and promptly lost consciousness.

Naruto watched the whole scene unfold in front of him in shock. It lasted for only a second but his eyes and brain managed to register enough information for an hour. But the most important thing was, something happened and he couldn't do a thing to prevent it from happening. His thought caught up with him in an instant and he turned his head to the side to see Sakura closing her eyes and falling on a motionless Sasuke, who deftly caught her in his arms. Orochimaru's head retracted back but he wasn't satisfied.

Naruto blinked. He didn't give a damn about what Orochimaru's face looked like, what the look in his eyes was or how much he was frowning. He couldn't care less about the bastard. What he cared about was that the man attempted to do something bad to his teammate and his other teammate sacrificed herself to stop it. He saw both Sasuke's and Sakura's faces. One was completely stunned and one was completely out of commission, save for occasional twitches.

It happened in an instant and Naruto suddenly found himself in the air, his fist flying towards the man's head, covered in a flickering layer of an orange, almost red, chakra. He was moving so fast, his own eyes weren't even able to comprehend the blurry lines. His instinct guiding him, the fist connected with a jaw and the following loud boom sent the man flying across the forest, far away from the blonde's team. Naruto's speed was so great he couldn't hope to stop himself alone and so he crashed into a tree standing in his way. The force of the impact effectively knocked not just wind out of him but also the anger and the red chakra. The only thing he felt now was worry. Be it a different situation, Naruto would have laughed at the thought of him worrying about somebody who practically bullied him in the past.

But not now.

Sasuke felt something bumped into him at high speed and he found himself falling down. He noticed a bunch of unusual pink hair in the line of his sight, before something red sprayed the air. He saw the pair of fangs biting into the neck of the person who hit him and his pupils widened.

He knew the name of the person with pink hair like this. He knew the face that was biting into the neck of that person. His brain understood these two things but the implications were somehow eluding him. Maybe it was because he was actively rejecting the very insane idea that Sakura just protected him. When he saw the eyes of the girl roll back in her head and she fainted, that insane idea became reality and he blinked.

As if on an autopilot, he extended his arms and caught her before she could fall on the ground. 'For such a thin girl, she is surprisingly heavy' the voice in his mind told him. It was just as heavy as the dead bodies of his parents he'd found that cursed night four years ago. That thought made him put two and two together and he felt something in his eyes. His vision became blurry for a moment and he almost thought he cried. 'Sure' the voice in his head spoke again in a mocking tone. But when he blinked multiple times and the blurry sight wasn't disappearing, he knew it wasn't because he was crying.

An influx of chakra entered his eyes and a sharp pain forced him to close them for a second. He only heard a loud crack, just like somebody punching the hell out of his enemy.

'Sakura…why…' He thought grimly and opened his eyes again.

When Naruto finally managed to catch his breath, he stood up and pushed himself from the ground. He landed next to his teammates and wanted to take a brief glance at Sasuke, to see if he shook off the shock. But as he noticed the blazing, now two-tomoed Sharingan in both of the boy's eyes, he momentarily widened his own. Blinking once, he collected himself and shifted his gaze to Sakura and cursed. She was unconscious and trembling, a clear sign that something bad was happening to her. He felt panic rising within him.

"S-sasuke, put her down." He whispered and watched as the other boy jerked and turned to him. Sasuke stared at him for a few seconds without any sign of moving but then his brain seemingly restarted and with a nod, he gently put the girl on the ground.

"Why… why did she do it?" The Uchiha growled in an anxious tone, glaring angrily at his unconscious teammate. Naruto glanced at him before crouching next to Sakura and leaning over her body to look at her neck.

"If you don't know, I won't tell you." He stated and carefully folded the clothes at her shoulders to expose the skin of her neck. Inwardly apologizing to the girl for it, he cursed at the sight of a weird looking seal on her skin.

"Crap…"

Sasuke's glare lessened and he crouched down too. When he noticed the seal, he grimaced.

"…what is this, some kind of a seal?"

Naruto absentmindedly nodded and carefully studied the pattern of the seal, trying to come up with an explanation. But what he was seeing was light years beyond what he knew about seals. He still had trouble finishing his own seal for a simple communication with Fū and while this looked like a simple seal at first sight it was not. The tiny markings pulsating every time Sakura's heart beat were the sign he was right. There was only one thing he could do. It wasn't an elegant solution but from the way Sakura was slowly trembling more with every passing moment, it was the only way. Reaching to his pocket, he quickly took out the paper and ink he used for sealing and immersed himself in drawing intricate lines.

"…you know Fūinjutsu?" Sasuke asked in a perplexed tone.

"Just a few things." Naruto muttered, ignoring the boy. Seeing the focused gaze on Naruto's face, Sasuke went silent and just watched him work. However, after a minute, he couldn't take it anymore.

"Will it help?"

Naruto frowned and scratched his chin, looking over the seal he drew on the paper.

"No."

The honest answer caught Sasuke off-guard and he had to blink twice.

"What?"

Naruto clicked his tongue and briefly showed Sasuke his own seal before leaning over Sakura.

"I can't do anything about the seal, I don't know that much about seals. But from the look of this one, it probably affects her chakra network… look at her with your Sharingan to confirm it, please." He muttered and Sasuke automatically activated his Doūjutsu and briefly looked over his unconscious teammate. In that moment he realized his Sharingan must have evolved, because he could see Sakura's chakra better than before. With a frown, he noticed bits of foreign chakra coming off from the seal on her neck, trying to find their way to the rest of her body.

"Yeah… it's some sort of a vile, purple chakra." He confirmed the blonde's fears and heard him sigh.

"Then this is really the best thing I can do." Naruto muttered and exposed Sakura's neck more, trying to find a place where he could stick his paper seal onto her.

"What I've just drawn is used to momentarily stop the chakra from flowing inside one's body. This way, the chakra from Orochimaru's seal won't be able to flow into her. There is a downside to this of-course. It's highly likely she'll remain unconscious until we can find somebody more competent to look at her." He explained.

"Basically, she's dead weight."

Naruto growled and swiftly turned around to Sasuke, his fist cocked back, ready to plunge it into the boy's jaw but before he could do it, he noticed the sad look on the Uchiha's face. He lowered his fist; Sasuke wasn't trying to be rude, it was just a raw comment coming from the feeling of helplessness and Naruto couldn't really blame him. Instead, he sighed and looked over his shoulder.

"I'd say we should hurry to the tower but it'd probably be better to find some shelter and take a short break."

"Yeah." Sasuke nodded and carefully picked Sakura and slung her over his shoulder. Naruto raised his eyebrow at that but decided to leave it. Fifteen minutes later, they were hiding inside a hollow tree trunk surrounded by its roots. Sakura was lying in the middle, no longer trembling but with a pained expression on her face. Naruto and Sasuke were sitting at her sides, facing each other.

"You do realize we have just survived an encounter with a bloody Sannin…" Naruto muttered and watched the other boy nod.

"Yeah…"

"Was it the exciting fight you were anticipating?"

Sasuke snorted and shook his head with a tiny smile.

"No, he was too weak."

He glanced at Naruto, who met his eyes and they both erupted in laughter. It lasted for a few moments before turning into a series of small chuckles.

"Orochimaru… he mentioned somebody called Itachi… is he the person you're trying to kill?" Naruto asked after a while. His teammate stiffened and didn't answer for a while until his head lowered and his eyes fell onto Sakura.

"Yeah… he's my older brother… and the man who killed off our whole clan." He stated with gritted teeth. His statement was met with deathly silence. Naruto stared at him in shock.

'…what? I mean… WHAT?!' He mentally yelled and tried to comprehend the piece of information. It was proving too much, considering the bad situation they were already in and so he just shook his head.

'I'll have to think about it later…' He thought and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"…I don't think my brain can even comprehend that." He said, breaking the uncomfortable silence, causing Sasuke to chuckle darkly.

"At least you're not trying to lie and tell me some shit about how you 'understand my pain'."

Naruto just silently shrugged. After a moment, Sasuke raised his head to stare at the blonde with curious eyes.

"Now that I think about it, you did mention something about your clan in the past."

Naruto grimaced and took a deep breath. While he didn't want to reveal his secrets to anyone, Sasuke just told him one of his own.

"Yeah, but there isn't much. It is true that Uzumaki is a clan…was. It has been completely wiped out as far as I know." He muttered. To his surprise, Sasuke widened his eyes and an expression of understanding formed on his face.

"Really?"

Naruto just nodded and lowered his head, missing the odd look in the other boy's eyes.

"Naruto?"

"Yeah?"

The blonde looked up to see Sasuke staring out of their hiding place at the forest outside, actively trying to avert his eyes.

"I don't know what happened to you on our mission in the Wave country but… I'm glad it did."

Naruto widened his eyes and had to blink. He even stealthily pinched his leg to see if he was dreaming. But he wasn't. It was the reality. He was so distracted that a chuckle escaped his mouth, forcing Sasuke to turn and glare at him in embarrassment. The blonde quickly raised his hands.

"Sorry but… thanks. I agree, that mission sort of opened my eyes." He said and nodded to the other boy with a grin.

Sasuke lost his glare and the embarrassment on his face was slowly disappearing when all of a sudden, he turned his head and threw a kunai through the entrance to their hiding. It hit the ground nearby and Naruto saw a scared squirrel quickly jump away. He wanted to chuckle but the alarmed look in Sasuke's eyes caused him to frown.

"Do you see something?"

With his Sharingan activated, the other boy nodded.

"There was an explosive tag on the squirrel, we have company."

Naruto groaned and quickly created a clone to guard Sakura. He then followed Sasuke out of their cover and the two positioned themselves at the sides of the entrance, looking over their surroundings.

"It's good to see you awake, Sasuke-kun. We want to fight you." A voice from above spoke, catching their attention. They looked up to see a team of three Genin, each of them wearing a snake patterned scarf around their necks. Naruto narrowed his eyes and shifted his gaze to see their forehead protectors. As the trio jumped down and landed in front of them, Naruto quickly inched closer to Sasuke and elbowed him to the side.

"Oi, I think they are the ones Orochimaru talked about… his minions from Otogakure. I don't think the sign on their forehead protectors could stand for anything else." He rapidly muttered, causing the Uchiha to glance at the enemy's head. Cursing quietly, he nodded.

"Yeah, seems like Otogakure to me."

"What are you two whispering about? We're here!" One of them angrily exclaimed. Naruto saw that they weren't in a hurry to attack them and so he used the time to raise one question.

"What does Orochimaru want from us? We know you're his pawns."

The trio narrowed their eyes.

"He told you about us? What is he thinking… well, not like it matters. We just came here to kill you, Sasuke-kun." The one with his back hunched muttered and prepared to attack. The two standing at his sides did the same thing, a boy grinning widely while a girl stared at them with an excited expression.

'Fine, looks like they won't tell us more. We'll just have to beat them.' Naruto thought with a frown and watched as the Otogakure Genin jumped forward.

'Surprise.' He mentally exclaimed when a dozen of his clones, until now posing as simple rocks, popped into existence. Immediately, they engaged the surprised trio in Taijutsu and sent them flying with a few kicks.

Next to him, Sasuke flashed through a set of hand-seals and turned his head to where the trio crashed.

'Fire Release: Great Fireball jutsu!' He took a deep breath and spewed a large fireball, firing it in a straight line. He and Naruto watched as their opponents from Otogakure cursed and two of them raised their hands against the fireball. In a sudden burst of air, the fireball lost its composition and became only streams of flames that quickly died down and passed them harmlessly.

"That's it Dosu, I'm killing both of them." The one with dark, spiky hair growled and sped towards Sasuke. He was forced to slow down when Naruto's clones blocked his path. Extending his hands towards them, he narrowed his eyes and a powerful gust of wind hit the clones, forcing them to dispel. Naruto and Sasuke were watching it carefully and both of them reached the same conclusion.

'Whatever they use, they are dangerous up close.'

Forming a single hand-seal, Naruto created two more Shadow Clones and nodded to Sasuke. He ordered the clones to stand in front of them as a shield when he sensed something coming at him from the left. He leaned to the side and watched as a set of senbon missed his shoulder.

They came from the only girl in the opposing team and she was staring at him while taking out another set of senbon needles from her pouch. Seeing that Sasuke was on the offensive and was keeping the other two quite preoccupied, he kicked the ground and sped towards the girl. He crossed the distance in an instant and his punch grazed the girl's cheek as she was barely able to react. However, she wasn't fast enough to evade the second blow to the stomach and fell on her knees, coughing heavily. Naruto jumped over her and from behind gripped her under her neck. With his eyes, he found the other two, busy dodging a collaborated jutsu of his clones and Sasuke and called out to them.

"Surrender, or she'll get it."

He ignored the violent protests from the girl and gripped her neck tighter, forcing her to take shallow breaths. His eyes widened when he saw her teammates look at them with malicious stares. The next thing he knew, the one closer to him pointed his right palm towards him and grinned viciously before blasting a pulse of air straight at them.

Mentally cursing, Naruto hastily rolled to the side with the girl still in his grip. With a sharp blow to the back of her head, he knocked her out and slowly stood up in time to hear the one closer to him speaking.

"It seems like you didn't understand us clearly. We're not here to collect scrolls or to win these stupid exams. We told you already, we're here to kill Sasuke-kun." The boy stated with a smirk and glanced at the unconscious girl next to the blonde.

"If Kin is stupid enough to get caught, that's her problem." He exclaimed and ran towards Naruto, his arms cocked back.

Naruto reacted instantly and gathered his chakra. He knew he couldn't let his opponent get too close to him. He'd seen what the boy could do with his odd blasts of air. Because of that, at the right moment he aimed his fist to the ground and punched it hard.

'Earth Release: Earth Shore Return jutsu!' The wall of earth rose in front of the blonde at the same time as his opponent pointed his palms at him and released a blast of air. The attack hit the wall dead-on, but it only produced small cracks and dents in it.

"Shit! That's the same technique Jirōbō uses…" The boy cursed, catching the attention of all the combatants.

'Jirōbō?' Naruto thought for a moment, before filing the information to the back of his head. Taking a deep breath, he spewed three blasts of air that destroyed his own wall of earth and continued heading straight at his opponent.

'Wind Release: Air Bullets!'

The piece of the wall hindering his sight, the boy was caught with the technique and it carried him all the way to his teammate. As Sasuke instantly noticed it with his Sharingan, he used Fire Release: Dragon Flame Blitz jutsu to obscure the other boy's vision. It was a weak technique that could do just a minimal amount of damage, but it proved to be sufficient as Sasuke's opponent cursed and jumped in the air. Doing that, he evaded his teammate's flying body but he also made himself an easy target.

One of the Naruto clones grabbed the other and with a swift throw, sent the other one straight at the boy. The Oto Genin was able to dispel him with a quick attack with his right arm but that moment cost him too much and he was sent crashing to the ground with Sasuke's kick to his guts.

After a few moments, when the cloud of dirt died down, Naruto and Sasuke observed that the boy with the hunched back, who was the only remaining member of his team still conscious, was slowly taking out his scroll from his pocket. His breathing accelerated and his expression weary, he stared at the duo.

"…looks like we underestimated you…, I offer you our scroll for my teammate, so please, let us leave." He stated and placed the earth scroll on the ground in front of him. He grabbed his teammate with spiky hair that was lying next to him and turned around, prepared to leave.

"But let me tell you this. Next time we meet, we won't run. We'll be ready to take you on." He spoke and flexed his muscles to jump when Sasuke's voice stopped him.

"What does Orochimaru want from me… and what did he do to Sakura?"

The Oto Genin momentarily widened his eyes before sighing.

"I don't know. As Zaku has told you, we were merely ordered to kill you, Sasuke-kun. I don't know about the girl, but if I he did what I think he did, then she's as good as dead."

After they heard the boy's words, the duo quickly entered their small shelter and checked on their female teammate. With a relieved sigh, they found no extreme change in her status, she was still unconscious but her breathing was normal. The only worrying thing was her temperature, which was slowly rising. It was obvious that even with Naruto's seal, her condition was slowly deteriorating and she needed real help. It was a sign they needed to move again.

Sasuke took it on himself to carry Sakura and so he slung her over his shoulder in the same manner as before, while Naruto picked up the scroll the Oto Genin left them. With a sigh, he put it in his pocket.

'We're kind of lucky they had just the scroll we were looking for…' His thoughts wandered off and he turned around to glance at the girl, who was still lying where he left her.

'…they really left her like that.' He walked to her and for a moment, stared at her motionless form.

"We should probably… she won't survive either way, lying there like that." Sasuke stated from behind him. Naruto deeply exhaled and grimaced.

"How could they leave her behind… with this kind of attitude, I'm shocked they even passed the first test."

"They were Orochimaru's minions. I'm sure he gave them some sort of information on how to surely pass." Sasuke scowled and took out a kunai.

"You want to do it, or…?"

Naruto glanced at the kunai and then at the girl.

'That one mentioned her name was Kin…'

He crouched down.

'She reminds me a little of Haku…' He thought and the fingers in his hands twitched. Staring at the girl's face for a while longer, he closed his eyes and shook his head.

"I… can't. I can't kill another helpless girl… not again." The blonde muttered and stopped Sasuke from doing it either. The Uchiha narrowed his eyes.

"We should take her with us." Naruto stated and grabbed Kin's arms.

"What? She'll just slow us down." Sasuke objected.

When Naruto ignored him and slung the girl over his shoulder the same way as he did with Sakura, Sasuke grabbed his arm.

"Naruto… you can't just simply save her. That is not the purpose of this test."

The blonde shook his head.

"That's not it. You said it yourself, her teammates were Orochimaru's minions. Even if they claim to know nothing about Orochimaru's intentions about you, they still must know other things. I'm taking her with us so she can be interrogated." He explained and returned the gaze Sasuke was giving him.

It took five minutes before the Uchiha finally gave up and nodded.

"But if we encounter any trouble, we leave her."

It was slowly getting dark as Naruto and Sasuke were approaching the tower in the middle of the Forest of Death. With their baggage, they had to move slower and more cautiously. Precisely because of that, they found themselves crouching behind thick bushes. They didn't dare to move further, as quite a battle was happening in front of their cover.

Naruto didn't know why, but he had a feeling he was supposed to witness this fight. He slowly put Kin from his shoulder and carefully peeked over the bushes. When he spotted a girl with bright red hair, his eyes widened.

'This girl… I think I saw her when all of us were gathered in front of the Forest of Death, before the test began.'

He saw her other teammates fight, while she was mostly staying behind, supporting them with barrages of kunai or shuriken. The blonde couldn't see who they were fighting but from the looks of it, it was quite an even fight. Sensing a movement, he glanced at Sasuke, who was motioning him to try and move but Naruto shook his head.

'Hold on a minute.' He mouthed silently and returned his sight to the battle.

It lasted for two more minutes and in the end, the girl's team managed to win.

"Karin, come here, I think Shū needs your help."

Naruto's ears twitched.

'So her name is Karin.'

He watched as the girl grimaced but nevertheless walked to her teammate, who was yanking a kunai out of his own back. A bit of blood spurted from the wound. The girl, Karin, sighed and rolled off her sleeve.

With wide eyes, Naruto watched as her teammate bit her arm like it was the most ordinary thing to do, like he was used to it. After a moment, he opened his mouth and stopped biting her. Turning around, he showed Naruto his back.

It was completely healed.

'…what the hell?' A brief thought flashed through the blonde's mind and he narrowed his eyes.

'Did she heal him? When he bit her?'

Naruto was confused and after the team left the scene, he sat on the ground and looked at Sasuke with a puzzled expression. The Uchiha raised his eyebrow but said nothing. He turned around and grabbed Sakura, motioning Naruto to start moving again. The blonde's eyes noticed the Uchiha's emblem on his teammate's back and his eyes widened in enlightenment.

'…damn it… her hair is red, she has probably an unusual ability to heal others… I know it's a long shot and maybe I'm being too hopeful but can it be? Could she be… an Uzumaki?' He shook his head.

'No… that can't be… it's too farfetched. I'm sure there are people with red hair who aren't Uzumaki, or people who can heal others like that… I'm sure…' His thoughts trailed off and he bit his lip. It was the most unlikely scenario but what if? The blonde growled and picked up Kin. He could think about it later. He had enough to worry about at the moment.

An hour later when the tower was right in front of them, the duo hid again. This time, it was not because of any fight. His Sharingan activated, Sasuke cautiously peeked from behind their cover, to look at an older boy with white hair suspiciously looking around. Naruto waited until Sasuke glanced at him and when the blonde saw him shake his head, he cursed.

'What is Kabuto doing here?'

They waited until the older boy finally left the scene and both of them sighed.

"That guy is suspicious, no matter how I look at him." Naruto muttered.

"Yeah. Now that we've met Orochimaru, he's even more suspicious…" Sasuke grimaced and deactivated his Sharingan.

Carefully, they finally reached the tower and went through the door inside. Turning their head around, they saw nobody, the room they had entered was empty. Sasuke tapped the blonde on the shoulder and pointed at a writing on one of the walls.

"I think we should open the scrolls."

Seeing as there was nothing else they could do, Naruto nodded and together with Sasuke, they opened the earth and heaven scroll. When smoke started to leak from them, they threw it on the ground and watched as a person appeared amidst the chaos. That person took one glance at the two of them and when he saw two unconscious girls on their backs, he widened his eyes.

"Hey, Iruka-sensei. If there's something we need to do before passing this part of the exams then hurry up. We need to meet Kakashi-sensei. There is something he and the Hokage needs to know."

End of chapter 7.

I thought about making this part of exams different but any idea paled in comparison to the original Kishi's idea. His writing was still great at that point.

I tried to make the fights rather easy. Yes, it was intentional to show that IF Team 7 cooperates, they are a lot stronger then an average Genin team.

P.S: Don't worry, saving Kin won't make her fall for Naruto nor she will be a romantic interest.