A/N: I love reviews, I really do. I'm not a mean-type of person when it comes to this. I'm only mean if you're acting like a major douche. I think that I should extend my chapters to be longer. I don't know. And yes, I let them keep their Heaven Scroll, why? Because I want to be nice to them, for once. These chapters are just being updated faster and faster, so keep your eye out for it.
Naruto was getting ready to swim in the water to catch some fish when Sakura put her hand on his shoulder. "Naruto, you can't."
He seemed confused. "Why, Sakura-chan?"
She leaned closer to his ear and whispered, "Sasuke-kun still thinks that your behavior was a one-time thing. If he sees your mark, he'll probably freak."
Naruto thought of her words and put them into mind as he sighed, zipping his shirt back up. "All right, I won't, but I'm only doing this because you asked, not because of Sasuke."
"We need food!" Naruto dove into the water, trying to catch a fish.
He does have the right idea. Sasuke looked at the splashing blond in the small river.
Naruto was moving quickly in the water finally catching a fish and rose up to throw it to Sasuke. The flailing fish was caught by the Uchiha who handled it firmly.
"Hey, Sakura-chan, did you see what I did?" Naruto grinned.
"Good work, Naruto, but we still need one more." Sakura looked back at the single dead fish on a small cloth.
Sasuke threw the fish to Sakura as he also had a kunai fly through the air to catch a fish that leaped out from the water. "Done, but we should still get some more."
"Oh, Sasuke-kun, can you use your fireball jutsu to make a fire for us?"
Guess three is enough.
The fish were roasting by the fire and the three were sitting around it.
"It's been about four days since the exam began, and it started at approximately 2:30 in the afternoon, so we have about a day left."
"Yeah, and many teams have probably already passed and will advance toward the next exam. I don't want us to not participate in the next one. We're so close," Sakura said.
Naruto looked at them both. "Then what should we do?"
Sasuke looked at the Heaven Scroll in his hand. "This is getting really late in the game."
A Konoha genin team sat near a tree as they examined their Earth Scroll. "The other scroll had 'Heaven' written on it and had white edges, right?"
One of his teammates looked at him. "You're going to….?"
The boy holding the scroll smirked. "Yeah."
"There might not be any more Earth Scrolls left." Sakura looked down.
"What do you mean?" Sasuke asked, his voice muffled by the fish he was eating.
"Well, this is the fourth day, as you said before, and that means 80% of the test is over. There are 26 teams in total and 13 of each scroll…"
"Minus the Earth Scroll that Jiraiya ate," Naruto added.
"That marks down one team, making it 12 teams that will pass through this part." Sakura looked at the two boys.
Sasuke put the scroll down and got up. "I'm going to get us some water."
"But we have a river right here!" Naruto yelled.
"I mean fresh water, not salt water, dumbass." Sasuke walked off.
Naruto took the bag they had in his hands and spilled out the contents. "I know a way to get the Earth Scroll without getting into a fight, Sakura-chan."
Her eyebrows went up.
"I've got dozens of scrolls that were meant for taking notes, but they were left blank. We could use one of them to make a decoy, right?"
"Wait, Naruto. We have no idea what's written on the inside, so what's the point?" Sakura pointed out. "If an examiner looks on the inside and sees that it's fake, he'll probably disqualify us."
Putting his fingers on his chin he said, "Well, things like this usually have a password. And in these types, it's also necessary for 2 parts of it to be put together to make the answer. So we might need a password when we get to the tower!"
"We still won't know what's on the inside, it's useless," Sakura told him.
His head dropped. She looked at him with a sullen face. Sorry I had to crush your idea, Naruto.
He looked up at her, and said, "If we knew what was inside the scroll, we could…"
She looked at him with a shocked face. "You can't be serious, you idiot."
"I'm going to open this Heaven Scroll!" Naruto rose the scroll up in his hand.
She snatched it from his hand and yelled, "Did you forget the damn rules? We weren't meant to open these until we reach the freakin' tower!"
"But we might be in trouble at this point." He defended.
The leader of the genin team took the opening of the scroll in his hand and tugged. When he had pulled it to look at what was inside of it, his eyes got smaller as did his one of his teammates.
A scream echoed in the forest, making the last of them turn. He looked at the blacked out boys. Oh, shit. If we get caught, I'm screwed!
Naruto trembled as he tried to pull it when a mysterious figure came from nowhere and stopped him. He said, "Did you forget the rules we were told?"
Sasuke looked as Kabuto was interacting with his teammates. He whispered to himself, "An enemy?"
He ran to join them.
Naruto and Sakura had ashamed looks on their faces at Kabuto scolded them, "That was close. You were told not to do that."
"S-sorry," they spoke in unison.
"Are you after our scroll?" Sasuke questioned.
Kabuto held his scrolls behind his back. "No, something just happened to my teammates on our way to the tower. So I have to meet them there." He turned away. "I'm off."
"No, I want you to fight me," Naruto said.
"Why would you want me to fight you?" Kabuto stopped.
"Naruto, don't be a fool. We just can't—" Sasuke was cut off.
"I want to get stronger, stronger than you, Sasuke," Naruto declared.
Kabuto looked back at the young blond and smiled at him. "Do you have another reason for this, Naruto-kun?"
"Yes, we need that scroll of yours, we're running out of damn time," he growled.
The Uchiha and Sakura looked at each other before shouting in unison, "You're out of your mind! There's no way we're going to let you fight!"
He looked at Kabuto and said, "We're losing time quickly and we need your Earth Scroll, now. I'm willing to fight you for it, no joke."
"What a noble boy, wanting his team to advance ahead," Kabuto said, fixing his glasses before he turned. "I'll give you a little hint: The smoke from the fire where you're burning the fish is making a scent that can be found by beasts and enemies. I'll show you the way, let's go."
The four of them started moving through the forest trees. Naruto looked at Kabuto as his hair was being blown. "Are there really enemies left here?"
"Yes, Naruto-kun, there are," Kabuto answered before looking ahead. "Do any of you want to know the best strategy for a test like this?"
Sakura glanced at him and nodded. He smiled lightly. "The goal to this test is the tower, no? Since there are only hours left to this test you can ambush teams who have scrolls."
"Great!" The pink haired girl said.
"And it's also a great way to get rid of other teams by taking as many scrolls as you can." Sasuke added.
"Hey, Naruto. Do you understand what it's like to be intelligent?" Kurama asked.
The dark part of Naruto had regained control. "Yes, I do, Kurama, but the other part of me doesn't. I guess you can do something about that, right?"
Kurama's grin widened. "I suppose I could, at a cost."
"What is it?" Naruto stepped through the water, getting closer to the gate.
"I want you to eventually use my full power."
"Sounds simple, but you have a special catch, huh? I already know it." Naruto extended his clenched fist. "You want to be freed from this cage. Releasing your true power will allow you to be set free. I think that it's a great idea, too, Kurama."
The fox took out both of his arms, one that was balled, touching Naruto's fist. "Good, because if you don't I'll make it so we both go down, Uzumaki Naruto."
The two exchanged similar looks of smugness.
"Other teams will also be there, expecting to ambush us as well, huh, Kabuto-san?" Naruto stated. "Although, the rush will be exciting. The more confident enemies will be the worst, I suppose."
Is this really Naruto? Sasuke wondered before a smug grin covered his face. "You're scared of the enemies as well."
Nighttime already? The four stopped at a point where they had a clear view of the tower.
From behind them, they heard a strange sound. It didn't sound human, more like a beast. Naruto turned and saw a giant centipede that was crawling on the tree. "What the hell?"
"We should ignore things like that from now on." Kabuto fixed his glasses. "If we go through the forest quietly, we won't be detected as easily.
After minutes of walking, an exhausted Sakura was already sweating. "How long have we been walking?"
In front of them, the centipede from earlier was still on the tree.
"God damn it! We went in a circle!" Naruto yelled, pointing to it.
Sakura shifted her tired eyes and thought about the situation. We're being watched.
"Since we went in a circle, they should be watching us, right Kabuto-san?" He nodded at her question. "Then they should be ready to attack right about now."
"Great work, Sakura," Sasuke said as he looked around, his hand near his kunai holster.
From the objects around them, a male arose in many places. Naruto was confused. Is this a Kage Bunshin?
The same figure kept multiplying on the ground. Naruto formed the seal for his signature jutsu and whispered, "Perfect."
Many clones of Naruto appeared, attacking the enemies as Sasuke activated his Sharingan. He threw several shuriken as Sakura examined the fight with Kabuto.
The shuriken he threw missed the enemy but accidentally grazed Kabuto's shoulder. The one he targeted came toward the blond. Naruto turned from his dispersing enemies to see.
When the enemy made contact with the boy, he fell to the ground, unable to move. What did he do to me?
Naruto could feel himself thinking darker thoughts, ones that involved ripping apart each of his enemies, which made his seal grow. With his will power, he kept it from going too far as Sakura came to his aid. "Naruto, are you okay?"
Sasuke went after the opponent that affected Naruto. "What the hell did you do?"
Kabuto took out a kunai, his hand shaking. So it works like that, too? But these aren't illusions, or regular ones.
Sasuke hit the enemy, but looked at them with his crimson eyes glowing. From what I've seen, shadow clones disappear when you hit them, but these aren't. Instead, these were….
"Genjutsu!" Sasuke noticed. "That's what these are."
Sakura talked to him from afar. "But they hurt Kabuto-san!"
Kabuto panted, holding his wound. "The enemy shinobi is hiding and using his genjutsu forms to confuse us while he attacks us for real."
"Then find them!" Naruto called out.
Sasuke scowled and looked at each of his enemies and the surroundings behind them. "It isn't as simple as that. The enemy is mobile, so we can't just find them easily. But since they use these types of attacks, they have little to no skills in close combat and taijutsu."
"Then we should dodge their attacks and find them!" Naruto stated, prepared to summon more clones.
"Don't waste your chakra, you idiot!" Kabuto said.
Sasuke smirked and said, "He has amazing chakra reserves, Kabuto. You'd be surprised at what he can do."
"If we attack them all at the same time, while they recover, we'll be able to scout for them, since they won't be able to attack us." Naruto noted.
When he doubled each of his clones, they went on frenzy, attacking every one of the enemy's genjutsu.
The one who made the genjutsu just made more, sending Naruto and Sasuke to do more work, along with a newly entered Sakura.
One of the enemies knocked down Naruto, sending him flying on his back to his allies. The enemy team revealed themselves as genin from Amegakure. "Heh, is that all you Leaf genin can do?"
The four of them were panting, each showing a different expression. Naruto seemed smug, Sakura was surprised, Sasuke was tired, and Kabuto was worried.
"What, the little kids don't want to talk because their plan failed?" the leader of them taunted.
Naruto smirked. "Nope, it worked just fine."
The other three were revealed to be clones of Naruto as the real ones appeared behind the Ame team.
"How did you…? When did you..?" The leader stammered.
"We switched out when Naruto released his jutsu, the three of us hid. You genjutsu using bastards got a taste of your own medicine," Sakura taunted them.
"Naruto, would you do the honor of taking these guys out?" Sasuke offered.
"Hell yeah!" The blond yelled, as he ran over and hit all of the three at the same time.
Kabuto looked at the boy. He has great chakra, stamina, and power because of the tailed beast within him, along with the seal Jiraiya-sama had bestowed upon him, he'll make a fine monster.
The Ame team rose up, and started to form hand seals, speaking in unison, "We'll show you our ninjutsu!"
Ninpō Oboro Bunshin no Jutsu! The enemy multiplied. Sasuke looked at them. "Not a normal clone jutsu, nor a shadow clone jutsu, but I'll be damned if you take this one!"
Sasuke rushed ahead, going past the blond. Because of exhaustion and pressure of making it to the next part, he became reckless. He tried to hit through an enemy, but went through him. "Damn it!"
He further used his Sharingan, trying to find the real one, but with no luck he couldn't. Trying to stall, eh used his Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu to attack most of the enemies.
A hand holding a double sided kunai rose up to an oblivious Uchiha. With great speed, Kabuto ran into the blade, keeping it from hitting Sasuke. But, much to his misfortune, another appeared in the shadow what appeared when he flew.
When it did, his glasses flew off, leaving a large slash on his face. Sasuke thanked Kabuto in his head as he hit the Ame shinobi. The shinobi hit the ground, Sasuke wiped his mouth and forehead. "You shouldn't create openings, especially when you're dealing with an Uchiha."
Kabuto sat up and scratched the back of his head. "Thanks for saving me, Sasuke-kun."
"No," Sasuke interrupted. "Thank you for giving me an opening."
Sakura went over to Naruto, worried about his seal as Sasuke went over to the Ame ninja and grabbed a scroll. The pink haired girl had a worried look on her face as she checked Naruto's neck.
"You have to keep it secret from Sasuke-kun, he'll get worried about it," Sakura said.
Naruto chuckled lightly. "Like you?"
Sasuke held up a scroll. "We got the Earth Scroll!"
The sun rose, creating a bright sky and light. Team Kakashi was relieved to have both of their scrolls.
"Kabuto, you're late," a genin said, probably from Kabuto's team.
"We just ran into some trouble along the way." Kabuto stepped forward to join them.
Sasuke added, "Thanks to your help, we got both of our scrolls. Thank you."
"No, it's fine. Besides, each of you shone in a different way," Kabuto complimented.
"Let's go through this door together," Sakura said as her teammates nodded.
The three of them pushed through the door. Naruto sighed in relief, "Man, I'm glad we're done with this."
"Yeah," the other two said in unison.
Kabuto and his team stopped halfway through the hall and took a different way. He stopped, taking out three cards that held information about Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto. "Here you go, Jiraiya-sama."
Jiraiya looked at Naruto's card with great interest. "Don't you think he's going to be a great pawn, Kabuto-kun?"
"Yes, Jiraiya-sama." Kabuto nodded.
"Good," Jiraiya said as he smiled warmly. "Now, remember the plan."
The sage patted Kabuto's head as he walked off.
A/N: I think this is my longest chapter out of them all, since this took up eight pages. I just feel so interested in this now, so I'll be updating very often. This is the second day in a row I've done this consecutively. I just want to keep all of you interested in it, like me. So, I hope you like it. Remember, if you did, click on the button right below these notes. Oh, and remember, anything in bold is either Kurama speaking, or if it's still in bold and italicized, it's his thoughts. Other things in bold are main jutsu to be noted, or actually canon.
Translations:
Ninpō Oboro Bunshin no Jutsu - Ninja Art: Haze Clone Technique
Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu - Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique.
