Demon of the Hidden Leaf

Ch. 8- The Demon vs The Devil; Naruto bares his fangs!

xXx

Sakura stared open-mouthed and trembling at the legendary shinobi that stood before her.

The pink-haired girl had learned of all the greats that had come out of her village, and among them, Orochimaru stood out in a class of his own. The man seemed to be the very personification of malevolent power.

And he was walking towards her.

"It's sad really, that thisis what's become of my old home's kunoichi standard. You're barely more than a civilian."

The pink-haired girl could do nothing as the Sannin moved closer and closer, until finally coming within inches of her kneeling form. Her trembling increased, and she choked on her own breath as the rogue-ninja reached out and gripped her hair.

With a gasp, Sakura's emerald-green eyes looked passed the legs that stood before her, and over towards Sasuke. He was sitting on his hands and knees now, staring blankly at the ground.

"S-Sasuke-kun...h-help me, please."

A laugh, cruel and dark, was what greeted the terrified young girl's ears. Against her better judgment Sakura forced her eyes to search out the source and gazed up at the man who still had a hold of her pink strands.

Malicious yellow eyes peered down at her, pinning Sakura to a single spot, and a mocking smirk was etched on their owners face.

"Foolish girl, Sasuke's in no position to save anyone. He can't even save himself. But don't worry, your death doesn't interest me in any way."

He saw the hope in her eyes, and decided to crush it. "However I will have to teach you a lesson in manners; it's very rude to interrupt someone's conversation."

What little hope there was in Sakura's eyes flickered out like a candle, and was replaced by a look of pain as her hair was pulled. The young kunoichi's body was lifted up off the dirt, and then knocked back into a tree by a fist to the stomach.

Orochimaru once again began to move, and this time, Sakura started to cry.

It was only seconds after her run-in with the tree that Sakura felt a sandal press down on her head, and shove her face into the dirt. Her tears began to flow faster, and the terrified young genin couldn't hold back her sobs of fear.

The Sannin that had her pinned down looked at his prey in a mixture of amusement and disgust. Even Anko hadn't cried the day he revealed his dark nature. This girl was pathetic.

"As a shinobi it disgusts me that someone like you wears a headband, and has the audacity to call yourself a ninja. You are a disgrace."

To emphasize his point, Orochimaru reared his leg back, and then planted a kick right into Sakura's forehead. The sniveling kunoichi's body snapped up and back, doing a complete flip, before being caught by the neck.

Green met yellow as Sakura stared into the eyes of her tormentor.

"I think I've changed my mind," Orochimaru said as he pulled a kunai from his holster. "You're too much of a stain on the title of 'shinobi' to be allowed to live."

But just as the pale Sannin angled his weapon for the kill, a heavy mist began to permeate the night air.

Dropping the weak kunoichi to the ground, Orochimaru laughed delightedly at this turn of events.

"You're much more clever than I gave you credit for boy. Now, let us see if you can provide me with some entertainment."

All was silent for a moment, and the raven-haired man almost thought his opponent had used the mist as a cover to rescue his team-mates, but then he looked down and saw that the girl was still at his feet. Narrowing his eyes in annoyance, the older man called out, "Or perhaps, you're stuck, trembling in fear like your weak little friend."

More silence, and then...

"...Eight points."

It echoed throughout the entirety of the mist. The voice seemed to be coming from everywhere at once, impossible to pinpoint.

"Larynx, spine, lungs, liver, jugular, sub-clavian artery, kidneys...heart."

Orochimaru stepped away from the pink-haired girl at his feet and began to traverse the mist. "All points that, if struck, cause a fatal wound. Very good. But what good will the knowledge do you if you can't hit your target?"

"I'm not like those other two," the voice echoed through the dense fog.

"So you say," the Sannin jests, "but you have yet to prove yourself more than just a frightened mouse, hiding away in his hole."

A faint, almost imperceptible, whirling was Orochimaru's only warning to the oncoming first strike. But it was enough. And soon, the long-haired shinobi held out his hand, and caught the blade that came spinning towards him with the intent to lop off his head.

"Please, not this trick again. I watched your fight with Ranmaru boy, so you'll have to do better than that."

"I did."

In a puff of smoke the KubikiribochoOrochimaru was holding disappeared, and was replaced by Naruto, who used his free arm to swing his sword in an upward arc. He was rewarded with a splash of blood as his zanbato sliced through flesh.

"Aaargh!"

Orochimaru stumbled back, his years of experience and superior skill allowing him to escape with only a slight gash. 'Damn it, how could I let that happen!?'

Looking up from his wound, the Sannin's snake-like eyes found no trace of the blonde swordsman. He'd escaped back into his mist.

"You'd better have enjoyed that lucky shot," he called out into the hazy void, "because it's the only one you'll get."

A sound from above allowed the legendary shinobi to be ready for the ax-kick that came down on him. Orochimaru threw up one arm to block it, then used the other to grab Naruto's leg and slam him to the ground...only for him to erupt into smoke.

But the assault didn't stop there.

Shuffling of the ground behind him alerted Orochimaru of an attempt at his blind spot. The older male used his advanced speed to easily move out of the way; and over towards a paper bomb. An explosion of fire and smoke sent the Sannin staggering back, unready for the sweep-kick that came from behind and knocked his feet out from under him.

But he did manage to catch himself in the air, and then spin into an ax-kick of his own, which he slammed down hard on his blonde opponent's head. He was rewarded with another clone.

Standing at his full height, Orochimaru reprimanded himself for being so careless. It should have been obvious that the attack on his blind spot was a ruse; the boy had used it as a diversion to set the paper-bomb.

'This little brat, he's a crafty one, I'll give him that. But let's see how he does out in the open, without his mist to protect him!'

With that thought in mind, Orochimaru gathered his chakra and then sent it out in a purple wave. The mist was blown away, and the forest became clear again. Looking around, the Sannin immediately noticed something.

His original target was gone. The blonde had distracted Orochimaru long enough so that his clones could get Sasuke and his other team-mate away from the battlefield.

The legendary shinobi was angry, and yet, he also found himself...amused. He hadn't gotten a very good hunt out of Sasuke, and this kid was turning out to be more interesting than he'd first thought.

The pale rogue chuckled darkly to himself before leaping into the trees.

The hunt was on.

It didn't take him long to find them. With his speed there wasn't any possibility of them escaping, and Orochimaru soon came upon the trio of genin hiding in the brush of a tree.

'Or at least, what looks like a squad of brats.'

The Sannin pulled out more kunai from his stolen holster and chucked them at the younger ninja. Sure enough, they exploded in a powerful combination of shadow-clone smoke and paper-bombs. The kid was definitely creative, that's for sure.

'Now then,'he thought as his yellow eyes looked around, 'that means he's near by. No doubt the boy was hoping to use the explosion as an opening to attack.'

And sure enough, up in the trees that overlooked his position, Naruto sat with his team-mate's.

xXx

"I should have known he wouldn't fall for that again," Naruto growled low to himself.

It had been a bit of a desperate move on his part, but the blonde figured it never hurt to try. Looking over at his team though, the bandaged genin knew he had to do something soon, or risk failing the exam.

Sasuke was still in a catatonic state, staring at nothing, and Sakura wouldn't stop trembling. Things weren't looking good.

"Hey, teme, wake up already," Naruto tried goading his raven-haired team-mate into action. "Come on you idiot, I don't wanna have to fight this guy myself, he managed to blow away my whole mist and he's acting like the chakra drain didn't even...phase...him."

'Wait,'the blonde thought to himself, 'how do I know that? My clones were the only ones there after I picked up these two, so why do I remember him dispersing my mist, and destroying my clones?'

Unfortunately, the curious blonde didn't get anymore time to think about the strange memories because his ears were soon greeted by the frightening sound of the snake Sannin's voice.

"Found you."

Blue eyes swiveled to search out where the voice came from, and nearly popped out of their owner's skull at what they saw. Orochimaru riding atop a giant snake!

"W-What in the world!?"

The pale-faced shinobi laughed at his prey's fear and replied, "Do you think you're the only one in the world who has mastered the clone jutsu boy? As my creator sped off to find you he created me to help him search, and now that I've found you..."

"...Play-time is over," came the same voice, only from the opposite side. Naruto looked to his left, and was floored to see anothergiant snake eyeing him and his team like lunch.

"I don't get it," Naruto called out in an attempt to stall for time, "what is someone like you even doing here!? What do you want!?"

The twin Sannin's chuckled, as if the blonde had just told a joke, before answering, "Simple, I'm here for Sasuke. I have a...gift I'd like to give him that I think he'll appreciate."

Naruto's eyes narrowed. He didn't like Sasuke, but he couldn't very well let a rogue ninja give him whatever this gift was, it may become a problem later. So, looking back and forth between the two snakes, Naruto voiced his response.

"Sorry, but even though I don't much care for the teme, I can't let that happen."

Orochimaru peered down at the blonde swordsman with humor in his yellow eyes. "Then all you do is invite your own death."

With that, the two snake summons charged forward, mouths open wide and ready to take a bite.

In response Naruto created three clones. Two of them locked their blades with the snake's fangs, and he and the third clone launched themselves at the two Orochimaru's.

As he moved through the air Naruto pulled Kubikiribochofrom his back and angled it for a swing. Once he got close enough, the Nine-Tail's jinchuuriki brought the large butcher knife-like zanbato around in a horizontal slash.

When his opponent jumped back to avoid it though, Naruto let the momentum of his swing take hold and buried his sword into the skull of the snake summon below him.

In a large cloud of smoke the reptile disappeared, freeing one of Naruto's clones to help him.

"No," he cried out while keeping is eyes on Orochimaru, "stay there and defend the others. See if you can snap that teme out of his little pity party."

Once his orders were given, the blonde genin settled int his stance, and simply stared at his superior opponent. With the snake gone, the two were once again standing atop the branch of a tree.

"I must say, you have certainly proved yourself to be far more entertaining than either of your two team-mate's, but like I told Sasuke, you haven't even seen a fraction of my truepower."

And just like that Naruto was placed under the same pressure that brought Sasuke to his knees earlier that night. What amazed the Sannin, was the fact that the blonde was still standing. Yes, his legs shook from the effort, but the blonde managed to remain on his feet.

'This boy...what is he?'

Knowing that producing anymore pressure would draw the attention of any shinobi beyond the forest's area, Orochimaru chose instead to allow his power to recede, and settled for drawing his Kusanagifrom the depths of his throat.

"You swing that sword with more skill than any genin I've seen; now let's see how you fare against real competition."

Almost too fast for Naruto to see Orochimaru rushed forward.

It took all the blonde's speed to bring up his own blade in time, and meet his opponent's longsword in a clash of steel. Then, quick as a flash, the snake Sannin pulled back and went for a leg-sweep. Naruto leaped over this, then dug his own sword into the bark of the tree, and used it to twist and launch a kick at Orochimaru's face.

Orochimaru used his forearm to block the strike, and then thrust his own blade at Naruto's chest.

Naruto's body was replaced with a hunk of timber when the Kusanagi pierced his heart, and the blonde popped up a few feet above the serpent-like Sannin, where he brought down his large sword in an attempt to split Orochimaru down the middle.

The sound of steel clashing rang through the forest as zanbato met longsword in a stalemate.

Konoha's rogue-Sannin heaved his blonde opponent away, but then had to slide away when Naruto stabbed his large blade in an attempt to skewer him.

It was when he missed that Naruto surprised his stronger adversary. With a strength and speed that outclassed any normal genin, the blonde swung the flat of his zanbato and smashed Orochimaru in the back.

The blow connected, and the pale swordsmen was sent rolling back. Naruto attempted to rush forward, but was forced to stop when the older male shot a mouthful of snakes at him. Once again thrusting his sword into the tree, Naruto used it as a stepping stone to jump over the oncoming torrent of reptiles, and use his air time to preform hand-signs.

"Water-style: Exploding-Water Shockwave!"

A high-powered jet of water shot out of the blonde genin's mouth and straight at Orochimaru. And although the man managed to avoid the deadly blast, he watched in amazement as his younger opponent displayed enough power to punch a clean hole straight through the tree's thick branch.

The Sannin didn't have long to be impressed though, because he was soon throwing up his Kusanagiin a defensive block as Naruto came down with his executioner's blade. Yellow eyes widened further when he saw a Great Fire-ball jutsu hurtling towards them.

As he leaped away, Orochimaru looked to where the attack had come from, and almost couldn't believe it when he saw a blonde sill holding their hands in the tigerseal.

'He can perform Fire andWater style techniques!?'

It wasn't often you find a genin who could manipulate one element, let alone two.

'And yet this boy managed to create one of that size? No genin should be this advanced; his chakra reserves are far too large for him to be a simple low-level shinobi. The only people this young, with reserves like that, are...ah. Now it makes sense.'

Orochimaru stationed himself along the trunk of another tree, so as to place distance between himself and the blonde. Looking over the boy and his recovered clone, the Sannin called out, "It took me longer than I'm proud to admit, but I've finally figured it out. Why you're so much more powerful than any normal genin. You possess the Nine-Tailed Fox."

Naruto glared up at the pale-faced shinobi. "And what if I do? I don't suppose that's enough to scare away a guy like you?"

"Of course not," the rogue-ninja replied. "It just makes this all the more interesting; especially since you have yet to even tap into the beast's power."

"I'm more interested in where I stand against you by myself right now," Naruto slung Kubikiribochoup and angled it straight at Orochimaru. "We can worry about my furry friend later."

And with that the blonde pushed off the ground and shot towards his opponent.

Only to use a water-shockwaveto push himself back, and avoid being caught in a hail of snakes.

Once back on solid ground Naruto looked over to where the attack had come from, and not for the first time, was unprepared for what he saw. Anko.

"I finally found you...Orochimaru-sensei."

Blue eyes bugged out at that revelation, and Naruto was silently thankful his bandages hid his open mouth from view. The blonde looked back and forth between the Special-Jounin and the Sannin, trying his best to take this news in.

'Unbelievable.'

Anko turned her pupil-less brown eyes to the blonde that stood a few branches below her, the woman's face was set in a stern, but curious stare. Had Naruto really just been going up against her old teacher?

"Ah Anko-chan, what a pleasant surprise," the Sannin's voice cut through her thoughts, turning her attention back to the more important matter at hand. "Although I can't help wondering, just how did you know I was here?"

The purple-haired kunoichi glared at her old Jounin instructor and replied, "Easy, you left your mess behind. You never were very good at cleaning up after yourself sensei. From there, I headed into the forest, and just as I was getting settled in for the night I sensed you showboating. It was a piece of cake to track you after that."

Orochimaru eyed his two opponent's.

The Kyubi kid by himself wasn't really a problem, but if he were teamed with Anko, he would have to stop playing so much and that risked exposure. Being careless was notan option against the purple-haired woman; not when she knew thatjutsu.

So instead, he chose the easy way out.

'It will also give me time to mark my prize.'

The legendary shinobi placed his hand in an 'activation' seal, and almost instantly, Anko screamed out in pain before dropping to her knees.

"Anko!" Naruto cried out before leaping towards the downed woman.

'Just like I thought,' Orochimaru thought before he bolted from his perch. 'Sasuke Uchiha is mine now!'

xXx

While the snake Sannin rushed off to complete his goal, Naruto was busy trying to aid the purple-haired woman that had come to hisaid just moments before.

"Anko, are you alright, what happened?"

The woman only moaned in agony while clutching her neck area. Naruto knelt down beside her and reached out his hand, placing it over the older woman's "Anko I can't do anything if you don't show me what's wrong."

Anko managed to pull herself together enough to reply through gritted teeth, "There's nothing you can do gaki...there's nothing anyone can do."

With that, she pulled her hand away, and revealed what had caused her so much pain.

A black dot, surrounded by three tomoe. It was a seal.

"W-What is that thing?"

The purple-haired kunoichi's pain seemed to have lessened greatly, because no longer were her eyes filled with physical pain, but instead overflowing with emotional pain.

"It's a curse seal. A jutsu developed by that bastard Orochimaru, and a slave collar for anyone who he decides to place it on."

Blue eyes widened with realization as their owner recalled something Orochimaru had told him earlier. Something about a giftfor Sasuke. "Damn it!"

Pupil-less brown eyes peered up at the irate blonde, "What, what's wrong?"

"I know what he was doing here...he's going to put that thing on Sasuke."

"Damn it," Anko cursed. "I should have known, that slithery bastard's always had an unhealthy obsession with jutsu, it makes sense he'd be after the only kid left with eyes that let you copy everything you see."

Naruto reached out and placed the older woman's arm over his shoulder. When she tried to pull away, he simply held tighter and said, "Anko please, let me help you. Whatever that teme did to you seriously wore you out, I can see it, you shouldn't be moving on your own yet."

Anko looked over at the younger shinobi, her eyes searching for something. When they either found, or didn't find, what they were looking for the woman sighed.

"Alright gaki, I'll let you help me," she sent him an annoyed look, "but if you tell anyone about this I'll pound you into paste."

The blonde's response was to chuckle lightly at her threat, before leaping off from the tree they'd been stationed on, and making their way towards where Naruto knew his team-mate's to hopefully be.

It didn't take them very long to get there, but when they did, the two shinobi immediately knew that they'd been too late. Sasuke was curled up in the fetal position, hand clawing at his neck, and a crying Sakura huddled over him while he screamed.

The pink-haired girl seemed to notice them through her tears, because she turned her head and wailed, "H-He did something to Sasuke-kun. I don't know what, b-but he bit him, and then...and then Sasuke-kun just collapsed and started screaming.

Naruto and Anko looked at each other, before turning back to look at Sakura. "Move his hand Sakura, we need to see something."

Distraught and confused, the kunoichi did as she was asked. After fighting her love's strong grip Sakura finally managed to pull the raven-haired boy's hand from his skin; what she saw made her gasp, and the other two ninja grit their teeth.

There, just behind Sasuke's shoulder, was the exact same seal that Anko had been branded with.

xXx

Karin stared at the gates to the Forest of Death with a forlorn expression on her face.

She'd failed the second exam.

Both of her team-mate's had died against one of the creatures in the forest, an inhumanly large bear, which meant she was not allowed to continue on even though she'd managed to secure both scrolls.

It was so unfair!

Not that she didn't care about the loss of her team-mate's, but, she'd taken these exams for the opportunity of getting away from them honestly. For the chance to be promoted, and be allowed to prove she was more than just a face with glasses. But that wasn't happening now.

Only one thing made it all worthwhile. She'd met the blonde boy that had interested her.

His name was Naruto.

Naruto was the reason she had survived the encounter with the bear instead of winding up like her fellow Kusa genin. He'd swooped down with his zanbato and jammed the blade right between the gargantuan carnivores eyes.

The monstrous beast thrashed around in pain for a while, its thick hide not easily penetrated, before finally succumbing to its injury and dropping to the dirt unconscious. Naruto then made a point of gouging out the animals eyes.

Karin, shocked, questioned why the blonde had done that when the animal had already been defeated. His response surprised her.

'It was a choice between a quick, painless death in its sleep or a slow, agonizing one for another seven days.'

The bear was already going to die from the wound in his skull, so why let it suffer.

And as he said this, Karin saw how the full moon penetrated the forests treetops and surrounded the blonde like an ethereal halo. His blue eyes pinning her in place with their seemingly glowing gaze.

Karin was sure she was blushing by the way her face heated up as she looked at him.

From there the red-haired girl introduced herself, and got her hero's name in return. When she asked why he'd saved her the blonde had said that he was looking for his own squad, but when Naruto noticed her in trouble it just seemed like the right thing to do, and so he stopped and intervened.

Then, Karin sorrowfully explained her own predicament to Naruto, and asked what she should do.

He told her to open one of the scrolls.

This confused her, so he'd explained. One of the rules was that you couldn't open a scroll until you made it to the tower, otherwise, you were automatically disqualified. The blonde questioned her how the proctor could possibly know when a scroll was opened, and when she couldn't answer Naruto told her.

They were being watched.

If a team opened their scroll somehow the shinobi in the tower would know, and then send ninja to collect them, therefor disqualifying that team.

Karin had been unsure at first, but one look in Naruto's eyes told her she could trust him, even if they were from separate villages. So, accepting his advice, she bid the blonde genin goodbye, offering her Earth scroll as thanks for saving her.

Naruto took it, seeing as she was being disqualified anyway, and wished her a safe trip home before leaping back into the trees. What the blonde didn't know was that he wasn't leaving with just Karin's Earth scroll, but her heart as well.

'I just hope we get to see each other again one day,'she thought bashfully as she was lead away from the Forest of Death.

xXx

A/N: Anyways, This chapter shows just how much farther ahead Naruto is than Sasuke right now in terms of skill, as well as raw power, since Naruto was still standing during Orochimaru's little display.

That gap will close to some degree after Sasuke starts training with Kakashi for the finals. But for now, Naruto is beyond Sasuke.

The next chapter isn't going to be like in the series. Naruto's team won't be facing Dosu's team. The reason for this is because Naruto is still conscious, and with the version I've created, the Oto ninja wouldn't stand a chance. So instead, their next appearance will be during the preliminaries.

And speaking of those, I'm gonna try not to have that be drawn out. Only a few of the matches actually matter for my story, so I'm gonna try and only focus on them.

Well, anyway, I hope you enjoyed this surprise 'quick' update. Don't forget to review, or PM me with questions, comments, or anything like that.