Sakura was then treated to the sight of a green blur slamming into the Oto nin and sending them flying. The blur stopped moving to reveal Rock Lee.

"Lee-san? But why?"

"Do you not remember, Sakura-san? I vowed to protect you with my life!"

That said he dashed over to Kin, knocking the kunoichi up into the air. Noting that Zaku was starting to face him Lee sped over. Zaku tried a zankuha with both arms and was pleased to see blank space when the dust cleared. Until a heel came down on his shoulder, taking his right arm out of action. Using the shoulder as a pivot Lee twisted around to kick Zaku in the face, sending him tumbling out of sight. Now back to his feet Lee turned to see what condition his other opponent was in. Sakura was awestruck.

'He's incredible! How does he move that fast?'

Having somewhat recovered from her fall Kin sent sequential handfuls of senbon at her green clad adversary. Acting quickly Lee dug his hand underground to pulled up a massive root. The senbon harmlessly stuck into their wooden obstacle. Hearing the last one stick Lee threw the root at Kin, who retreated into the trees. Knowing Lee's speed was too much for her Kin snapped a capsule of smelling salts and tossed it onto Dosu. Lee followed her into the canopy, only to have Kin dash back down and run toward her other teammate. Lee pursued as Dosu began to regain consciousness. He shook off his grogginess and assessed the situation.

'Zaku is out of sight and Kin is being overwhelmed by that taijutsu user. Guess I'll have to step in'

Dosu got up and pulled back his sleeve, revealing his weapon. Darting towards Lee he confidently smirked underneath his bandages. His blow was easily dodged by Lee, whose face then revealed the aftermath of the attack. Lee collapsed onto the ground, clutching his ear.

"You might be fast but my jutsu moves at the speed of sound. You can't dodge it"

Lee heroically tired to get to his feet but found he could not. Dosu then turned to Kin, who was still reeling from Lee's last attack.

"Kin, where's Zaku?"

"A bit behind the bush; he was taken out first"

"Wake him up. I'll deal with the Uchiha"

Dosu looked toward the two unconscious boys and caught sight of Sakura.

"And have my revenge against the pink-haired girl"

"N-n no"

"Such heroic nonsense"

Sprinting past Lee at the helpless Sakura Dosu reared back his arm for another strike. His blow never landed as Lee imposed himself between Sakura and Dosu, blocking the arm completely. Dosu's jutsu again drove itself into Lee's ear, causing him to crumble in pain. Sakura looked up fearfully at the Oto nin.

"No! She's mine! The green one too!"

"Zaku. You alright?"

"That bastard broke my nose! So I'm gonna break his girl right in front of him!"

"Have it your way"

Dosu stepped back, allowing Zaku to approach. As Zaku neared he gave Lee a kick to the face and roughly grabbed Sakura by the hair.

"Now I'm gonna-"

All of a sudden Zaku found himself crashing into the ground near the tree line. As he tried to get up he felt some of his ribs were broken. Casting his eyes over to where he had just been he saw Sasuke. Purple chakra issued from his body as red splotches spread down his arm and half his face before turning black. Unconsciously his sharingan activated.

"Are you strong?"

"What the hell does that mean? Of course I am!"

"Then die"

Sasuke seemed to vanish and reappear in front of him before knocking him into the air. Sasuke then readied a katon jutsu.

"Hosenka no jutsu!"

Small fireballs sprang forth at the Oto nin as he managed a clumsy zankuha to blast the fireballs away, only to land badly on his already damaged right shoulder. He struggled to his feet swearing wildly.

"So your arms are your weapon. What can you do without them?"

Before anyone could react Sasuke slammed a powerful kick to Zaku's left arm, complete with the cracking sounds one associates with broken bones. Zaku went down and Sasuke turned to Dosu.

"Your turn"

"Please wait, Sasuke-sama"

Dosu got down on his knees and placed his scroll in front of him.

"We were simply following Orochimaru-sama's orders to attack you. Most likely to test the power he gave you. We do not intend you any harm"

"So, this power… is from him?"

Sasuke held up his left hand, the one covered in the mark of the curse seal. A vicious smile showed on his face.

"With this… I could beat him"

"If possible, allow us to leave this once. We shall report to Orochimaru-sama about how you have gained power from the seal. We shall leave our scroll here so that you may continue in the exams"

Not seeing the sign of a no Dosu moved slowly, until he felt confident enough to move faster. Grabbing the injured Zaku he and Kin fled the scene quickly. The danger past Sasuke's seal began to retract. Soon after Neji and Tenten arrive. Sasuke turns to look and locks eyes with Neji.

"The one in green is ours"

"You shouldn't let him out of your sight then"

Slipping past the boy's glaring contest Tenten knelt next to her fellow pink-clad kunoichi.

"Wow, you looked pretty messed up. What happened?"

"We were attacked by the Oto team. Naruto and Sasuke were still out, and Lee-kun saved me. But then one of the Oto nin hit him with a sound based jutsu right in his ear. Then Sasuke…"

"What happened?"

"He.. had this evil feeling chakra…"

Tenten could tell she probably wasn't going to get much more out of the distraught kunoichi and turned her attention to Lee. Gripping his shoulders she violently shook him awake.

"Huh? Tenten-san, what are you doing here?"

"You were late, so we came to pick you up"

Lee apologized and tried to stand. Sakura, despite her condition aided him. Neji and Sasuke were still glaring at one another.

"I see your teammate is up. Take him and get out of here. You can have that scroll too"

"We do not need your assistance in any manner. Tenten, Lee, we're going"

That said team Gai left the clearing. Sasuke walked over and kicked Naruto awake.

"Oi, usuratonkachi. Get up"

"Sasuke-kun! He's still hurt!"

"He'll live. We have both scrolls so let's go already"

Naruto rolled over and shook his head to clear it. Sasuke turned and began a path straight for the tower. Sakura picked up the scroll the Oto nin had left and then started to follow Sasuke. She stayed next to Naruto as they walked along.

tttttttttttt

Kabuto rested on a branch a fair distance away from team seven. Out of their detection range he observed them carefully. He knew Orochimaru had placed his curse seal on Sasuke, and the boy had survived. He seemed to still be a bit out of whack and in all likely hood not be at his best for a good while yet. Just as Orochimaru wanted. Now it would only be a matter of time until Sasuke willingly called on the curse seals power. As team seven got into an argument over who should carry the scrolls Kabuto saw that they had both the Heaven and Earth scrolls.

'Excellent. Now I don't have to interact with them; just make sure they reach the tower'

He got ready to move as team seven finally decided that Naruto carry one scroll while Sasuke carried the other. They all left for the tower.

tttttttttt

Inside the tower things were not going well. Anko, fresh from her battle with her old mentor was giving her report to the Sandaime.

"So he has returned for the Uchiha. This does not bode well"

"I'm sorry Hokage-sama I tried to stop him but-"

"That is alright, Anko. There are few in our village who could fight him and live, fewer still who could fight him and win; possibly no one who could"

Anko turned away, cursing Orochimaru under her breath. A chunin exam proctor knocked. Anko signaled him in.

"What is it?"

"It just that we have some teams here already an-"

"What? There's no way any of those genin got here in the first day!"

"B-but they-"

Sarutobi, though surprised, calmly asked which teams had come. The aid placed a cassette in the monitoring system. The screen blinked on showing two of the many doors into the tower. Through one door the Suna team entered and before their third member had come inside Naraku's team nine entered their door. Neither team had any signs of having gone through the Forest of Death or of fighting. Anko was flabbergasted.

"How on earth did they do that? Nobody should be able to-"

"It is possible; the same reason applies to both teams"

"Hokage-sama, what do you mean?"

"It confirms something that had been bothering me about that young man from Suna"

Anko continued to look at him, silently urging him to continue.

"He is a jinchuuriki. No animal in the Forest of Death would approach him, and similarly no ordinary genin would stand a chance against him"

tttttttttttt

In a large, open room the two teams sat. They had rooms to retire to, but they were not quite available yet. None of the proctors had expected them so early. So Gaara and his siblings sat across from Naraku and his team; who were decidedly uncomfortable with how calmly Naraku was sipping is tea. After draining his cup Naraku held out the teapot.

"Anyone else for some tea?"

The only one to respond was Gaara.

"I will kill you all"

"You are welcome to try. Just make sure to put some effort into it; the others who've said that have come up short"

Gaara looked at the strange boy who had no fear of him return to drinking tea. He recognized the similarities between him and another he had met previously.

"What is your name?"

"Uzumaki Naraku. And I shall assume you are Subaku no Gaara?"

"Hn" 'He is the same as the other Uzumaki… they will make excellent prey…'

It was in this tense atmosphere that team eight walked in on. Naraku invited them to have some tea, to which Hinata and surprisingly Shino agreed. Temari and Kankuro were still rather shocked and didn't know what freaked them out more, the fact that there were now two people that could get their brother to smile (admittedly that was seriously creepy) or that Naraku was completely unaffected by it. He even invited Gaara to try and kill him! And he was still there drinking tea. Kankuro turned to her and spoke in hushed tones.

"Hey, Temari, you just heard what that guy was talking about with Gaara, right?"

"Yeah. It was… disturbing to say the least. Someone like that I didn't think we'd ever come across…"

On the other side of the lounge area Nanami was fed up.

"What the hell is your deal anyway!? You just sit there with your damn tea; don't you realize what position we're in?"

"……"

"Well aren't you going to say anything? Not about asking that Suna nin to kill you? Or inviting enemies to drink tea with you?!"

"……"

"Say something dammit!"

"You are really bothersome. Is there any point you are trying to make or are you just yelling for the sake of it?"

Stressed beyond her limits Nanami fell back, foaming at the mouth. Momotaro was quick to try and revive her. Kiba laughed until Hinata gently chided him for being mean. Shino's only comment was to adjust his shades. Any further conversation was ended by the arrival of a proctor ready to lead them to their respective rooms.

Subaku desert

Jinchuriki power of human sacrifice; what demon carriers are referred to as

Jutsu used

Hosenka no jutsu sends multiple small fire balls out of the users mouth