"Remember, don't give too much away." Sasuke uttered, while pushing open the door, his eyes clearly saw through the low level genjutsu that was fooling many students below them.
"If that's they're level we might actually end up becoming Chuunin." He thought to himself as they walked into the great hall.
"Wow, sure are a lot of people here, I wonder how all of this will work." Naruto said rubbing the back of his head at the great number of opposition in front of them; it seemed that the room they had entered was in fact a kind of lobby for people waiting to start the exams. Genin from all around the world could be seen all wearing their various headbands proudly, the room was a dull grey colour that seemingly lacked any interesting features but served its purpose well.
"Probably a series of tests, designed to get rid of as many graduates as possible, and then one final test, well I think that's how it works in mist anyway." Haku explained thinking back to her time in mist, the boys nodded in understanding; they didn't have much of an idea of how academics were taught or the tests that took place even if Kyuu did teach them all they needed to know.
"They shouldn't be any problems; you're more capable than any of these amateurs." Kyuu encouraged as they tried to ignore the chattering people as a crowd began to form, soon the large, dull grey room had filled up with people from various villages, as planned there was no other members from mist.
"Hmph! Losers from mist, such a weak village, no wonder there are so few of you here!" An earth ninja insulted as he walked past them, he had a proud smirk on his face that clearly shown his arrogance, to the mist teams annoyance the other members of the earth team soon joined in.
"Yeah I bet these are the only genin they have!" another mocked while laughing amongst themselves. Haku frowned deciding not to let them simply get away with insulting her home country.
"Sorry did you say something?" Haku retaliated as they turned around again to look at her.
"Yeah, we did. We said your village is weak, what are you gunna do about it?" The earth Genin hit back, looking forward to getting into a fight he presumed he could win so early on in the exam.
"Oh it was just another insect buzzing around after all." She berated, faking a yawn she turned back to Sasuke and Naruto who looked rather smug after seeing Haku handle the situation.
"Good luck in the exams, oh mighty mist ninja, ha! You'll need it." They tormented, their voices laced heavily with sarcasm they began walking away again with cocky laughter although suddenly in a puff of smoke the first instructor appeared.
"Alright you miserable bunch, let's get these exams started!" The instructor boomed like a drill sergeant causing people to start disappearing into the room behind him, ready to begin the first examination.
"It seems it has begun." Sasuke spoke as the three slowly followed the crowd but Sasuke couldn't help but feel the glares he was getting from other examinees, it must have been the mist head band, still, he didn't let it get to him.
Soon the three of them had been seated in a classroom, a written exam in front of them wasn't exactly what they had been expecting; it seemed like the rules of the test forced people into cheating although the rules also punished those who got caught. Caught was the keyword. This wasn't just a written test but a test of gathering information, however the three 'mist' ninja found it easy to just write the answers down.
The answers were all easy enough to them because they had so much field experience, actually living on the battlefield and not safe in some village meant that they had been in most of the scenarios that the test asked them to provide solutions too, but even still the test seemed to easy.
"Maybe it would be hard for fresh genin, but I doubt it would pose a challenge to some of the more experienced ones here." Sasuke thought to himself as he looked around the room, the various genin cheating was pretty easy to spot and he guessed the examiners had to give them some leeway to make sure at least some of them passed.
To the ravens surprise though the examiner suddenly spoke up.
"Alright! Time's up. Now I will ask you the final question of the exam, if you get it wrong your whole team fails and you'll never be able to take the Chuunin test ever again, that's right, genin for life. If you pass then you advance on to the next stage. Those who forfeit now will be able to take the test again. So! What will be!? Those who want to leave do it now!" The instructor bellowed despite the class already being silent.
Gazes shifted across the class, the genin nervous of this new question, some gave in to the pressure, raising their teams and accepting the title of genin for another year, and soon the numbers began to dwindle although a good few remained.
"Well done! All of you pass! The real tenth question was if you had the courage to continue even with the risk of never becoming a Chuunin, now your next instru-" He was interrupted with the window to the left of him smashing , a banner sailed through, it pinned itself to the wall before unravelling to reveal the name of this new intruder.
"I'm Anko! I'll be the instructor for the next part of the Chuunin exams! That's right, these tests are only beginning, and it gets worse from here in out!" She declared with a confident smirk but the previous instructor looked rather irritated.
"Anko…" He started, though he soon realised that he would only be wasting his breath on the crazy woman; he sighed heavily before continuing.
"Never mind, just take them to the next point already." She just chuckled happily while moving towards the door, she loved messing with Ibiki.
"Come on brats! Follow me!" she ordered beckoning them by waving her hand towards the exit. The passing members stood from their desks and began to leave the room, only an hour and a half had passed on the written test had started and the day had only just entered the evening, but the sky was already darkening and soon it would be night.
"Welcome to the forest of death!" Anko bellowed in front of the awe inspired genin, the small steel fence prohibiting entry was tiny in comparison to the colossal trees behind it, it was not the average forest, that was for sure, and although it was only evening the forest seemed darker due to the density of the trees, the smell of bark and dirt thick in the air.
Naruto covered his mouth as he yawned.
His instincts flared as he saw the jounin instructor disappear, and suddenly he had a cut on the side of his face, piercing his mask the blood threatened to stain his clothes but before the crimson liquid could travel any further he felt a tongue lap at the wound, after licking him the woman whispered in his ear.
"Try to stay awake; it could be the difference between life and death."
"I'll try to keep that in mind." Naruto replied from the comfort of a nearby tree branch. Anko growled, a smirk spread across her face, someone with a love of practical jokes was uncommon around Konoha.
"A show off huh?" She asked as the clone behind her disappeared into a cloud of smoke.
"No one's a better show off than me kid so don't even try." She spoke calmly as she turned her back to the slightly shocked genin that were waiting the exam briefing.
"The rules of this test are… Will you get down here!?" she shouted angrily at the tree ordering Naruto to come down he offered a nervous grin and rubbed his head apologetically and the purple haired jounin just huffed, wanting to get on with her explanation.
"As I was saying, you'll need to sign these contracts, your life will be in danger here, and there won't be jounin instructors there to save you, this is a test after all, so we won't be responsible for you if you "don't make it." Now that the boring bits are out of the way –"
"Boring bits!? We could die!" One of the genin amongst the crowd interrupted.
"If you shout out while im talking again you will die!" Anko yelled as she felt a vein appear on her forehead, she thrust out two scrolls into plain view.
"Heaven scroll, Earth scroll, your team will be given one of these, it's your objective to obtain the one that you don't have possession of, after that you're to head the tower within the forest for your next briefing. Alright, those of you who aren't complete cowards come sign the damn papers!" Anko ordered then marched over to the small wooden hut constructed for the purposes of signing the papers and discreetly handing out the Heaven and Earth Scrolls.
"Hmph. You may be good at showing off, but don't think it will help you in the exam, nothing gets past these eyes." An overly confident boy with lavender eyes commented, his forehead covered by his hitai ate.
"Is that so Neji, I'll be sure to keep that in mind." Naruto answered with a smirk, Neji frowned at the annoyance the blonde was presenting, for some reason he couldn't stay calm against his cocky attitude.
"I don't remember telling you my name." Neji stated while glaring at the blonde whose smile only grew as he seemed to be irritating the seemingly stuck up Hyuuga.
"I thought nothing got past your eyes, well I guess you were bluffing." Naruto answered calmly as the Hyuuga who was now seething with rage.
"As I said, you are good at showing off, but it's your destiny to lose to those superior to you in this exam." He answered as he regained his composure but Naruto merely chuckled at this.
"Then it doesn't look like I will be defeated by you any time soon." He retaliated, turning to Haku while shrugging his shoulders as she laughed at the way the Hyuuga was constantly being shot down.
"Think highly of yourself while you still can, if necessary I will kill you to fulfil my destiny." He folded his arms turning away towards the signing desk, Naruto just looked over his shoulder to see Sasuke smirking at the defeat of the Hyuuga. Their teammates consisted of Rock Lee and TenTen both of which had been studied by the boys before they left the village.
Naruto thought to himself about the challenge that Neji had offered, he considered that previous to the meeting in wave he may have been wary of the Genin's strength however after seeing how genin were in wave, confidently demolishing a full team of genin by himself fresh or not shouldn't have been so easy. Neji may have been more experienced giving that he was a year older, he was also known to be naturally talented and a prodigy, yet Naruto didn't think he'd live up to his own words, not after the fights he and Sasuke had barely lived through when fighting to the death with roaming ninja just to gain the strength to ward of even tougher opponents.
He was snapped out of his thoughts as the jounin instructor called their team's name, after signing the documents that clearly indicated that Konoha would not be held responsible for anyone who died during the examination, they were ready to begin the test.
Entering the forest of death. The colossal forest seemed to travel far beyond what the eye could see, the trees themselves a height that could be only described as unnatural. The smell of earth was thick in the air, though it was a somewhat comforting smell to the two runaways; it was something they had grown used to after all this time living in the wild.
"Excited?! You should be! Now, all of you shut up while I explain what's going on and let's get this show on the road." Anko roared happily, as if the exam was nothing but her personal entertainment, she had to admit she did like watching the Chuunin exams, but having a front row seat was the best.
"Seems like it only gets harder from here, how troublesome." Shikamaru supposed, he couldn't help letting out a sigh, Kiba however looked more excited than ever to prove that he was not just a hot-headed genin, he was ready to show that he and his team has what it takes to become Chuunin.
"Oi! Oi! Shikamaru! We have to win this and show to everyone that we're the strongest genin team!" He shouted enthusiastically in an attempt to get his team mates pumped for the exam.
"Yeah, yeah, let's just get this over with." Shikamaru replied, apparently Kiba's attitude wasn't infectious.
"The forest of death is a circular area surrounded by forty four locked gate entrances, there's the forest, a river and your objective, the tower in the middle of the circular region. The tower is approximately ten kilometres from the gates. Inside you'll be competing for the Heaven and Earth scrolls that have been handed to you. Once your inside, its anything goes. Twenty six teams passed the first exam, half of these received the Heaven scroll and the other half received the Earth Scroll. All of your team mates must be present in the tower in order for you to pass, not only that, this exam has a time limit of one hundred and twenty hours, in other words five days."
"Five days?! We're going to be in this place for five days?!" One genin shouted.
"Well, it depends on how quickly you finish the exam, if you finish it at all that is." Anko answered with a smirk, these poor genin had no idea what they were getting themselves into.
"Are we allowed to give up while inside?" Shikamaru asked lazily as he rubbed the back of his neck, this really wasn't his kind of exam; it involved a lot of moving and general effort after all.
"Shikamaru! What are you thinking!?" Kiba quickly interrupted seemingly disappointed with the boy.
"As a rule there will be no quitting during the exam. Too bad." Anko explained with a smirk much to Kiba's joy, this way there was no way Shikamaru could drop out half way through the test.
"As expected, how troublesome." He groaned, this caused Sakura to let out a heavy sigh of her own, she had no idea if her team would even make it through this exam and their mission in wave wasn't exactly a confidence boost.
"Oh and by the way. Anyone who looks inside the scrolls will be immediately disqualified." Anko mentioned, teasing her crowd, much to her delight a genin questioned her.
"What happens if we do look inside? Is it something important." The genin asked.
"Who knows, it might be something amazing! Wouldn't it be interesting to find out? As a Chuunin you'll be expected to be handling important documents, this is a test of your reliability." She tempted, maybe she was being just a little too hard on this bunch.
"A word of advice. Try not to die. Now, head to your gates and let's get this started!" She commanded as the murmuring of genin commenced as they began heading to their respective starting positions, not quite sure on what they'd be facing inside the forest.
Gate 16.
"Oi Shikamaru, you better not be lazy! We have to win this!" Kiba enthusiastically shouted,
"Yeah, yeah, I have to admit even I am a bit excited for this." He agreed.
"That's more like it!" The Inuzuka declared as he fist pumped into the air to show his enthusiasm.
"After wave I feel like we need to test ourselves against other genin." Sakura responded glumly, the mood faded somewhat as the remembered the events of their first C (A) Rank mission.
"…Uh…we'll prove we can become strong ninja." Kiba told his team calmly, remembering Kakashi's words about his attitude, he'd do his best to control his temper from now on.
"I'll need you two to keep me in check. I'm counting on you." He said with a serious tone.
"Kiba…" Shikamaru couldn't help but wonder where this serious side came from but had to guess it had something to do with the private conversation between the dog boy and their silver haired jounin sensei.
"Still, it's a shame that Choji couldn't take part. With those two we met in wave not entering the academy the numbers meant that the poor guy doesn't even have a team yet. Still at least he doesn't have to do something so troublesome." Shikamaru changed topic hoping to ease the mood a little.
Gate 27.
"Remember! We have to go after Sakura's lame team! I heard they got beat around in wave, we'll do the same to them here!" Ino declared war as thoughts of a certain cherry blossom passed through her head.
"Ano…Ino…didn't you say we should target the mist team?" Hinata questioned with a mouse like volume, fireworks seemed to go off in the blondes mind but she shook them off.
"As much as I'd like to…We don't know how strong they are, other than us I'd say Sakura's team had to be the weakest!" She strategized, the shy girl only nodded to the blondes confident decision while Shino remained stoic.
Gate 20.
"Huhuhuhu… We'll be able to complete our tasks easily and everyone will know just how strong the sound village is." Dosu thought aloud after seeing what he thought to be weak competition, the genin around him all seemed to be fresh from the academy with little experience in battle after all.
Gate 6.
"5 days…alone with Gaara…are me and Temari even safe?" Kankuro was thinking to himself as they prepared to enter the forest with their unstable brother, the sand jinchuuriki was standing calm and stoic for now, Kankuro hoped it would stay that way but knew that Gaara was capable of snapping at any given moment.
Gate 41
"Destiny will prove us to be the victors. Nothing will stop us, I expect you two not to hold back."
"Of course, Neji, we're here to win after all." TenTen replied confidently while Rock lee was busying himself stretching causing her to let out a sigh at his antics.
"Just wait Gai-sensei, we'll pass for sure!" Lee promised himself, excited for the exam he had to admit that he was nervous, but it was also a good opportunity to measure his strength.
"We will now begin the Chuunin exams!" Anko roared and with that the gates were launched open and immediately the genin sprang into action, the forest of death would be wiping out as many genin contestants as it could, this round always did a good job of dwindling numbers.
Gate 12.
"Let's go. Make sure to look out for those three, if they see us they might recognize who we are, last time was close enough." Sasuke commanded, the other two nodded in agreement, Naruto wondered however just what they were planning to do while in the forest.
"So how are we going to do this then?" He questioned hoping to come up with a strategy while they slowly walked through the undergrowth of the dense forest, something they would be doing a lot of over the course of the next few days.
"We could take out as many teams as we can, or we could get a scroll and head straight to the tower, it doesn't really matter, we just need to pass." He continued as Haku nodded, politely showing she was listening to raven's ideas.
"We have a score to settle with those earth ninja." She spoke sternly, having her home village insulted irritated her it seemed, it caused her to wonder why, seeing as she hadn't been to the village hidden in the mist in so long, she considered it to be a natural thing to protect ones birthplace.
"Hmm, they started nearby; I hardly expect they'll be worth your resentment though." Sasuke informed with a smirk, Haku frowned somewhat, she didn't like it when the two of them saw her angry it ruined her kind, innocent image.
"You know I'm not one for aggression Sasuke-kun." She chirped with an overly sweet tone that he had learnt was a warning, though he didn't take much notice, instead he decided to torment her even further for his own amusement.
"How silly of me, honestly, what a weird company I share." He said happily, attempting to further irritate the ice user, it seemed like it would be his entertainment over the course of the exam.
"I agree. All three of you are strange." Kyuu commented, Naruto could feel her swishing her tails around as she often did when trying to provoke them, the boys were more than used it now however.
"Looks like we won't even need to look for those Iwa idiots." Naruto spotted, Sasuke nodded in agreement although Haku couldn't help but feel out of the loop.
"Why's that?" She asked curious of what they meant, she knew their sight was better than hers but most of the time they failed to fill her in on what they saw, she imagined it was due to them only working as a two man unit for so long with similar long ranged vision.
"They're straight ahead. Could be a trap. Naruto, you know what to do." Sasuke smirked confidently.
"Yes sir." Naruto answered happily with a mock salute, crossing his fingers he formed a hand seal.
"Shadow clone Jutsu." He whispered bringing three clones to life, which then transformed into Haku and Sasuke, immediately after they began sprinting at the earth squad while the real Naruto as well as Sasuke and Haku took to the tree tops to watch what happened.
"Talk about amateurs! Completely defenceless!" The Naruto clone shouted, running straight at the targets, the overly pleased looking genin turned to them and spoke.
"Got you." With a cut of a wire kunai whizzed in every direction eradicating the Naruto clone, the Sasuke and Haku clone persevered avoiding the trap and rushing in to hopefully activate any others.
"Not done yet!" the ninja cried as he sprung another trap, the ground below sank below the clones, as it did large spears of earth formed essentially killing the clones, leaving the earth ninja feeling confident in their victory.
"Hmph! We knew from the first time we saw you that you were weak!" He shouted while turning to the other members of his group, the three shared a laugh, before scanning the area. The three soon began to grow tired of waiting, the suspense un-easing them somewhat as sweat rolled down their face. They talked a big game but if they weren't careful they really could end up dead in this exam.
"Come out you weaklings! We're feeling kind, since you came all the way here from mist, if you give us your scroll, we might let you live!" The second genin shouted attempting to remain strong as he brushed through his brown spikey hair, the loose bangs that fell over his head band causing irritation as his black eyes surveyed the area.
"Suiton: Water dragon!" Haku shouted as she flashed into plain sight, from the tree tops she had a fine shot on them as the dragon thundered towards its targets below. The genin who set the trap immediately set into action, his earthy over coat that matched his simple tied back brown hair followed him like an afterimage as he leapt into the course of the water dragon.
"Doton: Shield of Gaia!" He raised his arms to the air and formed a roof like cover of earth above the three of them, the dragon collided with the attack and water dispersed around the area, leaving the small clearing coated in moisture.
"Ha! If that's all you have you might as well give up now!" The third genin shouted, he looked confident in his team's victory as he rolled his shoulders, his long burnt orange hair shifting with their movement.
"You're as stupid as you look." Haku responded calmly, confident in her victory against the three genin in front of her, she doubted they would even offer any form of challenge. By this point though, she had already won, a shame really, she felt like getting revenge for her home town, too bad she was had to regroup with the others.
"Where are the other two!?" The second genin quickly panicked, her statement making him think that they had fallen for a deadly trap that was about to be sprung.
"I don't require their assistance." Haku interrupted before forming hand seals with one hand.
"What the hell?! One-handed seals?!" The third genin shouted in shock, the three of them raised their guards expecting another aerial attack, but to their horror the attack didn't come from the air.
"Hoton: Crystal Cemetery." She spoke softly, cold sweat dripped from the Genin's face in anticipation of what was to come, quicker than movements could escape the moisture dispersed from the water technique exploded into action, forming hundreds of icicles that rose from the ground in an instant.
"Ahhhhhhh!" A blood curdling cry was their last actions as they couldn't even fall to the floor, suspended by the numerous icicles that pierced them they died standing, the frozen area standing out from the rest of the forest making the imprisoned genin look like a piece of art, a sophisticated monument of death.
"Do not underestimate the mist." Haku warned with finality then left to meet her other team mates, although she did not enjoy killing it was people like them that made the job a lot easier.
"By that scream I take it things went well." Naruto asked only to receive a faint smile from the girl.
"A shame they only had a Heaven scroll." Sasuke complained before sealing it away into one of Naruto's wrist tattoos that were hidden by his jacket.
"It may come in useful I suppose." Naruto groaned while rolling down his jacket sleeve to cover the seal tattoo again, in honesty he didn't really care for the exams, he had a personal mission in Konoha.
"Let's continue." Haku said which earned a nod from the two boys as they began to proceed through the undergrowth once again.
"Lee, slow down, there is plenty of time for us to dispose of the enemy and gain their scroll." TenTen pleaded as the miniature Gai continue to speed up, he could be so reckless at times.
"Hot blooded fool. Hmph! At least he isn't holding us back." Neji considered as they matched lee's pace, though he didn't admit it Neji was just as excited to test his own strength in the exams.
"Sorry! I can't sit still when I know there are strong enemies waiting for us!" Lee shouted energetically.
"There!" TenTen shouted in a hushed tone. They immediately descended from the treetops and into some bushes attempting to hide unlike the opponent who was stood in clear sight. The surrounding seemed eerie, it was silent; the surrounding leaves rustled adding to the suspense as the wind danced throughout the clearing when suddenly menacing laughter could be heard.
"Kukukuku…so you've arrived…Neji-kun!" The womanly figure exclaimed, clearly happy with the state of events as she turned to look straight towards the bush they were hidden in, deciding it was no use they leapt out into the small clearing around them, the large trees casting thick shadows that seemed to side with the figure stood in the unidentified figure in the centre of the clearing.
"It's not surprising that you know of my name, if that's what you were hoping to accomplish." Neji spat almost disgusted with the very presence of the person in front of them.
"An attitude that will need to be adjusted…still I remain interested…hmhmhm!" the figures strange giggling and general presence was off putting to the three but they fell into a stance and prepared themselves.
"So eager to die?" The stranger asked with a fierce tone as if baffled by the very thought of them attempting to engage in combat. They faltered by the question alone, but shown no sign of backing down from the challenge.
Before they could respond however the figures eyes widened, pressure filled the air and breathing suddenly became an impossible task. Flashing images passed through their minds, images of their brutal end to this mortal defying being that stood in front of them, the reoccurring presence of snakes in each of them.
"Wasted after all?" The figure questioned as they drew three shuriken, lazily they threw the metal projectiles with the intention to kill the immobilised genin, now bored of them.
"Byakugan!" Neji quickly shouted dispersing the thin layer of chakra laced within the killing intent, he barely managed to push his team mates to the ground to cover.
"Kukukuku…so you are ready to play after all."
"Futon: Great Breakthrough!" the figure raised both hands, each pointing at one of Neji's teammates, immediately Lee and TenTen were hit by a powerful blast of wind, sending them rocketing off into the distance.
"What have you done to them!?" Neji roared, the strange figure remaining perfectly calm despite the aggression Neji spoke with, this irritated the Hyuuga as he was being looked down on by his opponent, how could someone look down on him, one of the mighty Hyuuga.
"Don't worry Neji-kun, they're not important…hmhmhm…what is important is that you impress me." The figure then revealed an overly long tongue as they licked their lips in excitement, a grotesque movement that only served to make Neji dislike the figure even more than he knew was possible.
Neji growled as he fell into a defensive stance, he wasn't sure if he could fight this opponent, for once his pride had retreated and his survival instincts had grabbed the reigns of control, the fight was about to start, he could feel it, this person was undoubtedly powerful .
"Snake!" TenTen cried as lee hurriedly rolled right, out of the way of the giant snake's bite, the creature attacked without warning, and seemed to have its eyes set out on having genin for its meal.
"Whoa!" Lee exclaimed as it tore through one of the huge trees with ease, the two of them readied themselves for the next move, each of them nodding to the other in preparation. Bark and fragments of tree flew through the air as the colossal snake collided with more trees before turning around to hiss violently at its prey.
"Lee! Be careful." TenTen warned, Lee tightened his bandages and nodded in response, the predator was on the attack again its speed surprising for its size as the two of them were forced to leap out of the way of another deadly attack. TenTen growled as she landed on a tree branch, the snake ignoring her as it focused on Lee, the enemy who was still on the ground.
Its piercing golden eyes met his as he stood his ground.
"Why don't you try taking on Konoha's green beast!" Lee shouted as he raised his guard against the huge reptile, TenTen not wanting to see the outcome, whipped open her scrolls, a blast of smoke was summoned, soon after weapons of all different kind pierced through it, aiming directly for their predator.
The weapons hit with deadly accuracy along the snakes body, littering it with metal causing it to hiss in pain, it lost balance causing it to fall to the ground for a final time, the multiple weapons causing its death almost instantly as blood flowed from its wounds.
"Good job TenTen!" Lee complimented with a thumbs up, the girl could only muster a sigh in response as she remembered the situation the two of them were in.
"We have to go help Neji! That guy could be strong!" she commanded attempting to take control of the situation at hand, she took the role of team leader for the time being.
"Yosh! Let's go save our comrade!" Lee shouted over enthusiastically, not giving the kunoichi time to respond to his antics he raced off in the direction from which they last saw Neji.
"Lee wait up!" TenTen shouted angrily as she chased after him through the dense forest.
"You killed my pets easily…but don't get over confident just yet…hmhmhmhm!" The snake like being called out to Neji, he was hiding behind a tree, his back against the trunk as he panted for breath, two of the giant snakes lay dead within the clearing, much to the despair of Neji however, the figure causing him so much trouble stood confidently in place, as if the whole scene was nothing but simple entertainment.
"Dammit... I need to calm down…" Neji ordered himself between breaths, he shook his head shaking off the sweat, he leant his head against the bark, his body thankful for the moment of rest.
"It must be fate that I fight this man, a test of some kind. What is planned for me?" He asked no one in particular, his beliefs following him even in such a battle.
"You're beginning to bore me Neji-kun, such a shame too; I thought you were just getting excited…" The serpents tone sent shivers down his spine that he didn't enjoy, the persons eerie presence was enough to unnerve anyone, keeping them on their toes, but when mixed in with his freakish disgusting actions plus his strange manner of speaking he was became something incredible sinister.
"Byakugan." He whispered as his vision expanded beyond normal limits. He clenched his fists as he gained the courage he needed to jump out of the tree and face the opponent before him.
"Ahhh…good to see you are finally serious." The strange human commented he began licking his lips in a hungry manner, his serpent like eyes staring into Neji's pupil-less ones as each anticipated an attack from the other.
In an instant the predator was attacking, his piercing strikes were similar to the gentle fist as Neji found himself on the defensive however his speed was something to be wary of as he attempted to counter with any given opportunity, the blinding light chakra leaving small burns on his opponent as he struck away the wrist of the attacker.
"Hmhmhmhm! Talented as I expected." The opponent sneered as Neji leapt away, unable to outmatch his opponent with taijutsu alone he threw weapons hastily which were easily deflected by the man using the snakes that had suddenly shot out from his wrists.
Neji looked unnerved as his confidence fell again, he wasn't fighting like normal, he felt like he was in danger, ever since he had seen his very life flash before his eyes he couldn't quite concentrate.
"Neji!" He heard a feminine voice shout and soon the man was weaving his body out of the way of a small barrage of kunai, the thudding sound they made as they pierced the soft mud bringing back his concentration as TenTen and Lee arrived on scene.
"We won't let you harm our team mate!" Lee swore as he stood in form in front of this new opponent ready to fight off the attacker, though he didn't know what he was up against.
"How heart-warming of you, however I have little interest in someone with no talent." The man spat causing Lee to growl angrily, before TenTen could even protest Lee had ripped away his weights like feathers.
"I'll show you the power of hard work!" Lee roared until he heard the opponent snigger.
"You don't know who you're dealing with boy." The man said as he tore away his own face, revealing a much more masculine look in place of the old one, Lee dropped his weights in shock, the impact causing small craters to form on impact.
"Oh? Maybe you will be of amusement after all." The man begin to snigger once more before introducing himself.
"My name is Orochimaru –"He started but was cut off by what he considered an annoying genin.
"He's one of the legendary Sannin! He's also one of Konoha's most wanted criminals!" TenTen shouted interrupting the man. Orochimaru frowned in sheer distaste of her actions.
"Ignorant girl. I was chased out of this village by fools who do not know genius." He hissed as he looked towards Neji, hoping that he had hit a nerve he looked for any sign of a reaction.
"However…I understand that they are different…special, they have a destiny that normal people could never understand, isn't that right Neji-kun? Kukuku." The man chuckled at the end of his sentence as he saw Neji's curiosity reach its peak.
"I don't know what you're talking about." The Hyuuga said nervously earning worried glances from his team mates; they'd never seen the high and mighty Neji act like this.
"Neji…" TenTen muttered, she never seen him so shook up, whatever they missed must have taken its toll on him, she saw two of the snakes similar to ones that herself and Lee fought.
"He took on two by himself? While keeping an eye on this weirdo? That's Neji alright…" she contemplated, still she wished he knew what had happened while they were gone.
"I can remove that awful seal imprinted on your forehead…after all this miserable village forced me to do it because it was my "duty" to share the knowledge I had obtained." Orochimaru enjoyed seeing Neji's reaction, his eyes widening as his mind considered the removal of the only thing that held him back, this was fate after all.
"What do require in return." Neji spoke surprising his teammates and Orochimaru, he didn't think it would be so easy to convince the proud Hyuuga before him, it appeared he was in luck.
"You will become my librarian of sorts…your eyes are capable of seeing through seals, a marvellous ability, so many secrets that could be learnt no other way." Orochimaru tempted.
"That's all?" Neji asked proudly, asking so little of him seemed absurd.
"Hmhmhm, knowledge of the forbidden arts is all the payment I need. On the other hand there will be certain gifts for you along the way." Orochimaru had captured the young Hyuuga's mind, the offer far too perfect to turn away.
"Neji! I won't let this freak take you away!" Lee roared before disappearing from sight, his skidded along the floor and landed a devastating kick to Orochimaru's jaw, yet - much to the surprise of the young genin the man's head merely titled back, his body still rooted to the floor instead of soaring through the air as intended.
With a fierce backhand Lee was struck harshly, the force send him spiralling through the air as he collided with a tree, he let out a cough, nonetheless, he jumped back to his feet.
"As expected of a Sannin! But I won't give up! TenTen, please assist me!" He said announced before giving the girl a thumbs up, soon after he was rushing back into action.
"Let's go!" She shouted as she unrolled a scroll in each hand, she ran towards the Sannin as the scrolls continued to unravel however Lee jumped into the fray first using one of his Sensei's techniques.
"Leaf Whirlwind!" Lee struck high against the Snake Sannin who easily ducked under the kick activating the second stage of the attack he quickly changed to a low kick attempting to sweep the Sannin of his feet, much to the surprise of the genin, Orochimaru merely jumped over it and offered Lee a kick of his own which sent him launching past Neji, his back colliding with yet another tree as he slid down it to rest against the branch
Seeing her opportunity TenTen launched off nearly all of the weapons she had stored within her scrolls, she danced and weaved on a tree branch as weapon after weapon launched itself towards Orochimaru; swords, kunai, senbon, and various exotic weapons being among them, she considered that she had used around two hundred weapons in the attack.
Orochimaru stood, pierced and littered with weapons as a triumphant smirk came over TenTen
"How'd you like that?!" She shouted hastily sensing something behind her she saw the pierced Sannin fade into mud, she quickly span around to see him appear with a slightly irritated look across his features.
He picked her up with one hand, his grip tightening around her neck as he did so, she clawed desperately at his hands trying to remove them before she ran out of oxygen as he lifted her higher into the air, her struggles were futile as he completely over powered her.
"Hmph!" he let out, annoyed by the insects that had begun to pester him, he threw the annoying girl towards Neji's feet hoping that this time they would learn their place below him and stay down.
"This is who Konoha has teamed you with? These irritants? How pathetic, how unworthy, it's almost sickening." Orochimaru spoke with distaste as he looked directly into the Hyuuga's eyes. Neji growled and clenched his fists trying his best not to agree with the man, but it was true, in comparison to the Sannin they were beginning to look useless.
"Don't you dare speak about us like that!" TenTen growled defiantly wishing she had the strength to back up her words, as it was she could only sit and watch helplessly as the man belittled them.
"If you speak again, I will silence you permanently." Orochimaru hissed causing the girl to let out a low growl knowing that she could be easily killed by the Sannin in front of her.
"I accept…please, remove this seal." Neji conceded not being the allowed the chance to reconsider the Sannin's neck extended with a great speed heading directly for the Hyuuga, fangs revealed themselves from his mouth piercing the skin on Neji's neck with ease.
"What the…hnngg!" Neji cried in pain as he held the area in which he had just been bitten, he fell to his knees as the Sannin's head returned to its place on its shoulders.
"Neji!" TenTen screamed before running to his side. He began to thrash as she came near him as if any contact would worsen the pain, she could only watch as Lee attacked the Sannin from behind in anger.
"Doton: Punishing Gauntlet." Orochimaru muttered as his fist quickly became fortified by rock, he easily evaded the high kick from Rock Lee and soon worked on smiting down the genin with his golem like fist. Lee was sent hurtling towards the other two genin, skidding along the branch slowly coming to a stop at his teammate's feet, unconscious as TenTen looked down at him; she saw fresh blood dripping from his mouth.
"Kukuku, I'm in a good mood now, so I didn't kill him. In return I ask that you look after Neji-kun to the best of your ability, after all the survival rate of this 'procedure' is only around ten per cent. Of course I'm positive such a promising candidate will pull through." Orochimaru explained with a sinister smirk on his face.
TenTen felt like screaming, yet remained silent as it would certainly draw more enemies, she looked down at Neji suffering before looking back to…he was gone, as if he had never even been there, Orochimaru had vanished without a sound.
"It seems to quiet." Sasuke mentioned, their lack of encounters didn't fit the scenario they were in.
"My, my! Have you figured me out?" a familiar female voice intruded, they were quickly on the alert at hearing it, a jounin in the forest with them wasn't mentioned at the beginning of the test after all.
"The examiner!" Haku shouted as Anko leapt down from the tree tops, landing directly in front of them as if blocking their path, she stood proudly as if confident she could defeat all three of them.
"Have we done something wrong?" Naruto faked as he scratched the back of his head making him look somewhat innocent before looking towards Sasuke and Haku who looked as equally 'confused' at the scenario in front of them.
"You tell me." She said flatly, her eyes piercing them as she looked for any slip ups.
"I don't believe you mentioned that killing was an offence." Haku defended, trying to refer to her previous battle in an attempt to throw off suspicion, although Anko was more than used that sort of thing from her time as an interrogator.
"That it isn't. For participants, but I'm unsure of why we received no word from mist that you had been sent." Anko looked calm and cunning as if she already knew something vital, she was simply waiting for them to give her the answers she wanted.
"Of course they wouldn't know. Our village is constantly fighting. Less and less people are coming and providing missions, we had to do something before our country starves to death. We know the true meaning of the Chuunin exams!" Naruto spoke passionately hoping to deceive the snake lady with his patriotic speech.
"Really? I believed the civil war had ended some time ago." Anko was sure she had caught them out.
"So that plan really did work…I wish it had ended, but that was nothing but a lie. Mizukage-sama had to release that information so that other villages didn't believe us to be vulnerable." Haku spoke sadly as she clenched her fists, getting a comforting hand resting on her shoulder from Naruto she looked back up the unmoved jounin.
"I have to say, impressive really. Two untrained teens sneaking into a village like this, posing as others like this, a simple but effective disguise. "Anko complimented hoping to give over the fact that she knew they weren't who they said they were, although she needed them to confirm it.
"A possible theory; however there are three of us…" Sasuke spoke stoically as he pushed up his sunglasses.
"So you deny being Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha to the very end, the last member of course being this 'Haku Yuki' that you collected from your time in wave, I mean an Ice release bloodline isn't all that common, in fact it was presumed to be extinct." Anko interrogated before her eyes widened and her seal began to burn the pain clearly indicating his presence.
"Ahhh, if it isn't little Anko, I couldn't help but stop by for a visit…I knew you'd be so happy to see me. Hmhmhm." The undisguised snake Sannin tormented from behind as Anko whipped around to face him.
"Orochimaru! What the hell are you doing here!?" Anko roared which had little effect on the Sannin.
"My, my, Konoha are a detestable bunch…wouldn't you three agree?" he laughed as he glanced at the genin and back to Anko, hoping to anger his old student.
"If you must know I merely came here to pick up a new pair of eyes. They're a wonderful lavender colour. But more importantly than our chit-chat, if you are to inform anyone and stop these exams then believe me when I say the leaf village is finished." Orochimaru threatened as the jounin could only growl in response.
"Oh? I thought you were after an Uchiha." Anko spoke as she glanced to the three genin behind her.
"I found a much simpler approach, hmhmhm, the Byakugan will allow me learn information hidden even beyond the eyes of an Uchiha, besides those eyes are tricky to deal with, they are mutations after all, who knows, If I were to implant them in myself I may even obtain the Rinnegan instead."
Orochimaru answered while thinking aloud, he gave a chuckle at the theory before being interrupted by his former student.
"The Rinnegan?" Anko questioned, she hadn't heard of such a thing, perhaps it was his intentions to gain it…whatever it was, perhaps the Hokage would be able to shed some light on it.
"Do not meddle with things that go beyond your comprehension Anko." He chuckled as he insulted her, although he didn't doubt her intelligence, it was far too fun to belittle her, she was below him after all.
"So you plan to obtain this Rinnegan?" She interrogated the Sannin, hoping for a clearer picture or an insight on what his objectives may be, the fact that he was in Konoha was bad enough already.
"Were you listening at all you fool? I do not wish to have such an unstable pair of eyes in my body such as those of an Uchiha, after learning more about them with a certain test subject, the rate of mutation that would be harmful to the body was astounding, in time I will be more than capable of making them occur within my own genetics naturally…for me time is infinite, so only patience is required, dear Anko." He explained to the jounin before him, his small speech showing a fraction of the intelligence that made him such a dangerous criminal.
"Why must the exams continue? What are you after? Even if you've bitten that kid it doesn't mean he won't come to his senses." Anko tried to gather further information, although the snake wasn't exactly being illusive, he wasn't exactly pointing out what he intended to do either.
"I have three of my genin competing…hmhmhm, of course I'd wish for them to complete the exam" Orochimaru sniggered, knowing that wasn't the answer that Anko wasn't looking for although she surprised him with her next question.
"These three!?" She questioned, as she looked back at the 'mist genin' who were stood silently watching the event unfold before them, it was almost as if they were gathering information themselves.
"…No…they are clearly ninjas of the mist Anko, are you really so dim that you cannot see the markings on their Hitai ate?" Orochimaru berated as he looked at her with a curious expression.
"Hmph. It's obviously a disguise." Anko claimed confidently as she folded her arms not believing a word that the Sannin spoke, a childish trait that she never managed to get rid of.
"How foolish, with mist in the state it is in it would be near impossible to gain credible documentation, the only way they would be rewarded to outsiders would be to pass through the ninja academy, making the mist ninja in the process. How heartless of you to accuse them despite their good intentions…kukuku although perhaps I'm not one to judge." Orochimaru lectured the jounin just as he did when she was his student.
"I have wasted enough time here. Oh and Anko, those mist ninja have gained my curiosity, I would like to see how easily a sound ninja would destroy them, if anything is to happen to them my threat to Konoha applies, their identities revealed or not." He warned before fading into a tree behind him.
Anko turned to look at the mist ninja behind her, suspicious of them, though with Orochimaru's threat it didn't look like she could proceed with her interrogation, her views slightly thrown with the Sannin's information on the Mist.
"You will speak to no one of this." She said before disappearing in a swirl of leaves leaving the three to continue with the exams as intended.
"Kukuku… such a favour should be returned don't you think?" Orochimaru said as he appeared behind them, having used a clone to act for him, he was surprised Anko didn't see through it, perhaps he had overestimated her, Konoha had made her soft.
"Uhh…yeah…sure, what is it?" Naruto answered the strange man that was known as an S rank criminal, Anko had definitely called him Orochimaru, this man was apparently a leader of his own hidden village, it wouldn't be wise to attempt to confront him, thinking this Naruto agreed.
"Now, now do not think badly of me just because some book labels me a criminal." He spoke before an overly large grin appeared on his face as if he personally agreed with the title he was denying.
"All I ask is something quite innocent… make sure that Neji Hyuuga passes this stage of the exams at all costs, knowing your identities, I believe it to be a fair price." Orochimaru chuckled at knowingly, still he held little interest for them, this way he would at least ensure Neji passes this stage, having heard about their feats in wave he was confident of it.
"Alright…we can do that…what if he resists our assistance?" Sasuke answered calmly causing the snake jounin to chuckle happily at the what the Uchiha was implying.
"Do what is necessary, I do not care about these exams, what I care about it is witnessing how well that boy wields the cursed seal. If he is defeated in the final exams that is of no importance, so long as I see his potential. Kukuku should you end up facing him, perhaps you could put on a performance for me?" The Sannin explained, ending with another frightening chuckle.
"A deals a deal." Naruto replied, he wanted to get their new 'mission' over and done with as soon as possible after all.
"Excellent…fighting Kakashi and a team of genin… a commendable feat, I hope it wasn't mere luck. Neji is positioned south west of here, it would be in your best interest to hurry to him, who knows who may attack him while he is weakened…kukuku." He hinted, finally he disappeared from the area for a final time.
"Looks like a change of objective." Sasuke muttered as the other two members of their trio nodded their head, they weren't here to pass the exam; they just needed to reach the finals to prolong their stay in Konoha.
"Nothing we can't handle!" Naruto declared enthusiastically causing Haku to giggle as they set off in the given direction; they took to the tree tops, heeding the warning that the snake Sannin had given them.
"We're lucky to have not run into anyone so far…" Sakura commented as they walked through the undergrowth as Shikamaru had suggested, Kiba nodded in response.
"Yeah…but our objective is to get a scroll…" He considered as they continued to walk towards the tower, Shikamaru agreed with the dog boy before a thought hit him.
"Maybe we can pick one up closer to the tower; it may be a good spot for taking out weakened enemies." Shikamaru plotted, he considered attacking a team at night, but he was sure other teams had thought of the same plan.
Suddenly Kiba sniffed the air.
"We need to hide. Now." He said before leaping in a nearby bush, Akamaru began to let out a quiet whine as the two other members of team seven joined them in hiding.
"What's up?" Sakura whispered to the Inuzuka, trying to remain quiet due to the sudden seriousness of the situation, she didn't know what was going on but by the look on Kiba's face it wasn't good.
"It's a horrible smell…it smells evil…like blood, not only that, there's also a group heading here from a different direction, most likely a fight is gunna break out." Kiba warned as they continued to hide their presence waiting for the predicted battle to commence.
"Stop here." The redheaded boy commanded stoically, the other members of his team obeyed obediently as they landed beside him in the small clearing they had stopped in, team seven were silently hoping they hadn't been detected as this seemed to be evil presence Kiba had picked up.
"Gaara?" The blonde haired girl questioned, unsure why they suddenly had to stop in their tracks.
"He looked at me funny." He said as he continued to stare at a genin from the hidden rain who had only just arrived, the claim was absurd but the girl daren't go against the word of her brother.
"Hmph! Looks like we've got a joker, oh well, a win is a win!" The unsuspecting rain ninja declared his victory before the fight had even begun, estimating their experience to make them far superior to the sand ninja that had presented themselves.
"You die here." Gaara stated, with that he remained silent again, waiting for the rain ninja's actions.
"We'll see about that!" The rain ninja hurled multiple strange umbrellas into the air after spinning them rapidly, they soared through the air, soon multiple projectiles revealed themselves as they started following a whirlwind like movement.
"It's over, there's no evading this move." One of the rain genin backed up his team mate but Gaara just stood in silence watching. Suddenly hundreds of the projectiles began to rain down on Gaara, but without even moving his sand did the work for him, absorbing every hit with ease.
"I-Impossible!" The rain genin shouted, he'd never seen anything like this before, the kid didn't even move yet he blocked all of the attacks, it was unheard of, it had to be a genjutsu.
"Perhaps I should make it rain blood instead." Gaara commented as if questioning himself, sand began to slither along the ground attempt to reach the rain genin it slowly approached its target silently.
As soon as the creeping puddle of sand met with its target Gaara made a weird hand seal.
"Desert coffin." Was all he spoke as the man became wrapped up in thick masses of sand, his face was still showing but the rest of his body was completely restricted, the sand being dense meant that it had a lot of weight behind it, there was no struggling free from the attack.
Then before the rain genin could even comprehend what was happening the sand condensed, crushing him entirely, blood began to seep down the mound of sand and Sakura had to cover her mouth to prevent herself from screaming, blood decorated the clearing instantly though Gaara stood unfazed.
Shikamaru looked away from the sight, the three rain genin were quickly dispersed, apparently they had the opposite scroll to the sand team, and after the battle they had decided to head straight to the tower to complete their objective, at least that meant that team seven wouldn't have to face that monster.
"They killed them so easily…" He commented, Kiba shut his eyes trying not to remember what they had just seen as the three of them exited the bush, though he doubted he'd forget it any time soon.
"We need to keep moving, there could be more people like that in here." Kiba reminded, their objective was to gain a scroll and head to the tower after all, not to sit around waiting for the enemy to find them.
They estimated that they had already travelled around five kilometres, putting them on the half-way point of their journey when they came to a large open clearing, this meant danger for the three. They then saw a girl, taking care of her team mates underneath the shelter of the overgrown tree routes, by the looks of things there was only her capable of fighting, it would be an easy win for team seven.
"Oi…she's all alone…" Kiba said suggestively, his hushed voice barely audible.
"It could be a trap." Shikamaru advised, the situation seemed just too perfect, an enemy all alone waiting to be outnumbered, although her team was close on hand and in plain sight, he still doubted the scene before them, he was almost sure it was a setup.
"Yeah…what if we jump out and they were actually ready for us." Sakura agreed, leaning towards Shikamaru's logical answer.
"Then we pummel 'em!" Kiba shouted in a hushed tone returning to his brash behaviour momentarily, although he at least remained quiet as he did so.
"Kiba…" Shikamaru calmed, the boy seemed to be getting restless again, not a good thing to be when trying to maintain stealth but to the surprise of his teammates Kiba took in a deep breath, before letting it out again.
"Right…let's wait and see." He accepted that he had been outvoted and decided that it was probably for the best anyway, seeing as over there was Neji Hyuuga, the genin that was named rookie of the year last year, he bit back his pride as he thought it, as much as it drove him insane.
"Huhuhu…look that girl is all alone! This is probably the best chance we'll get!" Ino chirped happily, seeing an opportunity to pass was almost a blessing, so far she wasn't sure they'd be able to defeat anyone. She sighed heavily before turning to look at her team.
"Man…since they left the teams really got messed up." She thought to herself, she had no problems in terms of personality, except the two of them didn't make for good company, Hinata was nice enough, but she didn't speak often…just like Shino.
"W-W-What if it's a trap…" The shy Hyuuga offered, just the sight of her cousin there alone ment she didn't feel they had much chance of winning if he was to be faking his condition.
"A trap?" Ino asked clueless of what she meant, she didn't think things through often and would usually just approach things directly if given the opportunity.
" The situation seems all too easy to claim victory." Shino stated as he pushed his glasses up his nose.
"Ah, hahah…right! Of course it's a trap!" Ino declared as she folded her arms in agreement, nodding her head to add to the effect.
"I don't think Neji would be so easily beaten…" Hinata muttered, her teammates only just managing to hear her something they've adapted to due to her timid personality.
"Well at least it's good for remaining hidden…" Ino supposed trying to add a positive spin to her team's behaviour, although it bugged her somewhat that they were quiet she had to admit it was having a positive influence on her usual overbearing personality.
"Let's wait and see…maybe it'll get even easier!" She chirped enthusiastically, she couldn't imagine them getting an easier opponent, even Sakura's team may cause her poorly arranged team to be defeated, she had asked the hokage personally that the teams be rearranged, she wasn't sure that this team would even survive the kind of mission that Sakura's team was put through, much to the blondes despair a team revealed themselves in the middle of the clearing.
"We're here to challenge the Hyuuga." Dosu said flatly, clearly uninterested in the girl who was nursing him, although he didn't miss the sly smirk on her face.
"Too bad." She replied and quickly cut a rope, this caused a huge log to come hurtling towards Dosu, kin and Zaku, although it was easily dodged the fell victim to a secondary trap that was triggered by Zaku.
Kunai and weaponry all armed with explosive tags encircled the three corned ninja, and to make matters worse TenTen was unleashing her twin scrolls, leaping through the air she uncoiled her collection, a scroll in each hand as dragons of smoke followed her, twisting and twirling around her before revealing themselves to be the scrolls themselves.
The attack taking their mind off the explosives team Dosu only responded to the burning of the explosive tag, Zaku seeing his opportunity to use his abilities grabbed his two team mates, jumping into the air, not enough to escape however he used his airwaves to propel them to safety. The explosion rumbled throughout the clearing but it didn't make its mark, the sound team landed safely but the thick smoke covered TenTen from view.
"Try this!" She yelled as weapons rained down on them from all directions, forming a triangular formation the sound team readied themselves to face the vast amount of weapons. Zaku immediately propelled wind through his airwaves pushing back a large amount of the weapons from his actions alone, kin threw multiple senbon that collided with some of the smaller weapons while Dosu punched the ground causing a sound wave to disrupt the path of the weapons.
TenTen landed, the black smoke had cleared and she was in clear view, panting slightly from the massive unsealing she glared at her opponents.
"Such a useless attack…really, is weapons your thing or something? That's not really a talent, why don't you try fighting with just one of them, instead of just throwing everything you have and becoming even more useless than you already were." Zaku mocked, belittling the girl's efforts.
"Oi, Oi let us fight the Hyuuga now, we don't even know your name so if you run away now we might not even kill you!" Dosu generously proposed as he looked towards the resting Hyuuga under the overgrown tree routes.
"I'm not done yet!" She cried pulling violently on what looked to be thin air the weapons violently flew towards their targets once again, the sudden surprise attack too quick for the genin to respond to they had multiple cuts and wounds, but nothing serious from the attack.
"You'll pay for that you wannabe Kunoichi! If this is all it takes to be a Kunoichi in Konoha you might as well consider me a jounin!" Kin spat displeased with the level of skill the females had presented so far, Sakura and Ino felt the blunt of that insult from the safety of the bushes they were hidden in.
"We should probably help her…" Shikamaru commented, not liking to watch one kunoichi fight a full team of genin by herself, especially when she looked to have no chance of winning.
"Yeah! If we don't who knows, they might even kill her!" Kiba agreed in a hushed shout, it was time to fight, until suddenly the air seemed to freeze from a sheer release of chakra alone.
Stood proudly wrapped engulfed in a horrifying dark chakra Neji immerged, cursed markings decorating his angered form as veins bulged from his face, his byakugan active the black markings stood out like war tattoos against his pale complexion.
"Filth like you should not be attacking TenTen." He hissed, his voice too violent to seem normal.
"Neji…" TenTen looked horrified, she didn't know what she was seeing before her but somehow she knew it was to do with what that snake Sannin had done to him…Orochimaru had done this to him.
"Finally! Sleeping beauty is up…now time to see just how good you ar….rgh!" Zaku's sentence was ended permanently a Jyuuken strike piercing through his throat, blood pouring down his neck flowing to his chest, splatters of it covering his face from the sheer speed that his throat had exploded with.
"Zaku! You!" Kin shouted before throwing a barrage of needles at him, the onlookers were mortified by the awful display of cruelty, the Hyuuga ripped his hand from the boys throat showing him to be of little importance as he fell to the uncaring ground, as the senbon approached Neji merely knocked them aside expelling a horrifying purple chakra from his hands instead of his usual light blue Jyuuken strike.
"My turn." With that Kin's shoulders had both been destroyed from the joints, the pressure points over worked with a massive intake of chakra left her arms dangling by her side as she desperately leapt away from this beast that wouldn't hesitate to end her life.
"Why do you cling to your miserable existence? Dare you not face me?" He roared the feeling of ruling absolute supreme washed over him, nothing could beat this feeling, he released another spiralling wave of purple chakra as the curse marks spread, the pressure of the blast causing his headband to fall to the floor.
"H-H-His seal! I-It's gone!" Hinata squeaked her surprise shown on her face not that her team mates would notice, unable to peel their eyes of the horrifying scene unfolding within the clearing.
"Neji! That's enough! You've beat them, we can just take their scrolls and move on!" TenTen pleaded, as he turned slowly to face her she felt a wave of fear that wouldn't soon leave her, he looked deep into her eyes and for a moment she thought that she was next on the list.
"It won't be enough until they're dead…ambushing someone giving medical treatment isn't a very honourable thing to do." He lectured Dosu who stood in shock unsure of what to do next, his tail between his legs he tried to bargain with the crazed boy.
"E-Er…Right! Of course…we apologize for our actions…please take our scroll as compensation!" He offered as he slowly began removing the scroll from his robe much to his horror however Neji removed the exact same scroll from his jacket.
"Too bad." Neji stated as he intended to attack Dosu his movements were completely sealed.
"Shadow possession complete…" Shikamaru explained while stepping out of the bushes, he turned to the sound three.
"Get out of here, now…" He didn't have to ask twice as they immediately fled, leaving Zaku behind
"Your out of control!" Kiba declared as he leapt into the clearing supported by Sakura, soon to the surprise of team seven, Ino, Hinata and Shino also revealed themselves.
"You need to be stopped before you lose yourself." Shino stoically gave his input to the scenario as Neji looked directly at Hinata.
"Hahaha! Perfect! Look at you, a main house member shivering in fear of a branch member, are you jealous? You'll never be able to obtain this kind of power!" He verbally attacked, TenTen fell to her knees, the forest of death taking its toll on her as she didn't know what she could do, she felt useless.
"Kaiten!" Expelling a huge amount of chakra as he twirled the shadow sealing him struggled valiantly to hold him down soon though it was expelled as Neji freed himself from the jutsu. Within moments the Hyuuga was aiming for Hinata, Kiba launched himself with speed that was only capable when using his offensive technique.
"Gatsuga!" He rocketed towards the branch member causing him to leap away, the dog boys attack leaving a tunnel like crater on the earth, but before Neji could retaliate a swarm of bugs were upon him.
"It will take more than a mutt and some insects to stop me!" Neji unleashed his speed as he stood in his family's stance, strike after strike decimated the numbers of the insects, Sakura and Ino began hurling kunai and shuriken at the boy hoping to at least slow his movements, but as they approached he twisted his body violently.
"Kaiten!" After naming his action the purple chakra followed his motions completely protecting him from harm, but as his spinning stopped he saw the shadow approaching once again due to his byakugan, he leapt out of the way multiple times as the shadow was unrelenting, as he leapt back a final time he drew weapons that were thrown with incredible force, they were a threat that couldn't be ignored causing Shikamaru to drop the jutsu just to leap to the right, evading the projectiles.
"Six of you…and all six are useless! TenTen! Where is Lee…why wasn't that idiot protecting you?" Neji interrogated, the worn out TenTen looked to the tree where Neji had previously been resting.
"I see…" He began walking over to the unconscious boy, his sinister chakra still present as he did so, soon he was stood over lee's unconscious form.
"Since you are so useless that you are unable to perform the simplest of duties I'll have to take responsibility, your death is the punishment and no less." Neji erupted in soft laughter before its volume increased to a maniacal chuckle, his hand glowing a deep purple he was about to strike.
"Looks like pretty boy is angry." A blonde commented, his mask covering his over confident smile, a laugh was heard from a raven wearing sunglasses and a plain looking genin accompanied them, her mist headband proudly displayed on her forehead.
"You! Hahaha good! Maybe you can provide me with a challenge!" The Hyuuga quickly turned on them before leaping back to the centre of the clearing, the rest of the genin present weary of him as they backed off slightly knowing what he was capable of they weren't sure what the mist ninja were planning.
"An Uchiha! Ohhh this is perfect, perfect, perfect! I'll show you exactly what a branch member can do! Hinata! Are you watching?! This is the strength of a REAL Hyuuga!" he roared excitement taking hold of him once more as the purple chakra whipped around his body like a vortex before dispersing once again as he remained in control of the seal.
"An Uchiha!?" Sakura yelled unable to keep it to herself the Hyuuga quickly turned his head towards her as if he had spotted a new prey, though he soon frowned and decided against attacking.
"Do you doubt my eyes girl!? That boy is an Uchiha, of course you fools cannot see a sharingan even in broad daylight!" He laughed with great volume at his own remark as the raven reached for his shades.
"Well looks like the show is over…Naruto." The raven ripped of the glasses and shook his hair free as the blonde tore off his mask, Haku joined them as her bangs fell loose from her pony tail, just the way she liked it.
"Naruto!?" Ino yelled much to the surprise of everyone present "I was hitting on Naruto!?" She roared her inner self screaming at her as she remembered her time at the ramen stand, although she had embarrassed herself the surrounding genin ignored the girl much to her joy.
"I knew it was you!" Sakura shrieked angrily as she clenched her fists before looking at Shikamaru with a glare that could melt steel, he felt a shiver down his spine and he knew that if they got out of this alive then he wouldn't have a pleasant life to live anyway.
"Whatever Sherlock-" Naruto mocked before being suddenly interrupted by the cursed Hyuuga
"Are we going to fight or are we going to sit around making friends?!" he bellowed, the veins on his face complementing his angered features.
"Futon: Crescent!" Naruto announced as he made a sweeping movement with his arm, a huge gust of wind formed a crescent mooned shape blast, it sped towards the Hyuuga, as it did it kicked up ground and dirt leaving a trail behind it.
Neji easily evading rushing towards the blonde, an unexpected speed but Naruto had seen faster, the Jyuuken though was something he wouldn't be taking a hit from.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" suddenly Neji had three more combatants that were quickly on the offensive showing Naruto's knowledge of taijutsu as they forced the boy back somewhat, as if fuelled by rage the branch member let out a roar before dispelling the clones with multiple Jyuuken strikes.
"A-Amazing…he doesn't even look like he's trying and he's still managed to fend him off…" Ino commentated as the battle continued, Sasuke intervened his sharingan spinning as he leapt into a taijutsu match, his style much more suited for combating the rival clan, anticipating his enemy's moves was a lot safer than simply relying on instincts alone.
The genin watching were awed by the way the two of them weaved, blocked, countered and struck one another a graceful dance among two clans that had been unseen for some time. Finally Sasuke landed a forceful kick to the stomach pushing back Neji several yards he whipped through hand seals as did his team mates.
"Raiton: Surge." A wave of lightning travelled at a blinding speed at the branch member as soon as it hit his back arched and he gritted his teeth in pain, volts of electricity danced around his being as he struggled to break free, from this position he wasn't capable of using the Kaiten.
He began releasing a frightening amount of purple chakra from his chakra points causing the lightning to stretch and shrink as they threatened to break, Sasuke stood calmly however as did the other members of the mist team as if enjoying a performance until Haku decided to speak up.
"Hoton: Crystal shackles." Water shot out from the ground then proceeded to float as if controlled by telekinesis, it formed a circle like shape around Neji's feet while the boy struggled against the electric barrier with all of his new found strength but to no avail, the water soon latched on to his ankles and froze instantly helping to stop the boy's movement.
"You ignorant fools! I'll kill you all!" He thrashed in his prison unaware of the blonde behind him, a hand painted with black ink a palm was thrust against the back of his neck causing him to lean forward unwillingly.
"Sealing arts: Suppression!" As soon as the palm impacted his neck the chakra around Neji attempted to resist but due to the prison he was already being held in it was powerless and soon withdrew into the seal, with a final grunt of pain Neji lost consciousness. Instead of letting him hit the ground though Naruto grabbed the back of his shirt, then lofted the boy over his shoulder.
The genin turned to see Sasuke taking Lee and Haku carrying TenTen.
"We're taking these to the tower…if anyone wants to try and stop us now is your chance." Sasuke challenged, the genin were weary of their strength…but they couldn't let them leave so easily.
"Stop!" A pink haired kunoichi shouted as her team advanced to the centre of the clearing.
Such a long chapter (the longest I've ever written / 13.1k words!) Hope it isn't too much, I also hope you enjoyed reading so far! There was a lot I wanted to go over in this chapter, I wanted to do the Chuunin exams without breaking the chapters up too much making people wait for the releases hopefully this will be well received!
A big thank you to those who have reviewed, added to their favourites and added to their alerts, if you have a community you'd like to include my story in then that'd be great! The more people that read it the better!