Chapter Ten

All the attention was focused on them.

Glares, snarls, snorts of amusement and killing intent were shot at them; earning varying reactions from the team. Sakura had a calm expression with studying eyes; Sasuke returned the glare, his fist clenching; and Naruto…

"I'M NARUTO UZUMAKI! AND ALL YOU ASSHOLES BETTER WATCH OUT!" Naruto screamed, cutting through the tension like butter. He then gave a bloodthirsty smirk, blasting his own killer intent, "Cuz if ya get in my way, I'll kill ya,"

The genin in the room froze a bit as they saw a giant fox with nine tails appear behind them, giving them a vicious glare and a roar. Sakura and Sasuke looked at their teammate, surprised by his sudden change in attitude. Once his smirk disappeared, the air around him reverted back to normal."Sasuke-kun!" Ino cheered as she jumped on his back, making him gasp a bit from surprise. Sakura blinked as did Naruto, the former looking at the blond in annoyance. "Ya miss me cutie? I surely missed you,"

"Get off," Sasuke growled as he pushed her off his back. Before he could rip her a new one, Sakura was already scolding her tiredly.

"Damn it Ino-pig, can't you show Sasuke some decency for one second? He's not going to pay attention to you if ya act so thirsty instead of being a lady with some class," Sakura scolded her friend. Honestly, she loved Ino, she was one of her best friends. And because she loved Ino, she was going to make it her duty that Ino didn't stay in this desperate weak fan girl phase for too long. That reminded her, she needed to be much more mindful of Hinata.

"Who the hell do you think you're talking too, billboard brow! I am a lady! And Sasuke-kun likes me just the way I am! Right Sasuke-kun?" Ino turned to her crush with hearts in her eyes, Sasuke glared at her as he stood beside Naruto, brushing off his shoulders.

"Die…today," he ordered, causing a 'sword' to pierce her heart and comical tears to flow from her eyes while a dark cloud surrounded her. Naruto gave a sheepish chuckle as he patted Sasuke on the shoulder, making him huff.

"You guys taking this stupid test too, don't die," they heard and Naruto gave a light snort as he saw Chouji Akimichi and Shikamaru Nara walk up to them.

"I thought I smelled potato chips and laziness," Naruto muttered, before he glanced to the depressed Ino. "With the idiot trio here all we need is the mutt and we have a complete set," he grumbled.

"Yahoo found you!"

"Speak of the dog," Naruto grumbled as he turned his head to see that Kiba Inuzuka and his team walking up to them. Sakura decided to stand a bit closer to Naruto, as did Sasuke just in case a fight broke out or something; Naruto seemed really ticked to be in their old classmates presence.

"Well everyone is assembled, looks like all nine of this year's rookie genin are taking the exam. I wonder how far we will get, eh Sasuke?" Kiba sneered, earning a snort from Sasuke. "We did a lot of training, we won't lose to you,"

"Shut the hell up," Naruto waved him off, earning the inuzuka's attention. "None of you besides my team, and maybe Shino there have the guts to actually get passed the first exam. No amount of training will prepare you for taking a life, which is essentially required to be an actual shinobi,"

"Fuck you Uzumaki!" Kiba snarled, "Who the hell do ya think ya are huh? I bet you haven't even killed a fly let alone take someone's life!" The boy retorted with a sneer and Naruto smirked in response as he cracked his fingers simply by stretching them.

"You wanna finalize that bet fido?" he offered, stepping forward as did Kiba. But the two couldn't get much closer due to Sakura holding back her teammate and Hinata holding back hers.

"C'mon Naruto, now isn't the time," Sakura whispered to him, Sasuke nodding in agreement.

"S-sorry Naruto-kun, Kiba-kun didn't m-mean it like that," Hinata tried as well but Naruto simply looked her way and she turned her head away with a deep blush on her face. The blond looked her up and down before he turned back to Kiba who glared at him.

"You guys should really keep it down, you're embarrassing yourselves," a voice told them and they looked to the side to see it was a boy with long silver hair in a purple and grey outfit, wearing round glasses. Sakura's fist immediately balled up upon seeing the man.

"And who the hell are you?" Both Naruto and Kiba demanded in sync. The boy gave a smirk as he pushed his glasses up to his face.

"I'm Kabuto Yakushi, but instead of giving me that look, look behind you," he advised and they all did, to see glares were being delivered again. Naruto growled as he pulled back his arm, and whipped out a kunai.

"Are you threatening me? Cuz I don't take threats all too well! If you want to dance, lets go, hope you don't mind getting a little blood on the dance floor though," Naruto offered, blasting his killer intent once again. The genin turned away from him, even though a few studied him quite hard, finding him rather interesting. The rest of the rookies however were appalled by Naruto's attitude, finally realizing the changes the guy had underwent. They notices his change of attire, then his height followed by his physique, the bass in his voice, and the overall power radiating from his body. This Naruto was way different from the Naruto they grew up with. "As I thought, bunch of pussies," Naruto spat as he put away his kunai knife. He then turned to Kabuto and glared at him, "And you, don't tell me what to do; I don't take orders well from people I don't respect,"

Kabuto simply nodded his head, appalled yet interested in the teen. He then looked at all of them before chuckling, "You know, you rookies remind me how I used to be," he said as he reached for his pocket. "The exam is held twice a year, so this is my fourth year. I know quite a bit about them. I'm feeling quite generous today, so I'll share some information with you cute rookies, with my…ninja info cards!"

They looked at him in silence, two of them debating if they should kill him because he was annoying them, the others thinking they should just ignore him or at the very most kick his ass; he was basically patronizing them! "My ninja info cards are cards that have info burned into them with chakra. I have four years worth of info here, over two-hundred cards," Kabuto informed as he set the deck on the ground. "They look blank, but by applying my chakra, I can bring up the information I want,"

"Do you have info on individuals?" Sasuke asked a bit suddenly and Kabuto raised a brow and chuckled, shaking his head. "Good, bring up Gaara Subaku and Rock Lee," he ordered.

"You know their names, should be easy enough," Kabuto nodded as he pulled out two cards, showing them to Sasuke. "First is Rock Lee. He's a year older than you guys, Mission history: D-rank 20 completed, C-rank 12 completed. His sensei is Might Gai, his Taijutsu has improved greatly in this year, the rest is nothing impressive. Last year he gained attention as a talented new genin but he did not participate in the exam. Like you guys, this is his first time. On his team are Neji Hyuga and Tenten." Kabuto explained thoroughly.

"Next is Gaara of the desert. Mission History: C-rank 8, B-rank 1, which is quite impressive as genin. Since he's a new comer from a foreign country, I don't have much info but…seems he returned from all of his missions without even a scratch," Kabuto told him, earning a hum from the Uchiha. "Leaf, Sand, Rain, Grass, Waterfall, Sound…Many outstanding genins from the various hidden villages are here for the exam. Well, the hidden sound village is a small village jjust created last year, so there isn't much info but the rest of the villages are filled with talented youngsters," Kabuto informed them. "So like Lee and Gaara, they are the top elite genin from various countries,"

"Like I really give a damn," Kiba laughed, earning looks from the genin. "Me and Akamaru will take em all right!" his pup barked in agreement before he glanced to Naruto who looked to be in thought, 'I don't know what happened to you Uzumaki, but I refuse to let you show me up! Not like Uchiha!'

"These exams…" Naruto muttered to himself as he took a look at the crowd, spotting a few faces he recognized but most of them he did not. "Are gonna be fun!" he grinned excitedly his attention was then given to the fact that Kabuto was now being attacked by genin he saw earlier spying on him and his team.

Kabuto dodged the punch that was thrown by the guy wrapped in bandages, but his glasses ended up shattering while Naruto flinched, grabbing his ear. "Naruto-kun are you okay?" Sakura asked, noticing his flinch.

"Sound," Naruto gritted through his teeth. "Too high," he growled before he took a step forward. The guy wrapped in bandages gave a chuckle as he watched Kabuto but he gave a loud choking noise when suddenly all his air circulation was cut off. It felt like a hand had a vice grip around his throat, causing him to fall to his knees trying to pry the invisible hand off. Sakura's eyes widened as she saw what was going on then looked to her boyfriend to see he was indeed behind it.

"Naruto-kun, stop, you're killing him," she whispered to him and he released Dosu from the Force choke as the sound had stopped. Sakura helped her love stand up as he rubbed his ears while Dosu gasped for air. "You can kill him later babe, I promise." She said applying healing chakra to his ear to soothe away the ringing pain. Naruto gave a nod as their attention was soon given to,

"I hope there will be no more issues!" a commanding voice shouted before there was a thick puff of smoke. Once it dissipated, they all could see the many Chunin standing behind the man in the leather jacket and scars on his face. "I am Ibiki Mornio, the examiner to the first test!"

"Hidden Sound brats! Stop doing as you please before the exam! You already want to fail?!" he demanded. It was the girl who had to give a weak apology seeing as both her male teammates were still stunned. "Let me say this, fighting in the exam will not be tolerated without permission. And if permission is granted, killing your opponent will certainly not be tolerated," he said, looking in Naruto's direction. "Those that disobey me will fail, understood?"

Naruto caught his threat and was itching to address it, but decided it wasn't a good time, perhaps later. "Whatever, lets get on with this test already," he waved the man off, earning a narrow of the eyes. Once the seating arrangements were made, the rules of the test explained and the test given out, it began. Naruto however gazed at the questions and simply turned it over, crossed his arms and leaned back into the chair, watching everyone else. He didn't know any of this shit. Well he kind of did, but he didn't feel like stressing his brain, so he settled for meditating.

He sat in silence for an hour, he opened his eyes when Ibiki spoke, bringing the test to a halt so the tenth question could be given. "First, for the this tenth question, you must decide whether you will take it or not," Ibiki told them, earning confused looks. Temari stood up with a growl questioning him, "If you choose not to, your points will be reduced to zero! You fail, along with your two teammates," Ibiki informed earning shouts of outrage. "And now for the other rule,"

They all began to shut up while Naruto raised a brow, his relaxed position never changing. "If you chose to take it, and answer incorrectly…the person will lose the right to take the Chunin exam again!" this earned even more outrage, especially from Kiba who stood up and yelled at Ibiki. Naruto blinked as he looked at Ibiki, then his test which he didn't even write his name on. Looking back towards the proctor he wondered if he was bluffing. There couldn't be a way he could dictate genin could take the test again. But maybe there was and he didn't know about it? Shit! He didn't even put his name on the paper!

"You guys were unlucky, this year, it's my rules!" Ibiki smirked. "But I'm giving you a way out. Those that aren't confident can chose not to take it, and try again next year," the proctor told them, causing the room to tense. "Now lets begin the tenth question. Those who do not wish to take it, raise your hand, once your number is confirmed, leave." It was slow, but hands started to raise. The guy next to Naruto was the first, and soon genin began to get up willingly and leave. After a good five minutes, there was way less people than when the question started. Naruto gritted his teeth in thought and he raised his hand up, which seemed to catch Sasuke off guard, while Sakura gained a nostalgic smile.

"YGRAH! Don't underestimate me ttebayo!" Naruto yelled as he slammed his hand on the table, causing everyone to look at him, somewhat surprised by his exclamation. "I won't run from your stupid question! I'll take it! Even if I'm a genin forever, I'll still be the most badass and strongest guy on the planet, so I don't care! I'm not afraid! So I accept your challenge!" the blond said heatedly, fire in his eyes and steam pouring from his nostrils. Hinata who sat beside him gave a small smile, while Sasuke and Sakura gave light sighs of relief and chuckles.

"I'll ask you again," Ibiki spoke up as he glared at Naruto. "Your life is riding on this decision. This is your last chance to quit." With the same ferocity Naruto gave a grin filled with conviction.

"Didn't I just say I accept your challenge? I don't go back on my word pal, that's my nindo ttebayo!"

Ibiki said nothing as he looked around and saw that everyone else in the room had looks of confidence in their eyes, which he found rather interesting. Through his will alone, the blond was able to inspire and lift the spirits of those who had doubts, not to mention strengthen the ones who were already sure. It was a quality of a leader, a strong leader at that. Still, this number was more than what he expected, but stretching it any longer wouldn't make a difference. Looking towards the proctors who nodded to him, he gave a small smile. "Good decisions. Now to everyone still remaining...I congratulate you on passing the first test!" He was a bit miffed when their seemed to be outrage coming from some of them, especially from the girl with the fan.

Naruto began to block Ibiki out as he began explaining the true purpose of the test and the questions. He even ignored the fact he had horrible scars and burns on his damn head; all he was currently worried about was how he going to pass the next test, which he had no idea what it was. As the genin were getting a bit happy, and relieved they pass the test, their attention however was given to the person who busted through the window, throwing kunai to the ceiling to hold up their banner. "You guys! This is no time to be celebrating!" Naruto gazed at the sexy woman who had a grin on her face that he recognized as Anko Mitirashi, or better yet, 'Dango-chan'.

"I am Anko Mitirashi! The examiner for the second test! Now lets go! Follow me!" Anko ordered but no one responded, causing her to sweat drop.

"Bad timing," Ibiki said, causing her to glance to him. She then glanced back to the room and growled a bit turning to him in a huff.

"Seventy-eight?! Ibiki you left twenty six teams?! This test was too easy this time! I think you're getting soft old man," Anko sneered lightly and he only gave a shrug. "Bah, whatever, the second exam will surely cut that number in half. Just thinking about it is getting me excited, I'll explain everything once we get to the next location, follow me," she grinned, as she walked out of the room.

The genin began to follow her, and as Naruto got up he felt his arm softly grabbed. He turned to see Hinata giving him a shy look along with a small smile, "Y-you were v-very cool back t-there N-naruto-kun," she praised. The blond gave her a look over before he pressed his hand against her cheek, caressing is slightly, making her turn beet red.

"Thanks Hinata, good luck in the next exam," he smiled kindly before he pulled his hand away and walked off, catching up with his team. As he left, Hinata's eyes were wide as a she repeated three words in her head a thousand times before she finally passed out.

"AH! HINATA!" Kiba called as he ran over to her, while Shino sighed and decided to help his teammates. "Come on Hinata wake up!" Ibiki and the Chunin simply watched in slight amusement before they began collecting tests.

Once Anko reached her destination, with all the passing genin behind her, standing in front of a large gated off forest. "Welcome kiddies! To the stage area of the second exam, Konoha's practice area 44 also known as…" she turned around with a blood thirsty grin and threw her hands up in the air. "The Forest of Death! And you will soon find out why it's called that."

All the genin inspected the forest trying to gaze inside it, only to realize they couldn't. However even though they couldn't gaze inside it, didn't mean that they couldn't hear the beastly roars of what was inside it. These sounds made the weaker genin shudder in fear, some gulped. Even Sasuke looked somewhat fearful, while Naruto and Sakura both looked uninterested, though Naruto more so as he said, "It doesn't seem that scary," he muttered.

"Oh? You're quite spirited," Anko grinned as she suddenly whipped out a kunai and threw it directly at Naruto, who simply stood still with his arms crossed. He didn't flinch when it cut his cheek, causing blood to spill. He looked a bit behind him to see that Anko was hugging on to him from behind, licking his bloody cheek. "I'm a little disappointed you didn't dodge, Foxy-kun," she whispered and he gave a chuckle.

"I just figured I'd give you an actual reason to lick me this time, Dango-chan," he returned making her shiver in delight, her nipples starting to harden. "You're lucky Sakura-chan is in a good mood, if she wasn't, she'd probably kill you." He chuckled and Anko couldn't help but giggle at the thought as the two looked to a somewhat amused Sakura. Anko's grin stretched as she gazed down Sakura, poking the sleeping tiger as she said,

"Oh, I do love the taste of your juices, Na-ru-to-kun," she hissed in a sultry tone. However she gave a angry hiss when she was forced to pull out a kunai and prevent herself from slashing at a genin who came up behind her, holding her first kunai with their long snake like tongue.

'Snakes,' Naruto sniffed as he gazed openly at the genin.

"You're kunai, ma'am," The genin said as he handed the kunai to Anko who simply gave him an eye smile, accepting it.

"Why thank you," She said. "But, you shouldn't sneak up on me, unless you want to die of course," Anko giggled. Naruto raised a brow as he could feel Anko's grip on his shoulder tighten and he glanced at her to see she was trying to stay in control. He simply caressed her hand, calming her down, their eyes meeting. 'Thank you, Naruto-kun,' she thought, relaying it through her eyes and he simply nodded.

"Of course not, I just get excited when I see red blood. Plus you cut my precious hair, I couldn't help it," the genin said earning a glare from Naruto but nothing was said. The man then walked off, while Anko gave a weak apology.

"Now before we begin the second test, there is something I have to pass out, waiver forms!" Anko stated as she got down to business, putting her kunai away and pulling out documents. "There will be deaths in these forms, and if I don't have you sign these, it will be all my responsibility," she laughed sheepishly. "I'm going to explain the test, you can sign these afterwards, and each team will head over to that check in booth behind me," Anko stated, she then passed the sheets to Naruto who took one and passed them down, and so on. "Now, this test is basically an ultimate survival,"

"First I will explain the area. Around practice arena No. 44, are 44 locked gates. Forest, river and a tower in the center. From the gates to the tower is about 10km," she began explaining. "During the survival in here, you will be asked to complete a certain task. Using your many weapons, and jutsu you will compete in a No rules, scroll battle," she smirked, holding out two scrolls. "You will fight over these two scrolls, the "heaven" and "earth". There are 78 people here, meaning 26 teams, 13 will get the heaven scroll, and the other half will get the earth scroll. To pass the test, your team must make it to the tower with both scrolls," she informed.

"Sounds fun," Naruto chuckled as he read over the waiver and signed it, passing his pen to his teammates.

Anko smirked at him, agreeing. "But there is a time limit. This second test will last 120 hours, for those of you who can't count, that is exactly five days," Anko stated.

"FIVE DAYS?! WHAT ABOUT DINNER?!" Chouji demanded.

"Eat your opponents," Naruto supplied earning a disgusted look from the boy but he shrugged. "You Akimichi eat just about anything right? Shouldn't be a problem,"

"You're on your own. The forest is full of food. Just watch out for man eating beasts, poisonous insects, poisonous plants…you know things like that," Anko shrugged. "Oh, and thirteen teams passing is not likely. As the days go on, the distance of the goal will become farther, and the time to rest will become shorter. The area is crawling with enemies too? You won't get much sleep," Anko laughed.

"So not only will some fail by losing a scroll, but some will die from the harshness of the course?" One of the genin asked and Anko nodded her head, earning a laugh from Naruto.

"Man, this is sounding more and more fun, when can we start?" he grinned.

"Hold ya foxes whiskers," Anko chuckled earning a blank look. "Now I'll talk about what will disqualify you. First, those who don't make it to the tower, with both scrolls within the time limit. Second, those who lose a teammate or those who have a teammate killed. As a rule, there is no quitting in the middle, you will be in the forest for five days," Anko went on. "Oh and one more rule. You must not look inside the scroll until you make it to the tower. If you do? That will be a surprise for anyone who does," Anko stated.

"Well, that's it for the explanations. Exchange the three forms for your scroll. Then choose a gate to get ready for the start," Anko ordered and they all nodded. "And a final word of advice, don't die," Anko ordered before she walked off as the booth was opened. Naruto looked at the forest and gave a hum.

"As much as I would love to fight in the forest, we should get a scroll and head out as fast as possible," Naruto suggested with the two nodding in agreement. "Lucky for us, we know the way," Naruto glanced to Sakura who nodded her head while Sasuke raised a brow but said nothing.

They would worry about who was going to carry the scroll later, which he was keeping out of sight for the moment. The team waited in silence, as did all the teams, even though there was discreet planning going on. "Alright! All you teams are at the gates, you have your scrolls!" Anko pointed out. "The second exam begins…NOW!" she barked and all the genin shot through the gates. She smirked and turned around, on her way to get some dango. She stopped when she heard the first human scream,

"Damn, that was fast."

"Alright, lets pause here," Sasuke suggested as the three of them landed. Sakura gave a wince as she heard more human screams, while Naruto hummed. "Ignore them, lets focus," Sasuke ordered as he pulled out the scroll. "Naruto you have a plan or something?"

"That I do, glad I'm finally able to put these skills to actual work," Naruto muttered as he went into his pouch and pulled out a few scrolls. Biting his thumb, he began drawing seals on both scrolls before reaching for their heaven scroll. Putting it in the middle, he made a hand sign, and the scroll was gone in a puff. Rolling up the scroll, Naruto tied it with red string, along with tying the exact identical scroll with a red string as well.

"How will we know the difference?" Sasuke wondered and Naruto gave a smirk in response as he slipped both scrolls in his pouch. "Will they be safe with you?"

"Who else but me?" Naruto asked and the two agreed, it was no longer a dispute that Naruto was the strongest on the team, even if Sasuke didn't really like to admit it. "Now, lets start getting the opposite to our scroll so we can get out of here,"

"You three ain't going anywhere," they heard and saw a rain ninja wearing what looked like pajamas and a breathing mask, staring up at them from a branch. "Hand over the scroll, you're outnumbered,"

"Are we?" Naruto asked as he noticed multiple versions of him and his teammates began to ooze from the trees and ground. "Or are they just…" the ame ninja's eyes widened when he felt cold steel press against his neck, "Illusions?"

"How did you…UGH!" the genin grunted as the kunai pierced his lung.

"Ninja's never reveal their secrets," Naruto smirked as he ripped out his kunai before kicking the teen off the branch, letting him fall on the ground, dead. "I doubt it, but check him to see if he has the scroll, if he doesn't burn the body," Naruto ordered as he flicked the blood of his kunai and put it away. "We need to move before his teammates come over here,"

Sasuke and Sakura did as told, and were a bit annoyed they didn't find a scroll on him. Sasuke then burned the body and the team quickly ran off before they drew more attention to themselves. "We are going to need a code," Naruto said as he sat among his team at their current resting place. "We've only been in this place for half an hour and we already were attacked. There is no telling what kind of tactics these genin will pull, so we need a code of some sort to distinguish one another,"

Sakura and Sasuke nodded in agreement, with Sasuke supplying the code. Once the code was given, they began to get up so they could move, but Naruto noticed something strange. A gust of wind… "Fuck! Stay together!" Sakura barked, but her voice was useless as the howl of the wind was louder than her, not to mention stronger than Naruto's body as he was the first to go flying, being separated from his team. "Naruto!" she called after her boyfriend but scowled as she then hunted for Sasuke.

"Damn," Sasuke muttered as he stood up and brushed himself off. He then noticed Sakura and immediately pulled out a kunai and glared at her, "Password!" he ordered. Blinking she nodded and gave the password correctly, once he eyed her he nodded his head.

"That fucking hurt," they heard and turned to see Naruto walking towards them, gripping his shoulder. Sasuke narrowed his eyes as he pointed the kunai at Naruto, "Oh yeah, the password right?" he muttered and spoke it clearly and correctly, or at least he tried too. Before he could even get his words out, Sakura's gloved fist had already slammed into Naruto's face, sending him crashing through trees, making the entire forest shake. Sasuke had wide eyes as Sakura had a fierce glare on her face.

"Uh…"

"He's not my Naruto," Sakura growled as she then gave a smirk and cracked her knuckles. Actually this was perfect! Back in her dimension she never got the opportunity to drag Orochimaru through the dirt by his hair for all the shit he put her through with her team. But now, she could finally have that chance. Who knows, maybe she might actually get to kill him. Oh wouldn't that be fun? "Sasuke, stay close to me," she ordered giving him a look that told him not to argue.

Despite his annoyance, Sasuke gave a nod. It was simply one of those times that he had no choice but to listen to Sakura and follow whatever orders she gave. After all it was either listen to her, or let her fists do the talking. And considering he just saw her send the fake Naruto across the entire forest with a single punch, he wasn't willing to listen to what her fists had to say. Not in the least bit. "He's coming back…" Sakura whispered, taking a stance that Sasuke followed along too. Her eyes narrowed very slightly and she pushed off the ground backwards, "Move!"

Sasuke followed Sakura's lead just as a giant snake had snapped at the two of them from the left. Quickly pulling out his kunai and shuriken, Sasuke threw the projectiles at the snake who hissed and moved to snap at Sasuke again. The weapons landed, but it didn't stop the beast, however Sakura's heel did exactly that, landing an axe kick upon the beast. "Heaven kick of Pain!" a giant crater formed underneath as blood and brain matter exploded from the impact.

"Kukukukuku, how interesting." The two teens heard and looked to see the grass genin from earlier rising from the ground with a studying expression, eyeing Sakura up and down. This girl had either managed to get Tsunade to teach her, or somehow learned how to recreate Tsunade's incredible strength. That was very impressive, and very dangerous. The girl seemed to be taijutsu based only though, which was something he could work around. He couldn't afford getting hit like that again. His eyes then wandered over to the Uchiha, licking his lips in perverse joy.

"Stop looking at him like that you bastard!" Orochimaru grunted as he narrowly managed to avoid Sakura's earth shatter punch which once again made the forest shake. Trees became uprooted and fell into the sinking crater she had created. Sakura scowled as she began to come up with ways of defeating Orochimaru before he could get to Sasuke. This could be a little bit easier if Naruto was here to help her out. But for now she was on her own.

"Sakura!" Sasuke warned as Sakura blinked upon seeing multiple giant snakes come after her, taking turns trying to swallow her whole. She expertly avoided the creatures, using her surroundings as her defense. Sasuke on the other hand was busy trying to defend himself from the grass genin who attacked him with hand to hand combat. He activated his Sharingan to try and read his opponents movements but Orochimaru was simply too fast for him, which frustrated him a lot.

"Back…off!" Sakura roared as she sent an uppercut at one snake then spun around to kick another out of her face as it tried to swallow her. But before her kick could land, orange landed in front of her.

"Rah!" Naruto roared as his body released Chi and Chakra from his body in a fiery pulse. The snakes hissed as the blue flames met with their skin and began to burn through them. Naruto then reached out with his hand for one of the snakes, gripping it with the Force. With a light grunt he swung it overhead, slamming into the second snake. Then with his other hand, he made a pushing motion and the snakes were blasted back. Naruto then glanced over to Sasuke to see he was panting before Orochimaru who had a smirk.

Orochimaru was about to strike Sasuke down, when he suddenly froze. Something was wrong, he couldn't breathe! He gripped his throat, looking for the hand that had it's fingers wrapped around his neck, choking him. But there was none. He had no more time to ponder this strange development, when Sakura came at him with a smirk. Balling her fist, she cocked back her arm then swung. And from the force alone, both Sasuke and Naruto watched Sakura's punch literally knock Orochimaru's head off his shoulders before it exploded from the power behind her punch. His headless body then fell down and Sakura huffed as she turned to Sasuke who immediately passed out once his adrenaline ran out. "Damn babe! You literally knocked his block off!" Naruto said as he hopped beside her and crouched down, poking the headless body with a stick. "You just killed Orochimaru!"

"No, I didn't," Sakura shook her head as she healed whatever injuries Sasuke had taken. Naruto looked from the body to her as she had a blank expression, "Orochimaru had experimented so much on himself, he practically is immortal," she muttered. "Pieces of his soul reside in every single person who bears his curse mark. As long as that mark exists Orochimaru will exist." She then finally glanced to the body. "If anything this body was simply a puppet, instilled with his chakra. Enough to impress Sasuke and mark him. The real Orochimaru is much more slippery."

"Well, before you completely blew up his head, I got a decent read on his chakra and his signature within the Force," Naruto muttered as he searched the body for a scroll, but found an earth scroll, not what they needed. "He's not in the area. So we don't have to worry about him really," he assured with Sakura humming. "Did he really pass out?"

"Yeah," Sakura nodded as she stood up with a soft sigh. "Despite it not being the real Orochimaru, he was still powerful enough to feel like the real thing to those who aren't familiar with him." She then grabbed the earth scroll, not wanting it to go to waste. "It's getting late, and I don't want to travel with an unconscious Sasuke. We'll find a place to set up camp, then we'll head to the tower,"

"Okay," Naruto nodded as he picked up Sasuke, throwing him over his shoulder. "Wait, don't we have to find a heaven scroll?" Naruto questioned and Sakura gave a nod with a small smile.

"Yeah, while you set up camp, I'll go look for the Heaven scroll," she informed with Naruto raising a brow. "I need some time alone to think love. Besides you can provide better security for us with your clones, and you can sense enemies yards away," she reasoned causing Naruto to give a light grunt but he nodded in understanding. "C'mon," Sakura then took for the trees and he followed her, though he gave a grumble.

"Who made her boss?"

"I heard that."

"Grk!"

"Ugh, they were idiots then, they're idiots now."

Karin Uzumaki had an annoyed expression as she walked through the forest, her senses spread out wide as she searched for any body that could potentially have a scroll. She had originally wanted to go after one of the Ame teams for the scroll, but her stupid teammates had decided to go after one of the Konoha teams, the one with the dog.

She didn't know why, nor did she really care. Honestly she was going to throttle those two because they never took the time to listen to her, even when she had important information or helpful ideas. She was the brains and really the muscle of the team, those two stupid boys just took credit for her work. So to save herself a headache, she told them to do whatever the hell they wanted. She had the heaven scroll anyway.

Karin wasn't exactly sure where she was going, but she was hoping to find a certain glasses wearing konoha ninja and end his life to make her life and the lives of others much easier in the future. But it was like he wasn't even in the arena, which she found strange, because practically no one managed to escape her range, especially with her clairvoyance ability. But even as she thought of Kabuto Yakushi, it was as if something was interfering with her wiring, which ticked her off.

But, it didn't fuck with her to the point she couldn't sense anything within a two mile radius perfectly. A smirk made a way on her lips as she turned, "I got you!" chains immediately sprouted from the ground and rushed into the forest, grabbing onto something. She heard cursing and could feel struggling, but whoever they were, they wouldn't break her chains, not when their strength is connected to her will. Karin commanded for the chains to bring her catch to her and they came out of the pushes holding up a girl that was very familiar to Karin.

"Sakura?"

Sakura paused in her struggling as she then looked to who had called her to see Karin standing before her with a confused expression before shaking her head and letting her down. Sakura frowned as she dusted herself off, as she studied Karin…then something clicked. How did she know her name? The two didn't know each other back… "You know my name?"

Karin blinked as she raised a brow, taking a step back. "Um yeah?"

"Oh my fucking god! You know my name! Karin! It's me!" Sakura said excitedly as she took a step forward gesturing to herself and Karin blinked, as her lightbulb went off. Gaining a stunned look, she could only gaze at the pinkette.

"W-what?"