Jesus Christ, I was so late on even starting this chapter...
I was going to have this chapter be mostly a short training trip and retrieving some object for a mission, but I decided against it, since I couldn't get it right to type. So this will just skip right to the Chuunin Exams! :D
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Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or anything I take from other animes or mangas.
Started: June 8, 2008
Worked On: June 10, 2008
Finished: June 16, 2008
Total Days Worked: 3 Days
Start to Finish: 9 Days
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Chapter 10: The Forest of Death
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"Let's go and get this over with." Naruto said. He and the rest of team seven were walking down a street in Konoha. They had returned from their S-Rank missions two weeks prior. Since then, they been stuck with training and C-Rank missions. Both Naruto and Sasuke had learned a new jutsu, but neither of them were forthcoming with what it was. They claimed that their tenants wanted it a complete secret. Eventually they all gave up trying to get it out of the duo.
Currently, they were heading towards the training grounds for a meeting that Kakashi had called. They didn't know what he wanted, but they hoped it would be something useful, especially if he made them wait a few hours like normal.
"Yeah, I wonder what he called us for in the middle of the day for, anyways." Sakura said, her arms behind her head. "It had better be important or he will find out why men fear Tsunade!"She added in, punching her palm to add to the felling.
"Eh, doesn't matter." Naruto said. "You can't teach an old dog new tricks."
"No, but you can sure as hell get rid of the old ones." The Uchiha chipped in. "At the least, if it's not important, we can prank him later on."
Sakura looked at Sasuke strange, he would never suggest pranking or help in it, as far as she knew. She was stopped from responding by a yell and a grunt around the corner of the road. They nodded to each other and sped up. They rounded the corner to see a man in a black, cat-like suit holding up a small child with a helmet and a long scarf. Behind him was a blond girl with four pigtails and a large metal fan.
"You little brat!" the man yelled. "I'll teach you to respect you elders."
"Kankuro, put the kid down. It's more hassle than we need right now." The girl behind him said, though she didn't seem too concerned.
"It would be wise to put the boy down." Kankuro looked to see the three ninja and pinpointed the black-haired boy as the speaker.
"Stay out of our business." He said. "I'm teaching this kid a needed lesson in respecting his elder and watching where he's going!"
"You couldn't teach an academy student how to run!" Naruto yelled. He clenched his fists and flared his killing intent. Kankuro's eye widened and he dropped the boy while backing up. He stopped next to the girl when a swirl of sand appeared in the middle. The sand cleared to reveal a boy with red hair and a massive gourd on his back. He had a tattoo for 'love' on his forehead and black rings around his eyes from lack of sleep.
"I apologize for my sibling's actions." He said in a dead voice. "You're killing intent is impressive. You're powerful and will sate mother's thirst." The boy flared his killing intent. Unlike Naruto's, which rolled out in waves, this boy's killing intent seemed to flood out and crash over anyone and everyone. Sasuke and Sakura were unnerved and shivered along with the two behind the boy. Naruto seemed perfectly fine.
"Decent." The blond said before he flared his killing intent to the max and focused every single bit on the red-headed boy. His own KI fell as his eyes widened and he took a step back. "You are powerful, yourself. My name is Naruto Uzumaki, this is Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno. What are you names?"
The redhead collected himself and glared at Naruto, though it seemed completely natural on his face. "I am Sabaku no Gaara. These are my siblings, Sabaku no Temari and Sabaku no Kankuro. We're going." the boy turned and left, his siblings following behind.
"They were from Sand." Sasuke said.
"They're probably here for the Chuunin exams." Naruto said, grinning. "I can't wait for our own Chuunin exams, especially if there are people like Gaara in them!"
Sakura groaned. "Naruto, the boy wasn't even normal. There is something odd about him."
Naruto went into a thinking position as they continued towards their training grounds. There was something off about him. It was weird. I wonder what it could have been. He heard a bark inside of his head.
Kit, that was the Ichibi no Shukaku. The boy, Gaara, is a jinchuuriki like you. Naruto's eyes widened and his mind began to race at the chances of it happening and the possibilities of fighting the boy.
They arrived at the training grounds a few minutes later. Kakashi was no where in sight. Sakura was about to curse the man hen eh surprised them by appearing. He eye-smiled. "Yo!" He said. "I haver a surprise for you three and decided I didn't want to wait for it." He reached behind his back and pulled out three papers. "I've signed you up for the next Chuunin exams in three days!" He opened his up curved eye to see the reactions of the Genin. Sasuke was, predictably, smirking with desire to fight sparkling in his eyes. Sakura gave her own smirk, pulled her gloves tighter and flexed her arms. Naruto however...
"You're my hero, sensei!" The blond proceeded to lunge at the white-haired Jonin. Kakashi's eyes widened and he nimbly dodged to the side, causing the hyper Genin to crash, face first, into the bridge.
"Sorry, I don't roll that way, Naruto." The Jonin said, pulling out his famous orange book. Sakura giggled and Sasuke let out a chuckle.
"Naruto is just happy that he may get the chance to fight the Sand Genin, Gaara of the Desert." Sasuke explained to Kakashi's unasked question.
Gaara of the Desert? Kakashi asked himself. That's the Ichibi jinchuuriki. I can see why he'd desire to fight him. "Well then, report to the academy, room three-oh-one, in three days at ten in the morning. Be sure not to get yourselves killed!" He said at the end, eye curving up. He waved and disappeared.
"Yatta!" Naruto yelled. "Come on, Sasuke! Time to train!" He said as he grabbed the Uchiha's arm and dragged him away. Sakura watched the two shoot off into the distance and sighed. She'd have to work on her new idea.
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Three days later brought Naruto and Sasuke to the entrance of the academy. They waited as they spotted a pink spot coming up the road. Sasuke smirked and Naruto broke out into a grin as Sakura landed in front of them. "Sakura-chan! We can go in now!" The blond shouted as he led his two teammates into the building. They hunted out the stairs and went up to the second floor. What they saw made them sick. There was a mass of Genin standing in the middle of the hall, surrounding a single door that was labeled three-oh-one. None of them seemed to realize that they were only on the second floor or that there was a genjutsu over the sign and the two Genin blocking the door.
Naruto and Sakura looked at Sasuke expectantly. He just sighed and motioned to go on. With speed no Genin ever displayed, the three appeared at the other end of the hall, stopping all of the idiots from seeing. All but one Hyuuga prodigy.
Neji Hyuuga narrowed his eyes and signaled to his two teammates that it was time to go. Neji had on a tan shirt with a large collar, blue shorts, and had his right arm and leg bandaged. His eyes were the pure white of the Byakugan eye, and his hair was long and brown, tied into a ponytail at the bottom. A girl in a pink Chinese-style shirt and dark blue ninja capris, and a boy in a green jumpsuit with orange leg warmers and his headband fashioned as a belt followed the Hyuuga. The girl, Tenten, had her brown hair up in two buns and was a weapons specialist. The boy, Rock Lee, had a bowl cut hairstyle, big bushy eyebrows, and large round eyes. He was a taijutsu specialist and looked like a total freak.
"Idiots." Sasuke mumbles as they turn a corner. At the end of the corridor was a large set of double doors and in front of it was none other than Kakashi Hatake, leaning against the wall.
"Glad you three could make it!" He said, eye-smiling and waving. "If only two or even one of you showed, I would have had to refuse you entrance."
"What?" Sakura asked, surprised. "Why didn't you tell us this yesterday?"
Kakashi shrugged. "If I had told you, you might have pressured each other to enter. Not to mention that I knew you three would come anyways, since you're the most powerful Genin we have in the village."
"Got that right!" Naruto claimed, grinning. "Come on guys, let's go and pass this thing!" The blond walked up and threw the two doors open before leading his team in. When their eyes adjusted to the lights, they saw a mass of Genin from various villages, and they didn't seem to be too happy.
"Well, well, look who made it here." A lazy voice intoned as it approached. Naruto saw Shikamaru and Chouji walking towards them. Shikamaru Nara was slouching and seemed like he didn't even want to be there. Chouji Akimichi was eating out of a bag of chips like it was a lifeline. The third person of the team seemed to be absent. Or so he thought.
Sasuke felt the presence approaching him and he moved just in time for Ino to miss in her attempt to latch onto the Uchiha's arm. "Sorry Ino, I still avoid physical contact." He said as the girl regained her balance and pouted. She remembered all the times in the academy when she and the other fangirls tried to sit by him and hug him and everything. He managed to avoid it every time with the help of a certain blond boy.
"So all the rookies are here!" Came a loud voice. They turned to see the last of the rookie teams approaching. The speaker was a boy with a gray hooded coat who had a small white dog sticking out of the collar. The boy had two red triangles on his face and was very feral in appearance, he was Kiba Inuzuka. Behind him was a boy in a large, light gray overcoat. He had spiked brown hair and black sunglasses that hid his eyes from view, he was Shino Aburame. Next to Shino was a girl with a beige coat and dark blue ninja capris. Her hair was a very dark lavender color and her eyes were completely white. She was the heiress of her clan, Hyuuga Hinata. She was shy beyond anything else and lacked self confidence. Kiba smirked at his once-fellow students. "Hey, even the dobe made it!" He said pointing at Naruto.
"You'd be surprised how powerful this 'dobe' is." Sasuke butted in. "All through the academy, we had him faking his scores to be the deadlast so we could be on the same team. It would be wise to drop all that you know of Naruto's abilities and be wary of him."
"This coming from the rookie of the year." Kiba grinned. "Wait and see when I beat both of you into the ground!"
The reunion was halted by an unfamiliar voice. They turned to see a white-haired ninja coming up. He had on gray ninja clothes with purple parts. He had glasses that appeared to help his vision, though ninjas are based on deception and it could very well be a trick. "You guys should be quiet. The Genin in here was very irritated and it isn't wise to anger them more. I'd know how angry they can get."
"Who are you?" Sasuke asked bluntly.
The boy rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "My bad, my name is Kabuto Yakushi, and this is my seventh time taking this exam."
"Shows how hard this is," Shikamaru stated. "troublesome."
"If this is your seventh time, then you must know some things about the exam." Sakura said.
"Of course. I have info on everyone participating, even you nine. But, the exams changes each time, so I could only tell you that the last part is one on one battles." Kabuto said as he pushed his glasses up and pulled out a desk of cards. "These are my ninja info cards. Since you are all rookies, I suppose I can help you out a bit. Is there anyone you want information on?" He asked.
"Sabaku no Gaara." Sasuke said without a second thought. Kabuto was about to pull out a card when another voice came.
"How about all of Team Seven?" A voice chirped. Everyone turned to see an almost-man with a long black ponytail, black muscle shirt, and black shorts. His eyes shone a vibrant green and both Naruto and Sasuke inhaled sharply.
"You!" Naruto almost yelled. "Add Bokura Takara to the list too!"
Kabuto raised an eyebrow. "Geez, curious little Genin." He pulled out five cards from the deck and separated one. He focused his chakra into it and the blank card was filled with data. "First, Gaara of the Desert. His teammates are his siblings, Sabaku no Temari and Kankuro. His sensei is Baki. There doesn't seem to be any information about his abilities but his mission specs are: twenty-seven C-rank missions, 2 B-rank, and even one A-rank mission. Theres a note that says...wow! He's never been hurt during a mission!" He pulled out three more cards as the rookies muttered amongst themselves.
"First of Team Seven, Sakura Haruno. Teammates: Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha and her sensei is Kakashi Hatake. Her stats aren't great but she shows great chakra control and the potential for genjutsu or medical work. Her strength is said to be high, similar to the slug Sannin, Tsunade's. She has done: twenty-one D-rank missions, one-C-rank mission, one A-rank Mission, and even participated in an S-Rank mission. Wow! Next, Sasuke Uchiha. He seems to be low Jonin level in overall strength! Amazing for a Genin! He has high ninjutsu and mid-level genjutsu and taijutsu. He is very adept at fire jutsu. He has done: twenty-one D-rank missions, three C-rank missions, three B-rank missions, two A-rank missions, and one S-rank mission! A Genin team doing an S-rank mission, that's unheard of! Last but not least, according to this, Naruto Uzumaki. He is the same level as Sasuke and has high ninjutsu, no genjutsu, and mid-level genjutsu. He is adept as using wind and water and is close to mastering wind elemental manipulation. His missions specs are the same as Sasuke's."
"W-What!?" Kiba sputtered. "How is it possible that they're so strong as Genin!?" Team Seven's reply was to smirk in unison.
"We're just that good, mutt." Naruto said, sticking his tongue out.
"How can someone that acts like that, be so strong?" Shikamaru whispered to Chouji. The Akimichi boy just shrugged, but was interested.
"Finally, the last, Bokura Takara. His teammates are Ician Franz, and Aura Takara. His sensei is unlisted. He has very high ninjutsu, and high taijutsu. He has fully mastered wind manipulation and is an ex-Suna nuke-nin! He has done: twenty-five D-rank missions, ten C-rank missions, five B-rank, fourteen A-rank, and whoa...three S-rank missions." Kabuto was looking at the card in shock.
"We're so screwed." Shikamaru muttered. Ino punched him on the head. "Troublesome women."
"There can't be Genin that strong!" Kiba yelled in outrage. "It's just not possible!"
"Kiba..." Shino began. He continued when he got the dog boy's attention. "For one, Naruto-san and Sasuke-san have been training since the age of five. Bokura-san is an ex-nuke-nin. You don't have a chance to go up ranks when you're not part of a village." Kiba turned around, grumbling.
"Competition is fierce." Lee said from besides Neji. They were standing a short distance away and listening. Neji frowned. Low Jonin level? How is that possible. He must be over exaggerating. If they go up against me, they are fated to lose.
"Hey!" yelled a voice from inside of a fresh cloud from an explosion up on stage. "Pipe down and come get a ticket for your seats! I'm Ibiki Morino and it's time for the written exam and you're in for a world of hurt!" The room was filled with groans. "QUIET!" The man bellowed.
(A/N: Blah blah, the First Exam, blah blah. I hate the first exam and cannot bring myself to write it. It happens basically the same as Canon except Naruto and Sasuke get the answers from their tenants.)
Everyone was shook from their seats as the window shattered and a white ball flew through the window. A cloth spread out from the ball and was pinned to the ceiling with kunai knives. A woman stood in front of the banner with her hands on her hips and a dangerous glint in her eyes. "Quiet maggots! I am Anko Mitarashi and I'm the second proctor!" She stopped and looked around the room before frowning and turning back to Ibiki behind the banner. There's still eighty-one Genin! You must be getting soft." She said.
Ibiki grunted. "Or there are just a bunch of brats with potential." He responded.
"That won't matter anyways. By the time I'm done with them, the number will be cut down to less than half!" That got a bunch of the Genin shivering. "Follow me to Training Grounds Forty-Four!" She jumped back out the window and a few Genin followed her. Other choose to walk out the door and followed from there. Naruto jumped out of the window enthusiastically with Sasuke and Sakura following him, shaking their heads.
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Team Seven found themselves standing outside of a large chain link fence. Inside the fence were massive trees and sounds of just as massive animals. All of the Genin were standing around a shack, on top of which was Anko.
"Welcome to Training Grounds Forty-Four! Or, more commonly know as, the Forest of Death!" A loud screech and crash came from the woods behind her and she broke out in maniacal laughter.
"Ha!" A voice yelled out. "My little sister is scarier than this!" Naruto shouted. Everyone turned to look at the blond like he was insane. Anko grinned and threw a kunai at him. The sharpened piece of metal flew through the air quickly and, truthfully, Naruto could easily dodge it. However, he just stood there and let it cut his cheek without moving an inch or dropping his smile. As soon as the cut was made, Naruto bent his arms up and behind his head. Two soft mounds fell into them as a tongue snaked its way across his bloodied cheek.
Anko's eyes widened when she appeared and the boy had his hands on her breasts. She grinned and continued her action and licked the blood off of her cheek. "Getting a little feisty, are we? Maybe when you're older, drop by." She quickly pulled out a kunai and swung it around to hold at the neck of a Grass nin. His/her tongue was snaking out of his/her mouth and holding a kunai. "Don't sneak up on me like that, you may just lose your head." Anko said, grinning.
"Sorry," The Grass nin said. "I was just returning your kunai. It cut a bit of my hair off and made me get a little excited." Anko just shivered internally and smirked outwards. She took the kunai and pulled out a stack of paper.
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Two red slitted eyes opened. All around it was darkness. Slowly, two more sets of slitted red eyes opened. They stood in a triangle formation, looking at each other. The first set of eyes, which were significantly larger than the other two rose a little and a voice came from their position.
"They are in the Forest of Death." It began. By it's voice, one could tell it was male. "They are away from help and ripe for the plucking. We will send squad eight in to do the deed."
"Lord, what of the Haruno, the ice boy, and the Takara girl? They will certainly try to interfere." Asked one of the smaller eyes, also male. "I do not believe squad eight would be able to achieve this by themselves."
The lead set of eyes closed in consideration. "I see your point, Raj. Send squad seven after the Takara and squad eight after team seven. If they cannot handle it, then that is their problem. But, we will eliminate them soon...Saiya, prep the squads and send them out immediately. Tell them to kill the entire team and the 'snake' if they come across him."
"Hai, lord!" The female eyes disappeared to do the job.
"We'll have you yet, Kyuubi." The first voice said as he gave an evil chuckle. The second male joined in and soon, the female returned, though she did not seem to find any mirth in it.
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Team Seven had entered the forest two hours ago and they already had their second scroll. An Ame team had attacked them to see if the rumors were true about them back in Amegakure. They were not disappointed with what they found, until they lost their scroll, that is.
Naruto halted on his branch and Sasuke and Sakura did the same.
"What's up, Naruto?" Sakura asked, looking around carefully.
"Someone is approaching us." The blond said, glancing around. "But I can't pinpoint his location. No Genin should be able to do that. The chakra seems like a dam, holding back a flood of water. Whoever this person is, they are compressing their chakra a lot and hiding it well."
"Keep a sharp eye out." Sasuke said. They began moving again.
When they passed over a clearing, Sasuke's Sharingan caught movement to the side and he pointed it out. "There!" A massive wind blew in from the side and was on a collision course with the Konoha Genin.
"A Fuuton: Daitoppa!" Naruto said as he went through the hand signs for his own. "Fuuton: Daitoppa no Jutsu!" Naruto send a wave of wind at the opposing one and they canceled each other out. Naruto raised an eyebrow at that. "That attack was strong enough to cancel mine out. We're not going up against a Genin." The blond said as he surveyed the other side of the clearing.
"Very observant, Naruto-kun." A voice said and a Kusa Genin walked into the clearing. "You're explanation about my chakra earlier proved quite true also. Now, let's see if you can handle it!" The Genin pulled down on his her eyelid and team seven froze. The killing intent was so much. Sakura was seeing herself dying over and over. Sasuke was still aware of his surroundings but he could barely push down the visions of his death. Naruto, however, was use to Kyuubi testing her KI against him and, just like with Gaara, wasn't phased. The Kusa girl's eyes seemed to glint at that. "Oh, I see you're powerful to resist KI like that."
"You'd be surprised what kind of killing intent I had to put up with in my training. Even you would be shaking in your zoris if you felt it." Naruto said, his eyes hard and his goofy side gone. Sasuke broke out of of his funk at the moment and pinched Sakura's arm to break her out. Her eyes lost their glazed look and she focused back on the real world. She shivered at the visions she'd seen.
"So powerful!" The girl said and was almost drooling, though Naruto could tell she was watching Sasuke and not him.
"Sakura." Naruto said. The girl understood the meaning and acted. She sent her fist crashing into the ground, creating a rupture that fast approached the grass girl. Her eyes widened and she jumped into the air and onto a tree branch.
"Let's have some fun!" She said. The foreign Genin jumped off o the tree and sent a lightning fast kick as Sasuke's head. The Uchiha blocked it with his forearm and grabbed the incoming fist. He sent a kick to her gut, which she couldn't block, and sent her flying into a tree.
"Naruto!" He called out and began his hand signs. "Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" He raised his hand to his mouth and expelled the large fireball that the Uchiha were known for.
"Fuuton: Kaze Ba-Suto no Jutsu!" Naruto blew out his own blast of wind and forced it to collide with the fireball, creating a raging, white inferno. The fire ball crashed into the tree with the Genin and burnt it and those around it to a crisp. They waited with bated breath.
They heard a grunt from within the flames and the girl walked out, with parts of her face melting off to reveal slightly charred skin, sort of like a sunburn. "Kukuku, it seems I underestimated the power of that attack." The voice was no masculine. The girl reached up and pulled the face off, revealing a male with long black hair and yellow eyes.
Naruto and Sasuke's eyes hardened into glaciers when they same him. "Orochimaru!" Naruto ground out. He and Sasuke had left a lot on missions when they were younger and decided to read the Bingo Book every time a new issue came out, in case they came across any. Orochimaru was up in the top twenty, along with Itachi Uchiha.
"Oh, a Genin knows of me, I must be getting quite the reputation. Let's kick this up a notch! Kuchiyose no Jutsu(Summoning Jutsu)!" The snake did a few hand signs and slammed his hand on the ground. A large seal spread out from under his hand and a cloud of smoke erupted around him. When ti cleared, it showed that the Sannin was now standing on the head of a gigantic snake. "Let's go! Seneita'jashu(Hidden Shadow Many Snake Hand)!" Orochimaru threw his sleeves forward and hundreds of snakes burst forth from them to attack the Genin.
Naruto created a Kaze Yaiba and started slashing at the snakes with his invisible sword. Sasuke pulled the Oni sword from a scroll and cut them while burning the reptiles with the occasional fire jutsu. Sakura smashed them away with his fists, though they were coming pretty fast.
"Ugh, I hate snakes!" Naruto yelled. He went to use his great typhoon jutsu in his anger but was stopped when the snakes split and the large snakes crashed into him, mouth first, swallowing him.
Sasuke's eyes widened slightly when the snake ate the blond and then he heard Sakura give a yelp. He turned to see a snake biting each of her wrists. "Shit!" He disappeared and appeared by Sakura. She was unsteady on her feet for a few seconds before the poison in the snake circulated enough and she passed out. Sasuke sped through hand seals faster than Orochimaru could see. "Tenshi Gigei: Kakaru Anime!" Sakura's body glowed and her skin paled slightly. Sasuke grabbed her and sped away at speeds that Orochimaru could not follow from not expecting it.
Orochimaru growled. "After them!" He ordered his snake. However, the snake didn't moved. The Sannin looked down to see the snake's eye glaze over in death before it disappeared in a puff of smoke. He flipped and landed on his feet a few yards away from the snake saliva-covered Naruto.
"Orochimaru, I'm going to kill you." Naruto growled out. He started to pull on Kyuubi's chakra. Normally he wouldn't rely on such a thing, but Orochimaru was a different case. The red chakra covered him and the saliva evaporated. A few cuts and bruises he had healed. His eyes changed red and became slitted as his teeth and fingers grew into fangs and claws. His whisker marks darkened considerably. "Time to die!" Naruto shot forward and punched the snake Sannin on the jaw, breaking it and sending him back.
Orochimaru bounced across the ground and smashed into a tree. He groaned and forced his shoulders back into their sockets before he stood and glared at the possessed boy. A single red tail of red chakra flitted about aimlessly behind the boy. "Boy, you're annoying me, now!" He was wondering why the boy wasn't attacking when the ground below him rumbled. He jumped and twisted his body in a way that would normally break the spine to avoid a giant red claw of chakra. He sped off towards the blond at an immeasurable speed. His tongue lashed out and wrapped the boy around the neck, lifting him off of the ground and raising his shirt to expose his stomach. "We'll see how you do without Kyuubi to help you!" He pulled his hand back and each finger glowed with a different element. "Gogyou Fuin!" His hand was heading towards the seal that held the Kyuubi and his head shot towards Naruto's neck, fangs bared.
Orochimaru screamed out in pain as his tongue and fingers were severed before he could hit Naruto with the jutsu. However, his head and reached the boy and he'd bitten his on the neck. His abnormally shaped neck retreated with the body and head before reforming back to normal. Three curve marks appeared on Naruto's neck(The same as Kimimaro) where he was bit and he screamed in pain before he passed out. Sasuke was shocked. "What did you do, hebi-teme(snake bastard)!?" Sasuke yelled and he turned around.
"This!" The Uchiha was in mid turn when the Sannin sank his fangs into his neck as well. He screamed in silent agony as three commas formed. He too passed out as the seals set to work on the boys.
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Naruto found himself in the sewers of his and Sasuke's shared mind. He entered the door that would lead them to their tenants and found red chakra flaring about the ceiling. "What's going on!?" He asked, slightly panicky.
Kyuubi grunted before she looked at him. "The hebi-teme bit you and put a Curse Seal on your neck. I'm working to corrupt it to my own power and destroy his essence in it." All of a sudden white chakra flared up and Tenshi began to work just as Kyuubi was.
Sasuke entered the room not long after and asked the same question as Naruto but in different form. "What the hell?"
Tenshi turned to her host. "Orochimaru gave each of you a Cursed Seal. It stores a large amount of corrupt chakra that tops even Kyuubi's in vileness. Within that is an essence of Orochimaru which would allow him to corrupt your mind and turn you to him for power. I am purifying your and Kyuubi is corrupting Naruto's. After this, they will store about one tail of chakra of our own for use whenever you feel like it. Though, because of the seal, it will be condensed and more powerful than normal." The white chakra stopped flaring and a stream of it remained. She fell onto her rear on a couch. "That was taxing. I've purified it and am now filling it. Naruto's will take longer because of the different process."
"Sasuke," Naruto said, the black-haired boy turned to his surrogate brother. "Wake up as soon as you can and get all three of us to safety." Sasuke nodded and turned to Tenshi. She smiled and waved her hand. Sasuke faded from the mindscape and Naruto sighed.
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Sasuke jolted awake and put his hand to his neck where there was a dull ache. He twisted his head to see the three commas were now white. He grunted as he tried to stand. His body was sore from the seal and the fight. He created two Kage Bushin and had one carry Naruto while the other retrieved Sakura. He slowly led the two bushin through the forest and found a tree with gnarled roots that formed the perfect hideout. They entered and he laid his team mates out.
Sasuke fell on his rear and leaned against the wall, trying to stay awake. His body wanted to sleep but a groan from the back of the cave alerted him. He turned to see Naruto sitting up.
"Sasuke, I can sense someone. They're in trouble, they ran across Orochimaru." He groaned and leaned on his hands.
"How can you sense someone like that? He has to be at least a mile away by now." Sasuke asked, relieved that Naruto was okay.
"It has to be the Curse Seal. Since yours was purified, you probably can't feel it, but Kyuubi just converted everything to herself for mine." He closed his eyes and focused. It took a few minutes but his eyes snapped open. "It's Anko! She's in danger! I'll be right back, Sasuke!" The blond groaned as he stood and rushed out of the cave into the forest.
It took Naruto four minutes in his weakened state to traverse the mile to find the Second Exam proctor lying on a branch. Her body was badly bruised and she was sweating heavily so there was probably a poison, knowing Orochimaru. Her breathing was erratic and her eyes were focusing and unfocusing rapidly. Naruto, thinking quickly, landed beside the woman and began a set of hand signs. "Tenshi Gigei: Shougai Tensou(Angel Arts: Injury Transfer)!" Naruto sent his chakra into the wounded woman and began to sense out the injured areas and isolating them with his chakra. It took him three minutes to track down all of the poison before he began to pull it to himself. Kyuubi, incoming injuries! He yelled mentally. He groaned soon after as he felt the bruises and the poison. Kyuubi immediately set to work and easily isolated the just-transfered poison before eradicating it.
Naruto sighed as the woman's breathing slowed down and her eyes closed. But his relief was short lived as a sudden pain in his shoulder erupted. It burned just as bad as when Orochimaru gave him the Cursed Seal, but this time it didn't stop and he didn't pass out. W-What's h-hh-happening-ing, K-Kyuubi? He tried to ask his tenant. Naruto! Anko had a Cursed Seal and it transfered over with the injuries! This one, however is old and I cannot corrupt it. Thankfully, it is a prototype of Sasuke's and Orochimaru's presence is absent. Just bear through the pain or knock yourself out, it should last only for another minute or so as it aligns itself with your chakra system. I'll created a barrier around it that will prevent it from messing with your mind or even trying to activate against your will.
Naruto grit his teeth and tensed every muscle in his body. T-thank, K-Kyu-Kyuubi. The blond felt like his body was on fire and he was doing all he could to hold back the screams. It was then that he saw Anko awakening.
Anko felt herself returning to the conscious world, and feeling better than she ever had in her life. The first thing she noticed, was that she no longer had any bruises from her fight. She pushed herself to her feet and was amazed. Never had she felt so free! She turned around when she heard a grunt, kunai out. When she saw Naruto she was confused but her eyes were drawn to his neck where two curse seals sat. The back one was red and was sitting there but the front one was purple and pulsing. She gasped and it hit her. She moved her hand to her own neck and craned her head to look and found it was gone. She returned her attention tot eh boy and noticed his pain. His entire body was tense and his eyes focused on her. She was going to approach him when he opened his mouth and let out a scream.
Naruto felt a fresh wave of immense pain flood his body before it faded to a dull ache. Inside his head, he could hear a heavy panting. Naruto, I have finished. The ache will disappear after a good night of sleep. Now, I'm going to sleep for a week or so... With that, her presence disappeared form his mind and he relaxed his body. "What a bitch..." He groaned out.
"What in the hell happened here, gaki?" Anko asked. The blond just looked up at her and smiled.
"Ne, I just felt that you were being attacked through my new Cursed Seal. Me and my team ran across the snake bastard and eh gave both Sasuke and myself a Cursed Seal. Kyuubi was able to 'corrupt' both herself so that Orochimaru couldn't do anything and they wouldn't affect us. So, when I came running and found you on the verge of death, I did a technique I was taught to me by the Kyuubi and basically pulled everything in your body that did not belong, into my own. Your Curse Seal seemed to come with it and, unfortunately, Kyuubi can't corrupt it because it is too old, but she created a barrier to stop it from activating or altering my mind." Naruto finished and he stretched and rubbed his shoulder. "But, unluckily, I had to go through the feeling of the Curse Seal bonding with my body while I was conscious. That was not pretty."
Anko's mind whirled with this information. But, first and foremost in her mind was that Naruto had taken her curse from her and seemingly nullified it for himself. She was...free. She lunged at the blond boy and caught him by surprised as she hugged him to herself. She settled down and had a peaceful smile on her face. "Thank you." She whispered, completely out of character. This boy would do something like taking her injuries and her Curse Seal when he barely knew her. He was number one in her book now. She relented on the hug and backed up with a peaceful smile still plastered on her face.
Naruto was a bit disturbed since the smile didn't seem to fit her, but he was glad she was happy. "Well, I better get back to my team so I can finish this test." He said, smiling. He turned and gave a wave as he left. Anko returned the wave and headed to the center of the forest.
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Sasuke continued pushing his chakra into Sakura's body and began the process that Tenshi had just designed. After Naruto left, he brought Sakura back form the void and took a sample of her blood for Tenshi to analyze. The angel had found a way to neutralize the poison and was instructing Sasuke on how to do it. He finished and sat back, wiping sweat from his forehead. The girl's breathing was normal again and her skin was returning to a healthy color.
He was startled when Naruto appeared next to him. He calmed himself and struggled to his feet. "Is she okay now?" He asked in a tired voice.
Naruto nodded, just as tired from the new Curse Seal. "Yeah, I transferred all of her injuries to myself and Kyuubi healed them. But...Anko's Curse Seal came with it..." Sasuke's eyes widened. "Kyuubi couldn't corrupt it because it was old, but she was able to put a barrier around to to stop it from activating or altering my mind. But...I had to stay conscious through the whole bonding process. The pain was more than I could imagine. I'll probably not even notice small cuts and bruises anymore. What about you?"
Sasuke sighed and they sat down. "I was working on a cure for Sakura's poison when I was attacked."
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Sasuke pushed the blood into cup and capped it off. He sent Tenshi's chakra into it and let her control it to analyze and fix it. He sensed three people outside of the cave and turned to see the Sound Genin in the clearing. He slipped the cup in a secure pocket and prepared himself for battle.
"Sasuke Uchiha." The lead one said. Most of his face was covered with bandages and he was hunched over with a furry object on his back. "We've been ordered by our master to kill you."
"Is that so." He said. "Care to tell me who your master is?" He asked, trying to get some information.
"Yeah, you'd like that, wouldn't you." The other male said with a grin. He has on the gray camouflage pants that all sound Genin wore with a dull yellow shirt. His head had two leather straps hanging down on each side of his face. His blueish hair stuck up and to the side even worse than Kakashi's did. "You're going to die anyways, so it won't matter."
"Really? Care to test that theory?" Sasuke asked, acting arrogant to throw them off. It sure seemed to work on this guy.
"Zaku..." The furry guy said. "You're going to get yourself killed."
"Please, I can take this pitiful Uchiha." Zaku said, voice full of arrogance.
"Dosu, Dosu, Dosu..." the girl mumbled. "When will you learn that he's an idiot and will get himself killed some day."
"Keep quiet, Kin." Zaku half-yelled at the girl. "I don't need a whore defending me." Without even waiting to for a response, he turned to Sasuke and held his hands up. "Zankuuha(Decapitating Air Waves)!" From two holes in the Sound Genin's hands, air blasted out and rushed at Sasuke.
Sasuke's eyes widened at the power behind the technique. However, training with a wind user, Sasuke could counter it. "Doton: Doryuu Heki(Earth Style Wall)!" A line of mud emitted from Sasuke's mouth and created a large wall of earth. However, Sasuke forewent the full span of the jutsu and made it block just him and increased the thickness. The front layer of the rock cracked but it stood standing. The rest of the air waves just flew harmless passed the sides and knocked down a few trees.
Sasuke lowered the wall and smirked at the boy. "That's a powerful technique, but it's too slow. If I had wanted, I could have dodged with speed alone."
Zaku grit his teeth. "Well, then let's see you dodge this! Zankyokukuuha(Extreme Decapitating Air Waves)!" The air blast that came this time was ten times worse than before. It crashed into Sasuke and destroyed him and everything behind him. Zaku grinned in triumph. The wind cleared and he laughed until he saw that the air wave had split in two at one point and missed the cave. Sasuke was nowhere to be seen.
A yelp of pain made the boy turn around and see Kin fall to the ground, unconscious. He whipped his head around to try and find his target. He was stopped as he felt a foot hit him in the back, forcing him to his knees. His arms were grabbed and pulled back. He craned his head to see Sasuke standing there with no emotion on his face.
"You attacked me, and foolishly at that. You're an idiot and you don't deserve to remain a ninja." Sasuke pulled on the arms and broke them at the shoulder quickly. Zaku passed out from the pain and Sasuke turned to a sweating Dosu. "You seem to be the leader and the smartest. Take these two out of my sight and tell Orochimaru that I'm coming for him. Don't bother with your scroll either." Sasuke turned and walked back to the cave to begin the procedure on Sakura. Dosu shuddered and picked up his two teammates before leaving as fast as he could.
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Sasuke finished the story and sighed. "That was it. I nullified the poison in Sakura's bloodstream and then you arrived."
Naruto nodded. "I see. Se need to get some sleep. We're both tired out and if we're attacked again, we'll be at a disadvantage." Naruto created three Kage Bushin and sent them out to the front of the cave. Sasuke repeated the action and they both curled up on the ground to sleep.
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Team Seven was traveling again and heading towards the tower. It was the second day and they were close. After Sakura had woken, Sasuke and Naruto had told her everything that happened and they set off. That was a four hours ago and they were four more hours from the tower.
Suddenly, all three stopped running and looked head. They could all sense three distinct chakra signatures.
"Stop hiding!" Naruto yelled, "We can sense you easily!" He stopped as a black fox walked out of the underbrush. Two more followed it.
"We were not trying to hide from you, otherwise you never would have found us." The lead fox said, shocking all three. Kyuubi was going nuts inside of Naruto's head.
Black foxes, kill them! Kill them! Naruto winced as she crashed against the bars. Why, they're just foxes. Kyuubi shook her head. Wrong! They are Kuro Kitsune and they hate me and my kind! They are going to try and kill you! Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Well, this is a surprise. Who would have thought black foxes would come to try and assassinate us?" Naruto asked.
"What do you mean, Naruto?" Sakura asked, worried.
"We are Team Eight of the Kuro Kitsune and we were sent to kill you." The lead fox said coldly. "Get the girl and boy, I'll kill the Kyuubi boy." The other two foxes nodded and lunged.
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Bokura signaled Ician and his sister to land. They touched down in a clearing and his two partners turned to him questioningly.
"What's up, niisan?" Aura asked.
"We're being watched." Bokura said. "Get out here before I just kill you outright!" He yelled. Three black foxes came from a bush. They all had two tails and were the size of a large dog. Bokura's eyes widened. "Why are the Kuro Kitsune after us?" Bokura asked in uncharacteristic coldness.
"Do you know these foxes?" Ician asked.
"We are Team Seven of the Kuro Kitsune and we were sent to kill you." The lead fox said. "I do not know why, but I know we must follow through. Prepare to die." The three foxes lunged at their chosen foe and the fight began.
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Omg, I'm glad I finally got this damn thing done. It's been, what, two weeks since I last updated? That's a long time, but moving got in the way big time.
Biggest chapter so far, I think 0.o Over 8000 words...
What will happen with Team Seven and Team Takara? Why are the foxes after Bokura's team?
I haven't clue, you'll find out if/when I post chapter 11.
R&R PLEASE! If you don't, I'll kill Akamaru and secretly feed him to Kiba for dinner!