**This is still rough, I will make some alterations to make the transitions smoother. I apologize for the very long hiatus from writing. I hope you enjoy this chapter**

Panting, Naruto attempted to make another rasengan. He's been trying to pull it off for 3 days now, still with no progress. He had to concentrate all his chakra into his hand, which he struggled doing. Itachi and Kisame have been spending afternoons training Naruto in learning the basics about chakra; how to control it, to be able to master the Rasengan and other wind nature jutsu. He was determined to master it before his next mission.

He closed his eyes, taking small calm breaths and focused all his chakra into his hand. He focused on the blackness behind his eyes then searched for the chakra and guide it to his hand. He gripped his hand harder cringing at the force centering around his hand. There was a small gust of wind forming, he opened his eyes at the sound of progress. He held it for 3 seconds before losing concentration, and the wind disappeared. "Dammit!" He groaned, sitting himself down against a tree. He looked up as he heard someone approach him.

"Good job Naruto." A man with long raven hair smiled at the blonde. His sharingan eyes glowed through the blazing sky at the boy. From behind him a large being was spotted heading towards Itachi, stopping at his side.

"Yeah, good job Naruto." Kisame said, smiling alongside Itachi.

"Has you chakra control improved Naruto? Once you're able to control you chakra you will be able to master any jutu with ease. I'll even teach you some genjutsu if you're good enough." Itachi spoke monotonously.

"I'm starting to see the Rasengan form now. But I am no way near mastering it." Naruto huffed disappointingly.

"So the reposed seal has helped then? Tobi's idea of loosening the seal to access the tailed beasts' chakra has helped you in some way.." Itachi spoke to the boy - more to himself than the latter.

"Yeah. After we got back from Konoha he said to me that loosening the seal would make it easier to learn these jutsu... but-"

Itachi interrupted Naruto, "It would also mean that the seal would weaken and the beast could take over it's vessel at any given chance. That is exactly why I have been assigned to keep the beast at bay while you endure your training," After a moment of silence Itachi continued. "You seem exhausted Naruto, that's enough for today, you've done well. I have another technique I want you to try tomorrow that I hope will fasten your training."

Itachi and Kisame watched Naruto's back as he walked off back into the hideout.

Kisame spoke up, breaking the silence, "Does he know about the upcoming mission he will be taking part of?"

"All he has been told is that he will be taking down a group of bandits that are designated around the outskirts of the Rain village's territory in 2 weeks. Nothing else," Itachi replied, emotionless, "However I don't like the idea of Naruto going with Orochimaru. I'd rather seen him with Deidara... than with him."

"Since when have you cared?" Kisame mocked, smiling.

"Since all the attempts at trying to take over my body. I don't want Naruto, still 12 years old near someone like him. I have my dignity still."

"He's on his last warning anyway, if he plays up again he will be kicked out of the organization, or possibly put to his death by a member, he'll be alright. You're acting like a protective older brother again Itachi, heh. Is it still because of your little brother, Sasuke?" Kisame asked curiously, watching his partner's expressions attentively, "...as emotionless as ever I see."

Everyone was scrambled. It was chaos. The Academy was shut for the day after news of the storage room being breached by outsiders. Security was a lot more far-reaching and tight. Leaving the village meant getting questioned and showing some proof of identification. What complicated things even more was... the chunnin exams were being held in the village, next week.

Genin from every village started making their way to the village. All curious why they were in need of showing I.D as they entered the gates. All the genin and their respected jonin were already in the midst of training for the exams.

"We were only just ranked Genin a few weeks ago! We have no experience at all to be able to get to chunin!" Sakura protested, anger clear as day shown on her face.

"You'll be alright," Kakashi replied, smiling with his eyes, "That's why I'll be training you three seriously for the next few days, well giving you advice here and there, . However, the exams change every year, so I can't give you much help with that."

"We're not ready yet Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura protested again, looking at Sasuke and Sai for backup.

"Hn, you're not ready, Sakura." Sasuke responded boredly, leaning against one of the wooden posts lodged in training grounds.

"Remembering from my book on human emotions... Sakura is portraying the anger emotion, am I correct?" Sai asked Sakura, attempting a natural smile but to no avail.

"Okay... until the exam day, you three will be individually training. I'll come and check on all of you during the week to see how much you've progressed. I'll be leaving you three now. Good luck." With a wave, Kakashi left in a puff of smoke.

"Such a great sensei..." Sakura mumbled to herself, sarcastically.

It was next morning and Naruto was excited to find out his new training method with Itachi. "What are we going to be doing today?" Naruto asked excitedly.

"We'll be trying a new method to help speed up your training," Itachi replied, walking next to Naruto out towards the training area.

"And... what will that be?" Naruto said muddled, clapping his hands together in anticipation.

"On the first day of training with you, I told you to show me your best jutsu. It ended up being the Kage Bushin. With the amount of chakra you have, you will be able to perform many clones at once, for long periods of time. With the Kage Bushin, once a clone bursts, the information that the clone had gathered gets sent straight to the user's mind. If you practice the rasengan using an abundant amount of clones, the training will be shortened at a great extent. Let's not waste anymore daylight, let's start the training.

"SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!" Naruto performed his greatest jutsu as hundreds of clones appeared before Itachi, training commenced.

*1 week later*

Everyone was ready for the exams. One by one, genin from every village made their way into the building where the first part of the exam would take place. Everyone finally made their way to the room and waited for the instructor to arrive.

In a cloud of smoke, a scar-faced man appeared in front of the room, everyone immediately turned to pay attention to the man now standing before them. "My name is Ibiki Morino, I am your first exam instructor. For this part of the exam, it will be written. Just like in the academy, the rules are the same," He turned around and wrote the rules on the chalkboard. When he finished, he put his arms behind his back and turned around. "There is to be no talking, no looking behind you or next to you, everyone who is caught cheating will have a 2 point reduction. You all start with 10 points, if you hit 0 you and your team are out of the exam. You are to complete the 10 questions in front of you, i will announce the last question later," He glared coldly at all the genin. "Oh, one last thing... if one of your team members fail, your entire team fail the exam. You have 45 minutes, go."

As of that, pens were on paper, the exams had started.

"I finally mastered the rasengan!" Naruto bragged to Itachi, again. Naruto has continued making rasengan's one after another for the past few days after successfully mastering the jutsu. The only way to create a rasengan was with 2 clones, as he found out during training.

"Very impressive, it took you a little over a week. The rasengan was originally the 4th Hokage's jutsu so I've heard, and he mastered it in 3 years," Itachi pointed out, then observed the boy in front of him, "The new cloak looks a little loose on you, that can become an obstruction while you're doing your missions, we'll give you another one when you return, one that can fit you better. So at the moment it's not a major issue, since this isn't a high ranking mission. Are you prepared for you first real mission Naruto?"

"Yep!" He replied enthusiastically, popping the 'p' while holding his large grin. He turned around at the sound of foot steps heading his way.

"Let's get going now Naruto," Orochimaru said, smiling directly ahead as he walked past Naruto, out of the cave.

"You're late, Orochimaru," Itachi said distastefully, glaring at Orochimaru as he walked past them.

"I was just getting last minute... preparations," He laughed and continued walking on ahead. "Hurry up Naruto!" Naruto raced to Orochimaru's side and both walked away.

Watching the two figures slowly disappearing in the distance, Itachi turned to Kisame. "I still don't think Naruto should be around that man..." He walked back into the cave.

Naruto and Orochimaru were on their way to the Village hidden in the rain to take care of a group of bandits thieving from passing travelers.

"I think we're going the wrong way! The route we were supposed to take was the other way! I think we're lost," Naruto exclaimed, holding up the big map in front of him. He looked up at Orochimaru, his eyes were concentrating ahead, like an important goal was to be fulfilled. He was smiling, smiling at what? Knowing Orochimaru was ignoring him, Naruto put the map back down and sighed in frustration.

"Orochimaru! You haven't said a word since we left the hideout and that was 3 hours ago!" Orochimaru took a quick glance at the groaning boy and continued looking ahead soon after.

"Right about now the chuunin exams are likely to be in the middle of the second stage. Not too long now..." He thought to himself excitedly, his smile showing externally.

Naruto noticed this and quickly shrieked away from the man, turning to pay attention to his surroundings. He frowned, it looked familiar to him, like he knew it from somewhere. Then it hit him. "Isn't this heading towards the Leaf Village?" Naruto asked curiously.

"Yes, we're taking a little... detour," Orochimaru continued to smile which sent shivers down Naruto's spine.

It didn't take long, Naruto and Orochimaru, made it to the forest on the edge of Konoha.

"Let's take a break Naruto." Orochimaru said flatly, already settling down against a tree.

A young raven haired grass ninja appeared in front of Orochimaru bowing at his presence, "I am here sir."

Orochimaru stood up at the sight of the shinobi, "Are you ready?"

"Yes," The women replied confidently.

"Okay... Naruto? Turn around, you don't want to watch this - take a walk that would be better... but not too far, make sure no one sneaks up on you and stay hidden, we don't want any guards catching you in that cloak, but if they do kill them," As of that Naruto walked away.

He had a quick glance behind him at Orochimaru, but somehow he looked different? He looked like that grass ninja from earlier... He turned and faced Orochimaru. "Did you use a transformation jutsu?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah... I guess ha," He looked around him distractedly making sure they were alone, "Stay here - actually, you can help me. See those guards on duty? Knock them out for me or kill them i don't care. After that, wait back here. I will be a little while.."

"How long will 'a little while' be? When are we going to complete our mission?" Naruto crossed his arms over his chest, annoyed at Orochimaru's detour.

"If you want to go do that mission so badly, then go. I am not stopping you. Now do as I say, those guards over there," Orochimaru pointed at the situated guards in front of the entrance of the village, "Knock them out or kill them."

Naruto was hidden on a branch in a tree, staring down at the two guards on duty at the front gates. It seemed like the guards were fairly bored and honestly didn't care about anything, probably wished not having the jobs of checking all the shinobi that enter and exit the village all day. Most importantly to Naruto, was that they were vulnerable. He jumped from the tree and landed on the ground, swiftly he sprinted towards the two guards on duty. Without getting spotted, he used the end of his kunai and knocked the guards out then dragged them behind a nearby bush out of sight.

Orochimaru, in his disguise walked out from behind the tree Naruto was just on, onto the pathway towards the village. He stopped a few feet before the entrance of the gate and spoke to Naruto, "Remember what I said to you." Then walked onward.

It was now the second round of the chunin exams, held in the Forest of Death. Anko was the instructor for this round. The round had already commenced a while ago, she was busily spending her time carving the leaf's symbol in a tree with a kunai until a chuunin suddenly appeared in a shunshin. She turned to face him and noticed the serious look in his eyes, "What is it?" she asked in concern.

He got on his knees and responded; carefully choosing the right words... "We've just found one of the genin teams taking this exam... dead, ma'am... outside of the training area."

She frowned, leaving the kunai in the tree, "Lead the way," she followed the chuunin to the scene.

Shortly after, Anko arrived at the scene with the chuunin by her side, observing five other chuunin surrounding the lifeless bodies on the ground a few feet away from her. She noted the genin to be from the grass village, and also that their faces were all 'stolen'. Her eyes widened, still staring at the bodies in front of her as realization hit her at whose technique this belonged too. She narrowed her eyes, 'Orochimaru no doubt about it. What are you planning you sick bastard.' Anko thought to herself, looking at the corpses of the genin team in front of her. As if her thoughts triggered memories, she clutched her neck tightly, covering the old curse seal like it was a way to cover her past... the seal that was placed there by Orochimaru years ago.

In the Forest, team 7 were finally on their way to the center after retrieving the Heaven scroll from another team they needed to get to the next round. Each team were given either a heaven or earth scroll, and were to retrieve the opposite scroll from other teams, to pass. They were to find a heaven scroll, before making there way to the tower located in the center of the forest... not opening either scrolls until they got there.

"We should rest," Sakura said after over an hour of running through the trees. They all stopped on a branch, Sasuke leading them, the back of his head faced at Sai and Sakura, looking in the direction they were heading.

Sasuke remarked quickly. "No, we must keep going, the sooner I become chuunin the closer I get to killing my br-"

Sai interrupted him and responded calmly. "Sakura is right, we could easily lose a fight if we ever confront any more teams, at the state we're going, we should save our energy and rest. Even get some sleep if possible."

"Tch," Was all Sasuke responded with, giving up, he dropped down to the ground to join Sai and Sakura and sat himself against the trunk keeping an attentive eye out at his surroundings whilst his team rested.

It was quiet and there were no sounds of threats nearby, which made Sasuke loose most of his tension. But just then, Sasuke bolted up - kunai at the ready as he heard tree branches snapping from movement - coming from the thicket of bushes behind him. The sound of approaching footsteps became more audible as they became nearer, aware of the noise Sakura and Sai too went to Sasuke's side, forming a triangle as they scanned the perimeter.

"Show yourself!" Sasuke finally shouted.

"Hello." The mysterious person said from Sai's direction, causing Sasuke and Sakura to both turn around instantly.

"A grass genin," Sasuke spat out. "Where's the rest of your team?"

"Oh they're gone, haha.." The grass nin then pulled out an Earth Scroll, showing it to the 3 genin. "Now wouldn't this earth scroll go so well with that Heaven's scroll of yours? It's too bad however, when this is all over... only one of us will get both scrolls and the other... will be dead." This brought tension in the air between the two teams. The grass nin licked her lips, keeping her attention on the genin in front of her.

"Now that's just creepy..." Sakura murmurred, cowering behind her team.

Without saying a word, Sai quickly drew on his scroll, relying on Sasuke to keep her attention... he created several tigers to come to life and attack the enemy in front of them. Sasuke and Sakura jumped a few feet back to keep their distance, watching as Sai's jutsu attack the nin.

"An ex-anbu member? Danzo's become too soft.." 'Orochimaru' said to no one in particular.

Before Sai could reply, a snake was thrown at him, suddenly around him stopping him from any kind of movement. "Now that we have that one out of the way..." Orochimaru put his attention on the pink hair kunoichi who was now hiding behind a tree. Knowing she won't be a nuisance, he put his attention back on his main objective, "Let's have some fun shall we?" With an intimidating laugh, followed by a large smile.

Without waiting Sasuke immediately threw kunai at the disguised shinobi, one after another wherever the shinobi pounced. Luring her into a trap, Sasuke tugged on the invisible wire, trapping her within the wire's grasp. With this free opportunity, Sasuke quickly pulled hand signs, "FIRE STYLE, FIRE DRAGON JUTSU!"

"Summoning Jutsu!" A large snake suddenly appeared in front of the genin with the grass shinobi standing on top, slowly peeling away the now burned face of his masked identity. "Aren't you good.."

"Isn't that Orochimaru? Wasn't he apart of the Sennin team?" Sakura whispered to Sasuke.

Ignoring Sakura, "What do you want with me?" Sasuke spat out.

"I only wish to give you the power you seek to avenge your family," Orochimaru replied simply.

Whispering again to Sasuke, "He's too strong for us Sasuke, we have to run!" Sakura urged Sasuke before creeping further behind the trunk as Orochimaru took a quick glance at her.

Noticing Sasuke's distraction from his team mate, Orochimaru pulled some hand signals, "Now's my chance! You'll be mine Sasuke!" Orochimaru's neck grew longer as it sped in Sasuke's direction. Too fast to react, Orochimaru bit into the genin's neck.

Sasuke let out a blood gurgling scream as the man's teeth bit into his flesh, leaving a curse mark.

Sasuke continued to fight against the pain as Orochimaru watched in amusement, "You will come to me when you seek more power. It's you I want dear Sasuke after all... those beautiful eyes will be mine, your body will be mine. You will come to me." As of that Orochimaru slithered away, dropping the heaven's scroll behind him.

Just as Naruto was about to fall asleep, the sound of creeping footsteps put him on guard. When he saw who it was, he relaxed. "Are we done here?"

"I'm soooo booooored," Naruto yawned as he threw another kunai at a tree. Just as he was about to fall asleep, the sound of creeping footsteps put him on guard. He instantly threw a kunai behind him - not allowing the enemy have a chance to strike first. "Show yourself." When he saw who it was, he relaxed.

Orochimaru continued walking, staring at the kunai that narrowly missed his head by an inch that now was lodged in the bark of a tree next to him. "I've always found you to be naive, looks like you're finally learning something." He smiled at the boy.

"Have you finished what you came here for?" Naruto walked past him busily to collect his kunai.

"No, not yet, but the next part you can come with me. I will be having... a little talk with the Third. But for now, you can rest... it won't be for a while."

"What do you call what I just did? Wasn't that a rest?!" Naruto shouted, waving his hands around, indicating the area around him where he was just laying around boredly.

"No, you were waiting for my next orders, and these are the orders; rest then we can talk about the next plan."

The Chuunin games continued despite the disruption delivered by Orochimaru himself. They were competing in the third and last round of the exams. Sasuke despite his new curse mark put on him by Orochimaru himself, has kept himself under control without letting the mark take over. He and Gaara of the sand village were neck and neck in the final fight to win the exams until suddenly, a loud explosion was heard in the distance, the sand siblings suspiciously scrambled towards the sound where a giant snake was slithering its way into the games.

As soon as the explosion was heard, the entire village was in chaos. Citizens ran for safety whilst leaf chunin and jonin alike made their way to the front lines to deal with the intruders.

"Sir, we must take you to somewhere safe.. also we believe by intel, the sand village was involved in the explosion." A chunin shinobi said matter of factly to the Hokage.

"No. I will join this fight. I will stop this, and the person who dared disrupt the peace and cause calamity within my village I swore to protect with my life." As soon as those words left the Third's mouth, he ran forward, leaping onto rooves finding the perpetrator, his student; Orochimaru.

With Naruto beside Orochimaru on the giant snake, Orochimaru settled on top of a building in the middle of the village, awaiting for the Hokage to arrive as planned. "Wait up there Naruto, I will call you down when needed." Orochimaru ordered to Naruto still standing on the giant snake.

"Fine." Naruto huffed out as he sat down, trying to get comfortable.

Only minutes later did Orochimaru get surrounded by shinobi as the Hokage finally caught up to him.

The Hokage stepped forward from behind the crowded Shinobi to meet his long past student Orochimaru. They both made eye contact before finally the Hokage spoke up, "Orochimaru... what do you want?" He narrowed his eyes at his student.

Grinning Orochimaru replied, "I just want to talk to you Sensei, like old times."

"Cut the crap out Orochimaru. You should just surrender right now. Surrender peacefully for all the crimes you've committed."

"Well, Naruto her-"

"Naruto? What does Naruto have to do with this?" Tthe Hokage questioned, staring suspiciously at Orochimaru.

"Naruto. Come down now." Orochimaru shouted yet calmly, not breaking eye contact with the man in front of him. Naruto leaped and stood next to Orochimaru as ordered.

"Naruto?! Get away from that man!" The Hokage shouted, staring from Orochimaru to Naruto and the familiar black cloak with red clouds he was wearing.

He laughed. "Why are you surprised Sensei? You were the one who let Naruto join the organization... weren't you? Isn't this expected? Did you really think Naruto would still be the same when left in the hands of Akatsuki? You had hopeless expectations. Your mind was muddled at the time, it's laughable really, that these were the actions coming from a Hokage. I don't care about the boy, so you can take him back if you really want to, I'm here for personal business. However, I wouldn't think you would want him to return, as it was your decision in the beginning to let him go, like you thought it was the only way for the boy to find true happiness, ha ha," Orochimaru and the Hokage both stared at each other intently, waiting for the next move.

Orochimaru studied his expressions as he watched his mouth start to say something, "It was a decision I made and a decision I made alone, and I am willing to face the consequences as followed." The Hokage stated bluntly.

"Are you also forgetting that promise you made to the previous Hokage before he died? You haven't forgotten Minato's and Kushina's last words before they died have you? How they wanted their precious son Naruto to grow up to-"

The Hokage narrowed his eyes at his old student, cutting him off, "Don't speak their names." The hokage was thinking back to the night the nine tailed fox appeared, and how Minato and Kushina sacrificed their lives in order to protect the village... also their newborn child.

Orochimaru laughed, snapping the Hokage back to reality, "It's not like you to snap like that, that's your weakness. I can easily use that against you. Here Naruto is, apart of the Akatsuki, far from what his father would have wanted him to become. How are you going to mend that promise?" Orochimaru noted the silence, smirking realizing he got the Hokage in his weak spot, "No.. answer? I see.."

As if Orochimaru and the Hokage forgot that Naruto was still there, and listening in on the conversation, he asked - which sounded more of a statement than a question, "My father was the fourth Hokage..?" His voice cracked, at the sudden conversation Orochimaru and the Third were having, washed over him.

Realizing this, Orochimaru replied to Naruto's comment, "Naruto, why don't you go find Sasuke. After I've finished business here, I will meet back with you and Sasuke. I'm sure he would be thrilled to have a fight with you, why not show how far you have come? Prove to him who is stronger," Orochimaru said to the boy, not breaking eye contact with the man in front of him.

Naruto turned and left the rooftop leaping away, 'I wonder what the old man and Orochimaru are talking about right now.' He thought to himself curiously, continuing leaping from roof to roof.

He spotted Sasuke ahead, not aware of his presence heading towards him. "I will show that bastard how strong I have become!" He leaped over a few rooves before stopping on one at the edge of a street. He looked down at Sasuke, standing on the ground ahead of him - looking around boredly, careless about the situation around him.

"Sasuke!" He announced, giving away his location.

The boy looked up distastefully as he spotted Naruto, "Naruto." He said boredly.

Naruto dropped down and started walking his way, stopping a few feet away from the boy. He smiled mischievously, "Lets fight."

"Hn. Looks like you're still the loser you were when you were still in Konoha." Sasuke commented, anger hinted in his voice.

"Sasuke!" Naruto charged at Sasuke.

"Naruto!" Sasuke charged at Naruto.

Both met face to face, kunai's touching, "I will beat you!" Both the genin shouted.

Yeah soz for not uploading for like a year ha, writers block is a powerful thing you know. I haven't had any free time this year (and most likely not next year either) because of school and taking the ace exams. I hope you liked this extra extra long chapter. I'm not sure if I should keep the chapters this long or keep them the average length, what do you guys think? And any ideas for future chapters would be helpful too! So use that review to it's usefulness!