Fragments
-o-
Exams
-o-
"Haruno, sober up!" The old man ordered angrily and damn, did Sakura do it. She seemed to spring out of her slouch and stood ramrod straight, staring ahead, face utterly empty.
"Sir." She said in a perfect monotone.
The old man seemed to be as shocked by this as Naruto, he stared at her in utter surprise.
Temari stared around in incomprehension for a few seconds, before she tried to stand straight as well. She couldn't just remove the alcohol from her system however.
"Sakura, what happened?" The Hokage asked kindly, now that Sakura didn't make a fool of herself anymore.
"I came across Gaara and Temari while walking to the training grounds. Upon meeting them I realized that Temari acted different than what should be expected of her given the current time and her experience." She recited in the same voice she had answered before.
"I ordered Gaara to play with Konohamaru and went on to interrogate Temari in an informal setting."
"Hey!" Temari slurred, but she didn't seem too bothered by it.
"In an exchange of information I quickly came to the conclusion that she found herself in a similar situation as Team 7. We proceeded to share information and attempted to relax, with the goal of creating a mutually beneficial relationship. I believe we can count on her and her team in the coming invasion. She might even be able to turn Sand against Sound, giving us an invaluable weapon." Sakura quickly spooled down, never blinking, never looking away from the spot just above the Hokage's head.
Naruto remained silent as he watched her. He had never seen her like this, so... professional. No emotion displayed, not even the slightest hint of them. She reminded him frighteningly of Sai.
The Hokage watched her just as worried. "That's... good to hear. Who are you loyal to Sakura?" He asked.
"The Hokage and all of Konoha." She replied promptly.
The old man nodded. "You can relax now Sakura."
Sakura didn't even twitch. "Very well." She answered, but didn't relax.
Naruto wanted to shake her. What the hell happened here? It reminded him of Ibiki's question and answer session. But there she actually had shown emotion, just not quite as much as normally.
"Tell me, who insisted you act like this?" The old man asked, resigned.
"Danzo." Came the short reply almost immediately. "He insisted the Ninja showed the Hokage the respect he deserved."
"I see." Sarutobi sighed. "I... would prefer you acted like you always act around me."
She actually twitched there, just slightly, but she did, Naruto noticed.
"I... I'll try." She slumped slightly and looked at the old man's table. Still far too stiff though.
"That's an order Sakura." The old man sighed.
She slouched a bit more and her eyes actually wandered, but beside that nothing changed.
Silence reigned in the room, only broken by Temari's occasional hiccups.
"You didn't mention this to Ibiki." The Hokage finally said.
Leaning her head slightly to the side Sakura shrugged. "It didn't seem important. Danzo insisted my loyalties are with the Hokage, not him."
"Ah, I see. He enjoyed you acting like this did he?" Naruto could understand the frustration the Hokage felt with this, Sai had been bad enough, but Sakura?
"Actually he found this disconcerting for some reason and ordered me to finish as fast as possible." Sakura answered in her monotone.
Naruto narrowed his eyes at her, did she act like that to mess with the Hokage? For ordering her to sober up?
The old man seemed to have the same thoughts. But, there seemed to be something else there as well.
"Say, you remind me of somebody. If I ordered you to go and kill your family would you do it?"
Naruto squawked in outrage, how could the old man ask something like that?
"Yes." Came the instant reply, no hesitation at all. Naruto stared at her, how could she?
"Damn you Danzo, you manage to break people so easily." The Hokage spat. "You are hereby forbidden from ever going after your family, or any family or citizen in Konoha. These orders cannot be lifted by any Hokage, neither by me, nor any predecessor or successor. Do you understand?"
Naruto sighed in relief, trust the old man to think of something like this.
"Yes, thank you Hokage-sama." Sakura nodded slightly, but she didn't look thankful.
"How do you snap out of that state?" The Hokage asked, weariness drenching his voice.
"Time, I haven't entered this state since Konoha fell, but it usually took me one to two hours to go back to my usual emotional state." Sakura answered.
"I'll be very glad once Tsunade finally arrives. I shouldn't have allowed you to enter the damn, exams." He glared at Naruto and Sakura.
"Ehehe, we wouldn't have come across Temari then?" Naruto pointed out.
The old man glanced at the girl staring at them all, grinning stupidly. "Maybe she would have come to me sober then?" He asked.
"Nuh uh. I found your kunoichi only strip club! I would have gotten wasted anyway!" She giggled.
"Is everybody but me a sex obsessed pervert?" Naruto shouted. Sure, he liked female flesh as much as the next guy, but everybody around him seemed to obsess about it.
"Yes." Sakura quickly replied. Maybe with a trace of amusement.
"Well, at least you can joke again." Naruto sighed.
"Joking?" Sakura asked.
"Just... shut up will you?"
"As you wish."
The old man seemed to find this terribly amusing, going by the smile he sprouted.
"For the record? I hate you all." Naruto ground out.
"Now now Naruto, no need to grow hostile. Still, we could use Temari sober, how fast do you think she can recover?" Sarutobi asked Sakura.
"If a medic nin can remove the alcohol from her system in a few minutes." Sakura quickly answered.
"Can you do it?" He asked her.
"No, I received only basic medical training." Sakura quickly answered.
"And yet you can filter the alcohol out of your system. What would happen if I ordered you to remove it from Temari?"
"I... would remove the alcohol from her system." Sakura said. Her emotions returning much faster than estimated.
"Any side effects?" The Hokage asked.
"None I am aware off."
"Then do it."
Sakura actually sighed and walked over to Temari, who stood as straight as possible for her.
"This will be slightly unpleasant." Sakura muttered and her hands began to glow, similar to Naruto's Sakura. How he missed her, always ready to smile, always ready to heal. This Sakura seemed reluctant to do anything but destroy.
Temari gasped and held her head, but whatever discomfort she suffered from seemed to disappear a second later.
"You weren't kidding, that is unpleasant." She groaned.
She turned to the Hokage and bowed. "I apologize for the display, I didn't plan on meeting you today, but Haruno... she can be convincing."
"I understand, don't worry." The Hokage smiled at the young woman, before he turned back to Sakura. "You seem to have a talent for healing, why didn't you mention that to Ibiki?"
Oh yeah, emotions definitely were returning much faster than advertised, Sakura grimaced at the question.
"I... hate healing." She said. "It doesn't help, destroying the enemy before he can wound a comrade is faster and prevents even more comrades from being hurt. One of the things Danzo and I agreed on."
The Hokage sighed, clearly disappointed. "You could help so many people." He pointed out.
"Not interested." Sakura growled. "I don't want to end up like Tsunade, a wreck followed by the ghosts of those she couldn't save."
Naruto growled as well. Her Tsunade didn't break down because she failed to save somebody, she broke down because he had abandoned her. No other reason. He could see her, shocked, broken at his disappearance. Somebody else to abandon her, somebody else to fall to her cursed necklace. Just this time it ran even deeper. He disappointed her on an entirely new level.
"Don't talk like that about her, it wasn't the healing that broke her. Or even her failures. And you know it." He told Sakura who glared back at him, but relented. "Maybe."
"Ermm I would just like to point out that I'm still here." Temari said.
"Ah, yes sorry for that." Sarutobi sighed. "I'm afraid Sakura's... eccentricities gathered some attention from more important topics."
"I'll say." Sakura grumbled.
"Well then Miss, you might be willing to help us against the coming invasion?"
Temari frowned. "Yes, even before Sakura revealed that you knew about it, it seemed like a bad idea. Orochimaru isn't the most trustworthy person. Not that many are in this world, but Orochimaru is worse than most."
"That he is, I'm shuddering to think what he's doing with those people he has in sound." The Hokage frowned as well.
"Yes, my... father however seems to be sure he can turn whatever Orochimaru has planned to his advantage. But then he's a fool here, far more than from where I come." Temari agreed.
"So, what do you propose?" Sarutobi asked.
"I'll make myself the Kazekage." Temari said simply.
Naruto wished he had a glass of water. A spit take seemed absolutely appropriate in this situation.
"What?" Asked Sarutobi.
"I'll assassinate him and take the seat. Or even better, I just let Orochimaru do it and reveal it just before the invasion. Then lead our troops against Sound." Temari explained. "That should get me enough clout to attain the position. I have the experience necessary and a few... other advantages."
"It seems rather... ambitious." Sarutobi muttered.
Temari snorted. "Maybe, but ambition is what makes villages don't you agree?"
"Ambition is what made Orochimaru." Sarutobi growled and Naruto had to agree.
"Just like ambition made the leaf. It's like any tool, with the potential for good or evil." Temari countered.
And once again Naruto found himself agreeing.
"I suppose. Of course, you'll excuse me when I don't plan on Sand fighting on our side." The Hokage said.
"Of course, hope for the best, plan for the worst. Just have a plan ready in case Sand does fight on your side and the fight will go so much easier." She grinned. "And hey, I'll have Gaara, that will really make things easier. Oh, by the way can you lend me Naruto for a day or two? I'll need to get as much info out of him on how to control a Biju. The more control Gaara has over himself the better."
"You are asking for village secrets you realize?"
Temari rolled her eyes. "I suppose, but I really want to make us far closer allies. Maybe turn our two villages into one village merely split up a bit."
Naruto stared at her, he had never heard of that idea.
Sakura seemed surprised as well. "Huh? Where did that come from?" She asked.
"We kinda planned for it back home. Never happened, there were too many people violently opposed to the idea. But here? It might just work, especially since we have several time travelers on our side, who I think can agree to the idea?" Temari pointed out.
Naruto had to agree, the idea sounded good. But it would shift the power balance dramatically. Two villages allied to such a degree. Even if Konoha weren't the strongest village, it would boost their power well above anything any individual village could stop.
"That would be an invitation for open war you realize?" Sarutobi asked carefully.
Temari nodded. "I know, but if this world ever wants real peace, we need to unite the countries. It can't go on like this. Squabbling over every little imagined slight."
Naruto glanced at the Hokage. He didn't think he liked this idea very much at all. Going to war, for peace... sounded like something Danzo would sprout.
"And there's always diplomacy. If they want a slice of the cake? Invite them in. The more villages you manage to incorporate into the alliance, the less the remaining villages will be willing to try. Marry some people off. Maybe a Hyuuga and a somebody from cloud? Should make relationships much easier all around." Temari said.
Even Sakura raised an eyebrow at that.
"Just an example." Temari quickly said.
"I'll think about it. But that... would require quite some time and political maneuvering. It's not something you can just implement." Sarutobi said, and his voice told Naruto that he didn't even really consider it.
Temari too. "Eh, fine. Mere allies then. Sigh, nobody ever thinks of the future of the world, always just our own little piece of it."
"Madara would disagree with you." Sakura smirked.
"From what you told me he's an insane madman. He doesn't count." Temari shot Sakura down.
"Fair point." Sakura conceded.
"But, there was something else Sakura and me wanted to talk to you about." Temari continued.
"Ah, and what would that be?" The Hokage asked.
"If I've come back as well. Then it's almost certain others have too. And while I'm perfectly content to work with the Leaf... others... might not be." Temari looked at Naruto and the Hokage, all traces of humor gone from her face. "And they might have more resources than we think. Maybe Orochimaru has come back and maybe, just maybe he has some even nastier things planned than we can imagine now."
Weakly Naruto nodded, that made a frightening amount of sense.
"Or Madara. Or Itachi... or anybody really." Sakura added. "Quite frankly? This is... frightening on all levels. Anybody could come back. Anybody could have a totally changed personality, with totally changed goals."
A weak groan escaped Sarutobi. "I... I can't deal with that. There's nothing I can do really. And... Naruto already found something else. Apparently one of our teachers had recurring dreams about Naruto's past. He dreamed what had happened there."
Sakura blinked. "Huh... that's strange."
"Any idea what causes this?" Sarutobi asked her.
But Sakura shook her head. "None, I... didn't really listen to Madara when he explained stuff. He tended to ramble to himself, and really he was boring in the extreme. And that's not counting the pain I was constantly in."
"I wish you would have paid attention. He might have mentioned something important."
"Me too, now. Hindsight and all that I suppose." Sakura shrugged. "But it's too late now. We'll just have to deal with it."
Naruto rolled his eyes. He wished his Sakura were here, she would have paid attention to something like that.
"I suppose so, still that does throw any plans we might have had into disarray." He looked at Sarutobi. Not that they had been included in any plans. There hadn't been a real need and they were a bit... alien to gain that much trust.
"If Temari agrees, we'll have Ibiki ask her a few questions." The Hokage looked at the blonde.
"Eh, as long as he's gentle." Temari shrugged her shoulders. "I suppose coordinating with him would be better if we want to pull this off."
"Yes, that it would. Now... could you please leave my office? Thanks to you I've developed quite the headache." The Hokage glared at them all.
Naruto chuckled weakly. Not his fault that things were spinning out of control. And hey, not as if he planned to time travel. Sakura had been the only one to do that!
Quickly they filed out of the office, hearing a relieved sigh as the Hokage slumped in his chair.
Naruto looked around. "So... what now?" He glanced at a nearby clock, not even six yet.
"We gather Sasuke and Gaara and drink some more? I mean really, what else can we do? Temari will be interrogated tomorrow, probably sometime during the exams." Sakura started.
"Yeah, could you tell me what happens for them? I doubt it will be the same as our exams have been." Temari piped up as they left the tower, through the windows.
"Eh, just a stupid paper test, and some survival training, should take a week, but with out skills we should have finished in a day at the most." Sakura shrugged.
"Oh, ok yeah that's easy. We'll have some fun with the real genin teams then?" Temari grinned, and she kinda looked like Sakura at her worst. The two might be sisters. Were all women this scary?
"We aren't going to drink. You two are horrible, you know that?" Naruto sighed, how they could get away with it...
"We are over twenty years old, we deserve some relaxation." Temari glared at Naruto.
"You are over twenty as well?" He groaned. "Not fair, why am I only seventeen?"
"Because you are a runt, deal with it." They landed back in the training ground, Gaara still watched the clouds, still with a very silly grin on his face. Sasuke had managed to exhaust Ino and Tenten and grinned as he laid between the two, both curled up on his side, sleeping soundly.
"Wow... he's nearly as bad as Kankuro... I mean my Kankuro." Temari remarked. "Kinda cute though."
Naruto walked over to a tree and started to slam his face into it. Why was everybody around him such a pervert? What had happened to the universe? It had been bad enough when it just was Jirayia. Now everybody and their dog, even the females was a perverted freak.
"What's wrong with him?" Sasuke asked from his position, careful not to move too much.
"Don't know, and Uchiha? You are on dangerous ground." Sakura said, her eyes narrowed dangerously at the last Uchiha.
"Hey, they curled up against me. I didn't do anything!"
"I'll ask them about that." Sakura promised.
Temari had walked over to Gaara and kicked him in the ribs. "Hey lazy, wake up!"
Golden eyes snapped open and glared at her. "You will pay, I had a good fanta..." Gaara, or better Shukaku blinked at the dagger at his throat.
"Now listen you overgrown Tanuki. You'll do what I say, or I'll decide to castrate you, is that understood?" Temari raised an eyebrow at the demon.
"You aren't strong enough mort..." Shukaku shut up as he felt the knife in one of the most sensitive places on the male body. He looked down. "I can regenerate that." He said truthfully.
"But it will hurt." Temari countered.
"You brother, not me."
"Oh, I can keep you around." Temari's smile really reminded him of Sakura's now, much more than before.
"I... damn you mortal." The demon growled and retreated into Gaara's mind.
"Pesky little insect." Temari sighed and sheathed her dagger. "Always trying to make trouble."
Naruto shook his head. Sakura at least acknowledged that she didn't stand a chance against the nine tails, if it ever got out. Temari didn't seem to realize the same with her brother...
"Don' forget you are the strongest. And Temari, unlike me has the equivalent of her worlds Sharingan with her." Sakura pointed out.
"She's a traveler as well?" Sasuke asked, his surprise clearly audible.
"That's right cutie." Temari grinned. "Too bad I'm not into sharing, otherwise I would have given you a try."
Sasuke stared at her in confusion. "You aren't acting anything like the Temari I know, just for the record."
Gaara groaned, as Temari pulled him up. "Of course not, I'm way better than her."
Sakura leaned against a tree and snorted. "I'm not so sure, I mean without your fancy dagger..."
Making sure Gaara had really awakened Temari turned to Sakura. "Shush you. You can only attack once or twice, before you have to rest a while."
"Whatever. But if the kids don't want to drink, then lets train some more. I'm bored already." Sakura snorted.
"That I'm all for." Naruto readily agreed. Better to do that than anything that could end up undermining his position in the village. He had worked for that position once and he would work for it again. But he wouldn't ruin it for cheap drinks.
"Great, then let's go!" Sakura shouted, waking Tenten and Ino, especially as Sasuke pushed himself up to meet her charge.
-o-
Kakashi stood before the Hokage again. "So, they caused trouble, yet again?" He asked.
Sarutobi shook his head. "It's far worse. The enemy might know our defensive plans and far more, he might have spies in every level, he might have dreams about our defense." With a tired shake of his head the old man looked at Kakashi.
"Something is going on Kakashi, something big. Temari, from Sand, the daughter of the Kazekage came back too. She's allied with us, or at least she says she is. But even if we can trust her. Who else came back?"
He looked out of the window. "And Ebisu dreamed about Naruto's past. If he can dream about it, so can others. What do they dream about?"
Kakashi felt a cold shiver run down his spine. With that sort of knowledge...
"Temari has an entirely different history, even more warped than Sasuke's." Sarutobi continued.
"Oh? What's her story?" Kakashi asked, he had to know.
"In her past it was Sand, that gained control of the Nine Tails. They were the ones who deflected an attack by Sound and Fire."
Kakashi raised an eyebrow. It sounded pretty bizarre.
"But now she's on our side?" He asked. He couldn't really imagine her not being on their side if she revealed all that.
"She's on Sand's side, for us and against Sound." Sarutobi explained. "If what she says is true. Sakura seemed to trust her though."
And what an endorsement her word was. Kakashi sighed. "So, nearly no trust for her I take it."
"We'll have Ibiki talk to her... when was the last time he got to play with somebody anyway?"
"Hmm well there was that bandit a month ago..." Kakashi thought back.
"We should be happy, really we should." Sarutobi said. "But I can't help and think, the other shoe has yet to drop."
Kakashi couldn't reassure him, he had the same feeling after all. No matter how many good news he heard... or maybe because of the good news.
-o-
Team 7 stood before the academy, each of them for the second time.
Sasuke grinned, this, this should be fun. He would ace the test this time... and watch a few genin crap themselves in fear. Better than them loosing their lives though. If they could be scared as easily as Sasuke planned to scare them...
"Hehehe." Sakura cackled, rubbing her hands together eagerly. "This will be so much fun!"
Naruto didn't look much better. "I agree, this will be the best exams ever!" He exclaimed. "I haven't had an opportunity for pranking this big since... well ever!"
Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the two of them. Maybe his plans would have to be revised? He could guess Sakura's plan. She wasn't exactly subtle. He could play off of that easily enough. But Naruto... he could be very, very devious if he wanted to be.
Oh well, he would see if Naruto even bothered to do anything. After all Naruto wanted to become Hokage and that meant he would have to become responsible... why the laughter then?
Maybe to drive Sasuke mad? Always a possibility.
"Sasuke." Tenten greeted him, as they walked past the door with the very weak genjutsu. They didn't even bother to acknowledge the chunin standing guard there. One look from Sakura had driven it home to them, that bothering them would be a bad idea.
"Tenten." He returned her greeting.
"And Sakura." Tenten frowned at the girl, holding Lee back. "Stay away from Lee." She warned Sakura.
Sakura merely rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Don't you already have somebody you like though?"
Lee, who had stared in adoration at Sakura turned back to Tenten, quite confused. "You have feelings for me Tenten?" His eyes widened comically. "I'm so sorr..." Tenten's fist interrupted him.
"Don't take everything at face value she says idiot." Tenten sighed. "As for you, Lee's too good for you."
Sasuke noticed she still sprouted a bruise from yesterday. Sakura and Temari didn't believe in pulling punches.
"Whatever, that's Lee's decision isn't it?" Sakura asked, all false smiles. She didn't have any visible bruises as well.
"Yes Tenten, as much as it pains me to disappoint you, my heart belongs to Sakura." Lee nodded seriously.
Neji glared at everybody who could potentially hear the conversation.
Tenten only glared at Lee and Sakura. "I don't feel that way for you Lee." She ground out.
"I know it must hurt you Tenten, but you shouldn't deny your feelings." Lee noted sagely.
A second later Sasuke decided that making Lee a very good friend might indeed be a good idea. After all who else could drive girls into kissing you deeply that easily, that fast?
"Or... maybe I should consider that you aren't hiding your feelings and indeed do not like me that way." Lee said after he watched them kiss for over a minute.
"Don't they need air or something?" Naruto asked, astonished.
"Nah, they can breath through their noses." Sakura sighed. "Ohh Lee."
"NO!" Sasuke and Tenten flew at their respective teammates. Naruto and Neji had acted even faster and threw themselves at them. Resulting in a dog-pile on Sakura and Lee respectively. "No kissing Lee Sakura!" "No kissing Sakura Lee!"
Came the double shouts.
"I hate you all." Sakura muttered beneath the pile.
The chunin and every genin in the room stared at them. But Sasuke ignored it, he could break every single one of them so easily, their opinions didn't matter, at all.
"That may be so, but let's restrain the mass destruction for the second part alright?" Sasuke asked, smiling sickly.
"Boring... but fine." Sakura pushed herself up and stalked ahead, clearly annoyed, but peaceful.
Naruto turned to team Gai, still busy disentangling themselves. "Well, see ya in the second exam then."
He quickly followed Sakura.
Sasuke winked at Tenten, who didn't react at all, and followed as well. Disaster averted.
In front of the door waited Kakashi.
"Yo." He greeted them. "Please, don't cause too much of a panic alright? We kinda want to retain relatively peaceful relationships with the major powers."
"No promises captain." Sakura grinned at him. "But I'll try."
Sasuke nodded and Naruto gave their teacher a thumbs up.
"Well, best I can hope for I suppose." Kakashi said, and pulled his little orange book out. "I would wish you good luck... but I think the other teams need it more than you."
And with that he disappeared, to do whatever he did when he didn't watch them.
Sakura pushed the door open and walked into the room. The atmosphere of excitement made Sasuke's hair stand up. All those hopeful genin waiting to become chunin... damn it really wasn't fair for most of them to play against them.
Sakura laughed loudly. "Man, just look at all those losers." She practically shouted into the room.
As expected most of them glared promises of dead at her.
"My, my, my. How bold." Kabuto said, grinning broadly at them. Sasuke's hairs stood on end again, this time because that guy just creeped him out to no end.
"Hmm and who are you?" Sakura asked, glaring at him.
"Me? Oh my name is... Kabuto." He grinned at her ignoring her glare. "And may I say that the way you got them to hate you instantly is simply splendid. If I were capable of it I would love you."
That caused confused looks from all of them.
"What do you mean?" Sakura asked.
"Hmm oh, that? Sorry, but that is a secret, as my teacher loved to say." Kabuto waved them goodbye and wandered off.
"What just happened?" Naruto asked.
"He... didn't act like Kabuto at all." Sakura answered him.
"He was pretty creepy though." Sasuke added.
Sakura looked at him. "Yes, actually he was creepier than usual. And that worries me." She followed the strange boy. "It worries me a lot, because I think we found our first enemy who came back as well."
Naruto nodded. "And if he came back, then I would bet he knows about the surveillance on him."
"Hey! You little shits!"
They turned to the speaker, some genin from cloud, behind him another team from cloud shook their heads, his teammates also seemed reluctant to follow him. All around the room other teams seemed to anticipate his actions though.
"Yes?" Sakura asked calmly.
"Who do you think you are?" He growled. "Do you honestly think you can just call us loosers and get away with it?"
Sakura smiled, cocked her head and let her killing instinct lose.
The guy dropped to his knees instantly, actually more than three quarters of the room dropped to their knees.
Sasuke looked at those who remained standing. Temari he expected, Gaara... well he had to deal with his demon constantly he should be able to deal with this killing intent. Kabuto... after that display? Yeah he didn't expect him to drop. Maybe show some surprise, but not to drop.
Ino and her team had dropped, in sheer horror, as had Hinata and her team. Team Gai, already exposed to the killing intent managed to remain standing, barely.
The second team from cloud stared at them, but not in a panic or even fear... they stared in confusion, well two of them stared the other whimpered on the floor.
One guy from rain watched them with an amused smile and one girl from Grass shook her head and rolled her eyes in exasperation.
Sakura noticed too, as well as Naruto. Sasuke would bet all he owned that those guys came from the future too. How many of them would be hostile though? Or neutral.
They eyed each other as well. Clearly getting the message.
Oh, how much fun this would be, great.
"All of you who can't even keep standing should give up now." Sakura shouted into the room. "You aren't cut out for chunin at all!"
Sasuke had heard several drops outside the room as well. He just bet a few chunin had just dropped as well.
Naruto shook his head. "Sakura, that's just totally unfair." He waited for most of the room to get back on their feet. The guy who had tried to threaten them stared at Sakura as if she had sprouted fangs and horns.
Naruto spiked his killing intent, it didn't come even close to Sakura's, but it still dropped over one third of the room again.
"That's the amount of killing intent they need to stand up to if they want to become chunin." He proclaimed and grinned at the guys who managed to keep standing. "The rest of you really should leave."
"Yeah, you really have no business being here. This game... well the players might have gotten a wee bit better than expected." The guy from Rain laughed.
Those on the ground stared in pure horror at team seven and the guys who were unaffected. Even Kabuto's team looked quite shaken. Though their leader merely grinned at his surroundings.
"I... oh god this is way too much..." The guy who had initiated this muttered. "I'm out, you hear me? I've had it. No way am I fighting these monsters!" He scrambled out of the room, sparking a mass exodus, as nearly half the room left, as fast as they could.
Of those left only a few didn't have... time travelers... or something in them. The travelers generally kept their non traveler companions in line.
Sasuke glanced at Ino, who had managed to push herself up after Sakura stopped sending out her killing intent. She looked as if she wanted to run and Shikamaru didn't look much better. Choji would go where Shikamaru went of course, but he didn't look very affected at all.
"Wow... that was... no wonder mom thinks we have something going on." Kiba had walked over and immediately started talking to Sakura.
Sakura blinked and gave him a one over.
"But geez you stink of alcohol..." Kiba muttered a second later, holding his nose he backed a bit away. Akamaru barked, both paws over his nose.
"This better?" Sakura asked, after she sprung a genjutsu on Kiba and Akamaru.
Kiba blinked and nodded. "What did you do?"
"Nothing important. But hmm..." Sakura sidled up to Kiba, running her hands over his chest. "Yes, I think I could like this."
Sasuke opened his mouth to comment, but Sakura merely pointed to both Ino and Tenten and he decided that discretion would save him some arguments that would surely be totally blown out of proportion.
"A... Naruto... do you really think we... we need to be able to stand that level of..." Hinata asked, in front of Naruto. He ruffled her hair.
"Ahh, don't worry Hinata, I'm sure nothing bad will happen to you." He grinned at her, then looked into the room. Or more precisely at the other travelers. Sasuke saw the demonic eyes glint in the light.
The others grinned easily, but they did shuffle their feet, not a little uncomfortable.
"At least if they know what's good for them." Naruto added too quietly for Hinata to hear. Sasuke had better ears though.
"Sakura? Could you stop molesting Kiba please?" Naruto asked, as he noticed where Sakura's hands had wandered.
"Why? I like her molesting me." Kiba said, grinning from ear to ear.
"See Lee? I told you, you are far too good for her." Tenten said, loud enough for all to hear. "She doesn't care about you. To her you are just another toy."
"I can live with being your toy!" Kiba quickly said to Sakura.
"Oh, I'm sure you can." She leaned in and whispered something in his ear. Kiba's grin seemed to spread even farther, as impossible as that should have been and Sakura walked back to team seven. Blowing a kiss to both Kiba and Lee.
"Ehem."
Everybody turned to the door. Ibiki stood there, watching the relatively empty room.
"Why do I get the feeling those who are still here won't be easily cowed?" He sighed. Behind him stood two chunin, both still pale from their recent experience in killing intent.
"Alright! Sit down you brats." Why did he look at them? Sasuke scowled back. Just because they weeded out the failures already? Honestly.
"Here are your test-papers. I'll make this short. Cheat and you are docked points. You have ten points, every time you cheat you loose a point. Every wrong question? You loose a point. Loose all ten and you are out." He glanced into the round. Probably not finding what he searched for. Sure a few genin were terrified. But most of those seemed to be bothered more by Sakura, than by him.
"There will be a final question. It will be revealed after one hour." He looked around again and sighed. "Get started already. I want to get this over with. You are already whittled down to a decent size, so it doesn't matter much to me anymore."
-o-
Sakura twitched. Kabuto sat behind her, and since the beginning of the damn exam he had done nothing but snipe her with small bullets of paper. He seemed to enjoy hitting her with them, but she couldn't feel the slightest bit of killing intent from him. She could feel more from Neji, on the other side of the room!
Another pellet hit her. "Alright!" She roared, pushed her chair back and whirled around at Kabuto. "What's your major defect freak? Do you want me to rip you to shreds?"
"Would you? I think it would be very entertaining to see you try... you remind me of somebody you know? She always played so nice with my teacher. Also had that fiery temper. Though her blond idiot was... well much more of an idiot than yours is." Kabuto replied cheerfully.
"Haruno! Put him down." Ibiki roared, but Sakura didn't care. "Who are you?" She growled, nose to nose now.
"Oh, come now I'm just a simple medic nin." Kabuto lied through his teeth.
"I know you work for Orochimaru." She whispered to him.
"Me? Work for him? No... well yes... but no." Kabuto hadn't stopped grinning, at all. "I'm merely playing a game with him, just like you are playing a game with me."
Sakura felt a headache coming on. Why did she see a similar scene play out? Just with a redhead and a similar smiling freak? With purple hair?
"Haruno! Put him down already!" Ibiki growled behind her.
"Fine." She spat and let go.
"Oh, we are done playing already?" Kabuto sighed. "And I had so much fun."
"Shut up." Ibiki grunted. "Four points from you Haruno. Listen to your orders next time."
Sakura glared but nodded and turned back to her paper. Somehow she didn't think Kabuto worked for Orochimaru. Maybe their plans intersected at the moment. But the second he had no more use for Orochimaru, Kabuto would drop him, no questions asked.
She quickly finished the paper and turned it around. She had been tempted to keep it empty, but she would just be bored if she did that.
Half an hour later Sakura could murder somebody. Kabuto had gone back to bombarding her with his paper pellets, who had the bright idea to sit him down behind her anyway? And she couldn't do anything!
Ohh somebody would pay.
She looked around the room. Strange, just how many people had traveled back, or to here at least.
What made this world so special? She tried to remember anything Madara might have said about this, but only one thing stood out.
The barriers between the worlds might be weakened by them traveling back. So other travelers would find it easier to come here too. Maybe that was all, this had turned into some sort of beacon for time travelers.
"Time's up." Ibiki shouted, looking into the round. Most people had calmed down by now and his gaze was met with polite interest.
He sighed. "You all fail." He told them quite seriously, if she didn't have her experience she might even have believed him. A quick glance around revealed that nobody believed him.
"Right, lets skip the tenth question. You all already know the answer. Congratulation you passed the first round." He glared at Sakura. "You took all the fun out of this one you know?"
The Rain guy piped up. "Ahh, don't blame her. I was just waiting for a moment to scare the small fry away." He winked at Sakura, and she had to admit, the guy looked pretty handsome.
"If you say so." Sighing Ibiki took a step back, barely avoiding Anko's banner.
"It's too early to celebrate!" Anko shouted. "Cause now you are in my hands!" Cackling, she took the young genin in.
"Anko!" Sasuke shouted and launched himself at her. "Let's never be apart again!"
"Gah! Who invited the little freak in? Get him off, get him off!" Anko tried to dislodge Sasuke, but he kept his face firmly planted in her chest. Until Ino and Tenten grabbed his arms and dragged him off Anko that is.
"Thanks, you get bonus points for that one ladies." Anko panted. "I really hate you, you know that kid?" She added for Sasuke's benefit.
"Aww, but I love you Anko." Sasuke replied, his lower lip quivering in a perfect display of despair.
Anko stared for a few seconds then turned away. "Ok, err... the numbers have been cut pretty well, but umm I'll cut them even more, at least by half! You hear me?"
Nobody commented, they didn't need to. The grins on everybody's faces told it all.
"I'll kill you Uchiha." Anko growled and jumped out of the window. "Just follow me!" She shouted back.
"What was that about Sasuke?" Ino growled angrily.
"Messing with big sis." Came his reply instantly.
Sakura appeared behind Ino. "Just ignore him, he's a total manslut."
"Just like you are a total slut?" Tenten sniped at her.
Sakura considered the question for a second then nodded. "I suppose so, yes."
"Can we just go now?" Naruto asked. "I'm embarrassed to be in the same room as you two."
Sakura snorted at him. "Payback's a bitch. Now you know how I felt whenever I entered the same room as you."
"I suppose that's true." He sighed. "But I hoped you would realize that the cycle of revenge is a bad thing."
Sakura stared at him and shook her head. Sure that cycle had destroyed her world, but that didn't go for minor things like embarrassment. Unless she was the one embarrassed of course.
"Nah, but you are right, lets just get out of here. We have places to be." She looked around. "Where's Sasuke?"
"Went ahead, following Ino and Tenten." Naruto shrugged.
-o-
Naruto looked at the forest. Here it had all started, here Orochimaru had initiated Sasuke's descent into madness.
This time it would be different. He glanced at Kabuto, he glanced at Temari. He looked at the other travelers.
Different indeed. He couldn't predict what would happen at all. And the worst part? He couldn't even be sure Orochimaru would be Orochimaru. Or if he would even be here... well, maybe there was one way to check. Anko had just started going into her spiel about danger, dead and non-liability.
One chicken impersonation later a tongue held Anko's kunai out for her. So Orochimaru had indeed infiltrated the exams.
Naruto frowned slightly, he had killed the partner of that Rain guy... maybe he should get the guys name? He seemed alright.
"Ok, get in there and... don't die!" Anko grinned at them. "Unless your name is Uchiha, then you are ordered to die in there!" She glared at Sasuke who grinned back impudently.
"No promises."
After they received their scrolls they quickly went into the forest and hid themselves.
Naruto looked at his teammates. "So, what now?"
Sakura looked back. "I... honestly have no idea. I didn't expect so many people to be travelers like us."
Sasuke nodded. "I didn't expect anybody but Temari to be honestly. I mean who could have guessed?"
"Yes, the question is of course on which side are they? Our? Orochimaru's? Their own?" Naruto sighed, he hated politics. But he needed to understand them to become Hokage, what a mess.
"Oh I'm on my own side. I mean back home I was on a much bigger side than this little struggle here, but well for now those sides are all back home." Kabuto cheerfully said.
All members of team seven stared at him. "From where did you come?" Sakura asked dangerously.
Sasuke stared in total shock, he should have heard the guy show up.
"Me? Oh, I just followed you, really." Kabuto replied.
Naruto growled, he really wanted to wipe that smirk of his face... it somehow seemed worse than his normal smile.
"What do you want?" He growled.
"What I want? Well... I dunno what do you think I want. I mean information isn't free."
"Somehow I don't think you have Orochimaru's best interest at heart." Sakura growled.
"Oh, of course not. Never had really, even before I took over this body, the previous inhabitant had his own plans." He licked his lips. "He really didn't like me ripping his memories out of his head and make them my own."
Naruto really wished Kabuto hadn't said that, he really didn't want to hear that he essentially killed the self that had inhabited this body.
Sasuke also seemed to dislike that revelation. Sakura, of course, didn't seem bothered at all. She probably didn't care in the slightest.
"Oh, he fought very well, but in the end I was far too strong for him to really stand a chance." Kabuto grinned. He hadn't stopped grinning since they met, his eyes half closed, it seemed etched onto his face.
"So, what do you want from us?" Sakura asked, clearly frustrated.
"Hmm, you seem to all be from... well a different world." Kabuto mused. "I'm curios about your plans, as far as I can tell Konoha is the only Village to have four travelers. Cloud only had two I could confirm." He paused. "Of course, they could have more hidden back home."
"And why would we tell you our plans?" Naruto asked, he really would have liked to just kill Kabuto, but something told him that would be a phenomenally bad idea.
"Why? Oh... well I could give you the location of a lot more of Orochimaru's bases for one. I don't really care. Then there are all the techniques I could teach you." He seemed very pleased with himself.
"Eh, we know enough techniques and I bet we could find enough information in his bases if we hurried it up." Sasuke shrugged.
Kabuto seemed really crestfallen at that. "Oh, I suppose that's true... oh well, thanks for the plans anyway." He groped Sakura and disappeared into thin air.
Naruto and Sasuke stared at the spot he had just vacated, then at Sakura.
Her left eye twitched. "And he didn't even buy me diner... bastard." She growled.
Naruto face-palmed of course.
"Well, we didn't tell him anything he wouldn't have guessed anyway." Sasuke shrugged.
"True, lets go. We have a snake to meet... if he's even still here." Naruto sighed.
Sakura nodded, a strange smile on her face. "Hmm yes, we have to meet him here don't we?"
"We can't beat him, he's not like Zabuza..." Naruto quickly pointed out.
Sakura rolled her eyes. "Of course he isn't... but I think we could take him."
Raising an eyebrow Naruto looked at Sakura. "Really? You think so?"
"Well... we would probably all die, but yeah we could take him down." She shrugged.
"Yeaaaah... no." Naruto nixed that idea. Sasuke nodded quickly.
"I have no desire to die today, just to take Orochimaru down." He agreed.
"I didn't say we had to take him, just that we could!" Sakura defended herself, as they walked through the forest. "Think we'll meet one of the others?" She asked.
"Maybe, hopefully they'll be friendly." Sasuke said.
"Meh, I wanna see how strong they are... we were pretty strong, but will they be? Or will they be incredibly smart... I mean power doesn't have to be the only thing that lets you break reality. Maybe some sort of time travel machine?" Sakura wondered.
"Ehhhh, maybe, but it can't be that easy can it?" Naruto added. "I mean, how would they find this world? Wouldn't they end up in their own world?"
Sasuke shook his head. "Then what about all the people that ended up here? They should have ended up in worlds more appropriate for them."
"Point..." Naruto sighed. "Ugh this is giving me a headache, and I haven't even started thinking about it."
"Kukuku." Somebody laughed above them.
"Orochimaru!" Sakura squealed. "You have no idea how glad I am too see you!"
Something in Naruto's head screeched to a halt. His headache grew several magnitudes. Sasuke looked as if his world had been turned upside down and Orochimaru... stared at Sakura as if he had just been punched in the face.
"That... hurt! Physically!" He groaned as Sakura burst out into laughter.
"Your faces! Priceless!" She managed to shout out during gales of laughter. She actually had lost balance and rolled all over the forest floor.
"You realize, I hate you." Naruto glared at her, but she ignored him in favor of laughing herself to death.
"Ugh, I can't believe she did that." Sasuke whimpered.
"I can't believe I didn't think of it!" Naruto wailed. It would have been the ultimate prank on his team. Even Sakura would have been affected. And Orochimaru still stared at them, totally flabbergasted.
Just one question remained. What would he do now?
"Hmm you know who I am..." He smiled that disturbing smile he was so good at.
And spiked his killing intent. But after Sakura, it just didn't affect them anymore. Sakura didn't even stop laughing... actually she seemed to laugh harder.
"Uhh, could you stop that?" Sasuke asked him. "It's distracting and Sakura's kinda cute when she rolls around like that, especially with her ass up in the air."
Sakura immediately stopped moving. Instead she glared at Sasuke, who smirked back, his sharingan still active.
"You... can take my killing intent far better than I thought you would." Orochimaru said, staring at them curiously. "In fact, you seem a whole lot different than I was led to believe."
"Oh, well Kabuto's kinda betrayed you." Naruto shrugged. He had no compunctions about selling Kabuto out.
"Ohh he actually had the..." Orochimaru started to say, of course Kabuto's form, crouching on top of his head put an end to that.
"Ohh what did I ever do to you people that you would reveal that little secret to Orochimaru?" He asked. He seemed ready to cry!
The effect was ruined of course by the fact that he sat on Orochimaru's head!
In fact, this drove something home to Naruto, something horrible, something that shattered his very perception of reality. Especially as Sasuke started laughing and Sakura resumed her mad laughter on the floor.
He, Naruto, was the sane one! This entire universe had been taken over by insane people, and in comparison Naruto was the sane one!
"Oh no... oh hell no... I can't be the straight man! I'm the crazy awesome one! Not you people!" He shouted at the insanity around him.
Orochimaru, already confused by Kabuto's attitude and Sakura's welcome just stared at him, strangely calm. He didn't even bother shooing Kabuto off his head. "Can somebody explain what is going on?" He asked, quite pleasantly really.
Team seven looked at each other and Kabuto. Pissing Orochimaru off would be stupid, it would be extremely stupid...
"I'm not telling." Kabuto grinned at them, but he could easily get away with that trick of his... had he stolen that from Madara?
Sakura shrugged. "Eh, I'm pretty sure we can get away from the snake, so I'm not telling either."
Sasuke's sharingan spun lazily. "Well if we are just going to run away." He shrugged.
"Well, then it's decided." Naruto brought his hands together and created an army of shadowclones.
One of the clones stepped forward, turned around, pulled his pants down and mooned Orochimaru.
"We aren't telling you anything!" Naruto shouted, already running madly with his teammates.
Kabuto chuckled. "My I think I like them." Before he disappeared.
Naruto wondered why he could hear it from the distance they had already crossed, but this Kabuto acted even weirder than the usual one.
"RAAAAR!" Orochimaru screamed in rage, as he recovered. Soon Naruto could feel his clones die messily behind them.
"Huh, he's cutting through them pretty fast." He observed neutrally.
"Well, what did you expect, he is one of the Sanin." Sakura replied, hopping easily from trunk to trunk.
She jumped right into the maw of a giant snake, that had appeared out of nowhere. "Saku..." He started to shout, but Sakura didn't let a little thing like being eaten slow her down. She slammed through the hide on the other side of the snake. Gobs of flesh held on a few kunai.
"Hey Sasuke! Got some fire?" She asked grinning.
"We are being hunted by one of the most dangerous men this world knows... and you want me to roast some snake meat?" Sasuke shouted at her.
She considered the question for a second before she nodded. "Sounds about right."
Sasuke looked at Naruto. "How far is he out."
Naruto concentrated for a second, getting a feel for his clones. "Oh, still at least thirty seconds. And hurry it up ok? I'm a bit peckish, should have eaten a bit more this morning."
Sasuke nodded and send a ball of fire in front of Sakura. She somersaulted over it, holding only the kunai and the snake flesh into the fire. Then she threw the burned meat skewers at them.
Naruto quickly cut the worst of the charcoal of the meat and handed two of the remains to Sasuke.
Sakura didn't bother removing the charcoal, she just washed it down with her sake.
"When I get my hands on you, you'll wish you had never been born brats!" Orochimaru hissed behind them.
"I thought we had thirty seconds!" Sasuke glared accusingly at Naruto.
"He isn't here yet! We can just hear him!" Naruto defended himself, between bites.
"Hmm good stuff this." Sakura added, ignoring the conversation.
"What do we do when he catches up?" Sasuke asked, slightly concerned.
"Oh, that's easy!" Naruto grinned as he jumped to the ground and picked up a guy with a Rain headband. "Hi, how about you distract Orochimaru for us?" He grinned at the guy.
He had recognized him from the first test.
"Geez and I didn't even introduce myself yet!" He grumbled. "But... you guys owe me one!" He shouted as he flung himself at Orochimaru.
"Wow... that worked pretty well." Sakura observed. "What did you do to the poor guy?"
Naruto continued running. "I don't know! I didn't expect him to just agree!" Naruto answered, slightly worried. What would the guy want in return?
"Icy Armageddon!" He shouted behind them and a Naruto could feel a cold wind buffer him in the back. He turned around and saw a tower of Ice. Somehow the kid had created a gigantic tower of ice! Out of thin air.
Orochimaru had found himself trapped at the outer edges of the structure, unable to move, or really do anything.
"That... is quite some technique." Sasuke noted.
"That it is... I wonder what else he can make with that ice of his." Sakura said, glancing back speculatively.
"Well, Orochimaru doesn't look like he'll let that ice stop him. So unless you want to have the pervert's hickey on your neck we should hurry." Naruto reminded them.
"Yes, he's already halfway out of the ice. Geez what kind of monster is he?" Sasuke shook his head.
"The worst kind. Hurry up."
Team seven hurried through the forest. Hopefully loosing all hints of Orochimaru.
One of the few teams without a traveler and not from Konoha found themselves without a scroll, after team seven passed them.
"Cool, it's even the scroll we needed." Sakura cheered.
Naruto nodded. "Great, then all we have to do is get to the tower."
"Not quite." Orochimaru stood before them, how he had managed Naruto didn't know, but he had.
"Ahh man, and here we hoped we could avoid beating you to a bloody hunk of meat. You just look stupid like that." Sakura taunted him.
The smile creeping over Orochimaru's face didn't fill Naruto with any confidence. "Oh, you have quite the mouth girl. But I think you'll find out... I'm not as easy to defeat as Zabuza."
He had heard about that then. Well, the story would have spread. Three genin defeat a dangerous missing nin. Who wouldn't love to spread that tale?
"Maybe, but really, what are you going to do to us? Sasuke has the sharingan, Naruto has the Kyuubi and don't think he can't control it." Sakura smirked at him. Though Naruto could see the shaking of her hands. He recognized it from his Sakura. Just that tiny, imperceptible little shake she always had, facing against enemies she didn't think she could win against.
And Naruto didn't know just how much he could control the Kyuubi. He hadn't taken it's power here, not entirely. He felt confident in taking up to six tails, but would that be enough to take Orochimaru?
"Ohh and what can you do little girl? I notice you can gack..." Sakura suddenly stood before Orochimaru, who had several knives embedded in his face, stomach and heart.
"Damn." Sakura cursed and jumped back, as the body broke down into mud.
Another Orochimaru stepped out of the shadows, he looked at his corpse, expression unreadable.
"... I... I'm actually impressed. That speed could have killed me." He nodded at Sakura. "The fact that you didn't hesitate for even a second... also very impressive. I'll admit, fighting you could prove difficult." He looked at Sasuke and Naruto. "Fighting all of you, might even be impossible for me alone." He admitted.
Naruto could see Sakura's confident smirk return. But he could also see her shaking hands and it hadn't gotten better.
If she could feel confident, this was the real Orochimaru, she would have tried to kill him again, but without that knowledge, she couldn't afford to waste chakra. Same with Sasuke, he could probably kill that body, but how often could they do it?
Sasuke glanced at Naruto. Naruto cursed the plan that had Orochimaru operate relatively unimpeded in the second exam. They were supposed to bring Tsunade back in the month they had to prepare for the third task. With her backing them up, coupled with an alliance with Sand, the invasion would have turned into a slaughter of Sound, Orochimaru would have been defeated with minimal losses of life, since Tsunade would be around to take care of the wounded.
But that meant risking this confrontation, a confrontation far more risky than they had realized.
Naruto glared at Orochimaru. He would need to kill that form, he could count on nearly unlimited amounts of chakra. Only he had enough reserves to go toe to toe with Orochimaru. His teammates relied on extremely lethal but chakra intensive attacks, without the reserves much older jonin would have.
Naruto took a deep breath.
"But, you can't all fight me. I can see just how taxing that technique was for you girl." Orochimaru continued finally, after watching them watch him uneasily. "You have to be sure to hit me, not another clone. The same goes for the Uchiha. So the only one I have to worry about is Uzumaki."
He sneered at Naruto. "And a talentless hack like him... chakra alone isn't everything brat. You can swarm me with those clones till you run out of chakra, it won't help you at all."
"But I don't need to swarm you." Naruto replied. "I just need to make sure you are the real one. Then Sasuke and Sakura can easily take you out." Naruto replied calmly.
"Hmm, maybe." Orochimaru closed his eyes, listening to something only he could hear. "Maybe not." He opened them again and rushed Naruto with the same insane speed he remembered from the first time through the forest.
This time though he could see him coming. And this time, it would end differently!
-o-
Hmm well... I really hope I'm not screwing this up... Hope you guys enjoy.