A Different Life
Team seven stood on the top level of the massive boat that housed the chunin hopefuls and their sensei. It was early morning, their vision obscured by thick mist and their skin tickled by the high amount of moisture in the air. Team seven looked the same for the most part but there were small changes. Naruto was in his dark blue turtleneck with a black vest over it, his pants matched his shirt. The only change was he now had his blades visible the longer blade peeked over his right shoulder while the smaller one poked out by his left hip.
Sasuke kept his wide collared shirt but substituted his shorts for pants to fight against the chill that came from the cool air of Kiri. His hair seemed to be a bit wilder also and he too now brandished a blade. It hung from his left hip and the hilt of the weapon was an obsidian black with no guard the scabbard matched the hilt.
Sakura changed the most, her hair was not shoulder length. Her eyes that once held a look of naivety now held some sort of truth to them. She had saw something during that month of training that showed he a part of what the world was really like.
"Man I see why they named this place the village hidden in the mist." Kiba said loudly coming up behind team seven.
"Can you be any louder you idiot?" Sakura growled.
Kiba opened his mouth to retort but Naruto cut in, "It doesn't matter they already know we're here."
"What how do you know that?" Kiba asked.
Naruto simply pointed ahead of them, the mist started to thin revealing a dock and two units of Kirigakure ANBU also known as TIDE. There seemed to be about ten of them, even though the mist had thinned it seemed to linger around the mist assassins.
"Humph," Kiba snorted. "They don't look that impressive."
Chatter began to erupt throughout the boat though it wasn't much as there were only five genin teams from Konoha. Three rookie teams and two veteran teams, Konoha would be would have least amount of participants among the big five.
The boat came to a halt as it made it to the docks, "Alright kids it's time to be on your best behavior." Kakashi commanded walking off the large vessel.
The rest of the Konoha shinobi followed Kakashi off the boat as he was the one in charge until the hokage arrived. Kakashi and the other four jonin went to talk to their welcome party while the genin sat back and talked.
"Do…any of… you…know those guys?" Choji asked between munches pointing towards the other veteran group.
"The one with grey hair is Kabuto Yakushi, the one with sunglasses is Yoroi Akado and the other one is Misumi Tsurugi," Naruto informed them. "They've taken the chunin exams seven times."
"You can't be serious." Sakura asked with a voice full of surprise.
"I know I've gotten stronger but if a veteran team can fail seven times, where does that leave us rookies?" Sakura thought to herself.
"Don't count us out just yet-SHANNARO!" Inner Sakura shouted.
"The chunin exams are no joke." Asuma said walking up behind them.
All of the genin had different thoughts running through their heads. Some were confident in their abilities like Naruto, Sasuke and Neji but then some doubted themselves like Sakura and Choji. Kakashi followed by the rest of the jonin came back to the group.
"It's no longer the time to talk about the exams, you only have nine hours before the exams start so we will follow these gentlemen to our hotel and rest." Kakashi ordered.
The leaf ninja followed the TIDE agents through the village to their hotel. They stopped in front of a massive building, it was cylinder shaped and made of stone.
"This will be your home for the remainder of your time here." The lead agent said.
"Are any of the other villages staying in this hotel?" Kakashi inquired.
"Yes the Takigakure and Kusagakure will share the second floor while your village will stay on the fourth floor." He answered in a voice void of emotion.
Kakashi nodded, with their job done the TIDE agents disappeared in a mist of water. Kakashi guided his group into the hotel, he got their keys and handed them out.
"Get some sleep you guys have a long day ahead of you." Asuma said walking to his room.
"He's right you're going to need all of the energy you can get." Kurenai told them.
The genin dispersed to their rooms to get settled. Even though they reserved the entire fourth floor the genin had to partner up to leave room for the hokage and his entourage. Naruto and Sasuke shared a room, Sakura and Ino, Shikamaru and Choji, Shino and Kiba, Hinata and Tenten and finally Lee and Neji. Their conversations going on in every room, the genin were mentally readying themselves for the exams.
"How do you think the other teams are going to do?" Naruto asked Sasuke while cleaning his long blade.
"I don't think it would be appropriate to judge success until we see our competition." He answered.
"True, I overheard some chatter on our way over here," Naruto said, "It seems that we're targets this year."
Sasuke chuckled, "That's fine by me I want a challenge."
Next door Lee exuberantly finished his quick workout. Lee counted off his pushups while Neji sat on his bed reading a scroll.
"197…198…199…200," As he finished he pushed himself up. "What shall I do next my eternal rival?"
Neji didn't respond immediately but when Lee started doing pushups again he had to react before his teammate and friend wore himself out before the exams. He placed his hand on Lee's shoulder causing him to stop and look up at him.
"Maybe you should rest Lee we have a big day ahead of us."
"My dear friend I cannot help it, the power of youth lights fuels the fire in my heart." Lee responded while going through basic taijutsu katas.
Neji sighs, "What would Gai sensei say about not getting any rest?"
At the mentioning of his beloved sensei Lee froze mid movement, "You're right Gai sensei always stressed the importance of letting your body rest."
Lee closed the distance between he and Neji and latched on to him enveloping him in a bone crushing hug.
"What would I do without you Neji, my eternal rival. The power of youth is flows through you too."
"You would be lost without me, now get some sleep." Neji said told him.
A similar scene was going on down the hall. Kakashi sat on his bed reading a pink book while Gai stood next to him pestering him to find something to do.
"Kakashi do you remember our chunin exams?" Gai asked while doing pushups with one finger.
"Do you mean the one where I beat you?" Kakashi asked with his eyes still on his book.
A large sweat drop appeared on the back of Gai's head as comical giant tears started streaming down his face.
"Why must you be so cool and hip?" Gai asked as he pulled his knees to his chest.
Kakashi just kept reading his book as if this was an everyday thing.
X-x-X
Team seven stood among the masses of chunin hopefuls. There were over three hundred participants in this year's chunin exams. To the untrained eye you would think that the genin were talking amongst themselves but in reality if you looked close enough you saw wondering eyes and secret hand signals. It wasn't odd to see competitors sizing each other up. The appearance of four torrents of water in front of the genin caught the attention of everyone there.
Four men appeared from the water, starting from the far left a brown haired man stood with the typical Kirigakure jonin garb on. The man next to him was a tall muscular man with short spikey black hair. He wore no shirt and had bandages wrapped around the bottom half of his face, the most notable thing about him was the giant sword on his back. The man to his right had shoulder length white colored hair, with a dark sleeveless shirt with bandages wrapped around his neck. He too had a sword on his back, it was wrapped in bandages.
"Quiet you spineless worms." The man with the large sword on his back boomed.
Most of the genin quieted, the man looked to his right at the white haired man who shrugged. The taller man narrowed his eyes before releasing his KI.
"I said quiet!" He yelled as an Oni like figure appeared behind him. The genin quickly shut their mouths as the chakra pressed down on them.
With a satisfied smirk he looked over at his fellow swordsman who was smirking himself.
"Well now that it's quiet we can get to the introductions, I am Mangetsu Hozuki, member of the seven swordsmen and a proctor for the first part of the exams."
"I'm sure you all know me, Zabuza Momochi, member of the seven swordsmen," He said confidently. "Now about these-.
Zabuza started before a random Iwa genin interrupted him.
"What about the other two guys?" He yelled.
Zabuza's demeanor instantly changed from laid back to angry, his right hand moved to the hilt of his blade but a hand wrapped around his wrist stopping him. He turned to the owner of the wrist, Mangetsu shook his head negatively. Zabuza slowly dropped his hand back to his side and glared at the rude genin.
"You're lucky kid, if it wouldn't cause a war your head would be rolling right now." He threatened.
"As my friend here was saying are exams are different. The first part of our exams will consist of two jobs. The first job is to retrieve a sensitive piece of information that will be stored in a scroll like this." He said holding up a small scroll.
"And the second job will be to keep that information safe." Zabuza finished.
"Is killing allowed?" A Kusa genin asked.
"Of course, death is a part of being a shinobi something half of you brats haven't experienced." Zabuza answered.
"What do you mean, not every village is like those tree huggers." The same genin sneered pointing at Kiba.
Kiba being the hot-head that he is wouldn't let that slide and would have started a fight if his teammates weren't holding him back.
"Say that to my face rock for brains." Kiba said getting a bark from Akamaru.
Naruto shook his head as he watched Kiba embarrass not only himself but their village also. He saw the smirk on the Iwa genin's face and knew that he had gotten what he wanted. Team 8 would now be a target for many in the exams. He couldn't see Shikamaru but he knew similar thoughts were running through his head.
"That mutt just painted a huge red x on team eight's back." Sasuke said from beside Naruto.
"Are we going to do something about I mean they can get killed." Sakura added a little worried for her friends.
"They can handle themselves." Sasuke told her.
"Sasuke how-." Sakura started to argue.
"Sakura he's right, while we won't leave them out to hang we won't go out of our way to help them." Naruto said.
Sakura sighed giving up as she knew her teammates were right. She just hoped that they could handle themselves.
Zabuza chuckled as he saw the genin fight but his brother-in-arms didn't share the same sentiment.
"At least they have some fight in them." Zabuza said.
"They won't make it in the real world with that kind of discipline." Mangetsu shot back.
Zabuza's face turned serious, "Do you think these brats are real shinobi yet, by the time I was their age I-."
"Yeah I know, by the time you were their age your hands were bathed in blood. Not everybody is from the bloody mist Zabuza." Mangetsu told him.
"Whatever, let's get these brats out of here." Zabuza grunted.
Mangetsu filtered chakra to his throat amplifying his voice, "Behind me is a special swamp here in Kiri, Chimaera Swamp it's home to four different climates and many more life forms and it will be the home for the stage of this exams."
The genin began a series of chatter again. It wasn't every day that you took a major exam in a place that was home to four different climates. One of the unnamed Kiri ninja from before stepped in front of his comrades and took a large scroll off of his back. He sat it on the ground in the space between the mass of genin and the proctors. He unfurled it and pushed it, it began to roll and continued for twenty feet. The shinobi stood up and formed the tiger seal.
"Kai." He said.
A plume of smoke appeared from the scroll causing the genin to be on edge. The air was already thick when tension then the sudden act by the unnamed proctor made things worse. The genin who weren't shook calmly had their hands on their weapons but then there were some who blatantly had their hands on their weapon of choice or even had them in their hands.
"Would you look at this," Zabuza said laughing. "And to think they call themselves shinobi."
The smoke faded revealing a series of tables with a shinobi sitting behind them with a stack papers in front of them. Once again a new addition caused the genin to talk amongst themselves.
"What are the tables for?" A voice from the crowd asked.
"Yeah let's get this thing started." Another voice yelled.
Mangetsu ignored the genin, "The tables in front you hold a piece of paper that will guide you to your job."
This caused uproar, emotions were flaring. They didn't know what to expect and that worried them. Another flare of KI later the crowd was once again quieted.
"As I was saying you will receive a piece of paper and on that paper will be a map that leads you to a scroll containing the information on your objective."
The genin scrambled to the table to receive their piece of paper. It took about twenty minutes for everyone to get what they needed. Team seven had strategically placed themselves towards the front of the other genin. They looked up to the proctors waiting for them to officially start the exams.
"To complete your objective you need your first scroll if your job is to protect and if your job is to retrieve then you need both your first and second scroll. You have six days to complete your objective and remember killing is allowed, you may begin." Zabuza said showing his pointed teeth.
Before anyone could move someone spoke up, "Wait what happens if we finish early?"
"Well once you retrieve the scroll that will complete your task and you push chakra into it, it will reveal the way to our relief base on the outside of swamp. Now if you all don't have any more questions you may begin, again." Mangetsu explained.
Without another interruption the large group of genin was on the move instantly, scrambling to make it into the forest. Instantly the weak were being sorted out as the ones who hesitated we lost in the stampede of genin, some even got trampled. Team 7 had an advantage being at the front of the crowd, they swiftly moved into the forest.
"So what's the plan guys?" Sakura asked.
"This map says our info scroll is at least a few hours away so we need to move fast." Naruto answered looking at the map.
"What about the other teams?" Sasuke asked looking to his left seeing a team running on the forest floor.
"From what I can tell they're too worried about finding out what their job is." Naruto answered as he sensed the other teams in his range.
Team seven continued the rest of their journey in silence. The swamp lived up to its name, there were large trees, moss hanging around and murky waters. The part about four climates happened to be true as they arrived in a cool climate and now they were traveling in a humid climate. They had been traveling for twenty minutes and luckily they hadn't encountered any enemy shinobi or any of the creatures that called the swamp home but that luck had ran out.
"What's that?" Sakura asked as howls filled the air causing her to shiver.
"I don't know but whatever it is I don't think it's happy we are invading it's home." Naruto replied.
Naruto held his hand up signaling his team to stop. The howls were getting closer and the air seemed to become dryer.
"What's wrong?" Sasuke asked.
"I sense a lone chakra signature and it's headed right for us." Naruto said with wide eyes.
"Why should we be worried about one person?" Sakura asked.
"Because this person has more chakra than most jonin." Naruto answered.
Distracted by the large chakra signature heading their way, team 7 failed to notice that the creatures that were howling were standing behind them. Three striped creatures with the face of bulldogs crept up behind the genin with their tails swaying behind them.
"What-… that's impossible." Naruto said with a look that didn't betray his emotions.
"What, what's wrong?" Sakura asked.
"That chakra signature just disappeared." He answered.
"This is getting weirder and weirder, something-." Sasuke said before pulling his chokutō out slicing through the lunging creature.
The creature howled in pain as Sasuke sheathed his weapon and blood exploded from the side of the beast. Naruto followed suit pulling out his long blade cutting into the head of the creature in front of him. Sakura not wanting to be out done by her teammates pulled out two kunai. The monster swung it's massive paws hoping to crush her but she duck under the swing rolling under it stabbing both kunai into its underbelly.
"Look at out our little flower growing up." Naruto joked wiping the blood off of his sword.
Sakura blushed at the praise of her teammate. She had come a long way from when she first became a genin.
"And to think we wanted to drop her." Sasuke added.
Their fun was short lived as the growling started again coupled with ground shaking. From behind a large tree came a fifteen foot version of the dead creatures on the ground. It massive eyes landed on its dead brethren as a snarl escaped its mouth. Naruto's eye widened, he started pulling his teammates away.
"Naruto what's wrong, we can take this thing." Sasuke said looking at Naruto as if he had a third eye.
"I'm not worried about that thing." Naruto said.
"Then what-?" Sasuke began to ask as a giant snake crush the smaller creature.
The genin stood in terror as the giant snake slithered towards them. It bared it's large fangs which were larger than the two male genin in front of it. Naruto was the first to snap out of his stupor followed by Sasuke. Naruto used a secret sign language to signal his teammates as they gave an affirmative nod.
Sasuke jumped into the trees landing on a high branch going through hand seals as Sakura hung back. Naruto stood in front of the snake flying through hand seals.
"Katon: Gōkakyū no jutsu."
"Fūton: Daitoppa no jutsu."
The massive fireball that flew from Sasuke's mouth merged with the mighty gust of wind that Naruto created turning into a flaming white inferno. The white flame made contact with the now stationary snake and instantly you could hear the skin popping.
"Well well, you three are better than I expected." A voice said that seemed to be all around them.
"Who's there?" Sasuke asked.
"Is it important who I am?" The voice echoed again.
"Not really but we like to know who's hunting us." Naruto answered.
"I suppose you should know your future masters face." The voice said as a man appeared behind Sasuke. "Sasuke Uchiha."
Before Sasuke could react the man bit him on the shoulder, when he pulled away a three tomoe mark was in the bitten area. Sasuke let out a loud scream before his eyes rolled to the back his head, his legs seemed to be jelly as they collapsed under him causing him to fall from the branch. Naruto moved quickly appearing under his friend catching him.
"Until next time Sasuke." The man said before looking at Naruto, "Let's see how good you are."
Naruto sensed the man release a large pulse of chakra right before he disappeared into a purple haze. Sakura rushed over to her fallen teammate with tears streaming down her face.
"What's wrong with him?" She asked frantically.
"I don't know but we have to get out of here." Naruto said putting Sasuke on his shoulder.
"But he's need medical attention." She argued.
"And he can get that when we finish." Naruto said speeding off leaving no room for argument.
Sakura sighed in defeat running to catch up with Naruto. She was worried about Sasuke but she knew they were sitting ducks if they stayed still.
The conscious members of team seven had been traveling for a little under an hour when they made it to their destination. They had successfully made it their without trouble thanks to Naruto's sensing ability but they didn't expect what was waiting for them.
Sakura shivered as they stopped in front a large tree. Their destination had forced them into their third climate, a freezing one. Naruto sat Sasuke down but something didn't feel right.
"Sakura do you feel that?" He asked.
"Feel what?" She said but realization dawned on her face, "KAI."
Sakura and Naruto simultaneously released a burst of chakra breaking the genjutsu placed on them. Naruto cautiously surveyed the area looking for the culprit and he was soon rewarded with an answer. Three shinobi jumped down from the trees landing in front of team seven. The clothes they wore suggested that they were from a colder climate their village symbol wasn't visible . A tall and muscular with a large sleeveless fur coat stood in the middle with his arms crossed, to his right stood a thin girl with long black hair that wore a similar coat to the one in the middle. The last one seemed to be a copy of the girl but a boy version.
"When did they start letting babies into these exams?" The big one asked in a cocky voice.
"When idiots like you became not good enough." Naruto shot back with his arms crossed.
"You gonna let the little baby talk to you like that Hiroto?" The male twin asked.
Hiroto growled, "Shut your mouth Aito."
Aito shrunk under the death glare of his teammate. Hiroto turned his attention back towards team seven.
"Don't make this harder than it has to be." He told them.
"What do you mean, why are you here?" Sakura screamed.
"Don't you get it Sakura, the proctors left out an important detail." Naruto told her.
"It seems your little blond boyfriend has figured it out." The girl said with a smirk.
"What do you mean? Figure what out?" She asked in confusion.
"Some teams were given the same task." Hiroto revealed.
"So I guess we're going to have to fight for this scroll then?" Naruto asked looking at the enemy ninja.
A smile appeared on the faces of the three shinobi, "I was hoping you would say that." Hiroto said charging forward.
"Sakura get Sasuke somewhere safe I'll deal with these guys for as long as I can." Naruto said charging forward with his freshly created clones.
Sakura put Sasuke on her back without hesitation and fled to find a safe place to put him down.
The twins had been forced to take their fights elsewhere by the Naruto clones while the real Naruto clashed with Hiroto. Hiroto smirked causing Naruto to wonder why, Naruto jumped back creating some space.
"What are you smiling about?" Naruto asked Hiroto.
"It seems like you were destined to lose as fate is on my side." He said unbuttoning his coat.
"What are talking about, give me a straight answer and stop being weird." Naruto told him.
Hiroto dropped his coat revealing some type of armor with four oddly placed dots on a metal plate in the center.
"How crazy is it that a snow ninja ends up in the snow climate against a leaf ninja?" He asked before he began to laugh like a mad man.
Naruto frowned this would be a problem not only was the snow a disadvantage but his opponent was wearing the fabled chakra armor.
X-x-X
Sakura panted as she sat Sasuke down, "I'll be back Sasuke-kun."
Sakura turned to take off but she was cut off by Aito with a psychotic grin on his face. He began to walk towards her stopping a few feet away.
"Where's a pretty girl like you going in such a hurry?" He asked.
Sakura frowned in disgust at the older boy in front of her. She knew the things that went on in the heads of people like him and she wanted no part in it. Without saying a word she shot forward closing the gap between them. Aito showed impressive reaction speed as he leaned his head to the left dodging a point blank punch from Sakura.
Aito lashed out with a snap kick catching Sakura in the ribs sending her tumbling backwards. She managed to use the momentum to push off the ground launching herself in the air.
Sakura let loose a volley of shuriken which Aito easily dodged. Sakura used that momentary distraction to cast low level genjutsu.
"Magen: Nijū Kokoni Arazu no Jutsu"
Aito began throwing weird palm strikes as the genjutsu took effect. Sakura smirked moving forward to end the fight. She moved behind Aito and smashed the blunt side of her kunai into his head rendering him unconscious. Sakura moved to pick Sasuke up but she saw a slight distortion in the air.
Quickly leaning to the left she dodged a kunai but she wasn't fast enough to move out of the way of the wire following it. Sakura became entwined in wire as the world around her shattered. She realized that she had fallen victim to a genjutsu.
"When did you cast the genjutsu?" Sakura asked looking up at Aito.
He smiled, "When you casted yours."
Sakura thought back to when she casted hers. It hit her, he wasn't throwing palm strikes he was disguising his hand seals. That was a simple tactic but it was one that could be overlooked and it would be the death of her.
As if he read her mind Aito smiled, "No I'm not going to kill you, at least not yet. I'm going to have some fun first."
Sakura started to thrash violently trying to break out of her bindings. To her surprise Aito walked right past her and over to Sasuke.
"What are you doing? Leave Sasuke-kun alone you bastard!" Sakura screamed.
"Oh so this one is your boyfriend?" Aito asked stopping in front of Sasuke.
Sakura remained silent but the silence was broken by her scream as Aito buried his foot into Sasuke's stomach before looking over at Sakura, "Say goodbye."
Aito kept his foot in Sasuke's stomach as he lift his foot dragging Sasuke's back on the tree. With a show of impressive leg strength he flicked his leg upward sending Sasuke into the air above the trees. After waiting a few seconds and no Sasuke Aito moved onto Sakura.
"Looks like the weakling got stuck in the trees," He said before squatting down in front of Sakura. "Now let's get back to you."
Aito rub Sakura's leg with a malicious grin on his face, he pulled a kunai out of his pack and cut the side of her skirt revealing her undergarments. Tears started streaming down her face and her mouth began to move but no words came out.
"It'll be over quick." Aito said pulling down his pants.
He began to move forward but a sudden dark presence crashed down on him. He looked up and the last thing he saw was a flaming fist as it crushed his head.
Elsewhere Naruto was fighting off two opponents before all three of them paused. He snapped his head towards the huge chakra signature.
"That feels like that guy from earlier but I sense Sasuke's chakra too." Naruto thought to himself before taking off towards the chakra signature.
Hiroto and Ai gave each other a brief look before chasing after Naruto. Naruto arrived to a ghastly scene, a half dressed-crying Sakura, Aito dead with a crushed and burned skull and a weird looking Sasuke.
Naruto was instantly by Sakura cutting her loose. As soon as she got loose she started crying into Naruto's chest. Naruto had never seen Sakura like this but he could figure out why. Aito had his pants down and Sakura's skirt had been cut, Aito had tried to rape her but Sasuke had woken up and transformed into that thing and killed him.
"I'm here now but I have to handle this." Naruto said standing up glaring at the Yuki nin, "Is this what they teach you in Yuki?"
Without knowing Naruto began leaking chakra, behind him was a trail of blue chakra tinted with a little red. Sasuke joined Naruto as he stalked towards the Yuki nin, Hiroto and Ai found themselves unconsciously backing away. A feral smirk appeared on both the faces of Naruto and Sasuke before they disappeared.
Naruto appeared behind Hiroto punching him in the back but his chakra armor proved sturdy as he only slid forward a few feet.
Sasuke seemed to be having a bit more Success as he dominated the taijutsu fight between him and Ai. He broke her guard sending her flying into a tree with a two punch combo. She slammed into the tree unconscious. Sasuke turned his attention back to Hiroto and Naruto who were throwing ninjutsu at each other.
Naruto dodged a tiger made out of black ice before sending a trio of wind blades at Hiroto which bounced off his armor.
Hiroto laughed, "Don't you get it ninjutsu won't work on me, it's my turn now."
All of the snow on the ground began to rise into the air and began to solidify into a large creature. The snow finished forming and revealed a large white whale with one horn.
"Hyōton: Ikkaku Hakugei."
The colossal whale moved slowly towards the two Konoha genin but they wouldn't sit idle as the monster fell upon them.
"Fūton: Sasu Yari."
Naruto exclaimed as his spear cut through the whale causing a gaping hole in its center causing to fall apart. As the last of the snow fell it revealed a panting Hiroto.
"Damn it that was my strongest jutsu."
"Well it wasn't enough." Sasuke said from behind him before snapping his neck.
Naruto grimaced at the smile that Sasuke wore, could he trust Sasuke at the moment? He wouldn't take the chance. Naruto vanished in a burst of speed and appeared beside Sasuke pressing his hand to his neck. Sasuke grunted in pain as the seal Naruto just placed on him started to take effect. The lines on Sasuke's face started to recede and the malicious chakra disappeared.
"Sorry I had to do that." Naruto told Sasuke.
Shaking his head getting his bearings back, "It's fine that power was whispering in my ears, trying to make me kill you and Sakura."
"That power is dangerous, we should let Kakashi sensei know about it." Naruto suggested.
"Yeah but we have to pass first." Sasuke told him.
Naruto moved over to Sakura who had passed out and picked her up, "Let's go get this scroll."
Naruto and Sasuke moved back to the tree that held the scroll containing their objective. Naruto reach his hand into the tree pulling out a small scroll. A sense of anticipation flowed through both the boys as they opened the scroll. Naruto unrolled it reading its contents, he showed it to Sasuke and they both let out a sigh of relief. Even though guarding the scroll may be the harder job as they could have multiple teams after them. It would be easier than searching for a team that could be anywhere.
Sasuke looked over at Sakura and shook his head, "I know I've been hard on her but she didn't deserve to go through what happened to her."
"Good thing you were there to stop him," Naruto told him, "Should we wake her up according the map the relief building is about three miles west of us."
"I'll get her." Sasuke said going to pick Sakura up.
Team 7 was on the move again, they moved quickly and quietly. Again with the help of Naruto's sensing abilities they avoided unnecessary trouble but as always trouble seemed to find them.
"There's a huge chakra signature followed by two genin level chakra signatures heading this way." Naruto informed Sasuke.
"What do you want to do?" Sasuke asked ready to back his friend up.
"Let's keep moving the building is right there." Naruto said pointing the building which was now visible.
The fog was starting to clear and team seven was a few feet away from completing the first stage of the chunin exams. Sasuke smiled as they landed in front of the relief building.
"Looks like we made it." He said patting Naruto on the back.
"Yeah it's looks like it, hold the scroll for me." Naruto said handing him the scroll that verified their completion.
He harshly pushed Sasuke back along with Sakura as a wall of sand rose up from the ground cutting the teammates off. You could hear the muffled screams of Sasuke on the other side of the wall.
"I'm sorry Sasuke I couldn't let you two get in the way." Naruto said as he slowly turned around.
He turned to face three shinobi, a boy with purple make up, a blonde girl with pigtails and a redheaded boy.
"How noble of you." The boy with makeup taunted.
Naruto ignored him and kept his eyes on the redhead, "What do you want son of the kazekage?"