Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor do I understand why anybody would think I did. This is being posted as fan fiction after all.

Sasuke rushed Naruto with, to what would seem to most gennin, incredible speed. Naruto would barely be able to match it, at least if his bloodline was inactive. But it was and he was able to avoid the Uchiha easily enough, he was still a bit concerned though. There were a few things he was worried about, okay two. The first was the power boost that Sasuke seemed to have gotten. He could sense the foul chakra he was emitting, something very similar to what Orochimaru had used to try to mark him. He also wanted to make sure that Sasuke didn't kill their prisoners before they could be questioned. "You know, this is rather ungrateful of you. We just saved your team from some attacking Oto-nin and you turn around and attack us."

"That means nothing to me. I have to test myself, test my power. I need to get stronger in order to beat him."

"You shouldn't seek strength for its own sake Uchiha, or for vengeance. That leads down a dangerous path."

"Shut up." Sasuke came forward again, throwing himself at Naruto with reckless abandon. Naruto's Megurushi no To-Remu was active, giving him an edge in speed. Sasuke seemed too caught up in that strange chakra to activate his own kekkai genkai, for which Naruto was grateful. The Sharingan would have helped even the playing field, though it probably wasn't enough to give Sasuke the edge.

Naruto caught Sasuke's fist as it flew in, then twisted and used it as leverage to throw Sasuke off to the side. "Calm down Uchiha, this isn't really the best time to fight."

Sasuke growled, and was about to charge anyways when a pair of arms wrapped around him from behind. "Sasuke-kun," Sakura's voice came out as an anguished cry. Indeed, she was crying into Sasuke's shoulder. "Stop it Sasuke-kun, what's happened to you?" That seemed to calm Sasuke down. He took several deep breaths, calming down noticeably. The marks on his face and arms changed color to a mixture of red and orange before receding to a mark on his neck. Naruto walked over carefully and looked down at Sasuke's neck where it was revealed by his shirt. He was able to see the last of the markings recede into a three-tomo mark on his shoulder.

"Orochimaru did that didn't he?"

Sakura looked at him warily, "How did you know that?"

Naruto pulled the shoulder of his gi aside, emphasizing the bandages wrapped around his neck and shoulder. "He tried to do the same thing to us, but it didn't mix well with our bloodline. We came here because we sensed the Oto-nins' chakra. Orochimaru was wearing a sound hitaite, so I'm hoping those three can give us some insight as to his motives." There was a sudden flare of killing intent as two more chakra signatures arrived on the scene. Naruto turned slowly, "Hello Neji, to what do I owe this pleasure."

Neji's eyes narrowed as he glared at Naruto, "What did you do to Lee."

"We," Naruto said while motioning to the rest of his team, "saved him from these Oto-nin. He's your teammate I take it."

"Yes," Neji's Byakugan activated, "but that doesn't change anything."

"Neji-kun," Lee seemed to have shaken off his disorientation as he appeared suddenly between Naruto and Neji, "attacking Naruto-kun right now would be most unyouthful, he just provided assistance to us against the Oto-nin."

"I don't care."'

"You should listen to your teammate Neji, he seems to have a better grasp of gratitude and camaraderie than you do. Besides, it doesn't appear like Lee would help you if you picked a fight right now. You'd be outnumbered."

The allusion to the practicality of the circumstance was the only thing that seemed to calm Neji down. "You're right it seems, it's still not the time for me to fight you. Lee, we're leaving."

Lee frowned slightly, "Of course Neji-kun." He turned to face Naruto and his team. "You'll have to excuse my teammate; he does not have the youthful fires that you and I share." With that, he leapt into the trees to follow his team.

Naruto looked at the lone remaining member of their team, a girl with her brown hair done up in buns. "What does he mean by youthful fires?"

She shook her head, "You don't want to know. I'm Tenten by the way, I have a feeling I'll see you again later in the exams Naruto." She waved brightly, then leapt off after her two teammates.

Naruto turned to glance at Team Ten. "How long do you three plan to wait before leaving?" Ino opened her mouth to reply but was cut off as Naruto spoke again. "Consider that more of a suggestion than a question."

Shikamaru nodded, "Let's go Ino."

"But,"

"Now." Ino hesitated a bit; Shikamaru's uncharacteristic forcefulness took her by surprise.

She pouted a bit, "Fine." Team Ten backed away and leapt off, Shikamaru keeping a wary eye on Naruto until they were gone.

Yugito looked over at Sai, "Do you plan on getting up or are you going to lie there all day?"

"You noticed I woke up."

"Yeah, a few minutes ago; right before I finished off my opponent." She gestured over to Sasuke, "What happened to him."

Sai's fake smile vanished, replaced by an expression of utmost seriousness. "Orochimaru happened. We were in the forest when we were hit by a powerful gust of wind. I suspect it was Fuuton: Daitoppa. I was separated from the rest of my team. By the time I made it back a Kusa-nin had cornered Sasuke and Sakura. He was emitting incredible amounts of killing intent; I was barely able to fight through it. I insulted Sasuke as I started fighting; it seemed to snap him out of it. We confronted Orochimaru together, but he was just playing with us. He seemed to be testing Sasuke. Eventually, he apparently decided that he had seen enough. He backhanded me, knocking me back into a tree. Before I lost consciousness I saw him extend his neck to bite Sasuke, which I assume is when he marked him. Then I blacked out, and came to just in time to see you defeat the Oto-nin."

Naruto paced back over to the bound Oto-nin as he activated his Mantoru no To-Remu in order to appear more menacing. "So he did use the same technique on Sasuke as he tried to use on us." He turned and fixed the Oto-nin with a menacing stare, "Now, let's see what these guys can tell us about it."

Half an hour later Naruto was standing over the corpses of three Oto-nin, wiping the blood from his claws. "Figures, they were just lackeys. Didn't know a thing about Orochimaru's plans beyond their orders."

Sakura was standing nearby, a look of horror on her face. "You killed them."

"I'm a shinobi, of course I killed them."

"But they were helpless."

"Remind me again of what their objective was?"

"To kill Sasuke-kun."

"Did they care that he was helpless?"

"Well, no."

"Exactly, they would have killed him in a heartbeat given the chance. Do you really think that you should so them mercy? Well, you shouldn't. But it's not because they would have murdered your teammate, although that should certainly add to your motivation. The willingness to kill in cold blood is necessary, in all shinobi. If you can't grasp that you may as well find another line of work." He paused for a second, his lips quirking up in a grim smile as he turned to face Sasuke. "You're planning to attack me aren't you?"

"It's every team for themselves out here, and Orochimaru burnt our scroll."

"And just after we saved your ass, you really are ungrateful aren't you?" Sasuke tensed at that but held himself in check, for now. "Arrogant too, seeing as how I was able to handle you easily enough while you were under the effects of that seal and I held back. But today's your lucky day I guess." Naruto held up an Earth Scroll that he had taken from the dead Oto-nin. "We have no need for this, and at the moment I want to get to that tower as quickly as possible. So I'm willing to offer you a deal. I give you this scroll and you don't do anything stupid until after I'm gone. Or you decline and I beat you to a bloody pulp, your call."

"If you're going to the tower that means you have both scrolls. There's no way I'm going to settle for one." Sasuke sprang forward, only to have his collar pull tight against his neck. Sai had grabbed him by the back of the shirt, causing Sasuke's lunge to result in him landing flat on his back.

"Swallow your pride for a change Dickless, he's offering us a good deal. How likely do you think it is for us to get a scroll without having to fight for it? Besides, he's right. You didn't even give him a hard time earlier." He turned to face Naruto, his fake smile reappearing on his face. "Please forgive my teammate's idiocy. Like I said earlier, he lets his pride get the better of him too often, likely to compensate for his tiny dick." Sasuke and Sakura both shot him dark glares for that statement, though he ignored both of them. "I would be happy to accept your offer."

Naruto tossed him the scroll. "Remind me to come to you if I ever have to deal with this team again." He left that as his parting statement, turning and leaping into the trees. His teammates followed him soon afterwards and they sped towards the tower. Yugito waited until they were well out of Team Seven's earshot before asking Naruto a question. "Naruto-kun, why did you give them that scroll? Sure we don't know the extent of Sai's prowess but with what we know of the other two it's highly unlikely that they could have beaten us."

"Yeah, we could've taken them. But Neji may still have been nearby and he'll take any chance he can to attack me. He's good too; you can see it in the way he moves. He'd probably give either of us difficulties. There's a distinct possibility that Sai could do the same. So I thought it would just be a fight best avoided."

"I guess you have a point."

"Of course I do." As the trees sped by to either side of them Yugito could be heard muttering something about smartasses.

Team Four reached the tower without further incident. Although the last mile or so was rather aggravating. They discovered more traps and ambushes in that small area than they had in the rest of the forest. They probably would have been caught in a few fights if it wasn't for Ishiki no To-Remu. Even so, it was a deeply trying time for the Araikis' patience. Meitoku just bore it with his usual stoicism.

It was with great relief that they finally walked up to the tower. They had made good time too, only taking about twenty-five hours to get there. They had to walk around the building briefly to find their door, then pushed it open and walked inside. Naruto pulled a pair of scrolls from his pouch as he walked into the room, tossing one to Yugito. He slid his thumb under the first roll of paper and glanced over to her, "We're at the tower so we can open these things now, ready?"

"Yeah." Both gennin took a moment to steady themselves before pulling the scrolls open. They had a glimpse of a seal pattern on the inside of the scrolls before everything became obscured by a thick cloud of smoke.

"There's an increasing amount of chakra being gathered." For perhaps the first time, Naruto noted a trace of worry in Meitoku's voice.

As the chakra signature grew more complete, however, Naruto relaxed. "Don't worry, looks like our sensei is paying us a visit."

Sure enough, the summoning ended with a brief burst that cleared the smoke from the area, revealing Akana standing in the middle of the room. "Hmm, took you guys a bit longer than I thought it would."

"Kaa-san, what are you doing here?"

"Oh, that. The scrolls are generally used to summon chuunin to meat with teams at the end of the second exam. But it's not uncommon for a foreign team's sensei to request to meet with their team instead."

"Oh," Naruto shifted slightly, causing his gi to ride a bit lower on his shoulder.

Akana's eyes narrowed, "Naruto, what happened in the forest that required you to wear bandages?"

"Well, we kind of had a run in with Orochimaru."

"What!" Akana was beside him in an instant, pulling the gi aside to get a look at the bandages underneath. "What the hell did that bastard to you? I swear, if he caused any long-term damage I'll-"

"Relax Kaa-san, he tried to do something but it didn't work."

Naruto's voice seemed to bring Akana back to her senses. She took a deep breath as she stepped back, calming herself down. "Tell me what happened."

"He attacked us shortly after we took out two teams of Ame-nin. He seemed to be playing with us, testing us. Anyway, after we tried to hit him with a combined Karyuudan and Fuuryuudan he seemed to have seen enough. Then he performed some sort of strange jutsu and bit us on the neck. It injected some sort of foreign chakra into us. I think it's intended to use chakra flow to spread throughout the body, which would explain why it didn't work right on us. But it's being expelled from our bodies slowly. Some of it's still present in the wound, apparently interfering with our own chakra and healing factor."

"So why did he leave?"

"Well, we attacked him when he bit us. I think he expected the attack to immobilize us. Since it didn't he was vulnerable. I severed the head biting me, but it turned out to be a fake. Yugito gave him a rather nasty gash on his neck. Meitoku had also adapted to Orochimaru's killing intent by then and stabbed him with a charged Katana. Orochimaru looked like hell, but it didn't seem to bother him much. Then he left, but not before offering to take Yugito-chan and me up as apprentices. We refused of course."

"Obviously, or you wouldn't be here. Now let me take a look at those wounds."

"We've already cleaned them Kaa-san, and you're not exactly a medic."

"No, I'm just a genjutsu mistress who specializes in altering the flow of chakra in others. What exactly did you say was giving you trouble again?"

"That foreign chakra."

"Exactly, now let me take a look." Naruto shrugged out of his gi, then removed the mesh shirt and bandages to grant Akana access to the wound. She laid her hand on it, and he felt a slight tingle as she examined his chakra system. "There's definitely some foreign chakra in their, nasty stuff too. It seems to be trying to move towards your brain, but it has all it can handle trying to avoid being swept out of your system. Give me a sec and don't resist." What followed was an odd sensation as Akana asserted a bit of control over his chakra flow. The tiny trickle of chakra leaking from his wound increased dramatically, the foul taint pouring forth for a few seconds. Akana removed her hand from the wound. "How's it feel now?"

"Great, I can already feel it starting to heal. Bleeding should be gone in no time and the wound won't last much longer."

"Good to know that genjutsu training is useful for more than creating illusions. Yugito, get over here. I'll get that stuff out of you next."

Naruto waited patiently until Akana was done tending to Yugito before asking his next question. "So, what comes next?"

"I'm not allowed to tell you too much, but you'll be staying here in this tower until the end of this exam. Rooms are on the fifth story. You have room number 503, seeing as how you're the third team to make it to the tower. One team from Suna and one from Konoha have made it already."

"Did the one from Suna have a red-haired kid with a gourd."

"Yes, how did you know?"

"Just a hunch, that's Sabaku no Gaara. He's a jinchuuriki and struck both myself and Yugito-chan as a bit dangerous, if less than sane. He's one to watch out for."

"There's no arguing that, his team beat the previous record by more than an hour. With luck you won't have to face him."

"Excuse me Akana-sensei," she directed her gaze to Meitoku, who had just spoken. "I would appreciate it if you could direct me to this tower's medical facility. Orochimaru broke three of my ribs, and while I can still function I would be most relieved to get them healed."

"Of course, the second floor is devoted to medical treatment. It's needed fairly often around here with all the hazards of this forest. Well, I need to go then. I should have a word with the officials about this incident with Orochimaru. See you later?" She waved goodbye whilst being enveloped in a crackle of electricity and was gone.

"I believe I'll report to the infirmary then. It will be nice to finally get my ribs healed."

"Okay, see you later then." Yugito turned to Naruto, what are you going to do. "Get to the room and relax a bit, sit on something soft. I'm still sore from those shots I took from Orochimaru."

Yugito sighed, "I might as well do the same then, there won't be anything else to do."

"Quit pouting, we've got four days with nothing that needs to be done. I'm sure you'll have plenty of opportunities to amuse yourself."

"Yeah, but that won't make me any less bored now."

Naruto sighed as he started climbing the stairs, "Sometimes there's just no pleasing you."

"You know you love it." Naruto didn't even respond as he climbed up the stairs.

He was right, it was nice to sit down on a couch and just relax for a bit. Like he had said, he was still a bit sore from the beating Orochimaru gave him. And considering how he could heal from cuts within hours that really spoke to how hard the snake sannin could hit. In another day or so he figured he'd be completely recovered. His musings were cut short as he felt someone settle down on his stomach, which was probably the sorest part of his body. "Yugito-chan, you're sitting on me."

"Do you really think I hadn't noticed?"

"I was hoping it would get you to move."

"No such luck." She did shift her weight though, reclining to lie down on top of him and resting her head next to his on the armrest. She turned to face him, "Why do you think he chose us?"

Naruto's mind flashed back to their unpleasant encounter with Orochimaru. It was an issue he had already given some thought, so he had an answer ready. "He seemed to be looking to recruit us because of the potential we showed, but I bet there's more to it than that. As far as we know, the only other gennin he targeted was the Uchiha. So the possibility that he's after bloodlines has to be considered."

"Figures, if we're not hunted for our bijuu we're hunted for something else."

Naruto lapsed into silence for a long moment before replying, "Kaa-san told me something once. It was a long time ago, just after I learned of my kidnapping. She said that there are certain people who destiny clings to like a shroud, who will always seem to be at the center of the most important events of their time. They won't live an easy life, they won't be content with that. But they will live. They'll have days where they'll experience more in an hour than most people will in their lifetime. They'll live a life worthy of legend, a life that people dream of. And when all is said and done, they wouldn't want anything else."

"And she said that you were one of those people?"

"She stopped short of saying that outright, but I like to think we are. Even if we can't remember it well, we experienced more suffering in our first two years of life than anyone should ever have to go through. Now we're being groomed to found a clan and will likely end up with significant influence in Kumogakure. And besides, I know you wouldn't be content as an average person."

She tightened her grip on him, snuggling into his warmth. "Yeah."

"Wow, I'm impressed that you still remember that. I must have made an impression." Akana watched in amusement as Yugito leapt several feet into the air in shock. "Hey, that was even more impressive than back in the Daimyo's infirmary. You're a lot easier to sneak up on when you're preoccupied with my son."

Yugito landed in an undignified heap, and straightened herself out with a huff. "Haven't I told you not to do that?"

"Haven't I told you that that would ruin my fun?"

Yugito spun on her heel and poked Naruto in the chest, "You need to do something about this."

"Me, what am I supposed to do? And how did I get dragged into this anyway? All I wanted was a little peace and quiet so I could rest."

"If you'd convince her to leave us alone you would have had that."

"You didn't look like you were letting him rest when I walked in."

"Kaa-san, you're not helping."

"Wasn't trying to." Naruto groaned as he flopped back onto the couch. Akana seemed to take great pleasure in embarrassing and annoying both himself and Yugito from time to time. It didn't help matters that Yugito rose to the bait a little too easily. Sighing to himself, he discreetly formed a seal and shunshined into his room, leaving the two women to argue amongst themselves.

The remainder of the time allotted for the second exam passed rather uneventfully. Only two more teams came in, another team of rookie gennin from Konoha and Neji's team. Team Four passed most of their time with light sparring in the tower's training area. Naruto noticed two people that seemed to be keeping a close eye on him. One was, predictably, Neji. He wasn't shy about it either, standing in plain view while Naruto trained and staring at him with that same baleful glare. It was looking like a fight with him was inevitable. The young Hyuga would be in for a nasty surprise when that happened. The other was Gaara. He was a lot more subtle, usually concealing himself well. Naruto doubted that most gennin would have been able to sense his presence. As it was, Naruto was quickly reaching the conclusion that Gaara was a bit unstable. He was bloodthirsty too, it seemed to radiate off the young gennin and was what clued Naruto in to his presence more often than not. He was beginning to wonder how many more fights he had in store before he departed for Kumo.

A Konoha chuunin found them about half an hour before the second exam was set to end. He brought them to a large room on the ground floor of the tower. There was a balcony ringing the room and a sculpture of two hands in a seal protruding from the wall. It was the people within the room, however, that caught Naruto's attention. Most notably was Konoha's Sandaime Hokage, but there were several other notable shinobi as well. Ibiki was present once more. As was the spandex-clad Maito Gai, who was one of the few Konoha-nin to achieve the same level of renown as Kakashi. There was also Sarutobi Asuma, the Sandaime's son. The last jounin of note Naruto observed was Baki, a Suna jounin of some fame.

Several other gennin teams were present as well. All of those who had reached the tower were arrayed across the floor of the room. Two additional teams had made it, Konoha's Team Seven as well as a team full of older Konoha-nin. Judging from the door they entered they had only just made it in from the Forest of Death. Naruto noticed that two more jounin arrived as well. One of them was unfamiliar to Naruto, the other was Kakashi. The copy-nin wasted little time in burying his nose into an orange book, seemingly oblivious to whatever Gai started talking to him about.

"Hokage-sama," Naruto was snapped out of his reverie as he turned to see Anko speaking, "The Second Exam is officially over. Of the twenty-one teams that entered the forest these seven have passed. I was hoping to cut the number of contestants down to single digits, but oh well."

"Very well Anko." The Sandaime turned to face the assembled gennin. "Now, it is time for me to explain to you the true purpose of this exam. The most obvious reason for these exams is to give gennin a chance to earn a promotion to the rank of chuunin. Another purpose is to foster friendship between villages. But the true purpose of these exams is to serve as a replacement for war amongst the various nations."

"Replacement for war," Naruto turned to see Tenten speaking, "what do you mean?"

"In the past, the various Elemental Nations were all at war with each other. Villages that are now allies fought against each other to vie for supremacy. But war is a tragic event, and the villages sought to end it. They reached a peace agreement eventually but the villages remained competitive, and began sending groups of shinobi to compete against each other. This became the forerunner of the Chuunin Exams, where shinobi risked their lives for the prestige of their country."

"Why should we have to risk our lives for that! I thought we were here to become Chuunin." The Inuzuka was unable to restrain an outburst, again.

The Sandaime inhaled deeply from his pipe and blew out a mouthful of smoke before replying. "Yes, this exam does decide who is worthy of advancing to the rank of chuunin. But there is more to it than that. The final exam is viewed by many important dignitaries including Daimyos and the leaders of your villages. This exam is important for them in deciding which villages to give their missions to. If a village appears strong in the exam it will experience an increase in missions. If it appears weak, it will lose missions as they go to other villages."

"But that still doesn't explain why we have to fight to the death," it seemed that the Inuzuka was incapable of keeping his mouth shut.

"Because the strength of a village is the strength of its shinobi. And the true strength of shinobi is only evident in battles where their life is on the line. You have to remember, this isn't just a fight to determine if you'll become a shinobi. This is a fight to the death, with your dreams and the honor of your village on the line." He paused for a second, surveying the room. None of the assembled gennin spoke. "It seems that you understand. Very well, I will now explain to you what will be happening in the Final Exam."

He was cut short as a jounin landed in front of him in a bow. "Excuse me Hokage-same but I, Gekkou Hayate and Proctor of the Third Exam would like to address them."

"Very well, proceed Hayate."

"Thank you Hokage-sama." He turned to face the gennin, giving them a view of his pallid complexion and the bags under his eyes. He looked deathly ill, an appearance only enhanced by the occasional cough he gave. "My name is Gekkou Hayate and I'm the proctor of the third and final Stage of the Chuunin Exams. Before the Final Exam begins I must hold preliminary round to see who advances."

"Preliminary round, why do we need that?" To Naruto's surprise, that outburst came from Shikamaru.

"Because the first two stages might have been too easy this year, too many of you have passed the first two exams. As Hokage-sama mentioned earlier, many important dignitaries attend the finals of the Chuunin Exam. That means the amount of time we have to complete the finals is limited. We also need to ensure that only the very best are left to compete. This isn't my decision, the rules state that if more than twelve shinobi remain after the second exam a preliminary round must be held."

Meitoku, as usual, asked the pertinent question. "What does the preliminary round consist of?"

Hayate coughed a bit before replying. "The Preliminary Round will consist of a series of single elimination fights. You will be randomly assigned an opponent, so you may find yourself fighting against members of your own village or even your own team. Once the fight begins you are free to use whatever methods and however much force you desire. Killing your opponent is allowed, albeit discouraged. Before the preliminaries begin I would like to ask if anybody would like to withdraw. The Second Exam is taxing, and if you are still nursing injuries from it may be a good idea to withdraw instead of fighting to the death."

There was a long silence until, "I withdraw." Naruto recognized the speaker, the silver-haired Konoha-nin who had been attacked by the Oto-nin shortly before the exams begin.

"Very well, I have to ask you to leave the room."

"Kabuto-san," it was Sai speaking now, "why are you withdrawing from the exam? You seemed to be in good shape during that battle with those Ame-nin."

Kabuto grinned ruefully, "My body hasn't recovered from that fight yet, I'm pretty beat up. Besides, my left ear is still suffering from the attack that Oto-nin threw at me before the exams. I'm sorry Sai, but I don't feel think I should continue." With that, Kabuto left the room. A large monitor descended from the ceiling and came to rest alongside the wall. Various names flashed across the screen, eventually coming to rest with the words Uchiha Sasuke vs. Akado Yoroi.

"The first match will be between Uchiha Sasuke and Akado Yoroi. Will everyone else please clear the floor." The shinobi moved to climb the stairs that lead to the balcony encircling the room. Team Four stood apart a little ways.

"It's odd," mused Akana, "I've never seen someone pull out early once in all the exams I've been to. That kid must have been hurt pretty bad."

"No," said Naruto, "he was lying."

"What makes you say that?"

"His response to Sai's question. He said that he was still suffering from that Oto-nin's attack. But we fought him in the forest. He utilized sound to attack the inner ear. If Kabuto was still being affected by that attack his balance would have been shot, and he was moving too well for that. Sai must have suspected something, probably why he asked the question."

"If he's not injured, what reason could he possibly have for withdrawing from the exams early?"

"That, is a very good question." Their discussion was cut short as they heard Hayate begin the match. Yoroi rushed Sasuke who, oddly enough, didn't activate his Sharingan. That didn't stop him however, from bringing his opponent to the ground with a textbook takedown. The follow-up hold was just as perfect, completely immobilizing Yoroi. He didn't seem overly concerned by that fact though, especially when a visible blue glow surrounded his hands. Sasuke leapt to his feet leaping backwards to place some distance between himself and his foe.

"My chakra."

"So you noticed. It's my special attack, I can drain chakra with a touch. You don't stand a chance against me in close-combat." Yoroi rushed Sasuke, loosing a barrage of attacks. The young Uchiha was forced to retreat freely, giving him the time he needed to frantically dodge Yoroi's touch. Naruto's eyes narrowed, the Uchiha clan had been famed for their fire jutsus. Sasuke must have known some, so why didn't he use them to start ranged combat with an opponent who was so dangerous in close-quarter combat.

Then Sasuke surprised him. He dropped to the ground and kicked upwards with a move that seemed inconsistent with what Naruto had seen of the Uchiha's taijutsu, granted that was rather limited knowledge. The kick came with a sudden burst of speed and Yoroi was unable to avoid it. The blow caught him under the chin, launching him into the air. Sasuke leapt up from the ground appearing directly underneath Yoroi. "It's over." Then Sasuke froze up. Naruto noticed the sudden tenseness in the boy's shoulder. Sasuke was apparently feeling intense pain at that spot, likely a result of the curse seal. He froze up for a second, and it looked like he was going to miss his window of opportunity. But it was only for a second, then the last Uchiha burst into action.

He twisted his body around, driving a kick towards Yoroi's side. It was blocked easily, but Sasuke just used it to increase his momentum as he spun the other way. His punch hit Yoroi solidly in the chest, knocking him back towards the ground. Sasuke fell with him, subjecting the boy to a brutal series of midair kicks. It ended with him burying his foot into Yoroi's stomach at the same moment the older gennin hit the floor with enough force to crack the tiles. Yoroi coughed up blood, then lay very still.

"The winner of the first match, Uchiha Sasuke."

"He won even with the handicap."

Akana turned towards her son, "What handicap."

"You know how I told you that Orochimaru tried to mark us with a cursed seal. He did mark Sasuke with it, on his shoulder. Coincidentally, his shoulder seemed to provide him with some severe pain at the end of his match. The seal must have been hindering him, which could explain why Sasuke didn't use any jutsu or his Sharingan."

"He tried to tempt you to join him by branding you with a cursed seal that limits your power?"

"It can provide a power boost as well, a pretty impressive one. He awoke shortly after we found him in the Forest of Death, covered in symbols and purple chakra. His power increased significantly, but he appeared unstable. He showed even less restraint than he had in the past, and attacked me until his teammate managed to calm him down."

"Naruto," Yugito's voice projected a bit of worry, something that got both their attention immediately. "The participants for the next match have been determined."

Naruto turned to the board. It read Hyuga Neji vs. Gifu Meitoku.

Translations

Megurushi no To-Remu: Translates to Markings of the Totem. This is the first stage of the kekkai genkai To-Remu Yajuuki. It is easily identified as the user's chakra appears on their skin in a pattern of tribal markings. While in this state the user gains enhanced speed, strength, and sensory ability. Additionally, their nails turn into claws and they gain the ability to utilize the rest of their bloodline's techniques.

Ishiki no To-Remu: Translates to Senses of the Totem. User's eyes change to resemble that of their totem. Chakra will also outline the user's ears. This stage of To-Remu Yajuuki greatly enhances all five senses of its user.

Mantoru no To-Remu: Translates to Mantle of the Totem. This technique forms a protective field of chakra around the user. The field will move autonomously, seeking to deflect glancing blows and lessening the force of ones that land more solidly.

Fuuton Daitoppa: Translates to Wind Release: Great Breathrough

Katon Karyuudan: Translates to Fire Release: Fire Dragon Blast. A fire version of the Water Dragon Blast used by Zabuza and Kakashi.

Fuuton: Fuuryudan: Translates to Wind Release: Wind Dragon Blast. A wind version of the Water Dragon Blast used by Zabuza and Kakashi.