Chapter 13: To the tower

Disclaimer: Naruto is owned by Masashi Kishimoto

A/N: Sorry for the delay, but I had exams so I wasn't able to update. Here's the new chapter.

Haku recovered from his temporary paralysis which had lasted for almost five hours. He stretched to ease his stiff bones and ate a soldier pill. He instantly felt his chakra returning. Then he sat down on the ground and tried to formulate a strategy.

"Alright, first I have to find a cave of some sort and hide it with a jutsu. Then I will treat Sasuke and Naruto as much as I can. Once they wake up and we will see what route we will take," thought Haku.

Haku took Naruto and Sasuke on his back and trudged along the muddy soil of the battlefield. Fortunately for him, he was able to find a cave close by. He dumped Naruto and Sasuke there and then laid some traps around the cave. Then he came back to the cave and whispered, 'Ice style: Mirror Illusion.' Thin mirrors appeared and reflected the surroundings of the cave to make it appear that there was no cave or anything at all at the place where the three genin had take refuge. Next, Haku took out a high powered chakra containing seal and put it on the main mirror and fell asleep as he too was very weary.

At dawn, Haku woke up and found out that the chakra seal was still sustaining the mirrors and that Naruto and Sasuke were still asleep. So, he treated their wounds, then he took out the piece of paper, Naruto had given him and channeled chakra into it. What he saw on the map, astonished him. A genin team was advancing directly to the direction of the cave.

"Oh no!" Said Haku aloud. "I can probably defeat them by myself as their chakra seems very low even though their chakra pools are full. However, fighting them would alert the other teams close by."

Haku decided to wait and see if they would cross the area without spotting the cave or if they would attack them.

After some time, the team stopped just outside of the cave. Haku stayed silent to hear what they were saying.

"Where is Sasuke? Orochimaru-sama will kill us if we don't beat that Sasuke guy." Said a male voice.

"Then a feminine voice said, "Well, Kabuto-sama said that his team is at this spot.

Haku became angry as he heard about Orochimaru. He became furious and jumped out of his hiding-spot.

"Fight me, you bastards! 'Ice style: Ice dome'" Said Haku and a huge dome surrounded the cave, Haku and the other team. Then Haku cast a genjutsu over the dome to make it invisible. "The dome will not let any chakra or noise out so people will not come here."

"Oh, so one of you came out, well lets introduce ourselves, I am Dosu." Said a bandaged boy.

"I am Zaku." Said another boy.

"I am Kin." Said a girl. "We have come to defea..."

"Blah Blah Blah!" Interrupted Haku, "Just shut up and fight.

"You asked for it!" Said the boy named Zaku.

"Sound style: Sound release" Dosu shouted out. A blast of screaming wind hit Haku straight in the stomach. Haku coughed up some blood and then initiated his jutsu 'Ice style: Ice spear.' A spear came out of the ground next to Haku. Haku grabbed it and attacked Kin. Kin tried to fight back with a kunai but Haku used his superior speed to get behind her and then he smashed the spear on the back of her neck rendering her unconscious. However, while Haku was busy with Kin, Zaku had come up behind him and restrained him.

Haku futilely tried to get free but, right then Sasuke came up from behind Zaku and twisted his arms behind his back. "Sasuke! What happened to you!?" Shouted Haku as he was horrified at the marks over Sasuke's body. Sasuke was covered in black marks that looked like seals.

Sasuke didn't reply to Haku, instead he gave a menacing smile and said, "This power feels good, I want to test it." Then Sasuke was about to break Zaku's arms when an orange flash came out of nowhere and knocked out Sasuke, Dosu and Zaku. It was Naruto.

"Haku! Are you okay?" Asked Naruto

Haku nodded and said, "Yeah, but you have to seal whatever that thing on Sasuke is."

Naruto said, "Yeah, you are right. That's a curse mark. It will hurt Sasuke a lot while I take out this seal so hold him tightly. Those Sound ninja won't wake up any time soon."

"Do you have enough chakra?" Asked Haku while holding Sasuke up.

"Yeah, because of my special guest I gain all of my chakra with a good sleep. Now hold him tightly!"

Haku grabbed Sasuke's arms and legs and tied them with rope. Then he held Sasuke tightly.

After Haku had restrained Sasuke sufficiently, Naruto called out, 'Sealing style: Three pronged seal release!' Naruto's hands started glowing. He put his glowing hands on the curse seal. At once Sasuke let out a bloodcurdling scream which would have caused teams to appear at that spot if not for Haku's ice dome. Haku felt like letting Sasuke go but he knew he couldn't because the curse seal would not go away then. After 2 minutes, Sasuke quietened down andfell back unconscious. A dead black snake flew out from the seal which Naruto burnt with a fire jutsu.

"Okay, I need to rest for a while." Said Naruto and sat down on the ground. Haku sat down beside him after cutting the ropes that restrained Sasuke.

"Oh yeah, by the way, I think I unlocked my magnet style." Said Naruto.

"What!?" Asked Haku.

Haku was dumbfounded and speechless. He looked at Naruto for some time then sighed and said, "I wonder how powerful you will get Naruto."

Naruto grinned and said, "Well, anyway do we have both the scrolls?"

Haku nodded and said, "Yup."

"Okay then, wait let me just see which path to the tower we will take." said Naruto.

He took out his special map and looked at it for some time. Then he closed it and put it on his equipment pouch. He turned to Haku and said, "The closest teams are 2 hours away, so we have to move quickly if we want to get to the tower. I will summon two shadow clones to carry Sasuke."

After, Sasuke had been securely lifted by the shadow clones, team 7 made their way to the tower. The only incident being, Sasuke waking up. After Sasuke woke up, Haku explained everything to him and what had happened. Sasuke thanked Naruto for removing the curse seal and then asked what it was.

"Well," Said Naruto, "The cursed seal allows the attacker to take possession of both the physical and mental form of the victim. It also allows the attacker to invade the body of the victim and control it. For example, through your seal, Orochimaru could invade your body and take control of you."

Sasuke shuddered at the thought and then asked Naruto to dispel the clones as he could walk himself but it only took one poke to his leg to make him unconscious again. So, the clones lifted him up again and the team resumed their journey.

The rest of the journey was uneventful. They arrived at the tower with no complications. Once they entered the tower, they saw a sign that said: 'If you do not possess Heaven, gain knowledge and be prepared. If you do not possess Earth, run through the field and seek strength. If you open both Heaven and Earth scrolls, dangerous paths turn into safe ones. This is the secret of something. It shall lead you on your way.'

"Open both the scrolls now." Said Haku being the smartest of the group

Without a word Naruto opened both the scrolls at the sametime. Smoke appeared and when it cleared Iruka could be seen.

"Iruka nee-san!" Naruto said and jumped on Iruka.

"You won't ever call me sensei will you Naruto?" Said Iruka. Naruto shook his head. "By the way what has happened to Sasuke."

"Oh, um, we fought Orochimaru." replied Naruto getting off of Iruka.

"WHAAAAAT!" Shouted Iruka.

A/N: Done! I know it's a short chapter but I wanted to update as fast as possible because it's been a long time since I updated. So I hope you liked the chapter and PLEASE REVIEW.