A/N: Sorry for taking so long, folks, I promise that the next one will be longer. But I figured you guys would rather have a short chapter now then a longer one a month from now, so here it is.

Thinker1234: Thank you for the kind words, I am glad you are enjoying the story.

Dragon: Happy you agree

To anyone who was confused by the last paragraphs of the last chapter: Don't worry, everything will make sense soon, I promise.

A big thank you to everyone who faved the story and another one to those who put it on story alert as well as those who favorite me as well. You guys are the reason I write.

The Iwa Shinobi Chapter 11: The Second Exam: Between Rock and a Snake

As soon as the signal was given, the Genin raced into the Forest of Death, or rather, everyone except for Team 10.

"Get a move on, Shikamaru!" Ino cried as she ran circles around him and Choji, "If we don't move quickly, we'll never get a chance to beat a team and get the second scroll!" She said all this in a high-pitched voice.

Said-genin frowned and muttered, "Troublesome. Will you quiet down, Ino? You'll bring everyone to where we are and you aren't capable of fighting multiple people."

Ino glared at him, visibly affronted, "Are you calling me weak, Shikamaru-kun?" she asked in a sickly-sweet voice.

Shikamaru, who had dealt with terrifying women before, knew the correct response, not that he wouldn't have done otherwise anyway, "N-not at all!"

"Good boy," she said, patting his cheek and moving off into the trees, missing the muttered "troublesome woman" as she did so.

Meanwhile with Sasuke and Co.

The fight for who was in charge began well after the horn blew. Sasuke, having his Sharingan, was better equipped to find Akahana than either Naruto or Sakura as he could see through Genjutsu and can see farther than the other two; however, Naruto, feeling that it is his responsibility to find his sister, felt that he should be leading the way, while Sakura just shouted that "Naruto-kun should be in charge because he's Naruto-kun!" which made no sense whatsoever to anyone but her and the official Naruto fanclub.

Sasuke and Naruto proceeded to ignore her much to chagrin.

"She's my sister, if I don't find her, who will?"

"How about the person who can see through Genjutsus and has a long range of vision? I, unlike you, actually know her Chakra signature, and as such know what to look for."

Naruto scowled at his teammate. He hated it when he was outmaneuvered and even more so when it was an Uchiha who did it. Naruto, despite all his parent's attempts and lessons the subject, refused to believe the Uchiha clan innocent of the Kyuubi attack that ended with his sister being kidnapped, despite the Konoha Uchiha having nothing to do with it.

And so Sasuke led Team 7 into the Forest of Death with his Sharingan active, and all the while a certain Hebi Sennin was following behind them, his eyes set hungrily on Sasuke's. Now, while Orochimaru isn't a pedophile, he apparently has no problem giving off the illusion that he is. The reason he was following Sasuke was because he was the only Uchiha that wasn't skilled enough to fight him off with or without help, like a certain heir of the clan. Also he was the easiest to catch in that his teammates weren't skilled enough to stop him, especially with a fan girl on the team. He gave a silent shudder, he remembered the last time he had met a fan girl, it was when he was still in Konoha as a nin that they had all appeared out of nowhere and surrounded him when he walked out of the grocery store. He shunshined home immediately after purchasing ever since.

Breaking himself free of that disturbing trail of thought, Orochimaru nodded to his followers who then leapt off toward the borders to leave the forest, as they were no longer needed in this phase.

Going through the seals, he called out, "Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!" and with that he exhaled a great gust of wind that tore through the forest and separating his target from his teammates, or rather, teammate, as only Naruto was sent flying. Little did he know that he was only a clone, as Sasuke had seen the pedophile-impersonator coming a mile away.

Once he made his move, Team 7 made theirs.

Naruto, utilizing his skills with Fuinjutsu, grabbed a piece of paper and a brush and quickly drew a symbol on it, and the attached it to his kunai fashioned after his father's, only with a slight deviation: the kunai was designed to support any seals placed on it. It was his own invention and his tou-son was really proud of him.

The seal in question was designed to do something like a reverse-Hiraishin, in that it transported the person who had the seal to another one. The second seal was situated deep within Mount Hokage and was situated on a wall in a cell with no windows and no doors. The only way in or out was through Hiraishin.

Unfortunately for Naruto, Orochimaru had noticed a seal on the kunai and expertly avoided the small blade, not that he would have let it hit him anyway. There would be enough time for freebies later.

"That was a clever move, Naruto-kun, but you'll have to try harder than that if you want to beat me."

And the battle only got hotter from there. Orochimaru, wanting to test the Genin who had managed to expertly avoid his initial attack, limited himself to weak jutsus and Chuunin-level taijutsu. After a few moments of fighting, he quickly came to the conclusion that the pink-haired brat was nothing more than a fan-girl with a small amount of training that would place her more in the Seduction Corps than the regular forces. She clearly wasn't ready for the Exams and so made short work of her, although he did leave her conscious so that she could carry her teammates away once he was finished with them. Of course, he did underestimate them, again.

As soon as Sakura was out of the fight, the battle only got harder for the Snake Sannin as the male members of Team 7 could now fight without worrying about the girl.

Sasuke did a flurry of hand seals and cried out, "Fire Style: Grand Fireball Jutsu!"

The large ball of fire shot out toward the nuke-nin but before it got close Naruto went through a different set of seals and yelled, "Wind Style: Air Bullet!" He pounded his chest and the blast of air burst forth, and collided with the fireball, which served to make the thing five times larger.

The enhanced jutsu charged at the traitor and they could barely see a look of shock on his face as it collided. They did a high-five and started to go over to Sakura to see how she was doing when they heard a creepy "Kukuku, that was quite clever, Naruto-kun, Sasuke-kun."

Naruto, keen on getting revenge, grabbed another kunai, this time one already bearing a seal, and threw it at Orochimaru who side-stepped and raised his hands, crying out, "Striking Shadow Snakes!" A horde of snakes emerged from his sleeves that charged at the Namikaze Heir.

The blonde in question could only stand in shock as they came closer, but it wasn't until there a burst of air in his face that they stopped and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

And, standing where the snakes once crawled, stood an average-height shinobi with a hand resting on the katana on his back, the only indication that he had used it the soft click as it was sheathed.

As the mysterious ninja turned around, Orochimaru gasped, for there, in the eyes of the man who just disrupted his attack, was a fully developed Mangekyou Sharingan.

So what do you think? Please review and thanks for reading! ^_^