Disclaimer: I do not own anything about the Naruto series

People talking: "Hi"

People thinking: 'Hi'

Summon or Kyuubi talking: "Hi"

Jutsu: "Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu"

Sakura waited till Orochimaru left and went to help her blond teammate, who was now unconscious. She picked him in her lap, and proceeded to do a check over him.

Sasuke, after getting over the shock at being offered a power to surpass Itachi, came to her and asked. "So, Sakura, is he okay?"

The pink haired genin sighed. "Yes, he will. Although I don't have the needed skills to withdraw the potion from him, I will do my best to keep him from suffering till the poison ends and he can move again."

She turned to the Uchiha and asked. "So, what are we going to do?" Sasuke thought for a moment and answered. "Since we need to catch another scroll, I think it's better to wait to do it after Naruto wakes up. So let's find some place to hide and rest."

After some minutes of walking, with Sasuke carrying Naruto, they found a perfect place under a tree. Seeing that it was already night, they planned a shift to watch over any dangers, so that they could sleep and rest.

Morning came over, and Sakura was the one responsible for watching their surroundings. It was a pretty boring job to do, and she was tempted to go check her unconscious teammate when something happened.

She looked to outside and saw that three genins from Sound had appeared. Fearing a possible battle she saw that Sasuke-kun was starting to wake up.

She went out to try and gain time. The one in the middle who had his body covered with bandages told her. "We don't want any trouble with you. Can you wake up Sasuke-kun? We want to fight against him."

Seeing that Sakura wasn't going to do what they want, the other male genin said to his teammates. "I will kill that girl and then I can kill that Sasuke guy."

They moved forward, intending on attacking her. Sakura quickly released the tracks but unfortunately for her they were easily dispatched by the Oto Team.

Dosu snorted. "These were clearly visible. A person like you, with no talent, have to work hard if wants to do any damage!"

When they were near the kunoichi, they heard someone say "Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" and a large fireball came at their direction.

The Sound team jumped backwards and barely avoided being hit by the katon jutsu. They looked at the direction the fireball came and saw their target standing near the pink haired kunoichi.

Sasuke had his Sharingan activated and was focused on the trio from Oto. "It's me you want, so leave her alone." He then turned to Sakura and said. "Sakura, I will fight them. Protect Naruto till I'm done here."

Zaku let out a smile. "Finally that guy showed up. Now we can complete the mission from Orochimaru-sama." The Uchiha smirked at them. "So you are the subordinates from Orochimaru. It seems that I will have to defeat you. Against these eyes, you have no chance."

Dosu chuckled. "Such arrogance coming from the last Uchiha." After earning a glare from Sasuke he continued. "Zaku, go on, you were the one anxious for this."

The other male genin smirked. "It won't take more than five minutes." He ran in the direction of the Uchiha, who was already settled on a defensive stance.

The Sound genin tried to punch Sasuke, who easily evaded it. He then tried another jab with the other hand but it was also evaded. Each punch and kick the Sound Genin tried was effortlessly avoided.

Zaku was getting irritated with that and tried to put more strength behind his attacks. But that action made him leave more openings, which were clearly detectable by the Sharingan.

Sasuke smirked and decided to counter attack. After a failed attempt at hitting his chest with a punch, Sasuke struck two fast punches at the chest of the Sound Genin, who backed a few steps backwards.

Zaku healed from the momentary dizziness and tried a roundhouse kick at the Uchiha, who ducked and using his hands to support him, delivered a kick to the chin of the opponent, sending him in the air.

Sasuke stood up and smirked at his battered opponent. "As I said before, against these eyes, you'll have no chance!" Dosu, Kin and Sakura all looked flabbergasted at how Sasuke had completely dominated the battle till now.

Zaku recomposed himself and glared at the Uchiha. "Don't be over yourself just because you got a few lucky hits." He made some hand seals and pointed his palms to Sasuke. "I'll blow you into pieces."

The black haired genin focused his attention on the Sound Genin's hand. Using his Sharingan, he noted that there seemed to be tubes inside his arms. He is gathering chakra in these tubes. What he is going to do?

Zaku smirked and said. "Die! Zankuuha!" From the tubes on his hand, a strong blast of air was shot. Sasuke only had the time to cross his arms in his front so he could less the damage he could received.

The blast was powerful enough to send the Uchiha a few meters back, his arms damaged by the cutting air. Sakura was concerned with her teammate. "Sasuke-kun, are you okay." Seeing him nod, she felt more relieved.

Sasuke looked at Zaku and tried to comprehend what was the last attack. But he didn't need to think much, because the other genin started to explain the mechanism behind the jutsu. "I can control the supersonic sound waves and the air pressure. I have the power to even destroy a rock with my air blast."

Sakura thought over what her opponent said. We must be careful from now on. But her teammate was thinking completely different from her. The Uchiha smirked and said in a mock tone. "Thanks for telling me your secret, Idiot. Now you need more than just that to defeat me."

Dosu shook his head in a negative gesture while Zaku cursed both himself and Sasuke. The leader of the Oto Team turned to his female teammate and said. "Kin, I need you to create a distraction."

Kin nodded and picked a handful of senbon with bells from her pouch. She threw them at the Uchiha, who easily deflected them with one of his kunais. The kunoichi smirked, thinking that she had managed to trick her opponent, but that proved wrong as the Uchiha hold others senbon, these without bells, on his other hand.

Sasuke focused his eyes on the confused kunoichi and explained. "While it was a pretty creative tactic, using some senbons with bell attached on them and ones without it in the others shadow. But unfortunately for you, these cannot trick my Sharingan."

When he finished talking, Dosu appeared next to him, and made a motion to hit with his arm; Sasuke picked these with the Sharingan and executed a perfect evasion. But something seemed not right. Was that chakra being released from his arm?

The Uchiha took a step backward and looked to his opponent. That was when he felt the consequences. His Sharingan deactivated and his vision started to blur.

He started to feel nauseous and threw up. Together with the sickness, blood started to purr out of his ear, and an intense pain cursed through Sasuke.

Grabbing his damaged ear, Sasuke turned at Dosu. "What have you done?" The Sound Genin smirked and grabbed his metallic arm. "There's a little trick here. You can't just dodge my attacks. It's sound. Even if you dodge my fist, sound will attack you."

Sakura widened. "You are using the sound vibration…" She then turned with a worried look at her teammate. Sasuke-kun…

Dosu nodded. "Right, the human ear drum will break by sounds exceeding 150 MHz and deeper in the ear lies the inner ear membrane. When this is damaged, you lose your balance. He, he, you won't be able to move your body for a while."

Sasuke glared at Orochimaru's subordinate. I can't move my body well… Damn it, he got me by surprise. Dosu raised his arm again and said. "Now I'll kill your little friend in front of you, just so that you suffer more before dying."

He ran into the direction of Sakura who wasn't prepared for a direct attack like this. Surprising everyone, Sasuke jumped between them and tried to kick Dosu. However, the damage from the last hit her took was too big and he lost his balance in the middle of the movement making it very easy for his opponent to dodge.

The Sound Genin chuckled. "You scared me for a moment. Using the Shunshin to surpass your inability to move was pretty ingenious but the last attack still took it tolls on you."

He raised his Melody Arm and moved it with the intention to hit the side of his opponent. Sasuke used all his left strength to block the fist with his both arms, making the machine arm of his opponent release a loud noise with the impact.

Dosu explained what was happening. "This arm multiplies the small sound produced to their ultimate levels. You could say it's a speaker. But the sound doesn't follow the direction of the arm... I use my chakra to make sure it always attacks my preys!"

Sasuke felt the sound hit him in the ear and the pain he was feeling multiplied by what seemed like a thousand times. He let out a pained scream, and felt on the floor without the strength to stay standing anymore.

The Sound genin looked at Sasuke and said. "I change my mind. I will kill you first." When he was going to give the last hit, a shower of senbon needles were thrown at his direction.

Dosu jumped backwards to avoid getting hit, landing next to his teammates. When he looked up, he saw that Sakura was the one responsible for the senbon.

The kunoichi went to her teammate and picked Sasuke from the floor, putting him on her lap. She ran a quick diagnostic jutsu over him and after making sure he had no fatal injuries, she proceeded to lay him against the tree where Naruto was.

Sasuke opened his eyes and saw that Sakura was ready to fight. The Uchiha, visibly suffering, tried to stood up and help his friend. "Sakura, I will help you." But he stopped when he saw her making a negative gesture towards him.

Sakura looked at him and said. "No, Sasuke-kun, I will fight them alone. You need to rest a little bit and I would never allow you to fight in the state you are. Don't worry; I will hold them till you are ready again."

The Uchiha looked at her with a surprised stamped on his face. "But Sakura…" The kunoichi gave him a sad smile and lowered her face. "I always thought at myself as a proud ninja… I would admire your and Naruto' strength and always reprimand you guys because you were always getting hurt...But all I did was watching you guys from behind while you fought to protect me."

Still with her face lowered, she picked her hitai-ate from her head and looked intently at it. "But now…Sasuke-kun, as I watched you give your life to protect me… I feel like I finally learned something."

She wrapped her hitai-ate again, this time at her forehead. "I want to become like you. This time …" she raised her head and everybody saw the new look of determination on her face. "I will be the one to protect you."

Sasuke widened. Sakura… you changed a lot since our first meeting as Team Seven… From a useless fan girl, you become a determined kunoichi. I am proud of having you on my team. He smirked. "Sakura, show them the strength of Team Seven!"

The young medic-nin smiled. Thanks Sasuke-kun. She then turned to the Oto Team and smirked. "Sound Team, from now on, you will have to pass through me."

Zaku laughed at her words. "And what are you going to do? Make us die from laughing?" Kin giggled at her teammate's commentary. Dosu chuckled and said. "You can attack first, girl."

Sakura smirked and said. "You will pay for underestimating me." She started to go through a sequence of hand seals and performed her technique. "Ninpou: Sakura Shigure!"

Thousand of cherry blossom petal started to fall from the sky. The Sound Team all looked confused to what was happening and unsure of what to do.

The petals started to involve all three of them and slowly covered all portions of their body. Starting to freak out, they tried to take them away but they realized that they couldn't move because the cherry blossoms were binding them to the spot.

Zaku was the first one to voice their thought. "What the hell is happening? What the fuck is this technique?" Kin was also beginning to panic. "That girl…we should have killed her before!"

Dosu closed his eyes and tried to think about their situation. "Wait…this girl didn't seem to have too much chakra and also knew some medical jutsu so this means she has a good chakra control. This is probably a genjutsu!"

Realization downed on their faces. Zaku had an angry expression. "How could we fell in a genjutsu so easily?" Dosu replied. "This is not the time for that. Kin, you are the one with highest genjutsu skills, free us from here."

Kin nodded. "I will try." With much difficulty, she first made the tora seal and then she extended her hands and touched the shoulders of her teammates. With a loud cry of "Kai!", she broke them from the genjutsu.

But what neither of them expected was to see the pink haired kunoichi very near them, clearly intending on attacking them.

Sakura, taking advantage of Kin' low guard, activated her Chakra no Mesu and using the palm of both hands, stroke her in the stomach, sending her into a near tree.

Sakura smiled and said. "Shannaro! One down, two to go!" Zaku and Dosu both looked with surprise at the girl in their front and their damaged teammate. Zaku muttered. "Damn, she got Kin…"

The Sound Kunoichi was trying to stand up after being hit, but as soon as she raised herself, blood came to her mouth, forcing her to spit a large quantity of it. Pain erupted through her and she had to support herself on the tree to stay standing. She looked at Sakura and asked. "What did you do?"

Sakura explained. "Didn't you recognize my technique? That was the Chakra no Mesu. With this medical jutsu, I can directly attack your internal. Pretty strong isn't it?"

Zaku tensed at this. This can be dangerous! "Dosu, get out of the way!" After seeing his teammate jump, he pointed his palms to the kunoichi and released the attack.

"Zankuuha!" The wind blast hit Sakura, but before the genin could celebrate his victory, there was smoke where the girl was and a log was shown to be the one who took the hit.

Kawarimi no Jutsu! Zaku stepped to the side and barely avoided being hit by Sakura's palm. The girl tried to hit the boy again but it was successfully dodged.

She started to attack the sound genin consecutively, trying to hit him with the Chakra no Mesu, but each palm strike she tried was avoided. Because of this, she unconsciously gave her opponent an opening which Zaku didn't let it waste and hit her in the face with a strong punch, sending her a few meters backward.

Zaku smirked as he saw her opponent look at him with a surprise face. "I already caught your jutsu. All I have to do is dodge it to stay safe and wait for an opening to attack."

Sakura was beginning to panic. He's right. Because he is faster than me, I can't hit him in a direct combat! I will have to use genjutsu. She was going through another sequence of hand seals when she saw that Zaku was pointed his hands at her.

The Sound Genin snorted. "I'm not going to let you do that again! Zankuuha!" Sakura didn't have time to block the attack and was hit full force. The blast sent her into a tree and she hit her back at the trunk painfully.

Without letting time to Sakura heal from the strike, Zaku ran to her and pinned her to the tree. He proceeded to attack the kunoichi fiercely, consecutively punching her head and her stomach.

Sakura couldn't do a thing to stop getting hit. Many bruises had formed, blood flowing through her face and a visible pain expression was shown by Sakura who refused to go into unconsciousness. I have to protect them. Even if it is just buying some time, I will do all can to resist.

When she was almost fainting, she saw that someone had tackled Zaku away from her. When she got a better look at her savior, she saw that the one that had knocked the Sound Genin was Sasuke.

The Uchiha seemed to have healed a little, but still couldn't control his body well. He turned to Sakura and asked. "Sakura, are you ok?" The kunoichi spent some time looking at Sasuke before answering. "I'm okay, Sasuke-kun" Even being hurt, he still protects me. I'm sorry to be such a burden.

Zaku stood up and massaged his shoulder. "Damn that guy! Did he have to throw all his weight on me?" He went to near his teammates and asked. "So Dosu, what are we going to do now?"

Dosu, who was supporting Kin, looked at his opponents and snorted. The pink haired genin was badly hurt and the Uchiha could barely stand up. "Look at them… Be merciful and kill them."

The other genin smirked and prepared his attack, raising his hand in the direction of the genins of Team Seven. Sakura and Sasuke were starting to prepare for her death when something happened that surprised them all.

Team Ten appeared in front of them, blocking a possible attack from the Oto Team. Ino, Shikamaru and Chouji stood confidently, focusing on their opponents.

Zaku laugh. "More idiots have appeared." Dosu replied. "We shouldn't underestimate them. You saw what happened to Kin." The Sound Kunoichi gave an angry snort, but agreed with him.

Sakura was surprised at Team Ten appearance. "Ino…" The said Kunoichi, without taking her eyes away from the other genin, said. "Sakura, I won't lose to you. I've already told you that."

Shikamaru also said. "Sasuke, look at you. What would Naruto say if he saw you like that?" The Uchiha was a little confused, but gave a small smile and replied. "He would probably laugh at me and say how weak I look. Shikamaru, Chouji, Thank you."

The boys of Team Ten nodded. "That's what friends do." Sakura was still confused about what was happening. "Ino…why?"

Ino smirked. "I won't let you be the only one who gets to look good in front of Sasuke-kun." The young medic-nin widened. Ino… Thank You…

Sakura went to Sasuke and with the Shosen no Jutsu, started to heal him. Sasuke looked confused and said. "Sakura, why aren't you healing yourself?"

The pink haired genin smiled and said. "These are just bruises and can't be quickly healed. I need to heal you first so that you can fight again, to defend the strength Team Seven, isn't it?" Sasuke nodded and said. "Thank you, Sakura."

The blonde genin shouted. "Let's go, Team Ten! Ino-Shika-Chou Formation! Go, Chouji!" Chouji did the hand seals and said. "Baika no Jutsu!"

After having grown in size, Chouji tucked his limbs inside his clothes and started to roll. "Nikudan Sensha!" The powerful roll was going in the direction of Zaku, who tried to blast him away with the wind blast.

Unfortunately for him, it just bounced Chouji upwards, giving him even more power beyond the jutsu. Dosu was going to help him, but he couldn't move. He turned and saw that his shadow was connected with the one of Shikamaru.

The lazy genin said. "Kage Mane no Jutsu, success. Ino, there's just the girl now." While Zaku had managed to dodge the tank that Chouji had become, Kin, who had healed a little bit and had managed to stay standing alone, saw the blonde girl focusing on her.

Ino did a hand seal and said. "Shintenshin no Jutsu!" After having her mind switched to Kin, Ino said. "It's over now! If you guys move an inch I'll kill this Kin girl! If you don't want it to end here, then leave your scroll and get out of here. When I can't sense your chakra any longer, I'll let her go."

But Ino was confused when both of the Sound guys started to laugh. Zaku said "Kin is already hurt so she doesn't mean anything now. But I'm must say I'm curious, what will happen if I hit your real body while you're in there."

Surprise was stamped in the face of Sakura, Sasuke, Chouji and Shikamaru. Ino widened and tried to go back. But it was already too late, seeing that Zaku had already fired a wind blast at Shikamaru and her body.

Shikamaru picked Ino's body and braced himself for the hit. But it took his concentration away and the Kage Mane was disrupted. Ino finally returned to her body and look at them with surprise. "How can you discard your teammate like that?"

Dosu laughed. "Our goals are not the stupid scrolls nor to safely complete the exams…" He then pointed at Sasuke and said. "It's to kill Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke grunted. They are doing all that just to kill me? Dosu then looked at Shikamaru and said. "It seems that you must have complete concentration to maintain this jutsu. It also doesn't seem to last long. The girl can enter other people's body, but that lets her real body defenseless."

The shadow user clenched his teeth. Damn... he discovered the secrets for our jutsu. We're done for! But his thoughts were interrupted by someone's voice.

"Sound Team, I ask you to not attack anymore. Sakura-chan, as I said before, I will protect you with my life!" Everybody turned and saw Lee, Neji and Tenten in a tree near them.

Zaku sighed. "Great, they keep coming out like cockroaches!" Sakura, who had already healed Sasuke, waved. "Thanks, Lee-san!" Rock Lee waved back with a stupid look on his face.

Sasuke face palmed. And I lost to a guy like him! Neji looked at the Sound Team and said. "Because if we don't help this idiot" he then pointed to Lee "we aren't going to pass the exams, I will have to defeat you."

They were all surprised at the manner Neji said that and also because he had activated his Byakugan. Dosu turned at him and said. "If you really are going to do that, why don't the three of you come down?"

Lee was going to jump down but Neji stooped him. This chakra… "It seems that it won't be needed." They all turned at the direction Neji was looking at and saw Naruto who was releasing a powerful red chakra.

Everyone was surprised at the cheer malice and power of the chakra. Sasuke and Sakura looked at each other, with the same thought in mind. The Kyuubi Chakra!

Dosu turned to Zaku and said. "Are you feeling this chakra? It's best to kill them all now before something bad occurs!"

Zaku smirked. "Don't be afraid of these insects, Dosu. Don't worry; I will use my most powerful technique. Zankuukyokuha!"

All the Konoha Ninja prepared to brace the powerful wind blast that was coming when an immense wall made of water raise in front of them, shielding the intense air pressure. All they heard was the name of the jutsu performed.

" Suiton: Suijinheki."

Naruto stared at the eyes of the giant fox with pure determination. They stood staring at each other for some time and then the fox released a small laugh and asked.

"Such determination coming from you, little boy. Now that you finally came here, what do you want?" The Jinchuuriki scratched his neck in embarrassment. "Actually, I don't know why I'm here; the last thing I remember was passing out because of the poison."

The Kyuubi replied. "Yes, that poison. It took some of my chakra to remove its effects from you. Now, why don't you get out and leave me alone."

The sun kissed genin shook his head in negative manure. "There some things that we need to discuss." The bijuu laughed. "Ha, ha, ha! We? What makes you think that I want to cooperate with you?"

Naruto grinned. "You and I know that there is no way for you to leave. The Yondaime made sure of that. But there will be some times when I will need to use your chakra, after all, if I die you die. But if we stay in a more civilized bond, both of us will win from that. I will be able to control your chakra better and because of that your life will be safer."

The Nine tailed fox stared at the boy for some time again and then let out a loud laugh. "Gwahahaha. I suppose I can't do anything to you, right? If you die, I die too, eh? You threaten me, ask for my chakra and at the same time wish me to give it willingly and maintain a casual relationship?"

The Jinchuuriki nodded. "Well, that's basically it. I know that other Jinchuuriki who could control their bijuu had a good relationship with them, so…"

The Fox mouth morphed into a grin. "You have guts, brat. But now is not the time for us to talk about that."

Naruto sighed. "What's with people telling me I'm not ready to learn about things?" He then remembered his fight against Orochimaru and asked. "I have one last question. Why did I act that way when I was using your chakra?"

Kyuubi replied. "Again, this isn't the time for that. Yours so called "friends" need you now, so I think you better go."

Naruto widened at the news and ran to the same tunnel he had come before. But not some time later, he came back with a blush and smirk on his face. "How do I get out of here?"

The Bijuu let out a monstrous laugh. "You never cease to amuse me, brat." Slowly, red chakra started to come out of the cage and enroll itself around the Jinchuuriki, who looked at the fox with a confused expression.

He heard the fox reply. "Consider this as a gift for coming here for the first time. Now, get out of here." And that was the last thing he heard before leaving his inner world.

The ninjas watched as a wall of water rose between the Oto Ninjas and Team Seven and Ten, protecting the Konoha shinobi from the menacing air waves.

As the attack from the Sound was nullified and the water wall dissipated, they saw the one responsible for the water jutsu. Sakura was the first one to voice their thoughts.

"NARUTO!" The Jinchuuriki was covered in a bright and powerful red chakra, glaring at the Sound Ninja who were surprised by the appearance of another one for them to fight. This power... I have never felt this strong before. "You call that a wind jutsu? I will show you the real power of the wind." Naruto did the few hand seals and released his jutsu. "Fuuton: Daitoppa!"

The powerful gust created blew the opponents, knocking them hard into the tree. As the Sound Trio was recovering from the hit, the blond genin turned to talk to his comrades.

"I can't rest for a few hours that you guys got in trouble again." The members of Team Ten were now supporting Sakura and Sasuke, who seemed almost healed now, was already preparing for battle. The Uchiha smirked and said. "These guys are just lucky that I underestimated them. You should have seen Sakura, she defeated that girl alone."

Naruto let out a small laugh. "Really? Wow, Sakura-chan you are really…" That was when he saw the state his teammate was. Her body was filled with bruises and wounds, especially her face, which in addiction to that had a black eye. "What happened, Sakura-chan? Who did this to you?"

Sakura tried to hide her face while cursing herself for forgetting that Naruto would certainly get worried about her. "This is nothing, Naruto, you shouldn't care about-" The kunoichi stopped when she felt a hand grab her face. She looked up and saw her teammate.

Surprising everyone, Naruto covered the distance between him and Sakura in seconds, moving like a blur. He gently fondled her face and said. "You know that I care about you, Sakura-chan." He then stood up and turned to Sasuke. "So, who are those guys and why are we fighting them?"

Sasuke glared at the Sound Ninja, who now stood waiting for them and said. "These guys were sent by Orochimaru to kill me. That guy-" he then pointed to Zaku "- blows air waves from the tube on his hand. The girl uses senbon attacks and the last one release sound attacks from his mechanic arm, which you should not engage in close combat because it strikes you, even with you avoid his physical hits."

The sun kissed shinobi prepared himself to fight again. Without turning his face away from the opponents, he said to Sasuke. "Seeing that the kunoichi can't fight, I will fight the other two guys alone. I know you aren't fully recovered yet, so stay here and look for an opening to attack. Since these guys are from Orochimaru, you know what to do, don't you?"

The black haired genin nodded. "No hesitation. Yeah, I remember those lessons." Naruto nodded. Ino decided to say what all Team Ten was thinking. "Naruto! Are you crazy? Even us together couldn't beat them, what makes you think you alone can? You maybe be fast but even then…"

The Jinchuuriki let out a feral grin. "I will make they know to not mess with Team Seven." He then pointed to the Sound trio and asked. "Now, who was the one to leave Sakura-chan in that estate?'

Zaku grinned and said. "I was the one to do that. Now you will have the same fate." He then raised his hands and pointed them to the Jinchuuriki, which had the red chakra even more wildly now. "Zankuu-"

In a blur, Naruto grabbed Zaku's arm and forced them to the floor, before the Sound genin could release his attack. The grip on the boy's arms was so strong that a bruise was starting to form in it.

Naruto looked at the astonished face of Zaku and grinned. "I can't let you fire that thing again, you know? Now, you will pay for what you did to Sakura-chan." The blond genin pushed Zaku arms close to him, making the other genin bend forwards and hit him in the chin with his knee.

Taking advantage of the moment, Naruto released his grip on the boys arm and punched the Sound Ninja with all his force in the stomach, which made Zaku kneel and cough blood.

The Oto shinobi looked at the blond ninja with fear in his eyes and asked. "What are you?" The Jinchuuriki grabbed him by his shirt and raised him in the air. He glared at the Sound Genin, who couldn't breathe well because of the KI directed at him, and with a grin, replied. "I'm your executioner."

He released the Sound Genin and when he was starting to fall, Naruto proceeded to strike a sequence of punches at Zaku's face. Because of the Kyuubi Chakra, Naruto' strikes had much more strength and speed behind them and that left the Sound Ninja without a chance to dodge or even block the strikes.

Everyone watched at the massacre that was going on. They watched as Naruto ruthless attacked Zaku and what was worst; the Jinchuuriki seemed to be enjoying it. When the Jinchuuriki was sure that the Oto Shinobi nose had broken, he kicked the genin hard on the ribs, sending him near his Sound comrades.

The blond shinobi smirked and said. "That was for what you did to Sakura-chan!" Dosu looked at his injured comrade and got out of his stupor. He glared at the Konoha genin and ran in his direction. "Kin, cover me. I'm going to make that bastard pay for what he did."

The wounded kunoichi, who was supporting herself on a tree, grabbed a handful of senbon from her pockets and waited to throw it at the Jinchuuriki when Dosu gave the signal. The leader of the Sound trio was getting near Naruto when the blond decided to attack.

He made the seal for his favorite technique and created six clones. Three of them went ahead and confronted Dosu with taijutsu. The Kinuta blocked all the hits from the bunshins and counter-attacked with his melody technique, managing to dispel all three of them.

The last three clones positioned themselves in front of Naruto, so that they could block an attack coming from Dosu, but they were surprised by a shower of senbon, who managed to hit all three and destroy them.

Naruto cursed himself for forgetting about the girl but focused again on the Sound Ninja who were now facing him face to face. Dosu tried to hit him with a punch, but that was quickly avoided by a back step.

The Sound Ninja let out a laugh and said. "Gotcha You!" His Melody Arm started to release a loud noise, but that didn't surprise Naruto. The Jinchuuriki clapped his hands and performed the technique that would save him.

"Fuuton: Reppushou!" The gale wasn't strong enough to physically injure the genin, but it served its purpose as it repelled the sound attack and sent the Sound Ninja a few yards back.

Dosu looked at Naruto with surprise on his face. "How did you know to counter the Melody Arm?" Naruto smirked. "Your sound techniques work using the sound waves in the air. Because of that, I just needed to use a wind jutsu to repel these waves, so that your attack becomes useless."

Damn, Zaku stills out, Kin can barely move and my attacks didn't do a thing to him. Dosu glared at Naruto. This guy is becoming a pain in the ass.

The Jinchuuriki was feeling the first effects of the use of the Kyuubi Chakra. I'm not used to this chakra, my body is becoming sore. I need to finish this now! Naruto did a few hand seals and looked at the pair of Sound Ninjas in front of him. "Magen: Seigan Eisha no Jutsu"

The instant the technique was performed, the Oto shinobi started to feel its effects. Darkness was all they could see. They tried to move but they discovered they couldn't move a muscle. Then, they appeared. Two cold, almost metallic, blue eyes glaring at the ninjas like they were trying to destroy their souls.

What are those eyes! Kin kneeled on the floor, her eyes widened. I feel useless. I can't do anything. He is too powerful for us. Things got worse when the feral voice of the blond demon they were battling starting to echo through their minds. "You'll die!" "You will suffer for what you did." "You're going to wish that you hadn't attacked my Team!"

Naruto observed as both sound ninjas became paralyzed by the effect of his genjutsu. "Well, let's end this play." He grabbed one of his kunai from his pocket and charged it with wind chakra, preparing to finish the battle.

"Zankuukyokuha!"

The powerful air waves hit the Jinchuuriki full force, dust and smoke erupted in the place where he was. Near that place, stood Zaku, his body filled with bruises and his nose bleeding a lot, but with a smirk on his face. He had his hands pointing to where Naruto was, meaning he was the one fired the attack. "Ha! In the end, you were crushed like a little bug!"

The Konoha Ninjas looked shocked at what happened. In one moment, the boy they taught was nothing but a super confident brat was beating the Sound Trio effortlessly, the same opponents they couldn't beat together. And now he was dead, caught by a surprise attack from one of the ninjas he had previously knocked out.

Shikamaru gave a sad sigh. "I Knew his cockiness would get him one day." Dosu and Kin, now out of the genjutsu, let out a laugh. The Sound Leader chuckled "Good work, Zaku. Now, let's kill the others."

While Team Gai was still observing the battle from the trees, waiting for the moment they had to interfere, Team Seven and Ten prepared to battle again. Shikamaru and Chouji supported Ino and Sakura while Sasuke stood in front of them, ready to fight again, his Sharingan returning to life.

When the Sound Trio was going to attack, the Uchiha let out a smirk and chuckled. Sakura looked at him with worry and asked. "What happened, Sasuke-kun?" The black haired genin pointed to the Sound Trio and said. "I think you shouldn't worry about killing us now. After all, Naruto is the one battling you."

Zaku let out a laugh. "I killed that boy! Didn't you see it?" Dosu also let a small chuckle. "Poor boy, he is getting delusional. Maybe it's because their death is so imminent. He even thinks that brat is still alive."

"That's because I'm alive. Seriously, did you really think that attack was going to kill me?"

They all turned and saw Naruto, behind the Sound Ninjas, in the same position he was before he was 'hit' by the air waves attack. Sakura let out a thankful sigh while Team ten was complaining about caring for the idiot. all the dust had settled at that point and they saw that in the place where Naruto was there was nothing but broken wood.

Zaku widened. "How did you…" "…escape that?" Naruto finished for him. He let out a feral grin and answered. "Shunshin no Jutsu can do wonders in these days. Now let's finish this."

Naruto run in their direction, with the wind kunai in his hand. Dosu was the one to engage him in combat. He tried to punch him but the blond ducked. The sound ninja smirked. "At this distance, there isn't enough time to perform a wind jutsu. You're done!"

The machine was starting to release its screech when Naruto grabbed the Dosu' arm with his free hand and with a quick swept with the wind kunai in his other hand; he severed the Melody Arm from the Sound Ninja Body, who gave a loud scream of pain.

The Jinchuuriki let out a feral grin and replied. "Now, I don't have to worry about this Melody Arm anymore." Because of the shock of having his arm cut, Dosu didn't reacted to block the round house kick coming from the blond genin, which send him in the direction of Zaku, who didn't have time to get out of the way, making them both hit the tree behind them.

Naruto tossed the Melody Arm to the side, and grabbed a handful of shuriken from his pocket. With a quick movement, he threw them at the Zaku and Dosu, who were supporting themselves at the tree, adding wind chakra to them so that they were faster and cutter.

The mummy guy, who was grabbing the place where previously stood his right arm, saw that something was different in those shuriken, and jumped away from them. But Zaku stood in the same place and when the shuriken passed in both of his sides, not hitting him, he smirked smugly. "Ha! You can't even hit me. You must be getting blind."

Dosu now could see the familiar shine around his teammate and he also saw the smirk on Naruto face. He instantly connected the dots and shouted to Zaku. "You have to get out of there, Zaku!" The other male genin snorted. "What are you talking about, Dosu? This guy has the aim of a baby."

But when he tried to move, he discovered he was bound in the tree. He looked to his body and saw that there were wires trapping him with the log and he couldn't move his members. Astonished, he looked to his enemy. "Wires! But when?"

The Jinchuuriki grinned. "You really think my aim is that off? The objective of those shuriken was to bind you. I even added the wind chakra to them for you to change your focus to them. And now, Goodbye."

He quickly did the five hand seals for the first technique he learned from his sensei. He took a long breath and blew a huge sized fireball. "Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!"

The incandescent mass of fire hit the sound ninja full force and incinerated everything in its radius of range, reducing the branches and grass to ash. Zaku's scream of pain could be heard by everyone around, he shouted as his skin and muscles were burn by the intense heat.

After the fire died down, the only thing that could be seen where the fireball had hit was the charred corpse of the sound ninja and the burnt log it was bound to. Naruto gave a triumphant smirk at his hand work while the other ninjas were thinking how he killed the guy without feeling any remorse.

Dosu was looking at the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki with fear in his eyes. Genjutsu, Taijutsu, Ninjutsu: That guy beat us in every area of the ninja arts. There is no way I can escape now. The Oto leader was still trying to think of plans to escape with his life when he felt someone grab him by his neck.

Sasuke had taken the moment of hesitation that Dosu had suffered as he saw his teammate being killed effortlessly and using a quick sunshin managed to get a chokehold on the older genin. As he strengthened his grip on the guy's neck, Dosu tried to get away from the imminent death, but the loss of his arm took away the force needed to free himself.

Te Uchiha glared at Dosu and said. "You shouldn't take your eyes away from your enemies in a battle. Raiton: Jibashi" Electricity cursed through his arm and hands and made its way towards the other shinobi body. The Sound Ninja started to convulse and struggle, but after a few seconds of the constant shock, he gave his last breath and died.

Sasuke put the body of the subordinate of Orochimaru on the floor and searched for the scroll on the dead man pouch. After having found the one they needed, he tossed it to Naruto who had seen everything he had done and was waiting for him. The Uchiha glared at the blond genin and said. "You're very lucky that he was the one carrying the scroll. You should remember your priorities first before burning people's body around."

The Jinchuuriki grinned and put his hand on his neck with embarrassment. "Sorry, Sasuke. I promise it won't happen again." The red chakra that was previously surrounding him was now gone.

After making sure there was no more danger around, Sakura got out of Chouji's shoulder and went to her two teammates. "Sasuke-kun! Naruto! Are you two alright? Naruto, you should know better to not fight when you have poison on your body!"

After she said the last phrase, she gave a weak punch on her teammate's arm. The blond genin released a grunt of pain and sulked. "Sakura-chan, I can take care of myself. And the poison is gone for good." As Team Seven continued to talk and play between them, Team Ten observed their interaction.

Ino turned to her teammates and asked astonished. "How can they talk and play like that like nothing happened? For God's sake, the idiot and Sasuke-kun just killed two guys!" Shikamaru looked at her with a bored expression and answered.

"Maybe they are hiding their real feelings and Sakura is playing with them so that they can change the thoughts on their minds and don't be consumed by the remorse…maybe they realized that killing is a shinobi's duty and don't care about that anymore…or there is also the possibility that they are all insane. Who knows? With Naruto, everything is possible. Man, this is too troublesome to think about."

As Ino stood flabbergasted at the Nara's answer and Chouji tried to help Shikamaru to clean their bruises, Sakura ended the jokes round. She called her teammate attention and pointed at Kin. "So, what are we going to do to her?"

Naruto slowly approached the kunoichi, who was trying her best to crawl away from him. Seeing that she was trapped and had nowhere more to go, she picked one of her senbon from her pocket and tried to defend herself, but she could barely stood up. She widened at the proximity between her and the blond genin and shouted. "Get away from me you monster."

This phrase called something in the Yondaime's Legacy mind. It bring back the memories from when he was a kid and people stood glaring at him, calling him a monster and demon behind his back. He snarled and picked one kunai from his pouch. "I think we should kill her right here and end her suffering."

He was going to stab the kunai in the kunoichi when he felt a hand stop him. When he turned he saw that Sakura was the one that grabbed his arm and she had a fearful expression on her face. "Naruto, stop this! You are scaring me! You were always the one to tell that a shinobi should do its best to avoid killing and only do that when it's completely unavoidable. But look at you now! You killed that sound ninja; you severed the arm of the other one and now are going to kill this girl who can't even stay stood?"

Naruto widened. He turned to the kunoichi and saw that while she was standing still in front of him, her eyes were closed and tears were fleeing from her eyes. He released the hold on his kunai, which felt on the floor, and slowly looked at his hands. They were dirty in blood. Blood from the sound ninjas he had killed, directly or indirectly.

What have I become? I used to be very proud of myself, never letting the hatred get the best of me, but after using just a bit of the Kyuubi chakra is like I become a different person. The Jinchuuriki took a long breath and calmed himself. He gently touched Kin's face, who flinched the instant their skin made contact, making Naruto even more ashamed of himself. "Look, don't worry, I won't hurt you."

Seeing that the Oto ninja had relaxed a bit, he turned to Sasuke and Sakura and asked. "So, what are we going to do? If we leave her here, Orochimaru is probably going to found and kill her." Surprisingly, Sasuke was the one to answer first.

"We can bring her with us to the tower. Maybe she can ask for a place in Konoha in exchange for information about Orochimaru." Both Sakura and Naruto looked shocked at Sasuke. The Uchiha smirked. "What? I can be kind when I want."

The Jinchuuriki shook his head in an exhaustive manner and turned to Kin again. "So what are you going to do? Will you stay and be killed or come with us and live?"

Kin was having an inner discussion on her mind. If I stay and meet with Orochimaru-sama, he will probably kill me for my failure. But if I go with them, maybe I can have a normal life, something I didn't had in Sound. She passed a few seconds thinking about the pros and cons about the two options and decided her choice. "Fine. I'll go with you. But how I'm going to be sure you're going to take me to a safe place and not abuse me?"

Naruto blushed a bit about the last part but replied none less. "I would never do that. I'm not that type of person." Kin didn't seem to agree one hundred percent to that, mainly after seeing what the boy had done to her two teammates before, but Naruto proceeded.

"Sasuke, Sakura, now that we have our second scroll, we should go to the tower the faster as we can." Sakura nodded while Sasuke nodded. "Go on, Captain obvious." The Jinchuuriki turned to Kin and said. "Now, stay still so that I can pick you."

Seeing the confused expression on the kunoichi face, he explained. "Since you are hurt, it's going to take some time for you to walk again. For that reason I'm going to carry you to the tower." Kin let out a snort. "As if I'm going to let you carry me. Who knows where you will put your hand saying that it 'slipped'"

Naruto blushed again in embarrassment while Sakura and Sasuke chuckled about their teammate discomfort. The blond genin sighed and said. "Look, I'm not going to do anything to you. If you want, you can stay here, we don't need to take you with us after all."

This silenced the kunoichi, who thanked in a low tone. As she was climbing Naruto's back, she heard him murmuring. "Plus you are not that pretty…" And that earned him a noogie in the head by an enraged Kin and laugh from Sasuke and Sakura.

As they resolved their situation, Team Seven plus Kin went to talk with Team Ten. They thanked the 'Lazy Trio' for helping them in the fight, which earned a complaint by Shikamaru about how troublesome that was. They took the time for Sakura to heal herself and the others to rest a bit after the battle.

Naruto, with Kin on his back, turned to Shikamaru and asked. "There's one thing in mind that is bugling me. Why were you spying us?" Ino and Chouji blushed in embarrassment while Shikamaru just sighed. Sasuke smirked. "You guys actually thought we were one of the weak teams, didn't you?" Ino and Chouji let out an awkward laugh while Shikamaru just snorted, which made all the integrants in Team Seven laugh.

It was that moment that Lee appeared by their side. "Yo, Naruto-kun, Sasuke-kun, Sakura-chan. The springtime of youthful bright inside you guys!"

Naruto turned to him with a serious look on his face. The two of them stood staring at each other for some seconds before the Jinchuuriki put the hand on his neck and asked. "When did you get here, Fuzzy Brows?" this made everyone on the vicinity face palm. Sakura punched Naruto on the head and said.

"Baka! Lee-san here was going to protect us just seconds before you wake up! By the way, thank you, Lee-san." Lee started to sob and replied. "I will always protect you when you need, Sakura-chan."

"Lee, let's go! We still have to go look for a scroll." They turned their heads and saw Neji and Tenten on the branch of the tree. Tenten gave them a light wave while Neji just stared at them. Those guys are strong. I have to observe them.

Lee said goodbye to Team Seven and Team Ten and then left with his team. The rookie teams helped each other to prepare for their 'missions' before each of them took a way.

Team Ten went to find a scroll and Team Seven went into the direction of the tower, which they would arrive after a few hours of running.

"Congratulations on passing the second test, Team Seven. To celebrate your successful completion of the second test, I'd like to…. wait, why are you caring a kunoichi from Sound?"

Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke laughed in embarrassment as they heard of what their teacher from the academy had just told. After having arrived in the tower, they decided to open their both scrolls, and from the, Iruka-sensei had appeared.

Naruto was the one to reply. Kin was in his back, sleeping, exhausted from the battle of hours before. "You don't need to worry about that, Iruka-sensei. This is something we have to talk with the Hokage. Do you think you can call him for us?"

Iruka was still unsure about the entire topic, but decided to trust his ex-students. Sasuke thought this was a good time to change the topic of their conversation, so his asked. "So, Iruka-sensei, if we had opened the scrolls during the test, what were you going to do?"

The chuunin smiled and picked the scrolls from the ground. "You are sharp as always, Sasuke. If you had opened the scrolls, you would have to be put in a condition of unconsciousness for the remaining of the test period. Those were my orders."

Naruto and Sakura smiled. "Good thing we didn't do that." Sasuke snorted. "Don't act like that hadn't even passed your mind." This made both of them red of shame.

Then Sakura looked at his sensei and said. "Oh, sensei, what is the meaning of the writing the wall, it seems to be incomplete…"

It was the time for Iruka to be embarrassed. "Actually, that's one of the reason I came here. This is the motto of the chuunin written by Hokage-sama. The 'heaven' refers to the human mind and the 'earth' refers to the human body."

He closed his eyes and recited. "If you lack heaven, seek wisdom, be prepared. Gain knowledge and prepare yourself for the missions. If you lack earth, run in the field, seek advantage. Continue training hard. And if you have both heaven and earth, you can succeed in even the most dangerous mission. Basically, all mission become safe and easy."

Seeing that they all understood, he continued. "The last word represents the chuunin. The person word from the scroll goes there. The last sentence is 'These rules will guide a person's extremes.' The last part of the exam was to test if you had the abilities needed from a chuunin. Chuunins are at a rank of military captain, you have the responsibility of guiding a team, the knowledge, stamina and inner wisdom; all are needed for your duties. I want you guys to challenge the next step with this chuunin motto in mind. That is all I have to pass on to you."

The chuunin then gave a long sigh and spoke in a sad tone, which perked Team Seven attention. "But this third and final test, don't push yourselves too hard…especially you, Naruto…"

"Please stop with all that sentimental crap, Iruka-sensei. We already have Sakura-chan in our team for that." The academy teacher was shocked by that outburst, and he observed as Sakura gave the boy a punch in the read after the remark about her.

Naruto slowly passed his hand where Sakura had hit him and spoke. "What I am trying to say is that you don't need to worry about me anymore. I'm a ninja now. I'm strong. And I am definitely going to be a chuunin." Sasuke snorted. "You forgot to say that you are lowly too."

While Sasuke and Naruto entered in a short discussion, Iruka was remembering his talk with Anko and Kakashi. He was right; I can't treat them like kids anymore. "I'm sorry, Naruto…"

The Jinchuuriki again complained. "I already told you to stop with all that bullshit. Now can you please take us to the Hokage? She is heavy as hell." Sakura sighed. "You are very lucky that she is sleeping…"

Iruka sighed and then made a gesture for them to follow him. Sakura had gone in their front while Naruto pushed Sasuke aside. "DO you think you can teach me that move after we talk with Jii-san? I think we have two more days before the final exam."

The Uchiha nodded. "Sure, I can. But do you think you can learn that in two days?" The blond genin smiled. "You are going to see the wonders of the Kage Bunshin. Now let's go."

Kabuto was currently outside the tower, waiting to meet with his boss. After a few minutes, the man he was looking for arrived.

"Have you found them Kabuto?" The silver haired shinobi looked at his master and said. "Orochimaru-sama, it appears that Team Dosu was killed in the battle with Team Seven. I found the corpse of Zaku and Dosu, and also blood from Kin, which we can assume is also dead."

Orochimaru took a minute to think about the situation. "I knew that they were going to be defeated, but I didn't expect them to be killed. It seems that Naruto-kun and Sasuke-kun is more ruthless then I thought. Well, this is a good thing."

Kabuto adjusted his glasses and spoke. "From what I know, team Seven was one of the strongest teams of these exams, so this is no surprise."

The Snake Sennin smirked. "Don't speak things that I already know Kabuto. But now I have to find other living sacrifices for my plans." He thought it over for a minute before he let out a malicious grin. "Kabuto, get your team to come see me before they enter the tower. They will be more important than they thought. Ku, ku, ku."

Kabuto nodded and left with a shunshin.

Sarutobi Hiruzen was preparing his speech for the third exam when someone knocked on his door. He asked for the person to enter and a chuunin step inside of his room and bowed.

"Hokage-sama, Team Seven is requesting to talk with you." The Hokage lifted an eyebrow. What have Naruto done this time? "Please, send them in."

The chuunin nodded and left. After a few seconds, Team Seven together with Kin entered his office and closed the door.

Sarutobi turned to them and said. "Good afternoon, Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura. So why have you came here? And I can assume that this lovely lady is involved too, isn't her?"

Naruto quietly mumbled. "That's just because you hadn't talked with her before." Kin became angry and gave him a noogie, which made Sakura and Sasuke laugh and the Hokage giggle.

Sasuke coughed and spoke. "Jokes and idiot aside, we have an important thing to discuss, Hokage-sama. We fought Orochimaru of the Sannin in the Forest of Death."

If the Sandaime was surprised about that, he certainly didn't show it. With a serious expression he said. "Please, continue Sasuke."

After Sasuke told him all that happened in the fight, taking care to disguise the part about Naruto using the Kyuubi chakra so that Kin didn't learned about it, he finished.

"And in the end, we discovered that Orochimaru was the leader of Otogakure no Sato. He sent his genin team to kill me, but we successfully prevented that and defeated them in battle, making sure that they never attacked anyone from Konoha again."

Sarutobi caught the hidden meaning behind the genin words and signed. I already knew about Orochimaru coming here but I didn't expect him to send his own team after Sasuke. He is probably after the Sharingan. And it pains myself to know that these boys had to kill so early in life. The Hokage stared at the genins in his front and said.

"Let me guess, this kunoichi here was from the genin team sent to attack you. You captured her and she is now here to trade a possible exile for information about Orochimaru, am I right?"

Kin stood awestruck. I would never think that this old man seating right in front of me was the powerful Hokage. But after this, I don't have doubts. She become extremely nervous and almost mumbled her reply. "That's right, Hokage-dono."

The Hokage smiled at her. "Don't worry; I'm not going to bite you. Now, Team Seven, I'm sure that it will be better if I talk with her alone."

All the members of Team Seven nodded and calmly left the room. But both Hokage and Kin could still hear them talking in the hall.

"Man, a big bowl of ramen would be very good right now. Do you want to eat with me, Sakura-chan?"

"Naruto, you know that we can't leave the tower till the end of the exams."

"Who talked about leaving? I have ten bowls of ramen sealed in a scroll right here in my pocket."

"You idiot, why didn't you tell you had that early? We had to fish for food while you were unconscious you know!"

"Sasuke, don't blame me if you hadn't thought about that early. Plus, you know that fish is good for health."

POW!

"Itai, Sakura-chan! Why did you hit me?"

"You deserved it, dead last."

"No one is talking to you, tomato freak."

Sarutobi chuckled. "They are truly a unique team." He then turned to Kin and started. "Now let's start with our business…"

All the Teams that had passed the second exam were now reunited in a battle arena inside the tower. Their senseis, the Hokage , the last examiner and some chuunins and jounin were also there.

Naruto looked around, anxious for the next test to start. He knew he had come a long way till now. He decided to look at the teams that passed so that he could discover his concurrence.

So the Lazy trio passed and Team Eight too. Awesome. Well, Gaara's team passed. No surprise here. The Iwa team also. Man, they are going to be a pain in the ass. Man, Fuzzy Brows and the Hyuuga also passed.

He was interrupted from his thoughts by the examiner. "Hokage-sama will now explain the third test. Listen carefully. Now, Hokage-sama please."

The Sandaime nodded and started. "Before I start explaining the third exams, there is something I'd like you to know. The true purpose of the chuunin exams ... why do we have all the countries in peace with each other taking these exams together?"

Seeing the confusion written in the genins face he continued. "'To promote friendship among the countries' 'To raise the level of shinobi' I don't want you to be confused about the true meaning. This exam is a replacement for among the countries. Those countries once fought against each other to know who would rule. In order to prevent wasteful fights, the stage that these countries chose for battle… That is the origin of the chuunin selection exams. While these exams decide who has what it takes to become a chuunin, they also are the place where each country's shinobi risk their life to protect their land's prestige."

Sarutobi heard one of the genin ask about the prestige so he explained. " Watching these third exams will be leaders and influential individual from many countries who make up the clients of the shinobi. And the leaders of these countries will also be there to watch each of your battles. If the strength of a country is clear, that country will receive more clients. And conversely, if seen as weak, they lose clients. And this will signal to potential enemies to the countries that 'our village has this much power'. So it will send a political message to the outsiders."

Kiba was enraged about all this. "Yeah, but why? Why do we have to risk our lives in battle?" the Hokage paused and replied.

"The strength of the country is the strength of the village. The strength of the village is the strength of the Shinobi. And a Shinobi's true strength is born only through life-risking battle. This exam is a place to see to see each country's strength and to show off your own strength. It only has meaning because lives are at risk. And that's why those that have come before you have fought in the Chuunin Exam for this dream that is meaningful."

This time, it was TenTen that asked about what the Sandaime was talking. "But then why do you say stuff about it being for 'friendship'?"

Sarutobi replied on the same tone. "I said it in the beginning; I don't want you to confuse the purpose of this. By losing life and establishing balance. This is the shape of friendship in the world of the shinobi. Before we begin the third test, I will tell you one more thing. This is not just a test... This is a life-risking battle with your dreams and your country's prestige on the line."

Gaara broke the silence after the Hokage speech. "I don't care what it is... Just hurry up and tell us what this life-risking battle entails." Sarutobi answered. "Yes, I'd like to now explain the third exam, but …"

"Actually…" The genins saw a Konoha shinobi land in front of them, which was probably a jounin. He turned to the Hokage and bowed. "I apologize, Hokage-sama... from here on, as the referee… will you please allow me, Hayate Gekkou..."

Seeing the positive signal from his leader, the man now identified as Hayate turned to the exam takers and spoke. "Hello, everyone, I'm Hayate. Before the third test, there's... Something I'd like to do... Umm... It's a preliminary for the third test... to decide who gets to participate in the main event..."

The shinobi was coughing quite a bit during his talk which the genins thought was probably a disease. But the last phrase didn't pass unheard. Shikamaru protested.

"Preliminary? What do you mean?" Sakura also said. "Sensei... I don't understand this preliminary, but... Why aren't all the people here allowed to participate in the next test?"

Hayate explained. "Because the first and second test may have been too easy this year... We have a bit too many people... According to Chuunin Exam rules, we must have a preliminary and... Reduce the number of participants for the third test."

He paused to cough quite a little harder and continued. "As Hokage-sama indicated earlier, there will be many guests at the third test... So, the fights could take too long, we are limited in time... so... anyway... Those who are not feeling well... Those who feel like quitting after these explanations, please come forward now... Since we will be started the preliminaries immediately."

Kiba complained. "What? Right now?" Some of the genins appeared to have agreed with him. Seeing that no one had desired to give up, the special jounin continued.

"Umm… now, let's begin the preliminary... this preliminary will consist of one on one fighting… you will basically fight as if in a real life confrontation… since we now have 18 entrants, we will conduct 9 matches and the winners will advance to the third test. There are basically no rules. The fight continues until one of you dies or is knocked out or admits your defeat. Umm… If you don't want to die, then quickly acknowledge your defeat. But, when I decide that the winner has clearly been established... Since we don't want to pointlessly increase the amount of corpses, I'll jump in and stop things…" Hayate continued, "And the object that controls your destiny is..."

They all looked up and saw a flat screen where previously there was just a part of the wall. The jounin continued. "This electric score-board will…show the match-ups for each battle. Now, this is sudden but let's announce the two names of the first match."

Many names started to mix through the screen till they stopped, defining who would fight in the first match of the preliminaries.

Uchiha Sasuke

VS

Kankurou

Long time no see you, guys!

A lot has been going on with my life that took my focus away from this story. This last month, with the World Cup, didn't help either. It is almost impossible for any Brazilian male guy to not watch the World Cup.

Sadly for me, my country has been defeated by Netherlands and has lost the chance to win the Cup for the sixth time. Well, next time, here in Brazil, I'm sure we will win.

Sorry about the rumble about soccer but I'm pretty "affected" by it right now.

About the chapter, this one again wasn't beta-read. So please forgive me if you find any grammar errors. I will also ask that if you find one, report it to me so that I can fix it as soon as possible.

We had the final part of the second exam and the beginning of the Seven defeated Team Dosu and they are pretty confident to pass to the third exam.

Next time, the preliminaries go on. What will happen in the fight between Sasuke and Kankurou? And what will be the others battles?

Have a nice week!

Dictionary:

Zankuuha – Air Slicing Blast

Ninpou: Sakura Shigure – Ninja Art: Cherry Blossom Rain

Baika no Jutsu - Multi-Size Technique

Nikudan Sensha – Human Bullet Tank

Kage Mane no Jutsu – Shadow Imitation Technique

Shintenshin no Jutsu - Mind Body Switch Technique

Zankuukyokuha – Ultimate Air Slicing Blast

Suiton: Suijinheki – Water Release: Water Wall