Hope is something to work for

by Yasha-HebiHime

Full Summary Inside. FemNaru Afraid of forever being weak, she took it upon herself to train at a young age and become the greatest ninja. But for who would she live for? Herself, or others.

14. Tears of Insanity

CuteLikeMomiji – Thanks, though I probably won't correct them I'll be sure to look out for those now :P Though I'm sure I capped Sound.. stupid auto correct must have done it somehow.

Serifus – Maybe! The Three-Tailed Naru is somethin' you'll have to wait and see about! Also, no. Dosu's team is still in the game, if you read the last chapter carefully Tayuya's team had passed another team that was heading to Konoha with them. Thus, Kin, Dosu, and Zaku (Who rival Tenten on the "Unimportant" Meter in Canon) are still in the show! They simply didn't act because Tayuya, Kidomaru, and Jirobo are still higher rank then them, thus they get "first punch".

MoleBase – Sorry~ I'm just a little tired of the whole "This world revolves around these people, because obviously the 236236 year old Kages don't know anything." whenever a bleach, even slight, is crossed over. Such as this one story called Sharingan: Title here (I don't remember the actual title) where Naruto has the Sharingan after going back in time. Neat, right? Well, then they got to Swords. At first, it was okay, I read the whole story, which stopped at the time skip, instead skipping like 10 years into the future with every bad guy dead, only for something else to happen causing Naru and his pairing to go back in time again, with their swords.

Thing is? Naru, his pairing, and Sasuke were Team 7. Did anyone else have swords? No. They all had one, but no one else, not even Kakashi or fing Orochimaru who is a Genius and would have studied Shinigami on his research for Immortality.

At first, the blades were slightly original but when they got to the squeal.. Well, let's just say I stopped reading it after seeing Sasuke had "SakuHime" aka, ZenbonZakura and Naruto's "hollow" fight was an exact Mirror of the Ichigo hollow fight.

Sorry, ranted a bit there. Anywho

LazHellRaiser – Around a week or two usually. To be perfectly honest, I have almost everything laid out and I usually add/write more then I intend to when I get around to it. The problem? I'm lazy as sin but I figured out a way to get myself to work more. You see, your reviews help me, they get me inspired, and I write the answers out to you, and keep the file open. This reminds me I need to work on it, and so every..half hour I write a paragraph, grab a dr. pepper, and then go play a game.

Happyface

0-0-0-0 Exams Start 0-0-0-0

The entire room was lined up and then sat down in assigned desk, by several Chunin, and sat down in certain seats. Naru was sitting in the middle row, as there were 9 in all with a desk at the front where the Jounin instructor, Ibiki, stood. She was between Temari and some civilian looking girl with her hair up in a two huge pigtails (Naru couldn't help but notice the Leaf Headband and shudder a bit) and was quietly chatting with another blonde in the row, ignoring the other two.

Naru looked down, surprised to see Hinata sitting in front of her with Shikamaru beside her and Shino on the row below them between Haku and Ino with Sasuke sitting at the side beside Haku. She glanced over past Temari towards the other tables, where the rest of the Sound, Cloud, Rain, Iwa, and Grass Ninja were all seated, but Naru found herself looking towards Tayuya who was sitting at the front row, yawning.

Naru looked over towards Kabuto, who was a row behind her but on the other side of the room and narrowed her eyes as she caught the green glow of medical Jutsu on his chest, from his hand. No Genin were allowed to have such unreliable Jutsu, since you had to have near perfect control for such things and if Kabuto had that sort of control, she was sure he knew some Jutsu and probably had enhanced senses since such control was useless without the tact to use it. She mentally decided to keep an eye on the Leaf Genin.

She looked back up towards Ibiki, who cleared his throat loudly to get their attention. Seeing he had it, he began to speak, explaining the rules of the exam along with the "If you get caught cheating, you will lose 2 points out of your 9 points.' He then meaningfully looked towards Shikamaru, Shino, Hinata, and then Naru. "And for those of you in teams of two, instead of three, you only have 6 points." They just shrugged, not a big deal to them.

Naru could already see the point of this test after two minutes into the test itself, after the papers were handed out. She couldn't even understand the point of these questions and yet she could see a few people scribbling down quickly onto their paper. She slid her hand under her desk, forming a one handed seal as she summoned several clones which quickly Henged themselves into cockroach-sized chameleons which used their innate ability to mirror the surroundings around them to scout across the desks.

Naru frowned as she waited for the information to return, she leaned over the desk, ready to answer when the answer to the first question popped in her head. She hastily wrote it down, followed by the next two only to pause as she heard a shuffling behind her. She mentally sent a clone to see, and saw it was a boy from Rain attempting to look over her shoulder. She glanced towards Ibiki who was staring towards one of the students as she casually dropped her pencil.

She smiled at the sudden jump almost everyone gave as she leaned down, keeping her eyes forward. "Sorry about that." She said simply, giving the boy behind her a full view of her paper which he greedily wrote down, being very obvious about it as he stretched his head upwards to see. Ibiki smirked towards the blonde, throwing a Kunai towards her head which she dodged by tilting herself downward, causing the Kunai to imbed itself into the boy's paper. "Number 55, 35, and 20, you're disqualified." The boy growled but got up and left, his two angry-faced teammates stalking behind him.

Naru casually sat back up, lightly pushing a strand of hair behind her ear as it was near her neck now and she lightly tapped her pencil three times in a quick session against the desk. She smiled as she heard one tap, followed by another two taps from two separate positions. She lightly slid her pencil across her paper three more times, making a scratching noise. Her response was two taps as Shikamaru and Hinata put their pencils down sideways on their paper and Shino responded by drawing three circles on his paper, which was used more for the noise it created then the actual drawing.

Ibiki was secretly impressed as he watched the exchange, knowing exactly what the code meant as it was one of the basic coding, although some parts were sketchy so he figured it must have been made by them, unknowing how close they were to the ANBU Code System.

He heard another few taps, smirking as he saw a few Genin get annoyed at the constant tapping as he listened in on the conversation.

"Desk 58, beside Tayuya, has been writing extremely fast." Naru tapped out, getting a few more taps or scratches as an answer.

"Desk 15 in the back is also going rather fast, Shino-Kun should use his bugs on that one to avoid suspicion." Hinata tapped back, her one Byakugan eye having the veins bulged out on the side.

Shino responded with another circle, but made scratching noises between each curve. "Very well, I'll have a few bugs sent that way. Shikamaru, How are you holding up?"

Shikamaru didn't respond at first before casually scratching his pencil above his name on the paper, making a line. "Fine."

Ibiki smirked slightly but frowned as he watched something move across the desk in the top right row. Squinting his eyes slightly, he was surprised to see the outline of a chameleon scurry across the desk, yet it was surprisingly small like that of a mouse. He glanced towards the blonde who was quickly scribbling down answers as the chameleon outlines passed his Chunin's tests, who didn't seem to notice at all. He mentally put that down to report to the Hokage, as such an illusion (since he knew she didn't have a bloodline) would be highly dangerous in the wrong hands.

Unknowing to him, however, similar thoughts were going through a brown eyed woman sitting two rows behind Tayuya, a grass headband on her head as she casually rubbed one of the chameleon's heads while making a movement to straighten her paper. She grinned, glancing towards the blonde. Naru Uzumaki would be very interesting, if Kabuto's information was correct.. Which of course it was.

Ten minutes later, Ibiki cleared his throat and scanned the room, as at least seven teams had been disqualified from the room from the 78 that had entered, leaving 71 teams in total (including the teams of two). He smirked. "Now you will receive the last question, and whether or not you take it will decide your future." He looked around. "If you take it, and fail, you will never be allowed to enter the Chunin exams again." He kept his face straight as their eyes widened. "If you leave now..well..There's always next year." He pretended to look at the clock on the wall, but was actually just looking out the window. "You have two minutes."

Tayuya scoffed loudly, just as the first hands were about to raise. "What kinda bullshit is that, shithead?" Ibiki raised his eyebrows towards the girl, surprised she was the one to speak out. "Who the hell cares who'sa Genin and who's not? If I were to punch the MizuKage in the face I'm pretty sure she'd slice me up, without giving a shit about my goddamned Rank." Naru giggled a bit, causing Tayuya to glance at her before looking back towards Ibiki. "'Sides, Shithead, I'd rather stay a Genin if every higher-up thought like you Konoha fools, would make me underestimated and then I can laugh as I cut your sacks off, you stupid asshole." Naru giggled again, earning a glare from Tayuya this time while Ibiki smirked, seeing the other Genin more relaxed, although the males in the room now seemed to be visibly afraid of the red head.

"So no one is going to bail out?" He waited, but got no response. "Very well, you all pass." There were several exclaims of surprise and Ibiki calmly lifted his hat down, revealing his scarred head which caused them to become quiet once more. "The reason behind this question was that no matter what the cost of your mission, you must complete it. That is your duty to your village, that is what makes us Shinobi." He put his hat back on and took a small step backwards, earning odd glances which quickly turned to surprised faces as a large white ball flew through the window.

There was a loud crack sound as the ball hit the wall on the other side of the room, followed by a familiar groan with a purple puff of hair sticking out. Naru raised her eyebrows. "Anko-Sensei?" She asked gently, noticing that Haku jumped up immediately to help the Snake Mistress out of her white prison.

Anko muttered a soft thanks towards Haku then grinned, standing up straight with her right eye twitching. "Well that wasn't what I was going for! Anyways! I'm your second instructor! Anko Mitarashi!" She put her hands on her hips and stared forward for a moment, not seeming to care about the sweat drops on many of the students. She paused and looked towards Ibiki, her eyebrows raised. "71 Teams? You must be getting rusty, Ibiki!" She grinned at his slightly annoyed look.

Ibiki sighed slightly then shrugged. "We have a lot of good Ninjas this year, I suppose. And anyways.." He looked at her with an annoyed look. "You're early."

Anko sweat dropped, rubbing the back of her head and smiling sheepishly. "Right! Well, doesn't matter since you're done anyways! Now then!" She smiled wide. "Follow me Ninja!" She jumped out the window, causing the students to wince as that window wasn't the one she jumped through, meaning..it was still closed. "OH GOD DAMN IT!" She shouted as she fell, landing neatly on her feet and doing a peace sign up towards the Genin who were looking through the window, or at least some were, with a piece of glass sticking out of her arm. "I'm alright!"

Haku and Hinata both got a sweat drop on their heads and sighed. "Anko-Sensei is drunk.." Hinata muttered, earning a nod from Haku.

"Indeed, probably sake." Hinata nodded back then held her hand out towards Haku.

Haku smiled, taking it as Hinata spoke. "Hinata Hyuuga." She stated, returning the smile. "You were trained by Anko too?"

Haku nodded, pulling her hand back. "Haku Momochi and yes, I've been studying under her for about a month. I suspect I'll be under her after the exams if Kakashi allows it, since I am technically in his team." Hinata nodded then blinked, looking around.

Only Haku, Herself, and Naru, who was standing by the door with an amused look on her face, were in the room now. "You two better hurry, Anko doesn't seem very patient " The two hastily nodded, running past the blonde towards the group of Ninja who were already heading down the stairs.

Naru smiled a bit and walked towards them only to pause with her eyes wide as a blinding pain seared through her head. She growled, holding her head as she felt a burning sensation on her leg, exactly where her Shinobi pouch was. "Don't forget your anger, Naru. Let it out. They deserve it. Destroy them.."

'Shut up.'Naru commanded in her head, wincing as the voice repeated itself again.

"Naru? You alright?" Naru looked up towards the worried Hinata, her eye showing all of her emotions and Naru gave her a small smile, nodding weakly. "Yes... I'm fine Hinata. Let's go." She hastily walked past the girl, gripping her fists together as she felt the pain go through her head once more.

"Remember.." Naru sighed in relief when the pain died down and she glanced towards the worried Hyuuga once more, who still had a look of concern in her eyes. "Don't worry Hinata. I'm perfectly fine, just a small headache that's all." She lied, but couldn't bring herself to tell the truth when she didn't know the truth herself.

Hinata nodded slowly, the look never leaving her face but she managed to give Naru a small smile. "Alright Naru.. Just be careful, okay?" Naru nodded, forcing the pained look on her face as she faced forward.

"I will Hinata, promise."

0-0-0-0 Training Area 42 0-0-0-0

Anko stood in front of the entire group, grinning ear to ear which was a slightly eerie sight with blood dripping down her forehead from a cut above her right eye. "Now then kiddies! Welcome to the Forest of Death!" She smirked and looked towards the forest. "The most deadly place in Konoha, except the torture chambers!" There were several shudders and Anko's grin became wider.

Tayuya scoffed, earning a warning glance from her teammates but it was too late, Anko had heard it. Grinning, the Snake Mistress slid a Kunai from her sleeve and slung it towards the sound Nin. Tayuya's eyes widened and she made a move to dodge as it got closer, only to suddenly fall down at her feet with the tip cleanly cut off. Tayuya looked back and forth to her teammates, earning a shrug from both.

Anko gave a glance towards Naru, but quickly looked away at the innocent look on Naru's face, her palm resting on the tip of Shibou's hilt. Anko giggled a bit and shrugged. "Looks like some one here has talent, sure ain't you Red." Tayuya growled in anger, her cheeks turning a bit red as she looked back and forth, but couldn't for the life of her figure out who did it.

Anko held up two golden tokens, each being about the size of a normal 10 Yen piece (Think a Quarter) but one side had the symbol for Earth, another for Leaf. "Here is your second exam: Your team will get half a coin, and another team will get the other half of your coin. Do all coins go together? No. Leaf goes with Earth, Fire goes with Water, and Lightning is a wild-card, it goes with anything." She flicked a whole-coin up, smirking.

"I bet you're thinking "What do the coins do?", well, I'll tell you." She caught the coin in mid air and held it between her index and middle finger, then channeled her chakra into it, revealing a blue scroll which was hidden in complete darkness. "Each coin will randomly show you a scroll, it may even show one already obtained, and where it is. However it doesn't show the general area, just what's around it. Now since this scroll is in darkness.. Where would your best bet be?"

One Iwa boy held his hand up. "A dark cave or under the roots of a tree?"

Anko grinned and shook her finger at the boy. "Wrong, but a good guess. The light of your chakra would still show a rock, or something, even if it was in a dark cave." She pulled the scroll out of her Trench coat's pocket, smirking. "However, if it's surrounded by chakra it'll be more difficult for your chakra to manifest around the scroll." She tossed the scroll to the side. "Take that into consideration if hunting or protecting a scroll: They can't see you if you have it, but they'll know you have it the instant you touch it unless you're lucky enough to not get revealed."

Temari held her hand up this time. "Do we simply take the coins from those we find with the opposite coin?"

Anko grinned, holding up her finger again. "Good question, so first let me explain the rules. One scroll per team, but you can have as many coins as you wish. Two, you can join up with someone that has half of your original coin. You can tell if it's not their original because they're color coded." This got confused looks as Anko held up a green coin. "You noticed the others were gold? They weren't my 'original' because I touched this one before hand, which turned it green. After anyone else touches it, it turns golden, even your own teammates so be wary on tossing it around or you may not get another team to help you. First come, first serve." She grinned ear to ear, holding out slips of paper. "Now then, please sign these because the last rule is that Killing Is Allowed. Go all out, but.. Try not to burn the forest down, as if you could, but these slips say that Konoha is not responsible at all for your deaths during our Chunin exam."

She handed out the slips and waited until everyone had handed her one back with their names on it. "Good. Now then, when you have the scroll head towards the Tower in the center of the forest, with both Coin and Scroll, and do NOT open the scroll until you reach the tower. Doing so will cause instant disqualification." There were several murmurs along the group as Anko grinned. "Walk through the tent over there to get your coin, Oh!" She paused just as they started moving, her grin wide. "Also, since we have an odd number, one group will have a whole coin.. and one group will not have a coin at all." She stuck her tongue out at their wide eyed looks as they hastily ran towards the Tent now, except for the smart Shinobi who just stood back with amused looks in their eyes.

Anko glanced towards the blonde Naru again, frowning as she saw a brown eyed woman doing the same. The woman saw Anko's stare and licked her lips, winking once in her direction. Anko just giggled and waved at the woman, her eye twitching slightly.

Anko shook her head, rubbing her neck as she felt a little twinge of pain slide through her curse mark. Shuddering, she made her way back to the gates and stood there until every team was at a specified gate. "Alright! Everyone ready!" She didn't wait to see if anyone had nodded as she threw up two Kunai into the air, which promptly exploded. "Go!"

The gates snapped open and the 71 teams ran into the large forest, each having their own thoughts and fears during the exam.

'Uzumaki!' Gaara thought, catching a glance of blonde hair just before he ran through the gate himself. 'Later, mother will have your blood!'

'Naru-Chan..' Hinata thought, watching Naru's back as they slid through the familiar Wild Side of the Forest of Death. 'Are you really alright?'

'Mahhh.. Troublesome.. No coin..' Shikamaru sighed, looking at Shino. "Double time Shino, we got unlucky."

Shino nodded. "Agreed, I've already sent my bugs ahead to scout for anyone with a coin. It would be useful if we could find the whole coin."

Shikamaru nodded, agreeing. "Yeah but, knowing our luck, Naru or that troublesome Uchiha will have it.."

Shino smirked, causing Shikamaru to raise his eyebrow. "You would think that, wouldn't you, Shikamaru-San? But.." A bug rested on his finger tip as he pushed his glasses up. "You know it's not wise to underestimate a beetle." Shikamaru grinned, nodding.

"Yeah. Let's go get that coin." They sped off quickly towards the right side of the forest, Shino's female beetle leading them right to them.

Meanwhile, Sasuke slid through the trees quickly with his teammates following close behind. He was surprised that they were still with him, although not as much with Haku as she had always been fast, since he had drastically improved his speed recently. "You two holding up alright?" He called back to them, earning a nod from both.

"Fine, Sasuke-San." Haku answered, practically being beside him as she was just as fast.

Sakura was slightly behind and her cheeks were a little red. "Yeah, I'm fine Sasuke." Sakura said calmly, her voice having an odd edge to it. Sasuke smirked lightly and turned to face her, getting a surprised look as he looked at her with his keen eyes.

"If you're tired Sakura, we can rest. It has been a long day and you don't have as much stamina as us." He smiled at her, earning a small smile back.

"Thanks Sasuke.. But I'm fine. I can probably go for another hour or two and we haven't found a place to rest.. Besides, it's my fault I'm so tired." Sasuke gave her an odd look and she grinned. "I went overboard with training, I'll explain later." Sasuke nodded and smiled.

"You've come far, Sakura. Way further then the annoying FanGirl I dubbed you as before.." He let the sentence hang and Sakura nodded, smiling a bit.

"I suppose I have.. We all have, ne?" Haku glanced at them then looked away, but Sakura had seen the look of concern in her eyes. Concern for her place in the group. Sakura placed a reassuring hand on the girl's shoulder. "Don't worry about that, Haku. You're apart of our group too.. Mia would've wanted you to be happy as well if she knew the outcome would've been this." Haku smiled and nodded at the pink haired girl.

"Thank you Sakura. Come on, let's go."

0-0-0-0 With Naru 0-0-0-0

Naru sighed, putting her Shibou back into it's sheath as she stared at the fallen forms of three Rain Shinobi. They were all unconscious from quick jabs from Hinata,, while Naru had used her Genjutsu to hide her friend from view and then Shibou to cut up their clothing to help look for the coin faster.

She held the golden token up to Hinata. "It's Leaf." Hinata frowned but nodded, looking down at their own Fire token that was a dull red in Hinata's hand. Naru pocketed the coin, shaking her head. "Let's go, there's sure to be another.." She walked towards the forest once more, stopping as Hinata grabbed her arm. "What are you doing?"

"What's wrong, Naru?" Hinata said calmly, her bangs falling over her eyes. "You're acting so distant, not saying a word to me the entire way here and only giving me a nod after I told you of my plan.." She narrowed her eyes. "You may not be very talkative, but you know how to say "Okay", Naru. So what's wrong?"

Naru growled lowly, pulling her arm free of the surprised Hyuuga's grip. She looked towards Hinata, causing the Hyuuga to flinch back at the slitted pupil, but still blue, gazing at her. "I'm perfectly fine, Hinata. Do not worry about me, just focus on the mission." She turned away, ignoring the pained look on the Heiress's face.

"Yes Naru." She silently activated her Byakugan, scanning the area around her and ignoring the familiar throbbing on her broken eye. "There's another team to our left, it looks like there's just two but.." She frowned softly and then her eye widened as she ran towards Naru. "Naru! Out of the -" She was cut off as a powerful gust of wind sent her flying backwards, and she could see Naru flying off into the distance. "Naru!" She managed to get out before slamming into a tree. She looked up quickly as she saw something move with her Byakugan and her eye widened at the two yellow eyes staring into her own.

"Hello Prey."

0-0-0-0 A bit away 0-0-0-0

Naru hissed in pain as she slid through several trees, before slamming into the bark of a trunk. She sat there for a minute, waiting for the world to stop spinning as her minor cuts began to heal quickly. She hissed lowly, then blinked as she heard a much louder hiss from under her.

She jumped up just in time, dodging the large mouth of the snake that bit down onto the branch below her. "What the hell!" It jumped at her again, using the branches below to push it's bulky body upwards as it snapped it's large jaws at her once more.

She growled, beginning to pull Shibou from it's sheath when her eyes widened as her head became filled with pain. She howled, dropping to her knees on the branch as the teeth came closer. She struggled, trying to push herself up with her numb hands. Her eyes widened as the snake came closer and closer..'Got to..' Naru felt a power surge through her body as she managed to put her grip around Hebi-Hime, just as the snake's mouth surrounded her.

The snake bit down, trapping the girl as it attempted to swallow her whole. It struggled but it let a satisfying smile cross it's large lips as it felt a lump go down it's throat. It was short lived, however, when it felt an intense pain in it's stomach. The large snake howled out in pain which quickly died out as it's body exploded in the center from a powerful blast of wind.

Naru grinned widely, blood dripping down on her like rain and staining her hair as she began to move towards where she had been blasted from, with the blood-red sword of Hebi-Hime gripped tightly in her left hand.

0-0-0-0 Meanwhile 0-0-0-0

Hinata panted heavily, blood going down both of her arms and her right cheek as she stared at the woman before her, who had half of her face peeling off due to Hinata's Fire Jutsu hitting her Dead-on for a moment, only to surprise the girl as she had switched with a mud clone mid-way into the blast.

The woman grinned widely, licking her lips. "You're far more interesting then I would have imagined. Anko taught you well." Hinata growled in response and the woman chuckled. "Don't get so feisty, Hyuuga. You know you can't win."

Hinata smirked. It was time for her first Trump Card. "We'll see about that!" She shouted, pulling her gauntlet up. "Roar to the moon, Kikkyou!" She smiled at the familiar feel of the pale hands on her shoulders, a woman with dark black hair in a bright blue Kimono behind her. The woman had no arms, just hands and feet that seemed to float in the air and she also had no eyes or nose, just a thin red mouth and ears on the side of her head, which were hidden behind her hair.

The Grass-Nin had wide eyes as she stared towards the claw. This girl had activated her weapon? The woman grinned openly, peeling off the rest of her face. "Kukuku.." She said softly, staring up at the Hyuuga. "You're far more then I expected, indeed! Perhaps I.." She seemed to consider something and was even muttering to herself, but Hinata wasn't listening. She hadn't heard a word as soon as the woman had peeled of her face.

Hinata took a step back, her eye wide with fear. "You..You're.." The woman looked up and grinned widely.

"Yes, I am Orochimaru. Pleased to meet you, Hinata Hyuuga." He grinned at her dumbstruck expression. "Now why don't you put that toy away and submit? I won't hurt you.. Too bad." He chuckled softly as she growled, holding her claw up once more.

"N..Not a chance. I know I'm no match for you, but just putting a dent in your face will be enough!" She suddenly swung her claw at thin air, causing Orochimaru to chuckle softly.

"And what do you expect that to do, child?" He smirked, but it fell as he noticed her own smirk.

"You're too overconfident!" She announced and Orochimaru let out a howl of pain as he felt three invisible blades slice through his chest, creating three diagonal marks and tearing up the robe he was wearing. Hinata sighed in relief as he slumped over, only for her eyes to go wide as he melted into a pile of mud.

There was a soft chuckle in her ears and she quickly turned around, swiping behind her, but there was nothing there. "You are far more interesting then I could have hoped, Hinata Hyuuga." She looked back and forth only to suddenly get sent flying to the side.

She let out a cry of pain as she struck a tree, stunning her for a moment which caused her to be unable to dodge the three Kunai that lodged themselves in her gauntlet arm. She whimpered softly as the man appeared from the shadows, walking towards her calmly and putting his hand up in two seals. "Perhaps I'll leave you with a gift as well, albeit a minor one.. You're not the type to give in." Her eyes widened as she saw his neck beginning to extend, and she closed her eye, biting her lip as she waited for the pain.

But it never came..

She opened her eyes at the sound of a pained grunt and her eyes widened at the familiar blonde haired Nin in front of her. Naru had kicked Orochimaru in the head, sending him sprawling to the side and she quickly turned around, pulling the Kunai from Hinata. "You alright?"

Hinata, with her legs shaking, stood up, nodding with her limp arm hanging beside her. "Yes.. But my arm.." Naru looked at it then nodded, placing her palm on the wounds. Hinata's eye widened as red chakra flowed from Naru's hand into Hinata's wounds, causing the wounds to quickly close with a loud hiss. "N..Naru! That's.."

Naru nodded. "You already have some, and we don't have time for treatment." She drew her swords, and Hinata felt power surge through her body as Kyuubi's chakra flowed through her entire system. She looked towards Hebi-Hime, noticing that it was blood red.

"What happened?"

"Snake. Big one. Swallowed me, I used Great Breakthrough after making a big hole in it's stomach." Hinata nodded, moving her arm around and smiling a bit as she felt it was perfectly fine. "You alright?" Naru asked, glancing towards her.

Hinata nodded, her claws extending once more as she watched Orochimaru get up. "Yes. Let's beat this bastard, Naru-Chan." Naru smirked, nodding as the two let out simultaneous shouts as they channeled their chakra.

Orochimaru looked up and smiled wide as he watched the large blue aura surround the both of them, with Naru's having a red outline to it and Hinata's seemed to have a large red slit-pupil in the center. He briefly noticed the three-scar marks above and below both of Naru's eyes glowing a bright red, and her whisker marks becoming darker and more bold yet her eyes remained pure blue with a slit pupil.

His smile increased as Naru's Shibou and Nenshou transformed into their released state, but it faltered for a moment as he saw the blood-red sword extend and split apart. He shook his head for a moment and let out a loud laugh, his own chakra skyrocketing upwards as he allowed it to be free. "Very well!" He said loudly, grinning ear to ear as he drew Kusanagi from his throat in a swift motion. "I'll give you a little treat, my Prey!"

They said nothing but charged towards him, their eyes filled with determination to beat their foe.

0-0-0-0 Meanwhile 0-0-0-0

Anko frowned, placing her hand on the dead Grass-Nin's empty face. This was his work, no doubt. She looked towards the large dark-green Tiger beside her, nodding in thanks. "Thank you, ScarPaw. I wouldn't have found this out without you."

ScarPaw shook his head. "Think nothing of it, Anko. I simply thought it'd be best to inform you of such a thing.. Even I know that having their faces removed is not a normal way for Human's to deal with their ugliness."

Anko rolled her eyes slightly and let out a soft chuckle, but her face quickly returned to a serious look. "No, I know who did it, and they're far from normal.." ScarPaw gave her an uneasy stare as she looked towards the forest, scrunching her nose up. "I can only hope they're alright.. I'll go inform the Hokage first, it doesn't seem he.."

ScarPaw's and Anko's eyes widened as they felt a powerful and thick pressure falling on them. Anko growled loudly but silenced herself as ScarPaw put his paw on her leg.

"I would recognize that anywhere, Anko. Please, go inform your leader. I will go see if she is alright." ScarPaw announced, already heading towards the forest quickly, leaving Anko behind.

Anko growled and clinched her fists tightly, wishing there was more she could do.. But she knew she would be useless against him. She spat onto the ground, wishing her tongue didn't taste of Sake, and turned around towards the Hokage Tower. She gave a brief glance back towards the forest before jumping forward towards the Hokage tower.

"Don't die on me, brats." She whispered softly to herself, again wishing she didn't taste Sake so it would stop making the liquid fall from her eyes.

0-0-0-0 Forest of Death 0-0-0-0

Clang. Clang. Sllliiing. These sounds echoed across the forest as steel hit itself against steel. There were several shock waves from the power behind the blows, sending animals and plants everywhere.

Orochimaru smirked, blocking another blow from Naru's Nenshou and Shibou and jumping slightly as she bent down to quickly sweep under his feet. He then tilted his head to the side, allowing Hinata's Kikkyou to fly past his head from behind. Grinning like a mad man, he spun around in the air and slammed his left leg into Hinata's side, while his right foot connected with Naru's head.

Both went flying in opposite directions, stopping with their blades in the ground and the red aura around them becoming more and more potent as they glared at him. They were both panting heavily however, with blood trailing down their arms and light cuts were across their clothes. Orochimaru grinned, pointing his blade towards Naru. "Come on children, you've yet to hit me with your fancy blades. Are swinging them like animals all you can do?"

Both growled in response and Naru glanced at Hinata, nodding. She pulled her Nenshou back, the red aura becoming more focused in her arms as she did. "Set the world ablaze.." Orochimaru grinned, waiting for anything so he could dodge or block it. Naru swung her sword, shouting "Nenshou!" loudly, but nothing happened. Orochimaru narrowed his eyes slightly until he felt an intense pain on his stomach, like a big ball of blades slammed into him.

The pain became worse as Naru's hand twitched, and he wondered briefly why he was now on fire. He looked towards Hinata, ignoring the pain, and smirked as he saw her claws extended and pointed in his direction. "Interesting!" He shouted, causing their eyes to widen as the fire exploded off of him with a gust of wind. "You hid whatever Naru did with your lights, while making it seem like Naru did everything and keeping me from knowing what exactly was going on. Very nice, my Prey. Such a thing would kill a normal predator." He grinned, his blackened skin suddenly falling off of him and a new unhurt Orochimaru slid out of the shed skin, grinning wide at their dumbfound expressions. "But I am far from normal, my prey."

Naru growled. "What do you want from us? There's no way you would be after us for no reason." Orochimaru just smiled, swinging his Kusanagi around once.

"I am attacking you because I am the predator, you are the Prey. If you manage to best the predator, you will live again to see another day. However.." He suddenly disappeared, putting the two instantly on guard as they looked around quickly. Hinata suddenly jumped up, dodging a blow from his Kusanagi from her back but was unprepared when he suddenly appeared in front of her and slammed her down into the ground with a hard kick.

She bounced once, coughing up blood in mid air before struggling to stand again with her hands against the ground. Orochimaru grinned, pulling his Kusanagi up for the kill, but his eyes widened when Naru was suddenly in front of him, a whoosh sound being the only indication she had moved. He flew back as her foot connected with his face and he smirked as he watched her help the Hyuuga to her feet.

Orochimaru slammed his sword into the ground, stopping himself as he quickly preformed seals. When they were completed, he called out his Jutsu. "Fire Style: Storm Barrage." He let out a large burst of air, sending a medium sized fireball flying towards them. They hastily dodged, and he felt his grin become wider as he saw the Hyuuga use Shadow Snakes as ropes on a branch to escape since her legs were currently not listening to her.

The fireball suddenly flew upwards, earning odd looks from the two "prey" that quickly turned to shock as the fireball grew larger, absorbing the chakra in the air and from Orochimaru, and then began to shoot smaller fireballs downwards towards their location.

Naru hissed, using Sondio once more to disappear in a whoosh and re-appear beside Hinata. She picked the girl up, earning a nod from thanks from the girl as she disappeared again just as a fireball fell exactly where Hinata was. She continued this until she began to pant heavily, beginning to slow down yet the fireballs showed no sign of ending any time soon.

"Naru.." Hinata whispered lowly, just as the world seemed to disappear in a blur again as another fireball fell down towards them. "Hit the original, I think that will stop it.." Naru nodded, but frowned at the Hyuuga in her arms.

"I can't put you down though and I have no water Jutsu that I can use here." Naru mentally wrote down a note to get a few Suiton Jutsu, if they made it out of this alive.

Hinata smiled at her. "Just put me down for a moment Naru, it shouldn't take long.. I can feel that chakra healing my wounds already, I can move my legs enough to move to the side. Also, earth puts fire out too." Naru nodded, a thoughtful look on her face, as she put the girl down behind a tree then used Sondio to re-appear on the other side of the clearing they were at.

Naru put her Hebi-Hime into her mouth to keep her nerves down slightly as she began to hastily do seals for Moving Land River, when she saw Orochimaru approaching her out of the corner of her eye. She moved to dodge his attack, which was a sword slice at her side, but was surprised to see Hebi-Hime stretch herself and block the blow. Orochimaru's eyes widened as the sword bit down on his Kusanagi, small lines appearing on the sword as it began to crack.

Orochimaru growled, pulling his sword back as the red-Hebi Hime waved around in the air in front of him like a snake. "That sword..The only sword that can break Kusanagi because I made it that way." He growled lowly, slightly irked about something before smiling. "But that's good. Very good. You've proven yourself.." The fire suddenly died down to a low glow in the sky before disappearing with a soft 'snap', only the burnt ground and craters being any indication it was there in the first place.

Naru frowned, taking a step back as she moved to draw her swords, only to drop Hebi-Hime in shock as Orochimaru's fist collided with her stomach. She let out a yelp, rolling back several feet before slamming into the tree Hinata was behind. She groaned lowly, attempting to sit up as Hinata spun around from behind her hiding spot, Kikkyou's blades out to their full length.

Orochimaru smiled as the girl stood protectively in front of her blonde teammate. "Kukuku.. You did well as well, Hinata-Chan." He smirked at her obvious dislike of him adding Chan to her name. "Especially with only one eye, few Hyuuga can say the same." He began to prepare several seals, grinning like a madman as his neck suddenly stretched out towards the shocked Hyuuga.

She attempted to slice at his approaching head, but he wormed it to the side and slipped through her guard, connecting his teeth right onto her neck. She let out a scream as pain flooded through her whole system, and she slowly crumbled down onto her knees. Orochimaru grinned, staring at the mark that appeared on her neck before moving his head towards the blonde. He frowned, pausing as an odd black chakra was leaking out of her slowly, and he was suddenly flung back to his body as it exploded from her prone form.

He stared in slight wonder as she giggled, the black chakra cascading down her entire frame and seeming to surround her body in a thin moving veil. She stood up, pulling Hinata back with one arm so she rested against the tree before looking up at him with her hair being completely black, her teeth also black and the whites of her eyes were pitch black with yellow pupils with red slits.

He grinned and held his blade out as she drew Shibou once more, the white blade pulsing with an unseen force. "Hey hey!" She said suddenly, grinning wide, showing her elongated canines. "Did you know?" She grinned wider at his slightly confused expression as the black aura exploded from her once more, taking the shape of a large fox behind her, yet it seemed different from Kyuubi.. as the fox only had three tails. "Foxes eat snakes!" She sprang forward, and Orochimaru moved to block her attack only to be surprised when she disappeared from his sight. "Too slow!"

He spun around just in time to block a blow to his neck with his Kusanagi, and he spun around to deliver a kick to her side, but she placed her hand on his leg and jumped over it, flipping backwards over him as he attempted to make a stab towards her exposed back. She sliced down his back, only for him to dissolve into mud. She scoffed lightly and looked around, ducking as his sword slid across where her head had been a second before.

She sliced backwards, sending a large powerful blade of wind that tore up the ground as it went towards Orochimaru. He grinned widely, moving to dodge it when his eyes widened as he felt a blade at his neck. He could feel her grinning behind him, just as the blade grew closer and closer he knew he couldn't dodge in time to push her away... "Bye Bye!"

The wind connected, slicing cleanly through Orochimaru who fell down in a bloody heap while the Naru behind him poofed into smoke. The original Naru scoffed, puffing her cheeks up like an angry child, which were coated in a thin bone-white crust like that you would find on a mask. "That's it! What a ripoff.. I should.." Her eyes widened as she felt searing pain explode down her neck, leaving her screaming as the mask pieces fell off of her face, and her black body parts returned to their normal shade as she fell over onto her side. She panted heavily against the ground, looking up towards the grinning Orochimaru. "Ho..How.."

Orochimaru chuckled softly, brushing a strand of hair from her face. "Naru-Chan.. I could give you so much more power, power to crush those around you and protect those you care for.. This village gives you nothing like that, Naru-Chan. You always had to struggle to get to the top, with everyone scowling down at you as you reached them.. Hinata-Chan has the same problem, ne? You two would be perfect in my village.. My village of Sound." Naru said something quietly,barely a puff of breath from her weak lungs. Orochimaru slid his hand upwards, five flames appearing on each finger tip. "This will hurt, Naru-Chan, but if you can overcome it, you'll see a fraction of the power I can give you." He slammed his hand into the seal on her stomach, causing her to scream once more as pain shot through her body, pushing her into unconsciousness.

Orochimaru smirked and put her up against the tree beside Hinata, allowing the two girls to rest against each other as he sunk into the ground.

It was time to pay Sasuke-Kun a visit as well.

0-0-0-0 Minutes Later 0-0-0-0

ScarPaw rushed into the clearing, two tigers running behind him. "Come, RavenPaw, GrayStripe!" The two cats nodded, one having a pitch black paw and the other having a single gray stripe instead of a dark green one on the middle of his back. "We can't waste any time, I felt a dark presence and I fear for our savior's safety"

The two nodded once more, having felt it themselves. The group of tigers stopped right in the middle of the clearing, looking back and forth for any sign of their Blessed Warriors. ScarPaw sniffed the air, but the smell of burnt grass and blood flooded his senses before he could locate them. He growled, looking around faster before his eyes fell on a few blonde strands of hair swishing in the wind from behind a tree. "Over there!" He announced, running towards the spot with his warriors behind him.

He stiffened slightly at the sight before him, with the blonde's head resting on Hinata's lap who was panting tiredly, her eye half open with an odd emotion flooding them. She looked up as he put his head towards her, but she held no recondition as she stared at him blankly. "Hinata?" He asked softly, putting his muzzle against her hand. "You alright?"

She continued to stare at him with her blank stare, giving a lazy blink towards him before letting out a soft sigh as she rested her hand on Naru's head. "Hot." She said softly, sliding her hand up and down the girl's forehead before putting it on the tiger's head, surprising ScarPaw with how wet her hand was from Naru's sweat. Hinata did it again, but paused as ScarPaw put his head back, looking towards RavenPaw and GrayStripe.

"Come, pick them up. There's something wrong with both, we'll need to find a suitable resting area." The two nodded, ScarPaw using his fangs to bite around the sheath on Naru's back, after turning her over, and putting her on GrayStripe's back. The tiger stepped to the side as Hinata made a dive for the girl, only to land half on and half off of RavenPaw's back. She let out a feeble whine.

"Nooo.. Naru.." She said weakly, then her eye closed as she fell unconscious. The three tigers shared a confused look but ScarPaw shook his head and fixed Hinata onto RavenPaw's back so she didn't fall off.

"No need to worry about it now, go look for a place to rest away from the human's sight." The two nodded, running off as ScarPaw looked across the area. He frowned, noting how destroyed the ground was along with the blood scattered across the area. He pause as he spotted a blood red-blade with green spots laying on the ground in the middle of the field. He walked towards it, picking the hilt up in his mouth and was surprised when it hissed at him, the blade stretching out and looking at him with it's jeweled eyes. He stared at it calmly, recognizing it instantly. "You are one of Naru's blades, no?" It paused, having been in the middle of opening it's mouth. "She is unconscious, I will take you to her. I mean no harm to a weapon of our Blessed Warriors." The sword hissed warningly at the tiger and then nodded, returning to it's normal state.

ScarPaw ran towards where he had saw RavenPaw and GrayStripe run. When he got there he saw them laying them under the roots of a large tree and he nodded. "That's perfect you two, we had best stand guard to make sure no one finds them." They nodded, laying down as if they were resting in front of the tree with ScarPaw plopping down in front of them, dropping Hebi-Hime and then pushing it towards Naru. He wasn't surprised when the blade stretched itself and used it's fangs to drag itself towards the blonde before returning to normal beside her.

He let out a sigh at the others wide eyed looks as he quietly began to exclaim, hoping no one saw them. He didn't notice, however, the two green eyes that stared down at them from the tree tops.

'Uzumaki..' He thought softly, his fists clenching as sand swirled around his feet. Mother would enjoy her blood, oh yes, so much blood he would give her from that woman. He let a mad smile cross his face, preparing to crush the three tigers only to stop as a voice howled through his mind, forcing him to hold his head in pain.

'Stop! Gaara' The voice said, growling a bit.

Gaara groaned slightly. 'Mother.. Why? You don't want her blood?' Gaara's "mother" scoffed in his head.

'It wouldn't be fun, Gaara. Let her wake up, and we will finish her in front of everyone. Not here, but later.. She's weak right now, Gaara. Come on, let's finish this dumb test so we can get another chance at killing her!' Gaara smiled, although a pained one, and nodded. His mother seemed to sense this, and whispered quietly. 'I'll be quiet for awhile, Gaara. Your pain is understandable, I'm sorry.'

Gaara shook his head, turning around and jumping through the trees. 'Mother, I enjoy talking to you. The pain is not your fault, but that of Father's for his sealing.. I wonder if there is a way to fix it, though..' He could feel the demon in his mind shrug it's large shoulders, and he couldn't repress a smile. The demon was always nice to him, except for when he gave into blood-lust. The demon protected him, calmed him when he was small, and shared his anger at the world for how they treated him, just like a mother would. 'Goodnight Mother. Soon you will feed.'

The large demon in his mind smiled, sand dripping from her large arms which were shackled to the boy's mind. 'Thank you, son'

Gaara disappeared into the woodwork, reuniting with his brother and sister once more. With a one word command, they hastily ran towards the tower in the center of the forest, two faces set in thin worried lines while the other had a mad smirk across his lips.

0-0-0-0 Meanwhile 0-0-0-0

Sasuke panted heavily, staring at the man before him who showed no sign of the exhaution Sasuke felt. Sakura was beside him, also panting with her eyes showing a bit of fear as she gripped a Kunai tightly in her hand. Haku was behind the man, not panting as hard as them but still panting none the less.

Each of them had gone against this man who appeared out of no where, attacking Sasuke who engaged in a Taijutsu battle with the man. There were several senbon sticking out of the man's arms but he didn't seem to be effected and he had pushed Sakura's Genjutsu away like a fly.

He chuckled softly looking back and forth to all of them. "You're quite something all of you. You've shown such skill at a young age.." He looked around, putting up a few seals faster then they could see before slamming his arms towards Haku. Her eyes widened and she dived out of the way, spinning on one heel on the large branch to jump backwards onto a tree. No sooner then she did so, a large powerful blade of wind slammed into the branch she was standing on, cutting it clean in half along with the tree behind it.

Haku gulped, instinctively grabbing her neck. That could have been her. Her eyes widened as she was suddenly kicked to the side, but she flipped in the air and landed on her feet beside Sasuke. He gave her a worried look as she clutched her side in pain. She smiled at him weakly. "I'm fine." He nodded, then glared towards Orochimaru.

Orochimaru chuckled softly, staring down towards the spinning Sharingan eyes. "Such powerful eyes, so much like your brother.." Sasuke's growl grew louder. "But you have so much more promise then your brother, Sasuke-Kun. I can give you so much power.." He whispered lowly, his hand reaching up and grabbing a Kunai out of the air that was only an inch from hitting the side of his head. He looked towards the pink haired girl, who slowly blurred away and he smirked. "Very nice, Sakura-Chan. Quite adept with Genjutsu aren't you?"

He chuckled as he grabbed the air to his left, smirking as he felt his fingers connect with her head. He put more pressure on it, leaving her letting out feeble screams of pain as he threatened to crush her head open. "Stop it!" He heard Sasuke shout and he chuckled , looking towards the boy.

"And if I don't, Sasuke-Kun?" Sasuke growled and then smirked slowly, closing his eyes.

"I'll show you my eyes are better then Itachi's, you snake freak.." He opened his eyes once more to the shocked Orochimaru, who barely had time to form a seal as Sasuke used his prized Mangekyou Sharingan. "Tsukiyomi!"

Orochimaru looked back and forth as Sasuke appeared in front of him, the entire forest now being empty of all color but black and red. "For the next 72 hours you will be repeatably stabbed while drunk doctors remove each of your insides with rusty scalpels, and you will be unable to die until they're done.. which will cause the entire process to repeat itself." Orochimaru's eyes widened as Sasuke disappeared and he found himself laying on a large silver table with several doctors hovering over him, each having a rusty scalpel at hand.

One of the doctors grinned, having no mask to cover his face and Orochimaru could clearly smell the intoxication of the man through his breath. "Relax.." His voice was slurred and slowed, seeming to echo across the dark forest. "I'm a doctor.. Ha Ha Ha Ha.." He lowered the scalpel down, still smiling as Orochimaru's screams filled the frozen air.

"71 Hours 59 minutes and 24 seconds remain."

Sasuke fell down onto one knee in the real world, panting even heavier as he felt nearly half his chakra drain from using Tsukiyomi, while also feeling a stab of pain from his eyes as his vision began to blur. He looked up towards Orochimaru who released Sakura, an odd look on his face as he crumbled down to dirt. Sasuke's eyes widened and he let out a scream as pain wracked through his body, mainly around his neck. He looked backwards weakly, seeing a grinning yellow-eyed man standing behind him as Haku moved a senbon towards the man's eyes. He retracted his head quickly, chuckling.

"If I had enough chakra I would mark you two as well, but alas I will have to be happy with those I marked today.. You will seek me out, for I can give you what you desire: Power.." He grinned widely.

Sasuke fell over onto Haku who glared towards the man that sunk into the earth as she held the unconscious Uchiha in her arms. "Sakura, you alright?" She asked towards her pink-haired teammate, who nodded in response.

"My head hurts a bit but I think I'll be fine. We need to get out of here.." She jumped down and helped Haku hold the Uchiha up, frowning as she looked towards the three coma shaped marks on Sasuke's neck. "What is this?"

"I don't know." Haku admitted, frowning. "I think Anko-Sensei had one as well, but.." She shook her head. "We need to get to somewhere safe. Come on Sakura." The girl nodded, both of them jumping down with one of Sasuke's arms around both of their shoulders.

They stumbled into the thick forest, unaware of the dangers that lurked right around the corner..

0-0-0-0 Next Day 0-0-0-0

ScarPaw looked back and forth between the two still unconscious forms of the two Kunochi. Their faces were twisted in a constant torment of pain, while the marks on their necks seemed to glow an eerie purple colored light. He sniffed the marks cautiously, but got no scent other than the normal scents from the two Humans, but it was the appearance of the marks that got his attention.

Hinata's was two chains crossed across each other in an X fashion, but one chain was black and the other was pure red, as if the two both shared some sort of influence onto the seal. He noticed that there seemed to be some sort of battle going on between the two colors, as the red chain had black specs across the edges while there was a red line going through a loop on the black chain.

Naru didn't seem to have that problem as her seal was completely black, but in the shape of a large tear drop. The entire thing seemed to give an unholy presence from Naru, countering the normally bright aura that surrounded her. The skin around the seal as also glowing a pale white, causing her skin to look as though it had never been exposed to light.

He sighed and laid his head down, only to instantly sit up again as he felt the presence of someone nearby. He gave a glance towards his fellow warriors, who nodded and moved to their positions around the blonde and the Hyuuga, hiding them from view.

Meanwhile, three pairs of eyes were staring down at the tigers from their spots in the trees. "We have to kill her?" One voice asked, a frown on the owner's face.

"Yeah, both of them. Orochimaru said so." The second, obviously male, sighed. "Might as well get it over with, I can keep those Tigers busy.. Think they're going to eat them anyways."

The last figure, and the largest of the three, frowned. "It looks more like they're protecting them then trying to eat them." The other two nodded slightly. "I can over power them but I'm sure I cannot defeat them, they're much faster."

The first figure scoffed, pulling a flute up to her lips. "I'll deal with them, you two take the girls." She then began to play a soft tune, aiming the chakra flow towards the Tiger Warriors who flinched as their vision became blurred and a low shrill sound was echoing in their ears, keeping their natural senses down quite a bit.

The other two figures jumped down and began to advance towards the Tigers, unprepared as one of them jumped right at the orange haired one and clawed at him. The other figure was pushed back by a head-butt by another one and he growled, two extra arms slipping out of his shirt through hidden holes. "You little kittens don't stand a chance!"

ScarPaw growled, biting towards the large orange-haired man, only to get kicked back by a hard kick into his stomach. He growled, flipping and landing on his feet only to lean over slightly as he felt his vision begin to swim again. He was punched hard in the face, sending him howling onto the ground in a crumbled heap.

RiverPaw growled, jumping towards the six-armed man only to fly back with his body tangled up in some sort of golden web. He hissed and attempted to bite through the web only to howl as he felt another golden thread hit his leg, crippling him as GrayStripe landed beside him, a net of web holding him down as well.

The two men stood in front of them, smirking slightly. "Too easy." The six-armed man said, looking towards his orange-haired partner. "What now Jirobo? You want first shot at the two?"

Jirobo frowned. "I don't find the idea of killing them very appealing. They can't even fight back.." He sighed.

The last member of their group dropped down, sighing and shaking her head. "You two are so fucking stupid, damned Spider-ass and Fatty." Jirobo scowled.

"Tayuya it's not very lady like to curse like that.." Tayuya scoffed.

"Shove it fatty." She flipped him off, then walked towards the two unconscious figures under the roots. "Let's just get these two out of the way so we can go home." There was an odd tone in her voice as she stared at the blonde. 'Guess I won't be teaching you some flute lessons after all'

The two behind her shared a look as they began to walk forward, only for all three to jump back as Kunai embedded themselves where they had been standing moments before. "What the hell?" Kidomaru exclaimed as another barrage of Kunai landed where they were. They jumped back again, each wincing as a Kunai pierced their left arm, middle-left arm in Kidomaru's case.

"Who the fuck is there?" Tayuya shouted out, growling as she began to bring her flute up as she ducked under another Kunai. Jirobo did a few seals, slamming his hands down and forming a large dome around them while Kidomaru began to spew out thread mixed with spiders that hastily formed the webbing into a thick armor around Kidomaru and sealed up his wound, only sealing up the wounds on Tayuya and Jirobo for them as they couldn't remove the webbing at will like he could.

Jirobo grunted as he felt several large blades slam into his dome and he channeled more chakra into the wall. "I can't hold this up for long, there's too many things hitting it at once." The other two nodded, knowing Jirobo was more for his strength then chakra.

Tayuya put her flute up to her lips, playing a quick note that created floating arms around her entire body. She nodded towards Jirobo who lowered his wall, instantly causing a wave of Kunai to descend towards them. The hands around Tayuya shot forward, blocking and catching most of the Kunai with some landing uselessly onto the ground.

Kidomaru shot webbing towards where he saw the Kunai came from, but it just got tangled up in the trees. He growled and shot several thick arrow-shaped webbing, awarded with the shuffling of leaves as the one in the trees moved to dodge. He smirked and continued to fire arrow after arrow towards wherever he could see the shuffling of leaves until the Nin in the trees decided it was enough and sent a Kunai to collide with his arrow. "Come on out!" He shouted out, smirking as the figure landed in front of him.

The three Sound Nin stared with their eyes having a bit of confusion in them as they stared at the two brown orbs on the Nin's head. She had her head down, hiding her face from view as her knees were bent down slightly from her landing on the ground. She spun around suddenly, sending three Katana out of no where towards them. Tayuya ducked out of the way while Jirobo punched the one coming towards him, shattering it, and Kidomaru just let the one coming towards him hit him straight on, bouncing off his armor that was blended to look like his clothing and skin.

The girl smirked, senbon appearing between her fingers. "Interesting, but I'm afraid I know exactly what you do now." The Sound Nin frowned, glaring towards the girl as she threw the senbon towards them. Tayuya and Jirobo dodged while Kidomaru smirked, completely sure his armor could block it but then his eyes widened as he noticed the senbon heading towards his eyes! He hastily ducked his head out of the way, letting the senbon fly over his head.

He glared at the girl and smirked slightly. "You're pretty good at aiming, but I wonder how good of a close ranger you are?" She narrowed her eyes questionably as he nodded towards Jirobo.

Jirobo nodded back and ran forward towards her, and Tenten just smirked about to jump back when her eyes widened as she found her feet were surrounded in webbing. "What the..?" Kidomaru grinned as Jirobo prepared to punch her in the face.

"Think that first web was for show? I had my spiders in it weave it around your feet, that's how I knew where you were because the webbing was following you!" He smirked as Jirobo's fist reached back then sprang forward like a rocket. "Good night girly!"

Jirobo huffed, not really wanting to punch the girl but he put his full force behind the power, his eyes narrowed in determination. Tenten grinned wide, putting one arm up and causing Jirobo's eyes to widen, along with the other two Sound Nin's eyes, as she caught his fist with one hand! She grinned and gripped his fist as he attempted to pull it back and he growled, punching at her with his other fist which she effortlessly grabbed in her free hand. "H..How! I am the strongest.." He growled lowly, feebly trying to pull his hands free of the girl's grip.

She chuckled, pulling her feet out of the webbing with a burst of chakra. "I lift 200 to 300 ton weights a day so I can wield so many weapons at the same time." She began to lift him up by his hands , then she spun around swiftly with a yell and threw him towards Kidomaru. Kidomaru hastily jumped out of the way, spitting webbing backwards towards Jirobo as he sailed towards a tree, cushioning the blow to the tree as the webbing, where as sticky all the time, was only hard if chakra was applied to it.

Jirobo growled, pulling himself from the webbing easily as Tayuya brought her flute up to her lips, playing a swift note several times, earning an odd look from Tenten until the world began to swim around in front of her eyes.

"Genjutsu.." She muttered, putting up a hand seal. "Kai." She dispelled the Genjutsu quickly, ducking as an arrow flew over her head, earning a growl from Kidomaru.

"Damn bitch, stand still!" Tenten grinned, pulling out several Kunai again, seemingly out of no where, an flinging them towards Kidomaru. She was prepared as he just let the weapons fall off his armored body, as two senbon flung themselves towards his eyes. His eyes widened again and he attempted do dodge but let out a yell of pain as his eye was skimmed by the sharp point as he moved his head to the side. "Agh!"

Tayuya sighed, glancing towards Jirobo who nodded towards her and ran towards Tenten again. Tenten kicked at his stomach, sending him flying back past Tayuya who smirked. "You're not too bad girly. What do you do for your legs?"

Tenten smirked at her, sticking her tongue out. "My Sensei forces us all to do fifty laps around our training field a day, and one time around the entire village wall if we disappoint him during a mission." Tayuya gave a low whistle, smirking still.

"Well that's great girly, too bad you're gonna lose those legs pretty soon." Tenten gave her a confused look that turned to shock as two hands gripped her legs, causing her to fall flat on her face. She groaned a bit as she was suddenly lifted up and slammed down again, followed by being spun around and hit against several tree branches. Tayuya was playing her flute quickly, grinning ear to ear as four more hands appeared, pinning Tenten's hands and legs up in the air and the last two began to punch the Weapon Mistress several times in the stomach, causing the girl to cough up blood.

The other two just watched silently, slightly giving scared looks towards the girl who controlled the only Doki summon scroll in the entire world. They were, secretly, terrified of the girl as she was the only one of the Sound 5, which was recently just 4, who did not have a curse seal and still managed to best everyone but Kimmimaru in terms of strength, stamina, and intelligence.

The girl grinned, un-summoning the large hands holding Tenten in place as the girl coughed up a large amount of blood, and allowed her to fall uselessly on to the ground. Her grin didn't falter as the hands picked the girl up by her buns, then tossed her to the side into a tree, sending the girl into an unconscious state.

She huffed and began to walk towards the still unconscious girls under the tree. "Let's get this over with already.." She pulled a Kunai out, walking closer until she was practically on top of the blonde with her Kunai raised high. She paused for a moment, her lip quivering slightly as the Kunai drew itself closer to the blonde's neck.

The two behind her shared a look, unaware of Tayuya's thoughts as she brought the Kunai closer. 'Why am I doing this..? I realize he gave me a place to live but..' She scrunched her nose up. 'Am I really gonna kill someone just 'cause he told me to?' She growled at herself in her mind. She had killed before, in his name, without even thinking of it.. So why now..? She looked down at the blonde, her grip on the Kunai tightening as she bit her lip. Perhaps it was because this girl was the first one to ask for Tayuya's help. Others had commanded her, which she refused, or had bribed her into it.

Letting out a sigh, Tayuya let the Kunai drop down slower, silently wishing for the girl to get up and save herself. Her eyes widened just as the pure blue eyes snapped open, and Tayuya let out a yelp as she was sent flying back from a sudden burst of black chakra from the girl.

She rose up slowly, the three Sound Nin staring at her with their eyes wide as Naru stood in front of them, glancing towards Tenten with her eyes being empty, then back towards the Tigers. She hung her head slightly, black chakra leaking off her in waves and when she looked up, she had three black tear-marks going down her right cheek just below her right eye, one of them being in the center of her scar.

Her mouth, which had been in a thin line the entire time, suddenly split apart into a face-splitting grin with her sharp fangs clenched together and her red-slitted eyes gleaming in the light. "Hey hey hey.." She said in a sing song voice, her teeth barely splitting apart to form words. "You had a party without me? How mean mean mean! I guess I'll teach you a lesson, that seems like fun!" She giggled as she suddenly sprang forward, leaving the Sound Nin wide eyed as she appeared mid-air in front of Kidomaru. "You first!"

She kicked her feet forward, connecting with his face which sent him sprawling backwards with blood spurting from his nose. She jumped after him, slamming her feet slamming onto his stomach. Her grin seemed to grow wider as he crumbled into a pile of golden web. She giggled again. "Itsy bitsy spider crawled up the water spout!" She suddenly appeared above a tree, which Kidomaru was hiding in with her feet slamming into the very top of the large tree. "Down came the Vixen to knock the spider out!"

Kidomaru let out a shout of surprise as the tree suddenly exploded from under his feet, leaves and all, into dust, sending him falling to the ground as she came down towards him like a blonde meteor. She giggled and slammed her fist into his stomach, the force twisting his insides as it connected. "Then came the punch that sent the spider away.." She lifted him up then threw him in the air, waiting for a moment before punching in him right in the face, sending him slamming into a tree. "and so that was the end of the spider who loved to play~" She giggled, her smile never going down as she looked towards Jirobo with stars in her eyes.

The orange haired Nin gulped as she approached him and he got into a lose fighting stance, cold sweat going down his face rapidly. "Come on! Hit me!" She put her chest out towards him, earning an odd look from the Sound Brute. She giggled at his confusion. "Hit me! Hard as you can! Knock it to me!" Jirobo frowned but nodded, running forward with his curse seal spreading across his body quickly. He slammed his fist into her, surprised when she didn't' budge in the slightest while the ground under her exploded from the force of the chakra along with having a large shock wave of air that flew around behind her.

Jirobo paled, his curse seal sliding back into his neck as he pulled his fist back, surprised to see the imprint of his fist on the girl's face yet her smile never faltered. He sprung back in shock as her face popped back into it's normal shape, as if there had never been a wound to begin with. "Is that all!" She yelled, her voice having an odd echo to it as if she was speaking through an old T.V. "I'll show you a punch!" She pulled her fist back before Jirobo could react and then brought it forward, slamming it into his chest, causing several crack sounds to echo across the clearing as she snapped several of his ribs and sent him flying into the tree beside Kidomaru.

She giggled, holding her fingers up to her mouth as Tayuya stared with her eyes wide, an odd emotion swimming in them. Tayuya felt herself beginning to sweat from fear of the girl, and yet.. she had never felt so excited. Here this girl was, effortlessly defeating her teammates and giggling like a school girl all the while. Tayuya figured she should be scared, afraid for herself and her teammates.. but she couldn't bring herself to do anything but stare with an odd feeling swelling in her stomach as the blonde grew closer to her.

The girl giggled, stopping in front of Tayuya with her hands behind her back. "Hi there!" She leaned forward, pressing her nose against Tayuya's. "Do you wanna play too?" Tayuya could only grin and crack her knuckles in front of the girl.

"Sure. What game?" The girl seemed slightly surprised for a moment before getting a thoughtful look on her face, with her smile still remaining, and tapped her chin.

"How about this!" She suddenly spun around, kicking towards Tayuya who grinned, ducking under the blow and pressing her palms onto Naru's stomach.

"Sure. Sounds like fun." She announced, pushing a large burst of chakra through her hands to send Naru flying backwards, but with very little damage done to the blonde. Naru flipped backwards, using her hands on the ground for an extra push, before landing neatly on her feet with her blonde bangs flowing in front of her eyes. She slowly looked up, grinning even wider then before as she ran towards the red head with renewed vigor.

Tayuya ducked under a lazy punch, but was unprepared for the sudden spin the blonde, causing her to get slung to the side with a powerful kick to her shoulder. She did a small flip as she pulled her flute out, landing on her feet with it already half-way to her mouth when Naru appeared above her, her left foot raised high above her head to strike Tayuya down.

The Sound Demon hastily backed up several feet, pressing herself up against a tree. It was a moment later that it seemed like a mistake to back up as Naru slammed her foot down, sending a large powerful fissure through the ground which went straight towards Tayuya, causing her feet to get stuck in the now split ground.

Growling in annoyance, Tayuya played three quick notes, summoning two large hands in the air that punched towards Naru. Naru grinned and ducked under them, letting them sail over her shoulders before putting her finger tips on the wrist of the hands, then she flicked her hands upwards forcing the hands to open up, allowing Naru to slap her palms against the hands with enough force to send them flying back towards two separate trees, embedding them into the bark for a moment before they poofed out of existence. "High five!" Naru announced, grinning ear to ear still.

Tayuya shivered slightly, her eyes wide as she stared towards the powerful blonde. She shook her head quickly to clear the fear and put her flute up in her Shinobi Pouch. It wouldn't be useful against the blonde if her Doki fists couldn't even touch her. Pulling her feet free, she ran towards the blonde, zig zagging back and forth to confuse her.

The girl just continued her large smile as she threw her head back when Tayuya was nearly half-way to her, when she threw her head towards Tayuya with her mouth open wide in a loud scream, forcing Tayuya to wince and hold her ears which were extra sensitive due to her Sound Nin training to hear things more clearly. Just as Tayuya got her senses back, Naru was upon her with a quick jab on her side, followed by two more in the stomach, and then a swift kick to the side of her head. Tayuya fell down , coughing and spitting up a bit of blood onto the ground as she fell.

Naru giggled, pulling her leg up again and slamming it down onto the fallen girl, causing her to cough up more blood she slammed against the hard ground. Naru brought her fist up, giggling. "Nighty night! Bed time. It was nice playing with you!" She brought it higher and higher, chakra swirling around her in a purple vortex. Tayuya closed her eyes, panting as she waited for the end, her life flashing before her eyes..which made her realize what a waste it had been. The beginning Orochimaru was her savior, but now.. She growled lightly. She couldn't die here! But what could she do? Her left arm wasn't working at all, her right was under her body and she was sure the blonde would stop her before she could pull it free.

She bit her lip as she felt the blonde's fist grow closer to her body, only to stop at the sound of a voice suddenly entering the clearing. "Stop it, Naru." Tayuya's head, along with Naru's, shot up at the sound of Hinata's voice. She was standing with her hands on her hips, her eye narrowed with an eerie red glow surrounding it. Tayuya noticed she also had red chains sliding across her entire face, making an X across her entire face and then wrapping around both of her arms.

Naru pouted slightly. "But Hinata.." She said gently, looking down towards Tayuya. "I still haven't broken it yet.." Tayuya let out a soft cough, blood leaking from her lips.

Hinata sighed, walking over towards them slowly. "Do you really want them to be right, Naru?" Naru gave her a confused look, her head tilting to the side. "Do you really want to be a demon?" Naru flinched very slightly, but to both Tayuya and Hinata, it was obvious. "Do you?" Hinata asked again as Naru bit her lip, the tear marks under her eye beginning to recede as she shook her head, quietly mouthing 'No..' towards Hinata.

She suddenly fell to her knees, panting heavily as her body was emptied of the fire that fueled it. She looked towards Tayuya for a moment before falling on her side, groaning quietly as she slipped into unconscious. Hinata looked towards Tayuya, frowning for a moment before looking towards the still trapped Tigers who had been quiet since Tenten had appeared. Speaking of Tenten.. Hinata looked over towards the girl, frowning as she saw a little bit of blood drip out of the corner of her lips.

She made her way over towards the girl and put her fingers on the girl's neck, just as the chains on Hinata's flesh began to recede to the seal on her neck. She smiled as she felt a pulse throbbing under her finger, the girl was just unconscious. She made her way back to the tigers and freed them of their binds, all but ScarPaw getting up instantly. "ScarPaw, are you alright?" The old tiger huffed, blood leaking from the wound in his leg.

"I'll be fine, I just need some Raven Mint, Poppy Seed, and that ointment you gave us." Hinata nodded, taking out a white jar and uncapping it, revealing the creamy white liquid inside. Hinata dipped her fingers in the cream then reached forward, rubbing it along the wound. ScarPaw let out a sigh of relief as the pain dulled to a low twitch and he nodded in thanks towards the Hyuuga Heiress. "What shall we do about those three, Hinata?"

Hinata paused, looking towards the two Sound Nin resting beside the tree with her Byakugan active, then towards Tayuya, who was breathing heavily onto the ground. She approached the fallen red head, smiling softly but sadly. "I don't need to look to know your friends are dead, are you alright?"

Tayuya growled slightly, pushing herself up slowly. "I'm fine you fucking bitch.." She muttered softly, her voice having the edge of a wounded animal to it. "Just leave me be.."

Hinata sighed and reached forward, pressing her fingers onto the girl's wounds. Tayuya shivered from the touch but didn't pull away as Hinata spread the cream along her various wounds and bruises until she was coated in the cream. Hinata smiled softly and left the red head staring towards her as she made her way to Tenten. She carefully spread the cream along the Weapon Mistress's bruises, apparently disturbing her as she began to stir and open her eyes.

"Ngh.. Hinata..?" She asked softly, her eyes half open. "What happened..?" Hinata flinched slightly before smiling a bit.

"Naru woke up and kicked the Sound Nin's asses, but I'm afraid two of them died from the impacts against the tree." Hinata lied, as they had been dead before they had hit the tree due to their insides being destroyed, but Tenten didn't need to know that.

The weapon mistress nodded slightly, wincing as she got up. She looked around and smirked towards the red head sitting beside Naru. "So you got your ass handed to you, huh?" Tenten teased, sticking her tongue out, although she felt bad for the girl for losing her teammates.

Tayuya stared at her with an odd expression before shrugging, smirking slightly. "Yeah, guess so.. Those two idiots got their asses shoved up so far inside them they died.. Stupid assholes." She sighed a bit, standing up slowly. "Whatever, I failed to do what I needed to do and now I'll probably get executed for it.."

Hinata and Tenten gave a surprised glance towards each other, but it was Hinata that stepped forward. "What are you talking bout?"

Tayuya scoffed, putting her hands on her hips then put them down with a wince as she had pressed on her bruises. "In Sound, if you fail a mission, you die. Simple as that." She shrugged again at the surprised gaze Hinata gave her.

Hinata made a move to say something before pausing again, a thoughtful look on her face. She seemed to smirk for a moment before nodding. "I see.. Well, that won't do." She muttered gently. "Tayuya-San." The red head looked up, her eye brows raised. "Come with us, I promise you won't die." Tayuya scoffed, shaking her head.

"You're stupid, dumb bitch. I'm going to die, whether you like it or not, simply because he will kill me." Hinata tilted her head.

"Who?"

Tayuya sighed. There was no reason to hide anything since she was going to die anyways. "My OtoKage, Orochimaru." Hinata's eyes widened and her jaw dropped slightly, surprise in her eyes. Tayuya smirked slightly. "Yeah, the pale bastard that attacked you, 'course I wasn't supposed to know about that either. AT any rate, it was nice knowing you for the short time I've ..well, known you."

Hinata looked towards ScarPaw and Tenten, nodding her head. "Tenten, can you walk?" The Weapon mistress nodded.

"Yeah, I need to get back to my team though, they'll be worried sick." She sighed then her eyes widened and she dug into her Shinobi Pouch. "I almost forgot.. Here!" She tossed a coin towards Hinata, who caught it in her hand and stared down towards the Lightning symbol on the half-coin. Hinata looked up towards Tenten who grinned. "We found that on some Iwa Nin, and..well, we sort of started with the full Coin so no harm done, ne?" Hinata smiled and nodded, pocketing the coin as Tenten waved goodbye, disappearing into the tree tops.

Tayuya sighed slightly, only to flinch as Hinata shoved a coin piece into her hand. "Leaf? Why did you give me this?" She glared towards the girl, suspicious about her intents as the girl made her way back to the tree she had rested in just moments before, bending forward and grabbing Naru's blades that rested on the ground before wordlessly putting them in the loops in Naru's clothing.

Hinata just smiled at the Sound Demon. "You can still pass without a team. Come, we'll find you another half." She looked towards ScarPaw. "ScarPaw, can your warriors carry these two?" The large tiger nodded, glancing towards RavenPaw and GrayStripe who wordlessly made their way forward, leaning down for the two Kunochi to be placed on their backs.

Tayuya huffed slightly, glancing towards the broken forms of Jirobo and Kidomaru. She wordlessly climbed onto RavenPaw's back as Hinata put Naru onto the back of GrayStripe. She glanced towards Hinata before snapping her fingers to get her attention. The Hyuuga Heiress stared at her as she held up the Leaf half that Hinata gave her and then an Earth half that was a dull red. "I already have the other, so let's just go find the scrolls.."

Hinata smiled and nodded, then looked at ScarPaw. "You should go to LeafPool, ScarPaw. It isn't wise to stay on that leg for too long." The Old warrior snorted but then nodded, seeing the wisdom in her words.

"Very well Hinata. RavenPaw and GrayStripe are fine warriors, they will keep you safe." Hinata nodded, smiling still, as the large tiger disappeared into the bushes. She began to walk along, making a 'follow' motion behind her towards the tigers.

Tayuya looked at the girl as the tigers began to move forward, following Hinata silently. "How did it understand you, and what is a LeafPool?" Hinata smiled wide.

"Well you see..it all began just a month ago when.."

0-0-0-0 Chapter End 0-0-0-0

Long chapter that should have been longer but I felt I was neglecting it too much and I need to get to the battles!

Does anyone like what I did with Tayuya and Tenten? My favorite "Elite" Kunochi Genin, plus Haku.

Also, yeah, Tayuya doesn't have the Curse Seal, because she refused it when Orochimaru asked to give it to her. Why did he allow this? Who knows? Well, I do , but I don't want to spoil it.

Rage about the Curse Seal on Hinata/Naru? Deal with it, part of the story. But don't worry, too much.

Anyways! Review! Srsly! Tell your friends about my story :O!

Next chapter? The Preliminaries start! And..

Preview?

"You're Jiraiya, the Legendary Jiraiya and writer of Icha Icha Paradise!"

"Hoho! So you're a fan of my work, eh?"

Two blue eyes sparkled with admiration towards the white haired Toad Sage. "A huge fan! Please, sign this!"