The Unexpected

by DSecret

OC. One day, a three year old boy turned up in an alley way of Konoha with a laptop, something very foreign in the Naruto World. Who is this boy? How does he know so much about Naruto and the others?

20. Chapter 20

Well... Umm... Sorry?

'Thoughts'

"Speech"

Kyuubi talking

-Shion talking-

---

Chapter twenty

After the big, exciting contest that Tsunade so unexpectedly threw, Konoha went back to its normal self. Well, almost. Due to the nose-bleeding introduction of the so-call 'Butterfly Sisters', most of the male population of the village organised search teams to look for them as they had vanished so suddenly. The fact that it was a 'Pretty Girl Contest' with 'male contestants' seemed to have lost upon them.

After a week of hard work, the men were rewarded with an anonymous tip from a woman in a cowl. The Butterfly Sisters were in fact Hitsuka and Haku. Since both boys already looked suspiciously like girls, the males of all ages were sure that they were the Sisters. Even though that was true, but them thinking the two poor boys were girls was not.

So, a game of many-cats-and-two-mice began.

Hitsuka and Haku, however, had a slight advantage. They lived with the fearsome ex-Kiri nin, Momochi Zabuza. Angry that his (?) precious Haku was being harassed by annoying pests, Zabuza often carried his large zanbatou in a more threatening way and hung around Haku. Not many people tried to approach them after a fiery glare from the man. As long Hitsuka stayed close, he would receive the same protection.

Unfortunately for him, this did not happen most of the time as Haku's activities and his didn't overlap frequently. So after constantly dodging unwanted attention every way possible, adding extra locks on the already lock-laden door and windows, he decided he needed to do something drastic. Now, urgently.

So, what could he do?

After some serious pondering and lengthy discussion with the others ("No, Naruto, for the last time I will not ask Tsunade-sama to turn me into a real girl!"), a few solutions were suggested.

Solution number one: Move away from Konoha and become a hermit, suggested by Jiraiya and was rewarded with a couple of kicks to his lower area by the younger generation.

Solution number two: Sacrifice Haku, said Kakashi who was punched by quite a few people and nearly had his head lopped off by one angry swordsman with a large sword.

Solution number three: Change his fashion to that of Gai and Lee, Kakashi offered again and received a big cross on his face stamped by Hitsuka.

Solution number four: Let things continue on and rejoice in the attention, Tsunade proposed which did not help one bit.

Finally, as it should have already happened, Hitsuka's last thick rope of patience snapped. The warm atmosphere the apartment held suddenly dropped more than ten degrees as darkness consumed it. Eyes wide in alert or panic, the occupants looked about, trying to determine if this was a prank or an attack.

They didn't need to look for long.

Hitsuka stalked towards the huddling group, his chakra danced lightly across his skin, casting an eerie blue light on his body. Eyes glowing unnaturally, he reached forward silently.

Scrambling to get as far away as possible from the mad boy, Jiraiya and Tsunade pushed the kids in front of them to serve as a meat barrier while desperately looking for the way out. Zabuza bravely stationed himself before Haku, determined to be the hero even if he died in the process. The kids just trembled as they had rarely seen Hitsuka this angry before and Kakashi was annoyed as he could not read without any light.

"I'm getting out of here!" Tsunade hollered; her hand forming a fist to punch a hole in what she thought was the wall. Her movement, however, was stopped by a thin chakra string. Everyone was in the same predicament as chakra strings bound them into places. They looked like puppets on strings.

'Oh my GOD!' they thought as they saw the very thing that struck fear deep into their now motionless hearts. Hitsuka was smiling.

Not good. Not good at all.

"You guys…" the creature before them started then paused, letting the horror meter rose a bit more before continuing, "are annoying."

The two powerful senins, the famous Hatake Kakashi, the two ex-Kiri nins, and the five genins shuddered before renewing their attempts in escape with determination.

Then, Naruto's hand landed on something. Without looking, he instantly knew what it was; goodness knew how many times he had seen it handled with utmost care. He grabbed it and thrust it in front of him like the flimsy shield it was.

But for some reason, Hitsuka stopped upon seeing it, his eyes widened slightly.

'It' was nothing more than a plain, cream box the size of a man's fist. There was no distinct marking on it that made it stood out and was too small to be one's treasure box. It offered little, next to none, protection for the four children and four adults.

But the chilling killing-intent from the short boy had disappeared never less.

With a sigh, Hitsuka flicked the light switched back on, causing a burst of tear into the eyes of the occupants of the room. "Hand me that box, Naruto," he said calmly, returning to his normal self.

Naruto clung onto the group's lifeline, knowing their lives could very well depend on him. "Never! Not until you've calm down!" he yelled.

Hitsuka tried to reason. "I am calm…" He hastily brushed off the popped veins on his forehead and shoved them behind his back, out of sight. "See?"

Now the danger was gone, the two idiotic senins showed immense interest in the object. Jiraiya easily stole the box from Naruto's grasp and balanced it on the tip of his index finger. "What's in it?" he asked, finding great amusement in watching Hitsuka's eyes following the swaying of the box.

Tsunade took it and shook, causing the now panicking boy to wince. A rattling sound could be heard. "Sound like little pebbles," the woman said thoughtfully. The two adults did not notice the others backing away from them slowly, including Hitsuka himself.

Jiraiya snatched it back and began tossing the innocent box like a ball. He smirked as he knew he now held the power over the boy in his hand. "Well, Hi-tsu-ka-kun?" he asked sweetly.

And was promptly rewarded with a hefty whack from Zabuza's zanbatou, swung by the man himself. Crashing through the window at a speed that could almost rival with that of Yellow Flash, Jiraiya discovered his inner-cannon-ball-self.

A split-second later

KABOOM! BANG! BOOM!!!

Later, an unrecognisable man with a nose the size, colour and shape of a pear, lips like twin blow fish, neon pink nose and leg hair, skin in all sorts or colours and a couple of flowers blooming on the top of his butt could be seen wheeling into the Konoha hospital.

Everyone laughed, including the ER medic-nins.

Now Hitsuka knew what the effects of all of his smoke bombs combined together. Not pretty, but funny,

Naruto was, however, strung up and hung from the Yondaime's stony nose for causing Hitsuka to lose the majority of his creations.

In the end, nothing was done about Hitsuka's situation so he started to treat it like a training exercise. Using his skills in stealth, he managed to avoid most of the attention and, by designing traps around his house, any well-wishers or stalkers were presented with large number of challenges.

It was kind of fun. Listening to people's screams.

"Insert evil laugh from Hitsuka."

A few days later, after an incredibly boring E-ranked mission

"Man! That was so boring!" Naruto screamed in frustration. "How could they issue me with a mission that required me to sit on my butt and peel carrots the whole day!?"

"At least you didn't get onions," Sakura muttered, sniffing slightly as her eyes were still stinging from the irritating gas the vegetable gave off.

Kakashi first looked up at the sky before giving his students a one-eye smile. "You guys did a good job peeling vegetables today. I'll need to hand in the mission report so see you tomorrow," he said then disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Naruto, you go home first. I need to pick up some groceries," Hitsuka told the boy who nodded. Splitting off from the group, the white-haired boy headed towards the shopping district.

"Ne, Sasuke-kun, Naruto, wanna train for a bit before going back?" Sakura, surprisingly, asked the two boys. "You guys can join, too," she addressed the trailing box.

Bursting out from their 'clever' disguise, the three children jumped with glee as they could train with their boss and his friends. "You can see through our disguise, you must be one of the greatest kunoichi!" Konohamaru yelled. "Let's play ninja!"

"Why would a ninja play ninja?" Sasuke wondered but left the silly idea, knowing he would just give himself a headache if he thought about it too much.

The group laughed and joked as Naruto chased Konohamaru in a game of tag when the young boy carelessly tripped and crashed headfirst into someone. "OW!"

"That hurts," the someone said, glaring down at the midget by his feet. "Watch where you're going, squirt!"

Snot dribbled down from the young boy nose as he realised that he may have offended someone strong. "Konohamaru, get back here!" The said boy heard the yell but his eyes remained fixed on the painted face of the Suna-nin. He whimpered softly and started to struggle when he was lifted up by his collar.

"Naruto-nii-chan!"

"Let go of him!" the two male Konoha genin yelled, already in their fighting stances. They didn't dare to attack just yet, fearing for the young boy's safety.

Ever the clever one of the group, Sakura calmly asked, "Why are the ninja of Sunagakure here in Konohagakure. It is forbidden for shinobis to enter other Villages without permission. What business do you have here?"

"Well…" The foreign ninja smirked and did not let Konohamaru go. "I hate midgets…" he muttered but with a tinge of warmth that was lost upon the tense Konoha ninjas.

This anxious moment was, however, quickly dispersed when a flying fist smashed right into the purple-painted face. "Kankurou! What the hell do you think you are doing?!" a blond girl with four pig-tails yelled, her other hand catching Konohamaru from the fall and set him down gently. "We are not here to cause trouble!"

"Temari! But that midget-"

"I don't care if that midget let loose a flock of birds which are highly trained in aiming for men's vulnerable parts." The males winced as she grabbed a fistful of Kankurou's shirt and snarled, "Just don't cause any trouble in his village."

A whimper was her reply. Dropping her good-for-nothing brother, she turned around with an apologetic smile on her face. "I am so sorry for what happened. My little brother has always been this rude." She withdrew a pass from her pocket and kicked the lump beside her foot so he would do the same. "Here are our passes and we are here for the chuunin exam."

Not quite totally relaxed, the genins of the group cocked their heads to one side. "Chuunin exam?"

Looking surprised, Temari made sure. "You haven't heard about it?" Shaking heads. "Well, I'm sure you'll find out soon."

Then, almost alarmingly, Naruto felt a connection to someone. It left as quick as it came, leaving the fox within him hissing and all fluffed up.

"Temari-nee-san, Kankurou-nii-san, have you found him yet?" a new voice asked from behind the Konoha residents. Whirling around, they saw the speaker was a boy with shocking red hair (although, admittedly, not as shocking as Sakura's pink) and a gourd on his back. "He's as good as ever in hiding his presence," he said with a huff.

The girl, Temari, shook her head. "No, but our idiot of a brother has decided to cause some trouble," she replied with a glare at the taller boy. "Sorry, Gaara-chan, we might have to do it the old fashion way."

No longer able to contain his curiosity, Naruto finally yelled, "What the hell are you talking about! Who's he? And what do you want!"

"Yuki Hitsuka, do you know him?" Gaara asked politely and was slightly confused when he felt hostility from all of the Konoha residents.

"What do you want with him?" Sasuke asked quietly, his mind whirling to come up with strategies. He saw Sakura secretly hand-signalling him which also got Naruto's attention.

'We are surrounded. Have to protect kids. May need help,' it said and both boys agreed.

Luckily, help was at hand.

"Looks like you guys are in a bit of trouble," Haku stated, coming up from behind Temari and Kankurou with Neji and Hinata quietly by his side. They all had weapons hidden in their hands. "What seems to be the trouble here?"

Irritated at how a simple question was provoking all these ill-feelings from the Konoha-nins, the Suna-nins got themselves readied to retaliate if needed. "We just want to know where we could find Yuki Hitsuka," Kankurou snarled, unwrapping his puppet while Temari opened her fan to the first dot.

"And we want to know what is it you want with him," Neji stated rather than enquired. They all see Hitsuka as their important friend and, for most, saviour. So when foreign ninjas came calling his name, they assumed the worse.

Fortunately, before the alliance between the two villages was broken by a couple of hot headed genins and a medic-nin, the person of interest appeared in the midst himself.

Easily the shortest comparing to the other genins, Hitsuka still gained the attention of those that were presented. "What's happening here," he asked with a smile that sent chills down people's spine even though he looked slightly comical with two large bags of food in his arms.

One glance told him what he needed to know. Settling down his shopping with a sigh, he started with older male of the Suna siblings. "How many times do I need to tell you to stop terrorizing smaller kids, Kankurou-san?" he reprimanded, giving the boy a disappointed look, knowing it was worse than him yelling.

Kankurou winced and looked ashamed. He knew Hitsuka was younger than him (physically, but he didn't know that) by two years but sometimes the younger boy acted so much like his uncle it was hard not to flinch. "Sorry…" Honestly, he loved the boy like his brother, but there were times he was more like his mother.

"Temari-san, just knock him out next time," he then advised the girl who nodded and smacked her fan against her palm with a satisfying whack which frightened her brother to no end.

Still shocked by the fact that Hitsuka knew the trio, Naruto was even more surprised when the white-haired boy turned his attention on him. "And you, Naruto, Sasuke. Suspicious of strangers is good but to the point of attacking ten seconds after meeting them is a bit too much," he said and gently bonked the sunny boy on the head. "You guys are far too hot-headed." Haku and Neji bristled when they were, too, categorised into that section.

"But never mind, I'm sure everything's sorted." He bent to pick up his bags but was ploughed over by a red-head.

"Hitsuka!" Gaara almost roared, hugging the other boy to an early grave.

Feeling a couple of particularly hard weights he had on him digging painfully into his chest and ribs, Hitsuka threw Gaara off easily, betraying his true strength. Not giving up, the Suna boy leaped up from the sand that cushioned his fall and circled the other.

"I know we haven't seen each other for a long time," Hitsuka said slowly, somewhat afraid to provoke the crouching beast. "But please calm down." He held his arms open and said with a smile, "See, I won't disappear."

"Hitsuka…" Gaara sniffed and threw himself into the welcoming embrace very much like when he was three.

"Gaara." Hitsuka's eyes glittered with tear.

"… That is so wrong," Naruto commented and a brief mutter of agreement rose.

Hitsuka's face darkened. "No dinner for Naruto tonight," he said in a monotone voice, his eyes held a dead look.

"What! NO! I didn't mean it!"

While the blond was practically on his knees, the white-haired boy noticed something different about Gaara and for a second, his blood chilled. "Gaara, what's that on your forehead?" he asked, slightly shaky.

He was talking about the kanji for 'Love' that stood boldly on the boy's forehead.

The boy blushed and looked down. Temari was the one who answered.

"Gaara-chan came back home with that one day, saying he did it himself which had to be true with… what he has. He said that," she looked at her brother fondly, "it is a sign of his love for his precious people. Everyone sees it will know how much he loves us." She hugged the red-head gently and everybody went "Ahh…"

Grinning happily, now that he understood what the symbol stood for which was the opposite of his fear, Hitsuka yelled out, "Yashamaru-san, will you please join us!"

The kind man stepped out from his hiding place on the tree. "Good afternoon to you all," he greeted with a smile…

… and dodged the fist that formed out of sand to his head.

"You were here all the time yet you didn't try to help!" Gaara snarled and Hitsuka thought he could see a fluffed up tail behind the angry boy's back. "An adult's help at that time could've helped to diffuse the confusion!"

Feeling fatherly – as he was basically the three siblings' father with the neglect of their real father – Yashamaru donned a teary-eye look. "Bu-But, you guys have to face the real world sooner or later! I just want to put you in a situation where you would need to act maturely to get out of." He sniffed into the handkerchief that came out of nowhere. "Which you guys failed miserably."

"Yashamaru-san…"

"Yes, Hitsuka?"

"You've changed…"

Shuddering slightly, Hitsuka turned away from the gaping man and finally introduced everyone. Now that everyone knew each other, the atmosphere was considerably lighter. Although Konohamaru still kept his distance from Kankurou. Neji, Sakura, Sasuke and the three kids left for home when they realised how late it was, waving goodbye as they went.

Bending down to retrieve his groceries for the second time, Hitsuka stood and smiled. "Would you like to come to our house for dinner tonight? I've bought enough food to cover everyone," he invited.

"Sure," Gaara was quick to agree.

Temari looked confused. "Wait, you said you bought enough food for all of us… How long have you know we're in Konoha? We were going to surprise you."

Already started walking ahead to lead the way, Hitsuka looked back. "With neither of you hiding your presences and Gaara's unique chakra, I've know you guys are in Konoha ever since you stepped into it."

"WHAT!?"

'So that was why Hitsuka ran off as soon as we finished today's mission,' Naruto mused.

That night, the apartment that housed two Konoha-nins and two ex-Kiri-nins was loud and happy. Singing and cheering could be heard until a disgruntled neighbour came knocking on the door. Slightly drunk, Zabuza was going to slice the party-pooper but was quietly led away by an embarrassed Haku, leaving Hitsuka to apologise. The party quickly ended after that.

The Suna-nins took their leave with Gaara pouting. They had to go back to their hotel as there was simply no room left in the tiny apartment with four people already living inside it. But he was soon in a good mood again when Hitsuka gave him some of his favourite homemade cookies. In his opinion, the gold-eyed boy's cooking was the best, even better than Yashamaru's.

"See you tomorrow," Hitsuka said. "Good night."

Naruto did not say anything and turned away from the group.

"Naruto?" Hitsuka looked questioningly at the boy. "What's wrong?"

Naruto muttered something.

"What was that?"

Sucking in a big breath, the blond finally yelled, "I don't like him!"

Taken back at this sudden outburst, Hitsuka hastily asked, "Who don't you like? Tell me! Has anyone being hurting you? Treating you badly? Or… touching you!?"

If it wasn't for the seriousness the short boy had, Yashamaru would be a rolling, laughing human ball on the ground.

Shaking his head, Naruto snarled at Gaara. "Him! I don't like him!"

…

"EH!?"

Hitsuka looked most surprised out of them all. "Why, Naruto? Why don't you like him?"

Body shaking in unsuppressed anger, Naruto pointed at the way Gaara was practically glued to the white-head. "Stop TOUCHING him! Hitsuka likes me the most!" He jabbed his thumb at his chest.

Gaara growled back and tightened his hold. "He's mine, he likes me better," he snarled possessively.

Grabbing the other arm, Naruto pulled. "MINE!"

"MINE!"

"Let GO, panda-boy!"

"Shut up! You- You- Blondie!"

"Is that the best you can come up with, huh? Panda, panda, panda…"

Being pulled from both side, Hitsuka popped a vein. 'My God…' With speed that even exceeded Gaara's sand shield, he kicked both boys in the face with his feet, cracking a Suna no Yoroi in the process.

"I am not any of yours!" Hitsuka yelled, throwing a boy off on each side. "Not yours," he punched Naruto in the face, sending him flying back a few metres, "nor yours," He charged his fist with chakra; appeared on the other side of Suna no Tate and smashed through Gaara's last defence and the Shukaku container discovered a new way of transportation.

Standing amongst the fallen bodies, Hitsuka, the sole survivor, stood there calmly. The two boys groaned and struggled to sit up. Taking hold of the back of the blond boy's collar, he dragged him towards Gaara. The two 'love' rivals cringed, fearing for the worse.

But they were surprised to find Hitsuka hugging them both.

"And I like you guys the same," he finally finished.

Embarrassed, Naruto was the first to apologise. "I'm sorry."

"… I'm sorry, too."

Hitsuka smiled and jumped up. "Goodness! You guys just have to make me behave like your mother!" he joked. He knew, technically, if he got a sex change, he was old enough but let's not went down there.

The others laughed and the two boys made up. Naruto was still embarrassed at how he behaved before and told Gaara so who shook his head and said he would be the same if it was him. Realising that their 'love' for the white-haired boy was the same, they were behaving like long-lost brothers finding each other.

'What a long day…' Hitsuka sighed as he climbed into bed. 'Who would've thought Naruto and Gaara are really that similar.'

The next day, by the bridge

Knowing far too well that Kakashi-sensei would just make them wait while he was off somewhere having a good time, Team 7 did not get to their meeting point until three hours later. Haku was with them as well; having been informed he needed to be the day before.

"Ne, Haku, why are you here?" Naruto asked, braiding the boy's hair out of boredom.

Slightly annoyed – his two younger roommates had managed to break his nice-guy mask so now he was no longer holding back showing his emotions – Haku pulled his hair back and shook it back to what it was, replied, "Just wait. Hatake-san will tell us."

Staring hard at Hitsuka, Sasuke suddenly stated, "You must know something."

All the boy did was to give him that damn annoying smile of his.

Sakura did not even look up to see her Sasuke-kun trying to strangle Hitsuka with the boy's hair. She was too busy reading a book she bought in Wave Country.

Exactly fifteen minutes after they met up, Kakashi turned up on the top of beam and waved. "Yo! Today I got lost on the road of life."

"LIAR!" they all yelled but with a smile. It was now a common joke between them since they knew everything Kakashi said would be a lie. Such as, "I got lost today." How did he get lost when he had the Sharingan? And that time, the genin test, his excuse was, "My clock is a bit weird today." Though the clock he brought out was perfectly fine… (1)

"Anyway, this is not what I've called this meeting today." Kakashi looked at the attentive, little faces then went on, "I know this is sudden but, I've nominated you guys for the chuunin selection exam."

…

"WHAT!?" the original Team 7 yelled while Hitsuka and Haku shared a knowing look.

"Here are your applications…"

"Kakashi-sensei, I LOVE YOU!" the happy blond jumped and hugged the man.

Kakashi looked slightly worried. "I'm sorry, Naruto… I'm not wired that way."

A bit of wrestle later, the silver-haired man managed get rid of Naruto long enough to continue with his speech. "This is just a nomination, whether to take the exam is up to each of you." He gave them a bored-look. "Those who wish to take it should sign their papers and turn up at room 301 by 4pm tomorrow."

He then turned towards Hitsuka and Haku. "You two will need to go to see Hokage-sama. That's all." Kakashi was going to take his leave when he noticed extra weights on his legs. It was Naruto again.

"How come they need to see the old man?" He practically held the man's leg as a hostage. The other two genins looked interested to know as well.

Kakashi gave them his one-eyed-smile and then suddenly loomed up in front of them. "You don't need to know…" he said in a spooky voice, his eye wide and face dark. The two boys in question used this distraction to run off.

Konoha HQ

"Hokage-sama, you want to see us?" Hitsuka asked after they were allowed to enter the room.

"That's right, please sit down," the kind old man said with a smile, indicating the two chairs in front of him. He waited until they were seated before starting the explanation of why the two boys were here. "This is about your team arrangement in the chuunin selection exam. You both know that each genin team has three people, right?" Nods answered his question. "Since Hitsuka is unofficially part of Team 7 and Haku is not on any team, I've decided to put you two on one team to go into the exam."

"That's good," Hitsuka grinned at the other boy who agreed.

"Technically, Haku's already at the level of a special jounin, but given his current status it would be better if he gains his chuunin vest first," the Third answered the unasked question. "And with Hitsuka, you two should be fine."

Haku looked grateful. He understood that as an ex-missing-nin, many would be suspicious and afraid of him if he achieved his ranks too fast. Better to take one step at a time and showed them where his loyalty now lied.

"Haku, you can go now," the Third said, "Good luck tomorrow."

The boy stood up, giving Hitsuka a questioning glance. "I just need to speak to Hokage-sama a bit. Please go on without me," Hitsuka assured the other.

When Haku finally left with one more over-the-shoulder look, Tsunade and Jiraiya appeared beside their teacher. Both senins looked unusually serious. "Hitsuka, are you really sure that Orochimaru will come," the Hokage asked calmly as if he was just wondering what the weather was like that day.

Hitsuka nodded somewhat miserably. "Chuunin selection exam is the best time to get into Konoha undetected due to the heavy trafficking in and out," he said, noticing with little amusement the lines between the senins' eyebrows increased in number rapidly. "Orochimaru will enter with his Oto-nins (2) to grab Uchiha Sasuke at the first chance they can get."

"Sensei, why not just cancel the exam? Then Orochimaru," Jiraiya spat the name out, "won't be able to get his sorry behind through Konoha gates!"

Even Hitsuka sighed at the man's show of stupidity.

"Listen, Jiraiya," Tsunade started, wondering if her old team mate had always been this dim, "if we suddenly call off the exam, not only will we lose the income it'll bring, we'll also lose our credibility with other Villages."

Jiraiya went, "Ohh…"

Tsunade then turned to Hitsuka and asked, "But, how come you are so sure that he will go after Sasuke? Surely there's other Uchiha for him to pick?"

"Because Sasuke is his brother."

There was no need for him to elaborate who he was.

The Third cleared his throat. "Since we know he will be here, I've informed everyone with the rank of chuunin and above to keep an eye on anyone suspicious. There shouldn't be any trouble in spotting him."

'I sure as hell hope so,' Hitsuka thoughts, a sense of forbidding washed over him. He gave himself a firm mental shake. 'Trust Hokage-sama, everything will be fine!'

The next day

Everyone had agreed to meet up in front of a little restaurant before entering the building where the exam would hold together. With Naruto, Hitsuka and Haku being the first group to arrive, those who came after them all received a noisy greeting from the sun-kissed boy. First, it was Sasuke, then the Suna siblings with Sakura arriving shortly after.

Sakura's appearance came as a surprise. Ditching her usual red and green garments, she was now wearing a pair of comfortable, three quarter khaki pants; as for the upper-body, she had a black, sleeveless turtleneck underneath a hooded, moss-green coat. Everyone stared, causing her to fidget. "What?" she demanded hotly, "Can't a girl change her looks?"

Fully equipped and ready, they marched in with jokes and laughter surrounding and protecting them from the gloomy atmosphere like a barrier. Hitsuka was just telling Gaara about Naruto's habit of sleeping with his fox doll much to the sunny boy's embarrassment, when they were stopped by a crowd in front if room 301.

Lee was on the ground, wiping blood from his split lip. Two chuunins stood above him, sneering. "Hah!" one yelled, "you plan to take the chuunin exam with that? You should quit now."

"You're just a little kid," the other chuunin added and his companion agreed with enthusiasm.

"Please," Tenten pled, "let us through…" She bravely stepped forward but was instantly backhanded. She landed next to Lee and Neji looked worried. A cloud of murmuring rose from the increasing crowd, "How horrible!" "To a girl!"

"What did you say?" Hagane Kotetsu smirked which widened when he saw the genins trembled. "Listen, this is our kindness," he drawled, looking just a tad too happy in breaking them. His partner, Izumo Kamizuki, was just about to start on his part of his speech like they had agreed when he was interrupted.

"Let's just go," Sakura said, pushing her team mates away from the mass.

The two chuunins, who were really the examiners, noticed this and were secretly disappointed, thinking the genins couldn't stand the pressure. That was, until they saw the tiny group wasn't going back where they came from but forward. "Where are you going?" Kotetsu asked, daring to hope.

Sasuke snorted. "To room 301, of course."

"You guys can't honestly," Naruto stressed the word, "believe we'll fall for a tick this simple?" He beckoned at Neji with his hand. "Come on, Neji-nii-san! I know you know but if you stay any longer, you'll ruin the PT's reputation!" (3)

The pupil-less boy only gave a laugh in response to this.

Glad that someone noticed the trick, Kotetsu decided to give the small group a bit more trouble before letting them go. "Not bad, but all you did was see through it!" he yelled, aiming a swift kick at the genin his instinct told him was the weakest.

The white-haired boy did nothing to protect himself which gave the chuunin a greater shock when a wall of sand shot up between them. Surprised, he toppled backwards and got out of the way of a sand fist the size of his upper torso just in time. There were, however, two kunais at his neck, both aiming for his external carotid artery and a palm on his back which, no doubt, belonged to the Hyuuga.

"That's enough, you guys," he heard the who-he-thought-was-the-weakest boy said and felt the surrounding genins backed off. "Thank you."

'Who the hell's this!? To be able to command and receive protection from the others and even, even the monster of Suna!' the two chuunins thought, discreetly slipping away with the belief that their life were now on the line.

The group went on like nothing had happened with Team Gai tagging along.

In front of room 301

Kakashi sweat-dropped when he saw the mass of people moving towards him. "Yo! Kakashi-sensei," Naruto greeted and made a move to open the door. He was yanked backed by a gloved-hand. "What? Let me go!"

"You guys go in first, I need to speak to my team," Kakashi explained, directing the others towards the door while dropping Naruto behind him. Knowing that from now on, they were officially not part of Team 7, Haku and Hitsuka walked into the room as well. They didn't need to stay to know what was being said anyway.

With the sudden entry of a large group, every genins in the room turned to study their possible future enemies. Being subjected to such deep and hostile scrutiny, the newly arrived Konoha genins faltered slightly in their steps.

Hitsuka looked over at Haku and yawned behind his hand, causing the boy to giggle. The two boys, already holding higher ranks than what they were currently aiming for, had faced and experienced situation far worse than this. They were pretty much used to it. Living with one Momochi Zabuza helped, too.

Sasuke and Sakura came in after them, having already finished the encouraging pep talk with their sensei. Both, too, tensed under the pressure, looking around them with their hands unconsciously searching for the reassurance of their weapons. It, whatever it was, was suffocating the genins.

"What are you guys doing, blocking the doorway like that?" Naruto barraged in from between his team mates, dissipating the thick air as he went. He soon tripped over his own feet, showing of the true grace of a ninja by crashing into the ground, face first. "Ow…"

"Sasuke-kun!" a girl screeched, launching herself at the boy of her dream. "I haven't seen you for such a long time! Did you miss me?" she continued, circling the boy's neck with her arms. Wait, since when did Sasuke-kun had pink hair?

"Let go of me, Ino-pig. I don't swing that way," Sakura growled, pushing her stupefied friend off her. She could feel goose bumps rising on her skin.

"Hell YEAH! No touching MY Sasuke-kun!" Inner Sakura cheered loudly, pumping her fists. It seemed that the pink-haired girl had got in between her rival and crush just in time.

"Urgh! What do you think you're doing! Forehead-girl!" Ino shrieked, rubbing her arms as if to get rid of a disease. With sparks flying, hell fire spitting, the two jealousy-filled cats circled each other, hissing. Attempting to break up the cat fight in case they were thrown out of the exam, Hitsuka was just about to say something when someone else beat him to it.

"Hey, you guys should quieten down."

He did not need to look to know that is was Yakushi Kabuto, Orochimaru's right-hand man. A shiver ran through him which he realised with astonishment that it was anticipation.

"You guys are rookies just out of the Academy, right?" Kabuto continued, adjusting his glasses in annoyance. The Gai Team made noises of protest. "Geez, screaming like a bunch of school girls, this isn't a picnic."

Scrunching up her nose, Ino fumed. How dare this prick spoke to her Sasuke-kun like that! "Who do you think you are!" she screeched, thankfully within human hearing pitch range. A soft murmur of agreement rose from the group.

Kabuto gave a mock bow, righting his glasses again when he straightened his back. "I'm Kabuto, but instead of that," he pointed, "look behind you."

Turning as one, the genin shuddered when they noticed their cheerful attitude had drawn unwanted attention. They looked at each other solemnly, unsure as to how they should react. Both Haku and Hitsuka shrugged. They had seen worst glares than those from the Amegakure (4) nins.

When the boys, those who had been given special permission from the Hokage himself to be on a two men team, did not react the way had expected, Kabuto shrugged and continued, "Well, I can't blame you, you bunch of clueless rookie. You remind me of how I used to be."

Haku tapped his team mate on the shoulder, drawing his gaze while the strange teenager had his attention on the others. "Hitsuka…"

"Haku? What is it?"

Haku kept his eyes on Kabuto and whispered, "I don't trust him. My senses are going haywire with distrust."

Hitsuka raised an eyebrow at this and was amazed by just how keen his friend's senses were. He nodded slowly. "There's not much we can do but watch," he replied to which Haku agreed reluctantly.

"Nin-info cards?" Sakura asked, her thirst of knowledge drew the two boys back to their conversation.

"They are basically cards which have information burned on to them with chakra. I have four years worth of info here, over two hundred cards," Kabuto explained and was delighted by the blank looks around him. After all, he looked like he was treating two hundred blank cards with utmost care. "You can't view them unless I use my chakra, for example…" He placed his finger on a card and with a poof a map of the world appeared.

"Do you have information on individuals?" Sasuke asked, curious.

Kabuto chuckled understandingly. "There are some guys you're worried about?"

Sasuke shook his head. "Just my curiosity. Any information on…" he looked around, eyes searching for his victims, "Gaara of the Desert and Yuki Hitsuka?"

Hitsuka looked slightly surprised at being named and Gaara not so much. Interested, all the Konoha genins and the Suna siblings leaned in, wanting to see if this Kabuto could have unearthed any secrets.

Hands flashed as it picked out two blank cards from the pile. With a finger on each, he activated his info cards with his chakra. "Gaara of the Desert…" he read off the card, "Mission history, C-rank: 8, B-rank: 1, wow a B-rank mission as a genin… Since he's a new comer from a foreign country I don't have much info but… it seems he returned from all of his missions without even a scratch!"

"I never knew you were that strong!" Naruto said, awed.

"Well…" Gaara looked down, his face pink. The boy was used to dealing with fear, anger and killing intent, but rarely respect. He was happy.

"And as for Yuki Hitsuka…" Kabuto flicked a quick glance at the boy himself who did not miss it. "Mission history, D-rank: 7, C-rank: 1, B- and A-rank: unknown."

"Wait a second, there's nothing about A-rank mission on Gaara-kun's card as he presumably hasn't done them, yet there are question marks beside Hitsuka's. He was on our team and we sure haven't done any. Why's that?" Sakura asked, unknowingly put Hitsuka and Naruto on guard. As an anbu, Hitsuka had done more dangerous missions than those on the card but of course, but this knowledge could not be paraded.

Kabuto looked genuinely frustrated. "I know there's more about him yet no matter how hard I try, I cannot find any more information!" He pushed his glasses, again. "It's just…"

Hitsuka let loose a sigh of relief that went unnoticed. "That was close," Naruto whispered.

"Well, Konoha, Suna, Ame, Kusa, Taki and Oto (5)… many outstanding genins from the various villages are here to take the exam. Well… the Otogakure is a small village just create last year so there isn't much information but the rest of the villages are filled with talented youngsters."

As soon as Kabuto said that, Hitsuka could pick up killing intents from a corner. Amused as he knew that, despite the fact that Kabuto was an Oto-nin, the Oto-genins were truly pissed off by the comment anyway. Didn't really care what was going to happen, he took his time looking at their possible enemies. With his meddling, who knew if the surviving teams would remain the same this time?

When the Oto-genins launched their attacks on Kabuto, Hitsuka stood calmly on the side and watched. 'How do you overcome an attack that's in the form of sound wave?' he wondered as Kabuto leaned over and retched. Even though Haku was still wary of the just-met teen, the doctor in him caused him to hand Kabuto his drink bottle.

"Thanks…" the four year veteran muttered and choked slightly.

"Quiet down, you worthless bastards!" a voice commanded loudly accompanied by a bellow of smoke.

The examiners were here.

"Thanks for waiting," the head examiner smirked, "I am Morino Ibiki, the examiner for the chuunin selection exam's first test."

Several genins gulped and backed away slightly. Some even started to have thoughts of leaving this exam and enter the next one. But not Naruto and co. They were ready! So please, had the exam started already!

The start of the exam

"The exam will last for an hour," Ibiki said, his deep voice easily carried across the silent room. "Ok… BEGIN!" Immediately, everyone turned over their paper in fear of not having enough time in the end to finish it. Soft, horrified gasps rose when the readers discovered just how hard each question was.

'Boring…' Hitsuka thought, his head nearly slid off from its resting place on his hand. It was not that he had already done all the questions as it was only thirty-three seconds into the hour. He fiddled with his pencil and started printing his name on the top of the paper, drawing a border around each question, yawned, dodged the kunai (which was suspiciously close to his head) that landed on an unfortunate soul's exam paper, etc.

He slapped himself, twice, and scolded himself for being so lazy and got started. It was only forty past four, fifty minutes to go.

'What the hell was that boy doing!?' Kotetsu thought after nearly falling off his seat in disbelief. He was assigned to watch that part of the room with Hitsuka happened to be sitting in front of him. So, it wasn't hard for him, and the other examiners for that matter, to notice the strange antics of the boy.

Casting his eye sight further, he concentrated on doing his job. 'Three times now,' he noted when he caught the kunoichi clumsily peeked at the paper beside her and tallied it. 'I don't think they understand the point of the test yet…'

A rustle of turning paper caught his attention and he swivelled around to discover Hitsuka napping on his overturned exam paper. 'Has he finished already!?' he wondered, his fingers itching to pull the paper from underneath him to check, and if the boy flew off the table during the process, even better.

But, unfortunately, he was a professional.

To a normal genin, the exam was unbearably hard and was next to impossible to answer. But Hitsuka was no normal genin so it was all too easy for him. He was confident that the others would either be able to answer the questions themselves or understood the objective of the exam and had cheated. For now, he was going to catch up on some lost sleep.

He was obviously in a deep sleep, or pretending to be, as he didn't even stir when the poor Suna-genin was slammed into the wall by the bandage-guy and Ibiki's big speech and mind-play on the others. More teams left the room than the original time-line, a.k.a. manga, as every member of Team 7 had saw through the trick and Naruto wasn't about to do anything about it, fearing for the wrath of a certain pink-haired someone. Even the cheering and Ibiki's lecture did nothing to the sleeping boy.

He did raise his head when a dark mass came crashing through the window. "YOU GUYS! THIS IS NO TIME TO BE CELEBRATING!" a woman, who identified herself as Mitarashi Anko, yelled, the flag behind her flapped. Everyone sweat-dropped comically.

"Bad timing," Ibiki muttered and Anko gave him a withering glare.

'Kami-sama help me. She's crazier than I had imagined,' Hitsuka thought, kind of wishing he was really asleep.

'This examiner is so Naruto-ish,' Sakura thought with a shudder. This world did not need two Narutos.

Anko did a quick head count and was pleasantly surprised with the result. "Fifty-three, eighteen teams left, not bad," she commented, not forgetting about the unique two-man team. With some directing and commanding, she had every genins that were left out of the room. She was undoubtedly shivering in anticipation.

Soon, Ibiki was left alone in the room, collecting the useless test papers. He was surprised by how many genins got every questions right without cheating. He could tell from the papers; the confident strokes of the pencil, rubbed out marks, and so on. Making a swift list in his mind, excluding names with well-known Kekkei Genkai abilities such as the Sharingan and Byakugan, he came up with a list which included Haruno Sakura, Haku, Yuki Hitsuka and Gaara of the Suna. It was good to know that there were such bright youngsters.

At the Forest of Death

"Welcome," Anko almost chortled with glee, "to the stage for the second test, Practice Arena 44, also known as the Forest of Death." She turned to face them with a dangerous smirk on her lips. "You'll soon find out why it is called the Forest of Death."

Sasuke looked past the wired fence and had to agree with its name. But he wasn't afraid, far from it. "Ha! There's nothing to be afraid of," he murmured.

"Yeah, this looks like my backyard!" Naruto agreed and the two boys high-fived like the good mates that they were.

Hitsuka smiled. "Since when do we have a backyard?" he asked with good humour, causing Naruto to stutter and blush.

Anko grinned happily. "You guys sure are spirited," she commented lightly. Then a kunai slid out of her sleeve and was sent flying.

Hitsuka easily caught the weapon that was aiming for Sasuke's face, knowing that the boy's fans would be devastated if any harm was done to their Sasuke-sama's face. Naruto moved to stand back-to-back with his best friend therefore putting himself in between Sasuke and the examiner. Sakura turned on the heels and brought up her hands in defence and offence. Then, everyone stopped moving.

The woman found the girl of the team was holding a shuriken at her neck, a kunai at her heart from the blond and another at her stomach from the brunet. She gave a low whistle, impressed. "Not bad. Not bad at all," she praised which was rare and watched as the genins back off slightly. It was then she gave a non-noticeable start as she felt the cold touch of metal on the other side of her neck, finally betraying the presence behind her. Her fingers twitched and another kunai was instantly in her hand, which she used to parry her own weapon away.

"Here's your kunai, Mitarashi-san," Hitsuka said with a bright smile on his face.

Thrown off by this sudden innocence, Anko accepted it without any complaint. "Thanks?" She had thought Team 7 was good with their almost impeccable teamwork, but this boy, he was on a different level. She had heard from her sempai, who had told her about the concerns Sandaime-sama had about the boy nine years ago. The boy was three at the time. 'What had this world come to?' she wondered.

Hitsuka withdrew his arm, feeling goose-bumps rising as he felt blood lust from the purple-haired woman. He laughed nervously and quickly backed away while Anko explained the second test.

"That was interesting," Haku remarked and Hitsuka grinned at his team-mate.

They both went to line up after signing their agreement forms without hesitation. This time round, nine teams would get the Heaven scroll and the other nine the Earth scroll. From Hitsuka's observation, there were more Konoha teams left than the other villages. That was good as it was high time to find who was the best genin from Konoha, even though Team H2 had some advantages.

By the way, Team H2 was Haku and Hitsuka. Unlike the other teams, they were put together so hastily that they weren't given an official name. Since both boys had their names started with H when written in romaji, so they were H2. Both Haku and Hitsuka denied that it was them who came up with the name and an old man up in the Konoha HQ sneezed.

After receiving their scroll, the Heaven one, they moved off to stand in front of No. 30 gate. It was as far as Hitsuka could get away from the mystery Kusa genins whom he feared were Orochimaru and his lackeys. It was always better to be safe than sorry, which was why he had asked Team 7 to go to gate No. 31 or No. 29.

When they arrived, the two teams nodded their heads at each other. "May the best Team wins," Hitsuka said solemnly and they agreed.

The gates swung open under Anko's loud command and the second test had begun.

"Hand over your scroll!" Naruto hollered, rounding on the nearest group.

"Eat dirt, you moron!" Sakura yelled, hitting the said moron on the head with power that even surprised Sasuke.

Naruto spat out the mouthful of leaves and dirt and glared at the white-haired boy. "You've been teaching Sakura-chan, haven't you?!" he accused, his pride wounded. This must had been a record for getting an injury ten seconds into the test.

"I… just passed on whatever Tsunade-sama taught me," Hitsuka said, his grin told them everything.

'Scary…' Haku thought, the newest member of the group, thought, moving slightly away from the two medic-nins in training (even though he was one of them).

"Besides," Hitsuka went on as he checked their surroundings, "we both have the Heaven scroll, so ours won't do much for you anyway."

Sasuke jerked his head in surprise while Naruto just shrugged. "Wait, how did you know that?" he asked, his voice hinted his suspicion.

"Se-cre-t."

If he could, Sasuke would learn to throttle Hitsuka with his eyes.

Sakura, being the girl that she was, broke up the one-sided fight. "I think we should finish this test as soon as possible. That way, we'll be able to have more time to prepare ourselves for the next test," she reasoned and the others agreed. "First thing, though," she pulled out some dark materials and handed them to Naruto and Hitsuka, "us three need to cover our hair as they are too bright."

"But it'll ruin my hair style," Naruto joked but was silenced with a collection of glares.

Pinning his hair up before tying the scarf over his head, Hitsuka went on to make sure that Naruto got his own on properly. "Thanks, Sakura-san. This is a really good idea." The girl grinned happily at Hitsuka's praise.

"Well, let's get out of this place," Haku prompted and the group set off.

At gate No. 13

'How did I get to be so far away from Sasuke-kun?' Orochimaru, under the disguise of the Kusa-genin whose identity he stole, thought. But that didn't really matter; he had enough followers in this forest to tell him the whereabouts of the boy when he needed it.

That was, if the blasted gate in front of him would open.

"There was no way we would let you in, Orochimaru," he heard a familiar voice spat out his name like spitting out acid before it could make a hole on the tongue.

He grinned, slightly surprised at how his cover was so easily taken apart. "Why, if it is not our dear old friend, Jiraiya."

"Don't act friendly with me!" the toad-senin replied coldly, holding his rising temper down with increasing difficulty. "We are here to stop you." At this, the hidden anbus and jounins revealed their presences and surrounded the trio.

Orochimaru did not look impressed. "You don't honestly believe you can stop me with this pitiful group, do you?"

"I don't know, what about throwing in another senin into the mix?" a new voice entered the conversation. Tsunade walked up to stand by Jiraiya, her body tensed.

"And your former student," Anko added, joining the dark reunion.

The snake-senin was still not worried. "How did you know?" he asked, his face split by a deadly grin. "I've covered my tracks and no one under my command would betray me."

The Konoha-nins did not reply as most of them did not know the answer, only the two senins knew. It wasn't likely that they were in the willing mood to share. "Trade secret," Tsunade muttered even though it did not make any sense at all.

"Well, no matter." Orochimaru shrugged. "Now, move."

It was as if someone had shoved some ice down the surrounding ninjas' backs as a prank. Being the first ones to recover from the killing intent, Jiraiya launched his attack with Tsunade following right behind him.

What happened next awed the witnessing eyes. Being the old team mates thus knowing the others' habits and flaws, attacks were executed at them without mercy. Orochimaru, the genius of the three senins, held his ground, his followers were long dead. But he was forced back, slowly, as the other two senins covered each other's weakness and worked perfectly together.

Yet, he was still smiling. Enraged by this, Anko went into the fight from her ex-teacher's blind spot, paying no heed to the warnings and prevention from her peers. Raising a fist, she aimed and threw. Then she jumped out of the way of the slippery long tongue but her arms were caught.

"Orochimaru!" she yelled, "Senei Jashuu!" Snakes burst out from her sleeves and latched on to the tongue. Dragging and heaving, she threw Orochimaru off balance which was all the invitation the other senins needed.

Coming down upon the trapped man with their final attack, Jiraiya with a moon-like Rasengan and Tsunade a power-up fist, the earth protested loudly when it erupted and flew outwards in chucks and dust.

When the debris cleared, however, the result was disappointing. They had expected to see a critically injured man but, instead, there was a mound of dirt in the shape of a human on the ground. Eerily, Orochimaru's subordinate's dead body started talking.

"Better luck next time, my fellow Konoha ninjas. I've an errand to run so I can't play with you."

If there were any more messages, the group of ninjas would not be able to hear it as Jiraiya had slammed another Rasengan into the messenger's head. This 'hero' of the day, however, received a powered-up punch to his head.

"What in the devil's name was that for!?" the man screeched in pain, gingerly touching the growing bump.

Tsunade huffed. "I want to have a go at him, too."

While the great senins childish bickered, Anko walked up to them. "Umm… Tsunade-sama, Jiraiya-sama, shouldn't we go after him?"

It was as if someone had switched off the TV button that was airing a comedy show, the two senins once again became sober.

"We have to… After all, we can't let him finish his 'unfinished' business on our turf," Jiraiya snarled, knowing well what the dangerous man had meant. He started issuing orders and only when he was satisfied did he left the gate, chasing after Tsunade. "Tsunade-hime! Wait for me!"

Day 2: At where our beloved genins were

"Hand over your scroll, now!"

The small group looked up at the three older intruders and did not respond. Believing that they had the upper hand, the Taki genins smirked evilly as their leader continued, "You foolish Konoha brats, not even fit to call yourselves ninjas. You barged into our territory and you're right in the centre of our traps. Give up your scrolls and we shall let you go unharmed."

The girl on the team whimpered, clutching the sleeve of her dark-haired team mate tightly. "Sasuke-kun..."

"Ha-Haku!" the white-haired genin breathed, hiding behind the boy.

The blond stepped forward bravely. "I'll protect you all!" he yelled, his lips trembling.

It was at this point that Naruto could no longer contain his laughter, much to the confusion and anger of their enemies. "What are you laughing at!?" one yelled, his face an ugly red.

Naruto peered up; his eyes glinted in a predatory fashion that contradict his previous smiling face. "It is you who walked into our traps," he said with a grin. At his words, a net erupted from underneath the Taki genins' feet, unbalancing them.

Being the quickest to react, the leader of the team leapt, pulling his team mates along by the scruffs of their necks. Unfortunately, this was expected and planned for as a log – one that would take at least five people to encircle it with their arms – came propelling towards them.

A screech tore its way out from someone's throat when the piece of wood came close to beheading him. The log missed its target as the fact that the leader could not jump as high with the added weight of his comrades was not taken into consideration. But the Taki genins' triumph was short lived as well-aimed kunais pinned them securely on a random tree trunk by their clothes.

"That's done," Sasuke muttered, dropping down from his hiding place, followed by his companions. The ones next to Naruto disappeared in a burst of smoke, revealing that they were merely bunshins.

"How can this be!? Where are our traps!" the Taki leader yelled angrily, trying to fight for his freedom against the unyielding weapons.

After a series of hand seals from Hitsuka, the other two Taki genins felled into a forced sleep. The white-haired boy then answered the question, "We disabled each and every one of them, saving one last one to lure you guys in."

"We then triggered it, and you guys came like flies to flame," Naruto finished.

"It's 'moths' not flies," Haku corrected, his comment coloured the boy's cheeks.

The Taki genin shook with silent anger, both at himself and the Konoha residents. He couldn't believe that their carefully planned traps were so easily taken apart, just like his team. What's more, those brats also use their own device to trick them! How could they, those cursed brats!

"Enough said," Sakura ended the conversation. "If you will just give us your scroll, we will let you go unharmed."

"Shut up, bitch!" the boy yelled in anger. Sakura drew back, stung by his manner. Or so he thought since he soon came well acquainted with her fist. His last thought was, 'How the hell did this happen…"

"Ass hole…" the only female in the clearing muttered, brandishing her fist. Her friends sweated profoundly having been once again reminded the reason not to anger Haruno Sakura. "Also, Naruto! What was that bit of 'act' with the bunshins? Huh?"

"I would like to know myself, too," Hitsuka said, smiling erringly.

"Aha, ha..." Naruto backed away slowly, and quickly turned to pick through the Taki genin's pocket. Finally found the scroll they were looking for. Luckily, it was an Earth scroll. "Hurray!" Naruto cheered loudly, his voice echoed around him.

"Idiot!" Sasuke hissed, his fist came out of nowhere and instantly silenced the hyper boy. Leaving the idiot behind counting the non-existent floating stars that circled his head, the brunet went to discuss their next step with the rest of the group.

Sakura, as she tugged the scroll into a hidden compartment, said, "Since we all have the scrolls we need, let's head for the tower while it's still light. We only have three more days left."

Haku had left the group for a while the day before and had soon returned with an Earth scroll. Sasuke swore he had heard screams just moments before. Hitsuka claimed he knew nothing which no one really believed.

Suddenly, a chill ran down Hitsuka's spine, causing goose bumps to rise on his arms. He casually glanced about – no point putting his friends on alert, wasting precious energy – looking for the thing that was making him all edgy. There was nothing, but he knew, soon there would be something. Something that they could not handle.

"Everyone, move out. NOW!" he commanded, the urgency clear in his voice.

Slightly surprised at the usual gentle boy's tone, the group still took off as they knew Hitsuka's senses were much sharper than theirs. Making their way quickly through the forest on tree tops, Hitsuka still could not fight off the growing anxiety. He knew who was after them as there was only one man that could give of such cold and calculating aura.

The moment they started to run, the feeling of someone's presence disappeared completely, leaving only an uncomfortable sensation on the white-haired boy's conscience. 'He knows,' Hitsuka realised, 'so he's hiding himself.' His breath became faster and irregular as the pressure of an unknown predator slowly weighed him down.

"Hitsuka!"

A calm voice startled him. He turned to the speaker and nodded his thanks. "Don't worry, Haku. I'm alright," he assured the boy, his heart beat slowed to normal.

A slight change in the air was the only warning the group received before a huge gust of wind came crashing through them from their right. Everyone gritted their teeth and bore the multiple needle prick-like pain as debris picked up by the wind rained down on them. Gripping the ground with their chakra, they managed to stay together in a group.

'So soon,' Hitsuka thought with a grimace.

Now standing in front of them was a Kusa genin. "Well, well, well…" he muttered and slowly lifted his straw hat off, revealing prey-like eyes and gleaming white teeth. Everyone was on alert, hands hovering over their weapons. The man smirked. "I've got what you want," he said, pulling out an Earth scroll. He then ate it, allowing it to slide down his throat with no resistance. "Now let's begin… the battle for each other's scroll." He paused, and looked.

"With our lives on the line."

Death, it was all that they could think about. Images of imagined battles which all resulted in their deaths played in their minds. When they came to with a start, they were surprised to find themselves still alive and unharmed.

'Genjutsu?' Sasuke wondered, then leaned over and retched. 'No, this is just fear! This is worse than that time with Zabuza.' Sakura was stunned, crying silently as she could not find the will to fight. She gulped and began to hiccup. Naruto's dried hand on her arm did nothing to comfort her as he was in no better condition.

Two shadows covered them, shielding them from the horrible man's view. "Haku, we'll need help with this one," Hitsuka whispered, his facial expression tensed. He gave his team mate a strained smile.

"Ah…" Haku agreed. Even they, under this man's killing intent, could not stop their legs from shaking.

'Hitsuka… Haku…' the three kids on the ground thought dumbly.

"Not bad, you actually managed to stand," the Kusa-nin said, smirking. "But will that be enough?" His hand flicked and kunais were flying towards the Konoha-nins. They were easily stopped by the duo but this was what Orochimaru was counting on.

While they were busy fighting off the oncoming weapons, a snake the size of a small house appeared from the undergrowth and aimed for the stunned ninjas. Sasuke, wanting to protect his friends, rose staggeringly up to a crouching position. But the looming snake brought forward the unwanted memory of the killing intent and his eyes; he was once again frozen into place. He could only watch as the snake's wide open mouth came closer and closer.

Hitsuka grinded his teeth together and made up his mind. With a whisper of apology from the back of his mind, he allowed a shuriken to pass him. Wincing in pain, Naruto managed to snap out from the hypnotising gaze and brought his team mates to safety by pushing them to one side. 'Thanks, Hitsuka.'

'Oh…' the Kusa-nin, in fact Orochimaru, thought, 'he purposely injured his team mate to let the pain override his fear.' He grinned. 'How interesting…'

Haku, trusting Hitsuka would protect his back, turned to check on the younger kids. "Take deep breaths," he reminded them, taking down the large creature without difficulty. When he was sure that they were better, he smiled and quickly bandaged Naruto's injured arm. "Don't let your panic cloud your judgement. Calm down and you will be able to bring out the power within you."

Warmed by this reassurance, the trio managed to find their confidence back and stood up in their fighting stances. "Finally, you guys are back," Hitsuka said with a sigh, still fending off the multiple weapons.

"Sorry about that," Sasuke muttered, the fire coming back into his eyes, dying it red.

"Yeah, we still gotta take down this freak!" Naruto yelled.

Sakura was quiet, trying to get her concentration back. Tightening and losing her fists, she managed to breathe easier and stood straighter. Lifting her head and everyone could see she meant business.

For some reason, she was the only one that gave Hitsuka greater confidence. 'No offense to the other two,' the white haired boy thought with little guilt. They all knew that there was no time to plan for the upcoming battle so they have to trust their own instincts, trainings and teamwork.

Tired of waiting, Orochimaru was the one to commence the next stage of fight. Quickly summoning another snake with ease, he commanded it to attack the small group while disappearing himself.

Sasuke, being the first to notice the new creature, flung out deadly projectiles but did not succeed in killing it. He grunted in pain when the snake's tail wrapped itself around him and squeezed.

"Get off him, you creep!" Naruto yelled, leaping into the fight only to be batted away by the snake's neck. "Gua!" Slamming against a tree, he immediately coughed up blood.

Worries filled Sasuke as he struggled to loosen the bound around. "Naruto!"

'Eat him,' this though went through the large creature's mind and it gladly obliged. Opening his mouth to catch his falling prey, it could not hide its happiness at having such a nutritious meal.

"Eat THIS!" Naruto cried, punching the reptile's nose with a powerful hit. 'Thanks, Father,' he thought and could hear the deep rumbles that was Kyuubi's reply.

Despite this, the snake was still able to gulp the sunny boy down on its second try. 'Crap, why does this kind of things always happen to me!' Naruto, currently 'food', mentally screeched, kicking at the roof of his capture's mouth.

Unable to believe that their little team was taken out so fast, Sakura stepped forward, being the last one to take the challenge. Throwing aside all thoughts and questions about Naruto's new power, she took a deep breath, and lifted her fists. "Ha!" she screamed, blowing the snake's brain out. Freeing Naruto was only a bonus.

Brushing dead things off his body, Naruto started muttering darkly under his breath. If Haku and Hitsuka weren't trying to fight off the mad man who was trying to kill them, they would have been breathless from all the laughing they did. The thing was, they could not spare a moment of distraction to even glance at the fighting trio behind them, if the kunai at Haku's neck was saying something.

Slightly flattered that they had been chosen first to be Orochimaru's opponents, Hitsuka couldn't help but curse at the man. 'You stupid... huge... pain in the ARSE!' he mentally screamed as his mouth was full of Orochimaru's arm muscle, trying to stop the death of his partner. He then decided, next time he train, he would train his jaw muscle, just for the time when his arms were tied and paralyzed by a couple of small, poisonous snakes to a tree.

Feeling incredibly stupid, Hitsuka bit down hard enough to draw blood, distracting Orochimaru long enough to free Haku, who immediately retaliated, sending out spears of ice at his enemy's face and upper body. He had also freed his team mate from the small reptiles.

Easily dodging the weapons, Orochimaru flexed his muscles and jerked his arm free of Hitsuka's teeth. Licking his own blood off with a smirk, he slowly said, "Things are just getting more interesting..." Standing straight up, this sudden movement caused the duo to leap back in defence.

'If we kept this up, this will never end,' Haku thought in annoyance, both at the lack of his ability and the current situation. 'If I must... I'll use my own life...'

A hand shot out to grab his arm.

"Haku-san," Hitsuka whispered dangerously, "don't you dare..." He paused then grinned. "Otherwise I'll kill you myself first."

Drew back as if he was burned, Haku smirked. "I'll keep that in mind."

Satisfied with the answer, Hitsuka turned back to the matters at hand, drawing out the snakes poison with his chakra. 'Close contact is a definite no-no, that would be plain suicidal,' he thought, slowly shook his left hand. He relaxed slightly at Haku's replying nod. Running forward and jumped, Haku's hands moved at top speed, sending out spears of ice once again.

"Same attacks won't work on me!" Orochimaru warned them with a crazy laugh. Haku smirked, surprised the man slightly.

Appearing from behind Haku's falling body was Hitsuka, already at the final stage of his jutsu. "Nemurihane no Jutsu," he whispered. (6)

'A genin can perform level A jutsu?' Orochimaru marvelled, effortlessly cancelled the Genjutsu with a whisper of: "Kai." This distraction had cost him.

A string, weighed by a kunai on one end, circled and tightened around the man with kunai digging deep into his tight. "Sasuke, your turn!" Naruto shouted, throwing his end of string the said boy.

Biting the string, Sasuke grinned. 'Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu.'

Fire snaked its way towards the bounded man who merely smirked at the oncoming attack. Lighted on fire, Orochimaru started to cackle. "Able to predict my movements and attack from my blind spot," he said, extinguishing the flames. He looked straight at Sasuke, freezing him. "To be able to use the Sharingan so well at this age, you truly are excellent."

"Just as I thought... I want you."

Hitsuka sucked in a breath soundlessly and fell on to his knees. 'So... cold,' he thought numbly, memories of that night at the Uchiha mansion when he first came in contact with the Curse Seal rose to the front. Staring dazedly at the scene before him, he could only conjure up one though: 'This is worst...'

Brushing his forehead-protector, the sign of Otogakure appeared on Orochimaru's head. "I had fun testing your power," he said. "You really are Itachi's little brother but I sense power in you that surpasses Itachi."

Looking around, Sasuke could see all his team mates were frozen. "Who the hell are YOU!?" he yelled, both in fright and anger.

"My name is Orochimaru. If you want to see me again, then survive and pass this exam." His hands started to make seals. "And defeat my men, the Oto-nin trio on the way."

It's him! a voice screamed inside Naruto's mind. How could I have not noticed before!

"We'd never want to see your face again!" Sakura shouted, her body trembling from her effort in freeing herself from the hold.

Finishing his seal, Orochimaru said softly, "But he will... If he wishes to seek the power that will defeat his brother," before his neck extended, flying towards Sasuke's immobilized body.

Itachi whispered, only loud enough for the boy in front of him to hear, "Please promise me that you'll look after Sasuke for me, no matter what. Please."

"You don't even need to ask. I promise," Hitsuka echoed himself from the past. A sudden, unknown power filled his body, pushing him forward.

Then pain erupted like a volcano. Hot, white pain burned through his veins, bruising and frying his nerves. Squeezing his eyes shut, he bit his now bloody lips to hold back his screams. But it was too much. "Gyaa! AHH, AHH... GYAAHHHH!"

"HITSUKA!" Sasuke screamed, horrified. Anyone would be, too, if they saw their best friend being bitten on the chest by a psycho. He watched as a symbol of some sort appeared on Hitsuka's skin between his collarbones in a sickly purple. 'What is this!?'

Orochimaru pulled back, angry that his plan was once again foiled. Going in to strike again, he almost tied his neck into a pretzel when he saw the white-haired boy opened his unfocused eyes.

They were his eyes. Split-pupil where it wasn't before, like him. Eyes like snakes, like him. Gold eyes... like him? They had brought up a distant memory.

His head did drive itself into a leafy branch when his mind came to realisation. Looking very unlike his usual self, he muttered around the leaves in his mouth, "This boy, he can't be...!"

"Haku!" Hitsuka screamed desperately, drifting in and out of consciousness. "HAKU!"

Understood what his partner wanted, Haku grabbed his friends and hurled everyone through his mirror. Close to fainting, Hitsuka threw a handful of random smoke bombs at the forest ground. They landed heavily into a clearing a few hundreds of meters from where they were, holding their breaths in fear.

A deafening bang and a cloud of colourful smoke rose from their fighting place, signalling that Hitsuka's creations were working.

Unable to hold on anymore, the white-haired boy finally passed out from the pain, causing his friends to scramble to his care. "How is he?" Sasuke asked, unable to sit still as he believed he was the one at fault for causing his best friend's pain.

"His breathing is regular but he still has a burning fever," Haku replied, chewing on his bottom lips as did not know the reason to Hitsuka's condition. He had tried to draw out the poison both by mouth and healing chakra. Nothing had work.

Tears leaked out from Sakura's eyes, frustrated at not having enough power within her to help. "Is there nothing we can do to help him?" she asked tearfully.

"We can only protect him until we finish this test so we can get Tsunade-obaba to have a look at him," Naruto said reasonably and walked away. "That's all we can do for now..."

Sasuke came forward and punch Naruto in the face, sending the boys sliding across to the other end of the clearing. "How can you be so heartless!? He's your friend, your family!" Sasuke swiped his arm across his eyes and lift the prone figure up by the front of his jacket. "How could you..."

"Then what the hell do you want me to do," Naruto yelled, tears pouring down his cheeks. He also sent a punch at the other boy's face. With the tension so high, a fight was unavoidable. Some punches were aimed but did not land on their targets due to the tears in their eyes. Haku and Sakura tried to stop them but did not work.

"Stop..."

Immediately appearing beside the boy on the ground, the duo, both with puffy eyes, one with a split lips and the other had teeth mark on his face. "Hitsuka!" they shouted.

"Stop... your pointless fighting," he said with difficulty, his eyes still shining with fever. He raised his hand and weakly bonked the two boys on the head. His usual gesture of scolding only made the two boys wanted to cry again as it was pitifully weak. "You should... be working together!" He grinned. "Idiots, I'm fine..." As if proving his words, he fell asleep, despite a bit fitfully.

"Do as he said, let's go," Haku said, heaving and tying the sleeping boy to his back. "Come on!"

"Yes!"

Day 3: approximately 3 kilometres from the tower

Dabbing Hitsuka's face with a wet rag, Sakura wondered what would happen today. 'I hope we won't be meeting anyone like that Orochimaru...' she thought and shivered fright, slopping more water on to the boy's face.

"Sakura! Stop!" Naruto cried, afraid that Hitsuka would drown on dry land.

Haku looked over at the two and tried to quieten them. He turned to Sasuke for help. "Sorry, busy at the moment," the brunet replied, offering a shrug as an apology. He then turned back to prepare for their breakfast.

While the four bickered, they did not notice the three pairs of eyes watching them from above. Without Hitsuka's sharper senses and Haku being so tired from constantly on his guard, they were pretty much in the dark in this area. Tired and jumpy, they were beautifully ripe for the picking.

"As Orochimaru-sama commanded, we'll attack now. Our target is Uchiha Sasuke," Dosu said, tilting his head eerily to one side.

"But if the others get in the way we can kill them, right?" Zaku asked

"Of course," Dosu confirmed with a nod of his head, now listening to the conversation below.

"Ne... when will Hitsuka-kun wake up?" Sakura asked gently, as if afraid she would disturb the sleeping boy. "To tell the truth, I feel safer with him around..."

"Same here," Haku agreed. He knew, if he and Hitsuka fight, he would probably win though with some difficulty. So it was not the white-haired boy's strength that gave him the security, it was the bubble of quiet confidence that he always had around him. And no matter what, he would always have a smile on his face.

But now...

"Don't worry," Naruto said with a grin, "he always bounces back, no matter what." While trying to reassure the others, he could not help but be worried as he could not seem to be able to find Hitsuka within his mind. He had tried to get into the other boy's mind but there was a dark shadow blocking the pathway. 'Hitsuka... you moron!'

"There's no need for him to wake up anymore."

A new voice entered the conversation, startling the Konoha genins. Jumping up, they came face to face with the three Oto-nins that Orochimaru was talking about. "Dammit, one after another...!" Sasuke snarled, tightening his fists, drawing blood.

"For he's about to die anyway," Dosu finished, laughing quietly to himself.

"We want to fight Uchiha Sasuke," Zaku said, grinning widely in anticipation.

Naruto gritted his teeth, then yelled, "What the hell do you want with us!? We know that a weirdo named Orochimaru is behind all of this!"

"And he left this creepy mark on Hitsuka's chest, causing him immense pain," Sasuke spoke, the volume of his voice picking up. "If you want to fight me, I'll fight you anytime of the day!"

Looking shocked, the Oto-trio debated amongst themselves quickly. "What the heck was that man thinking about?" Kin asked, urgency in her voice. "We were told to fight Uchiha Sasuke and that was it!"

"But now Orochimaru-sama has gone and placed his Curse Seal on one of the guys, and it's not Uchiha! Has our target been change?" Zaku said, looking at the said mark on the fallen boy.

Understanding what the problem was at hand, Dosu was unsure as to what they were supposed to do right now. Finally making up his decision, he said, "We'll just kill everyone here, including that white-haired brat. They are tired from all the stress last night so we should be fine in taking them out."

His killing intent rising, Zaku smirked. "I'll kill them all. All of them!" He ran forward but quickly drew back again, the front of his fist burnt. "What the..."

"It's the Barrier Seal!" Kin realised with a shock, now able to see the dusty explosive notes on the ground. "Dammit!" she swore.

"Don't worry, we've got the time to destroy them," Dosu calmly said, pulling out the squirrel he had caught earlier.

'It can't be...' Sakura thought, her eyes wide.

Desperately struggling, the poor creature could not escape the hold and was thrown in the deadly space. "Chu!"

Naruto knew that a squirrel's life was not worth dying for. Never less, he still moved to interpret the fall. Jumping and grabbing the squirrel by the scruff of its neck, he flipped in the air and landed on the other side.

"Thank you," Dosu said, levelling his weapon at his enemy's head and released. The vibration from the attack mercilessly assaulted Naruto's eardrums, disrupting his balance greatly. "Now we know where the boundaries of the Barrier Seals are."

"Urgh!" the boy groaned, clutching his head with one hand while sinking down to his knees. He dug his nails into his hair, angry at himself for letting his team down so easily. Even if he wanted to help them, his body was not following the instructions his brain was issuing, staying stubbornly weak instead. It was only when his hand was starting to burn did he realised the attack wasn't over. Quickly peeling the explosive tag off the squirrel's back, he cursed at the cruelty of the Oto-nins.

"I'll take the girl," Kin told her team mates, holding down her jealousy at the other girl's beauty and fine condition. 'I'll teach that wrench the hardship of life!' she promised.

Mentally sighing at the obvious reason to the girl's hate, Dosu nodded never less. "Then I'll fight the last guy. Let's go!"

Already had a slight idea to the Oto-nin's attack, Haku warned the other's not to get into close contact with the guy. They tried to keep in a group but a few minutes into the fight, they were separated, leaving only Haku in front of Hitsuka, guarding him. Flinging out multiples of sebons several times, he watched attentively as every single one of them were destroyed and deflected. All except one. 'I've found it...'

"You'll never get past my defence!" Dosu yelled, going in for the final attack. His eyes blinked in surprised pain when he felt his thigh was injured. Staring incredulously at the sebon, he lost his cool and blurted, "What the heck! How the hell did you...!?"

Haku flicked his hands, in each were sebons forming the structure of a fan. "Sound is a vibration and when two or more sources of sound clash against each other, nodes and anti-nodes are created by the crests and troughs of the waves," he explained, showing the depth of his knowledge. "I simply just need to calculate where the points of minimum disturbance are and aim there."

"That's not possible..." Dosu shook his head. "You were just damn lucky. Not possible... NOT POSSIBLE!" He attacked once again. Due to his arrogance and confidence in his ability, he did not even expect the attack until he felt the sebons pierced his skin. "Argh!" Losing the control of his limbs, he collapsed into a heap. He could only glare hatefully at his prey who was now the hunter.

"I will not let you kill Hitsuka," Haku said quietly and fervently, "not when I'm alive!" He glanced away, disgusted, and looked over at Sakura who was handling things quite well as she was tying her enemy up.

Her shorter hair did not go unnoticed.

Noticing Haku's gaze, the girl shrugged. "That kunoichi grabbed my hair and was blabbering on how well I kept it. So I cut it off and threw it in her face while giving her my best punch ever in her stomach," she said in a matter of fact tone. She laid Kin down in the fatal position just in case the girl might retch again from the punch therefore would not choke on her own stomach content. "I was thinking of getting it cut anyway."

Haku could only nod in agreement.

Zaku was furious as each one of his team mates were taken out. So far he was unable to get a decent blast at the Uchiha as he was faster than his attacks. He had only managed to eliminate large chunks of the forest. "Zankuuha!" He blasted, but Sasuke was quicker.

"Behind you," he whispered, already readied with a kunai in his hand.

Zaku smirked.

"Watch out!" Sakura yelled, sensing some kind of danger.

But it was too late. Not noticing the guy's last attack was only one-handed, Sasuke was too slow to avoid the explosion that came from the other hand. "Guah!"

"Nobody moves!" Zaku suddenly shouted, his hand aiming. "If you do, that white-haired kid is gonna get it." He was in line with Hitsuka whose team mates were too far away to protect him. Letting air pressure swept across the clearing and hitting Hitsuka, he showed them what he was capable of. To drunk on his success, he didn't notice the smoke that was coming of his target's body.

"Dammit!" Sakura swore uncharacteristically, slamming the ground with her fist. "If you dare to touch him one more time, I'll kill your team mates!" She held a kunai at Kin's neck, drawing blood. The boys were slightly surprised at this but they knew this was the only way. So they did the same to Dosu.

Shrugging, Zaku replied uncaringly, "Go ahead. They aren't my priorities, killing you guys are." He thought a bit. "But I'll need them to pass the test so, release them or I WILL kill the brat."

Bluffing or not, they held the life of their friend close to her heart so, unable to come up with anymore ideas, the Konoha genins did as they were told. As soon the sebons left his body, Dosu lashed out at Haku, his eyes blood-shot with anger. Expecting this, Haku was out of the way before he was caught. Even more furious, the Oto-nin stalked towards the two kunoichis causing Sakura quickly backed off before he reached them. "Get up, you useless lump!" he yelled, kicking at the girl.

"Gu!" Kin sat up slowly, cradling her stomach. She quickly turned her face and retched.

"Disgusting!" Zaku said happily, not at all worried about the girl. "Now you guys can help me killed these brats!"

"Bloody hell! I'll kill them all myself!" Dosu screamed, huffing from rising emotions.

"They're horrible..." Sakura breathed; astonished by the boys' harsh treatment to the girl even if they were the enemy. She flinched when Zaku directed his crazed stare on her.

"Horrible!? I'll show you horrible!" He let go off a deadly blast of wind at her.

Knowing she would never be able dodge such a close ranged attack; Sakura could only protect her head to the best of her ability. Her view blocked, she never saw Dosu coming at her. She was punched and kicked, her attempts at blocking was next to useless. Being held up by the neck, she hung limply.

"Any last word?" Dosu allowed, not in mercy but mockingly.

She grinned and spat the blood that pooled in her mouth on to the hated face below her. "For you? Never!"

Pissed, Dosu backhanded her. "Then I will make your death slow and painful!" he hissed, pulling out a kunai and then, with a cold smirk, slammed it into her.

Refusing to close her eyes and show her fear, Sakura was a bit surprised that both Naruto's and Sasuke's hands were in the way of the weapon. "You guys..."

Taking this chance, the Oto-nin pushed down, taking the two Konoha-nins with him, and pushed the kunai into the earth beneath them. Stomping on the kunai with his foot, he crowed with laughter when Naruto and Sasuke groaned with pain and Sakura screaming concern and abuse. Haku could only hold himself back, chewing on his tongue and nearly biting through it.

Coming up to share the fun, Zaku joined the torture with glee, leaving Kin to watch over the white-haired kid. "And Orochimaru-sama marked you weaklings as targets!? Don't make me laugh!" he yelled, kicking Sasuke in the stomach.

Naruto quickly held on to the impaled hand of his friend, afraid that it might just pull straight off the kunai. Weakly, Sasuke did the same when Naruto received the same treatment.

"Have you... had enough?"

This simple phrase was enough to force any activity in the clearing to stop. Whipping around to the source, the two Oto-nins found their female team mate on the ground in a dead faint while the white-haired kid was nowhere in sight.

"I'm sorry, you guys, for being such a burden."

Following the voice, Dosu and Zaku found their victims already meters away from them. The kid was the one that did the talking.

"Hitsuka... you're slow..." Naruto joked tiredly, sighing in content when Kyuubi finally had the chance to heal him. Haku had quickly come over and started treating the others.

"I'll look after them, so go and do what you must," the ex-Kiri-nin said, hitting Hitsuka's hands away. "That way we'll be able to go to the Tower as soon as possible."

"Don't just ignore us!" Zaku screeched, not believing how fast the situation was taken out from their hands. "I will definitely kill you!"

"Who are you?" Dosu asked, calming down slightly when he felt the coldness from the small boy.

Hitsuka touched where the mark was as he was unable to see it, and sighed. "I'm Yuki Hitsuka..." he said slowly, feeling the Seal pulsed under his fingers. "And I was the one that was marked by your master..."

Unable to hold back anymore, he let the Seal to run wild. Small, leaf-like shapes exploded out from his chest and quickly spread across his skin, marring it with their sickly colour. He felt disgusted at himself for embracing this dark power so quickly. Looking up at his preys, he grinned.

Coming to a sudden realisation, Dosu quickly pulled Zaku back by the arm. "He really does have the Seal! Let's go!"

Pulling himself out from the grip, Zaku clapped his hands to activate his jutsu. "There's no need to be afraid of this half-dead freak!" he shouted and fired his weapons. "Ultimate Zankuuha!" A small patch of the forest was easily destroyed and Oto-nin laughed. "Look! I've blown him away!"

"Idiot! Look behind you!" Dosu yelled, seeing the danger already.

But it was too late. With a gently press of his finger, Hitsuka had rendered his enemy to a boneless heap by his feet. Not seeing the blood that he wanted, he allowed his nails to grow and sharpened into claws. He kicked at the boy so that he was facing up and exposing his chest. "Die..." he whispered, reaching up his right hand and stabbed.

It was, however, stopped, merely a couple of centimetres away from its target. Grabbing tightly on to the hand, Hitsuka slowly forced his nails and the marks to retract, knowing how to do this even though it was his first time. "Leave..." he commanded, his voice shaky. "Or I may not be able to control my blood lust..."

Sinking down slowly, Dosu placed their team's scroll on the ground and backed off with his team mates on his back. It wasn't until he could no longer feel the killing intent did he ran with tears of shame prickling his eyes.

"Hitsuka... what has happened to you?" Haku asked, gently placing a calming hand on the other boy's shoulder. Feeling it tremble under his touch, Haku was afraid.

Straightening his back, Hitsuka smiled. "Nothing, don't worry too much about it," he said.

And was thrown to the ground. "Don't you freakin' give me that smile!" Haku yelled into the boy's face, angry lines cutting into his face. He forced the eyelid of boy beneath him opened, and continued, "You've got split-pupils, that weird mark and you were bloody growing claws before!" He grabbed the front of Hitsuka's top and shook. "And you're telling me not to worry!"

Hitsuka touched his friend's hands, not at shocked by his usual gently friend's violent action. "Haku... I can't explain my eyes or nails," he whispered, "but I can tell you, I have been poisoned by that man."

"Then we can pull the poison out!" Even though Haku knew he couldn't.

"This poison... stays with me for life as far as I know." Hitsuka smiled again. "So, don't worry about me."

Haku, calmer now, stood up and helped the other to do the same. 'It wasn't that he doesn't want to tell, it's because he doesn't know what to tell,' Haku understood and wept softly inside. 'That smile... is so strong even though his heart must be dying. Yet... I can do nothing to help him. Nothing at all...'

"Let's go..." Hitsuka said, picking Naruto and Sasuke up, leaving Haku to carry Sakura.

Day 4: At the Tower

"YAY! We're finally here!" Naruto cheered, holding Sakura's hand and danced happily.

"And with one day to spare, too!" Sasuke added and was pulled into the dance as well.

Hitsuka laughed. "You guys, the test is not finished unless you stepped through that door!" he told them. "And this is where we must part for now."

"All right! See you guys later then!" Breaking the seal on the door, Sakura confidently walked in with the other two boys hastily following her. Naruto threw back a hasty smile before he closed the door.

Entering their own room after Haku had broken the seal on the door; they came face to face with nothing but some writings on the wall. "Well... I suppose we can open them now," Hitsuka suggested, pulling out the original Heaven scroll. Haku nodded and took his own Earth scroll from its hidden place.

On the count of three, they both pulled open the scrolls in their hands. Immediately realizing what they were, both boys threw them on the ground in from of them. With a burst of smoke, an unknown now stood above the two scrolls. "Congratulation on passing, you may have the next day to rest. You're now dismissed," he said quickly, "but Yuki Hitsuka, if you will come with me."

Making a move forward, Hitsuka was surprised when Haku stepped in front of him. "What do you want with him? Can we even trust you?" he asked suspiciously, ignoring the tapping on his shoulder. "Give us some proof of your identity!"

The man actually growled in frustration. "Look, boy, I'm in no mood to play along with your little game right now. Move, or I will disqualify you!"

Even more unwilling to, Haku did not expect the sudden blackness that came over his eyes. The last thing he heard before he fainted was a soft mutter of, "I'm sorry," from Hitsuka.

Leaning his friend against a wall, Hitsuka scolded the man, "You didn't need to be so impatient with the whole procedures! Now Haku will be even more suspicious of my condition." He glared over his shoulder. "Jiraiya-sama! Are you even listening to me!?"

Waving aside this one-side conversation, Jiraiya cancelled the genjutsu over himself and grabbed the white-haired boy. "Come on, someone will take care of that boy. We have something more pressing to take care of right now." Without any other explanations, he teleported them into the Hokage's office.

Pushing Hitsuka away from him as soon as they arrived, Jiraiya held a kunai at Tsunade's throat who was doing the same thing to him. "How did I overcome my fear of blood?" Tsunade spoke first, her voice dead.

"Because you had to heal Uzumaki Naruto. Why did I go searching for you?"

"In order to wake Uchiha Fugaku up from Mangekyou Sharingan-induced coma."

Both senins relaxed slightly after this. Hitsuka blinked from his place on the floor, slightly disoriented. "Was all that... really necessary?" he asked, confused.

Hiding the weapon somewhere around her chest area, Tsunade replied, "It's always better to be safe than sorry during uncertain times." She crouched in front of the boy. "Now, strip!"

Hitsuka blushed and turned his face away. "Tsunade-sama... not in front of so many people," he said shyly and quickly backed away so he would not turn into a pancake by the angry woman. "I was just joking! Sheesh..."

"Just get on with it!" The woman took hold of Hitsuka's top and pulled it straight off. It was quite shocking, for the three adults, to see the Curse Seal on someone that they had known and became close to. "I knew it..." Tsunade breathed, her hands balling up.

The Curse Seal on him shaped like three leaves spreading out from a mid-point. It was this tiny thing that had caused many people pain and distress. It was a hateful symbol.

Hitsuka gave an uncomfortable laugh and scratched the back of his head. "How did you know? I've only just got it two days ago," he said.

"We heard the explosion and went to investigate it," Jiraiya explained. "We saw the battle site and it was similar my condition from that time with your bombs so we knew it was you guys."

"After some more examination," Tsunade took over, "we were sure that you had encountered that man... Orochimaru." She slammed her fist into her sensei's desk. "Just to be sure, we scanned each and every one of you as you entered the Tower and you stood out."

Hitsuka pulled on his cloth and tidied himself. "Was it because my chakra was different from before?" he asked, knowing that he was right. "Don't worry about me, I'll be fi-"

Tsunade stopped his word with a finger on his lips. "Don't, please don't force yourself anymore," she pleaded. Shocking everyone in the room, she pulled the boy into a tight hug. "Relax, take off that mask for now. You're in safe hands."

The happy-go-lucky expression on Hitsuka's face melted away and he relaxed into the hold. "Yes... thank you..." Slowly, he broke down bit by bit, grabbing on to Tsunade as he howled and sobbed, not at all embarrassed by his audience.

He had been afraid. He really didn't want to have this thing. He was just not ready yet.

Soon, when he tired himself out from crying and hiccupping, he fell asleep. The adults watched, taking all of these in. The Third placed his frail hand on the white-head and bowed his own. "I'm sorry... please forgive this foolish old man..." A tear fell on to Hitsuka's face, running down his cheek.

"He's still only a child despite the number of years he had lived," Tsunade said softly, drying Hitsuka's face with her top. "He had lived two childhoods so he has never experience what an adult's life is like. Basically, he's only a really mature child."

"He has done so much for us, saving so many people's life," Jiraiya muttered. "Even though they've really got nothing to do with him at all." He squeezed his eyes shut. "Why? Why does he...?"

"Because they are people that are precious to him. The relationship between them is not one that can sever so easily." Tsunade lifted up the sleeping boy with no effort and carried him into the adjoining room through a hidden door. "Let him sleep for now. Jiraiya, you can do the seals later."

Jiraiya closed the door after Tsunade when she came out. "Yeah..."

Day 5: Final day of the second test

He was having the strangest dream ever. He knew that during one's sleep, he or she would have not one, but multiple dreams. But he knew he was only having one dream. It was as if he had gone on one of those time machines from that anime about some robot cat he watched many, many years ago. He was in Wave Country again, standing over Haku's body.

Next he was five and after that, three, meeting the Uchiha and Hyuuga all over again.

And he was home and sixteen again, going back in time and reliving different segments of his past life in junior high school then primary. Something stood out prominently and he found his younger self paused in his memory.

"You think you're so good! With girls flocking around you all the time and all that!" the boy in front of him yelled. "Don't get too cocky, you bastard!"

"I don't understand what it is you want with me," he said quietly, unable to comprehend why the other boy was so angry. They were only five and six; this could not be over that, could it?

"Because of you, Nanako-chan only talks about you all the time!"

So it could.

He shrugged his school pack higher. "I'm sorry, Kenta-kun, but that's really not my fault," he said, walking away.

Trembling with anger, the boy yelled, "I know all about you! You're not your parents' child."

He stopped but refused to listen.

"Everyone in the neighbourhood knows that you just turn up one day! You were probably picked up from a trash can or something like that! You're just a trash! Found by your trashy parents!"

The punch from him was unexpected. "Don't you dare bad mouth my parents," he whispered.

Kenta wiped the blood off from his lips. "So what! They're just trash like you! Everyone says so!"

Everything went white after that.

Hitsuka assumed he had released his chakra, almost killing that boy. It wasn't the best memory to remember but there it was.

Next thing he knew, he was a baby, unable of any communication at all but, for some reason, could still think clearly. 'Otou-sama, Oka-sama... where are you?' He weakly moved his arms. 'It hurts so much, Otou-sama...'

The door crashed open, letting a burst of light into the dark room, bringing a fresh breeze of forest in to replace the smell of dead flesh. "Kits? Where are you, kits!?" the fox screamed out.

'Otou-sama! Otou-sama, I'm here!' he cried, even though he could not work his voice box. 'Save me!'

But, he was left alone again. There was no one.

Hitsuka woke up, blinking the tears away. 'What was... that dream?' he wondered, confused. Looking about him, he didn't know where he was. "Jiraiya-sama..." He shook the sleeping man by his bed, careful to keep his hands away from the puddle of drool. "Jiraiya-sama!"

"Urgh..." Slowly waking up, the man wiped away his drool by his mouth. "Where am I?"

"That's what I would like to know," Hitsuka replied, starting to get annoyed.

Finally coming to his senses, Jiraiya stretched and replied, "We're in the special bedroom that's next to the Hokage's office. You've been sleeping for a whole day now so you should be rested by now." He pointed at the boy's chest. "I've put a seal on you already, so you should be fine for the next part of the test."

Looking at the Curse Seal through the bedside mirror, Hitsuka was unable to recognise the sea around it. "This doesn't seem to be the Fuuja Houin. There's one more ring of seal."

"Of course not, Fuuja Houin won't be enough to seal the Curse Seal away, so I added my own bit on to it." Jiraiya passed a glass of water to Hitsuka. "The time it will take for you to recover will be shorter but you won't be able to use your chakra for some time."

"Is that right... I won't be able to use my chakra for a while..." he repeated, and then paused. "WHAT! I thought you said I'll be fine for the final test!"

Picking his nose now, the man was looking anywhere but the boy. "Yeah, yeah... Anyway, here's a change of clothes for you."

"Don't go around changing the subject!"

At the fight arena

'Where is Hitsuka!?'

This was the constant thought on the mind of everyone who knew the boy. Standing in line, neither of the genins listened to the Hokage's speech. It wasn't as if they needed to anyway.

The Third knew, of course, where Hitsuka was but he was getting worried as well. 'What the hell is Jiraiya doing?'

Orochimaru, disguised as a Konoha chuunin, wondered as well. 'I really want to see if I was right...' he thought. 'Until then, I suppose Sasuke-kun could wait for a while.'

A voice rang out from the other side of the room accompanied by one set of heavy footfall, "Why couldn't you at least set an alarm clock!"

"Shut up, brat! I was nice enough to let you sleep in and this is how you repay me?" a deep man's voice replied, thumping down the corridor.

"Well, not if you fell asleep as well, causing me to be late to my test! And why the hell did you get me this set of clothes!"

"There wasn't enough time so I just grabbed whatever I could get my hands on!"

"You, you..." The door slammed open and both Hitsuka and Jiraiya crashed through. "Sorry I'm late!" the white-haired boy apologised profoundly, bowing his upper body multiple times.

"Of course you should be," Jiraiya muttered, leaning against the door frame.

With a glint of his eyes, Hitsuka flicked a pebble at the man's head, causing him to trip over in surprise. "Who's fault will that be! Idiot..."

Naruto squirmed around Sasuke so he could see his adopted brother. "Hitsuka, where have you been, you-" He was startled to silence, then started laughing. "Why- why are you still wearing that? Hitsuka! I thought you said it doesn't suit you anymore."

The white-haired boy blushed deep red and tried to pull the bottom edge of his old kimono down further. His attempt was futile as it didn't even go past his knees. "It's not my fault! That idiotic man," Hitsuka jerked his thumb behind him, "brought this for me to wear."

"Hey, I didn't have to bring anything for you!" Jiraiya argued. "You should be thanking me for not being naked right now."

"If you didn't burn my clothes from yesterday, I won't even be in this situation right now!"

'I swear that man did this purposely. Why else would he have my zori sandals when they weren't even anyway close to the kimono!' he mentally screamed.

The Third coughed and the attention was turned back to him. "Anyway, as I was saying, there will be someone that will now explain to you about the third test."

A person teleported in right at this moment and bowed his head. "Thank you, Hokage-sama," he said, coughing lightly.

"Who's this sickly man...?" Sakura wondered out loud, noting the hunched shoulders and the dark rings under the man's eyes.

"Hello, everyone. My name is Gekkou Hayate," he introduced himself, coughing all the time. "Umm... before the third test start, there's a preliminary that decides who get to participate in the main event."

A murmur of questions and complains rose at this. "We're doing this because we have too many people left from the second test which was probably too easy," Hayate called out over the noise and waited until everyone settle down. "According to chuunin exam rules, we must have a preliminary to reduce the number of participants for the third test."

Anko frowned slightly. 'It's true that I was surprised that there were twenty people left from my part but the batch from this year really is quite strong. It's not my fault!' she fumed.

"So, umm... if anyone wants to quit right now after this explanation, please step forward as we will be starting the preliminary immediately."

No one stepped out and Hitsuka was slightly confused. 'Where's Kabuto? I know we haven't met him during the last test but his strength he should be here,' he wondered. 'Unless his team has lost their scroll?'

Not far from truth, Kabuto's team had indeed lost their scroll to a stronger opponent. It happened while Kabuto left to look for Sasuke so he could inform Orochimaru the whereabouts of the boy. With him gone, the two guys were unable to protect the scroll from the lone Konoha genin that came out of nowhere who just happened to be Haku. The team was then unable to gather two more scrolls so they were disqualified.

What a pity, not.

So, with no one volunteering themselves, Hayate lowered his clipboard and nodded. "Very well, um... 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," he explained. "Since we have exactly twenty people, we will have ten matches, umm... the winners will advance to the third test."

"YEAH!" Naruto suddenly cheered. "I'm so gonna do this!"

"Shut up, Naruto, and listen to the instructions!" Sakura hissed.

"But, Sakura-chan..."

"Just shut up."

Hayate sweat-dropped. "Umm... well, there's basically no rule but I will stop the fight when things get too ugly. There's no need to increase anymore corpses." He glanced at the genins and allowed a small smile. "Well, umm... let the third test begin!"

---

(1) These excuses are all true! I got them out from 'Naruto Hiden Hyou-No Sho Official Fan Book' page 24, so disclaimer to that.

(2) Sound-nins

(3) Prankster Trio

(4) Hidden Village of the Rain

(5) Leaf, Sand, Rain, Grass, Waterfall and Sound, just in case you don't know.

(6) A Genjutsu that puts people to sleep.

Thank you to those who have supported me and to those who continuously asking me to update even though it has been more than a year. I'll promise I'll try to update as soon as possible, I have everything for the next chapter planned out already!

But, I'll apologise right now. I will be busy as I am a university student with assessments piling on me already. Please consider the length of each chapter, too. I try not to leave any chapter at a cliff hanger so often each one of them will be quite long and does take awhile to type.

That's all of my rambling for now. Thanks again (to those who actually read author's notes, I know I don't).