Naruto – Rewrite
Chapter 20
A team of Mist Genin make their way through the Forest of Death. They are clad in all black. Only their faces are visible, with their headband overtop of the foreheads. Unlike other teams, who hunted down safe spots in the forest to plan and strategize, this team was busy trying to hunt down the weakest team they could find, and an easy to nab scroll to boot. Suddenly, their leader smiled as he came to a stop, a smile on his face. His two teammates stopped behind him, curious as to what was going on, until they looked below and a smile came to their faces as well. Down below, completely unaware of the Mist team's presence, was Squad Eight.
"Alright… Since the tower is where everyone wants to get, we should get to the area just outside of there, and set our traps there." Naruto said to Hinata and Shino.
"Yes… However, let's make sure that we are alone first…" Shino said.
Naruto and Hinata's eyes widened as they heard Shino stress the alone. The leader of the team of the Mist team chuckled as he watch the team below chat as if they had nothing to worry about. He knew, that they knew of their presence, but that didn't matter to him.
"Look at them… Those stupid kids might as well paint a huge target on themselves." the leader said.
"Still, we should be careful. From the sound of things, they do know we're somewhere close by. We should…" one of the other members of the team said.
The Mist Genin froze. Both the leader of the group, as well as his teammate looked over, just in time to see a shiver run up the boys' spine. The boy's skin colour seemed to pale slightly as his shivering worsened. The leader of the group reached out and put a hand on his shoulder.
"Hey, Sano… You all right? You're white as a sheet? What the hell is wrong?" the leader asked.
The leader of the team's eyes widened as he saw something moving under Sano's shirt. From out of the neck of the article of clothing, crawled a leech, which was in the middle of a most delicious drink. Before either of the other two teammates could react, a rustling of leaves were heard from above. Both teammates looked up, and saw a mass of leaches begin to fall from the trees, and attach themselves to the Mist shinobi. The three fell from the trees, landing in front of Squad Eight. Hinata cringed slightly at the sight of the leeches sucking the blood of the Mist team. Naruto grinned at the sight of the blood covering their bodies while he grabbed the scroll that the team had dropped. He stopped just short of the leader, looking as some of leeches were going to town.
"Man… These things really suck, huh? And pun is totally intended…" Naruto said as he poked a leech with a nearby stick.
"Flying Leaf Leeches… They can sense body heat and perspiration, and fling themselves en masse at their prey, which is almost anything that moves… If the victim cannot manage to remove them within five minutes, or if you panic trying to get rid of them, then you're finished… At any rate, one team down." Shino said.
"W-what scroll d-did they h-have, Naruto?" Hinata asked.
"Believe it or not, we just got ourselves a Heaven Scroll. That was almost too easy…" Naruto said.
"So w-we'll head t-to the t-tower now?" Hinata asked.
"Are you kidding? I'm just now starting to have fun!" Naruto yelled.
"In his own way, Naruto is right… Heading to the tower now, will still leave us with too many competitors to face in whatever the next test maybe… Let's remain in the forest for now, and see if we can't get rid of a few more enemies." Shino said.
Hinata agreed with the two, and the three leapt up in the trees to continue making their way through the forest. As they left, nets resting underneath the downed Mist team, snapped, trapping them in the trees. The team let out a blood curtailing scream as Squad Eight left them, one that managed reached the depths of the forest, and even as far as outside, where Anko sat staring at the clouds waiting for some time to pass before heading to town for a bit.
'One team already down… This year's teams are definitely interesting…' Anko thought with a grin.
Anko hopped off of the log she was sitting at and made her way into town to grab a bite to eat. After all, just because the kids have to fight life and death and hunt down anything they can for food didn't mean that she had to do the same.
--
Team Seven was progressing through the forest at a nice pace, but found themselves stopping as they heard the screams of the Mist team spread through the forest. Sakura moved slightly closer to Sasuke as if he would be able to protect her from harm, however he simply scoffed at her and moved further away. Sakura looked around, making sure they were alone before speaking.
"Man… This place is creepy… Why in the world did that crazy proctor have to hold it in some place like this?" Sakura asked.
"Come on, Sakura… This place is no different than any other forest we've been in. I'm telling' you, there's nothing to be scared of!" Kiba yelled.
"For once I agree with Kiba… You're just getting in the way… Stop being annoying and keep your eyes peeled for enemies." Sasuke said.
There was a brief silence for a moment as the three looked around. Suddenly, Akamaru began to bark. Kiba looked up at his canine companion as he did so, nodding every so often as he listened to the pup. Needless to say, this scared Sakura slightly more than she was already, and she walked closer to the dog ninja to see what was up.
"What is it? Enemies?" Sakura asked in whispered.
"No… Akamaru and me are going to take a leak." Kiba said.
Kiba led Akamaru away into a slightly deeper part of the forest. The two remaining members of Team Seven waited only a moment or two before both Kiba and Akamaru returned. A grin was plastered on his face as he sighed happily.
"Whew… That's better!" Kiba yelled.
Akamaru barked happily in response.
Sakura sighed again in disbelief. She didn't understand how anyone could be so vulgar, and was beginning to wonder if all of the members of the Inuzuka clan were this way. However, Sasuke's eyes narrowed at the boy. Something didn't seem right to him. Then suddenly, his eyes widened, and quickly ran forward and backhanded Kiba, sending the dog ninja to the ground. Needless to say, Ino was shocked. Luckily, Akamaru managed to hop of Kiba's head before the boy hit the ground.
"Sasuke! I appreciate the chivalry, but don't you think that was over doing things a bit?" Sakura asked.
"What the hell is your damn problem Sasuke?" Kiba asked.
"Where the hell are Kiba and Akamaru?" Sasuke asked.
"What are you talking about, Sasuke? They're right there!" Sakura yelled.
"No… Look at his headband. The leaf symbol on it is backwards. Also, Akamaru's ears are brown, not black. Kiba isn't the best at Transformation Jutsu, but even he's better than you are." Sasuke.
"Not bad…" the fake Kiba said.
A cloud of smoke exploded from where he was sitting, revealing another Mist Genin. Akamaru too disappeared in a cloud of smoke, revealing the dog to be nothing more than a Genjutsu at the time.
"The Uchiha prodigy lives up to his nickname… Let's see how he fights…" Mist Genin said.
The enemy shinobi ran straight at the two members of Team Seven. Sasuke cursed as Sakura made no move to fight back, as if she was frozen in place. Quickly, the boy ran forward, and leapt into the air while making the necessary hand signs.
"Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu." Sasuke said.
Sasuke blew a barrage of fireballs at the enemy ninja who barely managed to dodge them. Quickly, the Mist Genin countered the Uchiha's attack by leaping at him with a kunai in hand. Sasuke was ready for him though, and descended towards the man with a kunai in his hand as well. The two knives clanged together as they clashed, which was followed by the two opponents jumping away from each other.
"Not bad, Sasuke… Not bad at all… However, I have other things to do, so why not hand over that pretty little scroll of yours, and I'll be on my way…" Mist Genin said.
"I don't think so, buddy!" a voice yelled from above.
Sasuke and the Mist Genin looked up just in time to see the real Kiba jump at them from a tree limb up above. He tossed a handful of kunai at the enemy shinobi, who jumped back as they landed. He looked over the reassembled Team Seven, and chuckled.
"Two on one won't make any difference." Mist Genin said.
"We'll see about that…" Sasuke said.
Sasuke ran forward and attached a kunai to the sole of his shoe as he ran, a technique he learned through the tree climbing exercise with Kakashi. The Mist ninja jumped back, trying to avoid whatever attack Sasuke was planning, but all the Uchiha did was smile. He stopped his pursuit and reared his leg back, letting loose a powerful kick. The kunai flew forward causing the Mist ninja's eyes to widen. He was about to dodge the attack, when suddenly Sasuke jumped forward, Sharingan Eye activated, and finished thrusting the kunai into the ninja's chest, just narrowly missing his heart.
"Now for the finisher! One Fang Over Fang coming up!" Kiba yelled.
The dog boy jumped forward and started spinning in a rapid movement. He aimed straight for the enemy ninja, blowing straight into his stomach, and sending the man falling straight to the forest floor. The Mist ninja stumbled up to his feet, and ran away as fast as he could from Team Seven. He was in no condition to survive another full attack like that from Sasuke and Kiba, and would be damned if he would die here.
"That was close… But did you really have to stab him and stuff like that? Seemed kind of over the line…" Sakura said.
"Sakura… Tell me something, do you want to live?" Sasuke suddenly asked.
"What kind of question is that, Sasuke? Of course I want to…" Sakura said.
"Then next time, I suggest doing something other than standing around with your hands in your pockets. Just standing around like that in a situation like that could get you killed, especially if that guy would've had his friends with him." Sasuke said.
The Uchiha began to walk away, and then stopped to look over his shoulder at Kiba and Sakura.
"Come on, we need to plan…" Sasuke said.
Within the next few minutes, Team Seven was in another forest clearing. Trees surrounded them closely, and a hollowed stump rested behind them, serving, as a hiding spot if need. The three Genin and puppy sat in a closely closed circle, barely whispering just in case they happened to be close in the presence of others.
"Alright… Remember that if we get separated like that again, we can't trust each other blindly like we did back there. We barely got out of that one alright, and things could get worse next time." Sasuke said.
"So what are we supposed to do?" Sakura asked.
"No problem for me! Akamaru and I can smell the difference between you guys and impostors!" Kiba yelled.
"Yeah, but we can't do the same as you, nor can we do that if you aren't around. As useful as your… skills might be, we have to think of another idea…" Sasuke said.
"What about a code? Like a password?" Sakura asked.
"Good idea. That way, no matter how an enemy looks or sounds, if they get it wrong while looking like us, we'll know they're a fake." Sasuke said.
"So what kind of password should we use?" Kiba asked.
"A poem. It's called the Nikki. When I or one of you asks for it, here's how you respond: "We thrive in chaos of the enemy tide. Quiet shinobi don't need dens to hide. Our only concern is to watch and wait, until the enemy lowers the gate." Sasuke said.
Sakura nodded her head in agreement. Kiba on the other hand, had his eyes closed, trying to focus and replay the poem in his head. He grunted in dissatisfaction as he opened his eyes and glared at Sasuke.
"How do you expect us to remember something like that? It's too long and complicated!" Kiba yelled while Akamaru barked as well.
"Idiot! I already have it memorized!" Sakura yelled, punching him on the back of the head.
"I think we need a better, shorter password… How about… Swordfish?" Kiba asked, rubbing the new lump on the back of his head.
"We're using the Nikki." Sasuke simply said.
Sasuke reached forward and grabbed the team's scroll, placing it in one of his pouches on his belt.
"I'll hold on to the scroll. Now, let's go." Sasuke said.
The team began to stand up and move, when suddenly, a blade of grass blew through the air, cutting against Kiba's cheek. The dog ninja didn't have time to question it though, as a massive gust of wind soon blew through the clearing. Team Seven did their best to hold on and not be blown away, but in the end, all efforts were wasted, and everything went dark…
--
The point of the second test was to whittle down the remaining teams from the first exam by as many as possible. Kankuro and Temari both knew this well. It was hard not to, seeing as how the proctor seemed to enjoy talking about that aspect the most when giving out the rules of this test. The problem though, was the fact that their third teammate was Gaara. Which in most cases meant that whatever opposing team they ran into… Well, they just hoped they wouldn't run into too many, though as expected, things never went their way for long. Kankuro was really wishing that god would be on his side just once.
"Looks like we got lucky… A couple of wet behind the ear brats from Hidden Sand Village will be nothing to take down." said one of the shinobi on the team from Hidden Rain Village.
"I really suggest you guys just turn and run. You idiots wouldn't last a minute against Gaara…" Kankuro said.
"We'll see about that…" Rain Genin said.
The Rain ninja leapt forward and pulled out several umbrellas that he had strapped to his back. He launched them all into the air, and smirked as he began to run through several hand signs. Gaara seemed unimpressed though, and simply continued to stand with his arms crossed, watching as the Rain ninja attacked. Suddenly, the umbrellas seemed to stop in the air as they opened. They all began to spin around, unleashing a barrage of needles. All of which flew downward, heading straight for Gaara.
"You're completely surrounded! There aren't any gaps or blind spots with my Jouro Senbon! Just a thousand needles that will use my chakra to zero in on you like missiles! An easy and effective end!" Rain Genin yelled.
"It's my turn now. Desert Coffin." Gaara said.
Sand began to flow around the attacking Rain ninja, wrapping around his feet, arms, hands, body, and head. Soon, the man was cocooned inside of a giant mass of sand. Gaara slowly began to rotate his hand as the sand cocoon rose into the air, hovering there momentarily. The Rain man tried to escape, twisting left and right, screaming, but it was futile. He was right were Gaara wanted him. Gaara rotated his palm just a bit more, causing the sand to squeeze down on the man just enough to send three umbrellas shooting out of the holder on his back. Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro each picked one up, and opened them.
"Sand Burial!" Gaara yelled.
Gaara then closed his opened palm completely. The sand crushed down all the way, causing an explosion of sand, blood, and a scream to flow out into the area. As the mess cleared, not one trace was left of the Rain ninja. Gaara and his siblings were completely clean from the splattered blood, although the umbrellas weren't.
Slowly, one of the remaining members of the Rain team walked out and placed a scroll down on the ground.
"Please… J-Just take the scroll, and let us go!" Rain Genin said, pleaded.
"Fine. Just go." Gaara said.
The remaining members of the Rain team run away like a scared little girl. Kankuro walked over calmly to the scroll, smiling as he picked it up.
"A full set of scrolls… Looks like we're done here. Now that we have this Heaven Scroll, we go straight for the tower." Kankuro said.
The team slowly left the field, heading for the tower.
--
Anko relaxed with a sigh as she took another bite of the stick of dango. For some reason, the taste of her favourite food had increased by twenty percent during the exams. While normally she would've wondered what could account for this, but she determined it had to do with the thoughts of all the Genin probably engaging each other in mortal combat. Then, she had the thought of Naruto, and began to wonder if he was all right.
"What the hell am I thinking? The kid's a Mitarashi! I raised him to be my own son! He's probably the one kicking the most ass in there!" Anko said to herself as she took a sip of the bean soup.
Anko took the final bite of dango, and tossed the empty stick into a nearby tree. Said tree, was now decorated by what must've been almost thirty or forty sticks. All of them were arranged into the Konoha leaf symbol. She took the final sip of her bean soup, and tossed the cup into a nearby trashcan, and hopped to her feet.
"Guess I'll head for the tower… The actually talented squads ought to be able to clear the test in under a day's time." Anko said to herself.
No sooner had those words left her mouth, did a cloud of smoke appear behind her. The woman turned around to see a Chunin with glasses and a headband tied on top of his head like a bandana. He looked worried about something, causing the woman to sigh in disgust.
"What's with the look?" Anko asked.
"Terrible news, Anko!" Chunin yelled.
"Already? What the hell could the problem be this soon?" Anko asked.
"We've found dead bodies! Three of them!" Chunin yelled.
"Dead bodies?" Anko asked.
"Yes! Please, it's easier to show! Come quickly!" Chunin yelled.
Anko followed the Chunin as he requested. He ended up leading her to a small graveyard located in the outer parts of Konoha. Two other Chunin were already there, examining the dead bodies that the one with glasses informed Anko about.
"Here they are…" the Chunin said.
Anko walked over for a closer look.
We went through some of their personal belongings, were able to determine that they were from Hidden Grass Village, here to take part in the Chunin Exams. The weird thing about them though, was that their faces were gone, almost as if they had been melted off. The skin is smooth, like they never even had them to begin with." Chunin said.
Anko's eyes widened as the words of the Chunin came together in her mind.
'You… What the hell are you doing here?' Anko thought.
Anko's head jerked back and looked at the Chunin.
"Quick, show me the pictures from their I.D. cards!" Anko yelled.
The Chunin produced them at once and handed them to Anko. She gasped in horror as she saw them.
"What is it?" the Chunin asked in confusion.
"Just go get Hokage-sama. Tell him about what you found, and that he sends two ANBU into the Forest of Death! I'm going ahead to catch the impostors!" Anko yelled.
The Chunin nodded and left Anko to do as told. Said woman jumped the fence into the forest, and began jumping from tree to tree. Her heart was racing in fear, anticipation, and anger.
'Please, Naruto… Please don't be anywhere near Orochimaru…' Anko thought.
--
Sasuke awoke in a daze. The last thing he remembered was some huge gust of wind blowing through the woods. He was alive, and that was a plus. However, he was alone. Kiba, Sakura, and even Akamaru were nowhere to be seen, and that actually caused him to feel a little bit more nervous than he normally would. He looked around, determining that he had somehow managed to land under a bush, and slowly crawled out, kunai in hand.
"Sasuke!" a familiar voice yelled.
The boy turned around to see Sakura coming towards him. Quickly, the boy jumped back, and drew a kunai. He couldn't be too careful, and therefore he had to be on guard. He didn't need to go through a battle similar to what he went through earlier.
"Stay back! Don't come any closer until you give me the password!" Sasuke yelled.
"Password? Right, the Nikki! We thrive in chaos of the enemy tide. Quiet shinobi don't need dens to hide. Our only concern is to watch and wait, until the enemy lowers the gate." Sakura said.
"Good… That takes care of you… Now we need to find Kiba and Akamaru…" Sasuke said as he put the kunai away.
No sooner had Sasuke said those words did the said boy and dog come out of the nearby bushes. Kiba sighed happily as he spotted Sasuke and Sakura. He began to run over to them, with Akamaru following close behind, barking happily.
"Good, you guys made it!" Kiba yelled.
"Hold on, Kiba. What's the password?" Sasuke asked.
"The Nikki right? No sweat! We thrive in chaos of the enemy tide. Quiet shinobi don't need dens to hide. Our only concern is to watch and wait, until the enemy lowers the gate." Kiba said.
"Whew… Looks like we're all back together again." Sakura said.
Sasuke smirked though. As Kiba came closer, the Uchiha suddenly reached back and threw a kunai straight at the boy's head. Kiba managed to dodge the kunai, but he was mad, as imaginable. Also, Sakura didn't look too pleased either.
"What the hell are you doing, Sasuke? Kiba got the password right!" Sakura yelled.
"He was fast enough to dodge my kunai this time too…" the Uchiha said.
"What?" Sakura asked in confusion.
"This isn't Kiba… Don't you remember from earlier? Kiba didn't memorize the password. He said that there was no way he could memorize something like that, and then we got blown away." Sasuke said.
"Not bad, Sasuke… Not bad at all…" Kiba said evilly.
A large cloud of smoke exploded from where Kiba and Akamaru were standing. Both Ino and Sasuke readied a kunai. Both on edge as they waited for the smoke to clear. As it did, a female Grass ninja came into view.
"Well, that means that it's not that Mist team…" Sasuke said.
"Indeed… I am quite impressed that you figured it out so easily. Please tell me, how did you know that I was a fake?" Grass ninja asked.
"As I said before, Kiba had said that he wouldn't be able to memorize something like that in such a short time. Also, I knew you were watching us earlier." the Uchiha said.
"Watching?" Sakura asked.
"Yeah… She was hiding underground the whole time…" Sasuke said.
"Quite impressive… This might be more fun than I thought." Grass ninja said.
--
Elsewhere in the forest, Kiba and Akamaru slowly came to. The boy sat upright, shaking his head as he tried to get his bearings straight. Akamaru slowly got up on all fours, stretching in the process.
"That was a little rough, huh?" Kiba asked the dog as he rose to his feet.
Kiba took a look around, frowning in the process.
"Looks like Sakura and Sasuke are missing… We better go look for them." Kiba said.
Akamaru barked in agreement. The puppy began to sniff the ground trying to pick up their scent, but suddenly screeched to a stop and began to growl. Kiba looked down, and took a quick sniff of the air. His eyes widened as he looked around, trying to pinpoint the smell.
"Snakes… I know I've smelled this in more than one place… Stay on guard, Akamaru." Kiba said.
The air became tense as both the dog and Kiba were on guard. The sound of a faint slithering and hissing became present as they carefully stepped forward. Kiba pulled out a kunai, slowly looking around the forest with every step. Suddenly, the growling of Akamaru became barking. Kiba turned around just in time to see a giant snake lunge out of the trees, and straight for the duo. Kiba and Akamaru both managed to jump out of the way just in time. Kiba tossed his kunai at the snake, but as expected it didn't make much of a dent.
"Didn't think that would work…" Kiba said.
Kiba reached into his pouch and pulled out a small pill.
"Didn't think I'd have to rely on these so soon… Good thing I brought more than one…" Kiba said.
Kiba tossed the pill downward to Akamaru who caught it with ease. The puppy began to chew the pill, and then quickly swallowed it. His fangs began to grow longer, as well as his claws. His fur turned a reddish-brown colour, and he began to growl more ferociously.
"Alright… Time for the All-Fours Jutsu." Kiba said as he began to run through several hand signs.
Kiba hunched down on all fours. His teeth became a little sharper, resembling those of a dog's. His nails also became longer, resembling claws as well. Akamaru began to growl more as well. Kiba smiled as he nodded, and made another set of hand signs. As he did so, Akamaru jumped on his back. The dog vanished in a cloud of smoke, only to be replaced by a second Kiba. The Kiba on top hopped down to where both were side by side, and the original Kiba smirked.
'He's going to lunge again. Just got to time it right!' Kiba thought.
Sure enough, the snake curled back. It glared at both of the two dog ninjas, licking it's tongue across its lips. Then, without warning, it lunged forward with its mouth open. Kiba and the morphed Akamaru stared intently as the snake's fangs came closer. They both leapt towards the snake's open mouth.
"Man-Beast Ultimate Taijutsu: Fang Over Fang!" Kiba yelled.
Kiba and the morphed Akamaru leapt into the air, spinning at a rapid rate. Kiba knew that this was a one shot only deal. If he and Akamaru missed, it was all over. He closed his eyes as they neared the snake. He felt the two of them connect to the reptile. He smiled and cheered as he felt them rip through the roof of the snake's mouth. Blood squirted into the air, covering nearby trees, bushes, rocks and such as the creature began die. It emitted a noisy screech as it died, while Kiba sighed as he fell onto his butt.
"Luck… No reason anyone else needs to know that though…" Kiba said.
Kiba paused as he looked up in the trees and sniffed the air.
"I still smell snakes… I got to bad feeling about this, Akamaru… We better find Sasuke and Sakura, and fast." Kiba said before he and Akamaru walk to find others.
(What you think? In the next chapter, Kiba and Sasuke will fight with the Grass ninja (Which is Orochimaru in disguised.) then after that maybe in the next chapter after that, Orochimaru will go after another Genin. If you want to guess who he's after then go right a head.)