A/N: Okay, you're getting this chapter exceptionally early because 1) it's written – only took me a single day to write it too, though I haven't proof read it as much as I normally do – and 2) I've been wanting to give you all this chapter for a long, long time and I can't bring myself to wait. This, unfortunately means that there won't be a chapter on Friday, so you'll have to wait longer for the next one, but you didn't have to wait as long for this one… so that's a fair trade, right? Anyway, enjoy.

Chapter 24

o

Naruto was barely aware of the speed with which he was moving through the forest, leaping from branch to branch as he made his way towards the battle that had always seemed to be just beyond the horizon. Even as he moved ever closer to it, he could scarcely believe that the time had actually arrived for the final confrontation, for the battle that could very well decide the fate of the world. In the next hour or so, he would kill Orochimaru and become a hero who saved millions of lives (even though none of them would know that he'd just saved them), or he would just be another casualty in Orochimaru's war of conquest. On his shoulders literally rested the destiny of nearly every man, woman, and child residing within the walls of Konohagakure… maybe the whole continent… or even the whole world!

He'd heard of single battles swinging the tide of history one way or another. The fight between Orochimaru and Jiraiya when the former left the village and the battle between Madara and the First Hokage at the Valley of the End were two examples just from Konohagakure. They were easy to point out when it was all said and done and the fallout from the battle was plain to see. Probably he'd even been in a few – certainly his losing effort against Sasuke could count as one – but never had he heard of someone being completely aware of just how much was riding on a single fight before it started. It was easy to see why, too. Anyone who had this kind of pressure on them could hardly be expected to accomplish much outside of pissing their pants at the mere thought of the enormity of what they were about to do. He knew there was a part of him (a very small part, of course) that wanted to take a leak and then go find a place to hide and wait for it all to be over with.

One thing was for sure, this time travel stuff was definitely not meant to be in the hands of mortal men.

However, as much as he might be scared of facing Orochimaru with the knowledge that if he couldn't beat him the whole world would suffer the consequences, there was another emotion that was coursing through his veins. This feeling was far stronger than the fear or nervousness that seemed to have settled in his gut. It was strong enough to make the idea of hiding and hoping for the best seem laughable. It was the emotion that could cloud one's judgment and push them to doing great, terrible, and even stupid things: Anger.

Orochimaru had killed his friends. He'd twisted Sasuke and stolen his body. He'd started war after war, manipulating, lying, and betraying anyone and everyone he needed to. He'd destroyed Konoha, killed its citizens, and, in the end, killed Naruto as well. If there was one person in all of history who deserved death, it was him. And if there was one person in all of history who deserved to kill Orochimaru more than Naruto… well, they weren't in these woods right now, so they'd just have to get over it.

Naruto couldn't deny that he was scared, but more than that, he was angry and wanted revenge for all the horrors Orochimaru had unleashed upon good innocent people who wanted nothing more than to live their lives in peace and quiet. In some part of his mind, he was worried that he wouldn't be able to kill Orochimaru, but that feeling was easily pushed to the side by the angry confidence that he was going to rip the Sannin limb from limb for all the crimes he'd committed in the future. When Naruto was done with him, there wouldn't even be a single living cell left to infect another person. He was going to end this nightmare here and now, any part of him that doubted his ability to do so was easily shouted down by the majority that was guaranteeing it.

All too soon, he reached the spot where two of the original three clones that had made the discovery were waiting for him. The images of Sasuke and Sakura smiled at him and then disappeared, passing their memories of the last few minutes of movement in the faux Grass-nin camp on to him. There wasn't too much of use within the memories. Orochimaru and his minions were simply preparing to set up some sort of base camp, though a few traps had been laid out to catch any idiot stupid enough to go stumbling along the obvious paths into the area. Naruto doubted he would have missed any of them, but it was good to know exactly where they were so he wouldn't have to deal with them on his own.

Now that he was there, he needed some sort of a plan. Anger was useful at times, but it didn't do you much good if you just got yourself killed because you didn't think things through before you ran headlong into a fight.

For the next few minutes, Naruto watched silently from his hiding spot within the trees as the three infiltrators went about their business, his eyes scanning the area, taking in details and noting strategic advantages and disadvantages. He would have to play up the dumb genin act; that much was for sure. Orochimaru was smart and powerful, but arrogant and enjoyed toying with his enemies. If he really thought Naruto was an idiot, he might be caught a little off guard when Naruto revealed who he really was. He couldn't do that until the last minute, though. If he revealed what a threat he really was too early, Orochimaru would slither away and his chance would be lost… or Orochimaru would kill him and his chance would really be lost.

Naruto doubted his young body had the power to go toe to toe with the Sannin for very long, so he would have to play things just right or all would be lost.

As quietly as possible, he began creating shadow clones and spreading them out in the spots he wanted them. They moved in twos and threes so that there would be one to release himself and let everyone know when his group was in position. Each knew what his job was and what to look for should Naruto need them to step in earlier or later. As they began forming a ring around what looked like Orochimaru's base camp, the clones cast Meisaigakure no Jutsu on themselves. The camouflage jutsu wouldn't necessarily keep them hidden from someone like Orochimaru for long, but it was better than sneaking through a green forest in orange coats, and it certainly wouldn't hurt. Unless they made some sort of noise – which none of them would – to alert the Sannin, there was no reason to think that Orochimaru would be actively trying to find them and thus their chances of remaining hidden were pretty good for the moment.

Confirmations from the groups of clones began coming in all too quickly, and soon everyone was in position. Naruto created two more clones and had one release instantly so that the small army now surrounding Orochimaru would know that the plan was about to start. The other nodded, brought his hands together and seemed to vanish as well. Naruto pocketed the kunai resting on the tree branch, took a deep breath, and then dropped silently to the ground.

This was it: the start of a beautiful new future or the beginning of another nightmare.

"No pressure," he whispered to himself as he took a deep breath and stepped into view.

ooo

Ino put up with Chouji half-dragging, half-leading her away from the area where Team Ten had almost met their end for about a third of a kilometer before she pulled away from him and turned to look back the direction they'd come. Her pretty blue eyes were glassy with unshed tears as she stared back through the woods, trying to will Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto to appear from the darkness.

"We shouldn't have left them with that monster," she whispered, biting her lip. "We have to go back."

"Ino, they're fine," Shikamaru replied. He rubbed his chest where the initial sand attack had hit him and winced at the soreness still present.

"You saw what he did to those other guys…" she shuddered at the memory of the screams and the sound of breaking bones and squishing soft tissue, "…he's going to kill them!"

"Naruto said they could handle it," Chouji reminded her though he didn't look all that comfortable about leaving Team Seven to face Gaara either.

Ino brought a hand up to cover her eyes and then pinched the bridge of her nose. "Did you two not pay any attention during class?" she asked. "Naruto is the biggest idiot I've ever known! Why are we listening to him?"

"Ino," Shikamaru said again, sounding far more weary than he had the first time, "they're fine. They weren't even really there."

"But…"

"Those were just clones. They're fine."

Ino shook her head. "No way. Sakura grabbed me when that Gaara guy tried to go after me again. There's no way that was Bunshin no Jutsu."

"It wasn't Bunshin no Jutsu, it was Kage Bunshin no Jutsu."

Ino's eyes widened and she looked at Shikamaru half-expecting him to be snickering or something at the joke she was sure he was making. "Kage Bunshin is a jounin level ninjutsu," she said.

Shikamaru shrugged. "That's what it was. Sasuke practically came right out and said it."

Ino took one last look back towards the battle grounds they'd fled and then scowled. "What the hell as Asuma sensei been doing if Sakura already knows something like that? He's supposed to be helping us get stronger!"

Shikamaru sighed and looked up at the forest canopy, wishing for an open view of the sky. It was too much trouble to bother trying to correct her, and since she wasn't trying to get them to go back there was no real reason to go through the hassle. Which ever member of Team Seven was using shadow clones – and Shikamaru was almost totally certain he knew – the point was that everyone was safe and his team didn't have to go back and face Gaara again. "Whatever, let's just go find ourselves another scroll so we can get out of here."

ooo

"Naruto's been gone a while," Sakura noted as she and Sasuke leaned against a large tree, their shoulders lightly touching as they scanned the surrounding area for any enemies trying to sneak up on them. It was closing in on ten minutes since their blond teammate had abruptly left, not so long that she wanted to go looking for him, but long enough for her to wonder what was keeping him.

Sasuke grunted softly and Sakura felt his injured shoulder move slightly as he shrugged.

"How's your arm?"

"It's fine."

Sakura bit the inside of her cheek as she glanced around once more. She'd wanted to ask Sasuke about something ever since his injury, but hadn't had the chance and wasn't sure that it was really her place to ask. With the test they'd just taken and the instructions and explanations that they'd had to listen to since then, the issue had slipped to the back of her mind. Thinking about Sasuke's arm and the fight that had caused the injury brought the question up again and this time there was nothing to distract her from it… except for Naruto's ever lengthening bathroom break.

She opened her mouth to ask, but closed it again without making a sound. Maybe it wasn't something Sasuke wanted her to know. Naruto knew, which was annoying, but if Sasuke felt more comfortable talking to Naruto, then that was fine… no, no it wasn't.

"Sasuke? When you got hurt…" she bit her lip, took a deep breath that he probably felt through the movement of her shoulder and then pushed ahead, "What did Naruto mean when he said you couldn't beat your brother like that? I know it's probably personal since you… well, you obviously didn't like Naruto talking about it, but I… I thought your family was all dead. Where's your brother been all this time and why do you… why do you want to fight him?"

Sasuke was quite for a long time, but finally he said, "I didn't tell Naruto anything. I don't know how he knows about that."

"But he was right?"

"Yeah, he's right."

The two of them were quite again and Sakura wished that she'd kept her mouth shut. Sasuke was a private person, after all. She should have known he wouldn't want to talk about this sort of thing. Really, who could blame him? His whole family had been murdered; he'd probably been pestered for years about that sort of thing.

Sakura frowned. Sasuke's whole family had been killed, except for his brother… a brother that he wanted to fight… and Sasuke had said that his ambition in life was to kill someone…

"He's the one, isn't he?" she asked as realization struck. "He's the one who killed your family and…" a memory from the day they'd taken Kakashi's bell test rose to the surface, "…and he left you crying. That's what you meant back during Kakashi-sens—"

Sasuke whirled around, grabbing her roughly by the shoulders and forcing her to face him, completely ignoring the fact that now neither of them were watching for any enemies. His eyes were filled with more anger and rage than she could ever remember seeing in him. Sasuke was normally careful to guard his emotions. There were times where he let more show than he meant, but usually his feelings were kept internal. This was definitely one of the times where things were leaking out that he would normally have kept within… though perhaps he didn't care if he was showing her just how angry he was this time.

"Just leave it alone!" he hissed. "My brother is my problem. I don't know how he found out, but I don't need Naruto or you butting in where you don't belong!"

Sakura nodded dumbly, biting her lip to keep it from trembling. His voice had been so full of venom, so full of hatred. She hadn't meant to go where she wasn't wanted… well, she had, but she hadn't meant to upset him this much. Sasuke hadn't gotten this mad at Naruto for knowing, though he had hit Naruto, so perhaps this was his non-violent way of telling her he was displeased. She almost wished he would have hit her rather than staring at her with those eyes.

Sasuke was her friend and teammate, she just wanted to know about him so she could be useful to him in whatever way he needed her to be…

Suddenly, Sakura didn't feel so scared or sorry for treading where Sasuke felt she didn't belong. Whether he liked it or not, she did belong there. She loved Sasuke. She loved him enough to back off and just be his friend. She loved him enough to want to do everything in her power to help him in whatever way she could. She did not, however, love him enough to let him kick her out of his life because he wanted to keep something this big hidden from her and Naruto.

"I belong here," she whispered in a soft but resolute voice. "I'm your friend. You don't have the option of not telling me about these things."

"What?" he demanded, some of the anger leaving his voice as confusion set in.

"I'm your friend. I want to help you. If you have to kill your brother," she reached forward, her fingers finding his shirt and grabbing hold, "that's fine. I just want to help you. I just want to be there for you." Sasuke tried to push back from her, but her grip tightened on his shirt. "Don't ever tell me that something like this is none of my business! Saying that is like telling me that I'm not your friend…" she voice trailed off and she looked up at him. "I am your friend, aren't I?" she whispered.

Sasuke looked down at her, swallowed hard, and then looked away. "Yes," he replied softly, "you are… but it's safer for you to not know some things."

Sakura digested that last piece in silence for a moment and then asked, "Safer for me… or for you?"

Sasuke was quiet for a long moment. "I don't know," he confessed at last.

"Maybe when you figure it out, you'll let me know," she replied with a smile, "and Naruto, too, unless he already knows for some reason."

A small approximation of a smile appeared on Sasuke's lips as he looked back down at her and said, "Yeah." They stood there like that for nearly a full minute before Sasuke added, "Uh, do you think you could let go of me now?"

ooo

Naruto adjusted his path so that when Orochimaru and his minions spotted him he wouldn't be looking right at them. Then as soon as he reached the nearest tree, he turned towards it, unzipped his pants and began peeing. It was actually exceptionally hard to get his bladder to give up its contents with his stomach clenching and his insides doing flip-flops. Turning his back on someone like Orochimaru was about the stupidest thing a person could do, but that was the whole point.

Anything less than idiotic would put the Sannin on guard and Naruto needed him as relaxed as possible.

"Hey!" one of them called out. "What the hell are you doing?"

Naruto whirled around, still peeing, and then quickly spun back to finish and zip himself up. "Shit, s-sorry," he replied in a slightly scared voice that didn't require much acting. When he was finished he turned back to the 'Grass genin' and smiled sheepishly. "Uh, sorry, I-I didn't s-see you there…" he told them as he scratched the back of his head nervously.

All three of the faux Grass-nin had their conical hats pushed back so they were only hanging by the straps around their necks. Orochimaru was wearing a light tan colored long kimono with dark underclothing and a weird purple rope tied around his waist, his long black hair was pushed back over his shoulders. The two henchmen were even stranger looking in Naruto's opinion. The shorter and stockier of the two had a shaved head with very pink tinged skin that made it look like he was sunburned, though one would have thought that the conical hat would have at least kept his head a more natural shade. The other was wearing a weird mask that added to the scarecrow appearance that seemed to jump to mind when looking at his long, thin body anyway. Both were dressed in black kimonos with black under clothing. The sunburned one had a thick white rope wrapped around his shoulders; the scarecrow had a similar rope tied around his waste. Naruto hoped for their sakes that their appearances were made to look like the people they were impersonating and not simply due to personal choice.

The thought briefly occurred to him that he didn't even know for sure that these two were actually disguised Sound-nin. It was possible that they were, in fact, Grass-nin and that only Orochimaru was an imposter. It didn't seem likely that the Sannin would leave variables like that just lying around, but there was no way to be sure.

He hoped they were Sound-nin, because he'd feel a little bad if he killed two innocent men just because they happened to have a snake in their midst… not that feeling being uncertain would stop him from killing them. Their fate was sealed the moment he stepped into the clearing and they were standing next to Orochimaru.

"I-I was just l-looking for a place to go to the b-bathroom," Naruto stuttered as he took a timid step away from them.

"Sorry kid, you picked the wrong bathroom," the scarecrow Grass-nin chuckled. He reached into a backpack on the ground and pulled out a kusari-gama, a chain with a sickle blade at one end and a heavy weight at the other. "If you have your scroll, I suggest you hand it over now."

Naruto let his eyes travel over the group and then said, "I d-don't have it…"

"Then you're going to be our leverage over your teammates," the sunburned genin said with a wicked smile.

Orochimaru looked at his two comrades and grinned. "We only need a body for our purposes, there's no need to leave him alive."

Naruto brought his hands up, making sure they were visibly shaking. "Please, I… I don't want any trouble…"

"Well, trouble's found you, kid, you don't have any say in the matter anymore," the shorter genin told him as he took two kamas out of his own pack and twirled them expertly.

Naruto turned to run away, intentionally appearing to trip over himself slightly as he did. Just as his back was turned to his enemies, a memory hit him from one of the clones surrounding the battle area and he instantly ducked as the weighted end of the kusari-gama passed over his head. Another memory hit and he rolled to the side as three kunai thudded into the ground where he'd been only a split second before.

To his enemies, it must have looked like he had eyes in the back of his head. It had taken months of practice and years of using it in actual battle situations to train his body to react instantly to the thoughts and memories of his clones as they watched him fight, but the results were well worth it. In the future, Neji had even commented on the fact that as long as Naruto was entering a battle he'd already prepared for, his field of vision exceeded that of a Hyuuga to some extent. Naruto wasn't quite sure he was that good – if for no other reason than because his "vision" was being continuously diminished every time he used it – but he also knew that Neji wasn't easily impressed and didn't give compliments he didn't mean… he barely gave compliments at all, actually.

He was facing his opponents now, not wanting to give away how easy it was to dodge their obviously half-hearted attacks. If Orochimaru had brought two jounin with him and they all started taking him seriously, he'd be in trouble. His little body just wasn't ready for that sort of a fight and probably wouldn't be until after he'd passed through the majority of puberty.

One of the kamas came in with a low, sweeping arc that nearly separated Naruto from his legs at knee level while the other sickle sliced dangerously close to his neck. Naruto jumped over the first and then threw his body flat to evade the second. He landed flat on his back and rolled backwards as the blade of the kusari-gama struck the ground where he'd landed. As he scrambled back to his feet he threw three kuani in the general direction of Orochimaru, though they probably looked like the scared, desperate throws of an inexperienced child as they didn't even come close to hitting their target; which was just what he wanted them to do. An off balance throw that still was perfectly aimed right between Orochimaru's eyes was not the sort of thing that a scared, stupid genin should be capable of… unless that scared, stupid genin happened to be named Sasuke or Tenten.

The three 'Grass'-nin pressed their advantage, driving Naruto back towards a large tree. He tripped, stumbled, made stupid mistakes and just barely escaped from them with his life a few times. On no less than three occasions he saw an opportunity to kill one or the other of the two henchmen, but never even moved to take it. The moment he killed one of them, Orochimaru would stop playing with him.

As they reached the tree, the second stage of Naruto's plan began. He let himself get too close to the short, kama-wielding ninja and took a small, glancing blow to the shoulder. Not enough to slow him down or inhibit his movements, but enough that it drew blood and made it appear as if his survival thus far had been the result of luck. With the stocky ninja still close by, Naruto grabbed him and fell backwards, kicking out his legs and sending the man tumbling away from the rest of the group. Then Naruto pushed chakra into his legs and leapt high over his other two enemies' heads as he threw a couple of kunai at their feet to keep their attention on him. He made sure to land awkwardly and fell on his butt as a result, trying to keep the right impression of him in their minds despite the last few seconds of semi-competence.

As planned, the two turned to follow his movements, turning their backs on their teammate.

The man probably didn't even know what hit him as two clones seemed to appear out of nowhere, one driving a kunai into his neck, severing his spine, while the other's caught him right between the eyes. He didn't even make a sound as his life came to an end. From there, one of the clones transformed into the stocky ninja, picked up the dead man's kamas and rejoined the battle while the other pulled the body out of sight and returned to his position should he be needed later.

The disguised clone didn't attack Orochimaru or the scarecrow henchman. He simply went after Naruto with just as much enthusiasm as the man he was impersonating had been showing. The only real different was that he was very careful not to hit Naruto in any way – though in truth, he never really got the chance. Naruto, on the other hand, had to make sure that he never made solid contact with the clone, but that was easy enough as well. Now he could shift most of his attention to Orochimaru and his remaining henchman without them realizing that a third of their manpower had been lost.

The odds were slowly shifting in his favor. If he could take out and replace the other henchmen without being noticed, the battle would be over before Orochimaru even realized he'd been duped.

ooo

"Well, Kakashi-san," the chuunin said as he hurried back to where Kakashi was waiting, "you don't need to worry. Your record is still safe."

Kakashi's one visible eyebrow rose considerably. "Really?"

"One team did check in with the second fastest time ever, but they missed your mark by nearly an hour."

The jounin smiled beneath his mask. "Hmm, I guess my team held back a little."

The chuunin frowned. "Your team, sir?"

Kakashi's smile fell and he gave the man a piercing look. "It wasn't Team Seven that completed the test?"

The man rubbed his neck and shuffled his feet awkwardly for a moment before replying. "Uh, no, I'm sorry, it wasn't. The team from Suna finished at just over five hours, but they're the only ones in so far."

Kakashi turned back to the immense trees before him and licked his lips. After a moment of silence he turned to leave. "Thank you for the update. Please, let me know when Team Seven passes the test."

The chuunin nodded and bowed respectfully. "Of course, sir."

As Kakashi strolled away from the training area he allowed a trouble look to pass over his face. Was he wrong about Naruto? Was the kid really just that lucky and smart? He mulled this thought over for a moment and then shook his head. No, he was certain about his theory. It fit most of the evidence and even the things that it didn't explain it could certainly help explain.

It didn't, for example, explain Naruto's taijutsu abilities, but depending on the extent of the ability perhaps it could allow him to find people who did know those skills so he could observe them as they trained. It didn't necessarily explain why he was intentionally screwing up during some of their early missions either, but if he (or whoever was looking into the future for him) saw something that told him having Sasuke save them from failing a couple of time would be a good thing…

The ability to see into the future complicated things considerably, Kakashi suddenly realized. Naruto had been hiding the ability, possibly for years. What if he was doing so because if someone found out it would cause something bad to happen? At the same time, if that was the case, wouldn't he have known that Kakashi would find out and tried to stop him? He hadn't, to Kakashi's knowledge, so perhaps there wouldn't be problems if the truth came to light… unless he could only see some things.

Kakashi shook his head. The whole thing was ridiculous. He still planned on confronting Naruto, in private, about it, but he was determined not to think about it until then. He just wished that 'then' would hurry up and become 'now.'

A thought hit him and he turned on his heel and walked back to the chuunin who was once again patrolling the area. "One more thing," Kakashi said as the man looked up at him in surprise. "Where's Mitarashi Anko right now?"

ooo

Gaara sat silently on the balcony of the tower and stared out over the woods. The faint breeze drifting through the large trees surrounding him ruffled his red hair playfully as he slowly scanned the forest. It was strange being in such a green place. He'd had missions that took him to areas like this before, of course, but the abundance of water and plant life never ceased to impress him. Maybe someday, when he was through with Suna and its inhabitants, he would come to a place like this. Surely here he'd have no problem finding people and animals to help him validate his existence for as long as he could cling to life.

After a while, he grew bored of the trees – impressive though they were – and turned to look at the door behind him. His brother and sister were inside somewhere, keeping their distance. They'd been practically huddling in fear ever since his prey had escaped him in the woods. He was fine with them staying away from him, he even preferred it actually. They were annoying and he often wished he could just kill them and be done with it, but something always held him back. He wasn't sure why he simply didn't really want to kill them (those that he really wished to kill were generally dead within a few minutes), but he knew part of it was because it would cause a lot of trouble and make an already difficult life even tougher. Not that he didn't much care about that, his life was not about relaxation anyway, but it would still be more trouble than it was worth to kill them at this point. Someday… maybe… but not yet. Perhaps when he ran out of other people to kill, then it would be worth it.

For the moment, he had other things on his mind, anyway.

"A tanuki." That was what the blond boy had said when they'd fought in the forest. It was bad enough that he'd actually been able to not only escape, but allow those other insects to as well, but on top of that: he knew. Whoever he was, the blond knew exactly what Gaara was and what was within him. People had looked at Gaara's eyes before, they'd even used the work 'tanuki' to refer to the strange markings around his eyes, but something about the way the blond said it left Gaara with no doubt what he was referring to.

The question was: who was he?

A Leaf genin, perhaps? Technically, it could have been anyone since he had been a shadow clone the whole time. The originals could have been Leaf chuunin or jounin or even someone from a different village who just wanted to mess with Gaara's head. There as no way to be absolutely certain. Those other three Leaf genin had acted like they knew the blond and his friends, so – while there was no way to be sure – there was a good chance that the three really were from Konohagakure. Not that it really mattered, of course. Whoever the blond was, wherever he and his friends were from, Gaara was going to kill them. He was going to find all three of the ninja who had denied him his kills, and he was going to crush them with his sand, giving their blood to his mother.

The sand swirled around him expectantly, as if responding to his thoughts. He held out a hand and let the grains pass between his fingers like the loving caress of his mother. "Don't worry," he promised, "I'll feed you something good soon."

He turned his blue eyes back to the trees and grinned to himself. A blond haired boy with the strange marks on his cheeks, a dark haired boy in the blue shirt, and a pink haired girl. He wouldn't forget them until he'd used them to validate his existence. The last thing they were ever going to see was his sand swirling in front of their eyes as it constricted and crushed their soft, little bodies and then bathed in their beautiful, red blood.

ooo

Naruto ducked under the two twirling kamas and then tripped and rolled backwards as the sickle and chain of the kusari-gama lashed out at him. The scarecrow instantly shifted the weapon in his hands and swung the weight down at Naruto. The blond rolled to the side as the metal ball slammed into the ground where his head had been and then twisted to the left as a kunai from Orochimaru came so close to hitting him that it actually sliced through the thick, orange material of his jacket. The clone with the kamas was next up for a miss, the two blades passing within centimeters of his neck as he threw himself to the ground and then rolled back to his feet and began moving progressively backwards again.

He was still spending most of his time backing away from his three enemies, dodging kunai from Orochimaru, the attacks of the kusari-gama from the remaining henchman, and the kamas from his own clone. He knew he had to take out the last of Orochimaru's followers soon or the Sannin would get bored with the fight and start using his more advanced ninjutsu. Up until this point, Orochimaru had been holding back so much it was almost painful to watch, but if things got to the point where he became serious, Naruto would be forced to give up the element of surprise when he evaded (if he could) whatever attack was thrown at him.

If he lost that, his chances of surviving – let alone winning – would go down dramatically.

His eyes met those of his clone and he reached up and rubbed his right cheek, the signal that it was time to move in on the other henchman. The clone offered up a lazy swing of the kamas, which Naruto sidestepped with ease, grabbing the clone by his arm and swinging him into the scarecrow as gently as possible without losing the illusion of it being a real attack. The clone knew it was coming and was able to keep from being struck too hard as he and the other man went down in a tangle of limbs.

Orochimaru turned to look at his two followers as they tried to get up only to appear to accidentally keep getting in each other's way as they did.

A very light punch to the chest brought the Sannin's attention back to the Naruto as the blond jumped back, tripped over an exposed root and landed on his butt for what felt like the fiftieth time since starting the fight. He stared wide eyed up at Orochimaru as the faux genin advanced on him with a predatory look in his eyes.

Behind them, two genin dropped down from the branches above, taking the scarecrow out with silent, ruthless efficiency. Once more, one clone took the dead man's appearance and weapon and reentered the fight while the other carried away the body.

Naruto tried not to smile as he clumsily dodged the blade of the kusari-gama. This was it. History was going to change, right now.

He pushed off the ground, performing a slow flip backwards to give himself some space from his enemy. "I'm going to show you what a Leaf shinobi can really do," he promised in the sort of boastful voice that only a child who has no idea how weak he really is could use.

"That's good, because I'm tired of playing with you," Orochimaru replied with a smile as he brought his fingers together and began forming seals.

Naruto charged forward with what seemed like reckless abandon. A few more seconds of playing dumb, then a few more of playing not quite as dumb, and then an instant of suddenly being way more than any genin should and it would all be over.

Orochimaru finished the seals and slammed his hands into the ground.

Suddenly something slithered up Naruto's legs, nearly tripping him. He didn't even bother looking down as he slashed at whatever it was before it had a chance to bite him and then threw his kunai at the Sannin.

Orochimaru had to twist to the side to avoid being hit by the blade and actually glanced over his shoulder as he noted the new level of accuracy Naruto had instantly gained before turning back to the blond genin. There was a look of mild surprised on his face as Naruto bore down upon him, having barely broken stride while dealing with the attack. Orochimaru lifted his hands and slammed them back against the ground with more force. This time Naruto was forced to stop as something snaked its way nearly up to his waist, but it no longer mattered, he'd closed the distance enough for his purposes.

As his tangled feet stumbled and he started to fall he slashed down once more and called out just loud enough to be heard by Orochimaru, "Doton: Shinjuu Zanshu no Jutsu!"

He hit the soft ground and sank through it, leaving the remains of whatever had been wrapped around him above ground.

Orochimaru smiled and waited patiently until he felt the ground beneath him tremble. He leapt easily away as Naruto's hand shot out of the dirt and grass, searching for his ankle. "That sort of technique won't get you very far against me," he called out.

Naruto popped out of the ground holding a good sized rock which he launched at Orochimaru's head. The snake easily sidestepped it, but then cried out in pain as one of the kamas struck him in the side. He looked truly alarmed for one beautiful instant and then had to leap to the side to avoid being killed by the blade of the kusari-gama. He landed awkwardly, clutching his bleeding flank and flicked his hands forward, sending a shower of kuani at the two clones. The scarecrow as far enough away to avoid them, but the sunburned one had been running forward and was cut down instantly.

Orochimaru saw what he'd thought was an ally disappear in a cloud of smoke and his eyes widened as he turned to look at Naruto.

"You're looking the wrong way," Naruto whispered to himself.

The rock that Naruto had thrown when he'd emerged from the ground transformed into another clone. Chakra swirled in his hand, forming a ball of blue energy nearly the size of his head. Orochimaru didn't even see it coming.

The clone slammed the Rasengan into the Sannin's back, sending him flying towards the real Naruto. Naruto's open palm shot up, catching the villain under the chin and lifting him high into the air. Orochimaru's strange, snake-like neck was wiggling like a wet ramen noodle as he flew up to where two more clones were already leaping from their perches in the trees to meet him.

The remaining disguised clone ran to Naruto as the original began to form what looked like another Rasengan. The clone held his hands over the ball as it took shape and began adjusting its nature. Naruto's little body probably couldn't make many of these, but it would only take one.

The two clones in the air hit Orochimaru from either side. One landed a kick to the head as the other's foot caught him in the chest. The two disappeared instantly as two more jumped from the trees. They grabbed hands in midair and spun in a little circle so that when they released each other one of them was sent hurtling towards Orochimaru like a comet. The clone reared back and drove his fist into the Sannin's face, sending him plummeting back to earth.

Orochimaru hit the ground head first and was planted up to his shoulders.

Wind wiped around Naruto as the blue Rasengan become more silvery in color and the four large points that one of his ultimate jutsu derived its name from took shape. He lifted the Rasenshuriken above his head and prepared to deal the final blow. For years he'd wanted to use this technique on Orochimaru, but this was his first and best chance.

"Get up," he growled. "Get up and see what you've got coming. I want to see your face when I hit you with this."

Orochimaru did not move. A small, dark pool was beginning to form around him.

"I said get up," Naruto said again.

Finally the Sanin moved. His body slowly fell back until it was resting on the ground as the dirt around his head gave way slightly… and then he was still once more.

"Get up!" Naruto yelled, as he took a step forward. "Stop playing around, we both know that wasn't nearly enough to kill you."

The only movement this time was the rustling of the Sannin's clothes as the wind from the Rasenshuriken pushed them about.

Naruto took a hesitant step forward, still on guard, but suddenly beginning to feel a little confused. He looked closely at the body. With the exception of the movement of his clothing, Orochimaru was perfectly still.

The blond nodded to one of his clones who walked over and pulled the Sannin's head out of the dirt. Naruto half-expected the snake to have his head and neck already burrowing through the earth trying to escape. Orochimaru's neck sagged bonelessly as his head came free. He wasn't burrowing, he wasn't moving, and his open eyes weren't blinking away the dirt that was clumped to them. The clone looked at Naruto and shook his head as he let the body fall back to the ground.

The Rasenshuriken vanished in Naruto's hand as his arm slowly came down. He approached the body cautiously, still expecting a trap. Half a dozen steps later, Orochimaru was still just lying there. Five more and Naruto was standing over him, waiting for the Sannin to move and attack or summon a snake or do… something, anything.

But he didn't move a muscle and Naruto still couldn't see any movement that would indicate breathing.

He nudged the body with his toe and then leapt back.

The only sign of movement was the scroll that fell out of the body's kimono.

Naruto took a deep breath, approached again, picked up the scroll and pocketed it, and then knelt next to the body as his fingers felt for a pulse.

There was none.

A sick feeling of dread washed over him as he knelt and rolled the body over. It looked even more dead close up than it had from a few meters away. Could it be a substitution jutsu, perhaps, or some other trick? That made more sense than the other possibilities running through his mind at the moment. He grabbed at the skin on the body's face and gave it a quick, firm tug.

It didn't come off the way he'd expected it to.

Naruto dropped the body and backed away slowly, his mind reeling. It couldn't be! It didn't make any sense! This man was Orochimaru or, at least, he was supposed to be Orochimaru. How could it have changed? Orochimaru had grabbed this body back just before the Exam had started, when the Grass-nin and his teammates were traveling to Konoha. Even with the changes in the timeline; that should have stayed the same. Nothing Naruto had done could possibly have affected it. None of the minor – or even major – changes he'd made should have had an affect on something that took place so far away with people he had no contact with. There was no reason for it to be any different.

But it was. It was very different.

His back hit a small tree and he slid down it until he was sitting. Somehow, somewhere, he'd changed something and the key component of his knowledge of the future had been rendered useless. The one thing he'd put all of his faith in, upon which he'd rested all of his hopes, was gone. He no longer had any idea where Orochimaru was or what he looked like…

…and he'd taken his eyes off of Sasuke.

ooo

"Naruto's been gone too long," Sakura said as she gave Sasuke a worried glance. "I don't care how much he ate, there's no way he would be gone this long."

Sasuke's dark eyes shifted to the spot where Naruto had disappeared into the woods when he'd suddenly announced that he had to go to the bathroom. "Yeah."

"Should we go look for him?"

Sasuke frowned. If they left to search for Naruto (who might be anywhere) and missed him, he might come back and go searching for wherever they had gone. They might end up circling each other for hours before finally meeting up again. What was worse, during that time there was no telling who or what they might run into while their team's strength was divided. At the same time, if they didn't go, and Naruto was actually in trouble, he might be really hurt or even killed before it became truly apparent that he wasn't coming back.

There were dangers in either decision, but one of them involved sitting around and hoping his friend was okay, the other allowed him to make sure.

"Let's go. As long as he went straight we should be able to find him. He's loud enough that we'll at least hear him from a ways off anyway."

Sakura picked up her backpack as well as the one Naruto had left behind, and then helped a grumbling Sasuke get his over his injured shoulder. "Thank you," she whispered as they prepared to set off.

"He's my friend too," Sasuke replied. "Plus, I don't think I could put up with his whining if he got hurt and we didn't check up on him."

"Knowing him, he probably just…" Sakura's voice trailed off as the sound of something large moving through the brush behind them reached their ears. "Naruto, you dummy," she called out, "Why are you sneaking around in the bushes?"

Three shapes emerged from the bush and Sasuke grabbed Sakura and pulled her behind him with his one good arm.

The three people in front of them were definitely not Naruto.

o

o

A/N: You have my most humble apologies for doing this to you… though I must confess that those apologies are simply to be polite, because I don't feel the least bit bad about the cliffhanger. It was just too perfect a place to leave it.

So, how was that for a little change? Some of you have made comments over the last couple of chapters that came really close to calling this one (a couple even hit it dead center, though I don't know how serious they were). I was kind of annoyed to have my surprise spotted before I could spring it on you, but hopefully more were totally caught off guard. It was pretty hard writing a fight in a way that didn't give away a character's identity (especially when they are far weaker than the person they are presumed to be), but hopefully you made it close to the end before the truth hit you.

Deep authoritative voice: "And now, I command you all to review!" I'd really like to hear what everyone thought of it because I've been waiting (impatiently) to post this fight and this chapter and this (hopefully) surprise since about chapter 5. This story is on alert for about 800 people, if something like this doesn't get close to half of you reviewing… I don't know what will. By the way, this isn't one of those "if I don't get X number of reviews, I won't update" deals. I can guarantee you that I will never do that, I just like hearing from everyone. Anyway, please review.

Meisaigakure no Jutsu – "Hiding Camouflage Technique" This is the technique used by the Rock-nin in the Kakashi Gaiden that turns him invisible. Other's – such as Kabuto – have also been seen using it or something exactly like it at different points in the story.

Kusari-gama – A combination of a sickle and a long chain with a weight attached to the end of it.

Kama – Basically just a sickle weapon. Usually used in pairs. Looks almost identical to the sharp end of the Kusari-gama