Naruto: Uchiha no Densetsu

Chapter 25: New Revelations

The Rookie genin squads and the other genin squads from Konoha had arrived at the entrance of training ground 44 after about fifteen minutes of walk from the Konoha academy. Even the genins from Kumogakure, Sunagakure, Otogakure and the two remaining genins squads from Amegakure had arrived and were waiting for the proctor to give further instructions for the second part.

"What do you think the second part will be like? Ibiki-san sure made the written exam seem very stressful…" Sakura stated.

"Beats me. I assume it will be more practical and definitely harder than the first exam." Shikamaru replied with a yawn. He had pretty much slept through the written part and it was only in the last ten minutes or so that he answered the questions that he knew of. However, he knew he was a tad bit lucky to have gotten through the first part. Even Shino and Sasuke nodded, agreeing with the Nara.

"That forest just seems a little too scary for my taste. I just hope the second part gets over soon too." Choji stated. He had already finished through all the food he had and was starting to get hungry again. Ino got a little ticked off at Choji's constant hunger and just turned to move beside Sasuke, much to his displeasure. While most of the genins talked among themselves, there was one Amegakure genin who quietly stood at the back and kept her eyes focused on the Uchiha. Hinata looked around herself, seeing which all teams actually remained and when her gaze fell upon that Amegakure genin at the back, a cold shiver ran up her spine on seeing the look at that shinobi's eye.

Unbeknownst to the genins, Anko was sitting atop a tall tree by the entrance of the training ground 44. She gazed over at the genins and chuckled at how calm most of them appeared. All of that would soon change in a matter of few minutes. 'Oh, I can't wait to have fun with these little ones…' she thought with a sadistic laugh. She promptly jumped off the tree and landed in front of the group of genins as she made her presence known to them.

"Welcome to my home! Training ground 44, also known as the Forest of Death!" Anko stated out loud, a little too cheerfully. Most of the teams immediately fell quiet on hearing the name. "For the second part of the chunin exams, each team will be given a heaven, or an earth scroll. Once all the teams enter the forest, you'll have five days to collect the other scroll and report to the building on the far north of the forest. Although, it is frowned upon, killing an opponent during the exam is allowed. Also, if you open the scroll before reporting to the building, you will be disqualified." Anko gave a brief detail.

As she expected, most of the participants now seemed to be a little afraid at the prospect of spending five days within that forest. Sensing the fear from so many genins, honestly filled her with glee. She was truly going to have a spectacular time seeing all these genins struggle.

"Oh, man. What if we end up dying accidentally. And considering Raikage-sama's temper, he wages war on Konoha? And then because two of the great five villages start a war, it could possibly spark the fourth great shinobi war." Murmured a dark-skinned Kumo ninja with white hair. His mind kept popping up these impossible scenarios that kept making him tense up with every passing second.

"Oh, shut up Omoi. It's your habit to overthink stuff. Do you have that little faith in your abilities. And these Konoha genins don't look that strong anyway." A dark skinned kunoichi with long spiky red hair berated her teammate. "I seriously mean it, Karui. Think about it…" Omoi replied as he slightly shifted in his spot. He couldn't help but think about all these scenarios. Their third teammate, Samui sighed at Karui and Omoi's constant bickering. The two were always arguing with each other and never gave it a moment's rest. Unlike her teammates, she was an extremely reserved person and only spoke when it was necessary. She also doubted if the other genins were as weak as Karui thought them to be. The Uchiha and the Hyuga clan were known through out the shinobi world and could not be underestimated at all. Moreover, the red-haired shinobi from Sunagakure and the Ame kunoichi made her feel uneasy. Though it wasn't much, she could feel the blood lust radiating from the red-haired Suna shinobi.

"But, what will we do about food and water?" Choji suddenly asked with shock written on his face. He had never gone so long without eating anything.

"Oh, don't worry about that. There are a lot of wild animals inside the forest. You could just kill and eat them if you so desire." Anko replied with a smirk. Even the group from Kumogakure were a little uncomfortable on seeing the sick smile on Anko's face. As she looked around once more, her eyes fell on the Uchiha who had a confident look on his face and she was even surprised not to feel any sort of fear from the genin. Swiftly taking out a kunai, she expertly threw it towards him. Sasuke merely side stepped the thrown kunai but was surprised when Anko was suddenly standing behind him.

"You seem to be awfully confident… Doesn't the forest scare you?" Anko whispered into his ears as she snaked her arms over his shoulders. However, Sasuke remained indifferent to her actions and sported a blank face now.

"I have been through much worse to let something like death scare me…" Sasuke replied to her flatly. Anko merely smirked at the response. She suddenly turned around when she felt someone tap her on the shoulders. She noticed that it was an Amegakure kunoichi with waist long black hair who was holding a kunai in her hand.

"You dropped this proctor-san…" the kunoichi stated with a smile that looked to be disturbing to many around. 'I must be getting rusty, if a genin got a drop on me like that…' Anko thought dumbly as she simply took her kunai and moved back to the front of the group.

"Something doesn't feel right about that kunoichi…" Hinata whispered to Sasuke and Sakura. The two of them also nodded slightly. "You're right. She feels strange…" Sakura replied, wary of the Ame kunoichi. Before Anko could proceed further with anything, she was surprised when Naruto and Kakashi suddenly appeared beside her, followed by Asuma, Kurenai and Gai.

"Oye! What are you doing here?" Anko questioned looking towards the Namikaze. Even the Kumo and Oto genins were surprised on seeing the famous Shiroi Shinigami they had heard so much about. Naruto completely ignored Anko and looked over the group of genins with narrowed eyes. He was certain one of them was Orochimaru as he had sensed his chakra just outside the Forest of Death. Anko's eyebrow twitched in annoyance at not getting a reply. Even Asuma, Gai and Kurenai were confused at this point. Anko moved towards Naruto to question him about appearing in the middle of her exam, when Kakashi suddenly moved in front of her to block her path.

"Anko, let it be. This won't take long." Kakashi stated with complete seriousness. She was slightly taken aback by the look on Kakashi's face and decided to wait for a few minutes. She had known the white-haired jounin since childhood and there were very few times when he was this serious. Naruto narrowed his eyes dangerously when his gaze fell upon the Amegakure kunoichi who was standing at the back. The said kunoichi also stared at Naruto without as much an emotion on her face. And Naruto knew he had found his prey. However, he was surprised to sense that Orochimaru's chakra felt slightly different than what he remembered. It felt much stronger and potent to be precise. He thought for a second about what to do about him. He could just kill him but then he wouldn't know the reason as to why Orochimaru came to Konoha and most importantly how the sannin even managed to remove his chakra rods. It shouldn't have been possible for Orochimaru to remove it himself or make someone else do it.

"Kakashi-sensei, let's go. There's no need to worry." Naruto stated calmly as he immediately turned around. With one look at the blonde's face, Kakashi understood the underlying meaning. Kakashi glanced towards his fellow jounin sensei, and the two immediately shunshined out of the area. The other three Konoha jounins sensei quickly wished their respective team good luck before they too took their leave. Whatever the case was, they knew Naruto must have sensed something.

'Huh, I wonder why Naruto-kun showed up like that…' thought Hinata. She too had noticed the look on the blonde's face and was certain there was something wrong. Her team would need to be careful the next few days.

'I'll need to be cautious. For sure, he knows about me. Well, it's not like I wasn't expecting him not to find out. Still, all I need is a few seconds with young Sasuke-kun…' thought Orochimaru who was disguised as the Ame kunoichi. Shortly after that, Anko made all the genins sign a form stating that if they were to die in the middle of this exam, Konohagakure would not be held responsible for their death. Each of the team was then handed a single heaven or earth scroll to carry with themselves and then asked to wait in front of their assigned gates.

"Do you have any plan as to how we should proceed?" Hinata questioned. Team seven was given a heaven scroll and it was Hinata who had it with her.

"We have a maximum of five days to get an earth scroll from another team. I suggest we look for a team as soon as we enter and apprehend them." Sasuke said. "But, there's also a good chance that the team we encounter may not have the scroll we are looking for…" Sakura replied.

"Remember what the proctor said? Half of us will be eliminated by the end of this exam anyway. And any team that does not have both the scrolls will not qualify. So, it doesn't matter if we have more heaven or earth scrolls. We just need one of each at the least." Sasuke stated logically. Hinata pondered over the matter again. Sasuke had some valid points and if their team did follow his plan, they could easily weed out the competition for the third part of the chunin exams. But, if they got into a lot of fights, all of them might become too tired for the next part if it's held right after.

"How about we scout the other teams for the first day and find out which team has an earth scroll? That way we only need to fight one team and once we get the earth scroll, we can head for the building immediately." Hinata suggested an alternative. Everyone suddenly stopped talking as the alarm rang loudly and the gate in front of them opened up.

"Guess, we are going with your idea, Hinata." Sakura said with slightl nervous. Sasuke also ended up agreeing as the idea did seem to have benefits. They would need to conserve their strength as much as they can. Few seconds later, team seven rushed inside the forests and so did the other teams who were waiting by the other gates.

With Naruto, Kakashi and other jounins

"So, what did you manage to find?" Asuma asked straight forward. If there were a matter bothering Naruto, it must be something serious.

"I believe, Orochimaru has infiltrated the village and is disguising himself as one of the genins… to be more precise an Amegakure kunoichi." Naruto revealed. As soon as Naruto said those words, the other jounins became highly cautious on hearing that news.

"Are you sure, Naruto-kun?" Gai posed the question. And for once, the people were surprised on hearing the seriousness behind his voice.

"I'm positive. I would never forget his chakra signature. But what concerns me is how he managed to sneak inside the village despite the security that we have in place. I only sensed his chakra a while back, meaning it hasn't even been half an hour since he came into the village." Naruto said. Kakashi got into a thinking pose as his mind raced through the different possibilities. It was only known to a handful of people in the village that Orochimaru worked with Danzo in the past. However, it has been four years since the elder had defected the village and they had no new information about him. So, he couldn't even positively say that Danzo is involved right now. But he also couldn't rule out the possibility. Glancing towards the blonde, Kakashi was sure there was another matter which was bugging Naruto.

"That is troubling indeed. Orochimaru is not someone who can be taken lightly. But I still wonder why he even came to the village. I can't think of anything that may interest him." Asuma thought out loud. The fact that Kakashi and Naruto had fought against Orochimaru in Takigakure was still unknown to the jounins and only Minato, Jiraiya and Shikaku knew of this in the village. While Kakashi had a small inkling as to what Orochimaru could be after, he wasn't entirely sure about it. Just after the Third Shinobi war had ended, Kakashi and his Anbu squad had once apprehended Orochimaru outside one of his laboratories. He had barely managed to escape at that point, but his team was successful in retrieving some of the documents in the lab. Orochimaru's obsession with the Shodaime Hokage's cell and the sharingan was quite sickening.

"Asuma, Gai, Kurenai, how about you guys check with the squads stationed near the gate and then meet with us at the jounin's lounge. Naruto and I will go speak with Hokage-sama in the meantime. It's a matter of village security if Orochimaru has managed to sneak in without anyone else knowing." Kakashi said.

"What about our teams? I don't think any one of them can take on a Sannin…" Kurenai voiced her concern. She was extremely worried about her team at this point. They were good, but certainly none of them were strong enough to even fight a jounin head on, much less a sannin for that matter. Naruto glanced towards the black-haired kunoichi and knew she had a point.

"I'll go into the forest and look out for Orochimaru, myself. I'll deal with him if the need arises. Kakashi-sensei, you and Gai should go to tou-san and inform him about this immediately." Naruto suggested as he turned towards his sensei. Asuma, Kurenai and Kakashi agreed to that readily. They were sure nothing would happen to their team, if Naruto was the one watching over them. Soon enough, Asuma and Kurenai scattered to check with the jounins at each gate. Even Naruto was about to leave when he suddenly heard Gai's voice.

"Naruto-kun, I'm not doubting your abilities in any way. But I have heard about your tendencies to go overboard when fighting the enemy. I just need you to realize that my students are not expendable and should not be harmed in any way. It won't be very youthful otherwise…" Gai stated firmly, surprising Naruto and even Kakashi greatly. Naruto was slightly taken aback by that unsaid threat. But he could understand where Gai was coming from. Majority of the people considered Guy to be a fool because of his immature attitude. But, behind that mask of foolishness was a deadly shinobi whom even Naruto respected and admired- someone who had pushed through all the obstacles life had thrown at him and come out on top whilst still remaining lively on the outside. Not many shinobi could still claim to remain sane after being in world war.

"You have my word, Guy. So long as I breath, none of your genins will even be scratched by Orochimaru." Naruto replied sincerely. The blonde was surprised when the very next second, Guy's posture flipped completely.

"Yosh, Naruto-kun! Now, let's leave and let the flames of our youth spread like an untamed wildfire!" Guy yelled enthusiastically and gave a wide toothy smile along with a thumbs up. Naruto and Kakashi laughed awkwardly and shook their head at the sight of Guy. Of course, the green-clad jounin had to say something like that. Soon enough, the three of them disappeared; while Naruto moved into the Forest of Death, Kakashi and Guy walked towards the Hokage's Building.

Next day afternoon, Forest of Death

Sasuke, Hinata and Sakura were currently resting under a tall tree exhausted from all the running the previous day. Their first day in the Forest of Death wasn't minutely what they had expected it to be. The forest was filled with numerous large wild animals- snakes, bears and even insects for that matter. A good part of the evening was spent by them in fighting the large bears and snakes that roamed in the area, for food. Since none of them had any sleeping bags on them, they had to construct make-shift sleeping mats with the large tree branches and leaves they had collected at night. The most essential was the food. Since Sasuke and Hinata hadn't a clue as to what plant was poisonous or not, Sakura was the one who had gathered several herbs and apples that grew in the area. The three had eventually agreed upon that if the third part of the chunin exams might end up being held immediately at the end of the fifth day, they would need to conserve as much chakra and stamina as they could. Team seven had set a small camp beside the river that flew through the forest of death.

While Hinata had spent the first day helping Sakura with collecting firewood, food and water, Sasuke had spent the day setting up various traps around their base along with scouting the surrounding area within a two-mile radius. During that time, Sasuke had come across team ten from Konoha, the genins from Amegakure and Kabuto's squad. He had managed to keep his presence discreet but was unable to find which of those teams had an earth scroll.

"We should move out now." Hinata stated, getting up from the ground. All of them were rested and ready to fight.

"We should head north west from here. I noticed the building where we are supposed to report in that direction. If we travel towards there, we are bound to come across a team which has an earth scroll." Sasuke said as he too packed up all of his belongings. "Sakura, you should stay at the back. You are the medic in our team. Only fight when it's completely necessary, okay?" Sasuke added. The pink haired girl quietly nodded. She knew Sasuke and Hinata were much stronger than her and she may only end up adding more trouble. But she wasn't going to complain about anything. Although it did hurt her a little that Sasuke did not think too high of her skills as a shinobi.

"I'll be in the front and look out with my byakugan." Hinata chipped in. A few minutes later, the three of them promptly left the area and began moving north-west.

About half an hour had passed since team seven had been on the move when they heard a horrific scream echo throughout the forest. They suddenly stopped on their tracks and looked around themselves in slight alarm.

"It sounded like it came from the west. Do you want to go check?" Sakura asked meekly. Hinata once again looked around themselves with her byakugan. "I don't see anyone around us. Plus, I don't think it would be wise. Before the chunin exams, Naruto-kun and I had come across the genins from Sunagakure and the red-haired one seemed highly unstable for some reason. We should try to avoid that team for the time being." Hinata suggested. The three once again went on the move and it wasn't until an hour later that they were stopped by a team from Amegakure. The three narrowed their eyes when they saw the sickly looking kunoichi from earlier among them.

"Oh, if it isn't the Uchiha and the Hyuga…" stated a genin with a smirk as he stepped forward. "Hand us your scroll right now." He said firmly.

"You could try, but I don't think you'll succeed." Sasuke replied and rushed towards the genin at high speed. Hinata too rushed behind Sasuke to aid him in the fight. Instead of following her teammates, Sakura ran to the top of the nearby tree that hid her vision from the ground. Making a single bunshin, Sakura's clone jumped from the tree to appear beside Hinata.

"What a bunch of idiots…" the Ame genin commented under his breath. Once the three Konoha genins reached within a feet of him, the Ame genin suddenly took out a smoke bomb and threw it on the ground. As the area got shrouded in smoke, Sasuke immediately stopped his movements and activated his sharingan. Since Hinata was able to see through the smoke clearly due to her byakugan, she stood right behind Sasuke to cover his back while Sakura's clone stood at the far end inside the smoke screen. The main purpose of the bunshin was to make the Amegakure genins believe that they had trapped the three of them effectively inside the smoke screen.

"Sasuke from your right." Hinata warned. Sasuke immediately side stepped the kunai and threw several shurikens coated with raiton chakra in the general direction from where the kunais were thrown from. He smirked when he heard the clattering sound of the shurikens being deflected. Sasuke glanced towards Hinata and she nodded. Placing her palms on the ground, Hinata expelled several lightning bolts through the ground, which travelled to their right in a matter of a second. However, both frowned when they did not hear any sound in return. This time, Hinata had to jump high up to avoid being hit from several kunais and Sasuke quickly deflected all of them as she landed beside him. Sakura's clone was dispelled the next second as she was hit by one of the shurikens thrown.

"She should be done soon." Hinata whispered. Sasuke nodded, as he understood what Sakura was up to.

While Sasuke and Hinata were still inside the smokescreen, Sakura had expertly hidden herself on a tall tree and had a better view of the surrounding below. She noticed while two of the genins were throwing kunais and shurikens into the smokescreen, the kunoichi was calmly waiting at the side. For an unknown reason, every cell in her body screamed at her to not engage that kunoichi. She quickly made a few hand seals and casted a genjutsu on the area. Since both her teammates had doujutsu, they would be fine.

"Magen: Kokoni Arazu no Jutsu" Sakura muttered under her breath. Soon enough, as the genjutsu took effect on the area surrounding the Amegakure genins, the two who were throwing weapons into the smokescreen suddenly saw the bodies of her, Sasuke and Hinata lying on the ground with kunais lodged into them. Sakura smirked when the two genins eased up and laughed on seeing the result. The pink haired girl quietly crept down the tree and threw a stone inside the smoke screen which was now beginning to fade lightly. Sasuke and Hinata who were unaffected by the genjutsu heard a stone fall beside them. As soon as they got the signal, Hinata quickly pinpointed the location of the two genins who were standing on two opposite directions of them. Conveying the message to Sasuke, the two of them launched themselves on the unsuspecting Amegakure genins disabled them with a quick jab to their jugular. By now, the smoke screen had mostly faded away. However, both Sasuke and Hinata frowned on finding out that none of them had the scroll.

"Sasuke-kun, Hinata, the third member is still standing at the side. I don't why, but she did not seem interested in helping out her teammates." Sakura told as she rejoined with her team. The two Amegakure genins had their hands and legs tied up to disable them from making any hand seals or allow any movement. Believing that the Ame kunoichi was also under the effect of Sakura's genjutsu, the three of them moved towards her quietly. However, they stopped in their track when the kunoichi suddenly turned towards them with a dark smile on her face.

"Ohh… how wonderful to see you three working together in such synchronization. Truly amazing." Commented the kunoichi. "Looking for this area, are you?" she said with a laugh as she took out the earth scroll from her pouch and hung it in front of her face.

"It's three against one. Give us the scroll and we'll not harm you." Sasuke stated out loud. He gripped his katana tightly as the Ame kunoichi got into a thinking pose. Even Hinata and Sakura were on high alert. Judging by the calm look on the kunoichi's face, they knew she must have a trick up her sleeve. The Ame kunoichi quickly took out two kunais and threw it towards her teammates who were tied up, and instantly killed them without so much as a look.

"What are you doing? They were your teammates!" Sakura yelled, appalled by what the kunoichi had done.

"Oh, first let me test you out those eyes of yours…" she stated as the three Konoha genins viewed her perplexedly. The Ame kunoichi suddenly released a large amount of chakra and killing intent that weighed heavily upon the genins of team seven. Sasuke, Hinata and Sakura merely stood rooted in their place unable to move even a single muscle. The sheer pressure of the chakra and the killing intent they were feeling from the kunoichi before them was unreal. The killing intent they sensed from Zabuza seemed like a child compared to what they were feeling now. The three began to sweat heavily upon sensing their demise right before their eyes.

"If you can't even overcome this… I expected much more you, young Sasuke-kun." The kunoichi stated with a shake of her head.

'What is this? This is no normal genin…' the three of them thought simultaneously. Their eyes widened when the kunoichi started walking towards them. They cursed as how much ever they tried to move, they simply were not able to. Tears fell from Sakura's eyes as she believed this was the end for her. Hinata tried to keep herself calm and began racking her brain to deviate her fear and suddenly held her kunai close to her thigh. Sasuke too reciprocated Hinata's actions and the two genins stabbed themselves in the leg to get out of the trance.

"Oh? Maybe you two do have some fight…" the approaching kunoichi stated with interest. Hinata quickly shook Sakura's shoulders and brought her out of her daze. The three of them then quickly jumped back to gain some distance.

"Wh… who are you?" Hinata questioned fearfully as she held her kunai tightly. The Ame kunoichi smirked at the girl's bravery. However, she simply ignored her and turned her gaze towards Sasuke who was still trying to calm himself.

"Don't you want to know the truth about the Uchiha Clan's massacre? The truth that the Hokage and even your dear mother and brother have been hiding from you?" the kunoichi asked with an evil glint in her eyes. Sasuke suddenly grew out of his shock and looked at the kunoichi in confusion and anger. With every passing second, his eyes widened in fear. He didn't know who the kunoichi was or what the person was talking about, but he found himself interested to know what she was talking about. However, before anyone else could say anything further, another presence suddenly landed between team seven and the Ame kunoichi.

"How nice of you to join us, Naruto-kun…" stated the Ame kunoichi gleefully.

"All of you, get out of here as soon as possible. This is not someone you can hope to defeat right now." Naruto announced calmly. Much to his surprise, Orochimaru had managed to hide his chakra signature completely. But he had managed to find him yesterday after a few hours of searching and had been following the sannin ever since. He had waited up till now to make his presence known so he could find out a little about Orochimaru's goals in Konoha.

"No! I want to listen to what she has to say!" Sasuke yelled back stubbornly. He didn't want to believe that the Hokage and his mother were hiding something from him, but he couldn't help but want to listen to the entire story. "This isn't the time Sasuke… As a jounin, I'm ordering you to leave." Naruto firmly said as he slightly turned around and glanced at his brethren with his lone rinnegan. Even Hinata and Sakura were surprised on seeing the look in Naruto's eyes.

"Sasuke-kun, lets get out of here. Naruto is right." Sakura urged. Even though she was surprised by the Ame kunoichi's words, she understood that this wasn't the situation for them stay over here. Even Hinata hesitantly stepped forward but stopped on realizing the situation they were in. After a few minutes of persuasion, Sasuke finally agreed to leave begrudgingly. As team seven turned around and were leaving the area, all of them clearly heard the name of the shinobi that had apprehended them and were thoroughly surprised on knowing the identity. Sasuke glanced back for a second but kept on running away from the area. Unknown to Naruto, a small white snake slithered down the Ame kunoichi's long pants and went into the ground to follow the genins of team seven.

"You made a big mistake coming back to the village, Orochimaru…" Naruto said with a sigh. "I don't know what interest you have in Sasuke or what you had planned but I assure you, I will kill you today." Naruto stated dangerously. The Ame kunoichi in front of Naruto slowly changed her appearance as Orochimaru eventually revealed his true face.

"You sure do like to repeat yourself a lot, Naruto-kun…" chuckled Orochimaru as he readied himself. After his last fight with the blonde, Orochimaru was rendered immobile for several weeks in excruciating pain and begrudgingly had to request one of his former acquaintance for help. Although, the business had costed him greatly, he was able to acquire four new bodies for himself that were made entirely of Hashirama Senju's cells. After months of experimentation on the so called 'white Zetsu', he had managed to create a perfect body for himself. Now, all he needed was the sharingan to get him one step closer to his goal.

Making the first move, Naruto unsheathed his chokuto and lunged towards Orochimaru in a blink of an eye. Quickly turning behind, Orochimaru parried Naruto's chokuto and aimed a knee to the blonde's stomach. Flipping on top of the Sannin and appearing behind, Naruto gave a roundhouse kick to Orochimaru's head. A sickening sound echoed through the area as Naruto's foot contacted the Sannin's face and he was flung to the side like a rag doll. Naruto patiently waited in his spot as he saw the Sannin get up on one knee. He was disgusted at the sight of Orochimaru just pushing his distorted neck back in it's place.

"That kind hurt..." Orochimaru replied as he finally got up. Making a few hand seals, Orochimaru gathered a large amount of chakra.

"Fuuton: Kaze Kujo Hebi" Holding the snake hand seal, the sannin took a second to build up the futon chakra around himself. Once finished, he released the snake seal as the fuuton chakra gathered around him to take the form of a large serpent about fifteen meters long. Guiding his hand towards Naruto, the large serpent swiftly travelled towards the blonde, who stood in his place with a bored look. Naruto simply raised his left arm and absorbed the jutsu as it came close to him. Orochimaru quirked his eyebrow in interest. He had never seen someone to be capable of absorbing chakra so efficiently. Before the sannin could voice his question, Naruto opened his mouth to speak.

"So, tell me… how did you manage to remove the chakra rods? No normal shinobi can touch it." Naruto questioned as he sheathed his chokuto back and folded his arms over the chest.

"Well, well… well… I assumed you must have figured it out by now, Naruto-kun. After all, nothing should escape those eyes of yours." Orochimaru replied with a smirk. Naruto narrowed his eyes at Orochimaru's wordplay which made the sannin further smirk. "You aren't the only one gifted with those eyes… Naruto-kun." The Sannin added and his smirk increased even more on noticing the look of disbelief appear on the blonde's face. He had never seen the rinnegan's full capabilities or could even begin to comprehend it. Like the others, he was familiar with the tale of Rikudo Sennin and how he created the shinobi world with his godlike powers. So, it intrigued him greatly as how two shinobi had the rinnegan in the same era. He could barely stop himself from drooling in his mind at the prospect of uncovering the secrets behind such a doujutsu.

"What… did you… say?" Naruto asked as a morbid feeling developed within him. To learn that there was another rinnegan user in the shinobi world… it had to be impossible. 'This is not the time to be dwelling on that, Naruto. Kill that snake before he escapes.' Kurama urged from within Naruto's mind. He had speculated this scenario earlier but dreaded about the possibility of it being true. Before Orochimaru could capitalize on Naruto's momentary lapse of focus, the blonde suddenly appeared behind the snake sannin and cut off both his arms effectively. By the time Orochimaru realized what had happened, Naruto even cut off his legs as the sannin's body fell on the ground with a thud.

"W…wh…what?" Orochimaru could only whisper for a second which was then followed by a painful scream. He looked around as he saw his arms and legs just lying on either side of him. He once again screamed in agony as he felt the blonde plant his foot on his chest and look down upon him, as if he was a mere insect.

"You gravely miscalculated my power, Orochimaru…" Naruto sneered as his rinnegan bore into the Sannin's twisted soul. "You maybe the greatest scientist the shinobi world has seen, and you may even be a kage level shinobi… but all of that is meaningless before my power. So, how about I make you a deal?" Naruto stated as he pressed his foot down further. A silent scream escaped the Sannin's lips as he cursed the damn blonde. Even after all the modifications he performed on his body along with adding Hashirama's cells, he hated realizing that Naruto was simply toying with him.

"You piqued my interest when you told me about this unknown rinnegan user. So, why don't you inform this person that I wish to meet him…" Naruto said. Raising a single finger, Naruto formed a ball of fire that radiated intense heat and thrusted it above Orochimaru's heart but made sure to leave the sannin barely alive and conscious. He could feel a strong potent chakra that composed most of Orochimaru's body and knew he wouldn't die so easily.

"I will never understand why Jiraiya-sensei did not kill you when he had the chance. Your existence has no meaning whatsoever." Naruto commented as he stepped aside whilst sporting a blank look. Just as the blonde had guessed, Orochimaru opened his mouth to large proportions and crawled out of his own mouth seemingly good as new. Although, doing this took a large toll on his chakra. "I see… It seems I was wrong." Orochimaru replied as he coughed up some blood into his hand.

"What is it you truly desire, Orochimaru? You should know by now, so long as my father and I are in Konoha, you'll never be able to lay a single hand on this village." Naruto said keenly. He genuinely wished to know about the man now. Jiraiya had always diverted the topic when he asked about Orochimaru and he figured that it must be a sensitive topic for his sensei. Orochimaru had fought for Konoha in the first and second shinobi world war beside Jiraiya and Tsunade. He was respected and feared by many for his strength. So, it confused him greatly as to why he would decide to betray the village. Even Orochimaru was mildly surprised on being asked such a question.

"We both have different philosophies about the shinobi world, Naruto. I simply wish to uncover the fundamental secrets behind chakra, life and death… But, if you so desire, I shall arrange a meeting with that person." Replied Orochimaru as he disappeared in a gist of wind.

'This just got a whole lot more complicated… I will need to keep an eye on Sasuke from here on and inform Itachi and Mikoto obasan about this.' Naruto thought with a tired sigh. He didn't want to disclose the truth about another rinnegan user to his father or Jiraiya as of now. It would certainly put them in a frenzy. If possible, he wanted to deal with it on his own. Who knows, he might even be able to persuade the man to work with him.

'You should have killed him, Naruto… There is no meaning in keeping him alive.' Kurama said irritatingly. At this moment, Kurama was worried what Naruto might do if he met the other rinnegan user. Even he was confused about the matter. It should be impossible for the rinnegan to have manifested itself in two people.

'He might prove to be useful in the future, Kurama. If not, his fate rests in my hand anyway.' Naruto replied as he too disappeared from the place. Every time Naruto thought of ending that Sannin's life, he was always presented with a tough choice. And it did not please him that Orochimaru ended up surviving yet another time.

Later at night with team seven

After surviving the encounter with that strange looking Ame kunoichi that turned out to be a Densetsu no Sannin, team seven had rushed away from the area to another part of the forest. A few hours later in the evening, the three had come across yet another team from Amegakure. However, the three Konoha had quite easily defeated the team and luckily this time had managed to find an earth and a heaven scroll from the team. Sasuke, Hinata and Sakura had merely left the team unconscious and tied them up to trees to avoid much trouble. Currently, the three were about four miles east of the building they had to report. They had decided to rest for a while before heading to the building.

While Sakura and Hinata were sleeping, Sasuke was deep in thought about what Orochimaru had stated. As far as he knew, the elder, Danzo had killed most of his clan including his father and fled the village after collecting their sharingan. That was the story which was also known to the village. So, it made him skeptical as to what the sannin might have been talking about. What was the secret that the Hokage, his mother and even Itachi were keeping from him? It hurt his head even thinking about the possibility that the truth he knew was a fabricated lie. He suddenly slapped his leg when he felt something graze past it. Looking down, he raised his eyebrow upon seeing a small white snake. It was simply slithering beside his leg and hissing. Holding it in his hands, Sasuke stared at the snake keenly. It was different than the ones he had encountered in the forest. However, the snake suddenly lunged towards him and before Sasuke could react, it bit him on the neck. An excruciating amount of pain coursed through his body and he felt himself going numb.

Hinata and Sakura promptly woke up as they heard Sasuke's scream. Quickly moving towards him, their eyes widened in horror on seeing him down on the ground as he clutched his neck in agony. A strange black colored pattern had covered his entire body and glowed dim yellow.

"Hinata, what the hell is happening to Sasuke!?" Sakura asked in panic. She crouched and tried to stabilize Sasuke, but she had to immediately move her hand away since his body was burning up. Hinata quickly activated her byakugan and observed Sasuke's chakra circulatory system.

"Whatever it is, it seems to be originating from his neck. It looks like a foreign chakra that is intertwining itself with Sasuke's chakra coils. I have no clue what to do." Hinata replied hurriedly. Sasuke was still wriggling around on the ground and screaming in pain. The two girls couldn't even touch their teammate cause of his burning fever. Not able to take it anymore, Sakura resolved herself and covered both her hands with soothing green chakra. She immediately placed her hand on Sasuke's forehead and almost screamed when she felt the burning sensation course through her body.

"Hinata, quickly get some cold water from somewhere. We need to cool his body as soon as possible." Sakura ordered with gritted teeth. She was trying her best to sooth Sasuke's nerves. While she didn't know how Sasuke got that mark on his neck or what that mark exactly was, she couldn't afford to see him writhe in pain. Following Sakura's orders, Hinata swiftly rushed towards the river that was about half a mile away from their location. As Sakura kept pushing the healing chakra through Sasuke's forehead, she was beginning to tire out cause of the intense heat that his body was radiating. A few minutes later, a morbid feeling developed in her gut, when Sasuke suddenly stopped moving and his body seemed to cool down. She placed her ear on his chest to listen for heartbeat and sighed when she could hear it faintly.

"Sakura, I got some cold water from the river…" Hinata said with heavy breaths but stopped when she noticed Sasuke's still body. "… is he…?" she questioned dreadfully, unable to finish her sentence.

"No. He just seems to be unconscious right now. But we need to keep moving. We can't stay here any longer. We need to find a safe place to hide and wait for him to wake up." Sakura replied. Seeing Sasuke in such a state had lowered both Hinata and Sakura's morale. Both had noticed that Sasuke was disturbed by what Orochimaru had said to him. Even they were curious but knew it wasn't the right time pry answers out of him.

"Help me carry him, will you?" Sakura requested as she tried to carry him. Hinata promptly moved beside Sakura and held onto Sasuke from the other side. "Let's head close to the building. We have both the scrolls anyway. Maybe we can get some medical help once we complete this part." Hinata suggested. Sakura quietly nodded as the two girls started walking slowly, towards the main building.

With Orochimaru

'Finally, it has begun. The moment draws near. Kukuku… Minato, Naruto, Jiraiya… you won't believe what I have planned for the chunin exam finals.' Orochimaru thought with an evil grin. He was currently in one of his underground layers at the edge of Tsuchi no Kuni. He coughed again violently as some more blood splattered on his hand. Yet again, he cursed the damn blonde and his overwhelming power. It was simply unbelievable that Naruto's power had grown even more since the last time the two had met. But he had been successful in separating the Namikaze from Sasuke and his team. Moreover, having associated himself with Akatsuki once again, Orochimaru had more opportunity to research the rinnegan along with finding the identity of the masked shinobi. He had no clue as to who he was and was certain most people in the group were not aware of his existence. And nothing pleased the Sannin more than to solve a mystery.

"Kimimaro, has Danzo returned yet?" Orochimaru asked to his subordinate, standing beside him. Kimimaro was the sole survivor of the Kaguya clan who was found by Orochimaru near his hideout in Mizu no Kuni. He had pale skin, vivid green eyes, two scarlet dots on his forehead which all the members of his clan possessed, and shoulder-length white hair which he wore divided down the middle on his head, with two separate partings on either side of his face.

"I'm afraid not, Orochimaru-sama. Last I heard, the Kazekage and Danzo are still working on where to station their respective shinobi before the attack." Kimimaro replied obediently.

"Hmm… I see. Anyway, return to your room. I need to work on some things. And contact Kabuto and the Dosu's team via the summons and ask them to keep an eye on Sasuke Uchiha. It'll be a shame if he's not able to adapt to the curse mark." Orochimaru ordered. With a bow, Kimimaro left the room and headed back to his own.

Author Notes: I really wanted to finish the forest of death part in this chapter, but it just seemed apt to leave the chapter at this point. The next chapter will most likely conclude the forest of death along with the preliminary round. Some people did suggest that Naruto should get the curse mark, but I really don't see any point in that. Orochimaru's curse mark is basically his chakra mixed with senjutsu chakra. Considering how I have portrayed Sasuke to be, I think the curse mark will suit him better. Also, now that Sasuke suspects that something was amiss about his clan being murdered, he will have a big decision to make when the truth is finally revealed to him. I'm planning either Mikoto or Itachi to tell the entire truth to him. However, Naruto will talk to Sasuke about his feelings towards village before Sasuke is told the truth.

Orochimaru and Danzo are indeed planning to attack Konoha during the chunin exam's final round. Orochimaru was forced to join the Akatsuki again in return for a hefty cost which will be revealed later. Although, he has his own agenda too for joining the organization again. Now, there are some big surprises as to how Orochimaru and Danzo will commence the attack on Konoha. Once the Raikage comes to Konoha, Minato will also discuss about the five kage meeting which he is planning to hold to discuss about the Akatsuki and the threat of the Otsutsuki Clan. Whether the Raikage will align himself with Konoha or not will depend on his mood. I just assume A to be spontaneous person- someone who takes action first before thinking in most of the cases. A will most likely take that decision after the attack on Konoha concludes. The Chunin Exam arc will probably end in the next 4 to 5 chapters.

Please do follow, favorite and review the story! Appreciate the support shown by all the readers. It really motivates me to write more!

Until next time!