Okay this is the last one till I finish the next chapter and I've been stuck on that one for about three months now. I'll post on my profile when the next chapter is ready. I'm also slowly working my way through all the reviews I have, so I will reply to you all soon.

Please enjoy it, lol.

Thank you for the alerts and reviews.

Naruto = flash back

'Naruto' is thoughts/thinking

"Naruto" signing/sign language

"Naruto" speaking.

"Naruto" Demon

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto just some DVDs and games.

Chapter 29

The glass shattered as Ibiki shook his head. Smoke appeared obscuring the genins' view and a black sheet of material pinned to the ceiling fell revealing a young woman with light brown pupil-less eyes, black hair with a tint of blue styled in a short spiky fanned ponytail. She was wearing a tan overcoat, with a pocket on each side, a fitted mesh body suit that stretched from her neck down to her thighs. A dark orange mini skirt which was attached a dark blue belt with a sash like appendage. She had a forehead protector, a small pendant that resembled a snake fang on a thick cord, a wrist watch and shin guards.

"You guys this is no time to celebrate!"

Everyone in the room was shocked at the appearance of the young woman.

"I am the examiner for the second test. Anko Mitarashi! Now let's go! Follow me!"

Naruto looked at Hinata; "Is that how my team sees me?" she nodded.

"Bad timing." Ibiki pulled the sheet away so that he could be seen. Sakura sent evils at Naruto, who shivered slightly. Anko looked round the room.

"78? You left 26 teams. Ibiki either you're getting soft or your test is." She laughed.

"There are some outstanding ninja this time." Ibiki glared.

"Whatever, I'll cut them down in no time; at least half will fail in my test." Anko smirked sticking out her tongue at the older ninja. He shook his head, his hands signing as he walked away. Naruto nodded. Hinata leaned over, "he said to be careful, she's a bit extreme." Naruto whispered. Hinata nodded.

"I'm getting excited." She shivered, "I'll explain everything once we've moved; follow me."

(Line)

Ibiki was collecting the papers up when he came to Naruto's, it was blank, as expected, he pushed some chakra through the sheet and watched as the paper filled with answers, all correct. He spotted a note at the bottom.

~ Hi bear, haven't seen you in ages, glad to see you haven't lost your touch. Did you notice how they were all cheating? ~ he turned the page over ~ team 8 each used their own individual talents, Kiba with Akamaru on his head wrote down the answers Akamaru called out, Shino used his bugs to reveal the answers in subtle ways, and Hinata used her byakugan and so did Neji from team Gai. Tenten and Lee used mirrors attached to the ceiling. The team from sound use sound as a weapon therefore they can read sounds better than most. Sasuke used his Sharingan, while Sakura knew the answers, once she had completed her test Ino used her family jutsu to memorise and copy the answers before taking over her two team mates. The team from sand that was harder to find but Gaara the red head used sand somehow, while his brother as you know used the puppet to get the answers and wrote them down for their sister to use. Gaara worries me there's something about him that I'm drawn to. And me, I used clones. I made them change into different items around the room, even one of team Gai's mirrors. Cheating is bad don't you know, and one of your questions is printed wrong see. ~ The note ended and a soft pop echoed around the room as each test paper had the same question change before his very eyes. He smirked; trust Naruto to notice a mistake on the exam.

"I never did figure out who started the tapping though."

Ibiki spun round to find Naruto sat on one of the desks behind him.

"So how did no one notice your clones then?" He smiled.

"To be honest hardly anyone notices me when I'm in the room. But they don't always create smoke, too showy, and wasting chakra. Why create smoke when they can just step out of you." Naruto shrugged as an image appeared around him and moved to his left so that there were now two Naruto's sat on the desk.

"Impressive work. Shouldn't you be at the second test though?" Ibiki's eyebrow rose.

"I already am." Naruto smiled and both disappeared with a small pop. Leaving Ibiki wondering how many clones he had at any one time.

(Line)

The genins stared out at a massive forest surrounded by a chain link fence. There was an ominous feel to it though which put the genin on edge. A sign warning 'danger! Stay out!' didn't help their nerves.

"Welcome to the stage for the second exam. Practise area 44. Also known as the forest of death!"

"This is creepy." Sakura shuddered as Naruto and Sasuke checked out the forest.

"You'll soon learn why it's called the forest of death." Anko drew a kunai and released it so that it flew past Naruto's cheek; he moved his head just so that it didn't scratch him. "What did Ibiki sign at you back there?" She stood over Naruto holding his head tipped back exposing his jugular. "That we should be careful you're a bit extreme." Naruto replied anger in his eyes.

The kunai landed at the feet of a group of grass ninja, cutting a strand of hair from the longer haired of the trio. Anko pulled a second kunai which was thrust behind her as the long haired grass ninja using its very long tongue to return her kunai to her.

"Here's your kunai." The straw hat was tipped up, and Naruto with his enhanced senses caught a scent of snake.

"Why thank you. But you should know don't sneak up behind me unless you want to die." Anko turned loosening her hold on Naruto's hair.

"I'm sorry I got a bit excited, but you did cut a bit of my hair."

Shikamaru and Hinata registered the look on Naruto's face, even though his head was held at an awkward angle his face was wrinkled up like he'd smelled something bad, Shino nodded as they turned to him. "Kiba, can you smell anything off?" Shino asked stoically.

Kiba, confused, started to sniff the air along with Akamaru. "No, why?" he shrugged.

"Sorry about that." Anko turned, completely releasing Naruto who rolled his neck, muttering about long tongued weirdo's who smelled like snakes. Naruto stilled suddenly, then, shaking his head, moved away from Anko towards his team.

"Well, this should be fun." Anko smirked; she ruffled around in her coat, pulling out a stack of papers. "Now, before this exam begins you guys need to fill out these forms. They're agreement forms; you have to sign them before you enter the exam. There will be deaths in this test and these," she waved the papers, "need to be signed; otherwise, I can be held responsible. Hehe." The crowd looked at her, 'well Ibiki was right.' Naruto rubbed the back of his neck.

"So, I'm going to explain the exam then you guys can fill these out. Then each team will check in at that booth over there." She pointed to a booth manned by three ninja by the fenced off area. "I'll explain the second test now." She handed the sheets over; as they got passed round she began explaining. "Simple enough, this is pretty much a survival test. First, I'll explain the area." She pulled out a scroll which unfurled to reveal a map of their location. Shikamaru moved to stand behind Naruto; which was quite hard to do since they were about the same height now. "Around practise area 44 are 44 locked gates. Forest, river and a tower in the centre; from the gates to the tower is about 10km." The genin all looked at the map trying to memorise it. "Whilst attempting to survive in here you will have to complete a certain task.

During the survival in here, you will be asked to complete a certain task. Using your many weapons and jutsu you will compete in a no rules scroll battle."

"Scroll?"

"Yes. You will fight over these two scrolls, the heaven and earth. There are 78 people here; that's 26 teams. 13 teams will be given the heaven scroll while the other 13 teams will be given the earth scroll. Now, in order to pass this test you have to arrive at the tower with both scrolls."

"So definitely half the teams here will fail." Sakura mouthed to her team.

"But, there's a time limit. This second test will last 120 hours, exactly five days."

"Five days!"

"What about dinner?"

"You're on your own; the forest is full of food, just watch out for the man eating beasts, poisonous insects, poisonous plants…" She trailed off, as Choji hung his head, "But 13 teams passing is not likely, As the days go on the distance to the goal will become farther, and the time to rest will become shorter. And the area is crawling with enemies, you won't get much sleep."

'So not only will some fail by losing the scroll but some will die from the harshness of the course.' Naruto concluded everyone's thoughts.

"Now, I'll talk about what will disqualify you." She held up one finger "First, those that don't make it to the tower, with both scrolls, within the time limit." She held up a second finger "Second, those that lose a teammate or who have a teammate killed. As a rule there is no quitting in the middle, you will be in the forest for five days. And one more rule, you must not look inside the scroll until you make it to the tower."

"Why can't we look in the scrolls I wonder?" Sakura asked.

"It's a requirement of being a chunin, you may be asked to handle classified information."

"So basically it's to test our trustworthiness." Shikamaru nodded from behind Naruto.

"Yes, precisely, now, stop interrupting me." Anko snapped. "That's it for explanations, exchange the three forms for a scroll at the desk then pick a gate to start from. A final word of advice… …don't die."

Naruto nodded at Shikamaru, Hinata and Shino as the curtain for the desk opened. They watched as the teams began to file in.

'So, we can't see what team gets what scroll or who's carrying it. Like Ibiki said in this test we risk our lives fighting for information. Everyone is an enemy. Everyone here is determined, there will be killing.' Sasuke smirked signing his paper.

'Good, the signing of the papers means they understand.' Anko smirked.

Naruto handed over the paper work and received a heaven scroll which he tucked away, nodding as Anko summoned them to their chosen gates.

"Yahoo! Survival is our speciality. We can do this Hinata." Kiba howled out from gate 16.

"I think we should meet up with Naruto, we'll have a better chance of making it if we work together." Shikamaru stated looking out from gate 27. 'That and something's got him concerned'.

"We can do this as long as we stick together." Naruto smiled, making Sasuke smirk and getting a nod from Sakura, as they stood outside gate 12.

The sound trio stood outside gate 20, they had a mission to complete. Kabuto's team was standing outside gate 38. Naruto felt the tug of his chakra, knowing that the team from sand were near. Temari and Kankuro looked at each other worriedly as the stood outside gate 6.

"So, we'll go after the rookies first, and we're allowed to kill from here on out… that makes things easier. The mysterious grass team debated from gate 15. And team Gai where stood outside gate 41.

"Okay, the second test of the chunin exam begins…" Anko looked at her wrist watch reading half past three. "NOW!"

The gates slammed open and they all flew through.

(Line)

Iruka sensei glanced out the window, wondering idly how Naruto was doing; he glanced to Konohamaru who had been staring out the same window and suddenly smiled as a small bird landed on the window sill. He stared at the bird as Konohamaru smiled; he recognised the bird, but couldn't place why.

"Aren't you going to open the window, Sensei?" the entire class turned to stare as there, standing in the doorway, was Naruto.

"Shouldn't you be in the chunin exam?" Iruka asked, pulling Naruto into a hug.

Naruto chuckled, "I am." The bird flew off, darting in the direction of the Hokage tower.

"There's always more than one Naruto in the village at any one time." Konohamaru explained as he walked over. "So how're you doing?" he asked, as the class leaned forward expectantly.

"We're on the second stage, at the moment." The Naruto clone spoke, "You should stop worrying Iruka Sensei, it's not good for your health." Naruto laughed.

"As long as I've got you to worry about, I don't care." Iruka smiled, ruffling the clone's hair before it popped out of existence.

(Line)

Team 8 stood in a clearing talking loudly about traps as they were being watched by another group of ninja. They turned as the leeches started their attack on their enemy before they fell into their trap.

"Well, we've got the scroll we need, better head to the tower." Kiba yelled.

Akamaru looked between his master and their teammates, they were up to something he wasn't sure about.

"Actually Kiba, we thought it'd be best to meet up with Naruto's team." Hinata stated pushing her fingers together.

"There's something off; which we noticed before this part of the exam started." Shino stepped forwards.

"Team 7 will be lucky to make it past today. Why should we help them, we've got the scrolls, let's go."

"Something spooked Naruto, now we are going to find them and stick together!" Hinata snapped causing Kiba to flinch back.

"Don't see why they're so interested in Naruto anyway." Kiba muttered to Akamaru.

"Because he is my best friend, and he wouldn't leave us behind if he knew something was up." Hinata had a fire in her eyes which was only ever present when in the presence of Naruto.

"As Genin it is in fact better to stick together. I know that team 10 will be heading towards Naruto's team, not because they are the weakest of us, far from it actually, but because Naruto needs our help and we are going to give him that." Shino nodded and turned, jumping up into the trees followed by Hinata.

"Am I missing something? Cause I don't see what they do." Kiba asked Akamaru.

"Yes, you are." Akamaru barked back and jumped after their teammates.

"Hey, what do you mean, Akamaru?" Kiba shouted, chasing his companion.

(Line)

Naruto smiled, glad that he could alleviate Iruka's worries. He really missed working with him and the class. It was nice knowing that he was helping his village to develop. He shuddered suddenly as a shiver went down his spine; that was never good.

"What are you smiling about Dobe?" Sasuke commented snidely.

"Nothing to concern yourself with, Sasuke." Naruto stated, the smile slipping from his face.

"You know you really piss me off sometimes. Sasuke huffed.

"You know we're being watched right?" Naruto threw back at Sasuke.

Suddenly a rain ninja jumped out at them, "perceptive of you, but I'll be taking your scroll now. So, which one of you has it? Hand it over!" he charged at them.

Sasuke jumped back performing a fire jutsu as Naruto appeared behind the ninja.

"Now, Sasuke!" Naruto grabbed hold of the ninja pinning them together as Sasuke released kunai at them.

The ninja turned into a log as Naruto popped into smoke. There was an explosion as the ninja was thrown from his hiding spot towards Sasuke, pulling out another kunai which he dug deep into the ninja's arm.

"Sasuke!" Sakura cried out.

"You need to listen to me. I know this is hard, but if you relax you will get hurt; there could be others around." He shouted as the ninja flung himself away from him and hobbled away over the tree roots, his back smouldering from Naruto's explosive note.

"He was alone; which is lucky on our part. I think, if there had been more, we'd had been in trouble."

"As long as we don't get separated we should be fine." Sasuke agreed.

"What happens if we get separated?" Sakura asked.

"We'll have a code word. Something only the three of us will know. That way, if they get it wrong, we know it's not one of us."

"But what to have?"

"It's from the first part of the test, we rookies must stick together."

"Oh, I see." Naruto smiled and nodded as Sakura looked on bewildered. "You'll get it, don't worry." Naruto laughed.

"Naruto, hold on to the scroll, you can disappear in the forest, if need be." Sasuke held the scroll out to Naruto.

"Someone's here." Naruto turned as a very strong wind erupted around them. He rooted himself to the spot as dust and debris flew around them. He felt the wind pick up and begin to loosen his grip on the ground beneath his feet. With a final mighty push, the wind dislodged him and sent him soaring away after his teammates.

Naruto landed in the middle of a clearing, shaking his head he found a shadow hovering above him. Looking up, he discovered a huge snake.

"I don't think you're part of this forest." Naruto spoke to the snake, tilting his head to one side.

(Line)

Hikaru walked into the empty hokage's office, he glanced around wondering where the old man was briefly. He'd been helping him train lately, trying to unlock his true potential. He shook his head, his hair falling into his face as he glanced round the room. He jumped when a chuckle from behind made him turn.

"For an ANBU, you sure are easy to sneak up on." Naruto stated leaning against the door frame.

"You should be in the exams." Hikaru said sternly.

"I am." Tsubasa flew in through the window. "But, there's a giant snake in the forest. And I thought there weren't any snakes in the forest." He rubbed under Tsubasa's beak before the young bird flew out the window in the direction of the forest of death.

"There aren't!" Hikaru grabbed his mask and ANBU attire as he disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Naruto stroked along Nami's back as he leant against the desk.

"I think he worries too much." he spoke to the cat.

The hokage walked in, his pipe smouldering in his mouth.

"Hey old man, what can you tell me about snakes?" Naruto cocked his head to the side in question.

(Line)

"You guys just play around over there, I'll take care of them myself." Three enemy ninja appeared in the area where team 7 had been standing.

Sasuke was hidden in the undergrowth checking his surroundings when he noticed a presence near him. He stood pulling out a kunai as Sakura approached.

"Sasuke!"

"Stay back. The codeword?"

"What? Oh no, Naruto said I would get it, but then we all got blown away." Sakura started babbling.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed as Sakura babbled on.

"Something to do with we rookies must stick together whatever you guys mean by that." She muttered.

There was a rustling in the bushes as Naruto appeared.

"Oww! You guys alright?"

"Codeword, dobe."

"It's from the first part of the exam. We rookies must stick together."

Sasuke released his kunai, sending it flying towards Naruto who dodged to the side as Sakura looked on, unable to do anything.

"Naruto understood my cryptic code and wouldn't have given me that answer. This is someone pretending to be Naruto, Someone good enough to dodge my attacks."

"I don't understand Sasuke..."

"You just stand there till Naruto arrives, then we'll deal with you."

"Impressive, you used something cryptic to catch me out. This will be more fun than I thought." The enemy ninja licked his lips.

(Line)

Naruto stared up at the giant snake rolling his head between his shoulders.

"I don't have time for you, I've got to get back to Sakura and Sasuke." Naruto spoke aloud to the snake.

The snake stared down at Naruto then lunged forwards. As Naruto jumped up and away, he blocked a coil as it swiped at him.

"Enough of this." Naruto shouted, spinning his chakra blade into his hand.

He knocked back the tail as he summoned chakra into his blade. The snake let out an aggravated hiss from where he'd sliced open its tail. Its eyes narrowed and it opened its jaw wide, intending to swallow Naruto whole.

"You're not going to eat me!" Naruto smirked, and leapt to meet the snake, his blade slicing vertically down the snake as it throbbed with the power of his chakra.

(Line)

'Where's Naruto? This guy's too creepy for me!' Sakura thought.

The grass nin pulled out a scroll and showed it to them.

"You want my earth scroll right? Seeing as you guys have the heaven scroll." He licked the scroll, then his long tongue wrapped round the scroll as he proceeded to swallow it. "Now, let's begin the battle for each other's scroll with our lives on the lines." He moved his hand to his eye drawing their attention to it.

Sasuke and Sakura both fell back gasping for breath as they released themselves from a genjutsu that was so horrible they were shivering with fear and vomiting from the realisation that they weren't in a genjutsu at all. What they had just experienced was pure fear from the killing intent that the enemy ninja had just released. They were scared. All the killing intent in his eyes had caused them to see an image of death. They glanced to each other both thinking 'who is this guy?'

Sasuke glanced at who he believed to be Sakura to see her on her knees, tears staining her cheeks and shaking so badly she probably couldn't move.

"Sasuke, we have to run. If we stay there is only death."

"Hehe, you can no longer move." The enemy ninja smirked.

Sasuke's hands quivered as he tried to grip the kunai and willed his body to move. The grass ninja smirked and, with a barely see able movement, sent two kunai flying towards Sakura. Sasuke, his sharigan spinning into life, sprung forwards hoping to reach Sakura before the kunai did.

(Line)

Naruto stood over the body of the snake, his chakra blade in hand still glowing. He'd put so much chakra into his blade that he had managed to split the snake in half. Well, its head anyway. He ran his hand over his face removing the blood that had splattered on him. He looked up as Tsubasa arrived by his head.

"Let's go find Sasuke and Sakura before it's too late." His eyes hardened to a steel blue.

(Line)

There was a small pool of blood and the two kunai had landed in opposite directions like they had been knocked away, but no sign of the two genin. The grass ninja frowned. His prey had gotten away with what appeared to be help of some sort. However, Sasuke had injured his own body to erase the feeling of fear with pain, proving that he was no ordinary prey.

(Line)

Sasuke pulled the kunai he'd jammed into his leg out as Sakura dropped to her knees in front of him.

"What a reckless thing to do; now they'll be able to track us!" Kiba exclaimed.

"Stop talking dog breathe!" Sasuke grunted.

"Hinata, was it truly wise to interfere as you did?" Shino asked.

"This way we can stick together better, but I couldn't stand by and watch. That's not what Naruto would have wanted." Hinata nodded, showing just how much she had truly grown.

"We need to run." Sasuke stated.

"I've never seen Sasuke this scared before." Sakura confirmed her fear.

"So the great Uchiha is scared of a... ...Snake?" Kiba was interrupted as Akamaru barked.

They all looked up to see a rather big snake slithering down the tree trunk towards them. When the snake realised that it had been spotted, it reared back and slammed down where they had all been perched. They all kicked off as it quickly wrapped itself round the trunk of the tree slithering down to the ground.

The snake was struck with a bombardment of kunai and shuriken as it opened its mouth, going after Sasuke. They felt the essence of the grass ninja in the eyes of the snake.

"We need to be ready for anything." Shino stated, landing on a branch above Sasuke as he eyed the now dead snake, his bugs buzzing around him.

There was a moment of shock as they watched the snake open and the creepy grass ninja emerge from inside it.

"Yes, the Aburame is right, you shouldn't relax even for a moment. Prey should be trying their best to run away." He straightened up at last, "In the presence of a predator that is." His tongue was hanging out almost as though he wanted to lick his lips again.

He wrapped himself round the tree trunk like the very snake they had just killed. Hinata turned her attention above them, a smile spreading across her face as Shino's bugs buzzed and Akamaru yipped. Several shuriken and a stray kunai embedded themselves into the tree trunk above the enemy ninja, stopping his progress, causing the remaining others to look up and the enemy to stop his advance and look away from his target.

"Grandpa sends his regards, Orochimaru." Naruto spoke with a coldness they had never heard before. His steel blue eyes glinted and Tsubasa perched on his shoulder.

(Line)

Hikaru landed briefly, pulling the last item of his ANBU uniform on as Sparrow and Fox appeared next to him.

"Find Naruto's chunin teammates; see if they've found anything off. And check in with Anko." Hikaru stated, adjusting his mask and jumping off again.

Sparrow and Fox shared a look as they felt their ANBU tattoo's flare summoning them to the Hokage.

(Line)

Naruto sneered at the enemy ninja as Hinata and Shino shared a look. Activating her Byakugan, Hinata steeled herself for whatever was coming next. Naruto with those eyes always meant something big was happening.

Naruto drummed his fingers in a familiar beat. Sasuke allowed a small sigh to escape him as he realised that this was his Naruto.

"Wait, Naruto, is this our Sakura?" Sasuke asked as he glanced between them.

Naruto cocked his head to the side "Well if Akamaru, Kiba, Shino, and Hinata haven't attacked her yet then I'd say so." Naruto tapped Tsubasa as he dropped down closer to his teammates. Tsubasa flew off followed by the eyes of Orochimaru.

"Naruto we need to run! Please, even Sasuke's scared!" Sakura shouted.

"This guy's on a completely different level to us." Kiba acknowledged.

"Hehe, looks like you successfully defeated that giant snake Naruto-kun." The grass ninja now known as Orochimaru smiled.

"This guy's one of the legendary Sannin, a pupil of the Hokage." Naruto spoke aloud.

'So we're stuck in a shit situation with a guy who obviously came here for a reason.' Sasuke thought.

Sasuke's sharigan faded leaving his onyx eyes showing. "What if I give you our scroll? Please take it and leave us."

"What? Why would you do that?" Kiba shouted.

"I see, very smart. For prey to escape a predator they would have to give the predator a different meal."

"Naruto, give him our scroll."

"There's no guarantee that he'll let us go if we give him our scroll. Yes, the situation is shit and we're freaked out, but the six of us need to stick together." He glanced up "help's on its way." He whispered.

"My my, Naruto, you are rather smart, aren't you? You are correct, of course." His tongue slid out licking around his cheek. "Since I can just..." He pulled his sleeve up and biting his thumb swiped it across what appeared to be a tattoo of sorts. "...kill you and take the scroll."

"Move!" Hinata shouted getting them all to pull back.

'We can't possibly win again a Sannin; even grandpa couldn't.' Naruto's thoughts betrayed him.

"Summoning Jutsu!"

There was a flash of white as something streaked past Naruto as Orochimaru appeared standing on top of a giant snake twice the size of the one Naruto had fought earlier. Suddenly, Orochimaru was faced with the sword of a turtle masked ANBU.

"You need to run now while you still can." Turtle spoke over his shoulder at the genin.

Naruto hesitated briefly before nodding and moving towards his teammates.

"How surprising to see an ANBU here of all places." Orochimaru sneered as the snake's tail swung up knocking the ANBU from atop his perch.

Jumping back, Turtle steadied himself on the branch opposite Orochimaru, blocking his route to the genin moving behind him. He put his sword away, he hated fighting with a sword, and he doubted he'd be powerful enough to stop Orochimaru, but he had to try for Naruto's sake.

Turtle slipped into his stance, left foot forwards facing in front and right foot pointed the way his body was facing, his left arm braced with his right pulled back. The snake lunged again as he flipped onto it, aiming at Orochimaru who chuckled and batted him away. Turtle spun on his heel kicking up at his chin and turning around again, his fist aiming at Orochimaru's gut. Orochimaru twisted round him and knocked him back into the path of his snake that launched Turtle into the trees snapping several boughs as he went.

"You can eat him now." Orochimaru commanded from his place still on top of the snake.

Thanks for reading, see you all soon. Remember I'll post on my profile.

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