OSSU! YOSH! KONNICHIWA! Hatha al-qasas lil 'aamatul mustarika! Janaab!

Yeah, so welcome to Chapter 37 of this poor little story! I realise that that was Japanese, Arabic, Urdu and English; props to anyone who can work out what that means!!!

Aaanyway. Review Highlights time! First off, BIG THANK YOU TO MY NEWEST AND ONE OF MY MOST FAVOURITE REVIEWERS LANALISHA-THEZII! You're awesome! Thanks for all of the comments you gave me and then asked me to die whilst pouring salt on my wounds. (That was her reaction to...Shisui's...plight.) Another memorable one was the author of 'Medicinal Lullaby', Shivakashi! She finally got down to reviewing and what a review it was. She's awesome too!

Next up, Dracco! Some amazing ideas which I humbly accept and should use at some point. Thank you! Dirty Reid reviewed! THE DIRTY REID! As in the author of 'Master of Puppets, Demolition Chief'! He's an awesome author and I intended to get some of his stories up here too. Highlights also go to Narilyte for an outstanding analysis of clichés and plotholes, InARealPickle for spotting someone nobody else did (will follow!), Condor Green for reminding me not to keep ol' 'Rochi-chan all one-dimensional, jolteonforever for the reaction to a new chapter (and I quote "YES YES YES HECK YES!" :D) and Dragonking20 for a particularly natural review where I could envision him raising his fingers in a certain gesture. Now THOSE were some amazing reviews! Thank you all!

Fanfic Highlight goes to Vorago Atrox's 'Different Past, Different Future'. I think I've mentioned it before, but it's one of the craziest and funniest 'Naruto goes back in time' stories on this site! Go read it and see where I got the inspiration for the Nidaime's infamous 'Happy pills'.

Oh and before I forget, yes, 'Bassai' is the Village from Shivakashi's story (Well done InARealPickle!). I put it in there just to surprise her but I guess that's down the drain now that she actually started reading this! So NYAH! SURPRISE! Also to spite her since I had it torn up by war and all that! :P

That said, Chapter 37! Consisting of some crazy reactions, abandonment and a funny twist that no-one expected (Not even me!).

ZZZZZZZZZZ

Anko landed on a cracking and burnt tree, quickly hopping to the forest floor as it gave way into a heap of crumbling granules and ash. She clutched her nose in vain as the rank smell of burnt foliage assaulted her senses. The fires were still burning around here and she had no idea how Naruto had managed to make this much damage. She grimaced. She was going to catch hell from the Sandaime when he heard about the state of the Training Ground. Didn't Naruto know anything about restraint?

She forced herself onwards, a quick Wind Jutsu forcing the low-hanging clouds of asphyxiant from her path. She sprinted low to the ground, her head swinging in all directions as she zeroed in on the location she had spotted her evil ex-Sensei in before rushing into the forest. Spreading her senses before her in a wide arc, she attempted to locate his position. She almost stepped back and gasped at what she found.

The forest was destroyed in a good mile in every direction. Forest infernos were raging in at least three sections of the oaken woods, one particularly large flame spreading outwards in the direction of the eastern quadrant. There was no life left; everything from the grass to the huge insects were totally absent. Either they were dead or they had fled from the heat threatening their lives and homes. It was incredible yet morbid at the same time. This couldn't have been done by Naruto alone. There must've been a large fight after the two had met.

As she hopped to another tree, her foot slipped on something wet and smooth. Righting herself, she crouched down and rubbed two fingers over the surface of the bark. Above the withering branch, a sticky liquid had settled on the surface and it was beginning to dry. She raised her hand to the dying light filtering through the trees as the day made its transition to night.

'Blood?'

She wiped her appendages on the side of her coat and took off once again, this time heading in another direction. It was hard to track anyone who had been through this place. The surroundings were torn up so badly that it was akin to finding a single piece of cereal in a bowl full of milk. Every time you think you've grabbed something, it slips out and turns out to be nothing more than part of the carnage.

She felt a flicker of Chakra off in the distance. It was small, but potent. It had a hint of something far more powerful underneath and she knew whose it was. She increased her speed frantically, coat-tail and hair flapping in the wind.

"Heh, so you finally get here, Anko-nee?"

She couldn't speak. Naruto sat slumping in front of one of the few trees that were left unscathed. She almost recoiled at the state he was in. His clothes were torn and beaten; the piece of cloth he used as a makeshift bandanna was skewed with a tear almost from top-to-bottom. It held onto his forehead by a thread, stretched taut as it hung limply above his eyes. His skin was sliced in various places, and she noticed a small thin line just below his right eye. A little higher and he would have been blinded.

"W-What happened?"

He grunted and pushed himself shakily to his feet. She saw the tremors wracking his legs. He could barely stand.

"T-TAKE IT EASY!"

He grinned up at her through his sweaty hair, his lips curling up into a small smile.

"You were watchin' right?"

She nodded jerkily. Anger began to boil within her veins like never before. Her eyes shook in their sockets as she clenched her fists. The blond-haired Jinchuuriki seemed to sense her rage as his eyes widened slightly.

"Where is he?"

There was no shudder in her voice that time. Naruto pointed to the north.

"He took off that way, but not before I left him a little present!"

He tried to laugh but ended up in a fit of hacking coughs. She nodded to him and took off in the direction he'd pointed.

"HEY WAIT!"

She was long gone.

"I was gonna ask what you thought of the pranks..."

Sighing, he turned away. He needed to get some rest and heal up for the night. He was close to simply dropping to the floor and falling asleep. It would have been suicide to do something like that without anyone to watch his back. Training Arena 44 was notorious for its man-eating tigers and carnivorous bugs. He needed to find someplace small, with a roof to spend the night in case it rained whilst he was out. Orochimaru definitely deserved his place among the legendary three, of that Naruto was certain.

Groaning from the fatigue in his limbs, he struggled through the devastated surroundings in search for his goal. It was going to be a long night.

XXXXXXX

Orochimaru appeared in a flash of light, the smell of burning flesh rising from his right elbow, below which had simply disappeared. He grunted from the pain and stumbled over to a sycamore that was barely hanging from a thread of bark attached to its stem. He fell heavily onto his backside and glanced down at the amputated appendage in confusion.

He had no idea how half his arm had been torn from the limb.

The last things he'd known before pulling off a hasty Shunshin had been a searing beam of electric blue light connecting with his forearm. What it had been and where it had come from, he still couldn't figure out, but it was most certainly a fearsome Jutsu. The bottom half of the appendage had literally been blown off, the small sight of twisted bone peaking from the cauterised area. It had been so destructive and hot that the wound was staunched by the sheer heat generated from the blow.

'Uzumaki Naruto...what a monstrous boy indeed.'

Spitting out a glob of blood, he cursed and stumbled to his feet, quickly setting a fast pace for the edge of the forest. In his condition, he could only use Taijutsu with one arm. Ninjutsu was out of the question since he had only one available hand. He needed to reach Kabuto as quickly as possible.

Smirking, he detected a Chakra Signature he hadn't expected to find in the area. It was a nice distraction from the annoyances he had been facing since entering this thrice damned forest since the start of the test. His only true success had been placing the Ten no Juuin on Sasuke-kun's neck. As soon as an opportunity presented itself, he was going to destroy everything that blond-headed brat held dear and it just so happened that his old, cast-off of a student was one of them.

"Anko, it has been a long time since we last met, has it not?"

Said purple-eyed Kunoichi schooled her expression into one of cool indifference from her elevated position high in the tree-tops.

"You don't look so cool yourself Snake-Face."

Orochimaru chuckled sinisterly.

"Ahhh, so feisty! It seems as though you still harbour regrets from our...previous meeting."

She lost it. She couldn't help herself. This utter scum dared to bring that up in front of her after what he'd done?! She was going to pound his snaky hide into the ground with everything she had and that was quite a lot considering how strong she had become in recent years. Friendship with the best had its advantages.

"Senei'Jashu!"

Everything happened so fast, it was hard to keep track. Her battle instincts were thrown into the highest gear with such startling efficiency that the few moments they spent at odds passed like lightning.

She flipped in the air, snakes raining from her extended wrist. Her ex-sensei coughed and spat out a snake of his own, his body twisting in impossible directions to face her as she descended in the air. They exchanged blows, a quick one-two dominated by the younger female. She followed with a quick half uppercut that sent him on a collision course for the tree he had been leaning against. With a solid crack, the last strand of bark snapped and the whole thing collapsed on top of him.

"What's the matter, beanpole? Did a little kid turn out to be more than you could handle?"

The pale Missing-nin snarled in anger.

"You dare to spout such insolence in my presence?! Do you not value your life, you pitiful throwaway?"

At first, she felt fury, so powerfully intoxicating unlike anything she had experienced before. But something clicked in her mind. It might have been the situation he was in, indented into the ground with large splinters stuck into his skin all over his body and his left arm in bloody pieces. It could also have been the hilarity of the exam she had witnessed from her examiner's booth since the test had begun. She simply threw her head back and laughed.

"Heh, you've really got some guts, aint'cha Snake-Face? I can understand why 'Ruto went and did your face up like some clown at a circus, you can play the part like it's natural!"

She paced over to him slowly, her gait calm and relaxed.

"Looks like you went through one of his pranks! Oh lookie! Where's your arm gone? Tch, you can't even put up a fight without it!"

Orochimaru shook in rage as he pulled himself from his makeshift fissure.

"You dare...."

"Yup! I dare! So what of it?"

He raised himself to his full height, his right arm forming a half-seal. Anko's smile twisted into a mocking leer.

"Then again, you don't look half bad, what with the long hair and all..."

She spun on her heel, a Kunai dropping into her hand from beneath her long sleeves. She stood firm from the severe force that pounded her constricted muscles, sparks flying before her eyes causing them to light up in a sparkling brown unique to her gaze alone.

"You can't kill me, not how you are right now. Do you still want to try?"

They held their gazes for a moment, daring the other to make a move. Anko wasn't stupid. Even in his condition he could probably injure her grievously. But he was in the same boat. One wrong move and he'd be missing another arm. He snorted arrogantly, jumping back with the same grace she remembered.

"To think my little student had such a vicious tongue. I'm sure I taught you better than that."

Anko grinned cat-like.

"The only thing you taught me, was how to act more like a woman than any man should."

He answered by sending his Kusanagi extending towards her. She barely dodged in time and when she turned back to him, her face smarting from a thin slice above her right cheekbone, she realised what his single half-seal had been for. Pain exploded throughout her body originating from the cursed seal just above her collarbone. It was like someone had poured molten lead into her blood stream. She fell to her knees, but the pain disappeared almost as fast as it came. She glanced up to where Orochimaru had been only moments before, sweat rolling down her nose and chin.

"Tch...Mud Clone, huh? You like running away these days dont'cha?"

His ghostly chuckles echoed through the trees in his wake, a threat yet unfulfilled. She cursed within her mind. Even as torn up as he was, she still couldn't kill him. It had been the best opportunity she would ever have and she'd blown it.

Stowing her Kunai in her Utility Pouch, she jumped down from the trees and plodded towards the centre of the Forest. There would be no point in trying to find Naruto now; he was probably holed up in some cave somewhere, recovering from his ordeal. She couldn't blame him; he'd done far better than she or anyone else could have expected of him.

"...rashi Anko! Mitarashi Anko! Respond!"

With a start, she remembered turning the volume of her headset down before she'd began spying on the forest so that no-one would disturb her. That guy must have been shouting pretty loud for her to hear him. She cradled her ear as she pushed the volume up again.

"Yeah? What's up?"

She heard the guy shout in surprise and winced as her eardrum rang from the volume.

"This is ANBU squad three. Where have you been, we've been trying to contact you for almost an hour!"

She rubbed the nape of her neck in embarrassment as she clicked the send button once again.

"About that. Sorry, I turned the volume down on the set 'cause I was doing something important."

She heard someone talking rapidly in the background although she couldn't make anything out.

"Mitarashi-san, we have an emergency. A team of Kusa Genin have been murdered before they entered the Second Exam. Do you copy?"

Damn. That was Orochimaru alright. So he had someone else in here too?

"Affirmative. I....I made contact with the perpetrator about ten minutes ago."

He gasped.

"Do you have an ID on the guy? OI ICHIRO! GET YOUR BUTT DOWN HERE! WE'VE GOT A POSSIBLE ID!"

She sweat-dropped. Weren't they meant to keep the names under wraps when on duty? If she'd done that when she was ANBU she was sure one of the higher-ups would have given her hell for it.

"It was Orochimaru."

The line went quiet. She tapped it with her finger when all she could hear was slight static.

"Uhh...anyone home?"

"Can you repeat that?"

"Yeah, it was Orochimaru. Shinobi ID: zero, zero, two, three, zero, zero. S-Ranked Missing-nin, origination: Konoha."

There was a flurry of sound and Anko frowned in consternation.

"Status?"

It was a gruff question and the purple-haired Mitarashi almost cracked-up at the tension in his voice.

"He's on the run. I don't think we'll be findin' him anytime soon."

She heard a pop, almost as if someone had executed a Shunshin at that exact moment.

"And you, Mitarashi-san?"

She grinned a large Cheshire-cat smile.

"I'm fine! Can't say the same about some of the Genin though. I have no idea who he came into contact with besides Uzumaki Naruto."

"He fought Uzumaki?!"

This time she cackled into the microphone.

"Oh yes! And it didn't do too well for him!"

The man gasped again.

"So then....so then, all those rumours about what happened in Rice were true-"

"Hell yeah they were! I got pictures!"

"Really?! Oh man, you gotta show me them someti-"

"OI KUMA! YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE MAINTAINING RADIO SILENCE! WE'VE GOT A FREAKIN' SECURITY BREACH AND YOU'RE MESSING AROUND ON THE COMM LINK?!"

Anko shook her head. These guys were hopeless. There was another bout of rustling on the other end, it sounded like poor Kuma had just been hit on the head with a frying pan.

"Hebi-Sempai, this is Taka speaking."

Anko sighed as she passed a trio of Kumo Shinobi that had been snuck up from the rear by a typical bunch of Kiri-nin. That was pathetic.

"Yo! What's up Yuugi-chan?"

"Can you stop calling me that when I'm on duty?!"

Anko's grin turned devious. She could hear Yuugao's frown rather than see it.

"Heh, still stuck up about your lack of stealth on the Wave mission? Face it, the brat's way better than you give him credit for!"

Uzuki Yuugao grumbled under her breath before coughing and regaining her 'mission voice'.

"Mitarashi-san, I'm leading ANBU squads three and four to your position. We'll scour the area and try to pick up any leads on the traitor's whereabouts."

Anko snorted.

"Good luck with that. He's long gone. At least Naruto managed to tear his arm off..."

"WHAT?!"

Anko laughed into the headset.

"Yeah, tell me about it! But when I saw his arm all mangled up, I knew that there was only one person who could've done somethin' like that in here. Oh, and before you ask, I'll be makin' my report to Sandaime-Sama directly so forget about it."

Yuugao signed off and Anko released the send button. She paused as a Suna-nin suddenly shot out from behind a bush, back bent in roughly a semi-circle. He slammed into a tree, bounced twice before coming to a rest, obviously unconscious.

Her eyebrow twitched.

'Just what the hell kind of other traps has he hidden in here?!'

XXXXXXXX

Night fell to a rush of activity. Many of the stronger Genin had made it through the four days with only one scroll, the first and foremost of their objectives still incomplete due to a certain blond-haired nuisance who had burned most of the scrolls in a massive bonfire. In a last gasp attempt, many teams rushed to set ambush points at the mouth at the tower for the final day. It was a sound plan, but with most of the teams thinking along the same lines, it was hard to catch anyone who wasn't running around.

So it was that when the final moments of the exam passed, many teams were left stranded in the forest with nothing better to do than vent their frustrations of failure in a free-for-all with the rest of the losers. One team of Kumo Genin were frightened with the abrupt change in pace and decided to hide near a cave at the far end of the Training Arena so that they could scram as soon as a proctor arrived to let them out. They were perched up in a tree, camouflaged by a simple light distortion Genjutsu characteristic of Kaminari no Kuni Shinobi. As their Genjutsu expert explained it, the photons in the air could be deflected if the oxygen particles were ionised and then spaced at a certain distance apart from each other. It was only classed as a Genjutsu because there was a subtle illusion placed on the person outside to stop them from seeing a black hole in the middle of the foliage.

They had observed the cave for a while now and had been curious to find a group of the forest's animals sniffing around the entrance as if they were trying to find something. It was a scary thought as there were tigers, massive centipedes, wild dogs that looked like they'd eat anything if it moved and even a red-eyed squirrel that seemed to be scared out of his mind of something.

As the sun rose above the treetops, the trio's eyes widened when the rumoured blond-haired proctor walked out of the entrance to the cave, stretched, yawned, blinked at the hunger-crazed animals bearing down on him and calmly formed a ram handseal.

In a flash of colour, a line of Explosive Tags detonated all over the entrance way blowing bits and pieces of the forest terrors all over the clearing. Naruto yawned once more and plodded towards the mouth of the river that would lead him to the tower.

The Kumo ninja were shell-shocked. They couldn't move. This guy was insane! He just killed those man-eating....things without batting an eye. They froze up even further when he glanced in their direction and winked. He turned his back and they heard a "now then...where'd Anko-nee say the tower was again?"

There was a small rustle of leaves and the team leader turned to his teammates startled.

They'd fallen out of the tree.

Naruto's laughter followed them through the trees.

XXXXXXX

Kakashi scratched his head as he watched Sasuke struggle to defeat a Konoha Genin who had nothing going for him except his Chakra Sucking Hand of Doom. Talk about a one-trick pony. Every time he glanced at the guy he envisioned almost a hundred different ways to kill him with ease, and none of them required the Chidori.

He sighed and angled his head away from the match. He knew he couldn't put them on Naruto's level, but it was becoming hard to make that differentiation. They were the same age and had come from backgrounds far better than his and yet Naruto picked up things as if they were made for him. His body and mind guided him when his intellect couldn't; it was almost as if the instincts were ingrained into his DNA.

He caught Anko's eye as she grinned knowingly at him. Did she begin to think that she knew what he was thinking about? Yeah right, as if anyone could do that. He gave her his trademark eye-smile and she pouted and turned back to the fight. Sasuke ducked low but fell for an obvious feint. His enemy slammed him into the ground courtesy of a heavy trip and gripped his face with a glowing palm.

Kakashi groaned in annoyance. His student was acting like an amateur and his two teammates were acting like idiots. One was screaming about how it wasn't righteous to touch a hair on an Uchiha's head whilst the other seemed to be staring at a more...dubious location of the two contestants down in the arena. One of these days they would run into a team that would recognise him as their Jounin Sensei and he'd have all sorts of bad stuff staining his legend.

The crowd gasped and the ex-ANBU Captain pulled his hand away to find his student up in the air already slamming a kick home into the side of his enemy. Sasuke froze midway and a ripple of dark purple Chakra filled the room. Kakashi stared, quickly turning to look at the proctor's podium. Anko had faced the Hokage and was speaking to him in a hurried, hushed tone. The Sandaime shook his head and motioned to one of the Chuunin helpers. The male checked his clipboard before shaking his head as well.

It was then that Kakashi saw Hiruzen look up and stare directly at him. He raised three fingers, cocked them into a cross shape and then dropped them towards the floor. Kakashi understood the message instantly.

'Us three, Kage Bunshin, downstairs now.'

He was out of the room in a heartbeat.

"What was that?"

Sarutobi tucked his pipe into a pocket in his robes and turned his back on the two Jounin. Anko exchanged a glance with her friend. No way, it couldn't be...

"Anko. Tell Kakashi what you told me."

She glanced at him nervously, almost afraid to speak, but then she pulled herself together and squared her shoulders.

"You heard about the infiltration, right?"

He nodded.

"Sure. The Chuunin were working up a frenzy over it."

Anko nodded sharply.

"It was Orochimaru. We think he placed the Ten no Juuin on Uchiha Sasuke whilst in the forest."

Kakashi remained silent for a while; head down as he contemplated the latest development. Orochimaru? Here?! It didn't make any sense. If he was the person who got past the security bubble, it would explain why they hadn't detected anything, but still...

"Wait. That can't be his only goal. He wouldn't risk something like that just to seal Sasuke."

The Sandaime turned back to them with a grave look in his eye.

"Exactly. That's why we need to question Sasuke-san and find out what happened. According to Anko, Naruto-kun encountered him as well."

Kakashi balked.

"R-Really? A-And how did that turn out?"

Anko laughed at his expression beneath his mask. It was really weird and she could tell by the way the fabric stretched in really awkward ways. Maybe he covered his face to hide how animated he was?

"Heh. Old Snake-Face had a crash-course in a crashin' course. That too his arm got blown off. Didn't look too good when I saw him!"

Kakashi sweat-dropped. Naruto amputated the arm of an S-Ranked Missing-nin. What next?

"Hehe. I taught him too well!"

The Elite Jounin coughed into his fist.

"We all taught him."

The purple-haired Kunoichi slugged him on the arm and he was left rubbing the sting from his bicep.

"So, what happened?"

"Well, I was...monitorin' the exam," She winked casually at the Cyclops and he smirked; Crystal Ball, eh? "I saw 'Ruto gettin' into a fight with him so I rushed in as fast as I could. Turns out I wasn't really needed and Orochimaru took off before I could get to him. Naruto was a bit beat up when I found him but he pointed me in the right direction and I went to catch up with the slimeball."

Kakashi's eyes widened.

"You abandoned him."

Anko gave a start. It wasn't a question.

"Huh?"

"You just left him there? He had just fought one of the most notorious Shinobi in the world and you turned your back on him?"

The Sandaime realised where this was going and attempted to intervene.

"Wait, Kakashi-"

"No, you wait! What the hell were you thinking?"

Anko stood stock-still, her mouth open in shock. She'd never seen the Sharingan wielder this angry before, not once in her life. He wasn't just angry, he was furious. His hands were clenched and what little of his face she could see was turning red.

"I-It's not what you think! I-I was goin' after Orochi-"

"Don't give me that Anko! You left him all alone when he was hurt?! He calls you his sister!"

She shrank back at the accusation. She didn't know how to respond. Ever since Shisui had been rendered comatose and Naruto had closed in on himself, their dynamic was falling apart. They were quick to anger and Kakashi was displaying that Shisui's injury had affected him far more than he let on.

"Enough! Kakashi, you can save your misgivings for later! For now, we must focus on what to do with Uchiha Sasuke."

He glared at her a while longer but then relaxed his stance although his eyes still held the same steel as when he'd shouted at her. What was wrong with him? Why did he react like that?

"When his match is over, I'll take him down to the basement and counter-seal the Ten no Juuin."

Sarutobi glanced at Anko, but she had her head down.

"Are you sure you can handle it alone? Jiraiya-kun is back so I can always ask him."

Kakashi shook his head and replied with an emphatic 'Hai'.

Hiruzen sighed. It seemed as if Naruto was the centrepiece to everything these days. He couldn't even relax anymore with all the stuff happening around him. It was like trying to look after an unruly cub that always looks for fights against animals bigger and stronger than himself.

"Alright, that's what we'll do. Let's get back up there."

XXXXXXXX

"Alright, that should do it. Hang in there for a second, it should be over quickly."

Sasuke closed his eyes in anticipation and Kakashi could feel the slight vibe of anxiety from his tensed posture on the cold concrete floor of the basement within the tower of Training Arena 44.

He was about to begin the seals for the Fuuja Houin when something unexpected happened.

"Yo Kakashi!"

The Elite Jounin jumped. He was just so pent up with what had happened in the day that the voice echoing so loud in his ear within the depths of such an out-of-the-way location surprised him far more than it should have. His whole body shivered as he leapt almost a foot into the air.

"N-NARUTO! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING DOWN HERE?!"

Naruto cackled loudly as he pointed a shaking finger at his friend.

"HAHAHAHAHA! I SCARED YOU! AHAHAHAHAHAH!"

Kakashi could only stare at him, nonplussed. He looked like he'd just walked out of a hurricane. His hair was tousled and windswept, his clothes torn and ripped in a multitude of places. He had small slices etched into his skin that appeared to have scabbed over. It didn't miss Kakashi's notice that the back of his black muscle T-Shirt seemed to be singed.

"So, what are you doing down here?"

Naruto walked up to the two Shinobi, Sasuke's eyes had snapped open and he was glaring at the blond with such hate that if looks could kill, Naruto would have been dead many times over.

"Hey! What's got your panties in a bunch? You're still wearing them right?"

Sasuke balked but quickly overcame his shock at the reference to the gender-changing seal that was forced on him during his Genin Exam. Naruto winked when the youngest Uchiha's glare returned full-force.

"Actually, I heard you were doin' some sealing down here, so I came to help!"

Kakashi's eyes widened.

"You know how to do the Fuuja Houin?"

"The what?"

The ex-ANBU Captain sighed. He shouldn't have expected such a high level technique from the boy anyway. It seemed as if he was holding his Sensei's legacy on a pinnacle that was unreasonable.

"This seal," Kakashi indicated with a lazy gesture, "is called the Fuuja Houin. It isolates seals based on the wearer's will and can control the seal beneath it."

"Oh. Sounds great!"

Sasuke's glare intensified.

"There's no way I'll let you near my body with a paintbrush for a one-mile radius."

Naruto grinned slyly at the Uchiha.

"Oh? But I can help! I'm pretty good with seals ya' know."

Sasuke scowled. Everyone around him seemed to love this troublemaker, but from what he'd seen, Uzumaki Naruto was a bumbling idiot who only had strength going for him. Who would test out new seals on people?!

"Aaaanyway, see, I have this new seal I wanted to try out and this is the best time to do it!"

"DIDN'T I JUST TELL YOU THAT YOU'RE NOT COMING NEAR ME WITH A-"

"Gurk!"

Sasuke slumped forward, unconscious, with Naruto smiling innocently, his hand still raised from the knock-out strike he'd driven into the black-haired boy's collar-bone. Kakashi sweat-dropped.

"Naruto, there's nothing you can do here. Seriously. Just let me handle this."

He pouted and turned away. Kakashi quickly finished the handseals before the Konoha Jinchuuriki regained interest.

"Fuuja Houin!"

Sasuke screamed as the sealing Kanji glowed around him and began creeping up his back to form a circle around the Cursed Seal. Naruto tilted his head to watch the process, a look of interest across his face. After a few seconds, the glow dissipated and Sasuke slumped forward. He was beat.

"Sattae...guess I'll take him to the infirmary for the rest of the day. What are you going to do Naruto?"

Kakashi frowned as he took in his young friend's demeanour. His head was down and his muscles were tensed as if he was ready for something. Kakashi's warning sense blared at him. Something was wrong.

"Oi, Hebi-chan. How long you gonna hide in the corner for?"

A deep, throaty chuckle echoed creepily around the expansive basement, the temperature suddenly feeling frigid to the Elite Jounin. The air became suffocating, as if a snake had wound itself around his neck and was constricting his Trachea slowly but surely. He heard footsteps, the sound of thunder on the floor with every moment they approached. Kakashi's head whirled around to stare at the dangerous missing-nin as he melted from the shadows between two concrete pillars a few metres away. It was Orochimaru.

"Who invited you? Wasn't your arm a big enough hint that you're not welcome?"

Kakashi didn't know what was scarier: Naruto's total disrespect of one of the most volatile Shinobi on the continent, or the look of utter hatred that was directed at him by the traitor.

"Your wit precedes you, child. Maybe I need to teach you another lesson; my curriculum from yesterday seems to have been ignored."

Kakashi planted his feet; his left arm reached up to grab the wrist of his right. He was ready to power up a Raikiri at a moment's notice.

"Orochimaru."

He was clad in a standard Shinobi's outfit, a dull grey, generic vest with standard blue trousers and metal-backed, fingerless gloves. His fang-shaped earring dangled from his right ear, but there was no sign of a Hitai-ate anywhere on his person. The genius of the Legendary Three raised an inverted palm. His sight slid over to the one-eyed Sharingan user like a serpent tracking its prey.

"I'm afraid I'm not here to see you Kakashi-kun. I'm here for the boy behind you."

Naruto snorted and the two enemies' gazes were drawn to him once again.

"I dunno about you, but he doesn't look like a boy to me! Then again, you'd know all about that, won't you?"

Orochimaru snarled in anger. This brat always managed to break his cool somehow. He needed to dispose of his quickly.

"You impudent fool! Can you not see that your strength is no match to mine?!"

He flexed his left arm as if to prove his point.

"Oh! You got a new arm! That's handy! Where'd you buy it from?"

The look of absolute fury began to twist into something even worse, but after a moment the Missing-nin took a deep breath and looked up with a crooked smile stretching his face once more.

"Kukuku, you are indeed very lucky Kakashi-kun. You already have your hands on it. You didn't used to have it did you?"

"What are you talking about?"

His grin turned manic.

"That Sharingan in your left eye."

Kakashi stiffened imperceptibly. Naruto's eyes caught the movement as his gaze shifted between them quickly.

"What do you want?"

Orochimaru chuckled.

"Why those eyes of course! The Hidden Sound, is my village. You should..."

He turned and began walking back into the shadows. He wasn't a fool. The Uzumaki child was hard enough to deal with on his own. Adding Kakashi onto the list and he wasn't sure if he could escape unharmed. Just before his body fell back into the shadows, he turned a single gleaming eye to his audience.

"...understand from just that."

Kakashi held his gaze. He didn't flinch at the flash of madness that emanated from the very depths of his being.

"Foolish ambitions."

Orochimaru chuckled again.

"That may be so. The fact is, I need the pieces to the puzzle."

Naruto shifted slightly but Kakashi sent him a warning look.

"So the Sharingan is only a piece too."

Orochimaru threw back his head and laughed a chilling laugh. His hair fluttered about his cranium and settled above his eyes which did nothing to prevent the insane glow from peeking out behind them.

"That and my little Genin upstairs. They're nothing but my pawns!"

His eyes squinted slightly into a defiant look of confidence.

"Sasuke will seek me out for power, for that is what lies within his heart. He's an avenger. Itachi saw to that."

He was startled by the laughter that tore from the mouth of the blond-haired Jinchuuriki and for a moment, the shock was evident on his face.

"Man...you're dumb, aren't you Hebi-chan? You think Sasuke's gonna come to you just 'cause of what happened when his family died?! Looks like you're gettin' too old! Or did I bust you up too badly back then?"

Orochimaru stared at him intensely. Could it be true, was there something he was missing? It wasn't possible. The only other Uchiha that had lived was his cousin Shisui. His spies had made sure to relay every bit of information that they found. He couldn't be wrong, not now, not so late in the game. Where was this foolish insurance coming from for the Kyuubi's vessel to make such a bold claim?

He shook himself mentally. It was a bluff, a psychological game to throw him off. For some reason he couldn't get rid of Kakashi's look of surprise from the Jinchuuriki's statement. Without a word, he slipped into the darkness once again.

"And let me remind you, Hebi-chan. You dare touch Shisui and we're gonna kill you."

Only silence followed his threat.

XXXXXXXX

"The fifth match: TenTen vs. Temari. Would the two contestants please enter the arena?"

The brown-haired weapons-mistress stared down into the ring confidently. She wouldn't lose, especially not to a Suna Genin. She glanced up to see an equally confident blonde haired girl with her hair done up in four pigtails, plod down the stairs calmly, a fan almost as large as her body attached to her back. Fans usually meant Wind Chakra and Fuuton techniques were one of her weaknesses. Then again, there was no telling how well the girl could use the unwieldy weapon in the first place.

She didn't waste any time in getting to the arena floor. She nodded at Lee's exuberant calls for her assured victory and the calculating look Neji pierced her with. She shrugged off the thumbs-up bestowed by her Sensei. That was corny. She shivered as the air of the vast chamber swept over her form. She felt so insignificant in a room so big with the audience gazing down on her. This wasn't how Shinobi were meant to battle. It was cloak-and-dagger stuff not a competition for the masses.

"The rules are the same as I mentioned earlier. You can do whatever I want and you win if you knock your opponent out or I step in."

Gekkou Hayate coughed into his hand before continuing.

"My decisions are final. If you don't stop when I tell you..."

He coughed again, this time harsher than before.

"I will step in and stop you myself."

TenTen nodded in acceptance and turned to see her opponent studying her with steel blue eyes. The colour wasn't as vibrant as Naruto's, she lacked the same joy and sparkle that his delphinium depths possessed. The girl, Temari, smirked at her as if victory was already decided. The proctor's arm fell and the match began with a simple command.

Almost immediately, the spectators fell silent. TenTen regarded her opponent nervously. It was true that Wind was her biggest weakness, but that all depended on the fact that she actually could use Elemental Ninjutsu in the first place. She wouldn't put it past the Suna-nin to carry weapons as a sort of fake threat. At any rate, she couldn't allow her fellow Kunoichi to set the pace of the fight.

TenTen snapped her arms out, flinging two Kunai with precision at her opponent. Temari grinned sadistically, slamming the base of the fan to the floor without blinking an eye. The deadly daggers bounced harmlessly off of the metal ridging with a small 'Ping!'

"Pathetic. I won't even have to open this to defeat you."

TenTen glared with all her might. How dare she bait her like that?! If she wanted a fight so badly, she'd be happy to oblige!

Without missing a beat, she sprang forward, a puff of smoke heralding the arrival of a sleek, white Katana in the fist of her right hand. She jumped into a crouching stance, the blade held parallel to the ground, and began stalking her prey. For now, the floor was hers; she would see if the Suna Genin could hold up to her words.

In an instant, she was in front of her, arms swinging in a deadly arc of biting steel. The clang of metal-on-metal rattled her teeth and she looked up in shock. Temari had blocked her strike effortlessly, using the edge of her fan once again.

"Weapons huh? Maybe this'll be more interesting than I thought!"

Irrational anger welled up within her mind. She felt inferior; maybe it was something wrong with her, something that came to the forefront whenever someone believed her a pushover.

"Orphans don't have a place in the world, that's why we take you in. We expect you to enrol in the Shinobi Academy when you reach six years of age."

Expect, or force?

'Why? Why is it always like this? Just when I thought I've caught up, I feel as if I've fallen behind again...'

She swung wildly, but it was blocked again, the sword ripped from her grasp in a surprising show of strength. The Katana clattered to the floor but she hardly realised. She rolled backwards to avoid the fan from slamming into her nose, leaping up to let loose as many weapons as possible. She kept throwing. Throwing and throwing, until her arms became heavy and her breath laboured.

But still she threw.

But then she realised her Utility Pouch was empty. She glanced up to see Temari snapping her fan closed, the noise sharp in the silent room.

"I'm surprised! I didn't know someone could keep that many weapons on them! I actually had to open my fan..."

"We'll put you in the Orphanage. Don't worry, it's a nice place. You'll be given meals and all you'll have to do is help out when the staff ask you to."

In other words, prison without bars.

She remembered walking through the front door, looking back to find a dirty mop of blond hair taking shelter underneath the shade of the single tree on the right side of the path. Her arm was jerked in her socket and she cried out in pain.

"Don't look at that...that boy."

She said it like it was poison.

She cried out as a blast of wind slammed into her torso, her back arcing in pain as she hurtled towards the wall. She managed to turn just in time and broke her flight with her arms. They were numb; the shock of the collision made her muscles tremble and her legs feel weak. She felt dizzy beyond anything she had felt before.

She raised her eyes to her enemy. She stared into the light blue gaze that held such contempt for her.

"Yeah this is TenTen! She loves all your swords and stuff!"

'They're blue, but not blue...'

She shouted out her challenge, her weapon scrolls unfurling around her as she leapt into the air once more. Her hands blurred as she flung weapon after weapon at blinding speeds, the deadly Soushouryuu that Naoto-san had taught her raising its deadly head. The storm of metal cleared and her opponent still stood.

"Not yet!"

Her fingers twitched, Chakra Strings becoming taut as she redirected them at her foe once more. She only had time to see Temari wince in pain and anger as a shuriken sliced her arm. She pulled her fan fully open.

What followed was blurry to TenTen. She was hit by...something, something so big that she was thrown around the arena like a ragdoll. She didn't know how many times she hit something solid but when she opened her eyes to the spinning concrete, she was on the floor.

She had no more weapons, nothing she could use, no last move to defeat her enemies. Was this the extent of her power, the limit to her skills? She raised a shaky hand to her waist to clutch at an aching pain on her hip. Her hand brushed something smooth and solid. Trembling, she pulled it from her belt.

Metal flashed in the bright white lights attached to the ceiling of the arena, the blade bounced before settling a hand span from her face.

"You like pointy things right? I thought you would like them 'cause it's pointy see?"

It was the dagger Naruto had given her for her ninth birthday. She had never mentioned it to him, but it had been the first birthday she had celebrated.

The first birthday she had ever received a gift.

The emerald dragon looked as if it was considering her, whether she was worthy of wielding it or not. It flashed as she turned her head to look at it fully. It hadn't changed; it was still the most beautiful blade she had seen in her life. The hilt was crafted from varnished mahogany, so expertly, that it looked more like brown ceramic than the wood it actually was.

"Those are the Bunshin, Kawarimi and Henge techniques. I've already learnt them so you can go ahead and keep them, although I could never pull off the Bunshin. Maybe you'll be able to do it?"

That's right, she knew more than this. She knew different Ninjutsu too. She pushed herself to her feet, staggering but then steadying herself by placing a hand on the wall. She reached down for the dagger, pausing when she was about to pick it up. Why was she hesitating?

"I can't trust you, not with this.'

He'd said those words with pain in his eyes, and she realised it now. She'd hurt him far more than he'd hurt her. Up till now, her apology hadn't seemed genuine but now it was different.

'Do I deserve...should I be trusted with this?'

When the fight had broken out, the audience had begun shouting. It had melded in with the beating of her heart and the scream of her knives. But now she realised that the crowd had gone silent once again. What was happening? Was the match over? Had she lost? Where was the proctor?

'I don't deserve this. Look at her, staring at me like that. I'm losing because I don't have anything else to go on. I-I'm just...'

'I'm just weak...'

She felt a small displacement of air behind her, almost as if someone had placed a hand on her shoulder.

"I know better than anyone who you really are. Why aren't you usin' any Jutsu? What happened to all those scrolls I leant you?"

Her head spun so fast that she felt it click. There was nothing there, but it had been Naruto's voice. She felt something well up inside her heart, an iron-clad resolve so strong, that it enveloped her in a feeling of such strength that her fatigue almost completely disappeared.

'I will do this! I will win, and I won't hold back anymore!'

She sprang up, racing for the centre of the arena. She burst forth from the cloud of smoke hanging in the air, the furling grey conforming to her body as she blossomed from the swirling gas. Her hands whipped through handseals. What was wind's natural weakness?

Fire!

"KATON: GOUKAKYU NO JUTSU!"

The crowd roared into life as a ball of fire exploded towards the Suna Kunoichi. She didn't react for a second and it was for that reason that she lost. The shock of seeing her opponent releasing a deadly Jutsu just moments after being floored by her strongest technique...

She could still make it in time! Temari snapped her fan completely open and swung it in a full circle. She was too late. With a large 'BOOM!' the arena shook as the ball of flame engulfed her in a roaring abyss. The audience screamed. She could hear Lee and her Sensei shouting something, the Kunoichi's teammate was saying something too, but nothing was computing within her mind.

The room froze when in a burst of smoke; a certain blond-haired stand-in proctor appeared crouched at the centre of the arena. The fireball simply winked out, revealing the unconscious form of a smoking pig-tailed blonde.

"Yo Jiji!"

ZZZZZZZZ

Aaaand CUT! BWAHAHAHAHA! I left you all with a cliffhanger! Sorry about that but I had to do it this way or it would have been too long! If I'd included the rest of what I had planned, this chapter would have been well over 15k words!

I'm really sad right now. 'Cloud Age Symphony' has been completed and it felt like a rush-job. It was such an awesome story but it looks like withRainyEyes simply ran out of interest. Can't say I blame him.

Chapter notes:

Ten no Juuin - Heaven Seal
Wearer: Uchiha Sasuke, Mitarashi Anko

This seal was attached to both Leaf ninja by Orochimaru.

Kakashi's Fuuja Houin
Wearer: Uchiha Sasuke

Hatake Kakashi attempted to seal the Heaven Seal placed on Sasuke by Orochimaru. It was hoped the seal would help prevent the cursed seal from activating on Sasuke's neck.

Soushouryuu - Twin Rising Dragons

Character Use: TenTen
Rank: -
Range: Close (0m ~ 5m), Mid (5m ~ 10m)
Type: Attack
Special note: Anime Only

Soushouryuu is a Ninjutsu technique developed by the Leaf ninja Tenten. Tenten uses this summoning technique to take advantage of her deadly accurate ability to throw edged weapons. Tenten generally only uses this technique as her trump card. To begin, she will will remove her two scrolls and set them on the ground, after forming the necessary hand seals, the two scroll rise into the air and begin to swirl around a middle vortex. Tenten then uses this space to launch herself into the air between the spinning scrolls. From these scrolls she can then summon her weapons which she then begins to throw at her opponent. If the first barrage fails, she can use wires that run from each weapon to her fingertips to pull them back into the air to strike at her opponent again. Unfortunately this attack is very vulnerable to wind based attacks.

And that's that! Thank you to InARealPickle for allowing me to use a certain idea which I'm sure she'd spotted by now. On a final note, I may not be able to update for a month because my exams start in two weeks. Have no fear, I will finish this!

Ja ne!

~MegaB