Wow, Chapter 50 already. To commemorate the 50th chapter, this is the longest one yet, and quite frankly, this was one of those chapters that I just couldn't stop writing. Just note that there is quite a bit of jumping between teams in here so bear with me. I will do my best to indicate which team I'm focusing on. Enjoy.

Disclaimer: Sorry, my offer to purchase Naruto failed. I still don't own it.

Posted: 1/15/13


Chapter 50: The Night of Blood

As the Raikage got up from on top of his brother, one thing was obvious…that kick had knocked Bee unconscious. Darui's sweat dropped at their antics and none of the Kumo ninja were surprised one bit.

"Darui, just get on with the second exam" ordered the Raikage.

"H-hai, Boss" bowed Darui. The Raikage picked his brother's unconscious body from the crater in the flooring and carried him out the door. The only thing was…it wasn't the door he walked out of, but rather a hole smashed in the wall next to the door. "I apologize for those two."

Yugito nudged Naruto in the side. "That was the Raikage Ay, and his brother Bee, the jinchuriki of the Hachibi."

"I hate to say it, but I almost feel sorry for that ox" thought Kurama.

"I did say they were a rather odd pair, didn't I?" said Yugito.

"Yeah. But I kind of like them" said Naruto. Yugito just laughed at this as Darui took over as proctor for the second exam.

Darui then began to explain the second exam. "We will now begin the second exam. This will be a six day long survival exercise, located…" the wall behind Darui exploded and collapsed, revealing a single, solitary peak that stretched far into the clouds. There was a rather lush forest that surrounded the base before it began to climb the mountain side, thinning as it grew higher into the clouds until it was just a mountain that disappeared. "At what is known as Thunder Peak. It is an area, roughly 20km in radius that surrounds the mountain. At the top of the mountain, is the base where you are to report to if you and your team manages to complete their objective."

"What exactly is our objective?" asked one ninja from the crowd.

"Sorry, I was just getting to that" said Darui. He held up three different types of scrolls. "You and your team are to gather one of each of these scrolls, the lightning scroll, the cloud scroll, and the wind scroll. You and your team will each be given one and you are to battle over the remaining scrolls. You have until 2:00pm, seven days from now to report to the base on the top of the mountain with all three scrolls."

"Hmm, so unlike our exams, where you only need two scrolls, for this test you need three. That means there is definitely going to be more fighting over scrolls" thought Sasuke. "Good."

"Now the rules. There are only a few. First, you are not allowed to open any of the three scrolls under any circumstances. Second, all three members of your team must be alive by the time you arrive at the base. Third, killing is allowed. Those are the only rules, if there are any of you who wish to back out now, please do so now. You will not be allowed to leave once the test begins."

Surprisingly, no one backed out. 60 teams meant that 20, at most, would be passing, and it was highly unlikely that more than half of that would pass due to the nature of these exams. Like in Konoha, every team was given a scroll, required to sign a waiver, and taken to a gate.

With every team stationed at their gate, "Haijime!" the second exam began.


Team 7,

"Summoning Jutsu!" shouted Sasuke, slamming his hand on the ground.

"That's right, Naruto and Sasuke both have summoning contracts and I don't" sighed a depressed Sakura. The smoke cleared and a medium-sized cat appeared.

"Sasuke, how wonderful to see you again" the cat said. Sasuke reached into his back pouch and threw the cat summon a few treats.

"Hey Sasuke, what's the cat for?" asked Naruto.

"Tracking. Cats are just as good trackers as ninja-hounds" said Sasuke.

"Ahem" said the cat. "We're better than those mangy dogs."

"Anyways, we have need of your tracking abilities. Can you help us Riku?" asked Sasuke.

"I can" replied the cat.

"So what's the plan?" asked Sakura. Sasuke pulled out a map that was given to them at the very start. He pointed to the gate where they were at. How the layout was, the gates were scattered in an arc around the front third of the arena. The mountain with the base on top of it started ascending at roughly the midpoint of the arena with the majority of the back half of the arena being mountainous terrain. Running through the middle of the arena was a rather large river with a few streams or tributaries branching off for it.

"I say we make for the river. There is a good chance we will run into other that are in search of water there, not to mention it is on the way to the mountain. We can use that as kind of a base and work from there" said Sasuke.

"Okay, but I'll be honest in saying that I want to group up with another of our groups. If we are sitting and waiting, six could be better than three" said Naruto. In reality, he just wanted to join up with Hinata's group to make sure she didn't run into any of the other jinchuriki in here. Unfortunately, while going to gates, Teams 7 and 8 wend completely opposite directions from one another, making the odds of them meeting up unlikely. Thankfully for him, the Kiri jinchuriki went the same way as Naruto and even past the gate where they were stationed by. He was the one Naruto was really scared of her running into. Yugito and Fu seemed nice enough, but one could never be entirely sure, and Gaara…well Naruto wasn't entirely sure either. Gaara had agreed not to kill a Konoha shinobi, but there was still the threat of the Ichibi to deal with. Still the only jinchuriki that Naruto had seen go off towards Hinata's direction was the green-haired Fu and if he remembered correctly from the previous exam, Shino's bug could act as Fu-repellant as he remembered her being afraid of bugs. Regardless, that didn't put his thoughts at ease. The only thing that truly would was if he saw her inside the base on top of the mountain.

"Well help them out if we run into them, but I'm not about to go on a blind search through an enemy infested forest unless I know for certain where they are" said Sasuke.

"Fine, let's get going then" said Naruto.

"Right, Riku you take point. Let us know what's ahead of us" said Sasuke.

"Naruto, can you send a shadow clone to tail us? Have it dispel if it sees anything?" asked Sakura.

"Way ahead of you" said Naruto, creating a clone.

Team 7 then headed out, their destination the river that ran at the base of the mountain.


Team 8,

"What do you think, Akamaru? Shino? Hinata?" asked Kiba.

"Arf" barked Akamaru.

"Our specialties lie in tracking, so I believe we should stick to what we do best" said Shino.

"I agree with Shino" said Hinata. "Naruto, I hope you're doing okay."

"A hunt? What'd you say boy?" said Kiba to the white dog on top of his head. Akamaru barked in agreement, so Team 8 was off.

About thirty minutes later, Akamaru had picked up on the scent of another team. "Hinata, 2-o'clock. Half a kilometer ahead, can you check it out?" said Kiba.

Hinata nodded. "Byakugan!" she said as she activated her dojutsu. Her vision extended half a kilometer to the team's 2-o'clock position and she caught a glimpse of an Ame team. "Three ninja, Amegakure, ahead."

Right, let's get 'emm" said Kiba as the trio sped on ahead.

Ahead with the Amegakure ninja, one of them was busy swatting bugs away from himself. "Yaku, will you stop that?" said the female member of their team.

"Sorry, this place just has too many damned bugs" said Yaku. All three Ame ninja were wearing long brown coats with a few umbrellas strapped to their back. Suddenly, the other Ame ninja's eyes snapped open.

"Bugs?! This place doesn't seem like a bug paradise. Stay on your guard, I think we're under attack!" ordered the third Ame ninja.

Back with Team 8, "It appears as if they are onto us" said Hinata. Shino just nodded as their targets have now stopped running as he unleashed more of his hive to enclose them within a confined area.

"Ready boy?" Kiba said, tossing Akamaru a soldier pill. Akamaru jumped off Kiba as Kiba made a hand seal. "Man-Beast Clone!" Akamaru transformed into a more feral version of Kiba and Kiba transformed to match his canine companion.

"Where are they?" asked one of the Ame ninja. The three of them were back to back with some of their umbrellas unfurled, acting like a shield.

"Gatsuga!"

"Jump!" shouted one of the Ame ninja as the three of them scattered. However, Kiba and Akamaru's attack proved somewhat effective as one of them, the other male member of the three, was clipped in the side by Kiba's attack.

When the other male Ame ninja, Yaku, landed, there was a swarm of Shino's bugs waiting for him. Yaku began to scream as he was enveloped in a massive swarm of chakra-draining insects.

The female member of the Ame ninja noticed movement on her left and threw one of her umbrellas in that direction. The umbrella separated into dozens of kunai and many pelted their target…Hinata.

"Hmm. Little girls like you shouldn't be out here. You might get hurt" said the Ame kunoichi. At that point, Hinata disappeared in a cloud of smoke. "What? A clone?!"

"You are in my field of divination" called out Hinata from behind the Ame kunoichi. She barely had time to turn around before Hinata began her attack. "Jyuken: 8 trigrams, 64 Palms!" Hinata struck out with 64 chakra-infused strikes that crippled the Ame ninja to the ground.

Team 8's little hunt had succeeded and they claimed the Ame team's Lightning scroll, which went along nicely with their own Wind scroll.


Team Gai,

While Team 8 was busy hunting, Team Gai was busy being hunted. They were not a tracker team and the closest they had to being able to track was Neji. While Neji's Byakugan was considered stronger than Hinata's in most aspects, Hinata's Byakugan still won when it came to being able to see over long distances. Hinata, at the moment, could extend her field of vision up to 10km in a single direction, whereas Neji could only do so for up to 2km at most. The tradeoff was that Neji could still see the chakra network much more clearly than Hinata and his 360o vision extended to 100m around him, while Hinata's was limited to 50m.

Still, Team Gai was by no means a tracking team. Instead, they were designed to be a front-line strike team that focused primarily on close combat with weapons assistance from Tenten.

Neji signaled over to Lee and received a nod from him. The three members of Team Gai then took a sharp turn to the right, leading their pursuers from Kirigakure with them.

One of the Kiri ninja stopped and began going through a series of hand-seals. "Suiton: Water Bullet!" Out of the Kiri ninja's mouth shot a condensed ball of water, hitting Tenten in the back, only it didn't hit Tenten. The water bullet sailed clean through the girl as 'Tenten' faded away.

"What? A clone?" shouted one of the Kiri ninja as the other two stopped. "Stay on your guard. There could be a trap somewhere."

"It's already to late" said Neji, flicking a kunai to cut a wire. Before the two Kiri ninja could react, they found themselves bound in a mass of ninja wire.

"Damn you, Suiton: Water Bullet!" shouted the third, uncaptured Kiri ninja.

"Kaiten!" Neji spun, releasing chakra from his tenketsu as the Kaiten easily beat the Kiri ninja's attack.

"Huh? Where'd that green one go with the weird eyebrows?" said the Kiri ninja to himself as Neji stopped spinning.

"Konoha Senpu!" shouted Lee as he lashed out a high sweeping kick at the Kiri ninja. The enemy ducked underneath the kick, only to be nailed by a second sweeping kick, characteristic of the Konoha Senpu, to the back, sending him crashing to the ground below.

Neji was quick with a few Jyuken strikes to incapacitate the Kiri ninja.

"Great job, Tenten!" shouted Lee to the trees as Tenten jumped down.

"Hey! Let us out!" shouted one of the two tied up Kiri ninja.

"It's your fault. A ninja shouldn't fall into a trap so easily" said Neji as he knocked them unconscious as well.

"Yosh! Our youthful endeavor has paid off!" shouted Lee as he pulled out a Wind scroll from one of the Kiri ninja's bag. All they were missing now was a Cloud scroll.

Tenten began complaining and Neji asked why. "Even though they aren't some of the Seven Swordsmen, Kiri ninja are usually known to have rather unique swords on them. These guys have squat" complained Tenten. Sometime in the past few months, Tenten had talked with Zabuza, curious about the sword he carried, the Kubikiribocho. He had even promised her to train her if she managed to get her hands on one of the legendary Seven Swords. While the odds were extremely low that she would find one in these exams, she was still hoping to find some unique Kiri weapons.


Some random location where 15 Iwa ninja had gathered,

"So you're absolutely sure" asked one of the Iwa ninja.

"Positive. I questioned my sensei on it and even he thinks so" said the Iwa ninja who had discovered Naruto at the ramen stand.

"You're absolutely positive that kid's a Namikaze?" asked another Iwa ninja.

"From what my dad told me, blonde hair is rare in Konoha. The only ones who have blonde hair there are the Yamanaka clan, Senju Tsunade, and the Namikaze. And that kid bears a strong resemblance to the worst of them all, the Yellow Flash."

"I talked to my sensei before the exam today and he said regardless of who that kid is, the fact that he even looks like the Yellow Flash is enough for him. Hell, my sensei's even promising me three high-ranked jutsu for his head."

"Really? Lucky bastard. Mine's only giving me two." Soon a conversation erupted amongst the Iwa ninja. Apparently every Iwa sensei had placed some sort of bounty on the head of the 'mini-Yellow Flash' as they called it.

"Enough! Tell you what. We're going to go in there, get the Namikaze brat, kill him, and hand over his head to our senseis. I'm sure that if we are all there together, that they'll be happy with us. Besides, after what the Yellow Flash did to us in the last war, we'd be considered heroes for bringing back that brat's head. Hell, regardless of how we do in this exam, the Tsuchikage will be handing out our promotions left and right."

"I agree. Let's just get him and worry about this conversation of his bounty afterwards" said another Iwa ninja. "So how are we going to find him?"

"Well, the brat was at the ramen stand last night and he got the special bowl, you know the one that you can only get with one of these" said an Iwa nin, holding up a ramen passport. "Kucha, if we have your wolves track for the scent of ramen, I'm sure we can find them."

"How can you be sure that he even bears the scent of ramen?" asked another Iwa ninja.

"Because Sako, I've been on Tomaru's team long enough to know that scent and to know that scent doesn't come out easily, especially if the kid's as addicted to the stuff as Tomaru says he is. My wolves will find him. You can count on that. Summoning Jutsu!" Kucha, the pack master of the Iwa ninja summoned a trio of ninja wolves. "You got it?"

"Yeah, I've got it. There are a few though" said one of the wolves. That sadly was expected as there was more than one person at the ramen stand the other night. "The closest one is about 7km north of here."

"Right. Looks like we'll just have to keep going one-by-one until we find him" said the Iwa ninja as they took off towards the nearest scent of ramen.


Team 7,

At this time, the end of the first day was quickly coming to an end. They had set up camp on the north bank of the major river that cut through the arena and they had found a trio of three rather large boulders that would give them some form of protection while they rested. For the next few days, until they got their scrolls, this would be their base camp as they branched out to go and search for other teams that were carrying scrolls.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" shouted Naruto as about three dozen Naruto spoofed into existence.

"We're under attack already?" asked Sakura, assuming a ready position with a kunai in hand.

"No, just I don't know anything about barrier seals yet, but this will make for a suitable barrier" said Naruto. Suddenly, all his clones performed a transformation and Team 7 was facing about 24 woodland animals and a dozen rocks. "Now, the clones will stand in a radius surrounding camp and if anything comes too close, they'll dispel and I'll know where they're coming from."

"Wow…wait. Are you sure you're Naruto?" asked Sakura. Naruto held up his hand showing Sakura the leaf symbol, illuminated with chakra. Sakura sent Naruto a suspicious glare. "Alright, but I still don't believe you. I've got my eye on you."

"Wait, if the animal clones are going to handle the forest, then who's going to watch the river?" asked Sasuke.

"The 'rock' clones. Now if you can just give me a hand in moving them into position…" Naruto felt a thunk on his head from Sakura's fist.

"Baka! You couldn't have had them move before they transformed?" complained Sakura as Naruto rubbed his head.

"Well, at least we know for sure it's Naruto now" said Sasuke. Still, he had to admit that Naruto was thinking a lot smarter this time through.

The night got later and Naruto had finished boiling water for a bowl of instant ramen that he had sealed inside the scroll. Sakura and Sasuke were afraid at first that all Naruto had packed inside their scrolls was ramen, but they were relieved to find that he had a few bento boxes in there as well.


The morning of the second day came. Many teams had seen some action in the first day and some even had their hands on a second scroll. However, no one could yet claim the title of 'Kings of the Mountain' as the Kumo ninja were calling it. The Kings of the Mountain would be the team that manages to secure three scrolls and reach the base on the mountain top first. Strangely, the most surprising part about the first day was that there were no deaths, that would be bound to change in the coming days.


Team 7,

"Alright Naruto, you know what to do."

"Right! Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!" shouted Naruto as fifty Naruto's popped into existence. "The first one to find a scroll gets ramen tonight!"

"Yeah!" shouted all the Narutos as they took off in a spread formation, heading back towards the south side of the battle field with Team 7 trailing behind. The clones would pinpoint the location of possible enemies and try and gauge their strengths before sending the information back to the original. If Team 7 felt it was worth it, they would head of towards the location of said team.


Naruto Clone 23,

The Naruto clone was currently proceeding in a straight line towards the southeast direction of the battle arena. His attention was drawn as he noticed movement off to his right and the clone turned to check on what it was.

"Hold on, I think we're being followed."

"Yosh! Another challenger has presented himself. Come, let us test his Flames of Youth!"

"Lee, will you be quite already?"

"Oh, it's just you three" said the Naruto clone, stepping out from the bushes, confronting Team Gai.

"Oh, it's only Naruto" said Lee.

"What'd ya mean 'it's only Naruto?'" said the clone.

Tenten pretty much face palmed herself. "Never mind, so how are you guys doing? And…wait, where's the rest of your team? Show us that you're Naruto" said Tenten, her tone growing ever more suspicious as she drew a knife.

The clone held up his palm, showing the seal that apparently transferred to the clones as well and Tenten lowered her guard. "So where's the rest of your team, Naruto?" asked Neji.

"They're back somewhere. I'm just a clone, scouting for groups with a scroll. So how are you guys doing?" asked Naruto.

"Our youthful flames burn bright from yesterday!" the clone's sweat dropped.

"We got a second scroll of a team of Kiri ninja yesterday" translated Neji.

"Wow? Really! That's great" said Naruto, congratulating his friends.

"Yep. Now why don't you go back and tell the original that we've got this area covered. Besides, we don't need another loudmouth attracting unwanted attention" said Tenten, flicking a kunai into the Naruto clone, dispelling it.


Team 7,

Naruto winced a little as the memories of a clone came back to him.

"Did you find anything?" asked Sasuke, catching Naruto's reaction.

"Yeah, remind me to talk to Tenten about throwing kunai at comrades" said Naruto.

"So you found Lee, Neji, and Tenten?" asked Sakura. Naruto nodded. "How are they doing?"

"They said they got a scroll of a group of Kiri ninja yesterday" said Naruto.

"Hn. Anything else?" asked Sasuke.


Team 8,

"Arf!"

"I know, I smell it too" said Kiba. It's heading straight towards us. Everyone be ready!" said Kiba as he pulled a knife.

As Hinata came to a stop to activate her Byakugan, a certain blonde-haired ninja dropped down in front of her.

"Hi-na-…" Naruto never got to complete that sentence as Kiba sent a kunai into side of Naruto's head.

"Shit!" he swore as he looked over at the petrified Hinata. Hinata had froze, absolutely horrified at the sight of Naruto being pegged in the side of the head by a kunai, and from Kiba none the less.

"Wait. It's not what it seems" said Shino, pointing at the lifeless Naruto on the ground as it disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Hinata let out a long held breath there, it was only a Naruto clone. Kiba looked over at his teammate and saw a dark aura appear around the genuinely sweet Hinata. "Umm…Hinata…I'm s-sorry. He just jumped out of nowhere and…"

Hinata reached into her coat and pulled out an all too familiar scroll as the canine ninja gulped. Hinata threw the scroll at Kiba as it unfurled and wrapped around him. "Activate!" she called out, making a hand seal.

A puff of smoke engulfed Kiba and when it cleared, he was back in his 'youthanized' outfit. "Noo! Not again!" Kiba cried to the heavens.

"I must be cautious not to upset Hinata. While she is extremely difficult to anger, she can be most vicious if pushed to that point" thought Shino.


Team Gai,

"Yosh! I can sense that someone else has tapped into the powers of Youth!" shouted Lee.

Tenten face palmed herself and Neji merely sighed.


Team 7,

Naruto winced again. "I'm gonna kick Kiba's ass next time I see him. Poor Hinata must be frightened" said Naruto. Sasuke and Sakura merely looked at Naruto. "Seriously, first Tenten and then Kiba. It seems as if everyone is out to kill me today." At least on the bright side, he knew Hinata was alright.

"Wouldn't be the first time, Dobe" responded Sasuke.

"Oh you to Teme?" said Naruto.

"Both of you stop it! You're acting like a couple of two-year olds" said Sakura, scolding both of her teammates, much to Naruto's surprise.

"Was that not aimed just at me and at Sasuke as well? I'd never thought I'd see the day. I guess it's nice to have a not so fan-girlish Sakura" thought Naruto. "Oh come on Sakura, even you know two-year olds can't kill."

"Watch your mouth, Naruto" growled Sakura.

"Huh?" Naruto said as he got some more information. "Hey guys, I think I got something. This way, there's a Kusa team."

"You checked first to make sure there are no snakes there, right?" said Sasuke, reminding Naruto of the last time they encountered a team from Kusagakure in these exams. That was back in the Konoha exam and that particular ninja turned out to be Orochimaru.

"So is that a no for the Kusa ninja?" asked Naruto.

"Meh, let's go" said Sasuke. Sakura sighed, not wanting to risk it being Orochimaru again, although the odds of that happening twice were very slim.


Iwa Lynch Mob,

The Iwa Lynch MobTM had caught up to the first group that their wolves had tracked. Sadly, it wasn't the Namikaze they were looking for and rather a group of Kiri ninja.

"So Bunjo, what do you say?" asked one of the Iwa ninja to what appeared to be the leader and the one who had suggested the hunting of the Namikaze brat in the first place.

"I say we take them. We have the numbers advantage and the element of surprise. We can easily take them and get their scroll" said Kucha.

"I agree, let's get em. Even if the Namikaze is our target, I'm not about to pass up an opportunity at a free scroll and this should only take a few seconds" said Bunjo.

The next minute was not a pretty sight and pretty much marked the first blood spilled in the exam.

"Kucha, I can smell the next group. They are only 5km east of us" said one of the wolves.

"Lead the way" responded Kucha as the Iwa Lynch MobTM was on their way to their second target.


Team 7,

It was late when Team 7 returned to camp. They had succeeded in taking the Kusa team, and thankfully for them, there was no Orochimaru waiting for them this time through. Unfortunately, the Kusa team contained the same exact scroll that they did, the Wind scroll. They were already afraid this was going to be a repeat of last time.

As Naruto was enjoying his dinner of instant ramen, he took a look up at the sky. The sky was still, a sense of calmness filled the air, and a full moon dominated the nighttime sky.


Sand Siblings,

"I want blood. Mother wants blood."

"N-no. I-I won't let you…control me…" replied Gaara to his inhabitant.

"Gaara!" shouted Temari, rushing to her brother's side. Gaara was hunched over, grasping his head, eyes widened and sweating profusely.

"I want out. Let me out. Let me feast upon blood!"

"Kankuro!" shouted Temari. Before Kankuro could assist her brother, sand began to swarm around Gaara.

"Shit! It's no use! We've gotta get out of here before he completely looses it!" shouted Kankuro, pulling Temari away from Gaara.

"Gah!" Gaara screamed as the sand continued to envelop him.

"We can't do anything for him right now. Especially not tonight. Not with the full moon. You know how the Ichibi gets on nights like tonight" said Kankuro, dragging Temari away from Gaara and to some form of safety. From behind a rock, Temari and Kankuro watched as Gaara got to his feet and walked away, transformed into the first state, resembling the miniature Shukaku.

"What are we supposed to do then?" asked Temari.

"Wait. Keep out of his way and hope that he doesn't kill anyone that we consider a friend" said Kankuro.

Iwa Lynch Mob,

"Another dead end" said Bunjo.

"Yeah, but with each dead end, that means we get close to the right one" said Kucha.

"Do we wait till morning to resume or do we hunt through the night?" asked another Iwa ninja.

"There's a fairly strong scent, only 2km southwest from here" said one of the wolves.

"I guess that settles that" said Kucho.

"So it does. Let's go. I've got a good feeling about this one" said Bunjo.


Naruto and Team 7,

Naruto was sitting on top of one of the rocks that was surrounding their campsite. He had taken the first guard duty while Sakura and Sasuke got some rest. "It's quite out. Kind of relaxing. It almost makes you feel like you're not in the exams, like you're just out here to relax and stare up at the night sky" said Naruto to no one in particular, not that there was anyone around to talk to…or was there.

"The calm before the storm" said Kurama.

"Huh?"

"It's exactly what I said, the calm before the storm. I've got a feeling, stuff's going to happen tonight. It's always like this, just before something big happens" replied Kurama. "Peaceful, relaxing. It draws your guard away, and then when you're fully vulnerable, it strikes."

"What does?"

"The storm. Hits you hard and fast, when you least expect it to. Don't let your guard down Kit, I've got this feeling" warned Kurama.

Not two minutes after Kurama said that, an alarm went off in Naruto's head as a clone that he had stationed 250m from the camp dispelled with information regarding a large squad of ninja heading their way. Naruto jumped down off of his perch and woke his teammates.

"What'd you want, Naruto? I'm trying to sleep?" asked a weary Sakura as she tried to go back to sleep. Sasuke on the other hand figured something was up. Resorting to drastic measured, Naruto grabbed a pot of water that they had near them and dumped it on Sakura, instantly waking her up. Before she could pummel Naruto, Sasuke was able to restrain her.

"Quiet down Sakura" said Sasuke. "What's up?"

"Trouble. Large squad of ninja heading our way. They should be here any minute…" Naruto never got to finish his sentence.

"You three can come out now. We know you're there" called out a voice. The three Leaf genin quickly grabbed their surprise and stepped out from their dwelling. Standing in front of them, about 20m away from their camp was Bunjo, Kucha, and Kucha's two wolves.

"How many?" asked Sasuke to Naruto. Naruto had told his team about the sensing ability he picked up from the Kyuubi a few days ago on their journey to the exams. Naruto focused for a moment, trying to pick up and source of negative emotions around them.

"15. And they're surrounding us" replied Naruto, much to Sakura and Sasuke's displeasure.

"I get it. Bring so many of you that you can easily overpower any group and divvy out the scroll later" said Sasuke.

"Not really. You see, the scrolls are just a bonus, but we are after a different target" said Bunjo. For some reason, Naruto got a bad feeling in his gut as the two Iwa ninja's gaze was drawn towards him. "I'll tell you what. I don't want to mess up such a pretty girl you have there, so I'll make you a deal. Hand over the Namikaze brat and your scrolls and we'll let you live."

"Shit!" swore Naruto. This even earned a growl from the Kyuubi and Naruto sent what amounted to a death glare back towards Bunjo, mixing in some of the Kyuubi's killing intent.

"Namikaze? What are you talking about?" asked Sakura, utterly confused.

"I'm sorry to say that none of us are Namikaze, that bloodline died out over twelve years ago. Even so, what makes you think we would give up one of our own?" asked Sasuke, activating his eyes.

"Heh. Think you're tough, don't you?" said Bunjo, noticing Sasuke's eyes. "Hmm…the Sharingan. You must be an Uchiha. I thought that bloodline died out years ago as well. Perhaps you could take that up with your Namikaze friend there." Bunjo pointed directly at Naruto. He could see the rage in Naruto's eyes. The anger of having hit some sort of chord. He was right, Naruto was a Namikaze

"What? Naruto's not a Nami…Oh My God!" Sakura's eyes shot wide open as her mind began connecting the dots. Everything that she was told about the Yondaime, Namikaze Minato, back in the academy, about how honorable man he was and how he sacrificed himself to save the village by sealing the Kyuubi no Kitsune inside Naruto. It explained why Naruto was the person chosen to have the Kyuubi sealed within him. It explained the summoning contract Naruto. The Yondaime had been able to summon toads. It explained why Jiraiya-sama, one of the Sanin, had chosen to train Naruto of all people. It explained the knives Naruto wielded, the Hiraishin kunai, given to him by Jiraiya-sama. They weren't just given to him as a simple birthday present. It explained the jutsu that he used, the Rasengan, the Yondaime's personal creation. It explained Naruto's aptitude towards seals as the Yondaime was the greatest seal master alive during his time. It explained just about everything regarding Naruto. "Naruto? Are you…"

Naruto clenched his eyes for a moment. The one secret that he had been trying to keep a secret, discovered by a bunch of Iwa ninja. It didn't take a genius to figure out why they were after him. The Yellow Flash, Namikaze Minato, his father, had dealt a devastating blow to the Iwagakure army back in the Second Shinobi War, one that crippled it's army. They were here for one simple reason…revenge. And if they couldn't take it out on the Yellow Flash himself, they would take it out on his son.

Sakura saw it in his eyes. Naruto wasn't trying to hide the fact or deny it. No, he was angry…angry that someone had figured him out. Angry that someone was threatening his friends with death over their affiliation to him. It was true, Naruto was in fact a Namikaze, and if she was correct, he was the son of the most powerful of them all, Namikaze Minato.

"This is your last chance, hand over blondie or you'll all die" said Bunjo.

"We…" Sasuke tried to talk.

"Fine. But let my friends go first" said Naruto, taking a step forward.

"Heh. Smart move" said Bunjo. Before Naruto could take another step, Sasuke grabbed the back of Naruto's collar.

"What are you doing, Teme?!" shouted Naruto.

"What I promised myself" said Sasuke. "Ever since that day, when we encountered the Sound Four, no ever since the night I lost my clan, I promised myself that I wouldn't let another person close to me be taken away. I'd rather die before I let something like that night happen again. If you just think I'm going to let you hand yourself over to them, then you might as well kill me as well, that's if you think you can, Scaredy Cat."

Yep, that hit Naruto. He took one look at both Sasuke and Sakura ad both of them nodded before reaching for their weapons. Naruto grabbed one kunai in particular, the one that his dad had sealed inside the scroll, the one that still contained the Hiraishin seal on it. Sasuke had a set of shuriken in each hand. Sakura had a kunai in one hand with a set of the pink senbon in the other hand.

"We've just seen what'll happen if this information gets out. As much as I'd hate to say it, we need to kill them, right here, right now" said Sasuke.

Bunjo sighed. "Fine, looks like we do this the hard way" he said as he made a hand signal. As he did so, the remaining 13 Iwa ninja that were in the trees, attacked.

As the first bout came, Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke found them dodging a flurry of kunai strikes and blows. While dodging a kunai strike to the throat, Naruto slashed out with his own kunai, the metal just missing the Iwa ninja's chest. The Iwa ninja backed away and grimaced, thinking he had just dodges a fatal blow…that is until he keeled over, dead. There was a blade of wind coming out of Naruto's knife, roughly a foot in length that had cut deep into the ninja's chest, slicing through his heart. 1 down.

Sasuke had unleashed his shuriken before the Iwa ninja could strike. The Iwa ninja smirked as he dodged the incoming shuriken, only to find said shuriken wind around him, encasing him in ninja wire. "Katon: Dragon Fire Jutsu!" Sasuke called out as a flame shot along the wire towards the Iwa ninja. Before anyone could free him from the wire, he was engulfed in flame as the burning became too much and he died. 2 down.

Sakura was busy deflecting the knives from one Iwa ninja, and dodging punches and kicks from another one. During her training with Tsunade, one thing she had greatly improved on was her speed and ability to evade blows, as that was one of the most important skill sets a medical ninja needed, aside from superb chakra control. She found herself being able to dodge most of the blows with relative easy.

"Hey, you move pretty good. Too bad I have to kill you. Who knows, perhaps I'll be kind enough to leave you alive just long enough to have a little bit of fun" smirked the Iwa ninja.

If Sakura wasn't mad before, this pushed her. She knew what the ninja was referring to and there was no way in hell she was going to let that happen. "It's just too bad you have that forehead of yours. If it wasn't for that monstrosity, you'd be perfect."

That really did it. The Iwa ninja would have been better off bringing the wrath of the Shinigami down upon himself than what was about to befall him. Sakura wound up her fist while unleashing an amount of killing intent that would make the Kyuubi proud. "Shannaro!" Sakura shouted before driving a supercharged fist straight into the ninja's chest, the same fist that he had some of her pink senbon in. The man was dead. If the shattered rib cage, collapsed lungs, and crushed heart didn't kill him, the poison from the senbon would. 3 down.

The remaining Iwa ninja that were engaging them suddenly jumped back as Bunjo completed a series of hand seals. "Doton: Jaws of Hell!" he shouted, slamming his hands into the ground. Team 7 jumped just in time to avoid a demonic earthen head emerge from the ground and try to devour them. However, they didn't fully avoid it as Sakura's leg was scraped by the stony fangs. The gash as deep, and she would have to tend to it right away. As Sakura landed, her hands began to glow green as she activated one of the new medical jutsu in her arsenal, the Mystic Palm Technique. She placed it over her leg wound and began to stop most of the bleeding.

Naruto had recovered, only to be tackled by one of Kucha's wolves. Naruto tried to fend I off while it was on top of him, but the wolf bit into his arm. "Lion's Barrage!" shouted Sasuke as he slammed h heel into the back of the wolf's neck, forcing it to release Naruto. "You'd better not be giving up on me now."

"Heh. Wouldn't dream of it" said Naruto.

"Summoning Jutsu!" both Naruto and Sasuke shouted, slamming their hands into the ground beneath them. For Sasuke, a large white saber-toothed tiger, clad in battle armor appeared. As for Naruto, a larger Toad, maybe slightly bigger than Jiraiya, also in battle armor and wielding a sword like a samurai appeared.

"Gamakiro, think you can take care of these wolves?" asked Naruto to his summon. The toad nodded to his summoner.

"Saja, help the toad and take care of these wolves" said Sasuke. "Sakura how long do you need?"

"About thirty more seconds and I should be good" said Sakura as she put the finishing touches on her wound. Naruto nodded and went to watch over Sakura.

"Heh, you think some mangy summons can beat me?" smirked Kucha. "Try this. Doton: Wolf Pack!" About a dozen wolves made of stone and earth erupted from the ground beside Kucha and darted towards Sasuke.

"Raiton: White Tigers!" shouted Sasuke. Lightning bolts erupted from his hands, held together in the tiger seal, and formed into about six tigers made from lightning. The two jutsus clashed, sending chunks of rock and dirt everywhere as the lightning jutsu overpowered the earth jutsu., before turning on Kucha.

"Here kitty kitty" called out one of the wolves. He and Saja, Sasuke's tiger were circling one another, waiting for the other to strike.

"Please, you're embarrassing your own kind. Not that they need any help" replied Saja. The wolf let out a growl before leaping at Saja, only for the tiger to dodge the attack and retaliate by sinking her fangs into the wolf's back, dispelling the summon. The white tiger looked over at her companion at the time and saw the toad Gamakiro slash at the wolf with his sword as it dispelled as well, returning to wherever the summon came from.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" shouted Naruto as a dozen Narutos appeared as he went to cover for Sakura. Three of the four ninja who had decided attack Sakura while she was down were repelled back by the clones while most of the clones picked one ninja and stormed him.

"U-zu-ma-ki" shouted four clones as they knocked the Iwa ninja into the air. "Naruto barrage!" shouted the real Naruto as he delivered a spinning axe kick to the back of the Iwa ninja's skull. Rising to her feet Sakura threw a few of her pink senbon into the Iwa ninja to ensure the job was finished. "Sakura, watch our backs." Sakura nodded as Naruto turned to get Sasuke's attention. "Sasuke!"

"Right. Katon: Dragon Fire Breath!"

"Futon: Great Breakthrough!"

The two comrades cast their jutsu simultaneous as Naruto's wind jutsu was absorbed into Sasuke's fire jutsu, increasing the power of the flamethrower, which was headed towards 6 shocked Iwa ninja.

"Doton: Mud Wall!" shouted one of the Iwa ninja, trying to create a defense for him and a few of his comrades.

Two of the Iwa ninja moved out of the way of the incoming hellstorm while the remaining four took cover behind the wall…bad move.

The combined attack, powered by both fire and wind collided with the mud wall and began tearing through the defense and the four who decided to take cover behind the wall soon found themselves engulfed in the flames as they were quickly overwhelmed by the sheer power of the combined attack. 7 down.

The remaining eight Iwa ninja did their best to regroup on their leader, Bunjo, and tracker, Kucha. Bunjo and Kucha were growing increasingly angry at the Konoha ninja they were facing. The three ninja had managed to lay waste to seven of their party so far, while they had only managed to land a few scratches on their opponents. The other six ninja however, were seriously regretting this decision to fight them.

"Inaka, take them out" ordered Bunjo.

"H-hai" an Iwa ninja said hesitantly. He made a series of hand seals which Sasuke was watching. "Raiton: Lightning Cannon!" A ball of condensed electricity formed between his hands as he slowly drew them apart as Sasuke's eyes widened. That was no simple C- or even B-rank technique. That had the power of an A-rank technique and sadly it would require the power of an A-rank technique to counter it. With a flick of his wrist, Inaka sent the ball of lightning hurling towards them at high speed and only Sasuke found himself able to catch it's movement in-time thanks to his bloodline.

"Chidori!" Sasuke shouted, using his lightning encased hand to block the ball of lightning heading towards the team. And explosion followed and Sasuke was sent sliding back, clutching his arm.

"Sasuke!" shouted Sakura.

"Don't let yourself get distracted! I'm okay for the moment!" shouted Sasuke, trying to get his team's attention back on the Iwa ninja.

"Doton: Mud Wave!" shouted Bunjo as he unleashed a wave of mud towards team 7.

"Sakura!" shouted Sasuke. Sakura nodded, knowing what Sasuke was thinking.

"Katon: Great Fireball Jutsu!" shouted Sasuke and Sakura as their fireballs collided with the mud wave heading their way. The two jutsu collided this time and the held each other at bay, the mud preventing the fire from advancing any further and the fire hardening and solidifying the mud.

When the flames and dust died down, two of the Iwa ninja lunged forward, driving Kunai into the guts of Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura.

Naruto and Sasuke both spat up blood before collapsing to the ground as Sakura's eyes grew wide. The two Iwa ninja grinned, but before threw had time to wipe that grin away, Naruto and Sasuke disappeared, as they were only shadow clones and Sakura began to fall apart in a swirl of sakura petals, enveloping the two Iwa ninja in her genjutsu.

"Shit! Genjutsu!" shouted one of the two Iwa ninja.

"Quick! Kai!" they both said as they quickly dispelled the genjutsu. It was too late.

"Now, let's see if I've got this right" said Sasuke, clapping his hands together and slowly drawing them apart. A ball of electricity formed in between them and the Iwa ninja's eyes widened.

"What?! B-but how?" said a shocked Inaka, back by Bunjo.

"Clearly you've never faced the Sharingan before" said Sasuke. "Raiton: Lightning Cannon!" With a forward flick of his wrist the lightning ball shot forward towards the two Iwa ninja who were caught in Sakura's genjutsu, piercing through the first one's chest and violently exploding upon contact with the second one. 9 down.

Sasuke grinned, having gotten something useful from the Iwa ninja in this fight besides a chance to test himself, but winced as a pain shot through his arm from taking the damage from that previous Lightning Cannon.

The remaining six Iwa ninja tried to make some sort of counter attack, but found that a hail of shuriken were heading straight towards them at extremely high speeds. The six of them jumped but two of them were too late as dozens of shuriken embedded themselves in the two of them. 11 down.

"Shit! Reinforcements?" swore Bunjo. Based on the skill of the three Konoha ninja that he was facing, reinforcements was the last thing he needed.

Suddenly, six pairs of Naruto clones burst from the trees from the locations where the shuriken had come from. "Not quite!" Shouted the Narutos as the closed in with Rasengans in their hands. Bunjo and Kucha were the only one's able to dodge the incoming barrage of one of the Yellow Flash's feared techniques as the other two, including Inaka, were pummeled by the barrage of Rasengan. 13 down.

The twelve Naruto clones closed in on Bunjo. "Doton: Shooting Spears!" shouted Bunjo as a series of spears erupted from the ground surrounding Bunjo, impaling the clones.

Team 7 took one look at each other before making what would hopefully be the final assault on their attackers. "Katon: Great Fireball Jutsu!" shouted Sakura, before expending a good portion of her remaining chakra. The rest that she had would have to be used to heal Sasuke's arm as it still looked injured from using it to block the Lightning Cannon with his Chidori. Bunjo and Kucha both jumped, dodging the gigantic fireball that was heading their way.

Naruto immediately stopped. "Here goes nothing" he thought before working through a few hand seals as Bunjo was descending towards the ground. "Futon: Air Dragon Bullet!" Naruto shouted, unleashing his newest jutsu upon Bunjo. Before Bunjo could recover himself, he saw the figure that was the wind dragon which Naruto had conjured coming towards him. Unable to get away in time, Bunjo felt the blast of the jutsu slice into his flesh, as he fell to the ground with multiple deep cuts all over his body and Naruto slowly walking towards him.

"Katon: Phoenix Sage Flame!" shouted Sasuke as he launched a barrage of fireballs towards Kucha. The wolf master frantically dodged the smaller fireballs as a larger fireball came sailing directly towards him. He jumped backwards just in time to dodge the explosion of the fireball, but he wasn't fast enough to dodge Sasuke charging towards him, through the smoke with Chidori active. Kucha's eyes widened as it was too late to dodge and Sasuke was moving too fast. Sasuke's arm drilled through Kucha's chest as he dropped to the ground, dead. 14 down.

Sasuke looked over to see Naruto walking towards a heavily injured Bunjo.

"Wh-who a-are you?" struggled Bunjo as he looked up towards Naruto, who was now standing over him. Naruto's eyes showed a hint of regret. Regret for what he had just done and what he was about to do, but Naruto knew this had to be done. To protect his secret and his friends, this had to be done.

"Uzumaki Namikaze Naruto, the son of Namikaze Minato, the Yondaime Hokage" replied Naruto as he formed a Rasengan in his hand. Both Sasuke and Sakura's eyes widened at that declaration and Bunjo's eyes closed as he knew it was over.

"Rasengan!" shouted Naruto as he drove the Rasengan into Bunjo's back before walking away from everything. 15 Iwa ninja lay dead and Team 7 was victorious.

"Nar…!" cried Sakura before being pulled back by Sasuke.

"Just let him be. Give him a few minutes to cool off" said Sasuke. "Then we'll go find him." He then clutched his right arm as it was still in pain.

"Sasuke! Hold on" she said as she activated her medical jutsu and placed it over Sasuke's arm as she began healing him. Sasuke winced a little at the initial touch, but he could feel his arm start to heal itself.

"Sakura, I know you didn't want it to end like this, but…" said Sasuke.

"I know. But if they had got away, then word of who Naruto was would have spread and he probably would have had the entire country of Iwa on his ass his entire life. I couldn't let that happen to him, especially with everything he's got on his shoulders already" said Sakura as she put the finishing touches on healing Sasuke.

Sasuke nodded. "I still can't believe the Dobe is really a Namikaze, let alone the Yondaime's son. Come on, let's see what these Iwa ninja had and we'll go find him." Sakura nodded as she followed Sasuke towards the battlefield. Suddenly, Sasuke stopped and turned towards Sakura. "You did really good. You're actually turning out to be a pretty damn good kunoichi."

Sakura couldn't help it as a slight blush took over her cheeks and she smiled before following Sasuke to check the Iwa ninja for scrolls before continuing on to find Naruto. All in all, they found a total of four scrolls on the Iwa ninja. The Iwa ninja had accumulated a total of seven scrolls, after the five they were given and the two that they got from ambushing the other groups, but three of them had been severely damaged by the inferno that Naruto and Sasuke had unleashed on the Iwa ninja.


Naruto was sitting on a rock by a nearby tributary of the main river that flowed through the arena, reflecting on everything.

"I k-killed all of them…" said Naruto, in shock from what had just transpired.

"It was necessary, Kit" replied Kurama.

"What are you talking about? How is killing 15 people, even if they attack you necessary?" asked Naruto.

"For the same reason you killed those Sound ninja back in the invasion. Because your friends were in danger" said Kurama.

"Yeah, but we didn't have to kill them. Just incapacitate them long enough for the three of us to escape" responded Naruto.

"And if you would have just incapacitated them, they would get away with that knowledge. Remember why that pervert wanted you to keep that a secret, because of the enemies your father had. Your heritage had been kept a secret so that those enemies wouldn't put you or your friends in danger. If you had let those Iwa ninja live, then the information regarding your heritage would have gotten away and some of those enemies would have stopped it nothing to make you suffer. They would have killed your comrades, your friends, and probably your vixen as well to get to you, before killing you all for revenge on your father."

Naruto had been trying to find some other explanation. "You know I'm right. It was the only way to keep them safe." Sadly, the Kyuubi was right.

"But what do I do now?" asked Naruto.

"Move on, become stronger and help them become stronger. There's no going back, no severing connections, no escaping this. All you can do is move forward and prepare for what's coming. Anyways, I have a feeling you've got some explaining to do."

"Huh? What are you…"

"Naruto!" shouted Sakura as she and Sasuke caught up with him.

"About time we found you, Dobe" said Sasuke.

"Hey…about that…" said a still depressed Naruto. That is until Naruto felt Sakura wrap her arms aooud him in a hug.

"It's okay Naruto" said Sakura. It was no Hinata hug, but it was pretty close as Naruto felt a warmth spread through his body. "We're here for you."

"But they could have killed you because of me" said Naruto.

"And we would have died with you no matter what" said Sasuke, placing a hand on Naruto's shoulders. "But we didn't, we got out of that alive and together. So are you really…you know?"

Naruto lowered his head before it shooting up and a grin lighting up Naruto's face. "Yeah, I am!" he said cheerful.

"There's the Naruto we know" said Sakura, smiling with Naruto. "I still can't believe that you of all people."

"I'm just surprised we didn't catch it earlier. After all, he looks just like him" said Sasuke.

"Guys, can we not talk about that. It's supposed to be a secret for a reason and now that you know, it needs to stay a secret" said Naruto, flailing his arms frantically.

"What's the matter Dobe? Embarrassed at who your dad is?" asked Sasuke, jokingly…wait, Sasuke joke?

"Of course not! After all, my dad's…" Shouted Naruto.

"Remember Naruto, that's a secret. We can't have you blowing it now, can we?" interrupted Sakura.

"Heh. Fine, so what now?" asked Naruto.

"Well, we've got plenty of scrolls. Those Iwa ninja had two Cloud scroll, and two Lightning scrolls" said Sasuke.

"And don't forget about those two scrolls the two of you burnt to a crisp" scolded Sakura.

Naruto grinned and Sasuke even tried to manage an innocent look. "You have to admit though, that was one hell of a fire jutsu" said Naruto as Sasuke merely nodded. Sakura sighed.

"Anyways, let's get to the base. We can try and get a hold of Kakashi-sensei and talk to him about this who ordeal" said Sakura. She turned her head towards the stream that Naruto was facing when Naruto pointed out something odd about the river.

Both Sakura and Sasuke turned their head to see what Naruto's fuss was about. Indeed there was something off about the river. They could barely make it out under the faint glowing light of the morning sun, but one thing was obvious, the river was a deep red color, stained with blood. Someone, or something, had also been out killing that night.

Suddenly, a scream filled the air. A scream filled with pure terror, and one that Sakura recognized.

"That sounded like Ino!" exclaimed Sakura. "Quick! This way!" Sakura began running up the blood-stained tributary towards Ino's scream with Sasuke and Naruto closely behind.


The morning of the third day dawned with a red sun. Blood had been spilt that night. And from the screams that filled the morning air, more was yet to be spilt.


Jutsu

Doton: Jaws of Hell: As the user slams their hands into the ground, an earthen face emerges from the ground with its jaws open. The jaws then clamp down upon the unsuspecting victim, crushing them or dragging them into the earth below. While it is a powerful jutsu, it can be easily avoided by an alert opponent.

Rank: B

Users: Hashiga Bunjo

Mystic Palm Technique: Considered a staple ninjutsu for medical ninja. This medical ninjutsu sends carefully controlled amounts of chakra through the user's hands to a wound to rapidly speed up the body's natural healing process. This jutsu requires extremely delicate chakra control.

Rank: A

Users: Haruno Sakura, Senju Tsunade, Shizune

Doton: Wolf Pack: The user summons up to a dozen wolves, made of earth and stone, from the ground around them. These wolves then work together as a pack to tear their opponent to shreds.

Rank: B

Users: Ucacha Kucha

Raiton: White Tigers: The user mold lightning chakra in the form of a few large white tigers, made out of pure lightning. These tigers then race towards the target(s) at high speeds, tearing through their targets with claws of lightning.

Rank: B

Users: Uchiha Sasuke

Doton: Mud Wall: A ninjutsu where a wall of compact mud rises from the ground. This wall has considerable strength and can withstand many attacks. This is primarily a defensive jutsu, but can also serve some suplementay/strategic purposes.

Rank: C

Users: Incinerated Iwa ninja

Raiton: Lightning Cannon: After forming the hand seals, the user claps their hands together and slowly pulls them apart, allowing a ball of condensed electricity to fill the void in-between his hands. The lightning ball continues to grow until it is roughly the size of a softball. With a slight movement of the hands, the user then sends the ball hurling towards the target at extremely high speeds that most ninja can't match or see. However, the speed of this move can be seen by a specialized dojutsu such as the Sharingan.

Rank: A

Users: Inaka, Uchiha Sasuke.

Doton: Mud Wave: The user slams their hands into the ground, uplifting a mas of mud and dirt that is sent traveling towards an opponent.

Rank: C

Users: Hashiga Bunjo

Doton: Shooting Spears: In a circle pattern surrounding the user, sharp stone spears erupt from the ground, impaling whatever is above them.

Rank: B

Users: Hahiga Bunjo


Author Notes

There was the chapter. It was the longest one yet, almost 10k words.

Some big things went down here. Sakura and Sasuke now know about Naruto's full heritage and Sasuke managed to pick up a new jutsu :p

With two days behind them and four left to go, Team 7 now has all of their scrolls, courtesy of Iwagakure, and both Team 8 and Team Gai have two scrolls. As for Team 10, well it sounds like they're in trouble, but the question remains is what kind of trouble have they gotten themselves into.

Oh, and to all you Bee and enka rap fans, don't worry. He will return.

Till next time,

Please Review/Comment.