Naruto pulled his teammates aside and told them everything he had noticed since the exams begun, from Jack's intimidating aura to Kabuto's façade as a genin tryout.

"That makes sense-" Kiba interrupted himself as they leaped from building to building behind Anko. Akamaru was tucked inside his coat. There was no use tiring out his dog before things even began.

She was leading them in a wild goose chase around the village, clearly taking twists and turns through all sorts of terrain in an attempt to weed out the weaker competitors. "He knew too much about my mom's record. More than any genin should have."

"Did you see Naruto-kun's picture too?" Hinata asked. "It was old. You still had those... marks on your cheeks. How did he get that?"

"I thought he was a hidden examiner at first, like those guys with the answers back at the classroom," Naruto whispered, making sure that no one was overhearing them. "But he was about to talk about my... about her." His friends shot him sympathetic looks. "The Hokage made all information regarding her a secret to anyone who didn't already know. No chunnin would have broken it like that just to keep his cover."

"So we have to watch out for Kabuto, the suna trio, that Jack dude, and his teammates," Kiba muttered. "Great."

"Team 7 and 11 too, probably," Hinata remarked, throwing an unamused stare at Naruto. "You were pretty rude to them back there. I wouldn't be surprised if they target us for it."

"Hey, what can I say." He scratched the back of his head. "I was in a pretty bad mood. Especially with Ino provoking me after I tried to shoot Kabuto down and everything." Her stare persisted. "I'll apologize next time we see them."

"Good." She said, turning back to look at Anko with a satisfied smile. He and Kiba shared a look.

Naruto was surprised to see that they were leaving the village for the second stage. And even then, their run persisted for almost an hour.

When they finally stopped, everyone present had a good look at a massive set of fences that were at least twenty feet tall. But their attention was drawn to the trees, if they could be called that, behind them. Naruto could swear some of them were almost as big as the village's gates.

Warnings were plastered all over the fences, and massive chains and padlocks were tied to its gates. Anko stood with her back turned to them with a grin, looking at the applicants. There was a booth by her side with

three cloaked ninja sitting on it with a big stack of papers and a closed basket in front of them.

"Welcome to the stage for the second portion of the exam, training ground forty-four, or as we like to call it here in Konoha, the forest of death. Before we start the test, there's something I need to hand out."

She was given a stack of paper by one of the people sitting in the booth and held it out for everyone to see.

"Ibiki probably told you all that killing was strictly prohibited in these unless you were given permission by your proctors. Well, he's a bit too soft for my tastes, so consider this my permission. By signing these, you'll be saying that you accept these risks and take them out of your own will. That way, we won't get in trouble with your village if you kick the bucket."

'Great.' Naruto thought. 'Now we'll have to deal with a bunch of psychos while in the middle of that thing. Well, if anyone tries something on Kiba or Hinata...' His hand reached for the tanto's hilt before Naruto stopped himself, startled. 'Was I really thinking about killing someone there?'

Well, according to Jiraya, he already had, although Naruto couldn't remember any of it. Still, the very thought made him sick.

'Then why the hell have you been training to use that thing?' He told himself. 'Think you're just gonna hack off someone's arm and they'll walk away from it all fine and dandy? Fucking moron.'

"I'm going to explain what you'll be doing, and then you can sign these and check in on that booth over there," She said, nudging toward it with her head. "Simply put, your goal is to reach the middle of the forest with one of these in your possession."

She held up two scrolls, one of them white with the kanji inscription of 'heaven' while the other was black and read 'earth.'

"There are twenty-six teams here. Half will get the 'heaven' scroll while the other gets 'earth.' To make it through this stage, you must have both by the end of it. But there's a catch. You'll have a time limit of one-hundred-and-twenty hours, in other words, five days."

"FIVE DAYS?!" Choji exclaimed. "WHAT ABOUT DINNER?"

Anko shrugged. "You're on your own. The forest's full of food, if you know how to look for it. Of course, you'll have to avoid the poisonous plants, insects, man-eating animals," She grinned at a shivering Choji. "You know, the usual. Of course, we don't really expect all thirteen teams to pass. As the test goes on, the time to rest will become shorter, and the closer you get to the objective, the more enemies you'll find. So not only will some fail by losing the scroll, but, as I said earlier, I expect a significant portion of you all to die as well."

The applicants shared a look as Anko let her words settle in for a couple of seconds before continuing.

"Now, let's talk about what'll disqualify you. First, of course, is not making to the tower with both scrolls until the time runs out. Second is losing a teammate or having them be killed. Either all three of you make it, or none at all. And the most important one of all, you must not look inside of the scroll until you reach the tower."

She nodded once no one raised any complaints about the rules. "Okay, now your teams will be called to get the scroll over at the booth. Make it quick, we'll start in thirty minutes."

A black curtain was raised around it so that no one could tell what type of scroll they got or who would be carrying it. Naruto watched it for a few seconds before lying down on the ground, supporting his head with his hands. "Man, what a pain. They couldn't have made the time limit like five hours or something?'

"Chunnin will get some long-term missions eventually; it's good to get started early," Kiba said as he sat down next to him and let Akamaru down from his coat, pausing once Hinata didn't make any motions to join them. "Hinata?"

Naruto followed her gaze to a team standing on the other side of the clearing. One of them was a brown-haired girl with her hair tied into buns, the other one was a boy dressed in an all-green jumpsuit with jet-black hair and bushy eyebrows, and the one who seemed to be their leader was a boy with long brown hair, a sleeveless white jacket, crossed arms, and bare white eyes.

"A Hyuga, huh?" Naruto said. "Do you know him?"

"...He's my cousin, Neji." She answered, and although Hinata hadn't stuttered or pushed her fingers together, he could tell she was pretty nervous about seeing him. "I didn't expect him to be here..."

"Don't get along well?" He asked. Hinata shook her head, but her eyes were still fixated on Neji, who either hadn't noticed her or had decided to ignore her presence altogether. "Just gotta kick his ass then, no problem."

"...That won't be so easy." She said, finally sitting down by his side. "Neji is considered to be one of the greatest geniuses the clan has ever conceived. He's probably the strongest genin of our generation."

He didn't know how to make her feel any better about things, so Naruto simply decided to drop the topic altogether. He had almost been lulled into taking a nap when the men by the booth shouted out their names.

Anko was inside when they approached, handing over the 'heaven' scroll.

She didn't say anything special to him regarding their meeting, so Naruto decided to do the same out of some sort of common courtesy. However, there was something he did need to say.

"Anko-san," He began. "I believe that one of the applicants, Kabuto, is lying about being a genin."

"Oh?" She asked with a raised eyebrow. "And what makes you say that?"

"I felt his chakra when we met earlier." Her eyes widened. "And his control and output were higher than most people I've encountered so far. Almost on my teacher's level, I think."

"Hmm... of course, you realize we can't simply take one of your competitors out of the exam because of a hunch, but the matter will be investigated. Good luck."

They nodded at each other, and Team 8 left the tent to wait until the exams began. He only realized afterward that he had been the one to carry the scroll in the end.

"Naruto, Hinata." Kiba suddenly said, drawing their attention. "Come here with me for a second."

They walked up to an empty lot next to the gates, and Kiba pulled them into a tight circle so that they would be able to hear his whispering.

"Hinata, could you use the Byakugan right now to see through us?"

"Yes, but I don't see why-"

"Earlier, that lady ruled out everything that could get us disqualified, right?" They nodded, and a grin blossomed in his face. "Well, she never said anything about looking at the other team's scrolls, did she?"

"Kiba..." Now it was his turn to grin. "You're a fucking genius."

And so they spent the next fifteen minutes pretending to have a hushed conversation while Hinata analyzed every team that had already gotten their scrolls, as well as those who were just then walking into the tent.

"Things are going to start soon," Naruto noted as he looked at their competitors. "Who are we going for?"

"Well, there's two ways we can do this," Kiba said. "We could either try to set up a good camp for the first night and avoid everyone else, wait until the herd is thinned a bit, so to speak, and then go after the weakest target around, or we could immediately rush one of them and then run to the tower as fast as we can."

"I vote for the second option. The longer we stay in that place, the more likely it is we'll be in trouble, especially with those animals and plants Anko mentioned earlier."

"I agree, but who would we target?" Hinata asked.

Kiba de-attached from their circle and tried to look over their competition. Unfortunately for them, most of the teams they were trying to avoid had the 'earth' scroll, including Neji's and the suna trio.

"Definitely not them." He muttered and continued on his search. He snuck his head back between Naruto and Hinata's before continuing. "Okay, so this is a bit of a hard choice. I saw we go for the Iwa team that's been glaring at everyone since they got here. They'll have no allies nearby since they were the only ones from their village that passed the first stage, and they won't be used to the terrain."

"Seems reasonable to me. Their chakra doesn't seem that strong, seeing it from here. I'll be able to tell them apart from everyone else once things get going, but there's no way to know if we'll be leaving together or what. Could you track them by their smell?"

"After having spent almost an hour with them in that classroom? Yeah, I could find them on my sleep."

"Fine by me. Hinata?"

"I think we should go for that too."

"Okay, everyone, follow your instructors to your gates!" Anko announced. A chunnin with his face hidden behind a white shawl approached them, and soon Team 8 was standing in front of gate twenty-two. "The second stage of the chunnin exams begins NOW!"

They set off immediately, jumping into the tall trees and going further and further into unexplored territory. Naruto turned to Hinata as they did, making sure that no one was moving toward them yet. "Do you think Neji and his team will target us?"

She shook her head. "They got the same scroll we did. Besides, I think..." She hesitated. "I think he wouldn't bother. Neji-san thinks that we... that I'm too far below his level to deal with."

"I..." He didn't know how to comfort her, so Naruto simply turned to Kiba instead. "Do you have their scent yet?"

"Yeah, they're south of us that way," He said, pointing at the treeline. No matter where he turned to, everywhere looked the same to him. 'Getting lost's going to be easy as hell, isn't it?'

"I don't know how far they are, though, or how many people are around them, so you two keep an eye open."

"Okay."

"Got it."

Sometimes Naruto felt some teams pass by them, alerting his team before it happened so that they could hide and wait until they passed by them before continuing. His sensory abilities, combined with Hinata's Byakugan, meant that they could essentially avoid being ambushed at every turn.

They hadn't met any of the significant targets, though much like Hanayama, Naruto could feel Suna's Jinchuuriki even while they were miles away from each other. He could only hope the boy couldn't do the same.

Suddenly he motioned for them to stop. He could feel the Iwa ninja's presences next to them, and even while using the ability to its fullest extent, Naruto's range was limited to less than two-hundred feet away from him.

Hinata began to look for them with her Byakugan as they slowly began to circle their signatures.

'...What now?' He thought as they finally found their hideout. It was a cave, or maybe it'd be more appropriate to call it a burrow, dug into the earth with a passage leading inside made out of stone. 'Of course, someone from Iwa would specialize in earth techniques, that place's basically a deathtrap. That being said, they're definitely in there...'

He shared a look with Kiba. The boy looked back and forth from the cave to him and Hinata before nodding. Somehow, that was all Akamaru needed to know what to do, because soon there was another Kiba with more distinct animal-like features standing next to them.

'You could just use one of the jutsu Kurenai has been teaching you.' A voice whispered in his head. 'Torch them all up. There's no way they'll be able to escape from there; you'll be standing right by the exit...'

He frowned. He had been getting those intrusive thoughts since Yakegake, and they were becoming quite the nuisance, but he refused to tell anyone about it. Best-case scenario, they would think he was losing his mind, and he'd be pulled out of service, worst-case...

'Better not think about that.'

He briefly considered unsheathing his tanto before deciding against it.

'Twenty percent.'

He immediately felt the flood of chakra being released by his seals and its effects. Naruto had never realized just how differently one could experience the world when connected to their inner energy - sounds became more nitid, images clearer, even the shadows inside of the cave they were about to go into suddenly seemed less oppressive.

He gestured for Kiba to go in first since he could see better in the dark, and that he'd follow him afterward. The boy nodded, and they began to venture into the lion's den.

The 'cave' was either very deep, or the ninja were hiding at the very end of it. With his luck, it was a combination of both. Given how they hadn't moved since Naruto and his team walked in, chances were they probably hadn't sensed them yet.

Hinata stilled once they were no longer illuminated by the sun. Naruto, Kiba, and Akamaru in his transformed sate all stopped together by her side while putting their guard up. He sent her an inquisitive look.

"I think they're asleep." She whispered. "Or...dead. Their scroll is still there, but they're all lying down, and their chakra is fading."

"That doesn't make sense..." Kiba muttered. "If they were attacked inside of their own territory, why are their scrolls still there? Naruto, can you feel anyone else inside?"

He shook his head. "No, just them. And Hinata's right, their energy's decreasing pretty quickly."

"I guess they could have attacked each other, but that wouldn't make any sense..." He started chewing on his nails, something Naruto had noticed he often did when thinking intensely about a situation. "Anko specifically said that all members must show up at the tower for someone to pass..."

"What do we do? Back off and look for a new target?"

"...They might have been injured on an earlier fight before we could find them." Kiba reasoned. "Or ended up fighting a poisonous animal, or eating something they shouldn't have. So they came here to take shelter but couldn't heal themselves in time. Let's grab their scroll and high-tail it out of here."

He had been expecting something to jump out at them throughout the entire way, but Team 8 miraculously managed to make it to the end of the tunnel, coming face-to-face with the fallen Iwa ninja.

Just as Hinata had said, their bodies were stiff and immobile, unmoving faces just as young as theirs. Naruto could tell that if things continued as they were, the boys would soon be dead, but he couldn't see any wounds on their bodies.

"What should we do?" He asked while crouching down and prying the earth scroll away from one of their hands. "They're going to die if they stay here. I know we aren't allowed to leave until the exams are over, but maybe there'll be some medics by the tower, right?"

"The tower's still pretty far away, Naruto..." Kiba muttered, looking between the bodies and the exit. " And they'd be pretty heavy. Whatever attacked them can be waiting for us outside, and then..."

"We can't just leave them here to die, though!" Hinata interjected, scandalized. Despite her sentiments, Naruto was starting to reconsider his initial objections after Kiba analyzed the situation. They were still stuck in the so-called 'forest of death' with over seventy ninja who were gunning for their necks at that very moment.

But still, Hinata clearly didn't want to leave them behind, and Kiba already seemed to be somewhat convinced by her. If Naruto put his feet down, Hinata would probably concede and walk away from it all, but she wouldn't be happy about it...

He probably should have been startled when what made him decide to help the Iwa ninja wasn't really a concern for their lives as much as a desire to avoid making his teammates unhappy. With a grunt of effort, he grabbed their leader and slung them over his shoulder.

Hinata did the same, as did the transformed Akamaru. Kiba sighed in resignation, but he didn't seem to be that upset about saving their lives either. After a brief moment of looking out for more threats with their combined abilities, the three genin set off to leave the tunnel.

They weren't even halfway through when Naruto started to notice something odd with his vision. It was as if his eyes became blurred for half a second before returning to normal. A brief scan over his own chakra showed that he wasn't being affected by a genjutsu, and he even tried to break through one in case he hadn't noticed—still, nothing happened.

But then things got worse. Naruto felt as if his strength had been sapped away, and the contrast between the light coming from the tunnel's entrance and the darkness they were submerged in became much more apparent.

"Hey, Kiba..." He spoke up, only then noticing that Hinata and Akamaru seemed to be going through something similar. The dog whined, sharp noise running through the tunnels even while transformed. "I think... there's something..." His voice began to fade as the black corners around his eyes began to overtake his vision. "Wrong."

The last thing he remembered was seeing the ground rapidly approaching his face.

Kiba almost jumped to the ceiling when Naruto fell to the ground. Hinata staggered but followed suit soon afterward. Even Akamaru reversed back to his natural form before collapsing, all three of them letting their rescuees hit while they fell.

'What the fuck?!' His mind raced as he looked around them. As far as he could tell, no one had entered the tunnel after them, and nothing changed after he tried to flood his chakra system to get rid of any potential genjutsu. He almost threw himself into the ground when crouching down to check Hinata and Nauto's vitals.

'Still alive, but their breathing is labored. Fuck. Chances are this is some sort of gas, something invisible that I couldn't smell and Hinata couldn't see coming, but in that case, why wasn't I affected?'

He ripped off part of his shirt and tied it around his face like a bandana.

'We shouldn't have come inside in the first place- No, Kiba, panic later- what were they doing that I wasn't? The Iwa ninja?' He whipped his head to look at them. 'No, they're all still unconscious, it couldn't have been them. But they were carrying them! It could be that physical activity triggers it, but in that case, how the hell am I going to get them out?!

'Wait, but we already made it halfway there. Sure, I'll be taking more weight on my back by carrying all of them at once, but I can still make it if I run. The only problem is going to be if we come across anyone at the exit, I won't be in any condition to protect them... fuck it, what else can I do?'

He set Akamaru so that the dog was sprawled over the back of his neck before lifting Naruto and Hinata and slinging them over his shoulders. Already he could tell his theory was right - his vision gained a slight blur, even if for just a second, as soon as he felt their weight grace his back.

Kiba was about to set off when he heard a cough. At first, he thought it was one of his teammates, but looking back, he could see that the Iwa trio they had tried to save were squirming on the floor. Hinata's words came back to him.

'Sorry,' He thought, turning back to the exit. 'But you're probably going to die anyway, and I need to save my teammates. You wouldn't have saved us anyway, would you? It's not my fault.'

But he couldn't move. No matter how hard he tried, Kiba's feet wouldn't go forward. Every time he thought of it, their faces came back into his mind. He couldn't help but linger on the fact that they were just so young, too young to die in a place like that, maybe even younger than them...

He tried to hold his breath for as long as possible while hobbling through the tunnel, carrying six bodies on him. Naruto and Hinata were still thrown over each of his shoulders, and Akamaru weighed down on his neck, but he now held two of the Iwa ninja, one in each hand, while the third was shoved below his armpit.

"You're a dumbass."He muttered with each passing step, although the exit didn't seem to be getting any closer. "These people are going to die anyway, and you're risking your life to save them, not to mention Naruto and Hinata. You're a complete moron, Kiba."

The bandana helped Kiba shield himself from the gas's effects, or what he assumed was a gas, but not for long. The fatigue he was feeling became more and more oppressive, and soon his muscles began to burn. His initial plan of running out of the cave had been completely crushed by his own kindness. Now he could just barely walk, and soon, even that would be out of his reach.

"Leave them behind." He told himself, although his words were slowly becoming slurred as well. "You'll all be okay if you just leave them behind, Kiba. They're going to die anyway. What are you trying to prove?"

But he couldn't. His hands wouldn't even open, no matter how much he thought of doing it. Something was holding him back, something that he didn't know and couldn't think of.

He stumbled, almost falling to his feet before managing to miraculously recover his composure without letting any of the bodies hanging onto him fall. 'Okay, at least I already walked a long way, right?' He thought, focusing on his target.

To his despair, they had just barely moved from the halfway point, less than twenty steps at the most. It seemed as if he still had to run through the entire universe to get out of where he was standing.

'Mom, why isn't dad here?'

He almost stopped moving at hearing his own voice inside of his head. His friends were the only thing that kept him going.

His vision briefly shifted to that day. He wasn't even old enough to join the academy, barely old enough to play ninja with his sister, but Kiba could already read and count better than anyone else his age. And most of all, he could remember the man who had taught him so much—the man who was no longer there.

'Why the hell am I remembering that now?' His mind was slipping. 'It's been years...'

Then, before he could finish that thought, Kiba stepped on a rock on the way and fell to his face. This time he couldn't avoid letting the others fall, and they all formed a pile on top of him. His vision was so blurred that all he could see was the darkness around him and the light ahead.

Without a sound, he pressed his hands to the ground and began to push himself up. Their bodies weighed too much, and the entire process seemed to last for years, but he was still making progress.

Just before he could stand, Kiba tripped again. This time, he didn't have the energy to even try to stand up anymore. The fact that he and his friends were about to die didn't even pass through his mind. He simply closed his eyes and let the darkness overcome him.

"Hey, little bro." His sister called him. Kiba wasn't in the tunnel anymore.

He was standing in an all-white void, watching a scene play out in front of him. His younger self was crouching next to a wooden pillar, eyes balled into fists while his sister approached from behind.

Something was wrong. Kiba could tell by the redness around Hana's eyes and the slight tinge in her voice. She had been crying, but Hana never cried. Not even when she broke her arm that one time. But there was something else too...

'Oh yeah, I was crying too. But why?'

"What's wrong?" She asked, sitting next to him.

"Mom lied." He said, turning away from her. "She said..." His voice trembled. Kiba hated how weak he sounded. "She told me dad died. But that isn't true! They didn't-" He sobbed. "They didn't find his body, Hana! He's still out there, and they gave up on him!"

He turned away from her and punched the pillar. Kiba watched as his knuckles were torn apart by the hit, blood splattering on the grass floor underneath their feet.

"She told me something here..." He said, not at all thinking about how odd it was to see those events from such a disconnected perspective. "But I can't remember what it was..."

"Kiba..." She whispered, pulling him into a hug. "Listen to me. Dad's gone."

"NO!" He had shouted at her, but no matter how hard he struggled to escape, she wouldn't let him go. "NO, I DON'T BELIEVE YOU!"

"Dad's gone. And that means you can't be like this anymore," She turned him around and crouched down so that they were facing each other, eye to eye. "Think about how mom's feeling right now."

Kiba's eyes had widened when he saw tears begin to spring forth from Hana's face and that her hands were trembling on his shoulders.

"Think about how I'm feeling right now, Kiba. Don't you think I want to cry as well? Don't you think I want for dad to be okay? But acting like this isn't going to change anything. I know this is unfair to you, little brother, but you have to grow up. You have to be strong. Promise me."

He closed his eyes. 'Why am I seeing this now? What does this mean?'

The younger version of himself nodded, tears running down his face as well. "In that case..." He had said, nails digging into his flesh, blood dripping down his hands, and mixing in with water on the floor underneath them. "In that case... I'll be the strongest man in the world! I won't let anyone stop me! And - what happened with dad-" His words became jumbled up with the constant sobbing escaping his throat. "Won't ever happen to anyone in Konoha again! Because that's-!"

"Oh yeah..." He said as the memory dissipated around him. Kiba opened his eyes, finding himself in the same tunnel as before, friends and enemies scattered around him. He started pulling himself up from the ground, but this time, the pain and exhaustion didn't stop him. "Naruto, I forgot..."

He grabbed the two unconscious Iwa ninja, Akamaru, Naruto, and Hinata, bundling them underneath his arms. If they were heavy before, now that the gas had enough time to spread across his body, it was practically the same as lifting a mountain over his head.

And yet, he did it anyway.

"That was..." One step. Every inch of his body hurt as if the devil himself had just used him as a punching bag, but Kiba continued. "That was..." Another step. The jolt that ran through his body had been strong enough to make his vision go white, but he didn't let go of them—another step.

Kiba shot his head up to the ceiling and shouted with every inch of strength remaining in his body.

"THAT WAS MY DREAM AS WELL!"

His minute steps broke into a run. Kiba bit off the bandana that had been obstructing his mouth and spat it aside. It wouldn't do much to stop the gas by that point, and he needed as much oxygen as he could get.

"AND HERE I WAS, FEELING SORRY FOR MYSELF!" His voice traveled across the cave like thunder. "WHEN DID YOU EVER DO THAT, HUH NARUTO?! DID YOU STOP AFTER BEING MAULED AT YAKEGAKE?! DID YOU STOP AFTER YOUR BODY WAS DESTROYED?! NO!"

Kiba's sandals had slipped off when he fell, and his feet scrapped by several sharp rocks, creating blood-stained footprints wherever he went, but the pain didn't reach him at that time, and if it did, it wouldn't have stopped him anyway.

"THINK SOME FUCKING GAS IS GONNA STOP KIBA INUZUKA, HUH?!" The light was getting closer, ten steps away, five, three...

"NO CHANCE IN HELL! BECAUSE I AM-!"

One.

"THE MAN WHO WILL BECOME HOKAGE!"

The light that suddenly shone on them after having spent so long in the cave was overwhelming. Kiba gave ten more steps, making sure to get as far away from the gas as he could before collapsing.

His plan seemed to have worked. The pain had diminished somewhat already, and his breathing wasn't as impeded as before. His mind urged him to continue carrying them to the tower, but all of Kiba's strength had already been sapped away. The only thing he could do was lie down and pray that no one would come across them.

His hopes were dashed immediately once he heard and smelled two distinct presences coming out from the woodworks around them. Kiba barely managed to raise his neck enough to see them.

They were two boys, from what he could tell, wearing long rain cloaks despite the scorching Konoha weather, with straw-hats and Amekagure forehead protectors tied around their waist.

"Hah! Look at that, Shiro, he saved us the trouble from having to wait until the jutsu ran out. Dumabss."

"Be quiet, Murabashi." 'Shiro' said, focusing his eyes on Kiba. "As for you, we really weren't expecting another team to fall for it. What scroll do you have?"

Kiba didn't respond, only glaring at him.

"Oh well. Probably heaven, if I'm not mistaken. See, we have a heaven scroll as well." He removed it from his pouch and held it up for him to see. "And we both know those boys over there have the earth scroll. Now, I'd just stroll in there and get it, especially since it seems as if you can't even move anymore, but first, I need to make sure you don't have any allies hanging around here."

"Are you... just... going to take the scroll... and leave?"

"Hmm... I'd like to say so, but you see, those boys over there." He pointed at the fallen Iwa ninja. "Severely injured one of our teammates. As it is right now, he might just barely make it to the tower, if that. I think you understand that a little payback is necessary."

"Hah... I see..." Kiba grunted while pulling himself up from the ground. He actually coughed up some blood, which almost caused him to fall over, but managed to complete the move in the end. He shakily took a Kunai from inside of his pouch and brandished it at the two Ame ninja. "I... can't let you... do that."

Murabashi was about to move, but Shiro gestured for him to stay back. "I'm confused. Weren't you going to do the same thing to them? The reason you all walked into that cave in the first place was to grab their scrolls, wasn't it? What do you have to lose by letting us avenge our comrade?"

"Hah... sorry. You're right; letting you guys do whatever you want would probably be the best thing to do for me and my teammates' sakes... but... recently I've found out that I can't just stand aside and let someone else die. It doesn't matter if that's what I should do, or if that's what a good ninja would have done... because that's just NOT THE TYPE OF MAN I AM!"

Murabashi stepped back from him, even though Kiba wasn't in a position to do anything to the two young men, but Shiro nodded. "What's your name?"

"I'm... Kiba Inuzuka!"

"Very well, Kiba Inuzuka. I can't let you go," He pulled out his kunai. "But I'll make sure your bravery is well remembered. Shiro, let's go."

They both flickered out of his sight. Kiba knew that they were coming to attack him, but no matter how hard he tried to command his body, his arms wouldn't move to block their attacks. He watched as a kunai's blade came closer and closer to his throat, and then...

Something stepped in their way.

No, not something, someone. The man's bulging muscles with prominent veins lead into boulder-like hands that intercepted the blades meant to take Kiba's life without any apparent struggle.

"You're...Jack?" He whispered, falling to his knees.

The blonde half-turned to look at him before refocusing on the two Ame ninja. Shiro groaned and let go of his weapon, stepping back while throwing a kick at Jack's head. At the same time, Marubashi began to go through a sequence of hand-seals.

Rat, Boar-

Jack didn't let him complete it. He grabbed Shiro's kick and, in one smooth motion, threw at his companion before he could form another figure with his fingers, stepping in with a hook before they fell to the ground. Shiro was the one to take it, barely managing to block with his elbow, but the bone visibly broke where Jack's knuckles hit him, sending the two ninja flying into one of the massive trees with a bang.

Kiba stared with a gaping mouth as Jack made his way toward them. It might have just been his mind being jumbled after being exposed to their gas for so long, but... wasn't his body smaller than that when they met earlier?

Shiro and Murabashi recovered quickly, although the former's arm was still destroyed. Kiba realized what Jack was about to do as he walked toward them, reaching out with a hand and shouting, "NO!"

But it was already too late. In the blink of an eye, both of the ninja laid dead by the man's feet, necks broken. Kiba turned from the sight before the bile could escape from his throat, and when he looked back, Jack was already walking toward them again.

"You aren't going to touch them, you bastard!" He shouted, pointing at him with his kunai. The shaking his body was going through didn't do much to add credibility to his words.

"Nor do I mean to." He said calmly, raising an object so that Kiba could see it. He realized it was the heaven scroll with a gasp. "I took this from them." He said, gesturing at the dead bodies. "And I believe you have the same. Now, get out of my way."

The man gave him a few seconds to respond, pushing Kiba out of the way when he refused to comply with his order. He fell to the ground with a gasp, turning around to try and hold the giant by his ankles, but he shrugged him off and kept walking regardless.

Kiba was about to jump to his feet and charge at him, even if it cost him his life when Jack simply crouched down next to Naruto's unconscious body and pressed two fingers against his neck.

"Hmm... good. Consider yourself lucky. You all came out of that place before the gas could fully establish itself in your bodies. Just a few hours of respite will be necessary before you can continue."

"You... why do you care?!"

"Didn't I say earlier?" Jack stood. "I want to fight your teammate. There's nothing more to it - or at least, there wasn't. Your declaration impressed me." They stared into each other's eyes. "Yes, you will do as well. I'll be waiting for you at the tower, Inuzuka."

"Wait!" He shouted before the man left. Jack stopped and turned back to him with a raised eyebrow. "Those Iwa guys, are they going to be alright too?"

"...You haven't noticed?" Kiba's stomach lurched. Jack turned back and continued walking away. "They've been dead since before you left that cave."

"What? No, that can't- that can't be-" His eyes widened, and he turned to see their immobile bodies. "The Ame guys would have known - they would -"

He arched his back roared toward the heavens.

Sasuke paused in mid-leap when some birds flew above their heads. He thought he heard something behind him, but couldn't see anything following them when he looked back. "Shino, do your bugs feel anything?"

"Nothing close. We've managed to avoid every trap until now." The boy said, pushing his sunglasses up.

"But we still need to take someone's scroll," Sakura muttered, looking up at the sky. "Still a lot of time, though."

"Yeah, but it'd be smart to set-up camp and wait until they take each other out first before-" His eyes widened, and he pushed Shino out of the way. "Sakura, jump!"

They had barely landed on the next branch when a gust of wind came out from the forest and obliterated the tree they had been standing on. A woman with a straw hat and a grass village forehead protector stepped out to face them with a laugh. "That was good. Just as expected."

"Great, another freak." He said, grabbing a handful of shuriken while hiding the motion with his body. "At least this saves us the trouble of looking for a fight."

"Oh, Being a bit presumptuous, aren't we?"

She jumped out of the way after Shino sent a cloud of beetles at her, and Sasuke was frustrated to see that not a single one of them hit their target. He didn't even need to look at Sakura to coordinate the flurry of weapons they sent at her way, but even still, the grass genin danced out of harm's way, untouched by their steel.

'Not a genin.' He corrected while putting his hands together to prepare for a jutsu. 'No genin can move like that.'

Snake, Ram, Monkey

Their enemy lunged at him by that point, stopping and redirecting herself in mid-air after Sakura threw a kunai with an explosive tag tied to its handle at her. His teammate formed the Ram hand seal with one hand, and an explosion rocked across the forest, but even the fire barely seemed to graze their opponent.

Boar, Horse

Still, it gave him enough time to finish his attack.

He lifted the Tiger seal up to his mouth just as the current of fire that had been building up inside of him finally escaped.

"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu! (Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!)"

He knew Shino hated when Sasuke used fire techniques, but it was still one of his family's greatest heirlooms. The ball grew in size and heat as it traveled across the air, and by that point, he was sure there was nothing the woman could do to escape.

Sasuke was proven wrong when she simply took out a kunai and cut the fire in two, creating a passage from where her body flew toward them. He was so stunned at her actions that he just barely managed to defend himself, and even then, her feet had already hit the side of his body with the strength of a carriage.

'What the hell is she?!' He screamed in his head while watching their enemy swat Shino and Sakura aside as if they were flies. His comrades weren't as strong as he was, but they weren't pushovers either. He had learned that first-hand during the wave country mission. And yet here they were, being toyed by the woman as if they were children. 'Not even Haku was this strong!'

"Is this all you can do?" She asked while walking toward him. Her words enraged him enough to activate his - still incomplete - Sharingan. Suddenly all of her movements became clearer to him, slower, as if entrenched in a pot of honey.

"Good!" She exclaimed with a grin. "That's what I've been waiting for. Come on," She extended a hand toward him and flicked two of her fingers. "Show me what you're made of."

Sasuke thought he had learned plenty about being outmatched in his life. He had been unable to stop Itachi from... doing what he did, failed to land a single hit on Kakashi during their shinobi test, and almost died while fighting against Haku and Zabuza. But the woman he was fighting against, the nameless grass ninja who attacked them without warning, took that concept to a whole new level.

Every hit was deflected, no matter how much force he put behind it. Even with the Sharingan, the woman was still two steps ahead of him every time they collided.

The worst part about it was that he could see just how much she was holding back. She was, by all means, putting on a show. If the woman wanted to fight him with only one finger, not only could she do it, but it probably would have been enough to kill him as well.

"Hmm... is this all?" She said, slightly tilting her head. "I really was expecting more out of you, Sasuke-kun. I suppose your anger isn't as strong as I was led to believe."

"Shut up!" He shouted, but even still, his fists never reached her. "What the hell do you think you know about that?!"

"I know that you're never going to beat Itachi if you continue like this." She said with a grin. Sasuke paused as his eyes widened, a minor gesture that took up a fraction of a second before anger flooded through his veins.

But there was nothing he could do with his newfound hatred, because that's precisely when the woman hit him with an uppercut to the stomach, so strong that he feared the organ had been ruptured. He fell to his knees, coughing out blood and vomit, while she looked at him from above.

"Ah, I must say, I haven't felt this disappointed in a long time." She said, crouching down and roughly grabbing him by the hair, forcing him to lock his eyes onto hers. "You are fortunate that I already found someone else to play with, Sasuke-kun, or else you might have forced me to discharge some of this anger on you instead-"

She paused as her mouth dropped open together with widened eyes and a build-up of sweat that dripped down from her forehead. For a second, Sasuke realized the woman that had single-handedly dominated his team in a manner of seconds was scared, and that very idea horrified him.

Then her expression changed into a smirk. "You're luckier than I thought. I was going to leave you with a little gift before leaving, but it seems you have other plans, don't you?"

Sasuke had an opportunity to see what the woman was looking at when she dropped him to the ground and stepped back. A woman, unlike any other he had ever seen, was grabbing Shino and Sakura by their clothes and gently putting them down, backs supported by a tree trunk.

"Kushina."

A/N: Kiba continues to be this fic's eternal MVP.

Thank you all for the reviews, favorites, and follows. As per a suggestion I've received in the last chapter, Jutsu names will now have a translation every time they appear. I'll edit out the earlier chapters to include this change as well.

A new chapter should come out soon, maybe next week if things go according to plan. I'm finished with exams for now, so I'll have more free time to work on it.

Again, thank you all, stay safe out there, and I'll see you next time!