The Rise of a Warrior: Naruto

by The Legendary Dragon Reaper

Tatsu Kamikaze, the last of his clan, sole heir of the Tenseigan, heir to the Dragon Blade, student of Hayate Gekko. This is his story. The story of a true Shinobi. My OC in Naruto. Please read each chapter until the very end and check for authors notes. Warning, some heavy Sakura bashing. Currently being revised and edited.

5. Chunin Exams Begin, Sakura's Downfall

KeybladeMasterRiku: You'll just have to wait and see what I come up with.

Dai sennin kurosaki d Naruto: I didn't see any reason not to, and I wouldn't say it's copied from canon. It's just him going through the steps of learning the jutsu. And I wouldn't say everyone who knows it is directly linked to him, I mean Konohamaru learned it and he isn't connected to the Fourth Hokage.

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Naruto and company froze at what they saw "Wh-What's this? I guess we're not alone."

"Hey Tatsu, where've you been?" Ino leapt onto Tatsu's back "I haven't seen you since you were training to-"

"Easy." Tatsu cut her off "I'm waiting until the right moment to unveil it."

"Oh right, sorry. Still, I knew you'd show up, but with these guys?"

"They wouldn't let me enter solo."

"Hey porker, back off him!" Sakura screeched.

"Oh great Miss Forehead, they let you in? Still got those big frown lines on your billboard brow I see."

"Oh, it's you guys." that was when Shikamaru and Choji showed up "I knew this was gonna be a drag, but I didn't know it was gonna be this lame. Hey Tatsu."

"Hey Shika, hey Choji." Tatsu waved.

"Well well, what do you know?" then Kiba came up with his squad "It looks like the whole gang's back together again. Here we all are, all 10 rookies. This is gonna be fun, at least for those of us good enough to make the cut, right Tatsu?" he failed to noticed the angry glare Ino shot at him "Just wait, we're going to blow you guys away."

"More like get your crotch blown away for barking up the wrong tree, now keep that mutt on a leash."

"Hey don't talk about Akamaru like that!"

"I was talking to Akamaru and I was talking about you."

"Yeah? Well, we've been training like crazy."

"And you think we haven't? I know for a fact that me, Naruto, Sasuke and Ino are the 4 best our generation's got and we've all got the best chances of becoming chunin. Oh, and there's a good chance of Shino too. Hey Shino."

"Tatsu." Shino gave a stoic nod.

"Hey you guys." then another genin came over "You might want to try keeping it down a little. I mean no offense but you're the 10 rookies right? Fresh out of the academy? I wouldn't go making a spectacle of yourselves. Just cool it, this isn't a class field trip."

"You should give your name before criticizing others." Tatsu pointed out "The name's Tatsu Kamikaze."

"I know who you are, the genin who took on Zabuza 1-on-1 and lived to tell about it. Anyway, the name's Kabuto Yakushi. But really, look around you. You've all made quite an impression."

Sasuke and the others looked and noticed the glares they were getting from a certain group.

"See those guys? They're from the Hidden Rain Village, very touchy all of them. This exam makes everyone tense, and you don't want to rub them the wrong way right now. Not that you could help it, after all how would you know how things work? You're just rookies, you remind me of myself a while back."

"Your name's Kabuto right?" Tatsu guessed "How many times have you taken this exam?"

"Well, it's… my 7th. They're held twice a year, so this will be my 4th year."

"With as much experience as you have, maybe you're willing to give us some tips?"

"Sure I could help you guys out a little, with my Ninja Info Cards." he pulled the cards out of his belt "It's hard to explain, but these cards have been chakra encoded with everything I've learned over the past 4 years. I've got more than 200 of them, so I haven't been completely wasting my time. They may not look like much to the naked eye, in fact they appear blank. Don't want just anyone seeing this stuff." he started spinning one of the cards.

"What are you doing?" asked Sakura.

"You see, I'm using my chakra to reveal their secrets, like this for example." he summoned a map on one of them "This shows the geographical distribution of all the candidates who've come to take the Chunin Exam. What villages they come from, and how many from each village. Why do you guys think they all come here to take the exam together at the same time?"

"To foster friendship between nations, international brotherhood and all that." Tatsu pointed out.

"Exactly, and it's true enough as far as it goes."

"But there's another reason."

"Yeah. You see, the important thing is that this way they can carefully regulate the total number of shinobi that end up in each village, thereby maintaining the balance of power. If the balance isn't maintained then one nation could wind up with many more shinobi than its neighbors and it might be tempted to attack them, so they try to maintain the status quo. Makes sense, I suppose."

"Do those cards of yours have any info on any individual candidates?"

"They might, do you have someone special in mind?"

"Two actually, Gaara of the Desert from the Hidden Sand and Rock Lee from the Hidden Leaf."

"Man that's no fun, you even know their names. That makes it easy." he swiped out two cards in an instant "Here they are."

"Lee first."

"Okay, first up is Rock Lee. Looks like he's about a year older than you guys, or 6 months older than you Tatsu. Mission experience, 11 C-rank and 20 D-rank. His squad leader is Might Guy, in the last 12 months his taijutsu has radically improved but his other skills are pretty shaky."

"I expected as much."

"Last year he got a lot of attention as a genin, but for some reason he chose not to participate in the Chunin Exam. This will be his first time as a candidate, same as you guys. His teammates are Tenten and Neji Hyuga. Okay, now for Gaara of the Desert." he pulled up Gaara's card "Mission experience, 8 C-rank and- get this, one B-rank as a genin. There's not a lot more information on this guy, he was a rookie from another land originally, but there is this. He survived every mission without getting a scratch on him."

Shikamaru finally spoke "The dude's done a B-rank as a genin, and has never even been injured?"

"That's right. Anyone else?"

Then Sakura stepped up "Pull up Tatsu Kamikaze."

Naruto, Sasuke and the others stared at him incredulously "What the hell Sakura?"

"If he reads Tatsu's card then everyone will know how much of a loser he is."

"Alright then." Kabuto pulled up the card "Tatsu Kamikaze. He's from the Leaf, as I'm sure you're already aware. He's a One Man Team, something that hasn't been seen in several years in this village. Taijutsu is somewhat above average, the same with her stealth. Genjutsu is below average. Ninjutsu is way above average. He's performed 22 D-rank, 2 C-rank and 1 A-rank, and is notable for taking on Zabuza Momochi, the Demon of the Hidden Mist, and winning single-handedly."

Sakura was left jaw-dropped that he wasn't the loser she thought he was, mainly since her brain deleted the part about him beating Zabuza and Sasuke dying, and switched around their roles for some reason.

Kabuto pulled the card with the countries back out "Leaf, Sand, Rain, Grass, Waterfall, Sound. From the looks of it, they've all sent exceptionally skilled candidates to the exam this time around. Of course, the Hidden Sound Village is small and sprang up recently, and no one knows anything about it. Those guys are a mystery." he put the cards away "Well, you get the point. The competition's going to be intense this year. In the 4 years I've been coming, I've never seen a crop of candidates with as much potential as this bunch. Yep, we've got our work cut out for us."

Then Naruto did something stupid and pointed at every other genin in the room "My name's Naruto Uzumaki, and I'm gonna beat every one of you! Believe it! Yeah, I feel a lot better now."

"Good to know." Tatsu said dryly "Because now they're all gonna go apeshit on us the first chance they get." he nonchalantly blocked a punch from Zaku "I mean, what the hell is wrong with you?" he blocked a kunai with his own and caught Dosu's fist aimed for Kabuto's face and grabbed the gauntlet on his arm while still talking "I mean it's great to have confidence and all, but think about how it impacts the rest of them, particularly the other 6 of them over there." then he looked at Dosu "Oh hey, you want something?"

Dosu stared intently at him 'He blocked all our attacks without breaking a sweat, and he may play the idiot but he knew exactly where to grab the Sound Gauntlet on my arm to cancel out my jutsu. He's definitely a league above the rest, I knew he was good but he's hiding his true strength.'

That was when the proctor showed up in a puff of smoke "Alright you baby-face degenerates, pipe down and listen up. It's time to begin, I'm your proctor Ibiki Morino, and from this moment your worst enemy. First, you candidates from the Hidden Sound Village, knock it off. Who told you you could fight? You wanna be failed before we've even begun?"

"Sorry, it's our first time." Dosu told him "Guess we're a little jumpy… sir."

"I'll say this once so listen up, there will be no combat between candidates, no attacking each other without the permission of your proctor and even then the use of fatal force is strictly prohibited. Anyone who even thinks of messing with me will be disqualified immediately. Now if we're ready, we'll proceed to the first stage of the Chunin Exams. Hand over your paperwork, in return you'll each be given a number. This number determines where you sit, we'll start the written test once you're all seated."

Naruto froze "Written? F*ck f*ck f*ck!'

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Naruto wasn't comfortable with the test at all 'I don't even know where the others are sitting, I'm all alone. This is already a disaster!'

"Everyone, eyes front." Ibiki got their attention "There are a few rules you need to be aware of, and I won't answer any questions so you'd better pay attention the first time around. Alright, rule #1 is this. The written part of the exam is conducted on a point reduction system. Contrary to what some of you may be used to, you all begin the test with a perfect score of 10 points. 1 point will be deducted for each answer you get wrong. So if you miss 3, your final score will be 7. Rule #2. Teams will pass or fail based on the total scores of all 3 members. I have my reasons, so shut up and listen. Rule #3. The sentinels you see positioned around the room are there to watch you carefully for any signs of cheating, and for every incident they spot they will subtract 2 points from the culprit's score. Be warned, their eyes are extremely sharp and if they catch you 5 times you'll be dismissed before the tests are even scored. Anyone fool enough to be caught cheating by the sentinels doesn't deserve to be here, if you want to be considered shinobi then show us what exceptional shinobi you can be. One more thing, if any candidate should get a 0 and fail the test then the entire team fails. The final question won't be given out until the 15 minutes before the end of the testing period. You'll have one hour total. Begin!"

And cue everyone taking the written portion.

Tatsu pondered for a moment without even picking up his pencil 'These questions are loads of crap only a bookworm like Sakura could answer, and even I can only answer about half of them. It's like they're expecting us… to… cheat… Dammit, why didn't I think of it before?! My brother told me something about having to cheat on the written test, it must be meant for subtly gather intel! How did I not think of it before? My Tenseigan can't copy people's hand movements and writing like Sasuke's Sharingan, and I'm not a bookworm like Sakura, so how am I gonna go about it? Wait… yeah, I've got one that nobody would notice!' he prepared to make a Shadow Clone, there was a poof but nothing appeared.

'So that's it.' Ibiki thought 'He incorporated a Shadow Clone and a transformation so fast that nobody could even notice. Not bad.'

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45 minutes, lots of cheating and several idiots and jackasses getting thrown out had passed.

Ibiki finally addressed them 'Now that we've weeded out most of the hopeless cases, 15 minutes to go. Time for the main event. Alright, listen up. Here's the 10th and final question. But before I give you the 10th question, there are some more rules that you need to be aware of. These rules are unique to question 10, listen carefully and try not to let them frighten you. Rule #1, each of you is free to choose not to be given the final question. It's your decision."

"So what's the catch then?" asked Tatsu "Say we chose not to do it, what then?"

"If you choose not to take the 10th question regardless of your answers to the other 9, you'll get a zero. In other words you fail, and that means of course that both your teammates fail as well. Next, if you do accept the question but answer it incorrectly then you will not only fail, you will be barred from taking the Chunin Exam ever again!"

"Hey that's bull man, that's ridiculous!" Kiba barked "What kind of bogus rule is that? There's lots of people here who've taken the test before."

Ibiki let out a very unsettling chuckle "I guess you're just unlucky, I wasn't making the rules before but I am now. Of course if you don't want to take it you don't have to, if you're not feeling confident then by all means skip it. You can come back and try again next year. Now then, if you're ready, the 10th question. If you don't want to take it then raise your hand, your number will be recorded and then you're free to go."

A few teams gave up.

Tatsu studied his team intently for a moment 'This is your moment of truth guys, do you have the resolve.' then he saw Naruto raise his hand 'Well f*ck everything I know.'

Naruto suddenly slammed it down on the table in front of him "Screw you and your question, I don't quit and I don't run! You can act like this ballsy tough guy all you want, but you won't scare me off! I don't care if I do get stuck as a genin for the rest of my life, I'll still be Hokage someday!"

'And everything I know isn't a lie. Good for you Naruto, good for all of us.'

Ibiki looked and saw nobody else was gonna drop out 'Remarkable, that little outburst has given the others some backbone. He's inspired them into staying. 78 left, more than I expected. But I don't see anyone wavering, I think that's it. Well then I admire your determination if nothing else, for those of you remaining there's only one thing left to do and that's for me to tell you that you've all passed the first exam."

Tatsu knew why, but decided to ask for anyone else "I don't think they get it, what do you mean we passed, and what about the 10th question?"

"There never was one, not a written one at least. Actually-"

"The decision to stay was the answer to the 10th question, it was testing if we had the determination and resolve to back up that decision, and the first 9 were to test our ability to gather information under difficult circumstances."

"Exactly. Also, never interrupt me again. Those who remain have successfully answered the 10 questions I put to you. You have earned the right to continue on to the next step. You have passed through the first gate. I hereby declare this part of the Chunin Exams completed, there's nothing left but to wish you all good luck."

"Alright, we did it, that's one down!" Naruto started cheering like an idiot.

'He's a funny one, that kid. And that other one Tatsu, he's a smart one.'

Then a bundle crashed through the window, revealing Anko as the next proctor, and put up a banner complimenting herself.

'Jumped the gun as usual.'

"Heads up boys and girls!" Anko barked "This is no time to be celebrating. I'll be your next proctor, Anko Mitarashi. You ready for the second test? Good! Then let's go, follow me!"

"...You're early. Again."

Anko blushed angrily 'Dammit! How many are there? Ibiki, you let all these guys pass? Your test was too easy, you must be getting soft."

"Or it could be a stronger crop of candidates this year."

"They sure don't look it. Trust me, before I'm done with them more than half will be eliminated."

Tatsu's eyes narrowed 'Like Kazuma said, next up is the Forest of Death.'

"Alright, you maggots have had it easy so far but things are going to be different starting first thing in the morning. I'll let your squad leaders know where you're to meet me. Dismissed."

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After that, Ibiki took note of how Naruto didn't answer a single question.

Naruto was definitely a funny one.

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Morning came.

Naruto and the others looked at the forest ahead of them "Woah nice place, what is it?"

"The Forest of Death." Tatsu told him.

"This is the location for the second phase of the exam. It's the 44th Battle Training Zone, but we call it the Forest of Death." explained Anko.

"This whole place just completely creeps me out." Sakura muttered.

"It should, they call it the Forest of Death and soon you're going to find out what that reason is."

Naruto then proceeded to act like a tough jackass "Do your worst, you're not gonna scare me away! I can handle anything!"

"So, look like we've got ourselves a tough guy." she chucked a kunai that whizzed past his face, grazing it, and then appeared behind him "You tough enough to handle this? You're not afraid are you? Tough guys like you usually leave their blood all over this forest." she was about to whip out another kunai when she sensed something behind her.

A Hidden Grass ninja suddenly held out her kunai with her tongue "I was just returning your knife."

"Why thank you grass ninja. You know, I really only recommend you stand this close behind me if you wish to meet a premature end."

"My pardon. With the sight of blood and your blade slicing through my hair, I'm afraid I just became a little excited. I meant you no harm." and then she walked away.

"Likewise. Seems like everyone here today is quick tempered, must be something in the air. This is gonna be fun."

Naruto didn't take very kindly to that 'Quick tempered?! You're the one who threw the kunai at me!'

Anko made her way back to the front "Now before we begin this test, I have something to hand out to you all. It's just a standard consent form. Before the test, all of you are going to have to read over this form and then sign it."

"What for?" asked Sasuke.

"Some of you may not come back from this test, and I have to get your consent to that risk, otherwise it would be my responsibility. Now I'll explain what you'll be doing on this test. Here, pass these out." she handed them out "The first thing you need to know is that this test will tax every one of your survival skills. First, I'll give you all a description of the terrain on the practice field. The 44th Battle Training Zone has 44 locked entrance gates, there are rivers and a forest inside. In the center is a locked tower, located 10 kilometers from each gate. It's in this confined area that you'll undergo the survival test, the test consists of an anything-goes battle to get your hands on these scrolls."

"Both of them?" asked Tatsu.

"Yes. You'll be fighting to get both a Heaven scroll and an Earth scroll. All together, 26 teams will be taking part in this test, so half of those teams will be going after the Heaven scroll and the other half will be trying to get the Earth scroll. I'll hand over one kind of scroll to each team, and that's what you'll be vying for."

"So how do we pass the test?"

"Your entire squad must bring a Heaven and Earth scroll to the tower."

"So at least half of the teams here will fail."

"No one ever said it would be easy. Oh and one more thing, the test has a time limit. You must finish it within 5 days."

"Just asking for others, what're we supposed to do for food?"

"Just look around, the forest is full of things to eat. There's plenty to feed all of you."

"Yeah but that's not all the forest has plenty of, there are plenty of beasts and poisonous plants in there. With these circumstances, there's no way half the teams will make it. And since we're completely surrounded by enemies. There won't be any time to rest, we'll have to keep a constant watch."

"Right, this test also measures endurance behind enemy lines. This is designed to be a grueling test, and I'm sure some of you won't be up to the challenge. There are also some ways you can get disqualified. The first is simple, if all 3 members of a team can't make it to the tower with both scrolls after 5 days. #2, if a team loses a member of if a member becomes incapacitated and cannot continue. But most important, absolutely none of you may look at the contents of the scrolls until you've reached the tower. There are times when a ninja will be asked to carry secret documents, the scroll is to test your integrity. Okay we're done, each team take your consent form and exchange them over there for your scrolls. After that, each team pick a gate and will be led inside. Oh, and I have one more word of advice: Just don't die."

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After signing his form, Tatsu watched as a curtain was hung over the stand where the scrolls were given out 'So that's it, we won't know which team has which scroll and we won't know which team member is carrying the scroll. Stealing information is really a matter of life and death. It's just like Ibiki said, everyone is equally determined to pass and all of them are our enemies.'

Anko watched and smirked 'It looks like they're starting to understand what's really involved in this test.'

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Soon everyone had handed their consent forms and received a scroll.

Naruto smirked as he took one 'We are so gonna win this!'

Tatsu sighed 'If only they weren't so arrogant.'

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"Listen up!" Anko called "All the teams had received their scrolls, so everyone go to your gate and wait there. When the gates open, the test is on!"

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Tatsu, Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura were stationed at Gate 12 "Alright guys, just be sure to be cautious."

Sakura scoffed "Shut up loser, who put you in charge?"

"Anyone with a brain." the guys chorused simultaneously.

Soon one of the proctors unchained the gate "It's time."

"Right!" and they ran inside.

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Ino's team was being stalked by a group of Hidden Rain ninja, who were promptly attacked by a pack of leeches.

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Tatsu quickly stopped his team "I guess someone found the leeches?"

"What leeches?" asked Naruto.

"They sense body temperature and movement and drop down from above in groups, if they suck your blood for a full 5 minutes you're screwed."

"...Good to know. Alright, be right back."

"Where're you going?"

"Take a leak."

"Go do it somewhere else!" Sakura screeched.

"Can you say that again, I don't think the other 20 teams that want to kill us heard you!" and he walked off into the bushes.

"Worthless asshole."

"Oh shut up Sakura, like you're one to talk." Tatsu and Sasuke chorused simultaneously.

Naruto came back after a few minutes "Oh man, that was a lot. I wrote my whole name-"

Tatsu cut him off by slugging him in the gut and pinning him to the ground "Not bad, but you're missing a couple of things. Naruto can't piss that much to save his life, I speak from experience, and Naruto isn't left-handed. Also, there's no cut on your cheek. Who are you?"

Naruto broke free and disappeared in a puff of smoke, revealing a Hidden Rain ninja by the name of Oboro "Alright you got me, so what? I'm still gonna take your scroll, now hand it over or else."

Tatsu just drew the new sword Asuma and Hayate gave him to make up for losing the other one in the fight with Zabuza.

"So which one of you has it?" no response "Fine then, I guess I'll just have to take all of you out first!" and he charged.

"Fire Style: Crimson Moon Dance!" Tatsu summoned 2 Shadow Clones and all charged with their swords drawn.

Oboro fired 2 kunai, dispelling the clones "Sorry, but this is one test you won't be coming back from!" he fired another kunai with a paper bomb, sending Tatsu tumbling back, only for him to disappear in a puff of smoke "Another clone?!"

"Take this!" Tatsu slashed him down the back from behind, leaving serious burn marks running down his back, then looked down to the others "Naruto! Sasuke! Chances are this guy isn't alone, the others could strike any second now!"

"I wish, I came alone as not to arouse suspicion." Oboro told them "Big mistake…" and he limped off into the trees.

"Well so much for that guy, for now anyway." then he leapt back down and huddled the others into a small group "That little incident proved that we can't just trust appearances, we've gotta come up with a way of knowing each of us is who we say we are instead of some imposter with a transformation."

"What's your plan?" asked Sasuke.

"I was thinking along the lines of a secret password known only to the 4 of us and don't trust anyone who doesn't know it. I'm only gonna say this once, so listen closely. The question is "When does a ninja strike?" the answer will be "A ninja waits until the time is right, when the enemy sleeps and drops his guard. When his weapons lie forgotten in the stillness of the night, that is the moment for a ninja to strike." Got it?"

Sasuke nodded "Got it."

"Good. Naruto?"

"You've got one a little shorter?" asked Naruto.

"It'll work out I promise, I actually picked that password with you in mind."

"Yeah but I thought it was gonna be a password, not a pass-speech."

"Good. Now then, I think Sakura should take the scroll."

They shared a look "Wha-?"

"Because she's the weakest out of all of us and doesn't stand out, that way nobody will expect her to have it."

"Wait a minute-" Naruto was cut off when he felt something cut him "What was that?"

Tatsu blitzed in front of them as a massive gust of wind hit them "Brace yourselves!"

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It was actually a Hidden Grass ninja named Shiore and her teammates "Alright, you two fan out into the woods and keep your eyes open. I'll handle this alone."

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Sasuke found himself hiding alone in a bush 'Dammit, whatever that blast was it separated all of us.'

"Sasuke."

He suddenly bolted out and pulled out a kunai, only to see Sakura there "Sakura."

"Sasuke, what was that?"

"Don't move, answer the question first. When does a ninja strike?"

"Oh right. A ninja waits until the time is right, when the enemy sleeps and drops his guard. When his weapons lie forgotten in the stillness of the night, that is the moment for a ninja to strike."

"Good, it's really you."

"Hey!" then Naruto came over "You guys okay?"

"Don't come any closer. What's the password? When does a ninja strike?"

"Okay, a ninja waits until the time is right, when the enemy sleeps and drops his guard. When his weapons lie forgotten in the stillness of the night, that is the moment for a ninja to strike."

Sasuke quickly fired a kunai.

Naruto quickly ducked out of the way "What was that?! You could've killed me."

"Now I get what Tatsu's plan was, and I've gotta admit it was pretty genius all things considered. He designed that password so that there was no chance of Naruto getting it right, that way we'd know for sure that it was the real one. You'd have a better chance teaching that password to a hamster. Or Sakura. Besides, the way you dodged that attack was definitely not a Naruto-style move. Alright come on out already whoever you are, party's over."

Naruto let out an unsettling chuckle "Well aren't we the clever one?" he disappeared, revealing Shiore in his place "Tell me, if your teammate is really that dimwitted then why would your other teammate come up with a password he'd never be able to remember?"

"Tatsu didn't make if specifically for Naruto, rather for anyone nearby who was trying to eavesdrop on us. Tatsu clearly meant it as a trap, a trap you stumbled right into."

"Impressive, you and that other one certainly haven't dropped your guard have you? This promises to be very entertaining."

'The real question is, where are Naruto and Tatsu right now?'

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Naruto was lying against a tree, completely fried "Ow…"

Tatsu got him on his feet and slapped him out of his stupor "Get up stupid, we got separated from Sasuke and now he's alone with Sakura somewhere."

"Oh shit." then he saw a gigantic snake hovering over them "Oh shit."

"Move!" he grabbed Naruto and got him out of the way as the snake lunged, only for them to be swallowed by it after being caught off guard "Crap! I blame you for this!"

"How is this my fault?!"

"Because every time I'm around you alone when Sasuke isn't here, my life turns into a running gag!"

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Shiore pulled out an Earth Scroll "You'd love to get your hands on our Earth Scroll wouldn't you? It would go so nicely with your Heaven Scroll." using her long snake-like tongue, she swallowed it whole "Well when this is all over, one of us will have both scrolls and the other will be dead." she then cast a genjutsu, showing Sasuke and Sakura their own deaths, paralyzing them.

Sasuke was left extremely freaked out 'Is this an illusion?' he coughed up blood and vomit before falling to his knees 'No, it's more than that. Her thirst for blood is almost palpable. Looking in her eyes, I saw the moment of my own death. Who is she? More importantly, what is she? S-Sakura…" no response 'Should've guessed, she's got it worse than me. We've gotta get out of here… get away from her… She's death…'

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"Let us out of here!" Naruto repeatedly punched the walls of the snake's stomach.

"Naruto, shut up." Tatsu ordered bluntly "I'm gonna try something to get us out of here, I was hoping to save it for later but oh well. Shadow Clone Jutsu!" he formed a clone "Let's make this quick, we've only got one shot before we're digested."

"Right." the clone gathered chakra into the original's hand.

Naruto froze 'What's that jutsu? I can feel it's sheer power from here. Is it his Tenseigan? No, it's something different.'

"Rasengan!" Tatsu, the original, fired a Rasengan at the walls of the snake's stomach, resulting in a gorey explosion that scattered the guts and slime all over the forest "Well that was a lot more revolting than I wanted it to be."

"Tatsu, what was that jutsu?"

"Something I learned from Kakashi specifically for the exam. I'll teach it to you later, but for now we need to find Sasuke and Sakura."

"Right."

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Sasuke was internally struggling 'What's wrong with me? Move… come on, move! That's it, you can do this…' he grabbed a tanto Tatsu gave him from his pouch 'There! Now Tatsu said something was special about this tanto, but what? Well no time to worry about it, for now focus on surviving.' he slowly made his way to his feet 'That's right… come on… even if it's just a little, you've gotta move.'

Shiore smirked "Very good, now what happens?"

Sasuke suddenly froze again 'It's no use… I can't move…'

"Don't worry I'll make it quick, but I don't have to tell you that do I?" Shiore drew two kunai and slowly waltzed forward "You've seen it with your own eyes. I expected you to be more of a challenge, how disappointing." she flung each kunai at one of them.

'Is this really it? Is this how it ends? Old Man Hokage… Kakashi… Naruto… Tatsu… especially Tatsu… after I lost my clan and he lost his brother, he was always there for me. Naruto was always jealous of me and how I had an army of fangirls constantly bugging me, even though I would've given any of them to him in a heartbeat… Still, we had our moments, like when we worked together with Tatsu to free Kakashi the first time we fought Zabuza. In a way, we were probably good for each other, always competing, pushing each other on every challenge, and I nearly sacrificed myself to save him… and I told him not to let his dream die… No! I can't give up like this! If I give up against someone like this, how could I hope to defeat Itachi?' he suddenly deflected both kunai with his tanto, chakra radiating from the blade 'So that's what's special about this blade. Well then… Lightning Style: Purple Thunder Slash!" he channeled the Purple Thunder chakra through his blade and slashed, using it as a cover so he could grab Sakura and escape.

Shiore made no attempts to stop him 'So that's how it is. Rather desperate, but clever. He let the discharge of chakra allow him to overcome the fear, so this prey is not so helpless after all.'

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Sasuke put away his tanto away and put a hand over Sakura's mouth 'Gotta move… gotta get away from her… but how? Where?'

Sakura had been freaking out until she finally got Sasuke's hand off "Sasuke, behind us!"

Sasuke looked at the giant snake behind them, and they just barely got out of the way "This is unbelievable, I didn't even notice. I'm losing it!" he saw a shadow of Shiore on top of the snake and nearly lost it "STAY BACK!" he frantically fired a barrage of shuriken, killing the snake instantly, the corpse leaking blood.

Then the skin cracked open, and Shiore emerged from it "I sense your fear and desperation."

Sasuke's Sharingan flared into life.

"It's only natural, the prey must never let down its guard, not even for a moment, in the presence of its predator." she wrapped her extending snake-like body around a tree, her snake-like tongue sticking out of her mouth.

Sasuke let out a fearful yelp and was about to unleash Purple Thunder, when…

"Wind Style: Skybound Wind!" a blast of wind severed the branch in two "Looks like we showed up just in time.

Sasuke looked to where the blast came from and breathed a sigh of relief "Tatsu… Naruto… you're here…"

Naruto smirked "And by the way, what was that password again?"

"Good, you're both here. Let's team up and-"

"Change of plans." Tatsu cut him off by chopping him on the neck, knocking him out "Sorry about this Sasuke, but we can't let you find out Naruto's secret, at least not yet."

Shiore smirked "So you two managed to escape from my friend, well done."

'I figured there was no way for that to be a random giant snake attack, but this chakra feels so foul and impure… no, it couldn't be… could it?'

"I don't know what's going on but you've been picking on my teammates and I don't like that so just slither on back into your hole before we make a pair of shoes out of you!" Naruto barked.

'Idiot! He's just gonna get us killed! I'll have to use my Tenseigan Chakra Mode, but it takes time to build up that much chakra.' he looked over to Shiore "Tell me, what's your purpose here?"

"What makes you think I have one?" asked Shiore.

"You're obviously skilled. You could've easily killed Sasuke and Sakura, then taken the scroll and fled. You've been toying with them until now."

"Well aren't you the clever one? Yes, I could've ended this little game any time I wanted but I merely wanted to see what the last Uchiha was capable of. I wasn't impressed. Perhaps you'd be willing to entertain me?" Shiore shot forward and sent both Tatsu and Naruto rocketing to the ground, only for them to dispel "Shadow Clones?"

"Nice technique, huh?" Naruto appeared and slugged Shiore in the face, sending her flying into a tree 'Tatsu you'd better make it fast, I don't know how long I can hold her for.' then he looked over to Sakura "Aren't you going to help me?"

"We need to get out of here Naruto, she'll pick us apart!" Sakura yelled.

"We need to slow her down first, she's no genin and even all of us together won't last long. We've gotta buy time for Tatsu to use whatever he's got planned, then we can escape."

"We should just give up our scroll and run."

"Weren't you listening before? She could've ended this in less than a minute if she wanted. If we're gonna survive, you're gonna have to pull your weight." and he charged "Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu!" he formed 30 clones 'I've only seen this a few times and haven't gotten any practice with it, but it's now or never. Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" each clone fired a fireball into the air, turning it into one massive ball of flames, and the original leapt above it "Wind Style: Crimson Wind!" he fired it into the ball of flames, greatly increasing the size and sending it downwards.

"Forget it, just because you two are too stupid to know when to quit doesn't mean Sasuke has to be killed because of it! If you guys are gonna be like this, then the least you can do is cover our escape!" and she took the unconscious Sasuke and took off.

"What the hell? Sakura, where're you going?"

Tatsu was pissed at this 'That little bitch took Sasuke and bailed on us! She's so gonna pay when this is over!'

"I see." Shiore got their attention, appearing heavily scorched, and bound Naruto with her tongue, causing the clones to disappear "When your anger is roused, some of the Kyuubi's chakra is released." her fingers glowed with purple flames "What an interesting childhood you must've had, and an impressive plan too. If you'd been a few seconds faster I wouldn't have been able to substitute with a mud clone." her tongue lifted up his shirt "The spells that seals it within you has appeared on your skin. 5-Pronged Seal!" she slammed her fingers onto the sealing formula, causing it to glow purple and Naruto to black out 'For 12 years the seal has remained unbroken, soon the demon's chakra and the boy's will be as one. But for now, he's just in my way.'

"Hey!" Tatsu suddenly appeared with a cyan-coloured Rasengan in his hand and pinned Naruto's unconscious form to a tree with a kunai 'Now the power of my Tenseigan Chakra Cloak has been transferred into my Rasengan, giving it one hell of a power boost. Tensei-Rasengan!" he slammed it into Shiore's torso, sending her flying through several trees, the remains of which were then torn out of the ground by the backlash resulting from the attack, Tatsu himself nearly being blown off his feet 'Dammit… at least I know that the whole power corruption thing is negated by using the Tenseigan chakra in short bursts.' he went over to Naruto and took him onto his back "Come on buddy, let's get moving before she comes back."

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Outside the forest, Anko learned of 3 faceless corpses found near the exam, one of them being the real Shiore.

The disturbing part to Anko was that she recognized the technique used.

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They didn't realize they were being watched.

"Unbelievable." Kin muttered "He actually defeated Lord Orochimaru, even if he was holding back severely."

"He's not someone to mess with." Dosu agreed "Don't forget that we were ordered to go after Sasuke, if we're going to carry out the order then we'd better do it before Tatsu and the blonde regroup with them."

"Right."

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Anko eventually found Orochimaru, her former teacher, and tried to kill him with little success, learning in the process that Sasuke was his target.

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"The other teams will be calling it a day soon." Neji noted "And that means that it's time to strike. You know the plan, we split up and fan out. Whatever happens, whether we make contact with another team or not, we meet up back here in this spot." he marked the spot on the ground with a kunai "Got it?"

Lee nodded, with Tenten doing the same "Right."

"Alright then, let's move."

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Sakura looked over the unconscious Sasuke 'At least he's breathing easy, but he's used up a lot of chakra. Looks like it's up to me for the time being.'

She'd have to pull her weight.

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Anko was trying to take care of the wounds she'd received from Orochimaru, but knew she had to tell Sarutobi right away.

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Dosu and his team watched Sakura tending to Sasuke from afar "There they are. Remember Orochimaru's orders, we strike at daybreak. And don't forget, the Uchiha is our target."

"Yeah, but if the girl gets in our way it's okay to take her out right?" asked Zaku.

"The girl yes, but if Tatsu and the blonde show up then pull out. Considering what he did, even if Lord Orochimaru was going easy it's still not something we could take on and survive. If they show up then we retreat, end of discussion."

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Naruto finally regained consciousness "Wha-?"

"Good, you're awake."

Naruto looked to see Tatsu holding a big net full of fish "Tatsu? What happened? Last thing I remember we were fighting that Hidden Grass ninja."

Tatsu looked at him, his eyes deadly serious "Naruto, that was no Hidden Grass ninja. That was one of the Legendary Sannin, Orochimaru. He's an S-rank rogue ninja. From what I sense, that seal he put on you prevents you from using any of Kurama's chakra."

"Dammit!"

"So let's go over this. I'm almost completely spent after hitting Orochimaru with a Tenseigan-powered Rasengan, your access to Kurama's chakra is sealed off, Sasuke's out cold, Sakura abandoned us and took Sasuke to god knows where, and it's only been 2 days. Yeah, I'd say we're f*cked. You got any ideas?"

"I've got a ton of scrolls in my bag, we could change one of these to look exactly like the Earth Scroll we need."

"No way, forget it. Even if you could fake the outside, how do you fake the contents inside? You couldn't know without reading and it's against the rules. Besides, don't forget that Sakura has our Heaven Scroll."

"I've got that figured out, I think these things have a secret code written in them that only makes sense when you put them both together, and that secret code is like the password you need to get into the tower at the end of the exam. Get it?"

"I get that you're doing what I never told you to do. Thinking. Besides, we're not faking the scrolls, we're not looking, we're sticking to the rules, end of story."

"That's the right train of thought here." a voice cut in "Opening the scroll is a really bad idea."

Tatsu and Naruto both looked to see Kabuto sitting beside them munching on a fish "Kabuto."

"You had me worried there, but I guess I should've had more faith in the son of the Leaf's Crimson Wolf and the Silver Claw's younger brother. There have been others who've broken the rules and tried to read the scrolls, I've seen what happens. They're protected by a powerful Hypnosis Jutsu, a kind of booby trap for anyone unwise enough to try and read them. It'll knock you senseless, and by the time you wake up the exam is over."

"Thanks for the heads up Kabuto. By the way, what're you doing wandering around all by yourself?"

"Don't worry, I'm not after your scroll."

"Even if you were, we don't have it."

"I know, I'd been watching you guys go up against that Grass ninja and decided to help you out."

"So you're looking for an Earth Scroll too?"

"Actually, I already have them both." Kabuto held them up "I had a run of luck, I was just on my way to the tower to wait for my teammates to show up. So if you'll excuse me." he started walking off.

"Wait a second. Sorry to cut to the chase here, but what would you say if I offered to fight you for your Earth Scroll? Nothing personal, but we don't have time to waist. For all we know, by this point Sakura might've gotten Sasuke killed. Out here it's all about survival."

Kabuto pushed up his glasses and smirked "You're lying."

"What makes you so sure?"

"Come on, admit it. For all your tough talk, your heart really isn't in it. If it was true, if winning was really the only thing that mattered to you, why openly challenge me to a fight? Why announce it and put me on my guard? Why not just jump me when my back is turned? After all, that's what a ninja would do."

"I see. You're pretty sharp."

"It's okay, actually I admire you for it. So here's what I'll do, I'll show you the path you should follow. Now let's go, it's best we get out of here before blondie's BO draws the attention of every wild animal in the forest, and not only animals but the competition too." he subtly looked back, but saw nothing, and smirked."

"Lead the way."

"Gladly." so Kabuto took to the trees, with Tatsu and Naruto following.

"So there are still plenty of candidates out there? Stupid question, it's only the 3rd day."

"Exactly. Just think about it. What do you think is the most efficient way of finding the scrolls in an area as large as this? To go searching through the forest for them? No, you wait for them to come to you. The tower at the center of the forest is the goal, right? So the closer to the end of the exam you are, the more teams the area will be crawling with, verging on the tower with their scrolls."

"Like an ambush, so we just head for the tower and find a hiding place so that when a team comes along with an Earth Scroll, we can jump them and take it, and then go track down Sasuke and Sakura."

"That's ⅓ of the problem."

"We're not the only ones thinking of this?"

"Of course not. Every other team without a scroll will be lying in wait, just like you."

"So we basically find a team, punch them out, keep them from getting what they think will be our scrolls, and then go track down the rest of our team."

"That's ⅔ of the problem. There's bound to be some collectors lurking around at the finish line."

"You mean the pricks who try to gather as many scrolls as they can to get as many teams out as possible."

"Exactly, along with various other things. They'll be there alright, and they're bad news. The closer you get to the tower, the more likely you'll be to run into them."

"And you brought us along because you're scared, right?"

"You bet I am. Wait." he stopped them when the tower was in view "There it is, now comes the hard part."

"Well it's about time!" Naruto blurted out "Bring it on!"

"Quiet." Tatsu hissed "There's someone back there."

Naruto hurled a kunai, only to strike a gigantic centipede "Damn, this place is full of scary stuff."

"Hey Naruto." Kabuto spoke up "Do us a favor and try to keep it down to a dull roar will you?"

"Huh?"

"See the whole idea is not to let anyone know we're here, if you go crashing through here like an elephant you're going to draw collectors like flies. We wanna find them before they find us."

"Oh yeah, I see your point."

"Take it slow and quiet, let's use all the time we've got left."

Tatsu nodded "Agreed."

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Naruto quickly found himself tangled "Dammit, how long have we been doing this?!"

"20 minutes." Tatsu said dryly.

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Once Naruto was free, Kabuto checked his compass "Okay, we're getting closer."

"Pretty close by the look of it." Tatsu looked up and saw 3 corpses in the trees above them, impaled with all sorts of kunai "I guess a couple of idiots fell into a trap."

"Yeah, and it only gets worse from here on in."

"Shit!" that was when Naruto triggered a trap, sending a bunch of kunai hurtling towards him.

"Look out!" Kabuto pushed him out of the way, then saved himself from being impaled using a Substitution Jutsu "Well that was close."

"A Substitution Jutsu."

"Like I told you, it only gets worse from here on in."

Then Tatsu noticed something off "Hang on, is it just me or is the tower not getting any closer?"

Naruto blinked "Now that you mention it, I was thinking that too. It's weird."

"Maybe not. We must've been spotted, someone's playing games with us."

"Looks like it." Kabuto pointed "Ring a bell?"

Naruto looked and the saw the centipede he'd killed before "Hey, what's the big idea?"

"Genjutsu." Tatsu guessed.

Kabuto nodded "That's what it looks like, and we completely fell for it. We were so concerned with not being seen by anyone that we didn't notice that we were walking around in circles."

"You think they're trying to wear us down and strike when we're frustrated and exhausted, like we are now."

"Right. They'll be coming soon." Kabuto looked back.

Then a number of black-cloaked ninja with blindfolds appeared from the trees, courtesy of Oboro and his team, hiding from the shadows.

"Well Naruto, you did say you wanted a fight." Tatsu noted "How does 3 against 30 sound?"

Naruto smirked "I like those odds."

"They're clones from the look of it, and a whole lot of them."

The clones chuckled "Like cornered rats "

"Oh yeah? Cornered rats, are we?" Naruto thursted a fist and slammed it into the clone's gut, only to phase through them in a gooey mess "What the-?"

The clone then grew a second head, along with a kunai.

"I just touched him and he turned to mush."

The clone cut itself free, leaving a second upper body attached to the legs, and flung a kunai.

Tatsu was about to dodge, but stumbled, feeling the after-effects from using the Tensei-Rasengan catch up to him 'Damn, my chakra-!'

"Get down!" Kabuto pushed him to the ground, being cut in the process.

'My chakra hasn't recovered from using that attack on Orochimaru, I've gotta be careful how I use it until I can meditate to gather it all back.'

Kabuto examined the kunai 'It's obvious this thing is real enough, no illusion here.'

"Kabuto, the fact that you're wounded and bleeding means that these are real Shadow Clones. But they're supposed to vanish when you hit them." Naruto pointed out "These things don't, so what the hell are we dealing with? Some kind of genjutsu?"

"Surrender your scroll." all of the clones kept repeating over and over.

Naruto whipped out a kunai "Like hell we will!"

"Don't!" Tatsu cut him off sharply "You'll only be fighting illusions, it's definitely genjutsu."

"But how? That gash on Kabuto's arm is real enough."

Kabuto nodded "That's true, but Tatsu's right. It could be that the real enemy is hiding somewhere in the woods nearby, watching real attacks from behind a smoke screen and illusions, and coordinating their movements with them so that we're fooled into thinking these genjutsu shinobi are the ones attacking us."

"Well whatever they are what're we gonna do, just stand here? Let's go find these clowns and take care of them!"

"Hold on Naruto, they'd like nothing better than for us to go searching blindly through the forest while they sit back and take us out one by one. We'd be making their job easy for them. I know this kind of attack, the kind who use it do so because they are weak in taijutsu and afraid of close hand-to-hand combat, according to my data. We've no choice, all we can do is hold our ground and fend off their attacks."

"Okay fine, whatever. Let's just do it." he began dodging kunai from the clones, only to soon get bored with the plan "Okay, this isn't gonna work." he formed the hand sign for Shadow Clones.

"No, it's pointless. You'll only waste your chakra, by trying to fight these things you'll be doing just what they want."

"If we were to eliminate all the illusions then whoever's casting them wouldn't be able to hurl kunai at us without us being able to see where they're hiding. I'll show them 2 can play at this game. Shadow Clone Jutsu!" he summoned a barrage of Shadow Clones and began attacking the illusion clones left and right, but they just kept reforming "Back for more huh? Well okay then!" he charged in unfazed.

Tatsu let out a sigh "Idiot, he's given us no choice now. We've gotta now."

"You're right." Kabuto whipped out a kunai "He's gonna need us so that's that, we fight!"

"Kabuto take the right, I'll take the left!" Tatsu drew his sword and charged, slashing through clone after clone until daybreak.

By that point, Kabuto had slumped against a tree "That's it… I'm out…"

Naruto got beaten back, but came back for more "I'm just warming up!"

That was when Oboro's comrade Mubi stepped out "Sun's coming up, time to move in for the kill."

The last of the team, Kagari, nodded "I think you're right Mubi. We've crushed their spirits, now all that's left is their bodies."

Then Oboro glared at Tatsu "You! I know you, you're the one who burned my back. That really messed me up you know. Oh well, now I can finally pay you back with interest." then his eyes shot wide.

"Well well, now who's the cornered rat?" a voice rang through the air "Looks like Naruto's plan worked like a charm." then Tatsu appeared behind team Oboro, with Kabuto right next to him.

"What? It can't be, if they're over here then who are they?"

"Confused? Sorry, but it was the only way to get you guys to come out of hiding." Naruto then formed a hand seal, dispelling the transformations on the Shadow Clones next to him.

"How? Don't tell me, that little brat- It's not possible!"

"The Shadow Clones were only the first part of it, my real trick was coming up with clones for the others. While the doubles did all the fighting and took the beating, they were safe and sound waiting for you to show yourselves." then he fell to one knee.

"Naruto, take a break." Tatsu told him "You've earned it, Kabuto and I will take it from here."

"Like hell!" Naruto slugged Mubi in the face, sending him crashing into Kagari and Oboro and sending all three crashing to the ground "After all the work I've done, there's no way I'm gonna stand back and let you have all the fun."

Mubi was in a stupor "This kid shouldn't be able to move, let alone this."

Oboro was more confident as he and his teammates formed hand signs "Not bad, but that doesn't mean it's over. We're still feeling lucky. And besides, time's running out for all of us so we'll just have to take the gloves off and show you our ninjutsu. Ninja Art: Fog Clone Jutsu!" they all formed an army of clones.

"Shadow Clones?"

"They're real clones." Tatsu told him "Don't waste your strength, let them make the first move."

"If these are clones then the real ones are in there with them, all I've gotta do is smash my way through them until I find the ones that squeal. Just stay out of it, I can handle this!" and he charged forward.

"Not again." Kabuto charged in after him.

Tatsu almost did, but stopped 'My chakra is almost completely drained.'

"Take this!" Naruto charged through clone, but only phased through them 'So those are all clones.'

Kabuto leapt into the fray "Naruto stop!"

'Gotta… try…' Tatsu attempted to sense out the originals.

"Naruto!" Kabuto pushed Naruto out of the way of Oboro's attack, getting his leg cut in the process.

"Hey, you okay?" asked Naruto.

"Ow…"

Naruto glared at the clones "Now you're gonna pay!"

"Forget it." Tatsu stopped "You can swing at them all day, you're just wasting your time and chakra on them. The real ones aren't there."

"What're you talking about? That last attack didn't come from any clone! Of course the real ones are here, they've gotta be here. If they're not then when the hell are they?"

"Use your head, if I knew that then we wouldn't be in this mess."

'I'm exhausted, I can't even use any more Shadow Clones.'

"Looks like they've reached the end of their rope. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted." that was when Oboro charged in.

Then Tatsu noticed them emerge from the ground behind Naruto 'That's it, they hide with Earth Style and attack while we're distracted by their clones!'

Naruto watched in horror as Kabuto was slashed by an attack from Oboro "Kabuto no!"

Kabuto fell to the ground and glared as the Hidden Rain ninja and glared at them through his bloodshot eyes, making them back up slightly.

"This ends now!" Naruto sent them all flying with one kick, sending them all flying and causing the clones to dispel "Like you said, never give your enemy an opening."

Kabuto breathed a sigh of relief "Thank you Naruto, you saved my neck."

"Nice work." Tatsu limped over, panting heavily, then tied up the Hidden Rain ninja and checked for a scroll "Hey Naruto, they've got a ton of scrolls over here. 3 Earth and 3 Heaven each, so as long as Sasuke and Sakura didn't do anything stupid we'll be fine."

"Good for you, now let's head over to the tower."

"You go ahead, we've gotta go find our teammates. Thanks Kabuto, and good luck. See you later." Naruto slung Tatsu's arm over his shoulder and leapt off "Let's just hope Sakura didn't get them killed."

Tatsu said nothing 'There's something about Kabuto, something I don't like. Still though, whatever the reasons might be he did help us and we have other things to worry about right now. I'll deal with that later, for now we should find the others.'

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Now let's see how things are going on the other end.

Sakura opened her eyes to find sunlight 'It's morning. Oh crap, I fell asleep! And Sasuke's still out cold. I can't believe it's daytime already.' then she heard a rustling coming from the bushes behind her 'Oh no!' she fearfully grabbed a kunai and slowly looked behind her, only to see that it was just a squirrel 'A squirrel? Oh man, don't surprise me like that little guy." then she yelped and threw a kunai, scaring the squirrel off 'That was too close.' she hadn't noticed the paper bomb on the squirrel's back.

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Lee was making his way through the forest when he saw the same squirrel "What the-?" he then rushed in and pulled it off, then destroyed it "That was close. This paper bomb explodes after a certain amount of time, who would do something like that?"

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"Some lookout, you're half asleep."

Sakura was snapped out of her daze and looked to see Dosu and his squad 'Crap…'

"At least you don't have to keep watch anymore, what's the point after we've already found you? Now wake Sasuke up, we want to fight him."

'You'll never get him you jerks.' Sakura reached for a kunai "What do you want here, I mean what do you really want? I know Orochimaru is calling the shots from the shadows. Why is he after Sasuke, you know don't you? And now you wanna fight him when he can't defend himself?"

"See, if your other two teammates were with you then this wouldn't be a problem."

"Yeah but… they abandoned us during the fight with Orochimaru!"

"Don't lie girl, we saw what you did."

Zaku was a little more cocky "I can't stay quiet after hearing you talk to us like that after what you pulled. First I'm gonna kill this girl, and then I'm gonna kill Sasuke."

"Hold up Zaku." Dosu put a hand on the ground "It's so obvious, this is the color of dirt that's recently been dug up and this kind of grass doesn't grow in a place like this. You know pinky, if you're going to lay a trap then at least make sure it's actually hidden."

"You're just a joke, you threw your kunai knife so that squirrel wouldn't spring the trap you set."

"Now we kill her, frankly we'd be doing the Uchiha a favor." Dosu charged first, but saw a log swinging at them 'So she set a trap from above?' he placed a hand on it "Nice try." he formed a hand seal, shattering the log "Clearly you have no talent as a ninja, someone like you needs to know more about effort and loyalty."

"Leaf Hurricane!" Lee suddenly showed up, squirrel on his shoulder, and quickly kicked them all away "Looks like you also need to make more of an effort."

"Who are you?"

"I'm known as the Leaf's Green Beast, but you can call me Rock Lee. This is really all thanks to you little one, but now it's time for you to run along." he let the squirrel down gently "Before we do this, there's something I want to know. Bandaged one, you said before that she abandoned her teammates. What did you mean?"

"Well her teammates, Tatsu Kamikaze and that blonde one, were fighting an enemy ninja, the Uchiha was out cold at the time, and she took the Uchiha and abandoned the other two, something about letting them cover their escape."

"Is that right?"

Sakura paled "Lee, don't listen to them. Who would you believe, a bunch of outsiders or your rival's teammate?"

"Firstly, Tatsu has a clear distaste for you and from what I see it's clearly justified. Secondly, insulting them solely for being from another village is nothing more than unnecessary discrimination." he turned back to Dosu "I may not like her, but she's still my rival's teammate so I'll protect her no matter what."

"Zaku, I'll let you have Sasuke." Dosu pulled out his Earth Scroll and threw it back "I'll take care of this one."

'From the look of it, she's in no condition to fight.'

"The one with the bushy eyebrows is pretty good at taijutsu, it looks like I'll get to have some fun." Dosu charged.

Lee pulled a large branch up from underground to block Dosu's attack "There's some kind of trick to your attack, so I won't waste my time trying to dodge it. After all, I've seen your jutsu before and based on where you're from I'd have to assume it's sound related. Of course, even saying that, 3 on 1 aren't good odds for me. I'm gonna have to take a chance. I'll go all out against them one at a time. I'd better not take a chance, I should take them off.' he leapt onto a tree trunk "I can tell you're all strong, so I'll have to go all out." he pulled down his leg warmers, revealing weights around his ankles, which he promptly removed.

'Leg weights? Basic training equipment.;

Lee held up the weights from each leg, then promptly dropped them.

'Come on, you really think it'll make that much of a difference just by dropping a couple of pounds of weight?'

The weights crashed to the ground with a loud thud.

'...I stand corrected.'

Lee leapt back to the ground and began unravelling the bandages on his hands 'Sorry Guy-sensei, but I'll have to use the Lotus if I want a chance at winning.'

Dosu charged.

"This is it!" Lee suddenly blitzed forward and kicked Dosu into the air, then wrapped his bandages around Dosu's body "Primary Lotus!" he pile-drived him, sending him spiralling downwards.

"Oh no Dosu, there's no way he can break his fall." Zaku formed several hand seals and used his Slicing Sound Wave in an attempt to cushion the impact of the fall.

'So that's it, he's trying to use those air cannons in his arms to cushion the impact of the fall for his teammate. Good try, but I know how to avoid that!' instead of pile-driving Dosu directly into the ground, he pulled Dosu into the air with the bandages wrapped around him, and hit him with a sharp kick to the stomach, sending him hurtling towards the ground.

"Dosu!" Zaku attempted yet again to use his Slicing Sound Waves.

"No you don't!" Lee drew a chain wind staff and hurled the chain at Zaku, wrapping it around him and preventing him from cushioning the impact of the fall, with Dosu hitting the ground very hard soon after.

"D-Dammit…" Dosu slowly emerged from the ground "That's a… frightening jutsu… almost killed me… you're more than I expected…"

"You're more resilient than I gave you credit for, the Lotus isn't something many people can walk away from. Before we continue this battle…" he looked over to the bushes 'Chances are I could win if they help me, but maybe it'd be best for them to wait in the bushes and make a surprise attack when they find an opening.'

"Say so long freak!" Zaku prepared another Slicing Sound Wave blast.

"Wanna bet?" that was when Ino showed up, with Choji and Shikamaru by her side.

"So what's this, the second string?"

Lee stared intently at him "You're…"

"Hey." Ino gave a small smirk "Tatsu goes on about you all the time, and after seeing you in action I decided that I'm impressed. You did good, but the guys can't have all the credit. It's time to show some girl power."

"This doesn't concern you." Dosu told her calmly "If you don't want to get hurt I suggest you back out now."

Choji nearly lost his shit when he saw Dosu glaring at them "Are you two crazy, what're we doing here? These guys are bad news man!"

"Don't look at me, it was Ino's idea." Shikamaru pointed out "But what're we supposed to do, just sit back and let some bushy-browed freak do all the fighting?"

Ino smirked "Sorry to drag you guys into this, but we're a 3-man squad right? All for 1, 1 for all."

"Yeah, what's meant to happen will."

"This ain't teamwork, I call this suicide!" Choji tried to run, only for Shikamaru to grab hold of the bandages on his arm "Let me out of here, please!"

"Quit it, you're getting on my nerves."

Zaku snickered "Better a live sheep than a dead lion, right fatass?"

Choji stopped cold and everyone else froze "Did I just hear that right? What did that guy just say?"

Shikamaru froze 'Oh crap, he just pushed Choji's button bigtime.'

"You wanna try saying that again?"

Zaku didn't get the memo "I said you're smart to get out while you still can, fatass."

Choji turned to face him and exploded "WHO ARE YOU CALLING FAT?! I'M JUST CHUBBY OKAY?!" he exploded with chakra radiating around him "CHUBBIES RULE!" he turned to his teammates "That does it, now this is personal! It's a fight to the death between Leaf and Sound!"

Ino smirked 'Perfect, he's totally lost it.'

"Good job dumbass." Shikamaru grumbled "Thanks a lot, now we've gotta live with him."

Zaku smirked "Don't worry, it won't be for long. We've gotta get rid of these clowns, Sasuke's the target.'

"Sakura." Ino addressed her without looking at her "Sasuke's down and Tatsu and Naruto are nowhere in sight. Look after Sasuke, we'll take it from here." then she turned her attention to her teammates "Alright Team 10, let's show them who's boss!"

"Got it!" they chorused.

"Formation Ino-Shika-Cho! Alright Choji, take it away."

"My pleasure! Expansion Jutsu!" Choji blew up like a balloon "Followed by Leaf-style taijutsu: Human Boulder!" he rolled forward in a rage.

"You've gotta be kidding." Zaku muttered "I think I'm supposed to laugh myself to death. Slicing Sound Wave!" he unleashed a blast of air, stopping Choji in place.

That is, before Choji jumped the air stream.

'This thing's spinning way too fast, my Sound Wave can't control it. And if I try going Super Sound on it, it's liable to rip my arms off!'

"Zaku!" Dosu rushed over as fast as he could, which wasn't that fast considering how wounded he was by Lee's jutsu.

'Oh no you don't mummy-man, time to put you under wraps. Shadow Possession Jutsu!" that was when Shikamaru used his Shadow Possession Jutsu to stop Dosu in his tracks.

"What's happening?!"

"Just me and my shadow."

Zaku leapt out of the way just before being hit by Choji's Human Boulder.

Dosu found himself doing a ridiculous pose "Oh come on!"

"What is it? Why are you just standing there like that?" asked Kin.

"I'm why." Shikamaru had a big shit-eating grin.

"It's some kind of paralysis jutsu." Dosu realized.

"Ino, I'll leave the girl to you."

Ino nodded "I'm on it, just keep an eye on my body."

"Sure."

"Mind Transfer Jutsu!" Ino hit Kin with her Mind Transfer Jutsu.

"Enough of this!" Zaku finally had enough of dodging Choji's attack "Kin!"

"What's wrong with you?!" Dosu barked.

Kin, actually Ino's mind in Kin's body thanks to the Mind Transfer Jutsu, smirked and held a kunai to Kin's throat "Party's over fellas. Take it easy, one false move from either of you and your teammate here gets it in the neck. You don't want that to happen so here's what you do, just drop the scroll and walk away. When you're far enough away that I can't sense your chakra, I'll let her go. I don't get these guys, something's wrong. Hey Choji!"

"Coming!" Choji dropped down.

Zaku merely fired his Slicing Sound Wave, sending Kin-Ino flying into a tree.

Shikamaru noticed blood coming from Ino's mouth "This is bad."

Kin-Ino looked up from the ground "I don't understand you guys, what kind of monster would attack their own teammate?"

Zaku smirked "One who knows that our teammate would rather die than be controlled by someone."

"Besides, it's not the scrolls we're after or even passing this test. What we want is Sasuke back there- Where'd he go?" then Dosu found himself free "So your paralysis jutsu has a pretty limited duration I see."

"Shadow Possession Jutsu." Shikamaru corrected "Get your jutsu right."

"Whatever, and I see that your teammate was able to slip her soul into her opponent. Very clever, but dangerous. Anything that happens to Kin happens to her too. So if, say, Kin were to die…"

"What're you gonna do, kill your teammate?"

"In the name of her honor, then so be it."

"Oh man, what a drag."

Zaku smirked "Did you really think you could beat us? Face it, you ninja are just a bunch of hacks from a second-rate village."

"Pretty tough talk." Neji made himself known "I guess that makes your village third-rate. I wonder if any of you amateurs are ready to take on the real thing. Lee, you blew it."

Lee smirked bitterly "Sorry…"

"Don't be, you bought me the time I needed." a voice cut in.

"What the-?!" Dosu and Zaku turned to see Sasuke behind them 'But something feels different about him.'

"Thanks guys, you bought me the time I needed to put my plan into action. See, I knew I wouldn't be able to beat you guys with those one, so I used Lee and the others showing as a chance to buy time so I could get them off. It feels good too, now I feel lighter than I have in ages. You guys did alright, but leave it to me from here on out."

"Ino!" Shikamaru called from the bushes frantically "Hurry up and get back in your body, you don't want to get involved in this. You too Choji, get everyone out of there!"

Ino quickly released the jutsu.

Dosu froze when he sensed Sasuke's chakra 'This power… it's too big, too powerful… more than I anticipated.'

Zaku didn't get the memo "What's wrong Dosu, you're not getting cold feet are you?"

"No Zaku, you don't understand!"

"Watch this, I'll take care of the whole bunch of them in one fell swoop! Supersonic Slicing Wave!" he unleashed an enhanced Slicing Sound Wave, leaving a long crater "What do you know, blew them all away."

"Not quite." Sasuke had gotten Lee and Sakura out of the way, and backhanded Zaku into a tree with one blow.

"Zaku!" Dosu looked up at Sasuke "Such power, and he doesn't even have a Curse Mark. How?"

"A training method Tatsu showed me awhile back, he gave me Gravity Seals to increase my physical strength and speed. I knew I couldn't beat you with them on, so I used the others fighting you to buy enough time for me to release them. But enough about that, let me show you what I can do. Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!" he fired several small balls of fire.

"I don't think so! Try this!" Zaku fired another Slicing Sound Wave, causing the flames to disperse, revealing shuriken in their place, hitting Zaku all over his body.

Sasuke then kicked Zaku into the air Lee-style, then used Dancing Leaf Shadow to appear directly behind him "I kind of borrowed that move, but from this point on I'm getting points for originality! Lion's Barrage!" he used one hand to turn Zaku over, then landed a kick to the abdomen, followed by a punch to the chest, slamming him straight into the ground with a devastating kick to the stomach "It's over." then he turned to Dosu "I would go full man-slaughterer on you, but that's not really my style. So here's the deal, do you have a Heaven or Earth Scroll?"

"Earth Scroll." Dosu, trembling slightly, pointed to Zaku "He has it."

"Let's see here… porn, porn, porn, Sword Monthly…" he put that in his pocket "More porn, more porn, oh here we go, Earth Scroll." he pulled it out "So here's the deal, I'm gonna take this and in exchange you can take your friends and leave. Deal?"

"Deal. You're strong Sasuke, but Tatsu is much stronger."

"I already knew that, he's the one who's been training me."

"We can't hope to defeat you the way you are now. So it's a deal, you keep the scroll and you let us go."

"Agreed."

Dosu went over and slung Zaku over his shoulder "It would seem we underestimated you and your allies, but at least we found something else we needed." he picked up Kin "We're even for the moment, but I won't run next time."

"Before you go, what does Orochimaru want with me and why me? And what has he done with Tatsu and Naruto."

"I don't know, all I know is that we were told to target you and then Tatsu after you, and we did. But what I don't understand is why he would send us to assassinate someone whom he fully knew the capabilities of, and then plan to send us after someone who could take on Orochimaru himself."

"He probably used you guys to test me."

"Perhaps… but he's all we have, every one of us. We were always alone, but he gave us a place to belong. Without him, we'd all be alone…"

"Maybe you don't have to be… come find me after the next phase of the exam is over, we'll talk about it there."

"...Very well…" and with that, he departed.

Then Sakura went up to Sasuke "Hey Sasuke that was-"

"HEY!" a kunai whizzed past her face, cutting it slightly as a pissed off Naruto showed up with a pissed off Tatsu sung over his shoulder.

"Thanks, but I've got it from here." Tatus got back on his own feet, then grabbed Sakura by the neck "You little skank, you've got a lot of nerve! I should kill your ass for what you pulled back there! I knew you were a shitty fangirl, but this is a whole new low even for you! You took Sasuke and left me and Naruto to die!"

"Let me go!" Sakura shouted "We should've just given up the scroll like I said!"

"Use your head your f*cking little whore! That Hidden Grass kunoichi was the Sannin Orochimaru that was kicking your asses! Why in the name of f*ck would a Sannin care about a test?!"

"Let me go! Sasuke, help me."

"Tatsu, set her down." Sasuke said slowly.

"...Fine." Tatsu did so, albeit very reluctantly.

"Good."

Sakura took a moment to catch her breath "Sasuke-"

"Shut up!" Sasuke did what Tatsu did, but a lot rougher "You did what?! You've got a lot of nerve abandoning your teammates like that, not to mention dragging me with you! You're nothing but a coward and a fraud, you talk shit to Tatsu and Naruto but that's all you can do! You're pathetic! Well as far as I'm concerned, you're no longer a part of Team 7! You've broken Kakashi's rule and in our eyes, you're worse than trash!" he let them go "We've got both scrolls, let's go."

"We picked up a bunch of scrolls actually." Naruto told him "Kabuto showed up and helped us out."

"Good, pass them out to the others here and let's move."

Sakura found the others giving her dirty looks "I-I didn't know who they were fighting."

Lee stepped forward first "And that automatically makes what you did right? You took one of them against their will and left the other two to die, they have every right to denounce you for that!"

"It would seem that they were fated to be paired with a pathetic kunoichi as a teammate, and the supposed kunoichi of the year isn't all she's made out to be." Neji mocked.

"Dude, Ino was the kunoichi of the year." Tatsu pointed out.

"...I stand corrected, the 2nd kunoichi of the year isn't all she's made out to be."

"Better. Now take this." he held out a scroll.

"My team doesn't need your pity."

"It's not pity, it's my way of saying thanks to Lee for keeping Sasuke alive."

"...Very well." Neji accepted the scroll "Lee speaks very highly of you, apparently you two have history. If we should face each other in the exam, I have high expectations." and he leapt off.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sasuke was calming himself down by the river 'That little-! It's like she doesn't give a shit about my opinion.'

"Hey."

Sasuke looked and saw Lee sitting beside him "Oh, hey."

"Today's been rough, hasn't it?"

"Try being dragged away from helping your two closest friends against their will."

"I would offer to come with your team so you could have someone to talk to, but my team, particularly Neji, probably wouldn't go for it."

"Don't bother, thanks but no thanks."

"Suit yourself. Later." and Lee walked off.

'Finally, sweet solitude-'

"Hey Sasuke."

'F*ck!' he looked to see Ino sit down beside him "Oh it's just you."

"I talked to Tatsu and the guys, we're all going to the tower together."

"...Why? Are you gonna go fangirl on me like Sakura?"

"Hell no, I don't even like you like that!"

"For Tatsu then?"

Ino blushed "Well…"

"No it's alright, I get it. You and that Hyuuga girl, you're the only ones who didn't think about raping me while I was asleep. Thank you for that."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

During one of the breaks on the way to the tower, Ino entered Sakura's mind and got the truth about what happened from her memories, disgusting her.

She later explained it to Shikamaru and Choji, who shared the opinion of Sakura and just glared at her with disgust. All in all, they just kept talking to Tatsu mostly, and some with Naruto and Sasuke.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Tatsu led the groups to the tower "Alright guys, we're gonna have to part here. This is our door."

"And this is ours." Ino pointed to the door next to theirs "Take care guys, and good luck. To most of you."

"You guys too." and Tatsu led them through the door.

Ino led her squad through theirs.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto looked around "So what happens now?"

"Check it out." Tatsu pointed to some writing on the wall "If qualities of Heaven are your desire, acquire wisdom to take your mind higher. If earthly qualities are what you lack, train your body and prepare to attack. When Heaven and Earth are opened together, the perilous path will become righteous forever. This something is the secret way that guides us from this place today. I'm pretty sure we're supposed to open the scrolls now." he took the Heaven Scroll.

Naruto took the Earth Scroll "1… 2… 3!" and they did "What the hell is this?"

"I recognize that jutsu formula, it's some kind of Summoning Jutsu. Oh crap, get rid of the scroll now!" he threw his away just as Naruto did his.

Then, in a cloud of smoke, Mizuki and Iruka showed up "Hey guys, been awhile."

"Mizuki? Iruka?"

"Looks like you've been through a lot, but you still got here with 2 days to spare. Nice."

"What's with the surprise entrance here? And how long have you guys been planning to pose like that?"

"At the end of the second exam, Chunin are supposed to welcome back the test-takers and it was just luck that we were the ones who got to do that for you."

"Deal with that later you guys." Tatsu went up to them and whispered something too low for the others to hear.

They froze, then Mizuki vanished and Iruka turned to Naruto "Come with me Naruto, I'm taking you to the infirmary."

"Alright." Naruto grabbed onto him, and they vanished.

"So what about you?" asked Sasuke "You gonna be alright? From what I hear, you used almost all of your chakra fighting off Orochimaru. Sorry about that by the way."

"Don't worry about it, just a couple of hours of meditation and I'll be good as new."

"Alright." then he noticed that Sakura was gone "Oh crap, that's not good. That little bitch, she's probably gonna rat on you and Naruto and knowing her she'll probably lie."

"Let's go."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sakura was frantically searching around for the jounin lounge 'No doubt that Naruto and the others are gonna tell the Hokage about what happened, I have to hurry and find Kakashi sensei so that I can get my story to him first.' She soon reached the jounin lounge and found Kakashi in there reading his book "Kakashi-sensei!"

Kakashi looked up from his book in noticeable surprise "Well isn't this a surprise, you guys made it with 2 days left to spare. I'm impressed. Where are the others?"

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about sensei, Naruto and Tatsu…"

"Naruto and Tatsu what Sakura? I hope you're not planning to put the blame on them for what you did in the forest." a voice cut her off.

Sakura turned and glared at where Ino was standing behind her "This is none of your business swine."

"I'm making it my business, you were about to lie about what you did and I'm not going to let that happen."

"Since when do you care about them?"

'Not playing that game. Since I saw your memories while we were travelling."

"Y-You… You had no right!"

"I had every right! You took Sasuke and abandoned Tatsu and Naruto to fight someone who could've killed them at any time. What was it you said? Oh yeah, something about letting them cover your escape."

Sakura was stuttering and was about to yell at her until she was forced to turn around.

Kakashi glared at her with his one good eye "Is what she said true?"

Sakura said nothing and looked down at her feet.

"You disappoint me. You claim to be better than Tatsu or Naruto, both of whom have been training every day of their lives, when you refuse to lift a finger and only passed the academy because of book smarts and even then you just barely passed. You can consider this to be your termination from my team, I have no need for trash like you." and with that, he walked out of the room, leaving Sakura alone stunned and in disbelief.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Tatsu was meditating in Limbo, using the time dilation to recover his chakra quickly "Come on and show yourself Kurama, we need to talk."

Kurama appeared before him, but much smaller "So you came…"

"Orochimaru used a 5-Pronged Seal to cut off Naruto's access to your chakra, how much will this hinder him?"

"He'll be unable to access the Crimson Wind jutsu or any fire-style jutsu, seeing how they use my chakra, leaving only his Shadow Clone jutsu at his disposal. Considering who he may have to fight, this could be a problem."

"But as long as he doesn't go up against Lee, Neji or Gaara then he should be fine."

"Right. You should go now, the next exam will start soon and you've recovered all of your chakra."

"Right."

A/N:

Yes, the Sound Trio will be good guys in this fic. I feel that they had a lot of wasted potential and were just shoehorned out, and I intend to fix that.

Sakura is being bashed as I said before, and she will be kicked out of this fic entirely, at least for the time being, for the purpose of the story. I honestly don't have anything against Sakura, aside from what a (insert massive stream of curse words here) she is in Part I and how she abuses Naruto throughout the entire series, but it's for the sake of the story.

As I said before, Sasuke would not get the Curse Mark, at least not in Part I, but my plans for that area are a surprise for the future.

I'm giving Naruto a secondary nature to fire because I didn't think it was fair that Sasuke had 2 elements while Naruto only had 1, and getting the Tailed Beast chakra during the war doesn't count in my opinion, so I'm giving him a second now and I'll be giving him a third one that will appear after the time skip into Shippuden.