On the way to the staging ground of the next phase of the exam a red headed girl in glasses with red eyes, about the same age as the rookie nine, from Kusagakure no Sato had approached Naruto, her older teammates looking bored of the situation before it began. The angry looking girl was dressed in fishnets, a skirt, and a short sleeve jacket, one of the boys had a long dark green jacket over a black shirt and light green pants with a sword on his back as well as a green bandana, the other boy had a blue jacket and black jumpsuit with a scarf.
The girl hadn't even introduced herself at first, "How dare you!" she hissed at Naruto.
"How dare I what?" Naruto wondered what he'd done to annoy her, he didn't even actually consider his innocence in this case.
"Use the name Uzumaki, it's disrespectful to a once great clan and an insult to any survivors." The girl was clearly upset about the situation.
"He is an Uzumaki." Sasuke answered since Naruto was staring in wide eyed shock.
"He doesn't have red hair!" The girl gestured to her own hair.
"Well he's still Uzumaki, he even has that self regeneration ability that Kakashi-sensei insists isn't actually a jutsu." Sakura explained, remembering that much about her team mate.
"He has that!?" The girl clearly hadn't expected that at all, even her teammates were looking warily at the blonde now. Sakura hadn't realized the name Uzumaki was such a big deal, she figured Naruto was an orphan.
Naruto's brain caught up with the situation, "We're family!?" he asked the red haired girl, his mind latching on to that first for orphan reasons. The girl seemed startled by this, still not wanting to accept the blonde loudmouth was Uzumaki.
"We're leaving Karin, move it." Karin's team mates had lost patience and she moved to follow them, shaken by the encounter.
When they had all arrived Anko played up how scary Training Ground 44 was, calling it the Forest of Death, promising death for anyone who lacked the skill to make it, and alluding to poisonous plants and carnivorous man eaters. Her performance was scary to most of the genin, but some had nerves of steel.
Naruto made the classic mistake of hiding his nerves with bravado, "This doesn't seem so bad, I bet this will be a piece of cake!" Naruto tried to talk his team up, a surprise kunai cut his cheek as the person who threw it at him disappeared with shunshin. Not even a moment later Anko was behind him, grabbing him by the shoulders to hold him in place.
"Hot blooded brats like you are always first to die." Anko informed, enjoying the way the young teen shivered, and the way he freaked out over her tongue flicking over the scratch she'd made on his cheek.
Naruto suddenly grinned, "I knew I still liked girls!" he said happily. Sakura and Sasuke were in unison as they face palmed. A lot of the genin were looking at the blonde with very wary concern.
Anko's attention was pulled away from the grinning blonde, "You shouldn't sneak up on me with that killing intent." she said politely to a female Kusagakure no Sato genin.
The girls tongue stretched out and offered the kunai Anko had thrown, "Sorry," the girl apologized, "I was just returning your knife, but the sight of blood gets me so excited." she said giddily. Her words and tone freaked out a few more genin.
"That's understandable," Anko said as she accepted her kunai, a few genin took a step back from the trio of creepy blood fetishists, not that Naruto knew he was even being judged such. Anko turned her attention back to Naruto, the scary atmosphere she'd built up diffused by the Kusa kunoichi and Naruto's apparent sexual awakening.
"Well kid, you got balls," Anko told Naruto, wording it quite intentionally, "but you're still a dumb ass." she added, it wasn't her job to praise these brats. Naruto glowered at the purple haired kunoichi, currently unashamed of his outburst even with Anko standing right next to him, "Maybe you'll get lucky." she finished, ruffling his hair and amused at his annoyance over it.
Anko walked back to her original position, she wasn't sure if the brat was truly iron willed, shameless, or simply too dumb to realize he'd said he'd liked her after she cut him and licked his wound. She considered it was a play to intimidate the other genin, but Naruto was clearly too simple for that, which just made it all the more effective at creeping out his fellow shinobi.
"Anyway, enough distractions." Anko said as she picked up a stack of forms, "I was serious about dying in there. You have to sign these wavers to continue, they state our village is not responsible for your death if you do something stupid like dying during this phase." she explained callously as she handed out the paper in stacks to be passed around.
"Once you've signed it, take it and your team to one of these booths. You need three wavers to get a scroll, and by the end of this you'll need two scrolls." Anko began to explain her portion, "Before anyone interrupts, I'm getting to it." she said quickly, "You'll receive one of either a heaven or an earth scroll for your three wavers, then you'll be lead to a gate by one of the chunin. Once everyone has a scroll and is at a gate, the gates will be flung open. Take a good look at this map by the way, it's the only map you'll get." as she was explaining Sasuke's Sharingan spun to life and stared at the map for a moment, "As you can see, there's a structure in the middle of the forest. If you get there with both a heaven and an earth scroll, you pass. I don't care how you get them at that point, but if you open them before you reach the tower you'll fail. Once the gates fling open you'll have five days to get to the tower with both scrolls." the woman finished explaining.
As she was explaining most of the genin began signing the wavers, and by the time she was done they were starting to line up and get their scrolls. Sasuke took note that they had an earth scroll and stored it in his equipment hip bag, Team 7 was then lead to a gate by a chunin.
Once they were in position Sasuke crouched down, "I have the map memorized thanks to my dojutsu, I know the shortest route there." he began, wanting to state his plan, but something gave him pause.
"So we should get to the tower early and set up traps?" Sakura asked, Naruto nodded his understanding.
"That's probably the best way to go, others will likely be doing it too but with my eyes we should be able to beat most of them there, but if we get caught in a trap too that could be it." Sasuke expanded on his ideas, "I have the whole map up here, we could specifically target enemy ninja and take their scroll by force and then retreat to the tower." he added after some thought.
"Wouldn't that be dangerous." Sakura asked, Naruto nodded in agreement with Sakura.
Sasuke frowned, "Yes, but hear me out." he began, "I noticed the other teams from Konoha have specializations. Team 8 is clearly recon, and Team 10 will probably be a combat capture squad knowing their parents formation. So I was wondering about our team, and thought about what Kakashi was teaching us." the boy explained, surprising both his team members.
"What's our specialization?" Sakura asked eagerly, she couldn't even guess what it might be.
"Combat." Sasuke answered simply. Sakura looked crestfallen and Naruto nodded, satisfied with the answer, "It explains Kakashi focusing on teamwork, he expects us to get strong on our own and hone our skills together so we can fight as a team." he explained as if he only just recently came to the conclusion that teamwork was a good idea, which might be possible, "The problem with that idea, is that other genin, Rock Lee, he wasn't the strongest and he was pure taijutsu, so they're likely combat oriented. Even without that we have no idea how that Gaara guy fights, and he completed A rank missions without injury."
Sakura thought about it, really thought about, she clearly wasn't combat oriented like her teammates, "Assassination." Sakura said eventually, not looking happy with the idea. Naruto frowned too but Sasuke's eyes widened.
"Actually, that makes much more sense." Sasuke agreed with a nod, "With my dojutsu and Naruto's raw chakra if we catch someone on the back foot they don't stand much of a chance. I wonder why he didn't teach us anything for assassination?" the boy wondered, not considering that Kakashi simply hadn't intended to specialize them so they were just slowly falling into his specialty since it did bleed into his training slightly.
Naruto didn't buy it, "Why have we only done escort missions besides D ranks then?" he asked, having liked the idea of being in a pure combat squad.
"A lot of the skills required to protect someone from assassins is used in the assassination itself." Sakura mused, "It stands to reason they're supposed to teach us how to guard first so we better learn how to go around guards easier." the girl explained, using sound logic but never once considering that Kakashi took them because they were supposed to be easy.
Naruto looked puzzled, but accepted it, he noticed Sasuke had spoke of their abilities and left Sakura out, but wasn't sure how to bring that up. If Sakura noticed she didn't let it show. So now all they had to do was wait for the gate to open and the second phase to begin.
In the forest Team 7 moved quickly, sticking to the trees. Their agreed formation was simple, Sasuke was taking point due to his dojutsu and defensive skills, Sakura and Naruto side by side slightly behind him to watch each others back, Naruto was in position to swarm with bunshin if needed.
Sasuke noticed something, while before he would have jumped to investigate it he decided to signal Naruto to take care of it. He and Sakura hid nearby to back him up if things got bad.
Naruto moved towards the noise, surprised at how well he and Sasuke got along lately, it was like the guy was actually trying to be his friend. The blonde almost snorted at the idea as he landed on a branch and looked at the source of the noise, a large bear of some kind.
The bear was harassing another person, Naruto frowned as he recognized Karin, the Kusa nin who was apparently Uzumaki like him. The blonde Uzumaki tightened his headband and jumped, palming two kunai and tossing one to distract the bear from the red haired Uzumaki.
The bear noticed the metal and turned to face Naruto, who tossed the other kunai as he landed and caught the bear in the eye. Naruto then made a dozen kage bunshin and scattered as the bear attacked, a couple of bunshin were dispelled but the remaining Naruto all threw shuriken at the beast, driving it off.
"You good, Karin-neechan?" Naruto asked after the bear left. Karin was shocked, then Naruto's team showed up.
"Stop fraternizing, dumbass." Sasuke scolded, Sakura nodded in agreement.
"But she's family!" Naruto defended himself, Karin couldn't believe it, but also she saw an opportunity.
"She could be bait." Sasuke coldly pointed out, glancing around.
"I lost track of my team," Karin began, shivering under Sasuke's searching gaze, "please, don't take me back to them. You can have my scroll just take me with you, I know first aid!" she pleaded, Sakura was surprised at the desperation.
"Why don't you want to be with your team?" Naruto asked as Sasuke considered accepting the scroll if it was one they needed.
Karin pulled out another earth scroll, "No." Sasuke interrupted and the girl winced.
"Damn it, Sasuke, hear her out!" Naruto demanded, and Sasuke just sighed at the soft heart the blonde had.
"My team," Karin began after taking a shaky breath, "they're killing me." she said, stunning Sakura and Naruto, Sasuke narrowed his eyes and searched for tells as the girl continued, "I have an ability, a mutation on the usual Uzumaki regeneration, I can heal others but it kills me slowly." she confessed with certainty.
"How do you know it's killing you?" Sasuke asked coldly, wanting to pick any holes in her story he saw, he didn't trust the girl and he needed to be sure she wouldn't betray them if Naruto picked her up like some kind of stray.
"It killed my mother." Karin said, equally cold. Sasuke was not entirely convinced, but the girl hadn't lied and he could recognize that kind of anger all too intimately.
"Then you're our hostage." Sasuke said before Naruto could insist on anything he couldn't guarantee, "Give Naruto your scroll, he'll probably protect you from your team which means we'll have to help him, so stay hidden and behind us." the Uchiha ordered. Karin was relieved and hurried to give the blonde her scroll.
Sakura didn't like how quickly the girl betrayed her team and village, but decided to simply keep an eye on the girl for now. Naruto accepted the scroll with a grin and hid it in his jumpsuit.
Sasuke did not trust Karin at all, but Naruto had already grown attached so there was no getting rid of her, "Can you perform iryo ninjutsu?" he decided to see if she'd be useful at least, a medic with large chakra reserves would be a boon.
"I can probably do some minor surgery, if you really need it." Karin said nervously, so Sasuke hoped they wouldn't need that. Sakura decided she herself would be doing the first aid on her team and didn't like Karin joining them in a strange alliance.
Team 7 and Karin moved in much the same manner as before, but with Karin in between the other three genin. Karin couldn't believe it, she couldn't believe she had actually gone against her village. This was bad, they'd kill her, Konohagakure couldn't risk war with Kusa over some genin missing nin.
Karin realized she would just be making problems for the blonde Uzumaki but accepted his help, too scared to deny it at this point. She silently cursed herself and remained in a melancholy mood.
Then something hit Karin and she went flying, in midair something grabbed her. The young girl was confused but oriented herself before they hit the ground, Naruto had gone flying too and grabbed her to keep her from getting separated in case of attack.
As the two Uzumaki genin stood up and groaned in pain from the rough landing a loud hissing sound startled Karin, who shook Naruto and pointed at the giant snake. Naruto tossed a kunai at the snake, aiming for the eye before forming twenty three kage bunshin.
Six of Naruto bravely rushed to their doom as the original turned to Karin, "Do you have kibaku fuda?" he asked, she shook her head and the first six bunshin were dispelled under the weight of the snake, "Can you shunshin?" he asked as another twelve rushed to the defense of their creator, and Karin nodded this time, "Good! Follow me!" Naruto said with a grin and made the tiger hand seal.
Karin copied him and followed after the other Uzumaki as they escaped the snake.
Sasuke was not having a good day. He asked Naruto to scout, Naruto fights a bear and rescues his long lost sister or whoever she was. Sasuke still didn't trust Karin, but he honestly wasn't fond of Sakura lately either. The thought that he was becoming similar to Haku and Naruto was not a pleasant one, but it was the one he had before Naruto and Karin got sent flying by a futon ninjutsu, himself and Sakura only barely avoiding it.
Sakura had impressed Sasuke momentarily by avoiding the attack, which was ruined by the fact she was now trembling in sheer terror next to him, paralyzed by fear. The fact Sasuke was also paralyzed by fear did offset his disappointment, mostly with terror. The two genin both thought they were seriously going to die, it felt like they had, Sasuke swore he felt a kunai lodge itself into his skull and snakes wrap around his throat but nothing physical happened as a kunoichi from Kusa stared them down.
Sasuke tried to steel himself against the killing intent, he suspected it was enhanced by genjutsu of some kind since he'd never felt anything like it before. He activated his Sharingan and saw there was indeed a chakra distortion, but even seeing through the trick he still trembled in fear. Forcing his body to move by overpowering the irrational fear with self disgust the Uchiha pulled a kunai and stabbed himself in the leg before diving for Sakura, narrowly getting them away as a pair of kunai flew through their previous positions.
"Very good, Sasuke-kun," The kunoichi drawled, applauding his efforts as she stepped towards him, "here I was worried you would just lay down and die. It's good to see those eyes, now why don't you show me what the Uchiha can do?" she worded it like a question but it came out like a demand. Sasuke shuddered but steeled himself, he realized this opponent was above him in both power and skill, he knew logically that he and Sakura should retreat, but the enemy was fast, retreat would probably be suicide.
Sasuke made a decision, he stood up and ignored the pain in his leg, brandishing his bloody kunai and staring down the Kusa nin with his rotating eyes, "You want our scroll, right?" he asked, remembering Naruto had a second earth scroll already, he had to trust Naruto wasn't dealing with someone even worse, and that if he was the boy had a Chakra no Bakemono sealed into him which would let him probably win anyway.
The kunoichi just laughed mockingly at Sasuke, "Oh no, Sasuke-kun, you aren't giving up the mission to save your life already, are you?" she asked teasingly, "That would be very disappointing." she added as she pulled out a heaven scroll, "Let me teach you something about being a shinobi," she began before, to Sasuke and Sakura's horror, swallowing the heaven scroll entirely, "you should be willing to die before failing." the older ninja lectured, smiling at the disturbed looks on Sasuke and Sakura from such actions.
Sasuke did not like that one bit, he considered bargaining anyway, but the way this woman spoke gave him the idea she was more interested in him than the exam, and the scroll swallowing thing was downright disturbing. Sasuke wondered why nicer girls couldn't take an interest in him, first it was the annoying girls his own age and now it was creepy older women.
The young Uchiha decided to shelve that thought for now, quickly pulling out a fuma shuriken and a handful of standard shuriken with wires attached he threw them at the Kusagakure shinobi. The kunoichi dodged expertly and he used the wires to pull the flying blades as though flying a kite, cornering the woman against a tree. Sasuke smirked and moved quickly surrounding the tree and pulling taught the wires, the different shuriken digging into the wood as he ran through hand seal.
His Katon: Ryuka no Jutsu flew down the wires and ignited in an explosion of flame when they struck their target, the fact his target was laughing ruined the joy Sasuke had begun to feel from landing such an attack. The flames died down and a bunshin made of cracked dirt was revealed in the wires. Sasuke didn't have time to wonder if he'd been attacking a bunshin or the woman had used kawarimi to switch out at the last moment as he ducked under a kick from the other 'genin' in question after hearing the displacement of air behind him that was the only tell for high level shunshin.
Sasuke countered with a kick of his own, and to his concern the woman didn't deflect the blow, she actually blocked it on the back of her wrist. With his Sharingan spinning the young teen unleashed a flurry of taijutsu, throwing kicks and punches, trying desperately to overwhelm his opponent with raw speed and the predictive ability of his dojutsu.
The woman blocked every single strike, much to Sasuke's dismay. Sasuke jumped back, breaking off to go through hand seals. He landed on the side of a tree and the woman followed, so he jumped further up the tree as he unleashed a Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu. This time Sasuke noticed the woman shunshin and jumped further up the tree to land on a branch.
Sasuke ran through more hand seals and jumped away from his branch, not needing his eyes to predict the woman was going to be there. She looked surprised that he was landing on a different branch as he arrived, and ran through her own hand seals.
Sasuke unleashed his Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu and released the flurry of fire blasts, but it was countered by Futon: Toppa and he had to jump further away as the small balls of flame were reversed on him with greater size from the enemy breathing wind natured chakra at them.
Sasuke surveyed the fire damage and shuriken all over the battlefield as he took a moment to catch his breath, the battlefield itself looking nothing like a fight between genin. Sakura was watching in shock and Sasuke felt annoyed again that he was stuck with her, taking some solace out of the fact his opponent didn't try to use her as a hostage.
With a sound of displaced air and a puff of chakra smoke, Naruto threw a right haymaker at the kunoichi in midair right out of a shunshin. Sasuke hadn't even realized the boy had caught up, Sakura looked relieved and the kunoichi rolled with the punch, falling back off the branch and flipping to land on a lower one. Sasuke didn't like that the woman still looked completely unperturbed by being socked in the face.
Naruto landed on the branch, "Next Hokage, Naruto Uzumaki!" the young genin declared as boisterous as ever, Sasuke decided that at least the boy was getting better at sneak attacks, "Now you're going down for messing with my team!" he declared and Sasuke realized Naruto didn't understand the kind of threat this woman was.
"Ah, Naruto-kun," The kunoichi said with surprising familiarity, "so good you could finally join us, get away from my pet did you?" she asked with a smile.
"So that giant snake was yours?" Naruto asked, a little worried now, he and Karin had outrun it so it was probably on its way, and Karin was hiding nearby.
"Naruto, this woman is not a regular genin, if you hold back any of your ability we may die." Sasuke said as he landed on the branch next to Naruto, the idea of fighting this woman any longer did not fill the Uchiha with confidence, but even this woman probably couldn't match the raw power of a biju even if it was filtered through a human form.
Naruto was thrown by this, he didn't like what Sasuke was implying, but if they couldn't win then Sakura and Karin were probably next. The jinchuriki had truly no idea how to use the demon chakra, he was untrained, but he remembered seeing Sasuke apparently dead at Haku's hands, remembered his rage at seeing Haku wounded in Takigakure, and focused himself, coming up with reasons to be angry at the kunoichi. She was creepy, she was trying to kill his friends, and if he didn't take her down she probably would kill his friends and even his newly discovered family. Naruto had never had real family before and latched onto that, mentally insisting to himself that the kunoichi was basically threatening to kill his new found family.
Sasuke sighed with relief as he saw red chakra with his eyes, it wasn't much, not even a full shroud and probably only visible due to his Sharingan, but it was enough to change Naruto physically, red slit pupil eyes, hair standing on edge, the whisker markings on his cheek widening, and his fingernails shifting into claws. It was a scary transformation, and the boy was giving off the killing intent of the kitsune, but Sasuke focused on the kunoichi.
The kunoichi was going through hand seals and the same snake Naruto thought he outran appeared as she performed Kuchiyose no Jutsu. The snake slithered swiftly up the tree and Naruto pulled out a pair of kunai as Sasuke palmed a handful of shuriken.
The two Konoha genin jumped, Sasuke to the left and Naruto above the snake. Sasuke tossed his shuriken at the kunoichi as he palmed more shuriken with his free hand, the woman moved to dodge and Sasuke tossed another trio of shuriken in her path as he landed. Naruto slammed his left hand kunai into the nose of the snake as it moved to bite him, holding tight as it thrashed before using the momentum to flip off it and dive at the kunoichi. The kunoichi dodged Sasuke's shuriken with grace that downright disturbed the boy, his eyes noting she was skilled and fast enough to react to his predictive throwing, and she ducked under Naruto's kunai with that same grace.
The woman delivered a vicious kick to Naruto's stomach, sending the boy flying as Sasuke use shunshin to get behind her and attempted to sweep her leg. She jumped off the leg to avoid the sweep, spinning in the air and punching Sasuke with her left hand. Sasuke barely brought his arms up to block even with the Sharingan and was knocked back as well.
Naruto was there with a shunshin next, and popped into chakra smoke as the woman backhanded him without even looking. Then two more of Naruto were on either side and Sasuke joined them. The woman fought defensively, popping Naruto bunshin as they came. When the clone onslaught stopped Sasuke broke off and a hail of fuma shuriken tore through the air at the woman.
The kunoichi dodged around them and they embedded into the branch around her. Then another Naruto was there and swiftly ran through hand seals as the fuma shuriken turned into water. The woman widened her eyes and swiftly ducked into Naruto's personal space, delivering a right uppercut into his solar plexus that knocked the wind out of him.
Sasuke ran through hand seals as the Kusa nin palmed a kunai in her left hand and struck Naruto in the face with it, he unleashed another Hosenka no Jutsu at the kunoichi before using the tiger seal. The woman dodged the fire by jumped back and up as Naruto fell to the ground clutching his left eye and Sasuke used shunshin, appearing under his own Hosenka and in front of Naruto then threw shuriken at them, the sound of metal on metal revealing the hidden shuriken within the flames and the impact sending them at the kunoichi still in the air.
Twisting her body in the air the Kusagakure ninja dodged well, but one caught her in the face. Sasuke was happy to finally get a solid blow on his enemy but frowned when the woman once again laughed. Naruto stood next to Sasuke as the woman tore her face away, revealing a pale man with purple markings on his eyes.
Sasuke wondered if Naruto was a magnet for crossdressers as the man spoke, "Very impressive indeed, Sasuke-kun. Those eyes truly are wonderful. I had hoped to give you a gift before leaving, but something has reared their annoying head." he said darkly, "I am Orochimaru, of the Sannin, and I will return to give you a gift soon." he introduced and promised, "Try to catch your breath before I get back."
Sasuke glared at the spot as the man disappeared. He didn't want a gift from someone as creepy as that. Sakura rushed over to them as Naruto calmed down and returned to normal, his left eye squeezed shut as blood dripped down from it. Karin broke hiding and moved to check on the blonde.
Sasuke considered their options carefully as Karin started pulling out medical supplied and Sakura pulled out her own, to his surprise it seemed like they might actually fight over who treats Naruto. The problem was Sasuke didn't think it mattered, the man hadn't fought all out and still their teamwork couldn't help them overcome him. Sasuke was barely doing as well as he was thanks to the Sharingan but lacked the power to put the hurt on the enemy, and even with the kitsune Naruto still wasn't able to fight the man.
The Uchiha suddenly had an idea, a very bad idea, but he remembered the legends that Madara Uchiha supposedly controlled the Kyubi no Kitsune with his Sharingan. Sasuke considered that he and Kakashi were both on the same team as the jinchuriki, to his knowledge there were a grand total of three Sharingan in Konoha and all of them were on the team with the jinchuriki. That couldn't be a coincidence.
"Stop," Sasuke told Karin and Sakura at once, "Karin, you said you can do surgery?" he asked and she nodded, the Uchiha did not look happy, but he did look resolute, "Give Naruto my left eye." he ordered. All three of the other genin looked at Sasuke with wide eyes and open mouths.
"Sasuke, what the hell?" Naruto asked, disturbed by the demand, Sakura mirrored Naruto's concern.
"I can't match that guy for power, my dojutsu is the only reason I can even keep up and that bastard wants them." Sasuke began, "You have the power, but he's too skilled for you, even with our teamwork he's toying with us." the Uchiha explained with a scowl, "Consider it on loan, and you'll need to use it to help me with something of my choosing in the future." he finished, pretty much stating how he was justifying the decision to himself.
Karin frowned, "I don't have the kind of anesthetic required-" she tried to excuse,
"We can't risk anesthetic anyway, I need to be putting chakra in them the whole time so Naruto gets the Sharingan," Sasuke cut her off and seemed to wince at the verbal admittance that he was giving one of his Sharingan eyes to someone outside the clan. Kakashi had one, and Sasuke had done some digging, Kakashi had been on a team with someone named Obito Uchiha, Obito didn't come back from a mission during the war, and the date lined up with when Kakashi apparently got the eye.
Sasuke had considered that Kakashi had killed the Uchiha, but his clan had been around at the time, and it was never brought up to him as a child so he had to assume this Obito person had given Kakashi the eye willingly. Sasuke just hoped he didn't end up like Obito, that his situation wasn't as dire as whatever Kakashi had been doing during that mission.
"Kakashi has an eye too, so I know it's possible," Sasuke continued, "he can barely deal with the drain on his chakra but you have way more chakra than he does, Naruto." he finished. Naruto didn't look happy about the situation, but he didn't argue with Sasuke's logic and lay down when Karin instructed it. Sakura looked even more unhappy with the situation, and down right shell shocked.
"Sakura, could you assist me? This is going to be hard enough on my own." Karin requested, sounding positively nervous, she'd never performed field surgery before, she'd only assisted in hospitals and most of her assistance was getting bitten. Sakura nodded and the two girls began surgery on the two boys.
Orochimaru was impressed and annoyed in equal measure, he was impressed with Sasuke. The boy wasn't just skilled, he was clever too, his teamwork was good too but the man honestly wasn't concerned with that, he wouldn't risk putting a Juinjutsu on a jinchuriki even if Naruto was keeping up with them well for a genin.
Orochimaru was annoyed because his former student, Anko, was getting close to his position. If she assisted the boys openly they would be disqualified, and Orochimaru didn't want that, he wanted the exams to continue. Adding to his annoyance the pink haired girl hadn't even thrown shuriken at him, simply relied on her team mates. He couldn't blame her too much, she was only a genin and her team mates were simply above her level, so against someone like Orochimaru himself she would only get in the way, but he didn't think she was aware of that and had held herself back out of cowardice since he hadn't shown his full ability.
Anko fell to her knees in pain as Orochimaru approached, a result of the Juinjutsu he'd left on her when she'd been his apprentice. The Sannin was proud of the girl for surviving the jutsu, he may have no use for her due to her odd loyalty to Konoha, but he had his pride as a teacher still. That didn't mean he wouldn't kill her if she made too much of a nuisance of herself, but it would be a shame if he had to.
As the Sannin approached Anko with a kage bunshin he decided to mock her, "Anko-chan, still not used to my gift?" his bunshin asked, "It's been a while, all my new subordinates take to it swimmingly, the ones that live anyway." he added, making fun of her for being unable to stand despite himself being the one to intentionally cause the agony bringing her to her knees.
To the surprise of Orochimaru his former apprentice managed to jump at the bunshin, powering through the pain, also surprising was that she grabbed his hand and started forcing him to perform hand seals with her. He knew this jutsu because he taught her this jutsu, it was like a double suicide between lovers. Orochimaru honestly found it amusingly romantic that Anko would use Sojasosai no Jutsu on him, but his clone still moved to pull away, it wouldn't do if she became suspicious before completing the jutsu.
Orochimaru was impressed with Anko again when she stabbed through her own hand in an attempt to anchor the traitorous Sannin with a kunai, revealing the kage bunshin as it dispelled. Anko abandoned the suicidal jutsu and ripped her kunai out of her hand, looking around and brandishing her bloody kunai with frantic eyes.
"How disappointing," Orochimaru spoke up and the tokubetsu jonin turned on him, "so willing to hurt yourself and throw your own life away. This village must be truly awful to you." he guessed with a cruel grin.
"You did this to me, bastard!" Anko screamed, and Orochimaru laughed at her anguish, he could tell he'd struck a nerve. Tilted as she was she didn't stand a chance, she was in pain and panicked, completely focused on her target.
So Anko didn't notice the venomous snake until it bit her, "Disappointing." Orochimaru repeated, "I'm sure you'll be able to save yourself if I leave you here," he began explaining to the convulsing woman, "so do something for your old sensei, keep the exams going or I'll tear through the village you so dearly love." he threatened, leaving her there to go and finish his business with the Uchiha.
Anko gasped breathlessly on the branch she'd fallen on and frantically used a tourniquet on the bite as she fished through her medical supplies for the correct anti venom, hoping she didn't have to make it by summoning the snake that bit her since she wasn't sure if she'd manage it in time.
Orochimaru was disappointed to find Sasuke and Naruto right where he left them, they'd barely moved at all, the red haired girl was new though, he thought she was just watching but it seemed she was aligned with the Konoha genin despite being from Kusagakure.
"Sasuke-kun I am disappointed in you," Orochimaru said, shelving the red haired mystery for now, "is this how you think shinobi fight? Waiting in the open? Or are you bait and set traps." he asked and Sasuke turned to him, "Copying your sensei's style?" the snake summoner asked, narrowing his eyes as he noticed Naruto's injury was cleaned up and even mostly healed, the eye was closed so he couldn't see the extent of the damage to the optical organ itself.
"No, I just needed to lend Naruto something." Sasuke said with a smirk as Orochimaru was surrounded by Naruto, six of him with Sharingan in their left eye. Now Orochimaru was on the defense, and he was angry about it. The man left a log behind with Kawarimi no Jutsu to get turned into a punch of splinters.
Sasuke ran through hand seals, he didn't mind that Naruto would copy them at this point, they'd need every advantage they could get. Orochimaru dispelled the kage bunshin with a sweeping kick, too fast for them to dodge, and ran through his own hand seals. Naruto copied Orochimaru's hand seals and stood up next to Sasuke.
Sasuke unleashed a Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu, Orochimaru blew it back with a Futon: Toppa, and Naruto enhanced the fire even further and sent it blasting back at Orochimaru with a copy of the futon ninjutsu. Orochimaru scowled and used kawarimi.
Orochimaru was angry and watched the two genin from the shadows, considering just killing them. Sasuke was clearly out of breath and probably running out of chakra, and Naruto couldn't hope to beat him alone. The Sannin considered putting seals on both of them, but wouldn't risk his Juinjutsu interacting with the demon chakra, and a vessel with only one Sharingan eye didn't appeal to him.
The man paused in his murderous musings to consider Sasuke's words, if he truly was just lending it then he would tolerate waiting. Although Orochimaru was disappointed with Sasuke's lack of selfishness, it would make it harder to manipulate the boy, and it wasn't in the psychological profile he had of the boy.
After a few moments, unaware whether they'd truly driven off one of the legendary Sannin or the man was simply waiting for a better moment to strike, Sasuke deactivated his Sharingan, noting that his other eye kept spinning. It was odd to see his own Sharingan in Naruto's head.
"I think we should keep moving, it seems like he might be gone." Sasuke said, clearly on high alert despite his words, "Naruto cover that eye, we'll need to recover chakra, even yours isn't endless." he ordered. Naruto didn't argue.
Sasuke set up a new formation, he didn't like the formation but it was necessary. Sakura took point, Sasuke behind her, Karin slightly behind him to the left, and Naruto slightly behind him to the right. It took Sasuke swallowing what was left of his pride and acknowledging he was the most drained out of everyone there to suggest this formation, and thankfully for him no one commented on it. Sakura and Karin were still fresh, and Naruto was just a stamina monster. With this formation Karin could cover Naruto's blind spot.
As the group moved to find somewhere hidden to rest and set up traps Sasuke considered that he had just gifted Naruto an eye that would allow the blonde to overtake Sasuke. The Uchiha tried not to regret his decision but he noticed the power behind the futon jutsu Naruto had copied, he knew from his own training that it wasn't that easy to pick up a new element even with the Sharingan, he still hadn't gotten Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu to work for him, or the Suiton: Suiben.
Sasuke had thought that Naruto was just water natured, he took to Suiton no Jutsu well enough, but his recent talent for Futon no Jutsu ruined that theory. Sasuke couldn't help compare himself to the blonde as they moved, although he'd started learning Katon no Jutsu at a young age, he recognized that Naruto took to Suiton like Sasuke took to Katon. Uchiha were supposed to be naturally attuned to fire.
The Uchiha pondered if Naruto had both wind and water, but even with Sharingan the boy took to the Futon: Toppa faster than he'd learned the ninjutsu Haku had been teaching him. Sasuke wondered if Naruto was just naturally good at ninjutsu, the blonde certainly threw himself at learning them and had constantly begged Kakashi for 'awesome cool ninjutsu' until Haku had started training him.
Unknown to the Uchiha a different Uzumaki was pondering him, Karin was stunned. Sasuke had volunteered to eye surgery without anesthetic so his teammate would have the power to stand against an opponent, Karin wasn't sure what to think of that. The red haired genin had to admit it was admirable, and Naruto himself hadn't complained about the lack of anesthetic either.
Karin thought both of them were definitely well above her, and that if her team actually managed to find her they wouldn't stand a chance. She still hoped they were already dead. The girl was also glad no one on this team had asked her to use her healing ability, she'd been concerned about revealing it, but Naruto genuinely seemed to want to protect her and his teammates were just going along with it.
The four genin stopped outside of a clearing and Sasuke briefly activated his remaining Sharingan to look around, "Seems clear, we can rest in the hollow of that tree. Sakura and Karin, you two set up traps around the perimeter." the Uchiha commanded, Karin noted he leaped towards the command role and Sakura stepped into line almost too eagerly.
"I don't need to rest, I can set up traps too!" Naruto wasn't shouting, but he did raise his voice and didn't step in line, Karin winced at that.
"No, I'm exhausted, I need you to keep an eye on them in case someone tries something while they're setting up." Sasuke explained, Naruto still didn't look happy, but agreed with the logic at least.
The boys set up in the hollow, one to rest and the other to watch, while the girls started setting up traps.
Sasuke had fallen asleep not long after getting somewhat comfortable in the tree hollow and Naruto stayed awake, lifting his headband to watch Karin and Sakura work. The blonde was determined to protect both of them. The Sharingan was strange to Naruto, he found he could see chakra and could see better everything in general, the clarity even let him steal a new ninjutsu.
Naruto's joy over learning something new was muted by the fact he stole it, sure he technically stole Kage Bunshin no Jutsu but that was different. The boy didn't exactly know how it was different but he would insist it was and come up with reasons for how they're different later.
Soon enough the girls finished setting traps around the clearing and joined Naruto and Sasuke in the hollow, Sakura fussing over the sleeping Uchiha while Karin just watched the blonde haired Uzumaki pull his headband back down over his new dojutsu. The group settled into hiding to rest and recover, Karin looking worried, Sakura looking concerned, and Naruto looking determined and oddly angry.
Karin was worried about a lot, the red chakra Naruto had used felt down right evil and malevolent. She had no idea the bright genin was capable of such condensed hatred flowing through his chakra, she didn't know humans were capable of it and she'd sensed some messed up people, but Naruto's red chakra was downright demonic. It was calmer now, but she was still on edge.
Sakura was concerned about Sasuke, she knew logically he was on the verge of chakra exhaustion but the way he just fell asleep so easily worried her that he was passing out. More concerning was the Sannin, Orochimaru, a man that outclassed most jonin was still out there. Sakura was terrified and doing her best to hide it. Less concerning was the way Sasuke trusted Naruto of all people with his precious dojutsu, but it still bothered her. Sakura had been an assistant to the surgery, and until she set up the traps she'd done nothing else to help her team fight.
So the two genin kunoichi barely slept for their own reasons, both shocked by the events of the day and barely keeping calm for their own reasons. Sakura used Sasuke as an anchor, although she was shaken the boy had given up an eye to give his team a chance to survive, she couldn't and wouldn't let him down by having a break down.
Karin did breathing exercises, she was now scared of Naruto, who was apparently supposed to be family but she didn't let it show because she knew if he abandoned her she would have no chance of surviving, she was convinced Kusagakure no Sato would find out her planned defection and kill her if she failed at this point. So the red haired girl focused on the fact that she and the blonde were both Uzumaki and he seemed to take that seriously, and she desperately hoped that it wasn't a deception.
The next morning Sakura and Naruto were both alerted by Karin tensing up, "Someone is here." she whispered, keeping her back to the clearing so whoever it was. Naruto and Sakura saw a squirrel approaching their traps, Sakura threw a kunai to stop it activating one of them, scaring the small creature off.
"It's just a squirrel, Karin-neechan." Naruto whispered back, trying to calm his relative, he didn't know how distantly they were related so just treated her like he would a sister. Subconsciously Naruto had already adopted Karin, she was family and she needed him which was more than enough for him.
"No, three shinobi." Karin whispered, not turning away from the hollow in the tree as the three genin from Otogakure no Sato landed in the clearing. Sakura was surprised and wondered how the red haired girl had gotten it right.
Naruto nudged Sasuke to wake the boy, who scowled at the three enemy genin and activated his Sharingan.
"Well, not bad pinky." The kunoichi of the enemy team spoke up, she had fair skin, dark eyes, and long black hair with a violet ribbon at the end. The girl was dressed in a light green vest under a camo pattern scarf, all the Oto genin wore this pattern of camo on scarfs and pants, the girl just had a skirt in the same pattern as well, "You noticed the traps on the squirrel?" she asked Sakura.
"Don't be blind, Kin," Dosu spoke up, "they obviously trapped this clearing, you can see the dirt has been disturbed all over the place, and the leaf piles aren't stacked naturally." the bandaged boy said, revealing how observant he was.
"Whatever, let me blow through them and kill them all." The third Oto nin said, dressed in a beige shirt with black lines at the sleeves that had the kanji for death written down the front three times. He had black hair and a happuri under his headband, as well as leather arm guards.
"Don't rush, Zaku," Dosu spoke again, clearly the squad leader, "they have us outnumbered, surprisingly." he explained, his eye looking over Karin with interest, "Listen here, we just want to kill Sasuke Uchiha. If he comes out alone, we'll leave after we're done killing him." the Oto genin negotiated in a demanding tone.
Sasuke tensed up at that, "Like hell!" Naruto denied instantly, his blue eye glaring hatefully at the Oto ninja. Karin could sense the malevolence creeping out of him, barely noticable even to her at this low level.
"You don't seem to realize the position you're in," Dosu began, stepping towards them, "like you think these shoddily placed traps will protect you." he intentionally activate one and jumped up to avoid the blast, "They won't!" he declared.
Sakura smirked and cut a wire, sending a log flying at the airborne shinobi out of the tree line, assisted by gravity, "Huh, not bad," Dosu complimented, shattering the tree log with a strike from his gauntlet on his right arm, "but not good enough." he mocked as he landed.
Sasuke frowned, "He's using jutsu, the gauntlet uses his chakra to do something," the Uchiha began quickly, causing Dosu's visible eye to widen, "I don't understand what it's doing exactly, but it caused disruptions in the tree. As we saw with Kabuto back then, it doesn't need to be a direct hit to mess you up, and a direct hit would probably be fatal even for you, Naruto." he finished the explanation.
"Dynamic Entry!" A new voice shouted, a blur of green rushing at Dosu in a flying kick. All the genin were surprised, both at the attack and its name, and Dosu narrowly dodged back to his team as the ground was kicked up where, "I, Konoha's Beautiful Green Wild Beast, Rock Lee, will defeat you!" the older Konoha genin announced.
Sasuke was embarrased that the boy was stronger than him, but was glad for the assistance, he was still recovering and wouldn't last long in a fight at this stage, and while he no longer doubted Naruto's ability, even with Sharingan he considered the boy would be outnumbered with Karin's unknown skills assisting him. The fact she hadn't done much but surgery and trap laying meant Sasuke barely considered Karin more useful than Sakura at this point.
Sakura was relieved, she still thought Lee was weird, and his title sounded silly, but he was strong, "Don't let the mummy with his bandaged arm touch you!" she warned as Dosu ran at the new arrival. Zaku and Kin circled around to watch and surround.
Rock Lee slammed his hand into the ground and pulled up an entire tree root to block Dosu's gauntlet, remembering what had happened to Kabuto. Lee frowned and jumped back as he felt dizzy just being near the root as the gauntlet smashed it. The taijutsu specialist almost tripped as he landed, barely managing to roll to avoid senbon with bells on them.
The senbon without bells on them scratched Rock Lee as he moved, and the boy took note of that before the bells wrang and Lee winced. The boy was unable to move as what looked like fifteen of the Oto kunoichi approached him.
"Well that was easy." Kin said with a grin. Dosu moved to finish off the boy, lifting his gauntlet. Naruto got up to help, Sakura was stunned to her spot again, and Karin reached for her kunai as she swallowed a lump in her throat.
Sasuke used shunshin, he already had his Sharingan active and saw the genjutsu used on Lee. The Uchiha landed beneath the peripheral of Dosu, who realized the boy had moved and the way Kin looked surprised at the space below him alerted him too late where Sasuke was. Sandal met chin before Dosu could react.
Zaku lifted his arms and Naruto appeared next to him with shunshin, the genin in the beige shirt stepped away from the other boy's left hook and turned his left hand on the blonde. Naruto was confused by the holes until a blast of hair came out of the hole on the other genin's palm.
"Zankuha!" Zaku shouted the name of his technique. Naruto braced his arms to block whatever it was and was send flying by the air waves with a scream of pain. The blonde hit the ground in a roll.
Karin threw shuriken at Kin and the girl backed away from Rock Lee as Sakura rushed over to break the older genin out of the genjutsu. Kin glared at both of the other girls but didn't rush them yet.
Sasuke turned away from Dosu and leapt backwards and under him, Rock Lee recognized the taijutsu as his own with a frown. The Uchiha didn't know how the jutsu actually ended, but knew it was taijutsu so he reached out, grabbing Dosu by the right elbow Sasuke spun off his chosen opponent, altering their momentum in mid air and spinning to slam his left heel into the solar plexus of the Oto nin in an impressive display of acrobatic taijutsu.
Karin rushed to Naruto and threw shuriken at Zaku, who turned his right hand towards the projectiles and blasted them away as he grinned sadistically at her, "Big mistake, dumb bitch!" the boy taunted, unleashing another Zankuha at her. Karin narrowly dodged as the ground was torn up, trying to get to Naruto.
Much to Karin's surprise Naruto stood before she got there, then she felt the malevolence and Naruto was on Zaku with a shunshin, delivering a vicious right hook into the other boys kidney as Dosu hit the ground, following up with a left hook to the face that sent Zaku stumbling back.
Kin frowned at this, Sasuke landed and moved to Sakura, Lee was getting up, and her team was not winning. Dosu stood up, out of breath from the wind being knocked out of him and hurt but alive, Zaku was still standing but was clutching a broken nose. They were actually outnumbered now, Kin figured she could beat the spandex guy with genjutsu, but even if they were weak two kunoichi would be running interferance. Also the Uchiha was better than Dosu and the blonde kid had just shrugged off a Zankuha.
"Zankukyokuha!" Zaku shouted furiously, pointing both his palms at the blonde. Kin cursed and dived away, landing next to Dosu who had also jumped to avoid the destructive jutsu that Zaku had unleashed in his rage. Sasuke grabbed Sakura and Lee and jumped to avoid it, landing by the hollow.
Unfortunately Karin froze, and Naruto landed in front of her instead of somewhere safe, sticking to the ground with chakra and shielding her from the air blast. Naruto managed to take a stance that minimized how much of his own body would be struck, but still hurt all over. Karin gasped as the smoke cleared, Naruto's jacket was torn up around the arms and shoulder mostly, and it had been blown open to resemble a tattered orange vest over his thin black undershirt. His pants were now tattered shorts, and he was bleeding from cuts wherever his clothes had been shredded.
Zaku was annoyed the blonde was still standing, "You're really," Naruto spoke, shakily coming out of his stance to glare at Zaku with two red eyes, "starting to piss me off." the blonde finished, Zaku realized the other genin had a Sharingan for his left eye, the boy had lifted his headband while the smoke was clearing.
Sasuke smirked, he was curious about this. From what Haku had said Naruto's healing factor had been enhanced by the kitsune, so he was curious as to how the daemonic chakra would interact with his eye. The Sharingan in Naruto's head was spinning, when he'd recieved it the spinning was slow and the eye only had two tomoe, now it had three and was spinning violently around a slit pupil, the tomoe even looked more jagged now.
Zaku lifted his hands and Naruto used shunshin, the blonde grabbed the Oto genin by his arms and swiftly pulled him into a right knee, knocking the wind out of him by striking his solar plexus. Then Naruto kicked the other boy hard in the ribs, knocking him flying.
"Screw this," Kin said, retreating from the fight. Dosu scowled after her but noticed Sasuke smirking and staring him down with his own Sharingan, and the fact Rock Lee was up again and likely wouldn't be caught by his arm again.
"Zaku, we're leaving." Dosu declared, unhappy with the failed mission but understanding they were outmatched here, especially with Kin refusing to help.
The genin still fighting pulled himself to his knees and glared at Naruto, but swallowed his pride and retreated. Naruto moved to give chase but stopped when Dosu tossed something at his feet, the blonde dodged it before noticing it was a heaven scroll.
Sasuke deactivated his Sharingan after they were gone and Naruto pulled his headband down over his left eye as he picked up the scroll. The blonde took it over to the group and tossed it at Sasuke, "Is it fake?" Naruto asked and Sasuke shook his head, recognizing it was the same as the other scrolls in every way.
"There you are, Lee." A new voice called out, Team 7 and Karin turned to see Neji as Lee waved. The pale eyed boy looked at the heaven scroll and Sasuke tensed up, "Interesting, the same scroll as us. Would you happen to have an earth scroll or do we now have three heaven scrolls between us?" the Hyuga asked from his perch on the tree, his female teammate looking worried about a fight breaking out considering Lee was surrounded.
Naruto tensed up but Sasuke reached into his pouch, "Here," the Uchiha said, pulling out Team 7's earth scroll and handing it to Lee, "consider that payment for helping us." he explained, Neji narrowed his eyes at that but accepted with a silent nod.
"Thank you very much, Uchiha-san!" Rock Lee said politely and gratefully, "However I apologize for not being of more assistance, if you do not pass this exam due to your honor I will refuse any offered promotion!" the green clad genin promised. Neji sighed at Lee and the three older genin took off.
Team 7 and Karin relaxed when they were gone, "Holy shit, what the hell, Sakura!" their relaxation was short lived as Ino came out of hiding, revealing a sheepish Choji and an annoyed Shikamaru, "Why does that dumbass Naruto have one of Sasuke's eyes?" Ino pointed at the other blonde who frowned, "Who is the red head?" she pointed at Karin who was already frowning, "What the hell happened!?" the Yamanaka genin asked, wide eyed.
"How dare you call Naruto-nii a dumbass you bimbo bitch!" Karin yelled, startling Ino who jumped back since the red haired girl had pulled a kunai. Shikamaru raised an eyebrow and prepared to use Kagemane no Jutsu if the kunoichi in glasses got violent, but thankfully she didn't give chase yet.
"Hey chill out, he always got the lowest scores in the academy." Ino defended herself and Sasuke scoffed.
"Academy scores are clearly bullshit." The Uchiha surprised everyone with that, since he was the one who always scored the highest, Shikamaru was more surprised Sasuke recognised and admitted it since he agreed completely.
"So why does Naruto have one of your eyes?" Shikamaru decided to ask, the young genius curious as to how that had happened. The responses on their faces told him it wasn't a nice story, but he didn't expect it to be.
"I loaned it to him," Sasuke began, "we were up against someone vastly above us, I knew that if Naruto could actually keep up our teamwork might pull us a win." he said, not mentioning the part that he felt bad that Naruto had technically lost his own left eye protecting him from the snake Sannin and unaware that Naruto hadn't even considered it like that.
Shikamaru knew Sasuke was telling the truth, but wondered how much he was ommitting and was concerned anyway, especially at the idea someone was out there that was as strong as Sasuke was implying. Sakura was wondering why Sasuke didn't mention who they were fighting but kept quiet in case he didn't want to bring it up.
Naruto didn't like the implication that he couldn't keep up without the eye and seethed silently as Ino took in the details, "So, who is she?" the female blonde asked, gesturing to Karin, "Naruto's long lost sister?" she guessed from the way she referred to Naruto.
"Actually yes, pretty much." Sasuke said with a nod, Sakura nodded as well to confirm it since it was basically true as far as she was aware. Naruto thought about it, but didn't nod or shake his head.
"More likely cousins actually." Karin corrected, still glaring at Ino. The Yamanaka shrugged but accepted the surprising answer. Choji just looked at Shikamaru who was frowning.
The Nara genin knew Naruto was an orphan, he'd even tried asking about the blonde a few times but older ninja always avoided answering and most seemed to simply not know anything about the boys parents. The Uzumaki clan was fractured long before Naruto was born, so it was possible that while Naruto was the only Uzumaki in Konoha that didn't make him the only Uzumaki left in the world. Shikamaru wondered about it, but the two already seemed protective of each other, then again bonds formed fast in the heat of battle.
"Well I can't believe you just gave away a scroll like that." Shikamaru said, only to be cut off.
"Unfortunately for you guys, heaven is what we need." Ino spoke up and all of them tensed up.
"Yeah but there is no way in hell I'm fighting them." Shikamaru spoke up again, shooting Ino down instantly, "Too much effort, they have two Sharingan and we went to the academy with them, they probably know enough to counter us and we're outnumbered." the genius pointed out, giving perfectly good and pragmatic reasons not to pick a fight.
"We actually already had a spare earth scroll from Karin-neechan." Naruto explained, Sasuke and Sakura glared at him for revealing that, Karin frowned and wondered why he revealed that, and Team 10 just looked at Naruto like he was an idiot for telling them that.
"You're such a trusting soul, Naruto." Choji praised, showing sympathy to the blonde boy. Ino just sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.
"Anyway, we'll see you at the tower." Shikamaru said, and Team 10 left. Team 7 was alone with Karin again.
As they travelled Karin considered Naruto. The boy had saved her life and she truly saw him as family now, it helped that he treated her like family first. The way he had latched onto the idea of her being family, how quickly he trusted her, it was suspicious so she suspected a trick from the start. As she learned he was genuine new concerns arose, like why he was so emotionally starved.
From what Karin could tell Naruto and Sasuke got along, she could detect some rivalry but they seemed like friends to her. With the Sharingan shared from Sasuke to Naruto they were practically brothers. Sakura was odd, the girl seemed to tag along, and she had a crush on the Uchiha, that was obvious even if she hadn't had much chance to show it. Karin could tell from body language that the girl always turned to Sasuke first.
Karin was wary of all of them at first, but she swiftly realized Sasuke hadn't trusted her either and had only allowed her to come because Naruto wanted her, and Sakura just followed Sasuke like a devoted puppy. It seemed like Sakura was shaken by this entire exam however, which was fair as far as Karin was concerned, she knew of Orochimaru from bingo books, the man was a legend. The whole second phase had been completely outside the depth of any genin as soon as the Sannin had showed up, but Sasuke and Naruto had stood firm and pulled through stronger than before.
The red haired Uzumaki was stunned at how differently the the ninja of Team 7 were handling the pressure. Sasuke seemed to treat it like a change in mission parameters and even then kept a cool head amazingly, and instead of retreating or freaking out about being hunted by Orochimaru had determined to finish the 'mission' to get to the center with a pair of scrolls, considering Orochimaru as nothing but an escalation in the threat level and rank of the mission.
Sakura was handling it better than Karin thought she would, but still the worst out of all four of them, the girl was in shock and bottling up for a breakdown, it was impressive that the girl was holding out as well as she was, since Karin figured she was doing the same thing for different reasons and was only doing better than Sakura thanks to Naruto.
Naruto was handling it better than Sasuke in some ways, he seemed angry and upset about the eye, but still worked with Sasuke and was going above the mission parameters to protect a risk like Karin because he emotionally latched onto her. However Naruto was also the most concerning, Karin could feel whenever he accessed the demon chakra, although it had only happened twice, and though she did not know what it actually was it scared her that he was capable of it. That combined with the apparent emotional starvation of the blonde had Karin wondering just what was wrong with her new family.
Sasuke stopped them suddenly, and Karin thought she knew why, even occupied by her thoughts she'd noticed the other genin approaching. A silver haired boy with glasses, older than them and smiling kindly.
"What do you want?" Sasuke asked coldly, not trusting his fellow Konoha shinobi in the slightest.
"Woah, chill out Uchiha-san, I got seperated from my team." Kabuto explained, "I noticed you guys and figured there'd be safety in numbers, we're all Konohagakure shinobi?" he asked, ignoring Karin who frowned, that sounded scripted.
"Karin-san is from Kusagakure." Sakura pointed out and Karin liked that the girl was referring to her in polite tones by now, "Her team was split up too, but-" the pink haired girl started to explain.
"We have her hostage." Sasuke interrupted with a lie, watching Kabuto closely. Kabuto didn't react at all, "What scroll do you have?" the Uchiha asked, suddenly going on the attack. Sakura and Naruto were surprised since Kabuto was polite but Karin got it, the silver haired boy was way too calm.
"My team collected both scrolls already, but the other members of my team have them." Kabuto answered smoothly, Karin and Sasuke noticed how convenient that was for him. Sakura and Naruto still hadn't quite caught on.
"Why should we travel with you then, Yakushi?" Sasuke asked, "Without your scrolls we have no guarantee you have them and aren't leading us into a trap for our own." he explained, surprising Sakura and Naruto while Karin just nodded to show she followed the logic.
"Look, I get it, but I'm telling the truth, my team saw some guy summon a giant snake. I don't really fancy my chances against him alone and I'm sure you can understand wanting to travel in larger numbers in case him or someone else on that level shows up." Kabuto explained, Sasuke frowned but even he had to admit that was a pretty good reason to group up, "Also as we get closer to the tower we're likely to run into teams hunting for extra scrolls just to thin out the competition and they might hesitate against a group of five." the older boy added in a lecturing tone that made Sasuke's eyebrow twitch with suppressed anger.
"Alright fine, we'll add you to the formation but you don't get to lead us anywhere, I have the map memorized I know where the tower is from here." Sasuke agreed, setting his demand and a good reason to follow it, Kabuto nodded in agreement.
The group set off again, in a modified version of their last formation, Kabuto was where Sasuke had stood in the middle while Sasuke took point, and Sakura was guarding the flank.
The next time Sasuke stopped them Karin wasn't sure why, but Kabuto seemed to be, "Genjutsu." Kabuto said as Sasuke activated his Sharingan. Naruto lifted his headband to the surprise of Kabuto who was stunned at the Sharingan in Naruto's head. Karin and Sakura fluttered their chakra to break out of the genjutsu as Kabuto did the same.
"Damn it, they noticed." A voice said as three genin in yellow jumpsuits and rebreathers, the symbols on their forehead protectors showing they were from Amegakure no Sato, rose out of the surrounding ground with a lot of bunshin. Karin frowned but accepted Sakura going back to back with her as they were surrounded, the Konoha genin and Karin pulling out kunai to defend themselves.
Sasuke and Naruto both frowned, "Where are your real bodies, cowards?" the Uchiha asked, trying to taunt them into coming out. One of the bunshin threw a kunai at Sasuke and the boy almost ignored it but saw movement in the bush behind the bunshin with his dojutsu. So Sasuke deflected the physical kunai with his own.
Kabuto frowned, "Physical bunshin of some kind?" he asked, concerned. Naruto had already moved and Sasuke took the blondes position smoothly, shaking his head in response to Kabuto's question. Sakura and Karin were both confused now, looking at the kunai on the ground as if that would explain it.
Naruto wouldn't have noticed without Sasuke's eye in his head, but as soon as he heard Sasuke block a physical attack he turned, tracked the flight pattern with the borrowed dojutsu as best he could and used shunshin. The blonde grabbed one of the the Ame genin with his left hand, pulled him up out of the ground by the collar of his jumpsuit and slammed his right fist, still holding a kunai, into the other genin's face.
The Ame genin wasn't cut because Naruto had slugged him despite holding a cutting tool, but was conscussed and above ground. Their formation broken his team rushed to deal with Naruto, who jumped to dodge being grabbed by one and stabbed by a tanto from the other. Sasuke used shunshin next and swung his kunai at the genin with a sword.
Karin and Kabuto both rushed the last one, Kabuto grabbing his arm as Karin kicked him in the solar plexus, Kabuto then twisted and threw the Amegakure shinobi into the ground. Karin stomped on his stomach for good measure.
The tanto wielding genin blocked the kunai, but was embarrassed to be disarmed before Naruto slammed a right hook under his guard and into his stomach. The Ame nin sputtered and coughed as Saskue grabbed his arm and swept his leg, knocking him the ground and pinning him smoothly.
"Which one of you has the scroll?" Sasuke demanded to know as Kabuto pinned the one he and Karin had taken out and Karin rushed to pin the concussed one.
"I have it." The concussed one answered after a moment, feeling too sick to bother lying after the head trauma he took. Karin reached into his hip pouch and pulled out a heaven scroll.
"There she is." That voice had Karin shivering, and now there were three teams and Kabuto. Team 7 stared down Karin's team and Naruto stepped between Karin and her own team, "Where the hell is our scroll?" her teammate, the one in the jumpsuit asked her and Karin winced, not wanting to answer.
"I told you she probably lost it." The other member, the boy with the bandana and sword, spoke up. Karin was shivering in fear now. Kabuto watched the situation curiously and the Ame genin wondered if they could use this, "But hey look, she isn't completely usless, she got a new one right there." the sword carrying genin pointed to the scroll of heaven in Karin's hand and she moved as if to hide it from them.
"What the hell is with that look in your eye Karin," The ninja in the jumpsuit asked, reaching for a kunai, "we got hurt fighting while looking for you, only two of us against teams of three, you know you'll have to make up for that." he said, Karin glared at him but she trembled.
"I don't like you guys, y'know." Naruto spoke up, speaking bluntly and glaring at the two, surprising them, "So back off and leave Karin-neechan alone, I don't know how you bastards expect her to heal you exactly," he explained, surprising them further and making Kabuto interested, "but it sounds like it was killing her. So if you don't back off, I'll kill you." the blonde finished, Sasuke's eye in his skull glaring out at them adding to his intimidation factor.
Naruto was the shortest ninja there, in tattered clothes that implied the closed wounds were not as old as they seemed but Karin's team felt the killing intent from Naruto, it lacked the potency of the kitsune but it added up and the Kusa genin were unnerved at the least.
"Screw you, brat, she's our team member, and we need her to pass this stupid test!" Intimidated or not, the genin with the sword made it apparent this was going to be a fight. Sasuke knocked out his pinned opponent from Ame with an elbow strike to the back of the head and Kabuto did the same.
The Kusa nin in the jumpsuit palmed a handful of shuriken and tossed them at Naruto who stood his ground, tracked their flight pattern, and knocked them out of the air with his kunai. Sasuke rushed that ninja as the other one rushed Naruto. The genin with the sword drew his sword and swung at Naruto who deflected it off the edge of his kunai but was put on the defensive by the reach on the ninjato.
Sasuke had the other genin on the defense, countering his shurikenjutsu with his own thanks to his practice using it with his Sharingan. Sasuke frowned when he realized he would need ninjutsu to actually catch the guy and broke off, dodging a thrown kunai to pick up the tanto.
"Naruto, switch with me." Sasuke said, rushing the ninja Naruto was defending against. Naruto nodded and broke off, dodging a pair of shuriken and knocking the third out of the air with his kunai as Sasuke met his new opponent in a kenjutsu duel. Kabuto hesitated to join in due to the swords but watched for an opening.
Naruto threw his kunai and the enemy dodged, throwing more shuriken that Naruto dodged as he went through hand seals. With a deep breath Naruto released a Futon: Toppa that knocked the next four flung shuriken back at their user, cutting the genin up and knocking the boy away and into a tree. Naruto glared as he palmed another kunai and leaped
Sasuke knew he was only parrying thanks to his Sharingan and his blade didn't have the same reach so the movements he was taking in wouldn't be as effective turned back on their original user. It was almost a dangerous situation, but Kabuto gave an opening, attacking with a kunai that forced the boy to guard with his ninjato and allowing Sasuke to plunge the tanto into his chest. Sasuke stopped as he realized this was in fact his first kill, then quickly grabbed the ninjato and shifted the tanto to his left hand turning to help Naruto.
Naruto didn't need the assistance, the blonde landed and drove his kunai right where the other boy intended to dodge, even Naruto seemed surprised as the kunai sunk into the genin. Karin's teammates were dead, no witnesses to her defection, the red haired girl could barely believe it but noticed how Naruto seemed shocked that he'd delivered a killing blow.
Since Naruto was worse at hiding it Karin noticed it was his first kill, only Kabuto noticed Sasuke was still dealing with his and Sakura looked to be introspective. Karin rushed to Naruto and Kabuto merely watched Sasuke as the Uchiha silently watched the two Uzumaki.
"Thank you, Naruto-nii, you saved me!" Karin quickly insisted, trying to get her genuine gratitude across and distract Naruto from his kill. Naruto just blinked for a moment then turned away from the body with a forced smile.
"I guess I did." The blonde did not sound entirely convinced, but it was better that he thought of it as necessary than to dwell on it. Karin decided to endeavor never to mention the names of these two to the blonde boy. Sasuke frowned at the exchange as he deactivated his Sharingan and Kabuto tied up the still conscious and concussed Ame genin.
Sakura had been in shock since Orochimaru, and everything was building up as the gravity of what being a shinobi meant finally started to sink in. The poor girl felt completely disturbed and out of her league, with monsters like Orochimaru running around and kids like themselves running around killing each other she finally realized just how dark ninja life actually was. With the darker aspects hidden from children by older ninja it was Sakura's first true taste of what it meant, she now realized that Zabuza was right about her team back then, but while Naruto and Sasuke had denied him and pushed past that to become true shinobi Sakura felt like she really was just some girl playing at being a ninja.
Kabuto finished tying up the Ame ninja and the group kept moving, towards the tower. Eventually Kabuto broke off to meet his team, Sakura's expression had been vacant for a while by that point but her team barely noticed. Sakura wondered why they trusted her to keep her head in her shocked state, she realized she hadn't done anything to warrant that trust and wondered if they were too concerned with surviving and were just hoping she kept it together. The pink haired girl managed to steel her resolve and promise herself she'd make it to the tower, she wouldn't let Sasuke or Naruto down now, not after how hard they worked to drag her through the forest.