Yo!

I'm happy to be here, even though absolutely nothing of note happens in this chapter. You honestly might as well skip it.

I won't waste too much of your time in this note, because I'm sure you don't particularly care what I have to say here.

Without further ado, let's go!

Chapter 13: And So, Fate Changed

The last thing Naruto heard Sasuke say before he was blasted half a mile into the Forest of Death was "Look out!".

As he tumbled through branch after branch, feeling like his bones would give out at any second, he couldn't quite shake the feeling that his friend's warning had come just a tiny bit too late.

They'd been… well… not ambushed, per se, because it was hard to be ambushed by a snake the size of a stadium, but attacked by one. It has also just so happened to sneak into their little encampment without very much difficulty at all, separating the three of them from one another.

He finally slid to a stop in a small outcropping, and laid there for just a second as he assessed the damage from his little trip.

Arms? Working. Legs? Functional. Ribs? Well… still there at least.

He stood a bit painfully, though he knew that even that damage would be gone within a few minutes. Being the Nine-Tails' vessel came with some perks.

He dusted himself off, which did almost nothing for the pound of grime that now stuck to his clothes like glue, and took a look around.

Now… where the hell am I?

He pondered that thought for a good half-second before dismissing it. he didn't know a single thing about the forest of death, and was fairly sure that even if he had been knocked into a place they'd already visited, he would have had no idea anyways.

So, I'm lost and alone in a place that's literally called the Forest of Death…

Great.

He kicked a tree root out of frustration, gave a small whine at the pain in his foot, and then set off towards the trail he'd left behind upon landing. It was as good an idea as any to try and follow it back to his friends, as he figured he'd have just as good of a chance of survival fighting a giant snake with them then he would being alone with… whatever else was out here.

Well, at least I won't have to deal with another one of those.

He cursed himself almost immediately, looking around with no small bit of panic.

If I know the universe well enough, I know that I'm about to be attacked by-

He screamed quite loudly as he barely dodged the maw of another giant snake, juking through massive tree roots that snaked through the forest like a titanic spider web. He just managed to duck under the creatures gaping maw as it soared over him, impacting against one of the colossal tree trunks, and heard more than saw it's skull break. He cringed just a bit as the snake's corpse slid off the branches around him, and fell to the ground below him with a mighty crash.

OK, I officially hate this place.

He thought he heard someone's voice, a woman's, echo off to his left, and turned towards the source of the noise.

He found someone that he was fairly sure he should've known, but didn't.

"Uhm… Hey." He called out to the girl, who was standing on a branch about 15 feet from him, looking a bit pensive.

"…Hey."

There was a pause that seemed to last an eternity.

"…So uh… what'cha doin'?"

The girl gave a small sigh, before closing the distance between them in a fraction of a second, landing just in front of him on the thick branch.

"You don't have your teams' scroll, do you?"

He didn't.

"No?"

The girl gave a small sigh, falling back onto the rough bark beneath her with a pout etched firmly onto her face.

"Well, great. This was a waste of time."

Naruto couldn't help but scowl a bit at her muttering.

"It was a waste of time to try and find someone screaming for help?"

The kunoichi in front of him gave him a dry sort of look, like it was somehow his fault he almost got killed by a giant snake.

"I didn't say that, did I?" The girl twirled a kunai on her finger absentmindedly, keeping a constant watch on her surroundings as she did. "I don't have my team's scroll, if that's what you're looking for."

I hadn't even thought of that…

"Uh… OK."

Another pause, and Naruto couldn't help his cheeks heating up at that one. He was usually so good at talking to people, too.

Well… Mostly.

"So… What's your name?" He felt he might as well try and initiate conversation.

If it was possible for the girl to look any more annoyed with him, she managed it, giving him what was possibly the coldest stare he'd ever received.

"Er… I'm Naruto."

"I know your name." The girl responded, sighing, rolling her eyes and, for the first time since she'd come over, truly relaxing.

"You don't have any traps set up, do you?" She spoke disappointedly.

"What?"

The girl slapped herself in the face, dragging her hand down slowly, until just her eyes were visible.

"I've been treating you like a threat this entire time, and you've just been… trying to talk to me?"

Was that not what I was supposed to be doing?

"Yeah? Why, should I not have been?"

"You do know that this test is basically a free-for-all, right?" The girl explained as she dug her kunai into the bark below her, carving a design into it with slow, precise movements. "Anyone who's not on your team is an enemy."

"Yeah, I know that."

The girl glared daggers at him.

"That makes me your enemy, doofus."

He thought about that for a second, finding himself sitting down across from her as he did. The girl scooted back a few feet, and he noticed that she had her kunai at the ready, just in case he tried anything.

"I guess we're supposed to be enemies… but you just didn't give me that feeling when I saw you."

"What are you talking about?"

"I mean… earlier, when we encountered this guy from the grass village, I got this feeling in my gut… It was telling me to get as far away from him as I could." Naruto still shivered whenever he thought of that man. Something about him had seemed to unnatural. "But when I saw you… I just felt normal... So I guess I just assumed you didn't mean me any harm."

He felt like his reasoning didn't sound quite so solid when he had to explain it, but he still gave the girl his trademark smile as he looked up at her.

To his immense relief, the girl laughed. It wasn't a lengthy affair, more of a snort than anything, but it was a start, and perhaps a sign that she was warming up to him a little.

"Y'know, Naruto… you're a bit of an idiot."

Or not, I suppose.

She held her hand out a second later, offering to let him shake it.

"My name's Tenten…" She gave him a sedated smile. "I guess I'm a bit of an idiot, too."

He didn't so much as hesitate, taking her hand in his own and giving it a small shake.

"So… why are you out here alone?"

"I could ask the same of you." The kunoichi responded, going back to carving her design into their branch. "Though, I suppose you gave me your name first, so I might as well answer in kind. My team leader… well, I won't give you any useful information, just in case we end up fighting sometime…"

"Hey!"

"Oh, c'mon," Tenten huffed. "That's just common sense, and you know it."

Yeah, I know, doesn't mean I didn't want to have something to tell those two when I saw them again.

He could just see how cool he would've been if he'd come back with some juicy information, too…

"Basically, my team leader split us all up, because he was confident in our ability to collect scrolls on our own." She seemed to be thinking of how best to speak her words. "You've met Lee, right?"

"The bushy-browed guy?"

Tenten snorted.

"Yeah, you met Lee. Anyways, he was actually trying to find you guys, I think he's got a thing for the pink-haired girl."

Now it was Naruto's turn to laugh.

"Really?"

"Yep. I hate to be rude, because frankly, Lee doesn't have a single mean bone in his body, but he doesn't have a chance with her."

"What? But he's such a nice guy."

Tenten gave him a deadpan expression.

"Being a nice guy can only get you so far when you look and dress like that."

"Well… his personality is-"

"And you exclusively talk about exercising."

"Er… alright you got me." Naruto gave up, raising both his hands in the air in defeat. The girl before him gave a small chuckle at that, before she turned suddenly, eyes wide.

"Do you feel that?"

"No, what's-"

There was a sudden rush of… something… that Naruto couldn't quite describe. It wasn't fear, because he had nothing to attach it to. If anything, he would've called it an extreme sense of foreboding.

And then he heard a girl scream.

His face paled within a second, and he was up almost instantly, rushing towards the sound with all of the energy within his body.

That was Sakura's voice.

/-/

A second or so after Naruto was blasted away, the snake-rider was back on them.

Sasuke couldn't help but stumble a bit as he and Sakura dodged around the massive reptiles' strikes. His thigh ached where he'd stabbed himself earlier, in order to break himself out of his own head, but instead of trying to ignore it, he focused on it.

Every tiny feeling, every jolt that ran up his leg reminded him that he was still alive, that man hadn't killed him yet, he wouldn't kill him.

Another dodge, but this time, the snake just barely scraped Sakura's side, sending her spiraling to the floor some 50 feet below them. For a civilian, that fall would've been fatal, but his teammate was a ninja, and managed to control her descent just enough to land safely, rolling to a stop on the ground.

"Hm, not bad, not bad…" The Grass Genin spoke, rubbing his chin with his right hand, before smiling in a way that seemed so unnatural to Sasuke, like the man had been taught to smile, but never really learned it.

Sasuke already knew what he needed to do.

Somehow… someway… I need to get rid of that snake.

It was what was doing the real damage, keeping them from focusing on its rider. It cut through any barricade they tried to hide behind, even some of the thicker branches were cut apart like paper behind the creatures bulk.

There's an idea, though.

Sasuke did his absolute best to feign a stumble, to pretend like the pain in his leg was getting to him too much for him to even stand.

"Hm? Truly?" The shrill voice of the grass ninja called out, sounding almost… disappointed. "I suppose if that's all."

He heard a menacing hiss, and then felt the air around him change, could almost feel the hot breath of the snake close in on him.

He dodged at the last possible moment, just barely ducking under the creatures maw, and heard an earth-shattering crash as it's skull impacted the massive tree trunk behind him. There was a sickening sound of liquid pouring, and then the snake began to fall, it's corpse echoing off the floor of the forest as it met the earth.

For just a second, Sasuke thought he'd gotten the rider as well with that feint.

"Hoho… It appears I have called this too quickly."

Shit.

He turned around to where the voice had come from but found nothing. Instead, the voice began to echo off of the forest's leaves, in a very hollow way.

"Looking for someone?"

He turned with breakneck speed, but it wasn't enough to block the blow to his stomach that came in, knocking him back with more force than even the Nine-Tails' blows had. He wretched as he landed, trying to force some air back into his lungs.

His eyes widened as he saw a flash of pink hair, as it charged forward with a weapon drawn. There was a quick exchange, before, just like him, Sakura was knocked back, landing a few feet from him in a heap.

"Sakura!"

"I… I'm fine." The girls' voice made it clear that she was anything but, but Sasuke was far too exhausted to protest it at this point.

"We need a plan." He offered.

"Genius idea, never before seen."

"No need to be rude."

The Grass ninja gave a small laugh, before, with a bend in his neck that nearly caused the Uchiha to vomit, he charged at the two of them. Sasuke just barely intercepted, taking the blow on the tip of his kunai.

At any other time, he was fairly sure the man's hand would have split in two from meeting a blade head on, but instead, the man's clenched hand batted away the weapon like it was a child's toy.

"What the hell are you?" He let out between slightly panicked breaths.

"Me?" Their assailant pointed to himself, looking almost hurt. "I'm just a little old Genin from the Grass village, of course."

There was a twinge of glee in the man's voice that sent a chill down Sasuke's spine, it made him feel like he was being toyed with, like he had absolutely no control over the situation at hand.

It reminded him of when he'd fought Haku.

It reminded him of when he'd been spared by his brother, on nothing more than a whim.

He felt a familiar feeling in the back of his skull, and he allowed his Sharingan to spin into life a second or two later.

"Aaaah." Their opponent let out a shrill moan, walking towards Sasuke slowly, like a predator sure of the kill. "There it is, the power of the Uchiha clan."

Was this what he wanted!?

It bothered Sasuke more than he cared to admit, but that didn't mean the Sharingan wasn't also his best chance in this battle. He charged forwards, making the signs for the fireball jutsu as he did. As he finished, he drew his kunai from before back into his hand, readying himself as best he could.

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"

He unleashed his blaze across the branches, searing everything in it's path. He'd poured more chakra into the jutsu than normal, and hoped that it would be enough to simply burn apart the ground the man stood upon, but instead, a second later, he saw the man charge out of his peripheral vision, a wide smile set upon his face.

It was Sakura who answered his attack, forcing the man to halt his advance as a mud wall popped up between them. Sasuke thought briefly about the fact that there was no dirt for the wall to pull from where they were standing, a good 50 feet off the ground, but decided he didn't much care if it saved his life.

A hand came through the barrier of mud, seeming unperturbed by it at all. Sasuke dodged just past it, his eyes allowing him to avoid the blow almost lackadaisically. A second later, the wall itself exploded.

Their assailant came charging forward, yet he had still not drawn a weapon, nor casted a jutsu of any kind.

Sasuke blocked the attack with the back of his hand, even anticipated the man's next one, sneaking his own kunai into the ninja's gut. It was a perfect counter, and he smiled as he went for what he knew would be the finishing blow.

It made it all the more shocking when, instead of plunging in and stopping the man's assault, it merely melted into the man's muddy skin.

"A clone!?"

All the warning he had was a scream from Sakura, and then his world exploded with pain.

"You're strong." Their opponent spoke amusedly, walking over to where Sasuke was crumbled onto the floor and letting out a shrill laugh. "Come on now, don't you have any more tricks for me?"

Sasuke took a second to take stock of what he had left. A few hundred feet of metal wire, a few tiny explosives, 10 or so shuriken, and 4 more kunai.

Is that enough?

Probably not.

He grit his teeth as he touched his chest, knowing for a fact that one of the ribs on his left side was broken. He'd been struck from there after the clone had melted into mud, and he'd tried his best to land safely, but it just hadn't been enough.

That didn't mean he could stay down, though.

He drew forth the miniature explosives, holding them in his left hand as he turned himself around, looking up at their assailant, still wearing that damned smile on his face.

"Is that all you have for me, last remnant of the Uchiha?"

A small static shock ran up his legs, his chest, into his arms, it spread throughout him. he felt the pain from his side dull somewhat, felt his eyes hone in, felt his fists clench. He wasn't quite sure what it was, a mixture between adrenaline and anger, but whatever it happened to be, Sasuke knew that it was the only chance he had.

He moved suddenly, without warning. It was enough, even, for the ninja in front of him to be surprised, raising a single hand to block his incoming fist. That was what he'd been looking for, as he threw the explosives out of his left hand, underneath the man's guard.

The man's body bent backwards as they went off, and he let out a shrill shriek.

It isn't enough, not yet.

Sasuke drew the wire, doing his best to separate it into three lengths, and, tying them to 6 of the remaining shuriken in his bag as fast as he could, threw them forward with all his remaining strength.

"Hah! So this is the power you still hold?" The Grass ninja shouted out, and for just a second, a different voice covered the shrill, almost girlish one from before. It sounded unlike anything Sasuke had heard before.

But he ignored it, ignored the distraction, and pulled the wires taught at just the right moment. They tied around the man's frame, holding him fast against the trunk of the tree he stood against.

Time to end this!

He held another wire, one that served as a connector between him and the ninja, between his teeth. He held his hand seals up to it, creating an easy line for his jutsu to follow.

Fire Style: Dragon Flame Jutsu!

The flames roared to life, coasting across the metal wire with ease, and crashed into the Grass ninja's body with a resounding roar.

The man screamed in agony, but Sasuke couldn't let up, he knew that if he let go for even a second, then this man would escape. He'd shown to be too powerful, too dangerous for Sasuke to let him live. He wouldn't risk his teammates lives for something as petty as his own innocence.

The screams died down 30 or so seconds later, as the man's burnt corpse slid to the bottom of the trunk, and became incredibly still.

Sasuke let out a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding, falling slack onto the branch below him with a sigh of relief.

"Y-you did it, Sasuke!"

His teammate, Sakura, ran over to him, immediately taking his arm and inspecting it for injuries, moving on to his ribs after she'd finished.

"Honestly, that was way too risky!"

"You saw that guy, Sakura." He spoke past his exhaustion. "I didn't have much choice other than to be a little risky."

A laugh echoed out across the forest, cutting through their relieved mood like a knife.

"Excellent! Simply excellent!"

The man was clapping, driving his charred and rotting hands together time and time again. Sasuke realized with some horror that the skin around the man's eye was melting off, and underneath was another, separate skin. It was albino, a shockingly pure white, but it was moreso the eye that got his attention.

It was a deep, horrifying yellow. It looked like the eye of an animal, nothing like that of the human being this creature was pretending to be.

"Who the hell are you!?" Sasuke felt the compulsion to scream.

The man's smile made him shiver, as his face melted even farther, and his voice continued to change, becoming one that sounded almost sickly with age, ringing completely hollow, carrying no emotion at all.

"My name is Orochimaru." The man brought his hands up, forming an odd seal that Sasuke realized he'd seen before.

It was the same seal that Kakashi had used to activate his Mangekyou Sharingan.

"I do feel terrible, to have to interrupt our little jaunt so suddenly," The man's voice called out, as his neck dislocated from his body, falling a bit too far to the side. "But I had originally come to test your abilities. To think you'd impress me so."

The man gave another laugh, before, with a sickening crack, his neck elongated to a ridiculous degree, closing the distance between them in a matter of moments.

"Sasuke!"

It happened too fast for him to so much as move. The man's head opened wide, too wide for a human, and his teeth seemed to extend unnaturally. He felt hands contact with his side, felt it flare up in agony, and looked to see Sakura pushing him. It wasn't very far, a few inches at most, but it was enough.

The man's head didn't catch it, couldn't see that Sasuke had been displaced, and so still aimed for the last place he'd seen the boy occupy.

There was a wet squelch, and a horrified gasp as he fell to the ground.

He almost couldn't bare to look up, to see what had happened, but he knew he must. He forced his eyes to move up his teammates body, to look above him at her form, and to see the man's teeth digging into her neck.

The head pulled away, dragging itself back to its body with another few cracks of bones rearranging themselves.

"You… were not the intended target."

Sakura fell to her knees, clutching her shoulder. A second later Sasuke saw a black mark begin to form, just above where she'd been bitten.

And then she screamed.

It wasn't quite like anything he'd heard from her before. It was elongated, drawn out, and continuous. Her eyes widened, and she fell backwards, scratching at her neck where the seal was with a horrid vigor, cutting her own skin as she desperately tried to remove whatever it was this man had placed on her.

Sasuke practically flew towards her, kneeling down and grabbing her hand, keeping her from clawing open her own skin.

"What the hell did you do to her!?"

Orochimaru seemed oddly confused, like he'd never thought this could happen to him.

"That gift was intended for you, I suppose… the both of you will have to recieve one."

He brought his hands back up, reforming the same seal he'd used earlier, but Sasuke knew now what was coming. His Sharingan spun back into being, and he prepared to intercept it.

Except for the fact that he couldn't move. He felt the same piercing fear from earlier cloud his thoughts, his muscles. His body faltered, and he felt a panic as he watched the man's head come barreling towards him.

"This time I think I'll be more careful." The man was emitting an aura so potent, so obviously powerful, that Sasuke could barely feel anything at all. "Do be a dear and hold still for me."

At least until a ninja dressed in orange, with hair the color of gold, came rocketing into the arena, kicking the man's head into a tree as he landed next to his teammates.

"Sorry I'm late!"

Sasuke couldn't quite hide his relief as he looked upon his teammate. He hadn't thought that Naruto would die, or anything silly like that, but he'd been worried for him all the same.

Sakura let out another scream, and suddenly any semblance of happiness at Team 7's reuinion vanished.

"What's wrong with her!?"

"I don't know! That guy over there, he did something to her!"

The man in question brought his head back, straightening it with his left hand and looking rather annoyed.

"Hm, so… the Nine-Tailed brat emerges as well." Orochimaru took a single step forward, before he was bombarded with weapons from above him, giving a single "tsk" as he bobbed and weaved through all of them.

Another combatant, a girl Sasuke recognized vaguely as a member of Rock Lee's team, landed next to them in a crouch, glaring daggers at Naruto.

"Who the hell is this guy? You said they were fighting another one of those snakes!"

"Well they were fighting a snake, I just... forgot mention that someone was riding it!" His friend turned to him. "Sasuke, who the hell is this guy?"

There was an awful lot to process there, and Sasuke felt prepared for almost none of it. Another scream poured out of Sakura, who was rapidly tensing and untensing her muscles. It was like she was stuck in a nightmare while still awake.

"He called himself Orochimaru, he-"

"Wait, what!?"

It was the other girl who spoke, looking stunned beyond belief.

"Why? who's that?" Naruto asked, looking just a bit confused.

The girls' hands shook as she looked over at the man, who seemed to be sizing them all up momentarily.

"Orochimaru is – was – on the same team as Jiraiya and Tsunade."

There was a momentary pause, during which the girl looked back at the two of them annoyedly.

"Do you seriously not know who they are?"

"Er… No." Naruto admitted, rubbing the back of his head.

"I remember those other two..." Sasuke spoke quietly, trying to control the shaking in his hands. "They were supposedly some of the most powerful ninja to ever come out of the Leaf Village. Because of their achievements in the Second Shinobi World War, they were dubbed…"

"The Sannin." The brown-haired girl interrupted, holding a bo-staff in her left hand. "They're… they're frighteningly strong."

"I... I didn't know Orochimaru was..." Sasuke looked over at the man, who seemed to be finished sizing them up, and was now walking towards them, quite confidently, as if he'd already caught them.

"T-then what the hell do we do?" Naruto seemed to catch on to their panic, now shaking a bit as well.

"We do the only thing we can do." The girl said, taking a step backwards as she turned to look at Naruto, and then at Sasuke, carrying Sakura in his arms.

"We run."

End Chapter 13

Heh.

So Sakura is going to become an avenger by joining Orochimaru, in order to obtain enough power to kill her older brother, and restore her clan.

Not really. But without Sasuke recieving the curse mark, how much of the future of Naruto is really set in stone?

Almost none of it, I'd reckon.

See you all next week!

Edit: Made a small change, because I remembered about 30 seconds after posting this that Sasuke had no idea who Orochimaru was. So I've changed that one line near the end.