The next day I met Kabuto and Yoroi at the exams after saying a terse farewell to Sasuke and Naruto. Kabuto gave me a cheery greeting which I ignored. Yoroi actually smiled at me though, which was extremely weird. I could tell because hes eyes crinkled at the sides of his glasses. I gave him a strange look.

Anko called us to her not long after, and gave out the 'consent' forms (pfft, consenting to be a ninja? How ridiculous).

I was giddy with apprehension, and not from the consent forms. My eyes darted about, searching out He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. I did remember he was disguised as a creepy Grass-nin, and it didn't take me long to find said nin.

My eyes locked onto her face from the corner of my eye. S/he looked... nervous. Just like all the other nins. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but hadn't s/he been oozing bloodlust in the show, and cuddling up behind Anko when said proctor threw a knife at Naruto? Acting like a lunatic? Throwing his/her tongue all over the place?

My eyes narrowed.

Looked like in this timeline, Orochimaru was playing the scared genin card. Then he would show his true colours later.

I did have a way to test it though.

I laughed openly, catching everyone's attention in the middle of Anko's speech.

"Forest of Death? Don't make me laugh. The only thing deadly I see here is how ugly that guy is," I yelled, throwing a finger at the disguised Grass-nin.

Anko raised her brow at me, clearly knowing this wasn't my typical behaviour. But as I expected, she was too sadistic to pass up such an opportunity, and before I could read the expression on Orochimaru's face, my cheek had been sliced open.

"Cute squirts like you are always the first to die," she responded cheekily. To us, this was a game. She knew I wasn't serious, and I knew she wasn't either. But...

It wasn't the Grass-nin who appeared behind us. It was...

Yoroi?

He had a knife to Anko's neck.

"That happens to be my teammate," he said softly. "It would be much appreciated if you released him."

I blinked in surprise. Wow, was Yoroi actually being nice? He screwed up my plan by being protective like that! Now Orochimaru wouldn't strike.

Anko snorted and smiled coolly

"People only get this close behind me when they want to die." She said it so off-handedly, but the threat was clear.

Damn, Anko was awesome.

"My apologies..." but he didn't move instantly. In fact, despite Anko's words, he leaned in, took her hand even as she stiffened, and moved it so the kunai was far from my neck. "Do refrain from touching him again."

and then he walked back to Kabuto's side.

Anko was flushed with anger. The thing was, she most certainly would have smashed his face in, had it not been the fact she was our proctor and therefore liable to be sacked for such drastic actions that could disadvantage a team.

Still though, from the way Yoroi had been acting, could it be...?

Could it be he had a crush on Anko? Because the way he used the opportunity to hold her hand was sort of telling...

I returned to my team, grinning cattily at him. He raised a brow at me, but turned away uncaringly.

We received a heaven scroll, and then our team was then led to our gates.

"Ok, Sora before we begin what are your strengths?" Kabuto asked as we waited.

I opened my mouth just as the blood drained from my face.

Because I used a chain style that no one knew I (Sasayaki) had used before my death except a select few, which meant in normal circumstances I could use it as Sora. But now...

"I... I'm fast..." I said lamely.

Yoroi let slip a chuckle. Kabuto just looked at me.

"Ok... that's a good start. I think it would be best if we teamed up with your original team, Sora-kun. That way, we can work together. The Leaf's motto is, after all, about teamwork.

I nodded mutely. I couldn't believe it. This was perfect.

I knew that Orochimaru attacked on the first day; Kabuto had just given me the perfect reason to go seeking them out. Although why he wanted to find them was a mystery. I was sure he wouldn't blow his cover though, which meant he had no malicious intent. Possibly he wanted to meet up with Orochimaru before he attacked perhaps.

Just at that moment, I flinched slightly as one of my clones popped, alerting me to the presence of Team 7.

"They're at gate 13," I said, without explanation. "We should head that way and we'll find them."

Kabuto and Yoroi exchanged glances, quick enough that I almost missed it.

"Really? How did you know that?"

I smiled mysteriously and tapped my head misleadingly..

"We have our ways," I said, hoping they would think it was some sort of telepathy.

Kabuto laughed and shook his head in disbelief or awe, I couldn't tell.

Just then the doors opened and the Kabuto and Yoroi disappeared the second I blinked.

Aw shit!

I dashed out the gates and hurried to catch up to them. Damn, they were running fast. Not enough for me to drop my resistance seals, but still. How long did they plan to keep up this pace for?

Not that I was complaining. The sooner we could find Naruto and the others, the better.

We were running for quite some time before anything of interest occurred. That being the attack of another team.

The Grass team. My face was white as the three Grass nins dropped in front of us, blocking us.

But before I came to any conclusions, they attacked.

There was a Grass-nin in front of me, bringing down a kunai on my head. I acted, stepping swiftly to the side, just enough for the kunai to pass me by millimetres, then like lightning I twisted his own wrist hard enough I felt it break and held it there; his kunai was now pointing towards his own throat.

Then he landed, unable to stop is own momentum, and he speared himself on his kunai. I watched as the kunai thrust deep into his brain, killing him instantly. I let him drop, and turned back to see how the others were doing.

It was not what I expected. They were finished as well, and I hadn't even seen how they'd killed the other two, one of them supposedly being Orochimaru.

Either Yoroi was a monster and had killed Orochimaru in the blink of an eye, or that wasn't Orochimaru.

And they were off again, leaving me confused and with a sense of tense fear building within me. I grabbed the dead Grass team's scroll from their bag. Earth. We could pass with this, but clearly Yoroi and Kabuto did not care in the least.

I had to stop them. They were out of sight now, but with some rapid hand-signs I created a clone and instantly dispersed it. That would update my clones on the current situation.

One of my other clones dispersed, leaving me with Gaara's location.

Perfect, he wasn't too far.

And with that, I took a deep breath, deactivated my resistance seals, and launched after Kabuto and Yoroi.

Maybe, just maybe... I could take Orochimaru out with one hit. He wouldn't be expecting it, after all.

I caught up with the other two, pretending to be panting.

"Hey guys, what's the rush?" I huffed. "Slow down, would you."

I positioned myself so I was running behind Yoroi.

"We want to reach your team before dark," Kabuto responded, and just as his sentence tapered off I moved.

Everything happened so fast. I launched forward at full speed with a kunai out, going for the back of Yoroi's neck, or more spcifically, Orochimaru's.

And suddenly we were all still. Kabuto had his hand around my wrist, stopping me millimetres before my kunai made contact with Orochimaru's neck. Orochimaru himself had stopped abruptly, leaving us in a close triangular position. It was possibly the most awkward situation in my life.

Kabuto's eyes were narrowed at me.

"Sora-kun, what is the meaning of this?"

Shit, what do I say?

And then Orochimaru turned around.

"Yes, Sora-kun. Care to explain?"

And his voice was no longer brittle like Yoroi's, it was velvety and smooth. I couldn't see his expression beneath all of Yoroi's face accessories, but I could imagine I wouldn't like it.

He knew I knew, or had made the assumption. And my suspicions had just been proven correct.

My clone made it's appearence, dashing from the bushes. It didn't get far, but that didn't matter. It provided a distraction, and I managed to rip myself away from Kabuto and I tore off in the opposite direction of Naruto and the others.

"Let's take a small detour, ne?" I heard Orochimaru say, before I was out of earshot.

My heart was thumping so hard, and I was sweating from anxiety. But I had to do this, had to keep him away from Naruto and Sasuke.

I glanced up when I noticed a shadow pass over me, and my eyes widened at the sight of Yoroi dropping from the sky in front of me. He landed without a sound, as if he hadn't just dropped thirty feet from the sky.

My heart was in my throat.

I had hoped to get to Gaara's team so they could provide a distraction, but clearly I had overestimated my speed, or underestimated him.

I watched mutely as Orochimaru pulled off his face mask and threw his bandana and glasses to the side. Yoroi had good reason to hide his face; it wasn't the prettiest in existence, I can tell you that.

"Let's talk, shall we?"

I flinched when he shifted, and my eyes darted about, searching for Kabuto, the missing factor. Would he interfere?

Oh god, I was shaking so much my teeth were literally chattering.

Orochimaru began walking forward.

"You see, your movements, your scent, it's all so familiar. I simply haven't been able to place it. Perhaps you can enlighten me, hm?"

His eyes shone with curiosity and amusement as my breath hitched.

He... he had caught on to me already, he was already suspicious. Perhaps that was the reason I wasn't already dead.

"An old experiment, perhaps? An escaped prisoner's child?" I stumbled back as he began walking towards me. I had to act, and fast. If I wanted to survive this, I would have to use my chains, whether it would give me away or not but not yet, there was still an option...

I did the next best thing. I threw down the Earth scroll I had in my pocket.

There was a burst of smoke and the next thing I knew Orochimaru was striking, and the ninja, probably a chunin, that I had never seen before didn't have even a moment's notice.

He was dead before he even knew what was going on, and his blood was all over me, literally. My face turned to the colour of ash and my mouth opened. All that escaped was a little whimper.

He stepped over the slumped body that separated us, and suddenly my mind cleared and sharpened.

If I didn't kill this man, or at least stall him long enough to draw attention, Sasuke would be in danger.

My mouth closed, I swallowed and I made my move. I threw myself forwards.

Before I could make contact, his hand came down on my back, throwing me to the ground, but I landed and used the moment to launch from the ground and catch his legs, taking us both down.

And I moulded my chakra and the lightning sprung from my fingers, electrocuting him.

He melted into mud but I was already moving, dodging the snakes attacking me from behind.

It was a dance, fast and dangerous. For every attack I attempted with my limited repertoire, I found myself slammed back three-fold. But I was moving fast, using my speed to it's fullest for possibly the first time.

Orochimaru was smiling the whole time we fought, looking as if he was barely trying. I knew, if I didn't step it up, he would get bored and it would be all over. The fight was picking up, blood was already dripping down my brow, and I had several bruises while Orochimaru looked as fresh as a daisy.

I felt so weak, so outmtched, so humiliated, even though my limbs were moving as fast as lightning somehow he was blocking them and retaliating playfully, like I was nothing.

And when the massive snake that he had summoned attacked, I had no choice but to reveal myself, despite my dread and fear.

He had me trapped against a tree, the snake's giant maw rapidly approaching, too fast too simply throw myself out of the way.

I screamed out my frustration in the face of this situation, and then my chain was spinning out of my sleeve and the log was released from the end, the substitution saving me from certain injury, if not death.

I landed on a tree branch, my body shaking from exertion and adrenaline.

Orochimaru was already on the other end of the branch, and the smile that split his features had my teeth rattling.

"Usagi-chan... How you've grown since I last saw you," he purred as he easily evaded my vicious kick and slammed his palm into my chest, knocking me back.

And Kabuto landed beside him, and I felt my shoulders droop, the corners of my mouth tugging down insistantly despite my attempts to stop them.

Oh shit, was I going to cry? I could feel my eyes watering. I just wanted to give up so badly, to curl up in a corner. There was no way I was going to win this. When they were done with me, they would get Sasuke.

"Sasayaki... well, isn't this a pleasant surprise," Kabuto smirked.

Orochimaru was behind me within a second, and he caught me, trapping my arms and hefted me against his chest before I twisted around to punch him. Fast as a snake, he slipped a piece of paper onto my chest. Something was painted onto it, a seal of some sort that glowed the moment it made contact with me.

I thrashed in his grip but... my chakra stopped responding.

Then my beanie was ripped off my head, revealing my mop of white hair.

"HELP!" I screamed, wishing someone, anyone would hear.

"Shhh little one," he purred, "Unless you want to die."

I fell silent apart from the occasional sniffle and hiccup.

"If he's still around, no doubt the Kyuubi boy is too," Kabuto pointed out, walking towards us.

"Yes," Orochimaru murmurred, and he began petting my hair with his free hand, smoothing it over my head. I shrank from his touch, but there was nowhere to escape. I was trapped in his one-armed hold.

"I was terribly displeased when I'd heard you'd died, little Usagi-chan. But I suppose answers will have to wait."

Just as he finished speaking, Kabuto exchanged a nod and he dropped from the branch and lay down on the ground, and after a moment of confusion I realised he was pretending to be knocked out.

Then Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura arrived, causing me to gasp. They looked tired, but not too beat up.

"Hey you! We heard Sora scream, and we're here to save him! Let him go!" Naruto yelled. Did he not notice the body of the Chunin, or did he simply not care?

"No!" I yelled, despite Orochimaru's earlier warning. "Get away from here! You're outmatched! You're-"

Orochimaru tossed me off the side of the branch mid-sentence, and I yelped as I began to freefall. Without my chakra, I was sure to get injured from the fall.

This was... not going well.

Nyaa I'm sorry about how rushed and broken this chapter is, but hope you enjoyed it anyway! Also I made a wattpad of this fic so I can include pictures yay~