Back again with an update for Senju Scion. I hope you folks are enjoying this story so far. We are getting into the space for some time skips now, this first one is a short one for sure. As for this chapter some things may be familiar to some people. Just enjoy the callbacks bro. Let's respond to some reviews then get under way.

Review from qalleesyawesome:

great chapter. i wish isseis death was a bit more impactful for naruto but it digress. anyway im excited for whats to come! thanks for updating

Response: thank you. When it comes to Issei's death, we haven't seen the full weight of it's effect on Naruto yet. As Danzo put it in the past, he is like a young Hashirama with the temperament of Tobirama. So I plan on having moments where he is almost machine like as he withdraws his emotions back to protect himself. This is the first major incident where he will do so but by no means will be the last. That being said, I do wish I had done more around his reaction to Issei's death than what I have. Even if he does withdraw emotionally in negative moments I want to make sure it's clear he still feels it he just packs it down and avoids dealing with it.

Review by serpentacodex

wow issei's death was sudden and kind of Anti climactic, but that gives it a certain realism that I appreciate. Bet you get some flames for that lok

My response: Yeah, unless you pass away at home or in the hospital, in my experience loss is sudden with an almost impossibly empty feeling. Even more so in war. They are there and then they are not there and their body is just empty. Sounds odd written out but brutally sudden death is what you can expect for most that die in this fic.

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Chapter Five

The Monkey's Games

It had been nearly ten months since the fall of the Land of Sky and Konoha had really solidified itself as the solitary victor of the Second Shinobi World War. Ten months since Jiraiya had reorganized his team. Ten months since Issei had died.

Much had changed since then. Peace talks had been continuous and roughly three months prior the villages had finally entered into a Treaty. A real treaty between the Five Great Nations. Peace had finally come.

Which was why it was all the more confusing for Naruto and his two teammates. They were the three most capable of their graduation batch but of those still alive, they were the only ones not promoted to chunin.

Since Issei had died, Naruto as well as Kushina and Minako had thrown themselves into training like never before. They were older now, more capable than ever before, and far more experienced after the tail end of the war.

Still their friends advanced while they did not. The three of them, as well as many others, speculated all sorts of reasons why. From some plan with the higher-ups to a secret deficiency all three had hidden away.

All things considered Tsunade was pretty happy that all three were still Genin. Even if Orochimaru thought that it was an insult to their accomplishments and was certain Jiraiya had done something to get his team punished. At least until both women were brought into the plans that Hiruzen had.

Both had immediately flipped their opinion of the situation following that. As was typical when she was upset, Tsunade had broken several things. Orochimaru was happy as can be claiming that that it would be worth it all.

Despite that, Naruto and his teammates remained in the dark. Even as they were left to train alone more and more as their sensei joined the Hokage in several meetings with other Kage or acted on his behalf as a diplomat to other villages.

Hopefully today that would end though. Alongside nearly a dozen other genin teams, all several years older and much less talented than they were, they gathered in the courtyard outside the Hokage tower. Their team leaders gathered at the back along the wall while in front of them the village elders, Hokage, several important Jonin, and even a representative of the Daimyo stood before them.

"Thank you all for coming. It's odd for so many genin to be gathered together. However, that is precisely why you have been gathered." Hiruzen began. His words echoed over the area as the group of genin silenced themselves

"You all are the future of our village. The Shinobi that will carry out Will of Fire on into the next generation. That is why you have been chosen for this plan." He continued.

Naruto hummed quietly as thoughts about what the Hokage was planning filled his head. This was sounding like the kind of inspirational speech given to soldiers during a briefing for an especially difficult mission. That was a bit worrying especially being as the war was supposed to be over.

"Some of you may feel you have been held back from advancement after earning it in the last year. Let me tell you here and now that your concerns regarding that have some merit. It is unfair perhaps but for the good of the village myself and my advisers must have you tested once more before granting you the vests and ranks you feel you deserve."

The crowd began to murmur slightly. Confused whispers filtered over the heads of the nearly forty genin. Many, like Naruto had thought perhaps they were being briefed for some mission. They couldn't really guess what kind of mission might need so many genin, but after the Hokage's words that line of thought felt less certain.

"This test will be deadly and dangerous but will also be a first step into a more peaceful and pragmatic world than the one you know of today. You will compete against each other as well as genin from other villages in a series of events that will decide whether or not you will earn the rank of chunin. An exam to replace the warfare we have grown weary of. One where some of you may die and all of you will be pushed to your limits in front of an audience gathered from across the Elemental Nations. I have faith in you, as does the rest of our village to not only earn your promotions but to bring honor and victory to our Village."

With that Hiruzen bowed to the genin gathered, shocking them, though they all quickly moved to return the gesture to their esteemed leader.

The Third Hokage stepped back and a collection of Jonin moved forward and began giving them details of what they needed to do. The exam was to take place in Konoha in a month's time. Their village had clearly been the victor of the war and was making the move for this new attempt at peace by inviting the other villages literally into their home to show their sincerity.

Sadly they were not going to be told what to expect from the tests except that the first takes was an individual test, the second was a team test, and the last was a tournament with an audience. That made it hard to really prepare for the exam beyond continuing their already arduous training and improving as much as they could across the board.

Thankfully Naruto, Kushina, and Minako all had no problem with the idea of a grueling training regimen.

Tsunade however was not about to step aside and let her son and the two girls she was rather fond of injure themselves in training. Not that she was all that pleased with the idea of the kids participating in the exams. She thought the entire concept was a bit ludicrous honestly. Still she had placed a bet that all three of the kids would make it into the semi finals of the tournament.

Knowing that the team was effectively Konoha's method of cheating she felt pretty confident in that bet. Even if Jiraiya had seemed upset with her for betting on his team. Something about trying to curse the kids.

The team had spent the time they had left trying to round out their abilities even more. Minako had managed to expand her repertoire of fuinjutsu pretty extensively in a short time frame. She'd also managed to pin down an ability only the most experienced or at times most prodigious fuinjutsu users could.

While it was common to learn to inscribe seals using only chakra to effectively score them into surfaces, doing so in the heat of battle when your focus had to be perfect for the seal was another matter entirely. Despite the difficulty and inherent danger of utilizing sealing in such a way though, she worked at it until she was completely confident in her new found skill.

Similarly Kushina had been training as hard as she could. Her skill with her chains couldn't really expand much, being as she could nearly use them like a set of tentacles with precise and deadly movements.

She had to expand her skill set then. Unfortunately, while she had been interested in perhaps learning medical jutsu and other things from Tsunade, the level of chakra control was something she could never acquire. Not with the Kyubi sealed within her.

Instead she approached her former sensei. Sakumo had become a bit reclusive lately. Sadly with his wife's death in the last days of the war he was raising Kakashi alone and was struggling to keep his life under control.

Despite that he was happy to provide his student with some techniques and a little bit of training. The fact that Kushina gave him a bit of a break from having to take care of little Kakashi was also very welcome. The redhead adored the little boy and was happy to babysit whenever it was needed of her.

From Sakumo, Kushina picked up quite a few ninjutsu and some basic use of a blade. She kept it sealed up on her wrist being as she wasn't quite proficient with it, but the short sword was a nice added item in her growing arsenal.

As for Naruto, well unsurprisingly he grew the most. In the near year between the Fall of Sky Country and the start of these chunin exams, he had thrown himself into better using and controlling his bloodline. On top of that the elements that went together to form his mokuton also needed to be strengthened and between his father and Orochimaru's training he had gotten a good handle on all of his affinities.

His mother had also impressed more advanced forms of the healing techniques he'd already learned from her.

All in all, the team seemed more like they were readying up for a hard campaign in enemy territory, not an exam. The way Lord Third and their sensei were making this event sound had them on edge though and none of the three of them intended to allow themselves to be caught on the back foot by the trial headed their way.

Even now, as they stepped into the large, newly constructed arena alongside the other genin from across the Elemental nations, the team was anxious. Most of the other genin had never experienced real direct combat, or seen a teammate be killed. Naruto and the girls were better prepared than likely any of the others but that didn't stop them from recognizing the fact that the other villages likely put in ringers for the exam like Konoha had done.

All thought about such things fell to the wayside as Orochimaru stepped up onto a platform in the center of the arena and began speaking to the nearly two hundred contestants before her.

"Welcome to Konoha." She said in a sweet voice. One that actually enhanced her intimidating aura far more than a more aggressive greeting could have.

A few whispers identifying her among the foreign village genin had the pale woman smiling all the wider.

"Each of you is here to earn glory and fame for your village. To participate in what my sensei has dubbed a substitute for actual warfare. You should likely know who I am. If not, then I won't spoil it for you. However I will say I am acting as the proctor for your first and second tasks in this intriguing exam. Meaning of course that your tests have been orchestrated and designed by my own self. So whenever you're bleeding out and fading away remember this. I was forced to make these tests passable for the average genin. If you fail and die, your village will absolutely not miss a failure like yourself."

As she spoke Orochimaru seemed to take on a gleeful and almost childish humor. Her smile stretched wide and her eyes glittered in the early morning light. She was practically radiant as she soaked the gate and terror filled looks of the various genin before her. However when she locked on to Naruto, Kushina, and Minako her smile seemed to spread only wider, even getting a small smile back from Naruto.

"Now, my assistants will come through and select you to follow them. You will be split up into three groups, one person from each team. Then you will all be given a coded message to decipher. You have a time limit and all members of your team must unlock the message before the test to pass into the second stage. It's incredibly easy compared to what I initially wanted to do. I even doubt any of you will die during this task. Then again the ciphers for your codes are incomplete. You'll either need to take them from others or work together somehow to use them properly. So, fingers crossed things do manage to get violent."

Orochimaru then simply walked off toward the exit of the arena. The chunin and Jonin assistant proctors began filtering through the genin and assigning them to a section for the task.

"Is it just me or is Orochimaru really dialing it up for this exam?" Kushina mumbled to Naruto.

"No, she's just cutting loose." Naruto replied cheerily causing Kushina to pale slightly and glance at the Snake Sannin's retreating form. She couldn't surprises the mild shudder that ran through her being at the curiosity at what could be running through the woman's head.

"Naruto, follow me to group one." One of the proctors called out while another two collected Kushina and Minako.

The Senju heir did as he was instructed and followed the proctor to where group one was separated from the other two groups. A portion of the arena cordoned off with a large tent. Inside the members of group one silently eyed one another. At the sight of Naruto entering however, and his clear age difference most genin began watching him like hungry wolves.

A less intense but rather similar situation happened with both Kushina and Minako in their own groups. Kushina's clan could not be more obvious to the likes of the Kumo and Kiri nin if she wore her clan symbol on her forehead.

For Minako, she simply looked like a young civilian girl. Like little to no threat, an easy target. All three easily proved how wrong the others assumptions were.

The moment Minako received her code she began to easily break it and left with the answer within. Most of her fellow group mates had not even managed to figure out the portion of the cipher given to them. Yet Minako easily used the information she gathered from it to figure out the missing portions of her test.

Kushina had a pretty easy go of it herself. The time she had spent learning some of her family's bread and butter made such problems a cakewalk. She couldn't figure the missing portions out like Minako could, but some people were bound to volunteer to help her.

"Hey. Red. You an Uzumaki?" A Kumo genin asked.

Kushina shot him a look but didn't reply.

"Look at her cloud. Of course she is. Fucking Uzumaki." A Kiri genin, a woman with shark like features and incredibly pale skin growled.

"What if I am?" Kushina asked, already well aware of where this conversation was going.

"Your clan killed my dad." The Kumo boy hissed out hatefully.

"Shocker, almost like invading Uzu was a bad idea for your leaders. I bet he didn't even get killed by one of our Shinobi. Probably some angry housewife did him in with a frying pan."

The Kumo boy's eyes widened in maddened rage as he launched himself at her. He got two steps before Kushina's chains had ensnared him and suspended him in the air. She took a moment to look and see if the proctors would interfere but they clearly had no intention of getting involved. She didn't need to kill the boy, and at that point it might actually cause problems for her and her team if she did, so instead she relieved the boy of his cipher and proceeded to break his legs.

The majority of genin in her group edges away from her after that, but the Kiri girl wasn't so inclined.

"If it hadn't been for your family Kiri would have eventually won, you know. I'm not stupid enough to try and jump you here like he did though." The shark like girl said calmly.

"You're delusional. And you idiots attacked Uzu. Not the other way around. Besides, you might not try to jump me, but according to Orochimaru I can use your code to figure my own out. Hand it over or wind up like cloud over there." Kushina said while jabbing a thumb back toward the whimpering cloud nin.

"Not a chance you lit-" The Kiri genin began only to nearly choke on her own tongue as Kushina embedded a fist into her gut with no hesitation.

The redhead relieved the shark like girl of her code as well before letting her drop onto the ground beside the cloud nin.

"Fucking Konoha raising freaks like the Sannin again." A voice mumbled, though Kushina couldn't pick the speaker out of the group. They would have joined the others on the floor if she could.

A few moments later and Kushina was on the move to get ready for the second task. Unknowingly having gotten quite a lot of brownie points with both Orochimaru and Tsunade who were watching the exams along with the Hokage and a handful of other higher level Shinobi through the Hokage's spying orb.

Lastly, Naruto also found himself getting the other competitors' codes through a fight. A fight he had no intention of starting. However he refused to be pushed around due to his youth and size. After all for him to be here despite them meant only that he was in fact that far above his competition. Didn't it?

He only had to humiliate one Shinobi from the Hidden Rain to make his point without saying anything. After that he quietly left with his coded message and did as the instructions ordered. The Rain nin's code allowed him to complete the puzzle.

As Naruto landed beside the girls both happily embraced him for figuring the coded message out. They hadn't doubted him, but now all three were here before even one member of the other teams had arrived. Orochimaru, or rather a mud clone of Orochimaru, smiled down at the trio in pride and joy.

In his office Hiruzen faintly grinned as well. He was rather pleased to see his faith had been well placed. These chunin exams would ensure the peace between villages all while ensuring that Konoha remained dominant.

Slowly more and more teams began to arrive. Those who's whole team hadn't passed were then directed to rejoin their teammates back at their temporary housing. They would be getting sent home after their sensei's were notified. No need to have so many foreign Shinobi in Konoha if it could be helped after all.

Eventually the last of those that managed to make it through the first task were gathered among the other teams. Naruto was a bit surprised that nearly half of the teams were gone. Then again all it took to fail a team was for a single member to not be able to figure out their code within the time limit or to be targeted by another contestant. Maybe it should have been surprising that roughly half of them had passed instead.

"Well, I have to say, I'm a bit disappointed. I had expected fewer of you to pass the first task. Oh well. That will just make the next one so much more interesting. After all, once the second task starts, killing is very much allowed." Orochimaru declared while grinning broadly.

She took in the somewhat worried expressions on several genins faces. They all had an idea how dangerous this could be, even up against other genin. However while they all had a general knowledge of that danger, some teams had actually faced combat in the war. They were prepared for this, but even more wary than their compatriots. Orochimaru took note of those who were veterans of the war, they looked much like her own favorite team. To the other genin they didn't really stand out. To the likes of a Sannin, she could pick them out easily and individually.

"Some of you know what it is you are about to face when fighting one another to the death. Others have only an idea of the challenge before them. Those of you wise enough to realize what lies before you, I congratulate you. You might have that much better of a chance of surviving to make your village proud." She began to walk along her raised platform and leer at the genin before her causing several to grimace and avoid eye contact with her.

It was no secret that Orochimaru was a household name across the Elemental Nations. For all of the wrong reasons. Even her fellow Konoha shinobi were a bti wary of her. Thankfully she had family in the Senju household to keep her grounded. Such fear and terror at her mere existence was almost intoxicating for her now. Well at times like now it was. When it was her own village that avoided her for one reason or another all due to actions she had taken on their behalf it was soul crushing.

Her eyes briefly found Naruto's and she hovered on them for a moment. Such an odd expression rested on his face as he looked back at her. Almost a sense of humor at her actions but none of the fear she elicited in others.

The Snake Mistress of Konoha smiled and turned her attention to the gathered genin as a whole one more.

"My little minions in the form of these chunin will come around to each of you to hand out a scroll. On each of these scrolls is not only your identification but the identity of a target you must pursue to take their scroll. You will also have someone targeting you of course. Each member of your team will have their own target and be targeted by someone else." Orochimaru explained as the genin began to look at their scrolls and scan the other faces for who they would be after.

"Your scroll is worth three points, your target's scroll is also worth three points. All other scrolls will be worth a single point to you meaning you can take other scrolls and may have to. At the end of the next three days you will be approached by a member of my staff and you must have a total of sixteen points for your entire team to pass into the third leg of the exams. So prepare yourselves for three days spent in the excellently titled Forest of Death."

Orochimaru waved her hands toward the dark haunting forest behind her. With that dismissal the chunin began collecting teams and escorting them to gates. Naruto's team was surprisingly led by Mikoto who was wishing them luck and giving a few tips to the younger Shinobi the whole way to their gate.

"Good luck you three. I'm not supposed to tell you this but there is no signal to go. We are supposed to take you to the gates and stand here until you figure out you are free to enter immediately." Mikoto explained

"Ohh! Thanks Miko, you are the best." Kushina chirped as she and the others thanked the older girl and took off into the forest.

As they tree hopped deeper into the forest the three genin had a quiet conversation about how they planned to approach the challenges of the second task.

"So, any idea on how to find out targets?" Kushina asked.

"Should we even go after our targets?" Minako asked.

"What? Of course we should, how else are we going to get to sixteen points in three days?" Kushina asked.

"I don't think we should actually." Naruto commented, surprising Kushina.

"Why not?" Kushina asked.

"Well, the scrolls tell us our target, what team they are on, and what gate they entered from. After that though they could go anywhere, or another team might defeat them and take the scrolls we need. On top of that, Kushina, your target, is a fellow Konoha ninja. We shouldn't go after our own. This is still a show to prove our village is better than the others." Minako answered.

"Yeah." Naruto agreed.

Kushina hummed in acceptance. "Still we have to get sixteen points now."

"Not quite. Orochimaru said that our own scroll counts as three. So if we keep all three of our scrolls that is already nine points. We only have to capture at most seven scrolls. We could get lucky and find one of our targets too." Minako explained.

"Then where do we start?" Kushina asked.

"Easy, everyone will need water. We follow the river and attack anyone that comes near." Naruto replied.

Kushina nodded and followed the lead of the two blonds.

It didn't take long for the sounds of various teams engaging one another to begin echoing over the forest. Battlecries, clashing weapons, and techniques followed up with screams of pain and death. The Chunin exams were claiming their first victims in history.

Naruto and the girls on his team had decided to take an aggressive approach to the forest. Better to hunt than be hunted after all. They tracked the sound of fighting and found two teams duking it out loudly near to the river. A team of Suna ninja complete with one of their treasured fan users fought tooth and nail against a team from Iwa. One of whom utilized a large hammer coupled with impressive earth style jutsu.

The three Konoha Shinobi just hid among the canopy and watched the fight play out as they did so. They planned on hitting the team that won once they were weakened. Why work hard when you can work smart?

Slowly but surely the slightly older Iwa team won out over the Suna ninja. It was grisly in the end but the team from the Land of Earth stood victorious over the corpse's of their opponents. They had quite a few injuries though and we're definitely exhausted.

The biggest member of the team was the first to go down. He was the one wielding the hammer and the biggest threat if this turned into a real fight. Kushina took him out by dropping down onto his back and driving the blade Sakumo had given her down through the older boy's neck and through his heart.

The other two screamed and reacted surprisingly well. Naruto suspected that they were some of the rare genin that had seen real combat in the war. They leapt away from their previous spots to avoid Naruto and Minako's attacks. The Konoha team still possessed the initiative of battle though and pressed their advantage.

"Fucking tree hugging cowardly pieces of-" The more vocal and foul mouthed Iwa Shinobi screamed as Minako force fed him her kunai turning his spiel into a gurgling bloody mess.

Naruto's opponent attempted to flee at the sight of his comrades dying. He didn't get far though as Naruto ran through a pair of hand signs and snagged the older Ninja's ankle with a root. Pinned to the ground like he was now, the Shinobi was an easy target for Naruto to efficiently slit the throat of.

"Already just one point away from victory." Kushina happily commented as she used the nearby stream to try and wash some of the blood off of herself.

"True, but maybe we shouldn't stop at just sixteen points." Minako said.

"What, why?" Kushina asked.

"Well, think about it. Less competition in the next rounds and it hurts the other villages." Minako said, though she did feel a little guilty at such thoughts she had no illusions that this exam provided a great chance to hurt upcoming generations of enemy Shinobi. It only helped Konoha in the long run.

"It would make Orochimaru happy too." Naruto simply commented as he finished rummaging through the six bodies for useful supplies and the scrolls that they needed.

"Oh, woah. Guys, look. That Kunoichi with the fan was supposed to target me." Kushina said as she flipped the item in question around and showed the target information she had.

"The Iwa team had a scroll with that girl on it too. Looks like she was headed toward our gate and they were headed toward hers." Minako pointed out.

"Lucky for us the forest is our field of expertise. Some of us more than others." Kushina said as she helped Naruto clean a bit of blood from his hair.

The three of them decided to hunt for more enemy Shinobi in the morning. So they found a place high in the trees and bedded down for the night in a blind made by Naruto's mokuton. With a secure little hiding place the three still decided to set up a schedule for sentry duty.

Kushina happily took the first watch while Minako volunteered for the second and Naruto was pushed into the last watch. They ate some of their rations and bedded down. Kushina gently ran her fingers through Naruto's hair as he used her legs as a makeshift pillow. The youngest member of the team slept peacefully.

Minako watched the pair of them. A thoughtful look, one more than usual at least, was clear on her face.

The morning of the second day was met with the screams of some poor unlucky soul that had met their end. The question was, did it come from a genin being killed by a fellow genin or was it from the predators of the forest who had begun to start tracking the new set of prey in their territory.

Naruto and the girls had an easy morning compared to practically every other set of competitors. Who else could have a little safehouse in the treetops? They made breakfast and readied up for about an hour after sunrise.

"Well, no time like the present. Let's get going." Kushina sighed as she sealed away her weapons from a final inspection.

"Right." Naruto said as he ran through some hand seals and the walls they had hidden within last night faded away and sank into the bark of the massive trees that made up the forest of death.

The trio set out after that. Once again following the river. They came across the remains of a small number of other teams. After the fifth team with almost identical kill patterns it was clear other teams had a similar idea to their own but had gotten a head start.

Up ahead the sound of combat alerted them to another team likely falling prey to those that had been wiping out the teams along the river. Probably for the best to ambush a stronger team eliminate them now rather than face them in the final task.

They crept forward. Sounds of a desperate team of genin facing a superior set of opponents were easy to pick out. Panicked cries to look out and the rapid blasts of fire or thump of earth told them that someone was giving it their all.

Someone was, but the team responsible for the death along the river most definitely wasn't. Two members of the team of Kumo Shinobi sat and boredly watched as their third member toyed with a trio of Konoha genin. They threw everything they had at the dark skinned woman as she easily wove between their attacks and painfully beat them, but never enough to kill them.

It was the same for the teams they had found. Beaten until they were too weak to keep fighting and then killed.

"We should do something." Minako hissed.

"We have to get the drop on them. Surround them and wait for me to start the attack with my mokuton." Naruto said getting a pair of nods.

The team split up but Naruto tensed up as he saw the two lounging Kumo ninja suddenly stand and stretch.

"Tomoe, we have more guests. Fitting that the forest is crawling with little leaves." The big one a blond, thin, and lanky male said while grinning directly toward where Kushina was concealed.

"You feel a bit different. Well a couple of you do but you feel like only two other people I have felt before in my life." He called out conversationally to Kushina.

Naruto winced slightly as he knew Kushina was going to charge out at that. He couldn't focus on her opponent though. He needed to lift the pressure on the other team of Konoha ninja. He flew through a quick series of hand signs and slapped his palms into the ground at his feet.

As he did so the tall blond snapped his eyes to stare at Naruto in shock, giving Kushina a split second window that nearly scored her a kill against the enemy team leader.

Everything seemed to burst into a mess of chaotic fighting as Minako launched her own attack against the third member of the Kumo team, a short muscular boy with scars covering his face and arms. Naruto's attack simultaneously burst from the ground as the blond Kumo genin screamed for his teammate to get clear.

As Kushina's blade grazed the blond's cheeks and he rolled away from her, the Kunoichi that Naruto had targeted managed to pull off a stunt that Naruto hadn't thought was possible as she switched places with one of the genin that Naruto and his team had been trying to help.

Naruto hesitated as he saw his attack pierce the body of a fellow Konoha genin. He felt himself freeze up while he screamed mentally for his body to move and keep fighting. Minako noticed him freezing up from his accidental bout of friendly fire. She disengaged from the stronger but much slower boy she had been fighting and moved to his side. Just in time to block the attack from the Kunoichi, Tomoe as she tried to plant a pair of shuriken into Naruto's eyes.

Minako shoved Naruto to the ground, both saving him from the older girl's follow up attack with Kunai and finally bringing him back to his senses. He pushed himself to his feet just as he pushed his swirling emotions down and took quick stock of the situation.

Kushina was clearly the more skilled between herself and the older blond boy, but the boy seemed to know where all her attacks were planned to hit before they did. Even as she introduced her chains into her attacks he perfectly avoided them, though he seemed unable to launch an attack that she couldn't block or avoid herself.

The two remaining genin of their allied team were roughed up but still in the fight. They had wasted no time engaging the muscular Kumo ninja in a fight. The boy kept them both at bay easily but at the least they kept him occupied.

Lastly Minako had met her match in speed as the only named member of the Kumo team, Tomoe kept up rather easily and both clashed fists and kunai again and again.

Naruto saw his opening and dived into the fight with the two genin from Konoha by his side. With a quick water style attack he forced the brute on the enemy onto the back foot allowing for one of the other genin to land a blow with his kunai that carved a deep wound into the older boy's arm.

Rather than further their advantage though the Kumo nin suddenly reacted faster than the boy that had wounded him could even see and cracked his ribs with a punch that should have torn his own muscles. Instead in a single fluid movement the scarred boy snatched the gasping genin by his shirt and used him as a club against Naruto and the remaining ninja from the other Konoha team.

Naruto managed to free his ally but the Kumo nin was clearly under the effects of some kind of supplementary jutsu. One that seemed to increase his power and speed along with his pain.

The musclebound genin didn't get the chance to attack as a sudden explosion rocked the clearing and threw all of the combatants off of their feet.

"Shit, Tomoe, Kai, we have to go, three more teams inbound, two of them are from Konoha." The blond said as he bodyflickered to the center of the crater that Minako had made while trying to trap her opponent with an explosive tag.

"Mozoi, we can finish them quick and ambush the others." The boy, Kai, growled out.

"No, besides we already eliminated one team here…or rather he eliminated them for us. Now move." Mozoi commanded the others and reluctantly they followed him as he shot into the trees and raced off.

That left two teams in the clearing. Almost two teams.

"Shit." The injured genin said as he collapsed onto the ground holding his chest.

Naruto, Kushina, and Minako gathered up and awkwardly stood with the two survivors of the other team. Naruto couldn't help but stare at the corpse of the other member of their team.

"Here. Take our scrolls. No way we can continue the exam." The healthier of the two said as he handed three scrolls over to Minako. The blonde nodded stiffly as she opened them up only to pause on the bloodied one.

"One of you were supposed to target Naruto?" Minako asked.

"She was," The wounded one grunted with a finger pointed toward his dead teammate. "We weren't even gunna target you guys since you were Konoha. Not that it seems to matter to you."

Naruto grimaced at the glare shot at him by his comrade however Kushina and Mikoto quickly stepped between them.

"That wasn't his fault. He was trying to save your asses. That Kumo Kunoichi switched with her." Kushina snapped at the wounded boy.

He clearly wasn't interested in paying attention though.

"Let it go Kushina we have to go, now. Those teams that had the cloud team bugging out will be here soon and we don't need to fight fellow Konoha ninja. They might not feel the same way though." Minako said before dashing into the trees.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Come on Naruto." Kushina said while shooting a final glare at the two boys and shooting into the treetops herself.

Naruto turned one last time to the body of the girl and used his mokuton to quickly disentangle her body from the spines of wood that had pierced her. She slowly lowered to the ground at the feet of the two boys.

"I'm sorry." He said weakly in a voice that was devoid of any and all emotion.

The boys ignored him and instead using a corpse scroll to seal their teammate away before the healthy boy hoisted his injured teammate onto his back and took off into the trees in the opposite direction of Naruto's team. The blond stared after them for a while before he turned and caught up with his teammates.

The final day for the team was largely uneventful. They abandoned their plan for aggressive hunting of enemy teams in favor of just hunkering down for the rest of the exam and riding it out. With another hidden bunker among the trees created by Naruto it was easy enough to pull off and the team only left to either hunt or take care of restroom business.

Naruto was always a pretty reserved boy, it had worsened some due to the war and seeing Issei die. Now though he was almost like a phantom. He was silent and mostly simply sat in their little hideout. Both Minako and Kushina were stumped on what to do in regards to him. They provided all the support they could. Running their fingers through his hair had allowed him to get a little bit of sleep but he remained distant and withdrawn.

As the third day drew to a close Mikoto appeared. Evidently there was some method or other for them to track the scrolls so they found the remaining contestants by the scrolls they had and either passed or failed them accordingly. Those left over without any scrolls would be picked up by the handful of Jonin running a sweep of the forest.

Mikoto noticed the cold and somber mood of the team but didn't pry. She knew that the three younger ninja had experience in combat so whatever it was that was bothering them was more than the typical grief of battle and taking life.

Soon all of the remaining genin were gathered back in the large arena at the heart of the village. A mere four teams remained. Two from Konoha, the Kumo team Naruto and his team had faced in the forest, and a team from Kiri. All of them had seemingly had the same idea and to Orochimaru and Tsunade's surprise Naruto's team had the least amount of scrolls, only passing the exam with eighteen points.

The other Konoha team had the second lowest but had more than double that of Naruto, Kushina, and Minako.

Tsunade watched from the seats overlooking the gathered teams and stared at her son. He seemed cold, colder and more emotionless than she had ever seen him before and it shook her slightly. Orochimaru likewise noticed the change as well as the few number of scrolls the team had in comparison to the others and she began to doubt herself, worrying that she had something to do with whatever had happened.

Hiruzen likewise was a bit worried about his ringer team failing in it's task. He would need to make sure their break was well spent recovering and strengthening in preparation for the final task.

"Well done all of you. You have managed to struggle through opposition that broke lesser Shinobi. Out of all of our contestants only twelve remain. You may be wondering what final task the twelve of you will have to complete. You may be wondering why I am speaking to you once again before the exams are over. The answer two both is that you will be participating in one versus one tournament duels here in the arena before dignitaries and leaders from across the continent in one months time. You will have a single month to prepare yourselves for your fights which will be randomized on the day of the final task. I wish you all good luck."

Hiruzen ended the speech there and left, the Jonin sensei for each team heading down to collect their students. As they too were led out of the stadium, Naruto and his team couldn't help but lock eyes with the Shinobi of the Kumo team. They seemed intent on finishing what they had started in the forest.

"I hate it kids but we can't take you home to rest just yet. My sensei wants us to report to him to find out about what went down with you in the forest. Orochimaru and Tsunade will be there too at least." Jiraiya said.

"I hope that is a good thing." Kushina commented after sharing a glance with Minako.

Jiraiya looked over his three students. "Yeah…me too."

And that is a wrap. I hope you all liked it. Obviously we have some bigger deal opponents for our team. Konoha wasn't the only ones to send in a ringer after all.

Also who might that other genin team be?...OC's they're OC's.

Anyway I hope you liked it so far and will return for the next chapter in this short arc before the more major time skip.

Till Next Time