I dunno why, but writing these chapters get me hyper. OO;

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Inu-Yasha.

"Blah" -talking

'Blah' -thinking

-Blah- -italic

Blah -Kyubi

(Chapter Begin!)

Sakura shook herself awake, determined not to fall asleep. She glanced at her two teammates next to her. The blond and raven haired boys were sleeping peacefully. Actually, the raven haired boy had a fever but at least he looked like he was peacefully sleeping. The blonde, however, was struggling against the bonds Sakura was forced to tie him with. The bonds were connected to the tree root they were under. Naruto had a painful expression he had on his face. Sakura didn't like the look but she couldn't get him to wake up from the nightmare he was apparently having.

Sakura sighed but stiffened when she heard something behind her. She saw a squirrel and relaxed. As it neared her, she almost panicked but threw a kunai to scare it off. 'That was close.'

Off in the trees, a team of sound shinobi hid. One said "She's very observant. She noticed the explosive note on the squirrel's back?"

"No, that's not it," replied another.

"What do you mean, Dosu?"

"You'll find out when we get closer. So…Let's go."

As they arrived, the pink haired shinobi had her back turned to them. Dosu said, "Hehe…Up all night?" She quickly turned her head towards them. "But it's no longer necessary. Wake up Sasuke-kun. We want to fight him."

Sakura had her hand near her holster and yelled, "What are you guys talking about!? I know that someone named Orochimaru is pulling the strings from the shadows! What is his purpose!?" The three sound shinobi looked surprised that she knew who had done all this. Sakura continued, "What is that weird mark on Sasuke-kun's neck!? There's one on Naruto's, too! You do this to them…and now you want to fight!?"

Dosu mumbled, "Hmm…I wonder what that man is thinking."

The boy on his left said evilly, "But hearing you said that, we can't let you go. I'll kill this girl and I'll also kill the Sasuke guy!"

"Wait, Zaku!" Dosu turned and said to the pink haired girl, "You're not very good. A recently overturned stone, different colored dirt. Grass doesn't grow here. A booby trap is pointless unless it goes unnoticed…Kill her."

Sakura smirked and pulled a kunai out. She cut a string behind her. A giant log came swinging. Dosu made a hand seal while holding his other arm out. The log was soon in pieces.

Dosu said, "Frankly speaking, you have no skills. People like you have to work harder. A weakling like you shouldn't mess with guys like us."

After that was said, the sound shinobi were suddenly knocked to the ground.

A boy, one that was wearing green spandex, stood in front of Sakura, who was in shock. A squirrel was on his shoulder, as if to show he was a self-righteous person. Lee said, "Then you guys, should also work harder."

"Who are you?" Dosu asked.

"The beautiful green beast of Konoha, Rock Lee!"

"W…Why are you here?" Sakura wondered.

Lee said with a smile, "I will always appear when you are in trouble."

Sakura glanced to her two teammates and said to Lee, "Thank you. You saved me."

"I said it before," Lee said to her, surprising her again. "I will protect you until I die." Lee thought in his head, 'Yes! I'm awesome! Gai-sensei!'

Dosu stared before saying, "Oh well. Zaku, you can have Sasuke-kun. I'll take care of them."

Lee noticed that Sakura was in no condition to fight and tensed. Dosu charged but the green spandex wearing boy pulled up a root from the ground, blocking him. "There's some trick to your attacks, right? I'm not going to simply dodge it. I've seen your attacks before." Lee and Dosu fought.

(Naruto's mind)

'What…in…the…seven…hells…?' Naruto sat up, but realized his was in his mind. 'The fuck?'

Took you long enough! Kyubi growled in annoyance.

'What happened?'

That snake freak is behind it!

'Behind wha-hey…Kyubi…Where are you!? I can't see you!' Naruto felt panic rise up.

Look, I can't talk to you much longer! I'm using a lot of my youki to talk to you! The seal that freak made is pretty damn strong and without a physical body, I can't remove it! Just wake up before-

'Kyubi? Kyubi!? Before what!? How in the seven hells am I supposed to get out of here!? Ok…clam down, think. 200 years of memories should be able to give a shit! Alright…breath in…breath out…hmm…how am I supposed to even -breath-!?' Naruto, after many unsuccessful tries, clamed down. 'Alright, look for a light…what is that? Ah, close enough to a light!' Naruto "grabbed" it.

(Reality)

"Gods…it feels like I was it by a dragon," Naruto mumbled. He heard noises distantly. He blinked several times. Being fully awake, he realized the noise was from fighting. He quickly sat up and ignored the searing pain as soon as he did. His eyes widened when he saw Sakura. She was bleeding and injured badly. He saw Lee a few feet away from him, also in bad shape. Three more people were standing in front of Sakura in a protective way. 'If I'm not mistaken, that's Ino, Shikamaru, and Chouji, judging from their voices,' Naruto thought. He then noticed the other three people they were fighting.

Naruto stood up, ready to join the fight. He charged silently to the nearest enemy, the girl. She was slammed against a tree unmercifully. Naruto grinned sheepishly at her. "Sorry for having to hit such a cute girl, but it looks like you were hurting my teammate. There are those locks of pink hair in your hand and I somehow doubt you were helping her change her hair style."

The girl glared at him hatefully and wiped the blood from her mouth with the back of her hand. Sakura smiled happily, yelling out his name. "Naruto!"

Naruto turned to her and smiled. "Hey, what's with the blood? These guys giving you trouble?"

"Che, acting so casual," Shikamaru said with a smirk.

Naruto shrugged. Sakura looked at him worriedly. She asked, "Naruto…that guy…he bit your neck. Are you ok?"

"Huh?" Naruto subconsciously raised his left hand and felt the bite marks. There was something else there too. "Oh great!" Naruto pretended to be upset. "My first kiss was with a guy and then I get a hickey from -another- one! I'm starting to feel seriously gay and whore-ish!" Then Naruto's upset visage turned to a joking one, to show he wasn't serious.

Neji and Tenten, who had just arrived, heard it and stared at the blonde boy in shock. Team eight also stared at him, dumbfounded. Sakura giggled a little, starting to get used to his weird behavior. The sound team wondered if the boy was mentally ill. 'How can he be so calm?' Shikamaru thought. 'Idiot.'

'How can he always stop things like that?' Sakura absently wondered.

Then, Ino decided to use their hesitant pause to attack. She quickly formed hand seals. She closed her eyes. When she opened them again, she wasn't in her body anymore. She glanced at Shikamaru and saw he was holding her body. "It's over now!" Ino declared. "If you guys move an inch, I'll kill this Kin girl! If you don't want it to end here, then leave your scroll and go! When I cant sense your chakra any longer, I'll let her go!"

Dosu and Zaku wasn't even fazed. Zaku raise his hand and shot. Naruto tackled Ino to the ground, making the attack miss. Ino stared wide eyed at them. Naruto said frantically, "Get out of that body! They don't care if their teammate gets hurt!" Ino did as told and found herself back to her own flesh.

Naruto got up and said to them with a smirk, "If you had killed your teammate, you wouldn't have been able to pass the second exam, you know."

"Heh. You guys are confused," Zaku said. Naruto quirked an eyebrow.

Dosu continued, "Our goals are not scrolls nor to safely complete this exam. It's Sasuke-kun!"

"Bah, I can't take much more of this," a voice said behind him. That finally brought attention to the other shinobi.

'They only -now- know that Lee's teammates are here?' Naruto thought incredulously. Everyone else had shocked looks in their faces.

"Some minor sound shinobi bulling these second rate shinobi and declaring victory?" Neji asked. "You made a mistake."

"Lee…" Tenten murmured.

"That knocked out freak is from our team and…You're going to pay for that!" Neji activated his bloodline limit. "If you're going to go any further, I'm going to go all out…" He trailed off as he noticed something.

Naruto was already staring at Sasuke. They all turned they attention to the Uchiha. He had odd markings across half his body and an evil presence around him. The boy asked, "Sakura…who…did that to you?"

"Sasuke-kun?" Sakura said, worried.

Naruto glanced between his teammates. 'What the fuck is -that-?'

"I did!" Zaku said proudly.

'Fool,' Naruto thought.

"Sasuke-kun, your body," Sakura whispered.

Sasuke glanced over himself and said, "Don't worry. Not only that, I feel power flowing within me. I feel…great. He gave it to me. I finally understand it…I am an avenger. Even if I must eat the devil's fruit, I am on a path where I must gain power."

Naruto narrowed his eyes is suspicion but didn't say anything. The former chakra user thought, 'He's delusional. Does he really think that? But…who am I to talk?'

"Now," Sasuke said as he glared at the sound shinobi. "It was you guys, right?"

"Dosu, no need to be afraid of this half dead freak!" Zaku yelled out.

Dosu turned to him in horror. "No, Zaku! Don't you realize!?"

"Ultimate Zankuuha!" Zaku yelled. As the dust cleared, the boy bragged, "Ha! I blew him away!"

"Blew who away?" a voice behind him asked. Zaku felt his blood freeze. Sasuke slammed him to the ground. He proceeded to step on the boy's back wit one foot and grabbed the arms. "You're proud of these arms?" Sasuke taunted. He pulled.

After a heart wrenching scream, the Uchiha let go. Everyone that was conscious was staring at him in horror except Naruto. He was staring at Sasuke like he didn't know him. 'This is Sasuke? How cruel…and for one so young…' the blonde thought sadly.

Sasuke turned to Dosu. "You're the only one left. I hope you let me have more fun…"

Naruto decided to interfere. He stepped in front of Sasuke and stared calmly straight in the Sharingin eyes. His lips formed the words, "If you want him, you'll have to go through me."

Sasuke's eyes widened and he hissed out, "Are you a traitor!? Move!"

Naruto shook his head and replied, "What do you think you're doing? Just what do you -think- you're doing? Kill them, I don't care. But if you torture them, I'll have to stop you. I didn't think you would consider torturing them 'fun,' Sasuke-san." Naruto appearance was relaxed, completely calm. "'An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.'"

Sasuke froze at that. He looked at everyone's faces and finally said, "Fine." The markings slowly disappeared. When they did, Sasuke would have collapsed onto the ground if Naruto didn't ease him down. Naruto smiled at him, as if to say thank you. Sasuke wouldn't look at him.

Sakura rushed over, relieved. Then, Dosu spoke up. "You are strong. Sasuke-kun, we can't defeat you at the moment." He laid his team's scroll on the ground. "Here's a gift to you. Please, let us leave. This may seem convenient but there is something we must find out." He lifted his teammates on his back. "I will tell you this. If there is another situation where we meet again, we will not run or hide."

"What does Orochimaru want!?" Sakura yelled. "Who is he!? What did he do to Sasuke-kun and Naruto!? Why them!?"

'Orochimaru?' Naruto thought. 'I bet that's the guy who attacked us.'

"I don't know," answered the sound shinobi. "We were only ordered to kill Sasuke-kun." He left with his teammates.

Naruto turned to Sakura and Sasuke. He asked them hesitantly, "Hey…do you know what that hickey thing was?" He touched the spot where he was bitten.

Sakura looked at the ground and didn't answer. Sasuke was ignoring the world. Naruto sighed and sat down with them.

"Hey, Sakura-san, what's with your hair?" Naruto asked with a cheerful grin.

Sakura smiled weakly back and answered, "Oh…you mean this? An image change! I like it longer but in this forest, it can get in the way."

"Oh. Well, if it's anything, I think that's a good idea!" Naruto grinned happily to her. Somehow, it made everything feel a lot better. "By the way, why is everyone here?"

Sakura had a soft look in her eyes as she said, "They came to save us."

Naruto blinked and stood up, surprising them all. He bowed deeply to them and said loudly, "Hey, thanks! Lunch is on me when we get out of this dump of a forest!"

"We'll hold you to that!" Chouji said as he pulled out a bag of chips.

"Remind me to bring a lot of money," Naruto said sheepishly, as he watched Chouji eat.

Shikamaru was studying Naruto. 'It's an act,' he thought. 'Has to be. No one could be like that. Naruto…you changed.'

Tenten jumped down from a tree and landed next to her teammate. "Lee! Snape out of it!" She smacked him several times.

"Tenten…why are you here?" the boy asked groggily.

"We came here to save you!" Tenten said.

"Where are the sound shinobi?"

"That Sasuke kid drove them off."

"I see…"

"Why did you break the plan and act alone? You're all beat up."

"Sakura-san was in trouble…"

'If he was alone, Lee wouldn't have lost to those guys!' Tenten thought. "You are such an idiot!"

"Haha, can't argue with you there," Lee said sheepishly.

Sakura walked over to him and said with a smile, "Lee-san, thank you. Thanks to you I have awakened. I feel like I've become a little stronger."

Behind her, Naruto was giving Lee the thumps up and mouthing, "Go for it!"

Lee grinned at him and her. He turned to Sasuke and said, "It looks like I need more work, Sasuke-kun. The Uchiha clan sure is great. To drive off those sound shinobi, you are the owner of incredible power. I got my butt kicked."

'What? He was beaten!?' Sasuke thought in shock. 'Were they that strong?'

"The leaf lotus blooms twice. The next time we meet, I will be a stronger man. I promise," the spandex clad boy said.

Sakura smiled and walked over to Ino, who was yelling that she would fix her hair.

Sasuke turned to Naruto and asked, "What's wrong with your eyes?"

Everyone looked at Naruto's eyes and realized they had slits. 'Way to put the pressure on me, Sasuke,' Naruto thought with annoyance. "Um…don't you think they look cool? I got this special stuff while I was traveling."

"Naruto?"

"Yeah?"

"Anyone ever tell you that you suck in lying?"

"…I don't want to talk about it?" Naruto tried.

"We're your teammates," Sakura said. "Don't you think we should know?"

"Hmm…no…"

"Ugh…"

"You're not going to tell us, are you?" Sasuke said it like it wasn't a question.

"Nope."

(Scene Change)

Team seven were sitting around a fire, watching the fish cook. Naruto wasn't actually sitting, he was laid out on the dirt, watching clouds flout by. Not only that, he was singing softly but his two teammates heard the song clearly.

"Have you ever felt like breaking down?

"Have you ever like running away?

"Have you ever felt like you just don't belong and no one understands you?

"No, you don't know what it's like, when nothing feels alright.

"You don't know what it's like, to be me.

"Naruto, where did you hear that song?" Sakura asked, curious. 'Naruto can sing?'

Naruto turned his head slightly, so he could see her. "Oh, when I was away."

Sakura blinked. He never brought up the subject. Avoided it like the plague, actually. "Where did you go? Kabuto-san…one time he said that you were at 'those' forests and the wave country. And he said you were with someone. Who was it?"

Naruto grinned, thinking back to the dog demon. "A friend."

"What's his name?"

"Um…"

"Yeah?"

"Hmm…"

Sakura huffed in frustration, but didn't press. He wouldn't answer anyway. He would always answer with things that were already known. Sasuke said, "We only have about 25-26 hours left to complete the exam."

Sakura nodded and said, "Many teams have already passed…there might not be anymore heaven scrolls."

"What do you mean?" Sasuke asked. Naruto sat up, as if he was going to listen but then only took a fish before laying back down, munching. Sakura ignored him, not wanting to get angry at his easy going manner.

"It's the fourth day of the test. And Orochimaru burned our heaven scroll. That means only 12 of the 26 teams can pass," Sakura explained. "We can't be sure if the rest of the scrolls are intact. Since parting with our leaf comrades, we needed two days to heal."

"Either way, our next enemy is our last chance," Sasuke declared. He stood up and said, "I'm going to get some water."

After Sasuke left, Naruto asked Sakura, "Hey, think we should open the scroll?"

"What!?" Sakura screeched. "Naruto, that's against the rules!"

"I know Sasuke wouldn't go for this, but if we open the scroll, we might be able to make another one and pass that off as a heaven scroll. I don't know, it's just an idea." Naruto shrugged, sitting up.

"I don't know…we don't know for sure what's inside the heaven scroll," Sakura stated.

"That's not a good idea." Sakura turned towards the voice in fear but Naruto lazily turned his head.

"Hey, Kabuto-san." Naruto smiled cheerfully.

"Naruto-kun," Kabuto said in greeting. Right then, Sasuke entered the scene and walked over.

"Those that ignore the rules are put in a condition that forces retirement. In a previous exam, within the scroll was set up a hypnotism type jutsu. Those who saw it would be knocked out until the end of the exam," Kabuto explained.

"What are you doing out here by yourself?" Sasuke asked suspiciously.

"It's not like I'm after your scroll."

"Do you have both of the scrolls already?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah." Kabuto pulled them out, showing them. "Something's happened and I'm on the way to meet up with my teammates."

"That sucks," the blonde said.

Sasuke turned to Kabuto, serious. "Fight me."

"You're serious?"

"Sorry, but we don't have any time left," Sasuke said. "We don't have a choice, this is the only chance we got."

"You're lying," Kabuto said with a smirk. "You aren't as cold hearted as you say. If this test really turned you into that, you wouldn't have to ask me. You would just attack and take the scroll. That's a shinobi. I don't dislike you for that, so I'll tell you the path you should take. But I'll tell you as we move. The smoke and smell could be sensed from far away."

(Scene Change)

"Hey, Sasuke-san, can you activate your Sharingin?" Naruto asked the boy. They had been walking for hours and were tired.

"That'll only waste energy, Naruto," Sakura scolded.

Kabuto said, "We've been walking for a long time but we still aren't there yet. Naruto-kun's right, we're under genjutsu."

After that was said, dozens of bunshin appeared. Sasuke activated his Sharingin but stopped when he felt pain run down his spine.

'Looks like that seal thing prevented Sasuke from using his chakra,' Naruto thought. 'Does the same apply to spirit energy?'

Kabuto knocked Sasuke to the ground when a kunai was thrown, taking the hit himself. "Watch out!"

'Got to end this fast!' Naruto thought frantically. 'Back to my old prankster days.' Naruto quickly did some seals but before he finished them, he said to his comrades, "Don't look at me, you'll regret it." They looked away. After five minutes, Naruto said to them, "Okay, you can look now."

When they did, the genjutsu was gone. Naruto calmly went up to a tree and some three bodies landed on the ground. Naruto climbed down and held a scroll triumphantly. "Mission accomplished!"

The three stared at Naruto before Sakura asked, "What did you do? Was it a really cool jutsu?"

"Well, you and Sasuke-san saw it before…" Naruto said sheepishly, scratching the back of his head.

Sakura stared suspiciously at him. "What was it?"

"Remember my 'Sexy no Jutsu'?" Naruto asked, jerking his thumb towards the bleeding noses of their enemy.

"Na-ru-to," Sakura said dangerously.

"Heh." Sasuke smirked.

"Hey, it got the job done!" Naruto said. "I didn't want to use it, but it was the easiest way to win!"

"Sexy no Jutsu?" Kabuto asked.

Sakura glared at Naruto one last time before nodding to Kabuto. "Yeah, it's this really dumb jutsu Naruto made. It's just henge but he turns into a naked female with overly large breasts."

Kabuto stared at Naruto, slightly surprised. 'At least it worked…'

They made their way to the tower and got there by sun rise. Before they got to the tower, they met up with Kabuto's teammates. "This is where we part ways. Good luck!" Kabuto said.

Naruto grinned and said in return, "You too!"

They entered the tower through different doors. When they entered, Naruto looked at the writing hanging on the wall. "I think we have to open the scrolls."

Sakura and Sasuke also looked and came to the same conclusion. When they opened the scrolls, smoke filled the room. They dropped the scrolls when they realized it was a summoning. When the smoke cleared, it revealed Iruka.

"Long time no see," Iruka said with a warm smile. His smile was quickly gone as Naruto tackled him to the ground.

Naruto, while straddling him, said with a smile, "Hey! You're not still sore about the whole paint thing, right?" A vain popped out of Iruka's forehead as he remembered the incident. "Guess I spoke too soon. But hey, shouldn't you be glad I'm still alive after this test, huh!?"

Iruka calmed down and said, "Alright, alright. I won't hold it against you. At least you didn't turn me into a clown like you did Kakashi. Hey, how did he get that dye off his hair? He wouldn't tell me how, either. I thought you said it would last weeks."

"Oh, the hair thing? You get it off by saliva. He wouldn't give me my application form to the Chuunin Exams unless I got it off so I grabbed his head and licked the whole dye off."

"You what!?"

Sakura added with a smirk, "While straddling him."

"WHAT!?"

"Huh?" Naruto asked, as if he had no clue. "I guess that sounds pretty bad…"

"When I get my hands on that porn reading- I mean, get off, Naruto." Naruto climbed off and stared at his former teacher as he had a huge vain popping out. He eventually calmed when he remembered what he was supposed to do. "Anyway, at the end of the second exam, the chuunin are supposed to greet the exam takers. I was allowed to greet you." He checked his watch and said, "You guys made it in time. To congratulate you guys on passing, I'd buy you all a round of ramen but-"

"Yes! We did it! We did it! Hahaha!" Naruto laughed energetically. Iruka just smiled contently at the blonde's apparently happiness.

But Naruto wasn't happy. No, far from it. He was worried. Throughout the whole test, Naruto had been trying to communicate with Kyubi. Though he refused to show he was worried. They wouldn't have understood.

Once he saw Inu-Yasha again, he'd have to ask for help.

(Scene Change)

"We had looked for you for decades, Otouto-san," Sesshomaru, lord of the western lands, said.

"Yeah, whatever," Inu-Yasha said carelessly.

They were sitting in one of Sesshomaru's living rooms. It was large and finely decorated. Expensive silk clothed the lords while Inu-Yasha wore plain, dirty cotton. No one cared. What did wealth matter if there was strength?

Myouga said, "Inu-Yasha-sama, please, what were you doing?"

"You really want to know?"

"The seven hells we do!" Kouga yelled. "Listen, dog-breath, you may not have cared, but we were actually -worried-. Ever think of that!?"

"Listen. Things have gone from dangerous to peace in the last coupled of centuries, right?" Inu-Yasha asked seriously.

"Why do I have a feeling it's bad news?" Kouga moaned out.

Sesshomaru said, "Always trouble with this one." He carefully kept any emotions from his face or voice, but his tone held a tired ring weaved into the words.

"What is it?" Myouga asked.

"Things are about to turn ugly. Really ugly," Inu-Yasha said seriously. Everyone gave him their undivided attention. "You remember Naraku?"

"How could you could forget that -thing-?" lord of the western lands said in a disgusted tone, forgetting to not aply emotions as was traditions for high class demons.

"Please don't tell me he has a son," Kouga muttered, putting his head in his hands..

The hanyou looked at each of them in the eye and said, "Worst, Naraku wasn't dead in the first place."

There was dead silence. Kouga finally said in a shaky voice, "B-but…No! Impossible! I was sure…He has to be! Why didn't he kill us if he was still alive!?"

"Kagome's curse. That's what's stopping him. He can't find a way to break it and he's still healing. That curse has caused him great pain but he managed to live. I'm betting he feeds on people's souls, we just didn't notice. He's weak at the moment, he will never get back the power he once had, but that's not what I'm worried about. If the other demons get wind that he's still alive, their might be a revolution. They'll turn on us and go to Naraku. We can't afford this!

"The humans have grown weak. With no one to threaten them except themselves, they have been led to believe the threat of demons is gone. Only once in a while do they ever see a demon, maybe one every century. They will not be able to handle another Great War. We will also be killed for even helping them in the first place," Inu-Yasha said gravely.

"What do you propose we do?" Sesshomaru asked.

"Make sure any rumors involving Naraku are gone. We don't want them to remember him and if they do, they must think he was weak. I will hunt Naraku down myself. Many know that I'm still alive and I'd be surprised if that information hasn't spread to every demon alive. But…remember Shippo?"

They widened their eyes at this. Inu-Yasha never mentioned them, if anyone did in front of him, they would either find themselves thrown out a window or running for their lives. They hesitantly nodded.

"He's 'alive.' Apparently he was attacking a shinobi village. One of them sealed him in a human boy. He wiped a whole bunch of them out before he was sealed. They hate the kid's guts, blaming him as if he was the demon himself. I trained him a bit, the runt wanted to kill Naraku so I'm letting him help me but first he has to grow. He's only a C-class at the moment. But he was from a normal human to that class in three months. He has potential. He's the only one I'm letting help me. Currently he's back in his home village."

"Do you think it wise?" Myouga asked.

"Yeah. He's gonna be something one day. If I die before he does, make sure he's ok, alright?" Inu-Yasha asked.

'This boy must really be something if Inu-Yasha is asking,' they all thought.

Inu-Yasha nodded, arms crossed. "That's all I got. You guys can't help me kill Naraku, your disappearance would be too noticeable. That's all, I guess. I'm just back here to fill you in…Sesshomaru, can I stay here? I need to train to get back in shape, I got a little rusty, so I need you as my training partner. That ok with you?"

"Of course, Otouto-san," Sesshomaru replied. "The plan is, we stop rumors of Naraku but act like nothing is wrong. You go out there and hunt Naraku down, along with this human boy?"

"Yeah, that's pretty much it. But you make that sound so crazy."

"Gee, a little human boy, who's, what, 15? I don't know. Anyway, you really think he'd stand a chance to -Naraku- of all things?" Kouga asked sarcastically. "A C-class, too! Why don't you just take an A-class!?"

"He's 12," Inu-Yasha said defiantly.

"That's even better!" Kouga yelled sarcastically. "Look, man, just take one of my most loyal demons, or even Sesshomaru's, it'll make me feel better. This is -Naraku-, your ally is a human -kid-, what do you think?"

Inu-Yasha sighed. He stared lazily at Kouga, not impressed. "Your point is…?"

"He could get killed. He could get -you- killed. What in the seven hells are you thinking!?" Kouga yelled as he stood up.

"At least we put those silencing charms around this room," Myouga muttered.

"I know what I'm doing, alright?" Inu-Yasha, irritation clearly on his face. "Look, that kid needs me. He needs me to open his eyes! You have no idea what he had gone through, -is- going through, shunned like-like…"

"Like a hanyou?" Sesshomaru finished. "Shunned like you were?"

"Worse. He didn't even have a mother…"

"At least they didn't try to kill him, right?" Myouga tried to be helpful.

"Yeah…I know…but -still-. I can't leave him like that…like this." Inu-Yasha sighed heavily and closed his eyes, willing the oncoming headache away.

Kouga slammed his hand against his forehead. "One of these days, man. One of these days."

"I know."

(Scene Change)

The genin were lined up in front of jounin and chuunin, even the Hokage himself. Many were staring at Sasuke, intense. 'Jeez, looks like Sasuke made a lot of enemies,' Naruto thought. 'They always, somehow, overlook me. Oh well.' Naruto froze and slowly closed his eyes. 'That scent…Orochimaru's here…can't let him know I recognize him…I doubt he'll do anything, though.' Naruto reopened his eyes. He only faintly listened as the Hokage started to talk. He watched everything impassively. He felt pain shoot down his spine from the curse seal Orochimaru made but ignored it.

The former chakra user watched a sickly looking man talk to them. "Before the third test starts, there is something I would like you to do. A preliminary test, to see who gets to participate in the third test. There are too many people here and according to the rules, we must have a preliminary. As the Hokage said before, there will be many people and the fights might bee too long. We are limited in time. Those who feel ill or like quitting, please step forward. We will be starting the preliminary shortly."

Kabuto raised his hand and said, "Um…I'm going to quit."

"Kabuto of the Leaf, right? You may leave now," Hayate said as he looked through his papers. "I forgot to mention, from now on it will be individual battling. You may raise your hand based on your own judgment."

As Kabuto left, Sasuke flinched in pain. He clutched his neck. Sakura look at him in worry and glanced at Naruto. The blonde watched them. "Sasuke-kun, you should also quit the prelims!" Sakura said to him. "You've been acting strange ever since Orochimaru attacked. That mark still hurts, right? If it continues…please…quit…I'm afraid…You are in no condition to fight! Tell him, Naruto! Doesn't your seal hurt too!?"

"Sakura-san, you're getting hysterical and loud," Naruto said in a nervous way. "Calm down. Besides, this is -Sasuke-san-. He'll do fine." 'Minipulating her should be easy when it comes to Sasuke, right?'

"I can see it! -Both- of you have been hiding the pain from me! Stop it! Whatever you say, I'm going to tell the senseis' about the mark, then-"

Sasuke was in front of her face, dangerously close. He was glaring. "Shut up! Don't say anything."

Tears formed at her eyes. "Why are you so stubborn? I don't want to see you suffering anymore…To me…you're…"

"It has nothing to do with you," Sasuke said. "Stay out of my business. I'm an avenger. This isn't just about me. I don't care about chuunin or whatever…'Am I strong?' I just want to answer that. To do that, I have to fight these strong guys. I can't forgive you, if you take that away from me."

Naruto sighed and said, "I, too, want to know if I progressed. Sakura-san, I know you're worried, but don't .Even if Sasuke-san dies…well, not very likely that'll happen, right?" Naruto grinned at her.

"What about you? You could get killed too," Sakura said, eyes filled with sadness.

Naruto grinned but turned his back to them. "If I die, it wouldn't really matter." His teammates stared at him for this, but he didn't elaborate. "Anyway, Sasuke-san, consider what Sakura-san's saying, she's just worried."

Sasuke smirked and said, "When I said strong guys, I also meant you."

Naruto blinked at him in surprise. He smirked back.

"I thought so," the Hokage said.

Ibiki asked, "What should we do?"

"We should remove them from the exam and have Anbu guarding them," Anko suggested.

'Naruto's been with demons…most likely he'll be able to handle himself against Orochimaru…hopefully,' the Third thought. He said, "They're not the type to agree to that."

"We should force him to quit! By using chakra the curse becomes active and forcibly pulls out chakra! It's a forbidden jutsu that eats at the body!" Anko hissed.

"It's amazing they're both still standing," the Third said. "Let them continue and watch other the situation. If the curse begins opening and releasing power, jump in and stop them."

'So…that's how this seal works…no chakra…but that doesn't answer spirit energy.' Naruto turned to Sasuke and whispered, "Don't use Chakra. It'll only make the seal worse. If you want to fight this thing, you can't use chakra, alright?"

"How do you know?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto jerked a thumb towards the jounin. "Heard them."

"Let's begin the prelims," Hayate said. The electric score board showed two names. Uchiha Sasuke and Akado Yoroi. "The two contestants, please step up." As they did, the rest made their way up.

As Kakashi passed by Sasuke, he said, "Don't use the Sharingin."

"So you know…"

"If that curse becomes active, you might lose your life."

"Probably…"

"Well, if that happens, I'll jump in and stop the match, got that?" with that, he left.

When the fight started, it looked like an even match. That was before they all saw Sasuke struggling. 'Not good,' Naruto thought. 'That guy steals chakra…' Naruto leaned down and yelled out, "Come one, Sasuke-san! For the love of the Gods, you can definitely do better than -that-!"

'"For the love of the Gods"?' Kakashi thought. 'I have never heard of that…since when did Naruto believe in Gods?'

Sasuke heard it and had a flash of inspiration. He ran towards his opponent and kicked him into the air. He proceeded to do the beginnings of the Shadow Dance. "I'm going original from here." As he was about to attack, he felt his curse seal flare up in pain. 'I can't let it end here!' Sasuke thought. 'They're worried about me…I won't let this thing control me!' As he thought this, the markings on his skin that showed earlier in the fight receded. Many stared in shock at Sasuke. Sasuke kicked his opponent and followed up with a slam from his fist. As they neared the ground, Sasuke slammed his enemy the to ground with another kick.

"The winner of the first prelims match," the examiner said. "is Uchiha Sasuke!"

After the match, Lee looked depressed but Sakura look relieved. Naruto glaced at the bowl haired teen. 'Poor guy, having his moves ripped off like that.' Naruto walked over to him and said cheerfully, "Pretty cool match, huh? But even if he can take my moves like that, I'll just come up with other, better ones!" Naruto grinned at him.

Lee blinked and grinned too. "Yeah!"

Sakura watched the whole thing silently. 'Naruto…were you always like this?' Sakura thought. 'Why do you help people so much? But…' Sakura realized with shock, 'no one bothers to help you.' Sakura looked at the ground in sham. 'No one, not even me! And I'm your teammate?'

Kakashi took Sasuke away. Naruto briefly wondered where but decided it wasn't his business. He dazedly watched the matches. That Shino and Zaku guy fought. Shino won. 'Bugs…whatever.' After the match, Kakashi reappeared. Sakura asked, "What happened? How's Sasuke-kun?"

"He's fine, he's sleeping in hospital bed," Kakashi said calmly. He turned to Naruto and said, "But you, after your match, you're coming with me."

"Huh? What did I do? Are you still sore about that prank? I thought you let that go once I got the hair dye off!" Naruto complained.

"You know what I mean. Don't argue," Kakashi ordered.

The blonde sighed and muttered, "You're no fun."

The last person in Kabuto's team fought Kankuro. Kankuro won that match. After that match, it was Ino and Sakura. One point in the fight, the pink haired shinobi got in a tight spot before Naruto cheered her on, giving her confidence to get her way out. In the end, it was a tie.

After that fight, it was Tenten and Temari. "Man, two cute girls fighting each other," Naruto said. Then he said in a joking manner, "Think they'll rip their clothes off?" Kakashi laughed while Lee just grinned sheepishly. Good thing Sakura was unconscious or else she would have hit Naruto.

The fight was brutal. Temari won, her opponent didn't stand a chance. "Wow. Pretty, but dangerous. I don't know about you guys, but that's kind of a turn on." He some felt Temari's fan hit his head and he knelt on the ground, rubbing his aching forehead. Temari retrieved her fan, blushing madly with a scowl. "I was kidding, seriously!" Naruto said, loud enough for her to hear. Kakashi looked embarrassed for his student while others had amused looks in their faces except for the serious ones.

"Ow…Hey, how's that other cute girl? She ok? She took quite a beating," Naruto asked while slowly getting up. He almost fell over the railing when he was hit in the back of his head. "What's up with people hitting my head?" Sakura stood behind him, a look of annoyance on her face. "Um…Up already?"

"Naruto, you are such a player!" Sakura snapped at him.

"Hey, it was just a joke!"

"Ugh…"

The next match was Shikamaru and Kin. Shikamaru won by his smarts. 'That was original,' Naruto thought, not being sarcastic. Finally, the blonde's match came up. "Finally!" Naruto yelled out.

His opponent, Kiba, stood in front of him in the area. The boy was bragging, "Ha! It's like we already won!"

Naruto mentally sighed but played along. "Let's not have any deaths in this one, ok, friend?" His disarming smile only ticked off the dog like boy.

"Playing the wimp, dobe!? You're not going to win!" Kiba smirked.

Naruto shrugged, as if he didn't care. His flippant way of things only made Kiba angry. Sakura yelled out, "Don't lose to him, Naruto!"

"I kind of feel bad for you, being so out of your league, so I'll end it mercifully in one punch," Kiba bragged.

"How is that mercifully? That's more like humiliating," Naruto stated.

"Stop trying to act so cool!"

"Who's acting?"

"Let the match begin!" Hayate yelled.

"I wasn't going to use Akamaru, but you deserve a beating!" Kiba yelled out. Naruto raised an eyebrow but didn't comment. Kiba went on all fours and his dog like features heightened. "Here I come!" He charged.

Naruto was slammed backwards and he skid to the ground. "Knew it! Naruto could never take on Kiba!" Ino said triumphantly.

Kankuro scorned, "He's weak."

'He'll win,' Temari thought confidently. 'Of that, I'm sure. This Naruto only seems weak.'

Sakura yelled out, "Come on, Naruto!"

Naruto was already standing and wiped some blood off the corner of his mouth calmly. He looked at Kiba in the eyes and mocked, "That all you got?"

"Bastard!" Kiba charged again but this time, Naruto side stepped and held out a leg. Kiba's momentum prevented him from stopping and he tripped. Naruto straightened up and waited.

Lee was impressed, Hinata relieved, and Sakura excited.

Naruto yawned and said, "Look, maybe we can hurry this up…?"

"Stop acting so tough!" Kiba yelled as soon as he got up. "Akamaru!" Together, they ran towards Naruto again. The dog boy threw smoke bombs on the ground. After the smoke cleared, Naruto lay on the ground. "Good work!" Akamaru happily bounced to his master before turning vicious and biting Kiba's arm. "Akamaru!?"

"Wrong!" was the muffled reply. Smoke surrounded the dog to reveal Naruto. Naruto let go and said, "You taste really bad."

"You!" Kiba swiped at the blonde but the former chakra user did a back flip to avoid. "Where's Akamaru!?"

"Your dog? Over there," Naruto said calmly, pointing to his right. Kiba looked over and saw another Naruto holding the small dog by his hind legs.

"Akamaru!"

"No way. Naruto combined Kage Bunshin no Jutsu with Henge?" Shikamaru asked in disbelief.

"That can't be Naruto!" Ino yelled. "He's even, no, even better than Kiba!"

"He's pretty calm," Chouji added.

Shikamaru took a long look before saying, "More like playing."

"Better than I thought," Kankuro thought.

Temari said, "Good timing with his jutsu."

Neji thought, 'He bites someone and then complains. What a funny guy…'

'He's grown,' Kakashi thought.

Hokage looked at him with amusement, 'He has improved a lot.'

"Grr…so you got stronger, big deal!" Kiba growled out. He smirked, "I'm gonna go serious!"

"Ok, sure, whatever," Naruto replied. "I'll be over here, sitting and waiting."

'This is that loser Naruto?' Kurenai thought.

Asuma glanced at Kakashi and thought, 'What did Kakashi do?'

Kiba threw a pill to Akamaru and the dog started to change color. Naruto raised an eyebrow and said, "I don't think feeding your dog crack is going to help."

"It's not crack!" Kiba yelled indignantly. Akamaru jumped on his back and transformed into another Kiba.

'I have a feeling I should be standing,' Naruto thought. He stood up. 'Better not to underestimate him.' Naruto got into a stance no one had ever seen before.

"What's that? Making up your own taijutsu? What's it called, Loser's Fist!?" Kiba laughed at his own joke.

Naruto smirked darkly before saying, "You really had no chance of beating me, little -ningen-." Naruto seemingly disappeared and reappeared behind Kiba. "This fighting style requires speed, lots of it." He slammed his fist into the dog boy's side.

Naruto flexed his gloved hands in a disturbingly familiar way to Kakashi. Kiba got up and glared. He yelled out, "Stop talking shit!" Kiba and the dog Kiba charged. Naruto was about to counter but felt faint for a second, making Kiba's attack hit.

Naruto flinched, touching the seal. "Damn," Naruto muttered. 'I was using chakra, now this seal thing is activated…I'll have to suppress it...SHIT!' The blond was slammed back from Kiba's hit.

(End Chapter)

Anyway, that's all for this chapter. Review!