Well, here we go again

Yep, I'm back again. To be quite honest, I'm worried about this story. I really don't like most of it until after the time skip, where most of my really good ideas come into play. And judging by the reviews, I guess you guys feel about the same way. Can't say that I blame you really.

I do have good news though. I have decided to put up one more story I have written. It started out as an expiriment, and then kind of snowballed. It's called Unnatural Origins for any who might want to check it out. Know that I strained every writing fiber in my body to produce it, so I consider it to be at least a half-decent story.

If I did own Naruto, Chuck Norris would be the Hokage. No freakin doubt in my mind.

"This area is called training ground forty-four." Anko said evilly "Otherwise known as the forest of death."

"It looks pretty creepy…" Sakura said quietly while staring fearfully into the forest in front of her.

"You're about to find out first hand why they call it the forest of death." Anko said, that evil grin never leaving her face.

"Yeah right!" Naruto yelled defiantly "Like all this forest of death stuff is supposed to scare us! You're tryin to psyche us out and I'm not fallin for it!"

In an instant, before anybody knew what had happened, Anko had cut Naruto's cheek with a kunai and was licking the blood out of the laceration. Everybody stepped back except for Reiko, who simply watched her while drinking more of his sake as if oblivious to the sight before him.

"Reiko kun, doesn't that creep you out even a little bit?" Sakura asked him as her attention was divided between the two figures.

"Not really." Reiko responded calmly as he took another drink of his sake "These things happen all the time. I've actually had my own blood drained four times this week alone."

"Um…Reiko kun, that's not another one of your hallucinations. She's really drinking his blood." Sakura said to him warily.

"So you mean she's-oh, and that means oh…." Reiko said, taking another drink of his sake and staring down at the ground in thought"That's a good way to contract diseases you know."

Reiko walked away when he saw a guy with an extremely long tongue. Apparently he wasn't the craziest bastard in the exam. In fact, he decided to try and take a nap, or at least hit a few pressure points and make himself sleep. He woke hours later in the woods with his team, who gave him a quick rundown of the rules of the exam. Get another scroll and be at the center of the forest in five days. Not really a problem.

Within minutes, they had devised a sort of strategy. Reiko would stay separate from the team since he was the best at going around undetected, and would watch them from afar for any sort of danger. There would have to be a system of checks to make sure they had the right person however.

"All right, all we need now is a secret password to make sure that no one can disguise themselves as us and attack while we're sleeping." Sasuke said to the group.

"Hey guys, hold that thought one second. I gotta take a leak." Naruto said as he turned around to use the bathroom.

"Not in front of me you idiot! I'm a lady!" Sakura yelled angrily as she smacked Naruto over the head. "Use the bushes!"

"You know, you'll have to grow up some time, and that was a perfect time to study male anatomy." Reiko said to Sakura from his perch on a tree branch.

"Why you!" Sakura yelled, too flustered to get the entire sentence out. She began a mad dash after Reiko, who merely laughed and stayed just out of her reach. Before they knew it however, Sasuke had suddenly decked Naruto for no apparent reason.

"What the hell have you done with Naruto?" Sasuke yelled to the Naruto who was standing against the tree.

"I'm bleeding right here in front of you." Naruto said, wiping the blood from his mouth "Have you gone crazy or something?"

"You forgot Naruto's scar on his cheek he got from Anko sama. You're even worse at Henge than the real Naruto!" Sasuke said coldly.

"Since you've forced me to be direct, you should come clean too." Said the rain nin, dropping his illusion and turning back to his original self "Which one of you has the scroll?"

Before anything more could happen, several large senbon nailed the rain nin's arms to the tree in a rather painful manner. As the attacking shinobi screamed in agony, Reiko dropped from a tree and took his sword off of his back.

"So what do we have here?" Reiko asked, tapping his sword against the tree he nailed the rather scared shinobi to. "It seems you thought you could handle us alone. Guys, should I just kill him?"

"Don't kill him. Put a genjutsu on him and leave him for his team to find him." Sasuke said as he walked away coolly.

"My favorite part of my job." Reiko said maniacally as he touched a hand to the rain nin's head. Within a few seconds, the already frightened shinobi was screaming for his life and begging for help from unseen entities.

>>>>>

"Okay, if we get separated again, we can't trust each other blindly." Sasuke said some hours after the rain nin incident "The safest thing for us to do is have a secret password. That way, we'll know no matter who they look like or how they sound, if one of us gets that wrong, they're an enemy."

"Sounds like a plan, crazy man!" Reiko said. He didn't quite understand why they were looking at him oddly for a while. "What are you looking at?"

"Anyway…I'm only going to sat it once." Sasuke said, moving on to more pressing matters. "It's a poem called Niniki. When I ask for it you respond as follows. 'We thrive in chaos of the enemy tide. Shinobi don't need dens to hide. Our only concern is to watch and wait, until the enemy lowers the gate."

"And you expect me to remember that how?" Naruto practically screamed at Sasuke.

"I'm sorry, could you repeat that? I was under the impression you were going to give us a regular password. Something like swordfish." Reiko said, quietly angry and determined not to express it as much as Naruto.

"I'm taking the scroll." Sasuke said as he stood up. Almost immediately however, they were on high alert.

With a sudden explosion, the three kusa nin were standing there, fully prepared to wreak havoc upon team seven. What was apparently the leader stepped forward alone and told the others to go do something else. In a split second, team seven was well hidden and quite separated.

Reiko watched from the canopy of the trees. He waited for just the right opportunity to strike. Below him Naruto was getting eaten by a snake. Like that was a big deal. Naruto could get himself out of a snake without any real problem. Even if he couldn't, that snake was big, and Reiko was small, not a good chance of him winning that one. Moving on, Sasuke and Sakura were being hit with genjutsu, now that he could remedy. It was Zabuza's first rule: dont take on more than you can handle, or even try and push the limit.

The grass nin stood there gloatingly as he watched the two genin in front of him tremble. He heard a sound behind him and focused his attention on that for a mere split second. In that time, he suddenly had to fly back to avoid being cut in half with a large sword. As he looked back to his quarry, they were on the ground panting in exaustion. Standing over them was a red haired boy without a shirt. It had apparently been him who had released the two from the genjutsu.

"Sakura, Sasuke, get out of here. You can't do a thing against this guys illusions." Reiko said firmly, holding his sword easily in one hand.

"I assure you, you will be hard pressed to stop me!" The grass nin said, activating the illusion again. This time he concentrated it directly on Reiko.

"Oh come now…" Reiko said with a laugh. He stood there calmly, the illusion having absolutely no effect "You'll have to do much better than that if you want to take me down."

Reiko ran at the man with his sword raised. It wasn't a very long fight. Before he could even strike, Reiko was kicked into a tree, nearly toppling the thing over. Reiko didn't seem to care however and quickly got up, holding his hand in a single seal.

"KIRIGAKURE NO JUTSU!" he yelled, in his attempt to bring a fog in. All he got was a small wisp of smoke though. "Oh crap…"

Reiko was on his toes again, dodging low to avoid a punch and then coming in with an upward slash of his sword. The grass nin merely disappeared before he could be cut in half. Reiko scanned the area again and crept off in search of his quarry.

>>>>>

Sasuke and Sakura had retreated to a tree for cover. They really had no clue how Reiko was immune to that illusion. It truly did baffle them to no end. But at the moment, they had much more important things to worry about, like how to stay alive.

"Sasuke kun, do you think Reiko kun is okay?" Sakura asked worriedly, on the verge of tears "That snake man could have killed us any time he wanted!"

"I think Reiko will be alright." Sasuke said, checking his surroundings "He can fight off any illusion without a problem, and can hide better than any of us. If anything, he's better equipped to take him down than we are."

"Sasuke! Snake!" Sakura yelled suddenly as a gigantic snake descended upon them.

Sasuke acted on instinct alone and jumped out of the way, only to have the snake follow him with it's mouth open wide. Sasuke took the opening and let loose a barrage of kunai and shuriken straight into the snake's gaping jaws, pinning it to a tree by the skin on it's head.

"For shame, letting your guard down." Said the voice of the grass nin as he rose up out of the body of the dad snake "Stay on your toes like a good prey should. It makes the chase so much more interesting…"

From his perch in the forest canopy above, Reiko surveyed the situation. This man wasn't a genin. Furthermore, he was using things that were only usually seen in his nightmares. Now Naruto was mixed up into this. That could only make things worse. He took the mask of his great-great-grandfather and looked at it for a long time. He didn't want to use it. He was afraid of that mask, but something deep inside him told him that he had to.

Naruto was just about to be crushed to death by the snake. Sasuke stood rooted to his spot, afraid. Sakura was crying, because that was all she could really do at the moment. Then without warning, the snake's face was bleeding. As soon as everybody realized what had happened, an eerie chill crept up each of their spines.

"A Himura…" The kusa nin hissed as he landed gracefully on the ground. In an instant, Reiko literally appeared in front of him, his body aflame with blue fire. "and a bloodline user as well…I haven't seen that bloodline in action since I was a boy."

Reiko didn't say a word. There was a flash of blue light and the grass nin was suddenly defending himself amusedly. Each one of Reiko's lightning-fast blows was forcing him into more and more compromising situations.

Reiko swung his sword in a wide arc, sweeping the entire area in front of him. The grass nin laughed as he leaned back under the attack. He stopped laughing as several large senbon flew at him, causing him to dodge to the side almost immediately. Reiko was using all his speed and strength to merely put the grass nin on the run.

In a flurry of graceful movement, the grass nin caught Reiko by the face. Immediately, Reiko began screaming in pain and tearing at his attacker's arm. Nothing could be done however, as the mask was quite suddenly ripped off, letting Reiko fall to the ground, completely unconscious, the blood that flowed from his eyes staining the ground.

>>>>>

It was several hours later when Reiko finally awoke. He had been leaned against a tree with all his personal affects in tow. As he slowly got up, he went to wipe the blood off of his face, but found that it had already been done for him. He then reached to his back pocket for his mask, and found it to be there. Looking around, he used his sword as a walking stick and stood himself up. It wasn't a pleasant experience. His entire body ached in pain with each uneasy step.

"Ugh…what the hell happened?" Reiko asked, holding his free hand to his throbbing head as he slowly walked toward where he felt Sakura's presence.

"Reiko kun!" Sakura yelled in surprise "I didn't think you'd wake up. After you passed out, he got Saskue and Naruto. I've been taking care of them the best I can."

"Have you set up any traps around the perimeter?" Reiko asked, trying to get a grasp of the situation despite his current condition.

"Yes, I set one." Sakura said, tending to Sasuke by dabbing his forehead with a damp cloth "I don't know what to do. You aren't in good enough condition to carry them, and I couldn't move them if I was well rested, which I'm not."

"We have to keep moving, otherwise, we'll be under attack." Reiko said, staring off into the distance as he spoke "We're sitting ducks here. Before you know it, somebody will come along and pick us off."

Right then, a squirrel began to walk up to them. Reiko immediately saw it as a threat and threw a senbon to scare it away. After making sure the creature was gone, Reiko scanned the area for the enemies he knew were there.

"Sakura, we need to get out of here now." Reiko said worriedly, still scanning the surrounding area "We're in big trouble."

"Well, It looks like you two have been working hard to guard Naruto." Said an evil voice from behind "As of now though, you're off duty. Just wake Sasuke up, we wanna take him off."

"What are you all talking about? We know Orochimaru has been pulling off the strings, so what do you want?" Sakura asked angrily. Reiko cast a glance at her in confusion. He had never heard that name in his life.

"I suggest that all of you leave before I put each of you in a hell where you will never escape from." Reiko said threateningly, deciding that running would put his teammates in too much risk at the moment, despite his lack of strength.

"Well now, I can't walk away after hearing that." The taller male said "I'll destroy you both and Sasuke as well."

"Zaku, wait!" The mummy said to the other male "Someone's been setting booby traps. But what's the point of laying them if you leave evidence to your prey?"

"I guess we'll just have to take the girl out first for leaving such ineffective traps." The one called Zaku said.

As the three sound nin jumped through the air to avoid traps they would set off anyway, Reiko slunk back into the shadows where he could await the perfect opportunity to strike. It wasn't long before he thought he might have to, when a strange creature with large eyebrows and a bowl cut saved the day.

When the thick browed creature began to fail, Reiko got ready to spring into action. Just as a girl who seemed to be called Kin had a handhold on Sakura's hair and was preparing to make the first strike.

"Zaku, why don't you finish off one of the others right in front of this little pig." Kin said as she stood there watching.

Just as Sakura started to formulate a plan, she suddenly lurched forward of what seemed to be her own free will. Instantaneously, the screaming of Kin could be heard behind her. As she reached back she felt the hand still clutching at her hair, but the difference was that now it wasn't attached to a body. As she looked behind her, she saw the Kin clutching at her severed arm in agony.

"Who did that?" Zaku yelled, looking around for the attacker. "Who's out there! Show yourself!"

"Oh but of course…" Reiko's voice said as a heavy fog set in. Kin started to run, but her legs ended up going ahead of her torso, which fell to the ground in a bloody heap shortly before her legs did.

Zaku began throwing his sound blasts into the mist. Each blast disrupted the air currents around him, and thus getting rid of the mist. When all of that murderous fog had lifted however, there was no sign that anything had once been there.

"Don't scream!" Reiko yelled suddenly from behind them, his sword held high "You'll only die a coward!"

As he swung his blade, the sound nin dodged to each side, narrowly avoiding the edge of a hungry sword. Zaku was still on his toes however as Reiko chased after him wildly. It literally took hours to show any sign of either side starting to weaken.

>>>>>

Miles away, Reiko was carrying Sasuke, Naruto, and Lee on his back by some miracle of endurance. Sakura was tailing behind him, not really able to help, but wishing she could. Reiko had used as much chakra as he dared to make a genjutsu, kill the girl, and get the hell out of there. Now he was carrying the weight of three people alone on his back. Sakura couldn't help but marvel at his ability to block out pain and fatigue.

"Here." Reiko saidflatly as he dropped the boys off by the river and quite literally fell over with half of his body in the water. He was too tired to try andmove"I can't move any further. The guy with the bowl cut's team will be looking after him soon."

"But what will we do? We don't have a second scroll to turn in." Sakura said, tending to each boy's wounds "There's no way we can pass the exam."

"Oh contraire…' Reiko said with a strained chuckle as he softly patted one of his many pockets"The girl had two scrolls on her, a complete set. I nicked them off her body."

"Reiko…" Sakura said, hanging her head "Did you really have to kill her? Couldn't you have just knocked her out?"

"Sakura chan…" Reiko said with a chuckle as he used his strength to raise himself up and grin wickedly "We can't avoid killing forever. Sooner or later, you'll kill somebody too. I have been trained as an assassin by the best assassin there is. Even if I didn't have to kill her...I wanted to."

Sakura's eyes widened at Reiko's proclamation. He said it without feeling or remorse. The only thing that could give away any emotion on his face was the sadistic grin plastered upon it. She didn't know whether to be greatful or afraid, but was currently leaning towards the latter.

"Come out Tenten chan…" Reiko said quite suddenly with his back turned, his features returning tonormal almost immediately"I assume you and your teammate are here for bowl cut. Come and get him, he really helped us out."

"We thank you for taking care of him as you did." Said a boys voice, coming from a white eyed boy with long black hair. "I'll tell Tenten san that you took good care of him."

"Hyuuga…" Reiko said to himself quietly as he turned around "I didn't really expect you to come for him. At any rate, he should be fine, if not a little dizzy for a while."

The Hyuuga picked up the fuzzy creature and left in a flurry of motion. There wasn't even an emotional response to it. Reiko and Sakura were simply too tired. Without another thought, they went to sleep. At least Sakura went to sleep. Reiko pushed a couple of his pressure points and knocked himself out again.