A/N: I don't own Naruto. Kishimoto Masashi does.

Naruto: The Greatest Hero

Chapter Seven: The Ninja of Konoha

Naruto entered the room along with Sasuke and his team and Neji with his team. They were just in time for the exams and Naruto's teammates Kiba and Shikamaru were in a corner talking to each other about one thing or the other. Shikamaru seemed to be the dominant one in the conversation. Naruto walked over to them along with Team Eight following behind him. They seemed to be awed by the number of ninjas that the Examination Hall held. It contained no fewer than at least five hundred genins that were aspiring to be chuunins. Sakura looked slightly scared in Naruto's eyes.

'So these guys are all the chuunin hopefuls just like us, eh?' Naruto said.

Shikamaru just realised that Naruto had finally arrived with Team Eight in tow behind him. Kiba looked to be slightly outraged by Naruto's previous actions.

'Naruto, why in the world did you just run off like that! Do you want us to fail!'

'Ah, sorry about that, Kiba, I just saw a very interesting fight about to start. And I guess I kinda joined in with them. The guy's name is Rock Lee, I think. He'll be one of the teams that we'll go head-to-head in the field exam.' Naruto explained.

'Field exam?' Kiba questioned, raising an eyebrow at his friend; Shikamaru sighed.

'There are three stages in the Chuunin Exam,' Shikamaru began, slightly annoyed by his teammate's unknowingness, 'The first stage is what we're doing now. It's a written exam and what we're supposed to do is get a high mark or something. The second stage is the field exam, where you and your team go on a specific search and deliver test. Usually it involves having to retrieve some stones from a specific area or some items in the course. The third exam is the one that I personally think that we're going to fail; they're one-on-one battles between genins until the chuunin is decided.'

'How come you know so much Shikamaru?' Naruto asked his brunette friend.

'Well, I spent most of my time training my brain and knowledge instead of techniques. I'm kinda weak, but my brain…' Shikamaru tapped his head, 'Is the most powerful tool I have. The team needs to be balanced; if we got all muscle, than there would be no brains, and without brains, shinobi can't operate.'

Naruto nodded at Shikamaru's words along with Kiba and Akmaru, who barked.

'But seriously, Shikamaru, you're nothing but brain. Look at all this muscle.' Kiba pinched Shikmaru's left arm, sniggering and earning a glare from Shikamaru.

'I think that we're a bit too cheerful for this atmosphere, don't you think?' Sasuke inquired, raising an eyebrow at the two people from Team Seven.

'Not really, as we're just trying to stop our anxiety from building up.' Naruto explained to Sasuke in a cheerful tone as Sasuke rolled his eyes at him.

'Really, Sasuke-kun, we should all just relax, what matters is that we do our best.' Ino said to him, smiling in a very Naruto-like way, 'It's just for the experience.'

But you guys don't know what the heights of the best truly are, Sasuke thought.

'Well, if I think that my guts are telling me what I think they're telling me, I think that there will be a lot of very interesting people in the examination.' Naruto said.

And you are one of those "people", Naruto, Sasuke thought as he eyed Naruto.

'There sure are, and…' Shikamaru's eyes found the boy they had met that day, Gaara was his name, 'There are even some who stretch even further than interesting.'

Naruto, Sasuke and Kiba looked to where Shikamaru was looking. They were looking at the boy, "Sabaku no Gaara". He had a murderous aura around him, they could tell. Naruto was very interested in this person as was Sasuke. They knew that he was strong as wreaked such a powerful intent of murder and death.

'Do you feel what I think I'm feeling, Sasuke?' Naruto questioned, apparently grimacing under his facemask, 'about that guy, Sabaku no Gaara, Sasuke?'

'Yeah. He wreaks that aura of power, alright. Enough to scare even a tiger off.'

'So you all are new genins?' a teenage with white hair and glasses came up to them.

Naruto nodded as did Sasuke. Kiba eyed the person strangely while Shikamaru just practically ignored the person. The girls, Ino and Sakura, just kept silent.

'Yeah, this is our first time taking the exam.' Kiba replied to the boy.

'And may I ask what your names are?' the boy asked them, eyeing Sasuke.

'They call me Uzumaki Naruto.' Naruto replied rather lazily to the boy.

'I'm Uchiha Sasuke, Team Captain of Team Eight. Who might you be?'

'Yakushi Kabuto. This is the seventh time I'm taking this exam.' Kabuto said.

'You're pretty weak to fail the exam in your last six tries.' Kiba smarted.

'This exam is not as easy as you think that it may be. There are many powerful ninjas from almost everywhere. And you may just be the next victim of one of them.'

Kiba scowled while Naruto raised an eyebrow at Kabuto's sentence.

Then, Shikamaru turned to his left and his lips turned into a smile.

'Hey, Chouji, Shino, Hinata.' Shikamaru greeted the new team that had arrived.

Team Ten was in front of the group of ninjas with Shino, their Team Captain bringing up the rear. Chouji was currently eating out of a bag of chips.

'Hey, Shikamaru! Everyone!' Chouji greeted loudly as Kabuto frowned at them.

'Hello, everyone…' Hinata greeted shyly to her former classmates in the academy.

Shino kept silent as he leaned against a wall next to Shikamaru, apparently not caring at all. Naruto did not know much of anyone from this group apart from Chouji.

'I suggest that you all please be more silent; you'll aggravate the other ninjas.'

Kabuto gestured over to a group of genins that looked to be more like a couple of bandits than ninjas. Naruto looked to Kabuto; he was a bit of a bossy person.

'I have said it once to all of you and I'll say it again; you're all just newbies. There are many powerful ninjas here, even though they are genins.'

He took out a pile of cards and set them on the floor, smirking at them.

'This is my deck of Nin-Info Cards. These cards have all the vital info on any ninja that has attended this exam for the past four years. Since I'm feeling a bit generous today, do any of you want to know any information on any particular genin?'

Sasuke eyed the deck of cards on the floor, Kabuto, hand holding onto it.

'Can I have information on Sabaku no Gaara and Hyuga Neji?' Sasuke inquired.

'Let's see… Ah, yes, here it is.' Kabuto pulled out a card from the deck, with a full body photo of Neji and information on his techniques and capabilities, 'Hyuga Neji; he's a year older than you guys, past receiver of the Rookie of the Year Award. So far, no one below the Jounin Level has bested him in Taijutsu. He has twenty D-ranked missions to date, as well as twelve C-ranked ones. His Taijutsu, as I said, is superior to almost anyone here but he is weak at Genjutsu and Ninjutsu. Also known with his Byakugan Bloodline Limit and youngest person in the Hyuga Clan to master the Jyuuken at the age of nine. His team consists of Rock Lee and Ikegata Tenten.'

Kabuto put that card on the floor for all to see and pulled out another card.

'About Sabaku no Gaara; his capabilities are shrouded in mystery, so I don't know whether he is a specialist of any sort. So far, he has done twenty D-ranked missions to date, as well as eight C-ranked ones and… one B-ranked mission. It also says here that he has never sustained any injuries when the missions were over.'

'That m-makes you l-lose confidence, d-doesn't it?' Hinata stuttered softly.

Naruto clenched his fists at the information that he had just received. There were definitely powerful people in this exam, even if they were genins.

'Hey, Naruto, are you okay?' Kiba questioned his friend, who was… grinning?

'Kiba, I think that I am about to do something really stupid.' Naruto stated.

Kiba raised his eyebrows as Akamaru's ears perked up. Shikamaru sighed.

Without warning, Naruto leapt onto one of the many tables and inhaled.

'HEY, ALL OF YOU!' Naruto bellowed to the rest of the room, catching the attention of the occupants and most of it was not good, 'I'M UZUMAKI NARUTO AND ME AND MY TEAM ARE GOING TO THRASH ALL OF YOU TO HELL!'

Kiba stood there, slack-jawed at his blonde friend, while Shikamaru just sighed at his actions. Chouji had stopped eating his potato chips and Shino had raised his eyebrows, seemingly interested .Sasuke, meanwhile, was slightly amused by Naruto's actions and the girls were in the same way as Kiba was; slack-jawed and staring. The other genins that were before them could be seen glaring in Naruto's direction. Kabuto was very amused at the entertainment that the blonde had provided him with.

'I would get down from there if I was you, Naruto-kun.' Kabuto stated.

Naruto grinned under his facemask as he got off the table, but not before sending the other genins a look of his own which caused some of the females to be quite attracted to him despite his previous actions. Naruto smiled as Kakashi would as he came to Kiba, hands in his pockets and a big grin hidden underneath his facemask.

'Naruto, what did you do that for!' Kiba half-roared to his friend.

'Well, it's true, isn't it, Kiba?' Naruto replied, still grinning under his facemask.

Kiba did not reply Naruto's words, but instead found himself grinning at his words.

'Man, you're all so troublesome.' Shikamaru said, scratching the back of his head.

The other genins had turned away from Naruto. Kabuto grinned at the blonde.

'Well, Naruto-kun, that was very entertaining, but I doubt that you would not really fail to accomplish that goal, for someone with your capabilities…' Kabuto said.

Naruto frowned at Kabuto's words; what did he know about his capabilities.

Kabuto pulled out a card from his deck, another Nin-Info Card, this time, Naruto's.

'Uzumaki Naruto; recently graduated student of the Konoha Ninja Academy and was nominated Rookie of the Year. Is a specialty with wires and Fuuma Shurikens. Mastered several Ninjutsus before enrolling in the Academy and just recently mastered an unknown Assasination Ninjutsu. Interesting; your Ninjutsu is off the charts and your Taijutsu is just below the limit zone. Your mission record is eighteen D-ranked, one C-ranked and one A-ranked mission.' Kabuto read out loud.

Everyone's eyes but Shino's, Sasuke's, Shikamaru's and Kiba's popped out of their heads as they heard this information leave Kabuto's lips; most of them knew that Naruto was a strong ninja, having received the Rookie of the Year Award ahead of Sasuke and Shino, but none of them knew that he was such a genius. Granted, Naruto was not a genius, but he had more than made up for it with his training.

Kiba and Shikamaru knew about Naruto's capabilities, but they definitely did not feel any jealous; Naruto had helped them many times during training, and they appreciated that very much. Sasuke was feeling a whole new experience to the word "envy". Naruto was always ahead of him, no matter what he thought.

When he saw Naruto fight against that man who had defeated Momochi Zabuza; the Demon of the Mist, Yuuhi Kurenai; the Konoha Genjutsu Specialist and the Copy Ninja Hatake Kakashi, the number one Ninjutsu Technician in Konoha when all three had taken him on in a three-on-one battle, he had ecpected the blonde to be crushed.

But as he, Sasuke, saw what Naruto could truly do, launching only one attack, the Assasination Ninjutsu, Chidori, was used and Naruto emerged victorious.

'I expect one of your standards, Naruto-kun, to perform up to scratch.' Kabuto said in a smug tone of voice, 'But don't expect any challenges from the Otogakure no Sato, they're just a puny village that even the weakest can ignore.'

Three genins in the exam were from the said village, and they were not pleased.

'Did you hear what he said? Zaku? Kin?' a heavily-bandaged person asked.

His two teammates, a black-haired girl, Kin, nodded as did the other teammate, a boy with hair that seemed to withstand the force of gravity,Zaku, frowned.

'What kind of punishment should we land on him, Dosu?' Zaku said.

'How about a painful one?' the girl took out several needles.

There were smirks and sniggers heard from them until they vanished from sight.

Sasuke sensed movement coming up from behind him; he turned, only to see a heavily-bandaged genin charge at Kabuto. Kabuto backed off to dodge the attack. It was seen that the attck had never reached Kabuto, but he suddenly got on all fours and started throwing up, sweating bullets and eyes as wide as dishes.

'Now you know to never insult our village.' Dosu said triumphantly.

Suddenly, he had a kunai to his throat, held by Naruto. Zaku was on the floor, his face kissing it rather forcefully by another Naruto's, a Shadow Clone's, foot. Kin had an arm around her upper body, a kunai to her throat as well by another Naruto.

'You're quite fast.' Dosu said, his visible eye trying to see Naruto's covered face.

'You don't know the half of it, bandage-boy.' Naruto said dangerously.

'SILENCE, ALL OF YOU!' a group of examiners had just arrived, their ringleader apparently being a man with several scars on his face and a wearing a bandana, 'You kids at the back better back away from each other before I fail every one of you!'

Naruto's two Shadow Clones disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving the original, which had taken his kunai away from Dosu's throat, Dosu was more than relieved.

Naruto's eyes travelled to the examiners and he had realised that his friend and roommate, Momochi Zabuza, was among them, clad in an attire similar to the others.

'Take a seat away from your teams!' the scarred man barked, scaring almost three quarters of the people, 'And trust me, if I know that you are within a seat of one of your teammates, I will automatically fail you, now sit down, the lot of you!'

Naruto sat between his former classmate, Hyuga Hinata and the new genin he had just met and just recently recovered from the attack by the Sound-nins, Yakushi Kabuto. The examiners started to hand out the papers, which stated on them not to open them until the examiners said to begin answering the questions.

'Alright, if I may have your attention!' the man barked more to them, 'They call me Morino Ibiki; I will be here to sort the ones that deserve to have the title of chuunin and the ones who have to try their luck again later in their lives!'

Naruto was wondering, along with the majority of the genins, if he could lower his voice down or just talk like a normal human being.

'You are to answer the ten questions on the paper within one hour.' Ibiki explained, 'That means you guys will have a maximum of ten marks. If one question is wrong, you will lose one mark and so on and so forth. Every time you are caught cheating, one mark will be deducted from your paper. When your total of marks, reaches zero, you will fail this exam!' Ibiki put a lot of emphasis on the word "fail".

Zabuza then came up beside Ibiki to continue explain the rules of the examination.

'You are taking this exam as a team. If one of you should fail, your whole team will lose out on the chance to become chuunins.' there were many murmurs after Zabuza said this, he continued, 'also, if you cheat, don't think we won't know.'

Zabuza's last five words made some people in the room flinch or shiver in fear.

I have to say, you've got some style, Zabuza-san, Ibiki thought.

'We've got our eyes on you people.' one examiner stated to the genins.

'Alright, begin!' Ibiki barked as he surveyed the people in the room.

Naruto eyed his paper before opening it. There was a twist to this exam, he could feel it. He read the questions that came with the paper and smirked; they weren't as hard as his Genin Exam questions, on the contrary, they were the average questions that Kakashi had asked him and gave him the answers to in some lessons with him. Naruto had forgotten some of those lessons, and had a fair amount of time dedicated to remembering the questions and answers that Kakashi had given him.

Meanwhile, unnoticed by the examiners were several other genins who chose to cheat but not very pathetically. Sasuke had activated his Sharingan to copy other people's writing motions, the girl that had come with Lee, Tenten, somehow had mirrors adjusted on the ceiling so she could copy the answers of people within a seat of her. The two Hyugas, Neji and Hinata, had activated their Byakugans and had hidden their tell-tale veins on the side of their head so the examiners would not know that they had them activated. Sakura could be seen very tensed at answering the questions as she had no way to cheat and had a very pressured head.

Ino, who had copied answers from some other genins in the room, felt a little bit of pity for her friend and used her family's infamous technique to take over Sakura's body and scribble down some of the answers for her. Sakura, who, after three minutes, regained full consciousness of her body and made a mental note to thank her friend for her help after the exam was over and treat her to some dinner.

Lee was just like Sakura until Tenten signalled to him to look to the mirrors on the ceiling and copy down the answers. Lee was forever grateful in his mind to Tenten. Kiba, meanwhile, had Akamaru rushing around the room stealthily and copying down the answers that Akamaru had retrieved for him. Shino had used a small insect in a way very similar to Kiba to retrieve the answers. Shikamaru just used his brain to answer the questions; he had studied his brain more, as he said, during the days that he had with Team Seven to train. Chouji was a little bit lazier than Shikamaru, he knew the answer to three out of the ten questions and just answered those, not bothering to take on the other questions as he sat, relaxed, in his chair.

Naruto surveyed the questions that he had answered and was very pleased with himself. He had answered nine out of the ten questions and he knew that they were correct, after completely remembering what Kakashi had taught him.

Naruto then heard several teams' names being called out by Ibiki, always ending with a bark of "fail". Naruto saw them walk out of the doors, dejected.

Naruto looked at the last question and raised an eyebrow at it, confused at what it said. He reread it several times until he was sure of what it meant.

"The Head Examiner will announce this question forty-five minutes after the test begins"? What does that mean? Naruto thought, surveying it.

Naruto calculated that it had been around forty minutes since the test started, so there would be around five minutes more to go until Ibiki would give the last question. Naruto pondered the possibilities of the question that would be asked.

Man, I wonder what kind of question it may be… Naruto thought.

The time was around only five minutes, but Naruto was bored by the silence and the barking of the word "fail" by Ibiki. It also helped build up the tension between the genins. Naruto looke don as more of the genins walked out the door, dejected.

Kiba was looking just as tense as Naruto, but Shikamaru was relaxing with his hands behind his head leaning against his chair and balancing on the two rear feet.

Sasuke was as calm and collected as ever, as were Shino and Neji.

Ino and Sakura were even more tensed than Kiba and Naruto, wondering what the question may ask. Lee was eager and Tenten was just as calm as Neji.

Forty-five minutes had passed since the start of the exam, and Ibiki walked up front with, hands in his pockets and the smirk that most of the class had grown to despise.

'Alright!' Ibiki barked as half the people in the class winced, 'Forty-five minutes have passed since the start of the exam, and as your paper says, I am to give you the tenth question. But,' there were several gulps at the "but", 'I'm giving you a choice, do you want to take this question or not?'

The girl that Naruto had met that day, Temari, raised her hand.

'What will happen if we choose not to take it?' she asked Ibiki.

'Then,' Ibiki began, 'Your marks will be reduced to zero and you and your team will fail this test!'

'What! Then of course we'll take the exam!' Kiba shouted, jumping from his seat.

'You have heard the other part to the rule;' Ibiki said, now smiling a completely wicked grin, 'If you take the question, but get it wrong, you and your team will lose the right to ever be raised above the Genin Level!'

Several eyes widened at the statement; Zabuza was apparently smirking.

'So is there anyone here who would dare to take the risk?' Ibiki went on, surveying the class with his intense gaze, 'Raise your hand if you don't want to take the question. If you do, you'll still get a cfhance next time.'

Several hands went up in the air, failing them and their teams.

'Come on; this is your last chance, get this wrong and you bring down your team with you.' Ibiki surveyed, as several more hands were raised into he air.

Kiba was under intense pressure; he did not know whether he would take the question or not. He did not want to be the reason his team fell.

'Akamaru, I don't want to see my teammates stay genins forever.' Kiba said quite painfully to his dog, as if there was a blade through his chest, 'Sorry, Shikamaru, Naruto; I don't want to see our dreams crash to the ground.'

As Kiba slowly began to raise his hand, his eyes widened at another sight.

Naruto's hand was trembling in the air, as if he was straining to keep it up.

Sasuke and the other members of the graduated Academy class were shocked.

Zabuza was more than surprised at Naruto's action.

'Hm? Another one? Alright, Team Seven…' Ibiki started to say.

'CUT THE CRAP!' Naruto shouted, slamming his hand on the table before looking at Ibiki in the eye and pulling down his face mask, 'Bring on your question! I accept whatever challenge it is! Even if me and my team stay genins forever, we will still achieve our dreams no matter what! Let Konoha see before them the first genin Hokage!'

Naruto pulled his face mask back up and sat back on his eat, arms crossed.

Ibiki saw that no other people had put up their hands anymore.

'I repeat again; would any one of you risk staying a genin forever?'

'I never go back on my words; that is my Nindo!' Naruto said strongly.

Interesting guy, he washed away everybody's fears, Ibiki turned to Zabuza.

Zabuza grinned under his facemask and nodded at Ibiki.

'Alright, the tenth question.' Ibiki turned to face the genins and the very determined one of Uzumaki Naruto's, 'Congratulations, you all passed!'

The genins stood, slack-jawed except for Naruto, Shikamaru, Neji and Shino.

'What! What do you mean we all pass?' Sakura exclaimed.

'What about the tenth question?' Kiba stood up as Ibiki laughed.

'There was no tenth question. It was simply a ploy to see if you all would risk it on an all or nothing gamble, such is the job of a chuunin.' Ibiki said.

'Then what about the other nine questions?' Tenten raised her hand.

'They were there to test you on your knowledge and information gathering skills. If I am correct, most of you cheated to get the answers to those questions and did not get caught. I must say that I am im-'

A woman with dark purple hair, a fishnet shirt and a light brown trenchcoat suddenly came crashing though the window.

'Heya, Ibiki.' she greeted the scarred man who nodded in greeting and then surveyed the genins, 'Seventy-eight! You're losing your touch, Ibiki.'

'There were a lot of outstanding ones this year.' Ibiki said.

'Whatever, I'll cut them in half sooner or later.' she said, smirking.

Cut us in half? Most of the class wondered at her words.

'Alright, you guys! I'm the beautiful, sexy and still single Mitarashi Anko; please follow me to the next site of your Chuunin Exam.' she said.

The genins stood in awe at the sight of their next examination.

'Welcome to the Forest of Death. This will be the site of your next examination.'

Many people whispered in the crowd and observed the lush forest. There was no sound of birds chirping in it or even frogs croaking. It was very silent.

'I expect that not even a third of you will survive this exam.' she said.

'Stop trying to scare us.' Naruto said loudly as he turned away from her.

Anko did not take this too kindly, so she decided to scare the blonde with the facemask. Anko threw a kunai so accurately that it just grazed his cheek. She then appeared behind the blonde, and held a kunai to his throat.

The blonde suddenly vanished into thin air as Anko's eyes widened.

Bunshin no Jutsu? She thought, but the next move was faster than she expected.

Naruto was above her, a very long wire in his hands. He proceeded to quckly tie Anko up with the wire, not giving her an inch to move. Naruto then pushed her down to her knees, making her feel more than uncomfortable and held the wire in his hands before her and bending down so her face met with his.

'Kakashi-niichan taught me to avoid crude attacks like yours, so there's no use scaring me like that.' Naruto said as Anko glared into his eyes.

Naruto then proceeded to release Anko from the bonds that he had put on her.

'Now you're a bit wiser, aren't you, Anko-san?' Naruto said cheerfully.

Most of the teams made a mental note to avoid Naruto during the field exam.

Anko continued to act as though that nothing had happened.

'Alright, I'm giving each of you contracts. This helps me get out of the hassle of people going after me for deaths.' Anko said simply.

The seventy-eight genins signed the contracts and handed them in to her.

'Alright, I'm now going to give each of your teams a scroll; either a Heaven Scroll or Earth Scroll. Your task for this examination is to retrieve the other scroll from the other genins that are in this exam and bring it to the tower in the middle of the forest within a period of five days. You are not to open the scroll during that allocated time, or else… well, you'll see for yourselves.' Anko said quite mysteriously, 'Now get to your assigned gate and when it opens, remember that you only have five days until the deadline. You don't get to the tower in time, you fail.'

Naruto nodded to his team, who had received a Heaven Scroll. Naruto, Shikamaru and Kiba walked through to their gate and waited until it opened.

A few tense seconds passed until the gates finally opened, signalling the start of the Field Exam. Team Seven leapt from tree branch to treebranch at high speeds, watching everywhere for signs of activity.

'What do you think should be our battle plan, Naruto?' Kiba asked.

'Don't ask me; ask Shikamaru, he's the best in the brains department.'

Naruto and Shikamaru turned to the back of their group, where Shikamaru was lazily leaping with them. He noticed their looks and sighed.

'It's obvious, isn't it? Search and retrieve.' Shikamaru said, smirking.

His two friends grinned at him as they leapt through the woods.

After one hour, they stopped and set up a camp to gather plans.

'Naruto, I'm not saying anything, but I think after that show of yours, the genins are going to avoid us. I mean; who would take you on after that show just now?'

'Uchiha Sasuke.' Shikamaru replied in Naruto's place, 'You know how much he doesn't like Naruto ever since he was knocked off the throne of the Academy.'

Suddenly, they heard a scream. Naruto felt that there was something wrong. Very wrong. He turned to face Kiba and Shikamaru.

'Kiba, do you feel that?' Naruto tensed, getting up.

'Yeah. That was Sakura's scream. Looks like they're going to be eliminated.'

'No, Kiba. There's a large amount of chakra here. And don't you feel the ground slightly rumbling?' Shikamaru questioned and they heard another scream.

Akamaru suddenly grew scared of what was going on; it knew.

'We have to investigate. I don't think that this is an exam anymore.' Naruto said, leaping in to the bushes along with Shikamaru, leaving a confused Kiba.

'Why do I know that I'm going to regret this?' Kiba buried his face in his left hand.

He then proceeded to leap into the bushes and soon caught up with Naruto and Shikamaru. Naruto was slightly tensed, a bead of sweat going down his face.

They arrived at the scene a minute later, Ino and Sakura were in fear.

They were quite injured as well; Sakura had a bleeding arm and a cut on her forehead. Ino had a aprained ankle and was a cut rib.

Sasuke was trying his best to avoid a Grass-nin on a snake. His body was heavily battered, but he could not back down. If not, he would die.

Needless to say, Sasuke was just running away in his mind.

Sasuke had a kunai drawn, fending away the attacks of his opponent, but still failing miserably at the attempts. He had injured both his arms, and had a hard time moving. This Grass-nin was fast, with or without his snake. Naruto looked on at the fight.

'Sakura, what happened?' Kiba asked as Akamaru silently whimpered.

'That m-man, he-he ate our scroll.' Sakura said, slightly in shock.

'He said that he only wanted Sasuke.' Ino said in pain.

Kiba turned to look at the fight on the trees. It was a useless battle for Sasuke to fight. Naruto nodded to Shikamaru and then to Kiba.

'I can't believe we're actually helping that guy. He better thank us.'

'Can you girls take care of yourselves?' Shikamaru asked; Ino nodded.

The three boys leapt upwards. The Grass-nin had Sasuke in his sights.

'You're now mine, Sasuke-kun.' he said, then laughed maliciously.

Sasuke was scared for his life. He did not want to die here.

'Katon: Karyuu Endan!'

A breath of fire was let loose. The snake was incinerated but the Grass-nin had leapt onto another treebranch; it was three newcomers. Naruto stood there with Shikamaru and Kiba to his flanks. they could feel the power that this person emanated from his body. The Grass-nin smirked at the three of them.

'Ah, so there are three more meals for me to eat, how delightful?'

'The only thing that you're going to have for dinner is a whole lot of broken teeth.'

The man on the treebranch looked down at the boy with the whiskermarks on his cheeks, the one who had been stupid enough to say the words to him.

'Do you remember the plan, Shikamaru?' Naruto asked his friend.

'I do, but you and Kiba better be quick. With his chakra, the most I can hold on to him is fifteen seconds.' Shikamaru said, drawing out a kunai.

'Kiba, I'm going to get Sasuke to help us.' Naruto said before leaping to Sasuke.

'What are you doing here? This is my battle.'

'Sasuke, you know that this guy is not what he seems to be. He's way above our level. We can't run away from him. And we'll lose one-on-one.'

'So what do you propose?' Sasuke questioned as Shikamaru and Kiba came up to them, getting ready for their fight with the Grass-nin.

'You, me and Kiba are going to face this guy off.' Naruto said.

Sasuke reluctantly agreed and drew a kunai for the face-off.

'Four genins against me? You are overestimating your skill.' the man said.

'No, you are overestimating yours!' Naruto called out.

Sasuke, Kiba and Naruto charged at the ninja. Naruto, with his kunai, began a very fast assault with it. The Grass-nin dodged the moves with ease as Kiba came up from behind him with his Tsuuga. He jumped out of the way and Sasuke proceeded with his Fuuma Shuriken; throwing it at the ninja with all his might.

The ninja jumped away, not noticing that Naruto had created a Shadow Clone that came up behind him. The Shadow Clone proceeded to do extremely fast handseals as the original Naruto did the same handseals at the exact same speed.

'Katon: Karyuu Endan!' Naruto and his clone let forth more fire.

Sasuke had activated his Sharingan and saw the damage, but all three of them knew that the Grass-nin was still alive. He leapt out of the flames, slightly burned but very angry at being hit by such and old trick. The next second, Sasuke had his eyes burned in realisation that he could not just run away all his life. And in that particular second that he had watched Naruto and Kiba fight with their all, it happened.

The single shrike in the Sharingan had turned into two.

He had witnessed the attack that Naruto had performed and copied it.

'Katon: Karyuu Endan!' Sasuke breathed out a flame similar to Naruto's, hitting the Grass-nin with his all, then throwing three shuriken, which hit.

The ninja felt that he was never more humiliated in his life. The shurikens had hit him squarely in the chest and without feeling any pain, he drew them out and threw them back at Sasuke; two missed and one hit his right shoulder.

'Argh! Damn it!' Sasuke cursed as he winced in pain.

The ninja leapt up to him and grabbed him by the throat, slamming him against the tree bark. Sasuke knew he was done for.

'TSUUGA!' a tornado knocked the man away to another branch.

The Grass-nin got up angrily, looking at a smirking Kiba and a vicious Akamaru.

'Kunai Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!' Naruto threw several kunais at the ninja.

The kunais multiplied into several other kunais, all of which missed except for two; one getting him in the leg and the other on his left shoulder.

'Why? Why are you helping Sasuke-kun?' the man drawled angrily.

'Sasuke is not my friend nor is he my enemy. But he is a ninja of Konoha. That is more than enough of a reason for me to help him escape from your clutches, whatever the reason you have for him.' Naruto said, drawing a Fuuma Shuriken.

A ninja of Konoha… A ninja of Konoha… I am a ninja of Konoha!

Those words echoed in the ninja's mind, almost driving him to a frenzy.

He clutched his head in pain as Naruto looked on. He sweated bulletes.

'No, I will not let you be free! I refuse!' the man shouted, confusing everyone.

In another voice, the ninja spoke. Naruto grew even more confused.

'I will not remain dormant forever, you should have known that!'

Then, suddenly, a body of a pale white man was separated from the Grass-nin. The man was panting heavily on the ground, wearing a white yutaka. The Grass-nin also changed his appearance; he looked like the man on the ground, who was unmoving. except now his eyes were yellow without the cat-like slashes in them.

'Now that this… annoyance is gone, let us continue our fight.'

Kiba used his Tsuuga once again, except this time, was slammed by the palm of the man's hand, stopping his spin and making him vulnerable. The man took out one of the kunais on the tree and stabbed Kiba's back, making him scream in pain at the thrust. Naruto performed several more handseals.

'Doton: Doryuudan no Jutsu!' Naruto called out.

A head of a dragon came out in the form of mud and lauched several missiles of earth at him, all of which hit. Sasuke took this chance to attack.

He threw two kunais eith wires attached at the stunned ninja, both of which hit him.

'Now's my chance!' Sasuke exclaimed, performing several handseals, ending with the Tiger Seal, 'Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu!'

The wire lit up in flames as did the Grass-nin. But after a few seconds, the man was replaced by a charring pile of mud. Sasuke turned around to see the man's eyes looking down on him and paralysing him. Kiba came at him with another Tsuuga, but the man dodged it. He now stood, standing on the bark of a tree.

'Are you okay, Uchiha?' Kiba asked, panting heavily.

'You are all so naïve; haven't I shown you that even ones such as yourselves cannot beat me; Orochimaru?' the man went on to laugh.

'Naruto, now!' the sudden shout of Shikamaru was heard, using his family's technique on the man; "Orochimaru", 'I can't hold on much longer!'

Naruto looked from Kiba to Shikamaru and started to perform several seals in extremely quick motions befor ending it by grabbing his right wrist. The blonde leapt at Orochimaru, Shikamaru's warning still in his mind.

The most I can hold on to him is fifteen seconds, Naruto remembered.

'CHIDORI!' Naruto went on to thrust his hand into Orochimaru's chest just as he did to Kisame with all his might.

But the blow was caught by the bare hands of the man, making it almost fall apart from the speed, power and amount of chakra in the Chidori.

'You are too slow, brat, but I commend you.' he threw Naruto to one side, 'You all have done this much damage to my body; not that it matters… I leave Sasuke-kun in your care until next time we meet…'

He disappeared in a puff of smoke, Naruto staggering and clutching his right hand in pain. The man had almost crushed it when the Chidori was caught.

His body was feeling light and he felt that he could not move another inch. He dropped to the branch of the tree, losing touch with the world around him.

'Damn it…' Naruto cursed as he fell into the world of dreams.

'NARUTO!'