A/N: I don't own Naruto.

Naruto: The Greatest Hero

Chapter Eight: The Tower

Naruto stirred from his sleep. He had had a very good dream. He had dreamt that he was the Hokage of Konoha and people were recognising him from the person he was, not the Demon he carried. He slowly opened his eyes slowly and found out that it was already nighttime. Then, a figure came before him; his eyes widened.

It was the man who he had driven away with his friends; Orochimaru.

'YOU!' Naruto exclaimed before motioning for a shuriken, but his weapons pouch was gone and he had his right arm wrapped in bandages; it looked bad.

'So you are finally awake, child. Let me get your friends.' Orochimaru said.

Naruto's eyes widened; he was confused, the man he had fought before was being nice to him? Naruto looked over to his friends, Kiba, Shikamaru and Akamaru. They were sitting around a campfire, eating some fish he guessed that Kiba had caught.

Orochimaru came up to them and alerted them of Naruto's awakening. Kiba got up from his spot and went over to see his friend. Naruto's eyes widened even more when Kiba engulfed him in a bone crushing hug, crying all the while about how worried he had made him and Shikamaru and Akamaru. Naruto was trying to breathe as he cried.

'I am sure that your friend would be very pleased to see you as well after he has finally gained the oxygen back in his lungs, Kiba-kun.' Orochimaru said.

Kiba released his hold upon Naruto and they waited for a few seconds until Naruto had finally regained his breathing capabilities. Naruto then turned to Orochimaru.

'Why is he with us?' Naruto questioned, pointing to Orochimaru while facing Shikamaru, 'He's dangerous! Didn't you see how he almost killed us?'

'Naruto, you don't understand. He didn't attack us. His other self did.' Kiba said.

'Other self? What are you guys talking about?' Naruto questioned more.

'Orochimaru-san, would you please care to enlighten us again?' Shikamaru asked.

Orochimaru motioned them to sit down around the fire. Akamaru snuggled against his Master's lap and Naruto began scarfing down the extra fish that Kiba had caught.

'It all began almost three decades ago, when I was still a handsome young man,' Kiba sniggered as Shikamaru rolled his eyes, 'I was researching my in lab late one night on the Seals that the Konoha had. There were a great many seals but I was very interested in one very curious seal; the Kage Hebi Fuuin. It was one of the seals that originated from Cloud Country, from a Clan that died out in the First Great Ninja War. It was very interesting as it had very close relations by the treasure that is chased by all man; Immortality and Eternal Youth. I began researching it for years, trying to find out the power that it had. After another decade had passed, it was finally found out that this Seal was the Seal of Immortality. But I was foolish in pursuing its secrets, as I was literally turned insane one day by the study of that Seal.'

And that is where my own evil broke out of me; my teacher had told me about my dark side many times and I so foolishly ignored him. My other side took over my body, all the evil that I had sealed within myself had opened up into the world. I watched with my own eyes as my other self, the one who attacked your friend, slaughtered many ninjas to gain power to the Seal of Immortality. And I struggled in vain to regain my own body as my teacher accused me of slaughtering all those ninjas when he had found out the deeds that had been done. I have been asleep ever since, until,' Orochimaru gestured to Naruto, 'You woke me up, Naruto-kun. Your words reminded me of the reasons I became a ninja of Konoha; to protect my friends for they were all that remained in my heart. But I fear that with the evil that my other self has been doing, I don't think that they will trust me.'

Naruto looked at Orochimaru's face, seeing upon him the look of regret and sorrow.

'Then we just have to tell the ero-Kage that you're completely innocent.' Naruto said simply, sighing and getting up, 'Kiba, how long have I been asleep?'

'Two days; you suffered from extreme chakra exhaustion, Naruto, and Akamaru and I know that you're at least three days away from a full recovery.' Kiba said, 'You're unfit for a fight while you're like this; me and Shikamaru will take care of…'

'No.' Naruto said firmly, clutching his right fist as he got up, 'Kiba, Shikamaru; you both know what my answer will be. I am Team Captain of Team Seven and I will be damned if I were to watch my friends fight in my place, you know that.'

Orochimaru chuckled at the blonde's words, memories flooding into his head.

'You remind me of an old friend, Naruto-kun.' Orochimaru began after finishing his short chuckle, 'He was a bit of a handful back then, calling himself the Captain of our team. He was a loyal one, but quite distrusting and at most times, perverted. Me and him were rivals, somewhat, but we always laughed together and carried each other. I wonder…' Orochimaru looked skywards, 'If he will ever forgive me for all this…'

'You shouldn't bother on the past, Oro-san.' Naruto said, pulling up his facemask, 'It's not done me any good and I highly doubt it will do any to you. Live in the present and look forward, that's what my brother taught me.'

'Yes, I suppose that you're right, Naruto-kun…' Orochimaru replied.

'Oh yeah, Naruto, about Orochimaru-san,' Shikamaru began, hands in his pockets, 'Just what are we going to tell the Hokage that we just brought back a dead guy after all these years that actually murdered quite a few ninjas all that time ago?'

'The truth, of course, Shikamaru.' Naruto said, flexing his arms, 'Even if that old pervert does look tough, he's practically all jelly inside those old bones.'

'So you know Sarutobi-sensei personally, Naruto-kun?' Orochimaru asked.

'Not really that personally, but he has helped me out a lot of times before.'

'Oh yeah, Orochimaru-san, why do you call Hokage-sama Sarutobi-sensei?'

'Because I am one of his students; I am one of the Sannin.'

The next morning, the team set off to search for other teams with scrolls; they were quite unsuccessful, even with a fourth member that they had picked up during the Field Exam. They had been with a Sannin, one of the greatest ninjas that Konoha had produced; a student of the Sandaime Hokage. But there was a downside to the meeting; Orochimaru's tenketsus were sealed, Shikamaru had sensed. There was no chakra flow in the Sannin's body; the Sannin still had his speed, but he could not perform any Ninjutsu or Genjutsu. And it was fairly known that Orochimaru's Taijutsu was the worst in the Sannin; he relied mostly on Genjutsu and Ninjutsu.

'So you're practically saying that you are as vulnerable, if not more vulnaerable than Naruto right now?' Kiba raised an eyebrow as they leapt from a branch.

'Yes; my release from my other self had its consequences; my tenketsus are very damaged and the only thing that I can do is either sense chakra or dodge attacks.'

'Can you perform any summons? I heard you could summon snakes.' Kiba said.

'I can summon the contract, but I am still useless with the tenketsus sealed and I fear that the only way that they will open again is if…'

'You return to your other self?' Shikamaru finished for him; he nodded, 'Then if you can summon the contract, why not give it to another someone else, like Kiba?'

'Your friend already has a treaty with dogs. A treaty is different from contracts as in a treaty, all the members of the Clan by blood is to receive a creature. In this case, the dog that is with you. A contract is used with a Ninjutsu technique; Kuchiyose no Jutsu. Generally, a contract creature is more powerful than a treaty one.'

'What about Naruto? He's a bit exhausted on the chakra at the moment; he could use the help of the snakes. They don't take that much chakra do they?'

'No, they don't. But if I summon the contract, you will have to sign it in blood and endure a test that I doubt that Naruto would survive; I myself barely did.'

'I'll take the contract.' Naruto suddenly said, 'I don't want to be a burden to you guys for the rest of the Field Exam, besides,' Naruto grinned under his facemask, 'I wanna show it to my brother when I finish this; he'll be green with envy.'

'Are you sure, Naruto? The test is not really easy.' Orochimaru said.

Naruto nodded in Orochimaru's direction; the dark-haired man thought about this. The boy was strong, he had to admit, but he questioned whether he will be strong enough; the Contract of the Snakes was not one to play with.

They stopped in the middle of a clearing from Orochimaru's orders.

Orochimaru then started to perform several handseals, ending with the Horse Seal.

A long scroll of paper suddenly appeared before them in the air and suddenly dropped onto the ground; it was tied up in a black string. Orochimaru then opened the scroll before gesturing to Naruto to come over and sign in blood.

'Sign there, next to my name, Naruto-kun.' Orochimaru instructed.

Naruto did as he was told, biting his thumb with his sharp canines before drwing a spiral with it. Naruto stood for a while as the spiral turned into his name, now in black ink. Orochimaru then rolled up the scroll and did the seals in reverse, making the seals disappear. Naruto looked at the dark-haired man, who just sighed.

'Naruto, do as I do and call out the snake.' Orochimaru said, peforming some seals.

Naruto copied them perfectly before Orochimaru backed away from Naruto along with Kiba and Shikamaru, signalling him to go on with the move.

Suddenly, three blurs came at them, two went at Naruto and one went for Orochimaru. Kiba fended off the attack that came at Orochimaru, pushing them back. Naruto got hit by a blow to his jaw and to his back as he was not strong enough or chakra conscious to sense the presence or moves from the blurs.

Naruto slowly got up; he knew that he was slightly too weak to take on these people who stood before them, the Sound-nins from before. Dosu and Kin were in front of him, getting ready to kill. The girl was fingering two needles in her hands while Dosu was flexing his hands, eyeing Naruto with bloodlust. Kin looked calmer.

'We have orders from Orochimaru-sama to kill you, Uzumaki Naruto.' Dosu said.

'Heh, you were humiliated by me in the First Exam, what would make you think that this time would be any different?' Naruto smarted, grinning under the facemask.

'Orochimaru-sama has made sure that it would be different this time; he told us about your battle with him and if I am correct, you chakra reserves are only just recovering from that encounter with him. I estimate your supply to be about a fifth of what it was, Uzumaki Naruto…' Dosu said, then charged at the blonde.

Naruto still had his reaction speed. He jumped upwards before blocking a blow from Kin. But he wasn't prepared for the next blow. Dosu used his metal gauntlet and used it, making Naruto almost throw up as Kabuto did from the effects.

Naruto kicked the girl away before landing ten feet away from them. His eyes then darted to his friends, who were trying to dodge the vortexes that Zaku were throwing at them. Naruto knew that they could not hold out long and that he could not possibly perform a technique that would consume all his chakra other that the Snake Summon.

'Damn it!' Naruto cursed as he dodged the needles thrown by Kin.

From behind, Dosu came at Naruto with a kick, sending him back a few feet.

I can't perform the Kage Senpuu; there's two of them, and I can't perform any Ninjutsu because my chakra is only just starting to refill, Naruto thought.

Naruto had to perform the technique that he had wanted to perform earlier.

He quickly performed the handseals that were required and slammed his left palm into the ground as Dosu and Kin came up to him. Then, there was a big explosion and an extremely large cloud of smoke appeared, reaching for the skies.

A gigantic snake appeared before the Sound-nins and Naruto's team and Orochimaru. It was a fiery orange in colour measured for a length of length of almost six hundred feet. The snake took up almost two-thirds of the field.

'What? A snake?' Zaku looked on, fearful of the giant serpent.

'I should have chosen this snake a long time ago instead of Manda.' Orochimaru said, smirking at the creature Naruto had brough before them, 'Mitojin, the King of the Fire Snakes. Naruto, I hope that you pass the test he has put for you.'

'Who dares call on me?' the snake demanded, looking at the surroundings and finding Orochimaru, 'Orochimaru; you called me here? I will never forgive you for humiliating me when I so kindly put my services before you. You chose Manda!'

'Hey, snake! I called you here! Not him!' Naruto called out.

'You?' the snake pondered this for a moment, 'I sense you are telling me the truth, boy. But I do not know for sure, meanwhile, tell me what you wish me to do.'

'I don't have enough chakra to perform anymore techniques, snake, so I called you to help me beat up these guys.' Naruto gestured to the Sound-nins on the ground.

'Oh, is that all?' Mitojin questioned before looking down to the fearful Sound-nins, 'Very well, boy, I offer you my services for this time, but after this battle you are to answer my question. If you get it wrong, I will burn your Summoning Contract.'

Naruto nodded as the snake reared its head and tried to crush Dosu.

'Too easy for me!' Dosu cried before he looked into the snakes eyes.

Suddenly, Dosu burst up in flames, screaming in agony before rolling around on the ground in an effort to put the flames out. Zaku looked on as his teammate slowly got up after a few moments, burns eminent on his body. Naruto looked at the girl, Kin, who was just plain shocked from the events. She stood there, shocked at the heavy damage the snake had inflicted to Dosu. Orochimaru stood there, shocked as well.

'I did not expect for the King of Fire Snakes to be so powerful…' Orochimaru said.

Naruto panted as he stood on the giant snake; the chakra he had used to summon the snake was more than he expected. He was down to less than a tenth of his capacity.

Zaku left Kiba and Shikamaru and went at Naruto, Naruto jumped off the snake, dodging the attacks of Zaku, who smiled gleefully as Kin appeared behind Naruto, stabbing him in the ribs with a needle. Naruto winced in pain as he grabbed hold of the girl's wrist and threw her at Zaku. The snake then reared the two ninjas.

'Doujutsu: Kadou no Hebi.' it said, setting the other two ninjas aflame.

There were snakes surrounding them, made of fire. Zaku tried to put them out.

'ZANKUUHA!' Zaku shouted, blowing the fire snakes away before looking up to the giant snake one last time before fainting along with his teammate.

Naruto was fatigued; he turned to Dosu, who was badly injured from the fight.

'Looks like that leaves just you and me, bandage boy.' Naruto said, grimacing.

Dosu did not know what to do; he was at a clear disadvantage.

'Wait; I'll hand you our Earth Scroll, let us leave in peace.'

Kiba looked opposed to the idea, as did Shikamaru. Naruto nodded.

Dosu handed Naruto te Earth Scroll, which he accepted silently.

The Sound ninjas left, leaving Naruto, Orochimaru and the rest.

'Now that I have helped you defeat your enemies, boy, you must take my test.'

'Yeah, I forgot about the test, snake. Tell me who you are first.'

'I am the King of the Fire Snakes; Mitojin.' the snake replied, eyeing Naruto, 'And now, you must face my test! Fail and you will never summon me again!'

Suddenly, two coils of earth came out of the ground and tied Shikamaru, Kiba and Orochimaru. Naruto stood in shock before turning back to the snake, angry.

'What are you doing to them; let them go!' Naruto shouted.

'This is your test, boy; you must choose which one of these taste the best for my royal tongue; fail, and I will devour you and all your friends here. Which one will taste the best, boy? Choose.' Mitojin asked, eyeing the three of them.

'Stop; what gave you the right to eat any of them?' Naruto questioned.

'You summoned me, everything has its price; now tell me which one of these will taste the best for my tongue; and don't even think that you can stop me. Right now, you are much too weak, and your wounds are opened up.' Mitojin said.

Naruto gritted his teeth before looking down to the ground, whispering something.

'What was that, boy? I did not hear you; speak louder.'

'Eat me;' Naruto said, looking up into the eyes of the giant snake, 'Just… don't hurt my comrades. Anyways, Kiba and Shikamaru don't taste so good. They're sweaty.'

The coils of earth started releasing its hold on them, Shikamaru looked to Naruto.

'Naruto, what are you doing? You'll…' Shikamaru couldn't finish his words.

'Hey, you damn snake! Who do you think gave the right for you to eat him?'

'What? I saved your lives, didn't I? You owe them to me.' Mitojin said.

'Guys, I'm really sorry; looks like you'll fail this time. But there's always…'

Kiba punched Naruto, making him fly a few feet away from him.

'Stop trying to act all heroic!' Kiba barked at him, then turned to the snake, 'You don't want to eat Naruto, he's all pig flavoured; he'll make you fat; eat me!'

'What are you talking about, Kiba? I taste the best among you guys.'

Shikamaru came up next to Kiba, smiling. Naruto got up, angry at them.

'Back off, both of you! I summoned him here; I should be the one!'

The three started to get into an argument of sorts. The snake suddenly laughed after a few minutes passed of the two of them bickering about who will be eaten.

'What's so funny, you stupid snake?' Kiba suddenly barked at the laughing serpent.

'Nothing.' the snake said, before nearing Naruto, 'You pass, boy. You have shown me what I wanted out of you; you have proven that you value your comrades and friends as ninjas above all else. You have proven yourself worthy of my services as well as my subordinates and children. Summon us anytime and we will assist.'

The snake suddenly disappeared in a giant cloud of smoke, leaving behind a trio of confused, relieved and slightly tired genins and Orochimaru.

'Well, we got our second scroll. Why don't we get going to the tower?' Naruto said.

'Yeah, let's go before we encounter anymore characters.' Kiba replied.

'And remember about Orochimaru-sama; we'll have to tell the Hokage too.'

Naruto and Kiba nodded to Shikamaru. The blonde then approached Orochimaru.

'Oro-san, we're leaving now.' Naruto said simply before leaping into the bushes.

Orochimaru followed him first, followed by Kiba and Shikamaru.

'I wonder, Naruto. How could that guy command the Sound ninjas?' Kiba said.

'He could have threatened them, but I doubt that they would have followed his orders when he was in that state. But my biggest hunch is…' Shikamaru started.

'That he himself is a Sound ninja.' Naruto finished for Shikamaru, nodding.

'Do you know anything about your other self, Orochimaru-sama?' Kiba asked.

'Not really, Kiba-kun, because I have been dormant for the last decade, I cannot remember anything that happened after that.' Orochimaru said seriously.

'Never mind about that, guys; we'll just reach the Hokage and explain everything.'

Naruto really did have a way to make things very simple. The team and Orochimaru leapt from tree to tree until they reached the tower, having not really encountered any dangers or opponents. Kiba had a feeling in his gut that the genins were either very scared of Naruto's actions when he went to face off against their examiner, or they had just went too fast for the genins to get them. The walked toward one entrance.

Suddenly, two Anbu and their examiner appeared before them; the female examiner appeared to have a very serious look and a grin plastered to her face.

'Orochimaru, we have finally found you! Alert the other Anbu!' one Anbu barked.

'Wait; there's something different about him.' Anko suddenly said, gesturing her left arm to make sure that the Anbu would not do as the other Anbu ordered, 'His eyes; they don't have the slits in them anymore, what happened?'

'Let me take a look, Anko-san.' the Anbu did the same seals for the Byakugan and what he found shocked him, 'His tenketsus are all sealed, no chakra activity at all.'

Anko eyed the genin with the long blonde hair and facemask, almost glaring.

'I know that you know what happened; explain.' she ordered.

'He's the real Orochimaru.' Naruto explained, gesturing his thumb to the man who stood behind him, 'There's another guy that just looks like him, he's just evil.'

'I don't believe that I understand what you just said, but I am going to take all of you to the Hokage; he'll know what to do about this mess.' Anko finished.

The one word that could have described the Sandaime Hokage's face when he saw his former student, missing for many years appearing before him with a grin on his face was "shocked"; the word was an understatement, but it was the closest thing that could describe him. The Hokage was completely oblivious to the three genin whho entered the room along with Anko and two Anbu. Naruto made him notice by shouting in to the shocked old man's ear in a voive loud enough to rumble a hill.

'What do you think that you are doing, you idiot!' Sarutobi faced Naruto.

'You were like a statue for a good five minutes, old man.' Naruto replied.

'It's good to see you again, Sarutobi-sensei. Please forgive me for coming in like this.' Orochimaru said and bowed before walking up to his former teacher.

'What are you doing here, Orochimaru?' Sarutobi began, facing the man.

Naruto spoke in his place, not minding the looks the two Anbu and Anko gave him.

'He's been dormant for the past decade, old man. I don't know the whole story even though that he himself had told me; I was too lazy to bother.'

Orochimaru then started to tell his tale of the Seal of Immortality and his other self taking over his body and performed all those misdeeds upon Konoha. He also told him about Naruto and his friends waking him up from his state.

'So you're saying that your other self is causing all these things from before?' the Hokage tried to confirm, Orochimaru nodded, 'I told you that sometimes curiousity would not be a good thing for you, Orochimaru, but did you listen? No, you did not.'

'You knew, didn't you, Sarutobi-sensei?' Orochimaru began, slightly grinning, 'That it could not have been me perform in all those things. That is why you let me go. You knew that it was not me, and at the same time it was.'

'Not really, Orochimaru; I still did intend to kill you, but now…' Sarutobi smiled to his former student warmly, 'I realise what a mistake I would have made.'

The former student and teacher pair hugged each other, happy to see one another.

'Well, I would like to congratulate you three boys for finally ending an S-ranked mission that has gone on for longer than I could remember.' Sarutobi said.

'We just finished an S-ranked mission?' Kiba stood there gaping at the Hokage's words as Shikamaru and Naruto's eyes widened at the realisation.

'Wow, I didn't think that we were actually doing something important.' Naruto said.

'We just finished an S-ranked mission… S-ranked mission…' Kiba repeated.

'Well, you boys are still in the Chuunin Exam, if I am correct?' Sarutobi said as the three genins nodded dumbly, 'I wish you the best of luck, I have faith in you. Anko, would you mind showing these boys to their temporary living quarters?'

'Of course, Hokage-sama.' Anko said to the old man, then turned to the three genins that stood before her, 'Follow me; I'll show you where the living quarters are.'

The three of them and Anko bade goodbye to the Hokage and Orochimaru before following Anko to their room. Anko left them at the door; the three genin entered the room and saw what made them think that Konohagakure no Sato was very rich.

There were three beds, a balcony that viewed the forest and some quite comfortacle-looking couches and chairs, the lighting was just perfect and there was a bookcase in one corner that held several books and magazines, including "Make-Out Paradise".

Naruto sat down on on the foot of one bed, feelin quite sleepy from their ordeal in the forest. Kiba did the same thing as Naruto, sitting at the foot of his bed. Shikamaru was slightly interested in the set of shougi that was on one table.

'So any of you guys up for a game?' Shikamaru asked his teammates.

'Sure, I'm bored; I could use a good game of shougi.' Naruto replied.

Naruto sat down on the opposite side of the table as Shikamaru flexed his knuckles out of habit and motioned for Naruto to take the first move. Kiba saw that there was nothing else to do, so he watched his friends begin their match of wits.

The match was starting off and after a few good moves, Naruto and Shikamaru were in a tight deadlock. Fifteen minutes passed in silence as the two ninjas were locked in a battle of wits. Shikamaru was the one with the advantage, of course, having a higher level mind; but Naruto was not really that easy to beat. Even with his lower intellect, Naruto had proved himself to be a very good analyst of the situation; he could turn around any game in his favour after seeing just a single move made.

Shikamaru loved to have Naruto as one of his shougi partners, but none of their games had ever finished thanks to the extremely long hours of strategizing.

As Shikamaru began to do his next move, he saw that Naruto was intently gazing at the board; Shikamaru figured that he was searching for a hole in his wall.

But the lazy genius was not one to be reckoned with in a game of shogi; Shikamaru had made sure that his offence and defence strategies went according to plan. Shikamaru moved the next piece as Kiba watched the game intently. There was such a huge difference between Naruto and Shikamaru; Shikamaru being of a higher level in the intellectual sense, but the blonde looked like he was picking up the pace with him.

Naruto stood still for a while as his the time passed by, thinking his next move.

Naruto made his move and grinned at Shikamaru under his facemask. Shikamaru's eyes widened at the move that Naruto had made. He had never expected that, he had to revert to another strategy; there was no way that he could make a clean victory out of this. Shikamaru leaned back and put his hands in a circle; his preferred thinking position. Kiba grinned; it was over for Naruto if Shikamaru had used that position to think his next move. To Kiba, he definitely knew the outcome for Shikamaru: victory.

'Well, Naruto, it's been a nice game, but I guess I'll have to end it now.'

Shikamaru placed his piece where he desired it to be and leaned back in his chair.

Naruto looked from the board to Shikamaru's smirking face than to Kiba's face, which clearly signalled to him to just give up the game. Naruto grinned.

'Well, Shikamaru, I guess that you have ended the game.'

Shikamaru looked on in horror as Naruto did his move. Kiba was disbelieving.

'Wow, nice move, Naruto.' Shikamaru grimaced; Naruto had caught up with him.

'Yeah, but I'm not going to win, but I'm still giving you a fight, eh?'

Shikamaru could not help but smile as the two boys continued their game.

This was it; the teams that have made it through the Field Exam lined up in a large examination hall as their teachers just looked at their students; proud that they had made it this far. Naruto stood with his three friends; all lined up in between Team Eight and the Sand-nins. Before the Examination Hall, there stood twenty-one genins; some of them had just made it just in time. Teams Seven, Eight and Ten from Konoha stood proudly in their places, as the other teams from Konoha, Neji's team and Kabuto's team, stood stoic and unmoving in their places. The Sound-nins had made it as well at the last minute before the Field Exam ended.

'Looks like your team made it through the Field Exam too.'

Hatake Kakashi, Maito Gai, Yuuhi Kurenai and several other Jounin Instructors were standing on the railing watching their students. Kakashi and Kurenai had been reported to by the Hokage that their teams had encountered Orochimaru's other self.

Kurenai was plain shocked that the two teams had made it out alive against him.

Kakashi had expected no less from his little brother's tactical abilities.

Sandaime Hokage had also introduced them to the real Orochimaru; a man who just looked scary, but was about as nice as the Hokage himself. The Hokage had also warned them to keep an eye out for Orochimaru's other self. Kakashi and Kurenai had left the Hokage's office in the tower wanting to get a personal account on the encounter from their own students. They wanted to know how they had done it and what could be learned from the encounter with the ninja.

The Hokage now stood before them, the proctors for the examination were there as well, as was the examiner for the Field Exam, Anko. Kiba fidgeted nervously.

'I must first congratulate you on passing the Field Exam; you all deserve to be here, proving that you are among the best that have entered this examination. But now I have to tell you the true reason that the Chuunin Exam was held.' Sarutobi said as the genins wore confused looks on their faces, 'It is to prove which among the Five Shinobi Countries grows the best ninjas. We are all opposed to a war despite our anger, but such rivalry between the countries cannot be avoided. That is why we held this exam; to prove which country has the best army.'

There was a mixture of confusion and anger between most of the genins. Anger because they had just discovered that they were just like racehorses that bets were placed on. Confusion because that they did not know what would happen next.

'Excuse me, Hokage-sama, but may I so humbly request that I begin the preliminary rounds for the Third Stage of the Chuunin Exam.' a sick-looking jounin asked.

'Very well, Hayate, you may begin the Preliminaries.' Sarutobi said, nodding.

The jounin turned around to the genins as the Hokage walked away from them.

'Good day, I am your examiner for the preliminary rounds of the Chuunin Exams, Gekkou Hayate, we will begin individual fights, as a rule, the winner of the match will go through to the Third Stage of the exam. We will begin soon, but first…' Hayate surveyed the genins, 'Is there anyonw who would like to give up before the Preliminary Round starts? I will need an even number of ninjas; is there anyone who would like to give up and withdraw; this won't affect your teams.'

'I withdraw, Examiner.' Kabuto had raised his hand before walking away.

Everybody looked on as Kabuto walked away from them, seemingly uncaring.

'Alright, let's get started. Join your instructor on the railings until your name is shown on the screen there,' Hayate gestured to a black screen, 'You will face you opponent in one-on-one combat. Now please clear the arena.'

The genins all walked up to the railing to join their instructors.

'Well, congratulations on beating the Field Exam, you three.' Kurenai said.

'Thanks, Kurenai-sensei; with a team like ours, we can beat anybody.' Kiba said.

Naruto nodded while Shikamaru gave a slight grin. They then eyed the monitor.

'I wonder who's going to go down there first?' Naruto questioned.

The screen then lighted up in blue and started scrolling through names.

'Nara Shikamaru versus Kankuro; please come down.' Hayate announced.

Shikamaru sighed while his opponent just casually walked down the railing.

Me against the puppet guy, eh? How troublesome… Shikamaru thought.

Shikamaru just casually jumped off the railing and landed on the ground. Hayate stood between them, coughing slightly. Shikamaru looked to his opponent; he was the same one that Naruto had humiliated in the park two and a half weeks ago.

'Begin.' Hayate said, signalling for the fight to start.

The two of them stood there, unmoving; they were having a glaring contest; that much the people could tell from their view. Shikamaru, meanwhile, was thinking about his strategy as he watched his opponent intently.

'I don't know much about you, pineapple head, but I can tell from your looks that you are either a very fast one or a very weak one.' Kankuro taunted.

Shikamaru did not answer, he was too busy calculating the fight. He knew that he could not attack head on; he neede to make sure that his opponent did not know about his family's technique; he had the element of surprise, however slight, with him. Shikamaru made a note to himself to thank Naruto for revealing all the information about Kankuro the day that he had met him. The spectator's grew tense.

I guess that that move is the only thing that I've got with me, Shikamaru thought.

Shikamaru took out a kunai and threw it at Kankuro. Kankuro merely dodged it. The brunette came charging at Kiba, a kunai in his hand. Kankuro dodged away from Shikamaru; he had average ninja speed, while Kankuro was quite slow, having only learned the basic ninja skills other than his puppeteering techniques.

Shikamaru leapt upwards, spinning and tried to slash at Kankuro.

'What is Shikamaru doing? He's usually not this reckless at taking on an opponent.'

Naruto's puzzled expression meant that he too was not familiar with the way that Shikamaru was executing this; he was a passive character, dodging attacks until he had the opponent within range of his family's technique. Kiba looked on.

'I don't know, but maybe; just maybe, he has a plan up his sleeve.' Kurenai said.

Shikamaru was performing some very fast attacks, which were depleting his stamina rather rapidly; he had always been lazy, that was why he was getting tired fast. Kankuro leapt away from his opponent, smirking at Shikamaru.

'Hmph. You're not really very fast or weak. You're just an average ninja. I'll have you know; that your friend only beat me by luck that day.' Kankuro said.

Shikamaru did not look into Kankuro's eyes for a while. He suddenly smirked.

'No. You lost fair and square; you saw how you lost control over your own tool.' Shikamaru hit back, grinning, 'To put it simple, you're just using your puppets to scare off your opponents. You're nothing without their protection.'

Kankuro stood there, fuming at Shikamaru's words as Temari looked on.

'Don't lose your cool, Kankuro; you need to win this one.'

'Yeah.' Kankuro said, smirking at his opponent, 'You may be right, I may be nothing without my puppets; but with them I will never lose. Why? Because I am a puppet master. I control them; I don't need any other skills such as Ninjutsu. With my puppets, all my opponents aill just fall to the ground like flies.'

Shikamaru stood still for a second, then smirked in return.

'Alright, let me show you a skill that Naruto taught me; Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!'

Three other Shikamaru's appeared, all wearing the same smirk as him.

'Naruto, when did you teach him that move?' Kiba asked, wide-eyed.

'When we were still training. He can use it very well.' Naruto said.

Kurenai looked on at the technique Shikamaru had used.

But, Shikamaru's chakra is very limited; he cannot last long by using that technique as it divides the chakra equally among the three Shadow Clones, Kurenai thought.

'Eh? Kage Bunshin no Jutsu? You can use such a technique? Doesn't matter, victory will be mine, anyway.' Kankuro said, grinning like a madman.

Three Shikamaru's came at Kankuro as he suddenly unleashed several extra arms, knocking aside the three, before one more Shikamaru came at him, the arms took hold of this Shikamaru. The spectators looke puzzled at the happenings.

'You're so stupid to come so close to Karasu.' "Kankuro" said.

'That one is a puppet. The real Kankuro is…' Kiba could not finish.

The arms binded Shikamaru as the real Kankuro came out of the wrappings.

'You're really so stupid; I overestimated you.' Kankuro smirked.

From the railings, Naruto smirked. As did Kiba and Kurenai.

Kankuro looked on as the Shadow Clones started to turn to smoke.

But one did not turn to smoke, however, as Shikamaru, in the puppets' arms, smirked before turning to smoke. Kankuro's eyes widened; he could not move.

'You fell for my trap.' Shikamaru said from behind Kankuro.

'What? I see.' Kankuro grimaced, 'You've really thought about this from the start.'

'Yeah, you could say that; my offensive movements were to make you underestimate me, I could have used the Kage Mane no Jutsu on you, but I would still miss. Also, I knew that it was a puppet from the start because there was no bead of sweat on them or any form of respiration. I knew I had to draw you out; and this is where it had lead us.' Shikamaru explained as onlookers were impressed.

'Fine. I guess that you've one this time.' Kankuro grimaced, 'I give up.'

Shikamaru released his hold on Kankuro as Hayate announced the winner.

'Victor; Nara Shikamaru.'