Chapter Seven
Anakin and Sakura are walking up to their team's training ground. It's been a few weeks since their date and things have been good for the new couple. Nothing has changed much for the couple except for the occasional night out and various kissing sessions. Needless to say that Issillda willingly left back to her sisters whenever those sessions even remotely looked like it might start. The wistie isn't the only summon that Anakin got to meet. He got some advice from Kakashi about reversed summoning after learning the masked jonin had a summon contract for dogs. Anakin decided the best way to figure out all he could summon and meet them was to be reversed summoned to where they all are. Shocked is an understatement when he arrived. He decided that it'd be too much trouble to say and describe all he could summon to the Hokage, so he thought it'd be funnier to leave it a surprise for everyone. Sakura now sports a sword of her own that is strapped to her lower back to easily get a reverse grip on it. They arrive at the grounds with a waiting Kurenai and Shino.
"How's my favorite genin couple doing today?" Their sensei asks.
"We are your only genin couple," Anakin replies.
She cracks a smile, "Still my favorite."
"So what are we doing today Master?" Anakin asks.
"We aren't doing anything today." She pulls out three sheets of paper and hands one to each of her genin. "I nominated you three for the chunin exams. If you wish to take it, fill this out and attend. That is all for today, so I'll let you all do what you need to do to get ready if you enter it." She vanishes leaving a swirl of leaves. The three genin look over their forms.
"Well I didn't expect that," Sakura states.
"Me neither. I figured she'd wait until the next one to allow us to take it," Anakin agrees.
Shino puts the paper in his pocket, "She wouldn't have nominated us if she didn't think we could handle it."
Sakura nods at this, "True enough. We haven't had anything like the Wave for our last few missions, so I haven't gotten to properly test my sword arm yet. Bandits are just too easy to deal with even without it."
"Careful Sweetness," Anakin tells her. "Arrogance and overconfidence can be a dangerous weakness. It has been the downfall of many powerful men throughout the years."
"Well good thing I am no man," Sakura pokes her tongue at him.
Anakin shakes his head, "To quote Shikamaru 'you are very troublesome'."
She hops over and pecks his cheek. "Whatever do you mean?" Sakura asks in an innocent voice.
"What am I to do with you?" He asks, wrapping his arm around her waist.
"Ahem," a voice sounding like Shino calls to them. "Please keep it at a G rating in public please, or at least around me. Do the rest of the ratings behind closed doors."
They immediately break away blushing and sputtering some form of apology. Shino then leaves them but in the span of a second, a faint smirk could have been seen that someone would have thought was a genjutsu. The pair then stand awkwardly for a moment before Anakin offers his hand. Sakura with a smirk, fakes an embarrassed expression, "Hand holding? That's the highest form of lewdness. Whatever would Shino say?" She quickly takes the hand.
Anakin smirks back, "Well luckily for us, he isn't here and neither are we in public." They then take a relaxing stroll through the village arms linked.
The team eight trio stand in front of the academy where the Chunin Exams start. They all give one nod to each other and venture inside. They immediately see a bunch of people trying to push their way into a room. What confuses them is that for some reason the room number they are supposed to go to is supposed to be on the next floor, so why is the room number on this floor? Their answer is delivered from a raven haired boy.
"Idiots, that's obviously a genjutsu." Sasuke shouts loud enough for everyone to hear.
Sakura sighs and plants her head into the hand that is not currently linked with Anakin's. "What did I ever see in him?"
Sasuke's head swings around in a scowl, "What do you mean by that? I was just calling out the idiots who couldn't figure out a simple genjutsu trick."
"Don't you think that was the point? This is the chunin exam, if they couldn't figure it out then they obviously aren't qualified to be one." Anakin backs his girlfriend up. He waves to Naruto and Hinata by their teammate.
Sasuke just clicks his tongue, but someone in a green jumpsuit cuts through before anything else can be said. "You're Sasuke Uchiha right? My name is Rock Lee! I heard you are really strong, I must challenge you to a spar only using taijutsu!"
They all turn to the genin with a black bowl cut haircut and thick eyebrows. Sasuke just grins, "Sure why not? You seem like a good warmup for me."
"Are you sure that's a good idea 'clan head'?" Anakin asks. "Sure your taijutsu is pretty good, but it's made for using the Sharingan and you are more of a ninjutsu user. Assuming he is asking for only taijutsu would mean he favors it more. You'd be at a disadvantage."
"Shut up! I will not be belittled by the only other Uchiha in the village." Sasuke spits out. "Besides I don't see you stepping up to fight him."
"I know my strengths and they don't involve fighting with only my bare fist with an expert. He would most likely win against me in a slug fest." Anakin explains.
Lee looks over to Anakin, "It's truly commendable to admit your weaker points and stay within your strengths. I would have liked to spar with you afterwards since you are also an Uchiha, but I will respect your decision to not fight. If you ever wish to practice getting your taijutsu better than let me know so we can possibly revisit this in the future."
Anakin nods to Lee, "Thank you. I tend to practice with Hinata, but sparing a non-Hyuga might do some good for me. I'll let you know."
Lee gets fires in his eyes, "Yosh! I will be looking forward to it. Now Sasuke, let us not delay any longer." The two begin their spar.
"Come on, let's get going to the exam room before these two make a mess down here." Anakin tells his teammates.
Team Eight heads up the stairs and are greeted by Kurenai at the top. "Good to see you guys made it together. I had little doubts that you wouldn't. I came here to wish you guys luck and to see you off. The room is just right there." She points the way and the genin heads that way after saying goodbyes. They enter the room and see it filled with all kinds of ninja from various villages. Team Ten sees them come in and make their way down to greet them.
"Sakura, Anakin, Shino. It's good to see you make it." Choji calls them.
Anakin cracks a smile, "Shikamaru, Choji it's been too long!"
"Yeah we haven't seen each other since the academy." Shikamaru says.
"What do you mean? You saw us weeks ago."
Team Ten stops cold. "Whatever do you mean?"
"Oh come on guys, it was hard not to notice you all stalking us on our date." Sakura answers.
"Well… um…" Ino starts to say.
"What's the matter Ino-pig, nothing to say?" Sakura mocks.
"What was that Forehead!" Ino says angrily. They stare at each other before their faces soften and they start laughing together.
Anakin looks fondly at them, "It's good to see them as friends again. They are much better this way."
"It's just troublesome," Shikamura says, though his face is claiming otherwise.
A bark grabs Anakin's attention towards it, "Kiba! It's been too long as well. How have you been doing?"
Kiba with Akamaru on his head joins the group, "I've been good thanks for asking. Honestly I didn't think I was going to be able to be here."
"Why do you say that?"
"Well unlike your guy's teams, I don't have any clan heirs nor members on mine. The two that I'm stuck with just aren't ninja material. I was for sure my sensei would never allow us to participate." Kiba explains. Anakin tries to remember who was placed on Kiba's team, but no names nor faces come to mind, not even the jonin teaching them. He just wrote them off as some forgettable people that probably won't be a concern for anyone after the exams. Kiba's voice breaks his train of thought, "Hey now everyone is here."
The group turns to see Team Seven come into the room with a worn out Sasuke. The Uchiha glares at Anakin, "Don't say a damn thing." Ino runs over to him and starts fussing the heir about dates and his current state, much to his dismay.
Anakin tries to hide his smile, "I don't possibly know what you are talking about."
"You guys shouldn't cause a scene. You may become the target of everyone in this room." A new voice comes in from a guy with glasses.
"And you are you?" Sasuke asks.
The guy adjusts his glasses, "My name is Kabuto. I figured you guys might want some advice from someone who has taken the exams before."
Naruto tilts his head, "You've taken the chunin exams before?"
"Yes this will be my fifth time," Kabuto answers.
"You must be weak then," Sasuke grunts. "Why should we take your advice then?"
"The exams are just that tough. Besides, information is what I am best at." Kabuto takes out a deck of cards. "These cards carry information about everyone in this room. Say who you wish to know about and I'll reveal what information there is about them."
"Anakin Uchiha, Gaara of the Sand, and Rock Lee." Sasuke replies.
Kabuto gets a look of curiosity at the mention of Anakin, but pulls out three cards. "Let's see Anakin Uchiha. 'Completed over a hundred D-rank missions, four C-rank, one B-rank, and one A-rank!' Wow for being so fresh from the academy, that's shocking to know."
"You've been on an A-rank mission?" Kiba asks, surprised along with Team Ten.
"Yes, Team Seven's C-rank turned into an A-rank and my team was sent to back them up." Anakin comments.
Kabuto shrugs, "Well I guess the best way to handle an A-rank mission is to throw a couple of Uchihas at it. Anyways there is more to the card assuming someone else doesn't interrupt. 'Although he failed the academy exam, the Hokage gave him along with Naruto Uzumaki a field promotion after foiling a plot to betray the village and ranking it a B-rank mission. His kenjutsu is good enough to hold out against Zabuza, a user of the Sharingan, rumored to have a summons but has not used it in battle, and has a weird unknown power called the Force.' Uh not much is mentioned about it. 'And is almost always seen alongside with-'" The card along with the deck is sliced up in a blink of an eye.
Anakin sheaths his sword, "I think that is enough of that. I'm told a ninja's best weapon is secrecy and I will not have anything that can be used against me revealed." He cast a fire jutsu to burn the remains of the cards.
A booming voice enters the room, "And right you are. The less your enemy knows, the less they will be able to win. Information is everything to a ninja whether it be hiding it or finding it. There may yet be a hope for you to become a shinobi. Now go be seated so we can begin." All the genin obeys the man with scars on his face. "Good, now my name is Ibiki Morino and I am the proctor of the first part of the exam. The paper you are being given is the test you will take for my part. If you are caught cheating then it will dock points for your team. After your team has been caught a few times then the whole team will fail and be escorted out. There are nine questions and I will ask the tenth when we are done. Any questions? Good. You have only an hour, now begin."
Anakin looks down at his test to see that all the questions are extremely tough. How are genin supposed to know how to answer these? He eyes around and sees that everyone is thinking the same thing, except for a few that look too old to be genin. He thinks it over before figuring it out. The reason Ibiki made his speech about information is because that is the name of the game here. Well it seems like Sakura has no trouble and Shino is using one of his bugs to get information. So Anakin getting caught cheating once won't hurt their overall score of being kicked out. He prods the mind of the fake genin before finding an undercover chunin with a relatively weak mind. He waves his hands to the chunin once she is done with her test, "You will erase your name and give me your test." Everyone stops and looks at the black and white haired boy in confusion. To their surprise, the 'genin' obeys and gives him her test and takes his blank one. He quickly writes his name on the completed test and leans back.
Ibiki goes from shocked to an amused chuckle, "In all my years I have never seen nor heard anything like that happening in the chunin exams. I will be docking points, but you can consider me impressed. However if I see anyone else try doing something like that then I won't be so lenient. So everyone else back to work! We still have twenty minutes left!" The rest of the exam goes on with a few teams getting caught cheating and leaving. At the end Ibiki speaks up again, "Alright now time for the tenth question. I will say that you must think very carefully before you answer this question. For if you get it wrong, then you will be forever banned from taking the chunin exams."
One of the genin speaks up, "That's not a thing. There are tons of people in here that have taken the exams before and never had this."
"Well this is my exam and what I say will go. Now I will be nice enough and let anyone who doesn't want to take the risk to leave. You will fail this chunin exam if you do, but you will be allowed to take future ones." He claims. A few teams take the offer and leave. Naruto looks like he wants to say something, but Anakin shoots a knowing glance at the blond to stop him in his tracks. Soon half the room remains and Ibiki gives a smile. "Congrats on everyone staying! You all passed the first part of the exam!"
"But what about the tenth question?" Another genin asks.
"There is no tenth question. That was a test to your resolve. You will be given missions where there are great risks, but are expected to complete them anyways. You all that stayed have shown that you have that resolve." The group groans, but happy to pass. "Now I will turn you over to-" A woman jumps in through a window cutting him off.
"My name is Anko Mitarashi and I will be the proctor of the second exam! Man there are still a lot left, you didn't do a very good job weeding them down." The woman says.
Ibiki shrugs, "What can I say? We have a good lot this year."
"Well I will cut their number in half! You all meet me at training ground forty-four!" She jumps back through the broken window and the genin quickly makes their way towards the training field. Anko waits for them to file in front of the fence line before speaking. "Alright good to see you all made it. Now this training field is known as 'The Forest of Death'. It has all sorts of animals and bugs that would love nothing more than to kill you. Your objective for my test is simple. Each team will be given one of two scrolls. You are to obtain the other scroll you don't have and take both to the tower in the center. You are not to open the scrolls until then. Everyone will start at different positions and you can use whatever means you deem necessary to get the other scroll. I have a paper being passed around that is a death waver you must sign to take this test. It will claim that you know the risks and if you die then it is not the fault of the village."
"I have a bad feeling about this," Anakin says.
A kunai is thrown at him, but it stops inches away from cutting his cheek. Anko appears behind him though the kunai is quickly moved and cuts her cheek. "Well I never had someone flip my attack at me. Here I was hoping to taste your blood." Sakura frowns and tightens her hand around the grip of the sword that Anakin gifted her previously. Anko looks at her in amusement, "Oh how scary. It's a pity all the good ones are always already taken." She takes her kunai that a genin brought back to her and walks back to her former position. "Alright that distraction aside, you all will have three days to complete this. Now go to your spots so we can begin." All the genin head to their positions and rush into The Forest of Death at the signal. Team Eight quickly makes their way through the forest.
"So what is the plan?" Sakura asks, jumping from branches in the trees.
"First we study our environment. It'd be best to know our terrain before we fight in it. Then we track and ambush teams until we get the scroll we need. We should focus on getting done sooner than later. I get the feeling that if we take all three days then we won't have any chance to rest before the next test." Anakin explains.
"Seems logical enough. I will send my bugs ahead to scout for other teams." Shino tells them. A swarm leaves his sleeve and flies away in different directions.
"Any teams we should be wary of?" Sakura asks.
Anakin thinks it over, "Hmm, not sure. Couldn't get a very good read on anyone as of yet. Though there are a few that have an ominous presence to them. That one Sasuke wanted to know about, Gaara of the Sand, I can't put my finger on it but he has something that makes him very unsettling. We should probably avoid his team. Also probably avoid any Leaf teams. Especially Team Seven, Ten, and whatever team Rock Lee is on. If he can beat Sasuke then the rest of his team is probably just as strong or stronger."
"I agree." A bug comes back to Shino. "Oh, one of my bugs found a team by the river getting water."
Anakin grins, "Then let's give them a proper greeting to the Leaf." They follow Shino towards the team and positions themselves to attack. Anakin whispers to his teammates, "Alright here is the plan: I'm going to use a summon to grab their attention and we will attack them with their backs turned." They nod in agreement and Anakin begins the summoning. A cloud of smoke appears and then reveals an insect-like creature. It has scythe-like legs, sharp teeth, and a hard green exo-skeleton. Sakura keeps back a yelp while Shino stares in awe of it. Anakin turns to it, "You hungry?"
The acklay nods, "I'm always hungry."
Anakin points to the unaware team, "Help us get their scroll and they are all yours."
The acklay licks its lips and rushes towards its prey.
Sakura looks at him, "You can understand it?"
"Yes, with the Force I can understand most creatures. Some more than others though." Anakin explains, "I can go deeper into it some other time. We have a scroll to get." They rush out at the team that is scrambling to fight off the acklay. Its claws stab through the ground trying to catch its prey. Anakin and Sakura unsheathe their swords and stab the distracted genin while Shino immobile the third long enough for the acklay to stab him. They quickly search through the now dead team and find the scroll they need. Anakin calls to the acklay, "They are all yours buddy. Be sure to leave when you are finished eating." It nods before quickly biting into one of the dead bodies. They leave to let the creature eat in peace.
"So what was that?!" Sakura asks after getting some distance away from it.
"That was an acklay." Anakin states flatly.
"I never knew you could summon that as well. All we ever see you summon is Issillda and the other wisties."
"There was never a reason to summon the others. There's a wide range of what I can summon for almost every situation."
Shino's interest picks up, "So you have some bugs in there?"
Anakin nods, "Yeah. The acklay are distantly related to praying mantis, but there are a few others I have as well. Tell you what, I'll summon some for you to see after the exams are over." Shino begins to say something, but a giant white snake crashes through the tree line. The three backs away ready to engage it, but the snake starts expanding until it explodes with hundreds of Naruto flying out of it. They rush to the blonde. "Naruto, are you alright?" Anakin asks.
Naruto grunts getting up, "Yeah. Some weird girl suddenly attacked us and summoned the snake that swallowed me. I got to get back and help my team."
Anakin looks over to his teammates who were already ready to go along with him. He turns back to his friend, "We're coming with you."
"Thanks!" He then leads them to where he last saw his team. "She seemed really strong. She had the biggest killing intent I've ever felt. It pretty much paralyzed us. We got one hit on her, but she just did some weird skin shed like a snake and a pale white guy came out. After that the snake appeared and I ran into you guys." Naruto lowers his voice enough for only Anakin to hear, "Also I think that person messed with my seal somehow. My chakra is all sort of messed up and I feel anything fox related."
"That's concerning." Anakin says.
"Wait did you say the snake was a summons?" Sakura asks. Naruto nods so she continues, "There's only two snake summoners. One is Anko, the one watching over this part of the exam. The other is Orochimaru, one of the three sannin."
Anakin turns to her, "This is bad, like really bad. Even together we can't hope to fight a sannin."
"So what do we do?" Shino asks.
"The best we can hope for is to grab Sasuke and Hinata and try to escape with minimum damage. Worst case is someone having to stay behind to let the others escape." Anakin answers.
Sakura is quick to pick up Anakin's true meaning, "Like hell I'm going to allow you to do that!"
Naruto takes a quick glance between them, "Let him do what?"
"I believe Sakura is implying that Anakin is the one he was referring to staying behind." Shino replies.
"It's the best option here. I have summons to counter his snakes and along with the Force and sharingan, it'll give you all the longest time table to escape. I've done it before." Anakin stats.
Sakura gets furious, "And you ended up in our world because of it! I will not have you repeating your history by sacrificing yourself again! You hear me, you son of a bitch?!"
"I'm with the mind of Sakura here. I will use my chakra chains to drag your ass if you even try it." Naruto agrees.
"I am the same. You lead and hold our hive together as its queen. There is no one else that could take your place." Shino comments.
Anakin sighs with a smile, "Don't worry guys. I don't plan on dying and leaving you guys. It's the worst case scenario only."
They continue leaping through the trees in silence. After another few minutes they reach the fight with the remaining Team Seven. Or more accurately, what's left of it. Hinata is covered in bruises and panting really hard. Sasuke is on the ground unconscious with bite marks on his neck. The one causing this is just smiling at his work. Team Eight and Naruto burst through the tree line and land in front of Hinata. Orochimaru eyes the newcomers until it stops on Anakin. He grins widely, "Ah Anakin-kun. It's so nice for you to come. It saves the trouble of tracking you down. You see, I'm going to give you a great offer." He licks his lips at the boy.
Anakin looks disgusted, "Yeah I'm afraid I'm going to have to pass on it. I'm not into older guys and I'm already spoken for anyways."
Orochimaru cackles, "Oh you make me laugh. No, my offer doesn't involve an intimate relationship. It is merely an offer of something more. Something to make you powerful."
Anakin looks down at Sasuke, "Like you did to my cousin?"
"Power comes at a cost, you know. Once he wakes up, he will be stronger than before. And once he gets the taste of that power, he will come back to me for more. Just like you will." The snake sannin claims.
Geez he would make a decent Sith Lord with that line of thought, Anakin thinks to himself. "I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to decline. A quick trip to power never ends well." He unsheathes his sword and the others get into battle positions.
Orochimaru chuckles once more, "I wasn't asking Anakin-kun. It is only an inability." He summons more snakes to his side.
"Snakes, is that all you got?" Anakin says with a grin. He quickly does a summons of his own, and two big reptile-like beasts roar to life as the cloud disappears. "This my friend, is what a superior summons looks like. Snakes, meet my rancors." He eats up Orochimaru's momentary look of shock as the rancors start tearing through the snake summons. Anakin then Force grabs a falling log and hurls it at the sannin. Orochimaru gets back into the fight and dodges the log. He then eyes Anakin in a greater desire.
The sharingan, an unknown and powerful summons that rivals my own, and that power?! I must have him! His body must be mine! Orochimaru thinks to himself. "Oh Anakin-kun, you are just too good to pass up. I never thought I'd ever see that power appear from anyone else, but here you are."
Anakin flinches for a moment, "What do you mean by 'that power'?"
"Fu hue hue. I mean the Force of course," the sannin answers.
Anakin's face goes very dark and serious. The other genin steps back from having never seen him make such a face before and the killing intent he is releasing. "You've seen it before and know about it? Where can I find him?"
Orochimaru grins widely, "Oh struck a nerve did I? Where did your bravado go? What has that man done to warrant such nasty look?" The tree next to Orochimaru gets crushed at the base of it and falls towards him. He once again moves out of the way and lands on the now fallen tree.
"You will tell me what you know of him," Anakin coldly states.
"Well I would tell you all about him and his organization, but you forgot to say please." Orochimaru says and he coughs up a sword from his mouth into his hands.
Anakin gets into his stance and activates his sharingan. The sannin rushes forwards first and Anakin blocks the attack. After the first few swings, Anakin quickly takes over the swordfight and starts pushing Orochimaru back. Meanwhile Orochimaru just gets more excited as he watches Anakin fight, studying his potential future body. Then after seeing he is outmatched with a sword, the sannin backs away and begins using ninjutsu instead. Anakin quickly moves to avoid the incoming attacks. Having both the Force and sharingan makes it easier for him. However his legs get tangled up with a hidden snake. Unable to move, he watches as Orochimaru moves in to bite him on the neck, but the bite never comes. Instead Orochimaru finds himself restrained by a golden chain coming from Naruto. Sakura comes to her boyfriend and cuts him loose from the snake. "I thought we agreed that sacrificing yourself is the worst case scenario? Not the first thing we do?"
"Sorry you're right. My personal feelings got the better of me. Let's work on getting out of here." Anakin agrees.
"Of course I'm right, you'd be hopeless without me." Sakura teases helping him up.
"If you two lovebirds are done, how about a little help!" Naruto yells at them.
Orochimaru struggles in the chain until he falls apart into multiple snakes and puts himself back together. He takes a quick glance at Anakin before grabbing the chakra chain. He then pulls the chain to him and Naruto flies towards him. A quick back slap knocks the boy cold. Sakura stands with a reverse grip on her sword and swings at him. He catches her hand and twists it enough to hear a crack from her bones. Anakin then moves to attack, but Orochimaru extends his neck around the boy holding him still. A bite finally lands on the genin's neck, but it doesn't feel like it should. He tosses Anakin back and examines his surroundings. Feeling something amiss, he quickly puts his hands together and yells "Kai!" The scene fades to show no one around and two angry rancors breathing down his neck. He jumps to avoid the swipe of a claw. He starts to attack, but feels the presence of multiple jonin and chunin chakra signatures coming to his location. Hmm, he managed to get me in a genjutsu to escape and left me with his pets to keep me company long enough for back-up to come. Smart move. It's a shame I couldn't mark him, but I at least got Sasuke-kun. The sharingan is not lost to me yet.
Anakin and company move through the trees, hard press to make it to the tower in the center. He carries Sasuke on his back while Naruto bridal carries a fatigued Hinata, who has a blush. "That was a close one," Anakin tells them.
"You're telling me," Sakura says. "I'm surprised he didn't escape the genjutsu immediately."
"That's why I left the rancors with him. Even to Jedi, they aren't easy to fight against. They should give him enough of a challenge for us to be far away." Anakin explains.
"Rancors are really awesome!" Naruto shouts, "I wish I could summon them. Those have to be your most powerful summons right?" Anakin just gives the blond a knowing look. Naruto's jaw drops, "No way you have something stronger…" Anakin just shrugs with a mischievous grin and continues leaping from branch to branch.
Sakura speaks up, "Hey Anakin-kun. Back there when Orochimaru mentioned someone else having the Force, why did it make you so dark all of a sudden? You were releasing some of your own killing intent during it."
Anakin sighs heavily, "You guys were bound to learn about it anyways. It wasn't by chance I was reincarnated."
"You mean, you have a reason for being here? Something to do with the other guy?" Hinata faintly says.
Anakin nods, "Yes. When I died, I found myself in front of my grandfather and the Sage of the Six Paths instead of disappearing into the Force." They all stop dead in their tracks.
"Hold on a second, the most famous and powerful man in our history pulled your spirit from going into the afterlife? And why was your grandfather with him?" Sakura asks.
"They wanted my help. I told you all about the Jedi, but there is another side of the Force coin. That is the Sith. All they care for are themselves and their quest for personal power. No action is beneath them in their quest. They will lie, cheat, betray, and kill for their goals. Nothing good has come of them throughout history as I know it. Well apparently a Sith Lord's own spirit made his way to this world. With no proper way to combat him, the Sage needed someone who can match his power. More specifically, he needed someone with the knowledge of the Force and that's where my grandfather came in. Grandfather was the Chosen One in our galaxy, and he recommended sending me. Both to make up for his own past troubles of never being there for my mom and uncle to give me a second chance of life, and the abilities I had. So I was sent here to stop the Sith Lord before he destroys the world's order." Anakin explains to them.
No one said a word, for there was nothing anyone can say when being told their world's doom is approaching. Shino is the only one to finally break the silence, "Did they say when it will happen?"
"Yeah they did. There are only about four or so years left now before their projections. He has a healthy head start on me so he must be quite powerful by now. Probably will be above kage level when time runs out." Anakin answers.
"Four years?!" Sakura asks. "We have only just become genin just earlier this year. Getting to above Kage level in four years is an incredibly tall order!"
"I know," Anakin agrees. "But even so, I will do everything in my abilities to stop him. First is finding him though and Orochimaru seemed to know about him. Apparently he is involved with some organization, though not having a name for it isn't going to get me anywhere." He re-adjust Sasuke on his back. "Come on, let's focus on getting through the chunin exams first. Having no real leads to follow isn't going to help anything at the moment." He then goes back to heading towards their destination with the others following him.
Shino looks towards Naruto and Hinata, "Your team has both scrolls right? It'd be pointless to get there without it."
Hinata pulls out two scrolls from her jacket, "We encountered another team before Orochimaru showed up and got their scroll."
"Good, I'd hate to leave you guys here in your conditions." Shino faces back forwards and Hinata puts the scrolls away.
They continue their journey and make it to the tower by nightfall. Both teams take out their scrolls and open them. Suddenly a cloud of smoke appears and both Kurenai and Iruka are revealed. They both take a look at the state of both teams and get worried. "What happened to you guys?"
"One name, Orochimaru." Anakin states. The two jonin share a look of concern. "Can one of you take Sasuke and call the Hokage? I believe our encounter here warrants his attention."
Iruka takes Sasuke from Anakin while Kurenai opens the doorway. "Follow me to the medical room. You all look like you deserve it and a good bed. Luckily for you all to arrive on the first night, so you can properly rest." The group follows him into the building.
"Has anyone else made it Kurenai-sensei?" Sakura asks.
"Yes, the team from the sand village was the first to make it and Team Nine arrived a couple hours ago. So you all are the third and fourth." She answers. "I'll see about contacting the Hokage for you to report what happened. I'm just glad you all are okay. I'll also get Kakashi to get his head out of his book to look after his team."
She then leaves them as they enter the medical room. Team Eight mostly just has minor cuts and scrapes, so they were cleared to go after a couple of bandages. Naruto just has a few bruises that were already healing. Hinata has a few broken ribs and numerous bruises and cuts. Naruto refused to leave her side even after being told he was fine to leave. Sasuke on the other hand was a different story. He finally awoke and the medics thought he was delirious from exhaustion since he had a wild look in his eyes and started attacking people. He was quickly subdued and was back to being unconscious with a few guards standing by his bed this time.
An Anbu member then appears and summons both Anakin and Naruto with him to the Hokage. Shino and Sakura stayed behind to tend to Hinata and look after Sasuke. They both were led to an office with the Third Hokage, Ibiki, and Anko waiting for him. They took a seat and began to tell them everything that happened. By the end, the Hokage looked to age at the end of it.
He takes a puff from his pipe, "I'm getting too old for this. Orochimaru appearing can't be a coincidence."
Anko gets a scowl on her face, "Hokage-sama, allow me to track him down."
"You've already tried and failed to beat him. I'm afraid I can't allow you to face him again in your state." The old man tells her, much to her annoyance. He walks to Naruto, "Lift your shirt so I can examine what he did to the seal." Naruto follows and Hiruzen then takes a long look, occasionally prodding at it. After a few minutes he returns to his desk. "It seems he completely sealed off the Nine Tails from you and it left the rest of your chakra unbalanced. The fact that you could still create a chakra chain proves the control you have built over the last few months. I had the right choice giving that scroll to you." Naruto beams in appreciation. "What he did isn't something I can easily fix right here. My mastery of seals isn't that high enough. However Konoha's best seal master is on his way here. I can see if I can hurry him along to get him to fix it himself."
"Thanks Gramps!" Naruto says.
"I don't mean to break up the moment," Ibiki cuts in. "But we still have a rogue sannin to deal with."
Hiruzen goes back to his Hokage state, "Indeed. Anko, you know my former student better than I do. Do you know what he did to Sasuke?"
Anko turns around and lowers the back of her shirt low enough to reveal a mark on her lower neck, "Did you both happen to see one of these on the brat?"
"Yes we did. He woke up in medical and that mark seemed to spread across his body which caused him to attack people." Anakin answers.
She pulls her shirt back up and turns back to them, "Then Orochimaru left a curse mark on him. I don't know much about it, since I was only implanted with a proto-version. All I know is that it gives the user a taste of power and gets the user addicted to using it more often. Also it sips at chakra if the user refuses to use it. My advice is to seal it off to keep it from taking over."
Hiruzen nods to her, "I will see about letting Kakashi know for a temporary solution. I will also have Jiraiya take a look at it as well to see if he has a better seal to use when he arrives." He then addresses Anakin, "I believe there is one more thing I need to talk about with you before I send you both out."
"You mean as to the true reason I am here," Anakin guesses.
"Correct. Why would you think to withhold such an important piece of information from me?"
"Reincarnation is one thing to wrap someone's head around. Then add the Force on top, their head starts spinning. If I had added that the world's impending doom is coming because of a Sith Lord, you might have thrown me into a padded room." Anakin answers.
The Third gives a small laugh, "I guess it's true enough at the time, but by now there is little you can throw at me that will shock me. I've grown accustomed to Naruto's unpredictability and you constantly pulling things out of left field."
"Fair enough," Anakin agrees. "Well there isn't much I can really tell you. I wasn't told who it is and from what I can judge from your reactions, the Force is an unknown thing. So the Sith must be hiding and keeping his abilities very well hidden. Can't go on trying to find someone we know nothing about."
Hiruzen sighs, "Well enough I suppose. Though our spy network is very good and since Orochimaru knows him and the organization he is a part of, it gives us a better starting point than if you had told me beforehand. If you learn anything else, do not hesitate to tell me. Now you both deserve some rest." The two genin says their goodbyes and the Hokage turns to the other two. "Orochimaru is still a current threat. We need to up our defenses in case he tries to attack during the exams. If he were to, it would most likely be during the finals in a month. Lets plan out countermeasures and have our forces here if it happens. And get me the clan heads, we will need their help since this is Orochimaru we are talking about."
Author's Note:
Well the Chunin Exams has started! Not much I have to say for this one. It's all pretty straight forward. Though the Orochimaru and Anakin fight might leave a few confused. For that I say that Anakin has definitely lots more experience in a swordfight than the snake sannin. The rest Orochimaru has the obvious advantage over. Though summons are there own thing, and there isn't a lot I can find about their scaling. Speaking of which, I got to show off a couple more creatures Anakin can summon and who doesn't love seeing a rancor show up? Also I finally explained Kiba's situation in case you all were wondering about him. Also if you guys have a preference on who you'd like to see fight in the preliminaries, let me know. I plan on fleshing out those fights more than I have been doing. Otherwise each fight would only last a few sentences long and I can't imagine that'd be entertaining to read.
Black Arachnid: The old Jedi's lightsaber is something I completely didn't even think about. I'm just going to write it off as it being in the destroyed rock cave and leave it there for now. Whether I do something with it is up in the air for now. For now, just consider it lost.
dragon44pride: I'm not planning on giving characters their own separate Star Wars summons. I made it only work with the Force and Chakra on purpose. However, I do plan expanding on who can do both to at least one character.
Guest(Zero): I actually have a plan do to a full Star Wars crossover mixing both Legends and Canon together. Though I won't stop with just one character. It'll be a big crossover with many characters reacting to each other. Imagine the heartfelt scene of Legends Han Solo and Disney Chewie seeing each other alive! Though I don't plan on writing that for a while now. My plan will take a lot of rereading and research to make it successful. Plus I'm already writing two fanfics that's eating a lot of my time. When one finishes, I'll begin on it.
Anyways that's it for me! Thanks for reading and I'll talk at y'all next time!
