Chapter 10: Second Exam Starts! Enemies all around!

Anko was standing with pumped fist up in the air, starring out on the stunned crowd. Ibiki came out from behind the banner and said deadpanned "grasp the atmosphere. You're early…" The scantily dressed kunoichi had the decency to blush.

Naruto was staring at the lady Jounin with wide eyes. He glanced over at Sakura, an unspoken question going between them, as she nodded. Naruto sighed. 'Always get the weirdoes'

Anko looked over the crowd "84? Ibiki, did you let 28 teams pass? The first exam must've been too soft"

Ibiki didn't let it faze him "Or, it could be that there are a lot of excellent students this time"

Anko didn't really look like she believed him "Oh well… Not to worry; I'm going to make more than half the teams fail in the next exam." Shocked looks were to be seen through the Genin's, making Anko smirk hungrily "I'm getting excited. I will explain the details tomorrow. We will go somewhere else, so ask your Jounin-sensei about the rally point and time. That is all, dismissed!"

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

Kabuto was walking down a dark alleyway, glancing over his shoulder from time to time. It was clear that whatever he was doing, it wasn't something anyone could find out about. He picked up his pace, and entered one of the warehouses in the area. It was dark and damp, hardly any light entered through the crackled windows

"Were you followed?" a malicious voice spoke in the shadows. Kabuto couldn't locate it at first, but then saw two yellow slit eyes light up in the dark "Well?"

Kabuto kneeled down on one knee "No, Orochimaru-Sama, I don't believe I was"

Silence was between them, as Orochimaru watched one of Sasori's former spies. Kabuto kept kneeling until he was told otherwise. Finally Orochimaru spoke "How did it go?"

Kabuto didn't look up as he spoke "He reacted just as you planned for him to do – more so than I would have expect. But I was about to reveal one of his and Konoha's closest guarded secrets… He really is something, the Kyuubi Jinchurriki"

"That he is the Kyuubi Jinchurriki, though interesting, isn't what I'm most interested in. You know as well as I that the Bijuu are hard to control and that the Jinchurriki need years of training to even begin and control their tenant. No, what's truly interesting me is his ability… I have only seen it in one person before… In her." Kabuto's mask of indifference cracked as his eyebrow twitched. It was clear he didn't think well of the person his master was speaking of. It didn't go unnoticed, but the snake Sannin didn't delve into it.

The snake summoner seemed to be considering something, finally speaking "I think I will see for myself how much this Uzumaki Naruto is worth, after I have checked up on my dear Sharingan bearer… Kabuto, continue to keep a low cover. We won't be in Konoha for much longer, and it wouldn't do good to be exposed this late into the operation"

Kabuto nodded "Hai"

- The next day -

The Genin that had passed yesterday's test were now standing in front of a big fenced forest. If you looked in though the fence, you could see what looked like half-rotten tree's housing big animals, which slithered in and out of the shadows. Naruto knew this place all too well; he had used a training ground close by, and after one look through the fence, and the signs with 'forbidden area' and 'Warning – you may die', he had decided never to walk through one of the gates… until now that is

"This sure is a creepy place" Sakura said. But whereas a few months ago she would have looked freaked out, now she just looked disgusted. Naruto nodded in agreement

Anko was standing between the crowd and the fence. She smirked; she loved how scared all the bra- all the Genin looked "You will be able to experience all first hand, why this place is called 'the Forest of Death'." Naruto tried not to, but couldn't help it; he let out a scoff. Even if this place was creepy as hell, he had seen way worse. Anko didn't care for that, and faster than any of most of the Genin could see, threw a kunai towards Naruto. But Naruto wasn't the same person he was in the academy, as his reflexes were in top condition; he grabbed the airborne kunai, spun around, and parried the one held by Anko, now standing in the middle of the Genin group.

She was impressed by the boy's actions, but didn't let it show as she leaned her face close to Naruto's. "You know, boys like you are always the first to die in there. Lots and lots of beasts just waiting to eat you for breakfast"

Naruto just smirked back, and leaned in closer whispering "I'm sure they are, but they will have to wait a little longer. Beast such as those in there doesn't scare me. After all, I have the worst of them is sealed in my stomach". She nodded at him, and they stopped their little contest. They both knew she would win if they kept at it. Even if Naruto was a very skilled Genin, he still was a Genin, and didn't stand a chance against a well-trained tokubetsu jounin as Anko. Whispers went through the crowd

"I can't believe he actually caught it!"

"Yeah, did you see how fast that thing was flying?"

"I don't think I want to go up against him"

Naruto smiled to himself. He didn't think he would get the chance so soon. Since Kabuto had exposed many of his talents, though not the specific jutsu, he had changed tactics. Since he couldn't hide his talent, he had to make sure everyone knew how strong he was, and hopefully scare them off. Sakura nodded at him; he had already told his team what he was planning, the evening before. She looked back at Anko, who was walking up in front of the crowd again 'Even if that helped Naruto, what is with that examiner? She is totally whacked, to not say dangerous'.

The tokubetsu jounin looked over the exam-takers "Before we begin the second exam, I'm going to pass out these to everyone." She took out a stack of papers "These are consent forms, and those planning on taking this exam must sign one."

"And why is that?" a Genin from Ame asked

Anko looked happy that someone asked, a little too happy for Naruto's taste, as she said "From here on, people will die. Therefore, we need people's consent before we continue, so I, and thus Konoha, will be held responsible for the deaths." She laughed as if she just told a little joke. She waved dismissingly "Now enough of that. I will begin the explanation of the second exam. To be concise, you will all go through an extremely intense survival match" she said, as she handed the papers to Naruto, who took one and send it to the next Genin.

Shikamaru took a look on the paper he had gotten 'Survival match? What a troublesome exam…'

Anko rolled out a little map showing the Genin "I'll explain the training area's geographical features. The 44th training area is a circular region, surrounded by 44 locked gate entrances. There is a river, a forest, and a tower in the middle. The tower is approximately 10 kilometers away from all the gates. Inside the limited space, you will have to go through a certain survival program. The program consists of… A competition where anything goes… Over these scrolls" she held up another two scrolls for all to see.

"Scrolls?" a Konoha Genin asked

Anko nodded "Yeah scrolls. There are two kinds; the Scroll of Heaven, and the Scroll of the Earth. You will fight over these scrolls." She paused as she put the scrolls away again "28 teams in total passed the first exam. Half of those teams will the scroll of Heaven, and the other half will get the Scroll of the Earth. Each team will get one of these scrolls. And you simply have to fight over these."

"And?" Sasuke asked "What's needed to pass?"

"Bring the Scrolls of Heaven and Earth to the tower with your teammates" she answered

"In other words" Sakura thought out loud for all to hear "the 14 teams or half the people here, that get their scroll stolen will fail."

Anko nodded "Bingo pinkie. But it needs to be done within the time limit. This second exam has a limit of 120 hours, or exactly five days."

"Five days," Ino yelled in a high pitching squeak.

"What about food!?" Chouji asked as if the sky was falling.

Anko shrugged "Not my problem. You could find it in the forest- it's a treasure box of nature. There should be plenty of food."

"However" Kabuto said "there are also a lot of man-eating beasts, poison bugs, and poisonous, man-eating plants."

"No…" Chouji said disheartened

"Idiot! That's why it's called a survival match" Ino scolded

"Also" it came from Neji "it is possible that it's less than the 13 teams that pass"

Lee looked excited to try it out "And as time passes, you will be required to move more. So, the time to rest your body will become shorter. This seems quite rough."

"And we're surrounded by enemies. So when we finally do sleep, we won't be able to do so in peace" Naruto finished. A silence overcame the Genin, as they all thought about the possibilities.

"People will get hurt in the process of fighting over a scroll" Anko continued "and those who cannot bear the shinobi program's strictness will also emerge."

Shikamaru raised his hand "Excuse me, can we quit in between?"

Anko frowned "as a rule, you are not allowed to give up during the exam. You will spend the five days in the forest."

"Just as I thought…" Shikamaru sighed "How troublesome…"

"While we're on this topic, here are the conditions that will fail you." Silence fell over the crowd again "First, a team that cannot bring both scrolls to the tower, with the whole team alive, will fail. Second, the team that loses a teammate or produces an unrecoverable teammate will fail. Also, just as a note; you are not allowed to look inside the scrolls until you reach the tower. If you do? Well, that's a surprise you'll see when you look at it… If you become a Chunin, you will be handling top secret documents. So this test is also to determine your reliability."

"That is it for the explanation. We will exchange three consent forms for one scroll at that hut" she pointed at said hut "And after have gotten to your assigned gate entrance; everyone will start at the same time." Anko looked like she wasn't sure she should tell more, but finally let in with a sigh "I guess I should give you one last piece of advice… Don't die!"

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

The members of Team 7 were standing in front of Gate 12. They had been some of the first to turn in their consent forms, not wanting to linger around the larger group. They were now waiting for the Chunin in front of them to open to gate; it was to be opened at 12:30 exactly, down to the second. They were all tense.

"Naruto, Sasuke-kun, wha-" was all Sakura could say before Naruto cut her off

"Not now Sakura-chan, wait till we're inside. We will find a place to get things sorted out." It took her a few seconds to figure out that Naruto wanted to wait with this talk till they were inside – they couldn't take any chances. For once Sasuke agreed with Naruto, so Sakura nodded at them. They went back to being silent and tense.

The Chunin in front of looked at his clock and unlocked the gate. Team 7 was getting ready to sprint off at full speed. It wasn't long after that, that they heard the crazy snake lady's voice resonating through the air

"We will now begin the Chunin Selection's Second Exam! TRY NOT TO DIE MAGGOTS!"

And the gates shot open, and the three Konoha Genin took off at full speed, leaping to the trees, the element they were most used to. They didn't stop for about fifteen minutes, only caring about getting into the forest, and away from everyone and anyone. They came to a small clearing when they finally came to a hold. Naruto quickly created about a dozen of his Kage Bunshin, and send them to be lookouts throughout the area.

"Good, now we can talk" Naruto said. He looked at Sasuke "Which scroll was it we got again?"

"The Scroll of Heaven" Sasuke replied, taking out the said object.

Naruto nodded "ok then. We need to settle a few things; what do we do from here, how do we recognize each other, and where do we hide the scroll"

Sasuke shot him a glare "Who put you in charge, dobe?"

Naruto shrugged "No one did teme. If you want to take charge, then fine. We just need to be fast. We can't stay in one place for too long." Sasuke still glared at him, but didn't object, so Naruto continued "I already have an idea of how we can recognize each other." Naruto went took out a scroll, where the center was a pen-case and pen. He put his hand out for Sakura to take "I'm going to put a seal on all of us"

Sakura carefully laid her arm in Naruto's hand, and he began drawing on the top of her arm, she bit her lip not to giggle from the touch of the soft brush. She was impressed by the seal "So, what does it do?"

"Well, I can't really explain it in detail, you wouldn't understand it to be frankly, but what it does is make a 'pull' in the mind, so you will know where the sibling seals are" Naruto explained. He saw the worry in her face, and smiled amused "No, it won't last forever. It can't be washed off easily, but this ink will slowly decay. Give it a week and a half, two at most. And they only work in close proximity, but they will work" he said as finished Sakura's seal. She took a look at it; she didn't recognize most of the work, but did see something that looked like the sign for 'mind'.

'He's really gotten impressive with working of Fūinjutsu. I still can't believe this is the same knuckle-head from the academy.' Sakura casted her eyes down; 'When we have some time I'll talk to Naruto later…'

Naruto reached for Sasuke's arm, who gave it reluctantly. Even he could see the use in what Naruto could do… Maybe he should give him a chance? Just…. Naruto continued "And then there's the scroll… I have two scrolls that look similar, so we can make fakes, and for the real one, we can seal it in a seal on one of our bodies. I will modify it, so we all can open it if the need should arise; wouldn't be good if one of us gets knocked out, and we can't open it because of that."

Sakura thought what Naruto had proposed, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't find any flaws; Naruto had really thought this through. The blond member of team had finished Sasuke's seal in the meanwhile. He made two more Kage Bunshin right after; one to make his own seals, and one to make the fake scrolls. Before the Bunshin started on the seal he moved a hand glowing with chakra over Naruto's biceps; something Sakura had never seen or heard of before. Slowly another seal faded into appearance. To no big surprise, Sakura couldn't really make anything out of it, but the number '12' close to the edge. As the clone began to make the 'pull seal' Sakura let her curiosity gets the best of her "Naruto, what is that other seal you got? And why wasn't it visible before?"

Naruto looked at the seal she was referring to "Ah that, it's a restriction seals. Makes it harder to move around; level 1 it's like to move through water, level 2 it's like walking through mud, and so on… So, if you're ever in a pinch, you can remove the effects, and what before seemed like just jumping a meter, will suddenly be twelve meters"

Even Sasuke thought that it was impressive. The same thought ran through Naruto's' teammates' heads. Sakura brushed away a strand of hair that had wiggled itself out of her bow/hitai-ate "Erm, Naruto, do you think maybe I and Sasuke-kun could get one? I mean, it would be pretty good to have a hidden burst of speed in a pinch"

Naruto frowned "I don't think you can. Ero-sennin was rather adamant about me not giving it to anyone. First I didn't understand why, but after having studied some more Fūinjutsu… Though it is one of the first seals you learn about, it's advised that you don't try it out before you have at least a year's worth of training. It's in a category of seals, that not only require the seal itself, but the knowledge of the seal. I guess it's kind of like a sealing scroll; even if you have the seal, if you don't know how to access the items inside it, you can't use it. There are some major differences between the two… The most important and obvious is again about the knowledge. If you don't know how to work a sealing seal, you simply won't be able to get the item out or into the seal, but if you don't know how to work a restriction seal, it can really hurt you. So, no… sorry."

Sakura sighed disappointed "oh well…"

'Hn' it came from Sasuke. He looked thoughtful while looking at Naruto, as if he was deciding what he was going to do with him. He took a look at the clone making the fake scrolls "dobe, you said you also had some idea how we could best utilize the time in here… Let us hear them"

Naruto stared at Sasuke in disbelief; this was one of the first times Sasuke had actually acknowledged that he was worth something. He smiled "Yeah, well… What I'm thinking is that we have three options. One; we simply track and hunt the other teams down. The upside is that we're not really reliant on their movement; as we will be do the moving. But on the downside, we will use a lot of energy hunting them… Also, none of us really has any tracking skills. Sure, I could make a few hundred Bunshin, but that would alarm the other teams further, and they will be specifically being looking for us."

"Then there is option 2; we wait for the other teams by the river; it's the only pure water-source in this gods forsaken place. It is true that it's too big for us to cover the whole of it, but we could probably cover about a fourth or a third with the use of my Bunshin. The upside; we could mostly preserve our energy for fighting; they will be do the moving. We will also be the ones to set the circumstances for the fight. The downside; we will be reliant on their movement, and as such would be required to stay up for a long period of time, so they don't slip by while we're taking a rest. Also, we are for sure not the only one to be thinking like that…"

"And finally option 3. It's the same idea as option 2; set up and wait for another team, where they are sure to come. But instead of the river, we will do it at the tower in the middle. Same up- and downsides"

Naruto waited for their response. Both of them seemed to be waging the options they had been presented with. Sakura was about to speak up, when Sasuke cut her off "I would say we should go with the river. We will have access to clean water, and open areas; perfect for setting up a trap. The tower is of course also an option, but there isn't as much space, and we're sure to bump into a lot of other teams, that shouldn't happen at the river"

'…He really is not the same person from the academy,' Sasuke mentally mused.

Sakura and Naruto nodded in agreement. Naruto looked over at his clone to see how far he had gotten with the fake scrolls "Ok, if we're going with the river, I say… that we…"

Naruto trailed off as memories from one of the Bunshin he had posted as a lookout returned to him. Sasuke and Sakura were taken by surprise by it, but quickly understood that he must had gotten memories from one of his clones. He frowned.

"Naruto," Sakura whispers.

"We have to hurry up. A team from Ame is coming this way" he said and dispelled the two Bunshin that were with them. He had gotten both the 'pull seal' and a sealing seal on his arm. He grabbed the real Heavens Scroll and sealed it, and took the two fake scrolls. His other Bunshin had finished one of them, an Earth Scroll, and almost finished the other, another Heavens Scroll. He gave the fake Earth Scroll to Sasuke, who quickly put it in his pouch, and stuffed the unfinished one in his own.

They all three stood up. Naruto looked into the air, going over his and his teammates' skills, and formulating a plan to beat this team. It would be hard, since he had no idea what kind of skills the Ame team had, but they would have to do. If they ran, the Ame Genin were sure to follow them, and it could evolve into a competition about who gave up first, which he really didn't feel like. He looked up to Sakura, and even Sasuke, looking anticipating at him. He nodded

"So what I think we should do is…"

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

Three Ame Genin were jumping through the woods. They were all wearing what looked like full-body yellow wet-suits, their eyes covered by cloth, with holes to see through, and a mask over their mouth, probably to be able to breathe under water. Their tracker had just picked up on some other Genin, but they weren't sure who they were yet. The largest of the three tilted his head to get the tracker into view "Are you sure they are this way? I can't see any sign of them"

The tracker kept his hand in the ram sign "and that is why I'm the tracker, and you're the leader. I'm positive they're this way"

The third spoke up "They must be pretty fast. To be able to make it this far inside the forest, in the little time we have had since the test started, isn't an easy task"

"Doesn't matter" the leader of the three said "as long as we take them by surprise, it won't matter"

That closed the matter as they continued onwards. Not long after they arrived at the edge of a clearing, a clearing that Team 7 had been in not long before. The tracker motioned them to a stop. They continued long the forest-line, and soon came upon a small camping area.

They smirked as they only saw a pink-haired Kunoichi sitting in the area – the tracker couldn't sense any of the others, and so they figured that her teammate was out to gather food or wood, or something of the like. The leader nodded to the third member of the team, who quickly disappeared into the shadows. He smirked as he closed in on the apparent unknowing target. He sneaked closer and closer. He raised his dagger, almost having the Kunoichi. Sakura quickly spun around and delivered an earth-shattering punch to the Ame-nin abdomen. He coughed out a large amount of blood on her hand.

The leader and trackers eyes shot open as they realized they had walked straight into a trap. They were about to retreat when they heard two voice from behind them

"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!"

"Fūton: Daitoppa!"

The first thing that hit them was the searing wind; it burned what little skin they had exposed. Then they saw an eerie glow between the trees, where after a fireball bigger than they had even seen came soaring towards them, setting anything it passed on fire. They quickly jumped down into the clearing; the only place they were sure it wouldn't hit, only to hear the same voice that had casted the futon

"Shoton: Baningu Kosoku!"

Several chains made of crystal broke through the earth underneath them and wrapped themselves around the two. They saw over at their humped-over teammate, and could see the same happening to him. Almost immediately after they felt their chakra being harder to access.

Naruto came out, with Sasuke close behind him, dusting his hands off in his pants "that went better than expected". Needless to say, the two conscious Ame-nin was glaring holes through him.

Sasuke 'hmph'ed "I still say we should've killed them right away"

"And risk not getting their scroll?" Naruto asked him, not really expecting an answer. He walked over to the two chained shinobi "So, spit it out. Where is your scroll?"

"Like we would give it that easily" the leader said laughing "you got some nerve kid"

Naruto sighed deeply and let his breath drop "Going to be that way then…?" he took up a stick from the ground. He turned his look back at the Ame-nin's "Let's play a little game. This is you" he motioned to the stick "and this is what I'll do to you and your team, one limp at the time, if you don't tell me where your scroll is".

The trapped shinobi watched intensely as the stick first was spiked with multiple blue crystals; they glanced nervously at each other. After it had been impaled with tens of crystal blades, it began crystallizing over; cold-sweat broke out. Thereafter, very slowly, the crystal shattered from one end to the other, sending the miniature crystal pieces out in the air. The tracker broke down

"I'll tell you, I'll tell you! Just don't kill me! I don't want to die yet!" he begged

"D-don't tell t-them!" the leader stammered

Naruto kept his cool, and raised an eyebrow at the tracker, completely ignoring the leader now "Alright then. Where is it?"

"It's over on him" he nodded towards the member of the team who had gotten pummeled by Sakura "he has it in his pouch". Naruto looked back at Sakura and Sasuke, who went over to the location right away. To Team 7 delight, they pulled out an Earth Scroll. Naruto rose and took a pose, ready to strike the shinobi in front of him

"You said you wouldn't kill us!" the leader half-screamed.

"I won't. But I can't have you guys following us, so you're going to take a little nap" the Shoton user responded, hitting them in the neck. They both slumped over, hitting the ground with a 'thud'. Naruto dispelled the chains and walked over to his teammates. Sakura looked worriedly at the three

"We can't just leave them like this. They will get eaten or something. You saw that snake out front!"

Sasuke didn't seem to agree, but didn't voice his opinion. Naruto looked at the Ame-nin and sighed in resignation "I guess you do have a point…" He made three clones and sent them with their beaten opponents on their backs, to find a hiding spot. He looked back at them "We better get out of here. We have stayed here for too long, and the other teams are bound to have heard that Katon/Fūton combination Sasuke and I fired off."

Both his teammates nodded in agreement, as they took off again.

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

Orochimaru in the disguise of a young Kusa Genin sneered; he still hadn't found Team 7. It had been almost three hours now, and if he they had been lucky, they could be on their way towards the tower now. He couldn't let that happen. In his search of the Shoton and Sharingan users, he and his followers had already come across two other teams. They had been stupid enough to try their luck against him, and failed miserably. They, of course, died a slow and agonizing death, but none of that mattered now. His thoughts were interrupted by the tracker he had taken with him

"Orochimaru-Sama" he called. Said Sannin glanced back at him, seeing a grinning Oto Genin "I've found them. They're about two kilometers south, south-west of here. They are moving rather fast"

Orochimaru, now also wearing a grin boarding to smirk, nodded at him "good work. I'll take it from here… You guys can go have some fun"

His two followers grinned to each other, before taking off into the forest. Orochimaru's creepy smirk stayed on his lips as he thought about the Sharingan user and the Shoton user; he couldn't wait to see what they were capable off. He shot off with speeds only jounin-level shinobi would be able to keep up with; in the direction he had been told.

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

Team 7 was jumping through the canopies of the forest, Naruto leading them, Sakura on his left, and Sasuke on his right. They were heading straight for the center; they had gotten their scroll, and the longer they stayed out in the open, the longer they risked of losing them. No matter how happy Naruto was about his team already having the Earth Scroll, he couldn't help but also feel a tiny tad disappointed 'and here I was ready to spent multiple nights out in the open, fighting strong teams… Oh well, I guess you shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth'

In his mindscape the Kyuubi smirked darkly behind his prison; 'you'll get your wish brat. Let's see if you can live through it.'

It hadn't been ten seconds since Naruto had thought those thoughts did a very powerful gust knock them off course, forcing them to land on the ground. They quickly jumped into a formation, covering each other's backs, while being able to attack any angle. They stayed silence for about a minute, none of them daring to speak. But finally Sakura broke the silence

"That wasn't natural, was it?" she asked, still standing ready, trying to see if anything were coming for them from her view

Naruto shook his head "No, I'm pretty sure it was a Fūton: Daitoppa"

"But it looked nothing like yours did" Sasuke stated "This has to had been at least three times at powerful, probably more"

"Well, the thing about Daitoppa is that it varies in strength from user to user. Many factors matter, as- that doesn't matter now" the blond Genin answered. He narrowed his eyes as he saw something through the undergrowth "Sasuke, use your Sharingan here. I think they're coming." The Uchiha heir didn't get to do anything before they heard a laugh sending chills up their spines

"Ku, ku, ku" it came from the direction Naruto had pointed out. From the shade of the trees a person seemed to slither towards them "you really don't let your guard down." Said person came out into the light, giving Team 7 a clear view of a woman; she was one of the Genin from Kusa. "Looks like I can have more fun than I expected" she continued and licked her lips, giving the Genin from Konoha a sight of her abnormally long and odd-shaped tongue.

She laughed again while taking out his scroll; Scroll of Earth. "You want our Scroll of the Earth, right?" she asked, not really expecting an answer "since you three have the Scroll of Heaven." All three of Kakashi's students narrowed their eyes, the same thought going through their heads; she had been watching them, meaning that she had planned on taking them on. They didn't need an extra scroll, but none of them dared to speak or move against this enemy.

The next thing the foreigner did mental shiver; she brought the scroll to his mouth, her long tongue wrapping around the scroll, before forcing it down her throat. She continued talking to them, her hitai-ate covering her eyes in shadow "Now, let us begin… The fight over out scrolls… By putting our lives on the line!" She looked directly up at the three, pulling slightly down on her lower right eyelid.

A monstrous amount of killer intent hit them; something none of them had expected. They saw over, and over again, how the Kusa-nin were going to kill them; slice them open, kunai to the forehead, their throats slit. All of their eyes widened in shock and fear. Naruto half buckled down to one knee, but managed to remain partially standing, though still visibly shaking. He glared at the enemy in front of him, 'she can't be a Genin. Just who is she? No Genin can manage to release such killer intent, no matter how strong they are. This killer intent… It has been through wars, it has been surrounded by death… If it wasn't because I have been exposed to the Kyuubi's…' He shifted his eyes to his teammates

Sakura and Sasuke had fallen down on their knees. Sasuke was currently bent over, emptying his stomachs contents, 'A Genjutsu…? No. It was just intent to kill! I can't believe it… After just seeing into her eyes, I was imprinted with an image of my own death. Just who is she?!' Sakura was doing far worse; she was shaking like a leaf, crying her tears out. No matter how hard she had trained, nothing could have prepared her for this. How could she? This was a Chunin exam; no one like this should be in here.

Naruto was still shaking; but now in anger. He looked back at the imposing Kusa Genin, remembering his training, and shot his deadliest glare, with some of the Kyuubi's own killer intent. Naruto could feel traces of the Kyuubi's chakra running through his system, and knew that if he looked himself in the eyes, he would see red slit eyes, instead of the usual ocean blue. Sasuke stared up at Naruto, not knowing where he could've learned it. Sakura, though still in tears felt relief hit her system.

"Who are you?" Naruto growled

The hidden Orochimaru took a step back at the unexpected killer intent that rivaled, if not beat, his own, then smirked 'ku, ku, ku, seems little Naruto-kun has more control over the Kyuubi than I thought.' He smiled in his own creepy way "Very impressive Naruto-kun. I didn't expect you to be so in control"

"Tell me who you are!" Naruto repeated more harshly.

Orochimaru in the Kusa-Genin's body smirked. "Make me"

That was it for Naruto; he charges as fast as he could, conjured a crystal tanto in the process, and slashed through the foreign Genin. His eyes widened as the person his tanto was half buried in disappeared into smoke. She reappeared right in front of him, going through hand seals faster than Naruto had ever seen

"Fūton: Renkudan!"

Before Naruto could do anything, he felt like he was hit by the Hokage monument. Everything hurt as he was shot like a cannonball deep into the forest... She did not realize her voice echoed so loud as Sakura watched in horror.

"NARUTO!"

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

Yugito, Omoi and Karui were sitting up in a tree while having something to eat. They had been running around the forest, trying to find another Genin team, but no such luck yet. Omoi swallowed his mouthful of rice-ball "You know; we could try the river. Some teams are bound to go there to get fresh water. If you don't, then you will just get dehydrated, then you will-"

"Gosh, we get it already, Omoi!" Karui yelled in a whisper and took another bite of her food. She sighed in defeat "but you do have a point… We're not getting anywhere at this rate. I really wish one of us was a sensory type that is good right now. Right, Yugito-chan? Yugito-chan?" Said girl was currently lost in thought, thinking about a certain blond Genin from Konoha.

"Yugito-chan!?" Karui yelled into her ear.

She pushed her away right away, rubbing her ear "That's mean Karui! You know how much more sensitive my hearing are because of Nibi!"

Karui shrugged "I had to do something. You were kind of in a dazed"

Yugito blushed "I was?"

Omoi nodded "Yeah, what was that about anyway? It's like the fifth time it has happened since yesterday. It could be really bad. Just think; we're in the middle of a fight with another Genin team, and they are charging at us. You're just about to cast a jutsu to counter theirs, but you faze out, and then – OUCH"

Karui rubbed her fist, but then looked at Yugito "again, he has a point. We need you to keep your head in the game. We are in here with a lot of other people, and some of us will die."

Yugito sighed "I know, it's just-" she stopped when she felt faint Killer intent. She looked at her two teammates, who were looking in the direction it was coming from. Not long after they felt a much more potent one. Yugito's eyes widened as she felt demonic chakra being used.

"Let's go" she said and jumped towards the killer intent

"What are you doing!? We should run away from that!" Karui screamed, but Yugito didn't listen. Karui quickly picked up Omoi "come on. We can't let her go alone."

They quickly jumped from branch to branch, trying to locate the exact area the killer intent and demonic chakra was coming from. Their eyes widened as they realized that one of the sources were moving fast towards them. That's when they started to hear to crashes. They stopped, getting ready to jump any way to avoid anything.

Through a tree crashed what Yugito concluded was the source of the demonic chakra, and it didn't stop. From where they were standing, they could see him crash through three more trees, before continuing out of sight. Yugito looked at her two teammates, before dashing off after the living projectile.

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

Naruto tried to channel more of the fox chakra into his system, as he kept crashing through trees. He finally stopped by making a big dent into what seemed like a several hundred year old oak. He fell down from his crater, falling headfirst into the earth. He groaned as he tried to get up, but found out he couldn't get more up than on four limbs. He coughed hard and spat out a fair amount of blood. He closed his eyes trying to focus his thoughts, which was hard because of all the pain. He had never felt so much pain before. The Fūton jutsu wasn't enough; he had to go through multiple kilometers of forest. And through who knows how many unforgiven giant oak.

He could feel at least five rips broken, his right leg didn't feel too good either, and he was almost positive he was bleeding internally, since he was coughing blood up. He groaned again as he sat up by the oak and closed his eyes. Even with the fox's chakra, this was going to take a while to heal, and he had to get back to Sakura and Sasuke fast. He didn't want to think what that maniac would do to them. But he couldn't do anything right now… He had to rest.

His ears twitched as he heard something moving, and his eyes went wide open when he heard a hiss. In front of him was a snake big enough to fill up his whole apartment, and still have a good portion of its tail outside. It looked hungrily at him and began to slither towards him. Naruto used all his power to stand up, still leaning onto the oak, and made a crystal tanto. But the crystal shattered as soon as it had been made. He closed his eyes 'No, it can't end like this… Anything but this… Kyuubi, just a little more. Leant me your chakra'.

He opened his eyes screaming, and brought his free hand slamming into the ground "Shoton: Suishō no shi!"

The snake stopped as the whole clearing shook, seemingly concentrating under the snake. Right as Naruto thought the jutsu had failed, giant crimson spikes grew out of the earth, impaling the giant snake everything he could. From where the spikes had hit, the flesh started to crystallize, making the snake hiss in agony. In thirty seconds the snake was dead, only leaving a massive construct of a crystal snake in front of Naruto.

Naruto lost his footing again, as he felt the Kyuubi's chakra leave his system. His vision blackened as he saw the crystal snake beginning to crumble, and three figures jumping towards him.

Sakura…

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

Tokubetsu Jounin – Special High Ninja: Tokubetsu Jounin are ninja who, rather than all-around jounin training, have jounin-level ability in a specific area or skill, much like warrant officers in real-world militaries. They are elite specialists in their areas and are often assigned as subordinates to regular jounin when their services are needed. One example of a Tokubetsu Jounin is Ibiki Morino, whose unique ability to completely understand the workings of the human mind makes him a jounin-level interrogation expert.

Ame – Rain: Also short for Amegakure

Amegakure – Literally meaning "Village Hidden by Rain": Amegakure is a small, yet highly industrialized hidden village located in an unnamed country. Its architecture is composed of several metallic skyscrapers with rowed ducts connected to them and mazy power lines surmounting. A number of smaller villages also surround Amegakure. As its name suggests, it rains almost constantly due to a storm above the village.

Oto – Sound: Also short for Otogakure

Otogakure - Literally meaning "Village Hidden by Sound": Otogakure no Sato is the personal hidden village of Orochimaru, which was founded for the express purpose of collecting ninja for his experiments and his quest to learn all techniques.

Fūton: Daitoppa – Wind Release: Great Breakthrough: This is a relatively simple technique that creates a sudden gust of wind, but its scale varies greatly depending on the user. If used by a superior shinobi, it has enough destructive power to knock down a large tree. The wind from the squall can blow away all things in the user's line of sight. A variation of the technique involves a smaller blast of wind which gets ignited with flame.

Fūton: Renkudan – Wind Release: Drilling Air Bullet: To use this technique, the user will first take a deep breath, and then pound the stomach to apply external pressure, the power of which it uses to shoot a highly compressed air ball from the users mouth. The expelled air ball is mighty enough to hollow out the ground, and knock through tree, and even rock. Because of the large quantity of chakra kneaded into it, it explodes the moment it reaches its target, dealing an enormous amount of damage, as well as leveling anything in its path. The original user of this is Shukaku, the one tailed demon raccoon, is able to fire multiple of these in rapid succession, having a certain level of control regarding the size of the bullets.

Shoton: Suishō no Shi - Crystal Release: Crystal Death: The user slams his hand into the ground, filling it with Shoton chakra. The chakra concentrates on the enemy, where after it forms razor-sharp crystal spikes that impales. From the impaling wound, anything, organic or otherwise, will crystallize, killing almost any enemy.

Iwa – Rock: Also short of Iwagakure

Iwagakure – "Hidden Stone Village"; literally meaning "Village Hidden by Rocks": Iwagakure is the hidden village of the Tsuchi no Kuni. As one of the Five Great Shinobi Countries, Iwagakure has a Kage as its leader known as the Tsuchikage, current being Ōnoki. Iwagakure is well-known for the rock-hard attitude of its shinobi; as soon as the Tsuchikage gives an order, the Iwa-nin do so without hesitation, even if it means death. The standard attire for shinobi from this village consists of red outfit — which can either have one, or both sleeves — a lapel which is usually found on the side without a sleeve and a brown flak jacket — which also may, or may not have a pouch attached to it. They also tend to wear mesh armor around their ankles. Iwagakure ninja seem to specialize in Doton techniques.

The rocky mountain ranges that surround the village and country provide a natural stronghold. The village profits from this advantageous position and is proud of its strong defenses. The village sits among a mountain range consisting of small narrow waterfalls, with the buildings being composed of rock and stone; shaped from large, elevated formations of rock into tower-like structures. Many of its buildings sit on cliffs connected by a network of bridges. The Tsuchikage's palace seems to be the tallest structure with a cone shaped roof.

Tsuchi no Kuni – Land of Earth: Tsuchi no Kuni has seen little attention in the series thus far. It is located north-west of the Hi no Kuni. Its government leader is the Earth Daimyo. The country is mostly comprised of desolate, rocky areas. The border of the Tsuchi no Kuni runs along a rocky mountain range, blocking communication with other countries. The wind blowing from the north passes over these mountains, carrying small rocks from the Land of Earth to the surrounding countries. This famous natural phenomenon is called "Rock Rain".