Chapter 13: The Fox and the Snake

Hiruzen was sitting quietly in his office doing the bane of his existence – paperwork. There was even more than usual, since the Chunin Exams was being held in Konoha. And it would probably only increase over the next few weeks as the Third Exam approached. With the preparations for the Kazekage to come and attend the exam, plus all the noblemen- and women… he already knew that he would be getting very little sleep. How his predecessor had managed to always be done with the paperwork – and have an active social life on top of that – he would never know. Most fortunate for him, he had gotten letters from both the Mizukage and Raikage, and neither of them would be attending the Finals. Whereas Raikage hadn't seen fit to tell why, the newly instated Mizukage had written that she couldn't leave her village and country when the transition from Yagura's regime. That just meant less work for him to do.

Sarutobi sighed as he signed yet another formality paper and leaned back into his office-chair. He looked tiredly at the mess on his table; multiple stacks of papers, whereas the right, or 'finished', stacks of paper was barely the third the size of the left, or 'yet to be signed', stacks of paper. He groaned slightly and massaged his temples.

"I'm getting too old for this," he mumbled to himself and began signing again, thinking back to the year that he was actually retired, and happily at that. He would have stayed so if there had been a suitable successor. But the only previously one, Jiraiya, became a bit of a mess when Minato had died. And Tsunade had already left the village by then. But if he was lucky, he only needed to endure the job a few more years, and then Naruto could take over. Just maybe…

He shook the thoughts from his head and picked up another paper. It was a request for putting up a stall along the main-road during the finals. He sighed again; why did people think that they could get a spot only weeks before the event? As soon as the date for the finals had been announced, he had been swarmed with requests, and all the available spots had been taken… He was sure that they would spot more than a few un-approved stalls during the final. Just what he needed: More work.

He put the paper in the 'rejected' stack, picked up another paper, and was just about to read it. That's when he felt it; a massive chakra output. And it was coming from a southeastern direction outside the village… in the direction of the Forest of Death. But surely it couldn't come from the forest; it was too far away, and no one in there should be able to produce so much chakra. Only Kage- or Sannin-level shinobi should be able to do it.

An unsettling frown settled on his face as he rose from his seat and walked to the window – the one Jiraiya was so fond of using as a doorway. He looked over the village, trying to spot any and all things that could be related to the chakra outburst. He narrowed his eyes; even if he was able to train so his shinobi abilities wouldn't deteriorate too fast, the same couldn't be said about his bodily functions. He had noticed the last several months that his eyesight had gotten worse, just ever so slightly.

First he thought his eyes were messing him: Near the horizon the air was black with birds, and behind them the air seemed to… shimmer? Yes, it was defiantly shimmering. He walked over to his desk, opened the drawer and put on the glasses he wasn't too fond of using, despite Naruto and Asuma both saying he looked fine in them. He looked out the window, and could still see the shimmering. He quickly concluded that it wasn't just his eyes.

The shimmering air moved fast towards the city, expanding as it did so. Hiruzen's eyes widened, 'Are we under attack? Now of all times?' He had to think quickly. While looking at the approaching wall of energy, he had the weirdest feeling that he had seen something like this before. Perhaps during one of the two wars he had participated in?

Then it hit him: It was Naruto who had done this.

'But why?' Hiruzen thought. 'Why would he do it? From the reports I have gotten from Jiraiya, he should've enough chakra control to NOT make it this big. Why then? Maybe… Maybe he made it this big on purpose? But what could've made him done that?'

The wave or energy, or chakra Hiruzen now knew it was, slowly dispersed about three quarters of the way to his office. It was not very long after three Chunin arrived in the office by the use of Shunshin no jutsu. He recognized two of them as Hagane Kotetsu and Kamizuki Izumo, or 'The Eternal Chunin' as they had become to be known as. He recognizes the third by name, as he knew that he assigned all three Chunin as guards during the exams. He narrowed his eyes: this couldn't be good.

"Hokage-Sama!" it came from one Kamizuki Izumo.

"Kamizuki-san, report!" Hiruzen ordered.

"Approximately four minutes ago we discovered three corpses at The Shrines. We called Anko-Sama immediately after the discovery. She examined the bodies, and she said…" Izumo glanced over at his partner.

Kotetsu saw his friend trouble and immediately stepped forward. "She said it was the work of Orochimaru, sir. She said that Orochimaru of the Densetsu no Sannin is back in Konoha." Hiruzen's breath hitched as he remembered his old, and for a long time most promising, student. Orochimaru was back. But what was he after?

'What can cause him to return here after so long?' Sarutobi worriedly thought, 'what have changed for him to decide it is time?' The old Hokage's eyes widened. He swirled around and looked out of the window, in the direction of The Forest of Death. 'Naruto!'

"TORA! NEKO!" The Sandaime Hokage ordered entering full 'Hokage-mode', making the three Chunin wince lightly. Two ANBU members appeared in the middle of the office kneeling.

"You called Hokage-Sama," it came from the right ANBU, who was wearing the Neko mask.

"Tora, alarm the ANBU that Orochimaru or the Densetsu no Sannin is back and most probably within the Forest of Death right now! I want seven patrols around The Forest. And you, Neko, you will call Hotaru's and Usagi's teams to meet me at twenty-third entrance of The Forest in ten minutes! We are going in after him!"

"Hai," the two ANBU answered and disappeared via Shunshin.

Hiruzen turned his attention towards the still present Chunin. "You have done good to give me this information. I will require you to keep it a secret for now; we don't need worry the citizens, but alert the shinobi immediately!"

"Hai," they all answered.

"Good then," the Sandaime Hokage said and stormed out the doorway before getting an answer. He needed to get into his fighting gear as fast as possible.

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

"Tell me what you have done to Sasuke and Sakura!" Naruto sneered at his opponent, as he tried to slash him yet again time with his blood-red crystal tanto. Orochimaru easily dodged it by leaning unnaturally back, and let the blade fly over him. Naruto didn't give up though. He gathered his chakra in his left hand, making the crystal in his Kessho no Yoroi thicken. He then threw the punch in the direction of Orochimaru's face. For a second or two, it actually seemed like it would hit, but just as it was about to, Orochimaru somehow got out of the way, and jumped a few meters away. Naruto's fist continued right into a tree, making splinters flies in all direction.

"Ku, ku, ku," the crazy snake summoner laughed. "That is it, Naruto-kun, show me your power!"

"Stand still and I will show you my power, bastard!" the crimson-eyed blond yelled, jumping up and came down for a kick to Orochimaru's face. True to his nature, Orochimaru twisted out of the kick and laughed at the Konoha Genin.

"Naruto!" Yugito called. "Calm down! You're falling into his trap!" Naruto glanced over at his… acquaintance. She was right; there was no way he was getting Orochimaru if he kept raging like this. He needed to think clearly. He looked back at the snake, and fought back the bubbling anger that was only growing stronger because of his tenant's chakra. He stopped charging after the Sannin for a second, and took a deep breath to calm himself down. He had trained for this; to use the Kyuubi's chakra, without letting it affect him too much.

The six foreign shinobi was relieved to see that they had finally broken through to their Konoha friend. They had been at it for a few minutes, also trying to help the fight go into the favor of their side. But each time they had been about to cast a jutsu, the Kyuubi Jinchurriki had gotten in the way, and they were forced to abort, less they wanted to hurt the one they were trying to help.

Especially Haku had been affected by the Shoton-user's reaction. She hadn't been able to recognize the blond Konoha-Genin at all: He had been nothing like the calm opponent she had fought in Nami no Kuni. 'He must really care for his friends to get this mad' Haku thought. She was brought back to reality as Orochimaru taunted Naruto once again.

"My, my, you're strong. Too bad you can't hit anything. Little Sasuke-kun was much better," the S-rank missing-nin said with a taunting smirk. 'He definitely has your temper Kushina-Chan.'

Naruto could feel the anger rising up in him again, and forced it down. 'No matter how hard I try, I simply can't hit him,' Naruto thought more than a little irritated, trying to find a way to hit his pale-skinned opponent. 'If Taijutsu doesn't work, I'll use Ninjutsu! That bastard isn't getting away before he tells me where Sakura-chan and Sasuke-teme is!'

Orochimaru analyzed the blond Genin from where he was standing, 'he seems to have calmed somewhat down. He has that much control over the Kyuubi then.'

"Well, unlike Sasuke, I'm not really specialized in a Taijutsu style," Naruto said and began forming seals. "But then again, he doesn't really have much Ninjutsu other than that Katon jutsu of his."

Orochimaru just showed his wicked grin. "Oh ho, ho! We're going to do some playing with Ninjutsu now, are we? Very well, Naruto-kun, let's see what you got."

Naruto just narrowed his eyes and finished the last seal. "Shoton: Kessho Hachidori!" Crystal began forming on the ground and in the air. Soon enough started to merge, taking shapes of hundreds of small lumps. Soon enough they grew wings, beaks, and legs. Before Orochimaru knew it, Naruto had formed hundreds of small crystal hummingbirds, unlike anything he had seen before. And that was saying a lot.

And then there was the color of the crystal again: It was blood red. It just screamed of anger and hate, making the small hummingbirds seems way more intimidating than they would be without the color. Well, intimidating to anyone not of the Snake Sannin's caliber.

The reason that the snake Sannin was surprised of the color was because that, as far as he knew, Guren was only able to make crystal that was colored either pink, or blue – not red. 'It must be because of him using the Kyuubi's chakra,' Orochimaru concluded.

The small group of Genin that was present was all awestruck by the jutsu.

"They're beautiful," it came from Chojuru.

"I know," Karui agreed. "I can't believe how detailed they are! I mean, you can make out what looks like feathers on them!" The rest could only nod dumbstruck.

The moment was over as the crystal birds began fluttering their wings, and thus making a lot of noise. They started moving towards their target – Orochimaru. Said Sannin couldn't help but grin, 'this is going to be so much fun!' He began running away from the fast approaching hummingbirds, transforming his legs into a kind of snake tail, causing his own speed to increase.

The birds began attacking him. Kamikaze style as they flew at him – with their sharp beak first. First he didn't think much of it, but was soon brought on better thoughts, as one of the birds went almost fifteen centimeters into the bark of a tree, before shattering and thus making cuts around the initial impact point. Orochimaru slithered up the trees, twisted himself through branches, and slithered over the pond to get rid of the birds – which despite keeping up with the bombardment toward him, didn't seem to have lost many of their numbers.

Naruto used the cover to get back to the Kumo and Kiri teams. "That should buy us a minute or so," he said as he landed beside Haku and Chojuru. He looked over at Yugito, "Thanks for… calming me."

"No problem," she said with a small smile, "I know how it is." It was true, Naruto realized. She did know how it was, having Bijuu chakra flowing through your body. Even with the gravity of the moment, Naruto couldn't help but feel happy that he had found a person who could relate to what he had been, and was, going through. He didn't know how to respond, so he settled with an acknowledging nod.

"So, any of you assholes have a plan?" Kouhei asked in a carefree voice, while eyeing the Snake Sannin with very bored eyes.

"Hold him off until the ANBU gets here," the only Konoha shinobi present answered.

"Really?" Kouhei asked tauntingly, "That is your great plan? To hold him off?"

"Do you have any better idea, Kouhei?" Naruto sneered back. "He is a Sannin for crying out loud! We have no chance against him, so our only hope is that the ANBU get here fast!"

Kouhei was about to retort when Chojuru stepped in front of him, "Kouhei, stop! Naruto-san is right; we have no other choice." Kouhei didn't answer, just settled with grumbling.

"None of us stand a chance if we go alone," Omoi, "Well maybe Naruto-san and Yugito would but they are both Jinchurriki. Think; if they both went up against him, but lost their cool, then they would – ouch!"

Karui blew on her fist, "what my friend here is trying to say is that none of us stands a chance alone; we need to work together."

"Agreed," it came from Naruto.

'Little Guren never did something like this. Maybe Naruto-kun here is perfect for the Shoton Kekkai Genkai', Orochimaru thought to himself while dodging the ferocious hummingbirds. 'Maybe it's time I stepped up my game, to see what he truly can do.' The snake user was about to retort when a sharp crystal erupted from the earth, nearly impaling him, 'What?'

He looked back at Naruto, only to find him amongst the Kiri and Kumo shinobi he had arrived with. They were standing with various versions of kunai and short swords, the blue-haired Kiri boy being the only one to have a big, broad sword. He was crouching with his hands slammed on the ground, looking at Orochimaru with those red slit eyes, and a grin that says 'come and get me if you can!'

"Hebi-teme! Where are my teammates?" the crimson-eyed Konoha-Genin growled and began pumping more chakra into the ground and directing it towards the Snake Sannin.

Orochimaru soon figure out what the Genin was up to and began slithering between the trees, hoping to outrun the large quantity of chakra in the ground. Soon enough he was running from crystals erupting from the earth, trying to pierce him in several places. Not enough with the hummingbirds' attacks', but now he also had to keep from getting pierced by killer crystals from the earth. His grin only grew larger and larger; if it continued this way, he would be perfect for that.

"So… Does anyone have any ideas to how we're going to stall him?" Karui said while being awestruck by Naruto's powers. Now, she knew that she was a fairly talented Kunoichi herself, one of the best in her generation, but if she was to go up against Naruto… She would need some serious luck to get through it… And Naruto need to be really unlucky. And the sky needed to fall… Yeah, she didn't stand a chance against him.

"The only way I see it," the Hyoton girl said, catching their attention for a second, "is that we bombard him with jutsu to keep him busy until the Konoha ANBU arrives. It's already been a little while since that, erm… since Naruto send the message."

"Seems kind of risky if you ask me," Kouhei huffed.

Haku sighed at her less than cooperative teammate, "Do you have a better idea Kouhei-kun?"

Once again, Kouhei just settled with glaring at all the people there. Naruto sighed to himself; they were not getting anywhere like this. They needed to buy time – and a lot of it.

"Listen," the Kyuubi Jinchurriki said still crouching in the same position, "we're not going anywhere with arguing like this. If we continue, it will probably be the cause of our death." He paused to let it sink in to the six people behind him, who were all awfully quiet. "Haku-chan is right. This," he said, motioning to an Orochimaru grinning and laughing, "will not hold him off for long. I mean, for crying out loud, he is laughing! He is just playing with us. As soon as he gets tired of it, he can break out of it in a second. When he does that, we need to hit him with everything we got, all at once, and hope that it will entertain him for long enough. Got it?" They all nodded, not that he could see it. But when no one objected, he took it that they agreed.

As the Genin from Kumo, Kiri and Konoha went on to plan how to stall for time. While that happened, Orochimaru was beginning to get tired of the little game he was playing. He jumped up into the trees, having figured out that the crystals wouldn't be able to reach all the way up there, and spun around forming hand seals

"Fūton: Daitoppa!"

It was a much smaller version of the jutsu he had used on Team 7 before, much more like the one Naruto had used, but it did the job. Many of the birds were shattered in the strong wind, and the few lucky ones that didn't, were blown far, far away. He then turned towards the group of Genin, "Well? What's next?"

"Now!" Naruto commanded. Immediately the Genin started going through different hand-seals.

Orochimaru frowned: He knew that he can easily take them on, but getting bombarded with seven different jutsu wasn't anything to take lightly either – even if they only were Genin. He knew for a fact that Naruto was Chunin level, and the chances were that the Kumo Jinchurriki also was…

He didn't get to think of it anymore, as the Genin had finished their seals

"Hyoton: Tsubame Fubuki!" it came from Haku as the temperature in her immediate vicinity dropped, and several ice swallows formed and charged.

Chojuru settled on the U seal, took a deep breath, and spat out a long water-stream, "Suiton: Mizurappa!"

"Raiton: Raikyuu!" Karui said with a frown on her face. Soon enough a crackling ball of lightning formed in the edge of her clasped together index-fingers. She pointed at the Konoha Sannin and shot the crackling ball of energy off with a grunt.

Kouhei settled on the dragon-seal smirking, finally able to show what he was capable of, "Suiton: Jano Kuchi!" A long stream of water came out of several places of his body – hidden casks with water Orochimaru concluded, and formed into a long torrent of water, the first part of it taking shape of a snake's head.

"Denko Sekka!" Omoi said and slammed his hands into the ground, causing visible crackling lightning to run over it, towards Orochimaru.

Yugito barred all her teeth as she blew out a large quantity of fire, "Katon: Jigoku no Neko!" The fire soon shaped into the front of a giant cat, well in the size of a large lion, with glowing yellow eyes.

"Shoton: Hasho Koryu!" Naruto said and channeled the remaining of Kurama's, chakra into the jutsu. Small crystals began forming in the air, ground, and trees, clumping together, getting bigger and bigger. It didn't take long before a big, crimson-red, crystal dragon charged towards the Snake Sannin, towering over all the other jutsu sent after him.

Orochimaru's eyes widened at the intimidating number of impressive jutsu that was making their way to him. Fast. He quickly went through seals.

BOOM!

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

Team 9 was jumping through the canopies when they heard the large explosion. They all stopped on their respective branch, the shockwave even reached them.

"What was that?" Lee asked with worry.

"Neji?" Tenten asked, "Can you see anything."

"Already on it," Neji said with his clan's bloodline limit activated. After several seconds of tense silence he said, "I'm sorry, I can't see the explosion site. And I can't see Uzumaki-san- wait."

Lee and Tenten were deflated for a moment, before their tenseness returned.

Neji frowned, "What are they doing here?"

"What is it, Neji?" Tenten asked with her voice full of hope

"In a part of The Forest to the south-east from here is several full teams of ANBU-members" he answered in is monotone voice.

"A-ANBU?" the weapon-mistress asked, worries returning in full force.

"Hai"

"Why would ANBU be here…?" Lee asked trying to think really hard. 'What would Gai-sensei do?' the green-clothed boy asked himself. 'Duh! He would tell me that nothing is more important than to save a friend! Thank you, Gai-sensei!'

"Never mind, it doesn't matter why they're here," Lee said, catching the attention of his teammates. "If Naruto-kun is in trouble, we need to help him."

Tenten nodded, trying to get rid of the growing knot in her stomach. "You're right Lee… Thanks," she said and smiled lightly at him. Neji didn't say anything. He just continued observing the part of The Forest with all the ANBU-members running around.

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

Hiruzen and the ANBU teams he had requested were running through the forest at speeds only reachable at high jounin level. To any normal Genin, they would be nothing but blurs. He was currently accompanied by Hotaru's team, while Usagi's team was scouting all around them. Each team had one Hyuuga member and one Inuzuka member. Apart from that, Usagi's team also had an Aburame member. If anyone could find Orochimaru, it was this team.

"Hokage-Sama! I've found him!" it came from the Hyuuga-member running a few meters from the old Hokage.

"Tell me where he is!" Hiruzen commanded

"He is at about two and a half kilometers to the north-northwest. And he is not alone"

"Who is he with?"

"It seems like there is seven additional persons there. Four of them have Genin-level chakra, two of them have Chunin-level chakra, and the last…"

"And the last? What is it?" Hiruzen asked, getting impatient.

"The last has more chakra than Orochimaru. Even more than you, Hokage-Sama."

'Naruto!' Hiruzen though and took off in the direction of his grandson.

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

(Anbu Masks)

Tora – Tiger

Neko – Cat

Hotaru – Firefly

Usagi – Rabbit

Hebi – Snake

U – Hare

Iguru – Eagle

Taka – Hawk

Kuma – Bear

Urufu – Wolf

Inu – Dog

Kitsune - Fox

Shoton: Kessho Hachidori - Crystal Release: Crystal Hummingbirds: Many humming birds are formed from crystal, the birds then home on the target dodging simple jutsu that attempt to stop them. The birds upon reaching their target begin to either violently attack with their beaks like small blades or continue their flight, impaling the opponent before shattering, causing the wound to widen. When witnessing this technique the target is barely visible amongst the swarm.

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.

Hyoton: Tsubame Fubuki – Ice Release: Swallow Snow Storm: The user creates a dozen large ice needles, which takes the shapes of swallows with razor-sharp beaks. These birds/needles can change direction in the air, at the will of the user.

Suiton: Mizurappa – Water Release: Wild Water Wave: Water gushes out from the mouth like a waterfall and washes away the enemy. One can freely control the power of this technique with the amount chakra one releases. Having many variations, this is a basic Suiton technique.

Raiton: Raikyuu – Lightning Release: Lightning Ball: The user draws the static electricity of the area and gathers it in one point – the top of the index fingers are easiest. The electricity takes form of a medium-sized ball of electrical energy, which can be launched at an enemy.

Suiton: Jano Kuchi – Water Release: Snake's Mouth: The user generates a spinning column of water which takes the form of a snake with a gaping jaw. This snake can twist and follow its targets and swallow them. After it has swallowed them, it turns into a river that carries the enemy away.

Denko Sekka – Lightning Flash: The user slams his hand onto the ground and cause lightning to spread from his hand to underneath the opponent, causing the lightning to run through the opponent's body. It can be used on multiple enemies at once, though with lessening effect if used with the same amount of chakra.

Katon: Jigoku no Neko – Fire Release: Inferno Cat: A jutsu only used by Nii Yugito of Kumogakure. She channels minute traces of the Nib's chakra, and mixes it with her own Katon chakra. The result is an inferno cat, which slightly resembles the Ghost Cat herself.

Shoton: Hasho Koryu – Crystal Release: Tearing Crystal Falling Dragon: The user crystallizes a material in the area, and then turns it into a dragon. It can be used as a means to travel or to attack a target. Several dragons can also be made and manipulated at once.