Warning: There is a lime in this chapter. If you are not interested in reading the lime, or do not feel comfortable doing so, skip the lime when you see the notification that the lime is beginning.
Chapter 7 – Encounters in the Forest of Death & Rihoshi's Terrifying Power!
It hadn't taken long after the proctor appeared for everyone to get a number assigned to them. Once all the participants had been seated, the proctor began to explain the rules for the first exam. Based on the rules of this first exam, Naruto and many others understood the purpose pretty quickly. Glancing to his left for a moment, the young Uzumaki-Namikaze saw the only remaining male on his sister's team: Rihoshi.
Thinking back on his sister's curious words before the start of the exam, the blonde found himself frowning inwardly, making sure to mask his emotions with a neutral stare so the darkness-user didn't suspect anything. Naruko-chan hasn't talked about Rihoshi much. I didn't even interact with him that much during that mission. In fact, the only time I heard him really talk was when he stood up for us in front of the Council. If she says that he's acting odd, then I have to take her word for it. But…what could he be hiding?
When Rihoshi smiled politely at Naruto, the blonde nodded his head in response before turning to look at the person on his right. Here sat one Hinata Hyuga. She appeared to be feeling a bit more confident than he had seen her in the academy, and he could only assume that this was due to Ino's likely influence on the girl. After all, his lovely blonde-haired girlfriend was an outgoing, confident person, and he had no doubt in his mind that she would've done her very best to cure Hinata of her insecurities.
As Hinata noticed his gaze, the blonde Uzumaki-Namikaze gave her a confident smile and wished her luck in this exam and the upcoming exams as well. Upon seeing her smile and nod her head in response, the two of them turned to face the front of the room and waited for their intimidating proctor to tell everyone that they could start.
Upon being told that they could begin, Naruto flipped over his test paper and began to look the questions over carefully. While the first and second he realized he could answer easily enough, the rest he considered to be a little out of his league at this point in time. So, deciding to start with the questions he could answer right away, the blonde did his work and filled in the answers.
After finishing with those, the blonde began to glance around the room slowly, trying to keep the proctor and the chunin lining the room from catching him doing so. Okay, so how am I supposed to get the other answers? I could summon Haku's spirit to get the answers for me, but I'd rather not summon his spirit for such a thing. It wouldn't do to waste a use when I might actually need him for something important later.
Sighing quietly to himself, Naruto ruffled his hair a bit and took a deep breath to calm himself down. As he thought about what he had available to him that would allow him to obtain the answers he needed, the Uzumaki-Namikaze male looked back down to his paper and felt incredibly dumbfounded at what he saw. There, on his paper, all of the answers were filled in and each of them was exactly right, as far as Naruto could tell.
It was at this point that Naruto felt somebody's eyes on him. Glancing to his left again, what Naruto saw sent chills down his spine. Rihoshi was watching him and smiling the entire time. However, Naruto didn't feel comforted by this smile. Instead, it felt sinister to him in a way and he began to wonder just what Rihoshi's goal was. After all, why would he help Naruto get through this test when there really shouldn't have been anything in it for the dark enigma?
The longer the blonde looked into Rihoshi's eyes, the colder he began to feel. Deciding to just nod his head in thanks, Naruto looked back down to his paper and took a shaky breath in and releasing it slowly. I have a feeling that Naruko-chan doesn't even realize the kind of darkness Rihoshi's holding inside of him. His eyes…his smile…all I felt was evil. Just what the hell is he?!
Calming his breathing down, the blonde laid his head down upon the desk and closed his eyes. He felt as if his life had been shortened by at least fifteen years! Deciding to take this time to rest and hopefully recover from the odd experience, Naruto soon found himself drifting off to sleep.
Last 10 minutes of the test
Feeling somebody prodding him in the side, Naruto's head shot up off the desk and he glanced around in a mixture of shock and confusion. "Wha-?! Whazzat?!"
Beside him, Hinata couldn't stop giggling as she watched Naruto reacquaint himself with his surroundings. "Naruto-kun, it's time for the tenth question to be explained. Pay attention."
The blonde nodded slowly and rubbed his eyes a moment before looking at Hinata carefully. "Heh, thanks Hinata-san. I appreciate you waking me up in time. Guess I just haven't been feeling too well today, huh?" Chuckling nervously to himself, the blonde gave her what he hoped was a confident smile before turning his gaze to the front of the room.
Ibiki Morino smirked to himself as he watched the Uzumaki-Namikaze boy. "Well, now that we're all awake, I'll explain the rules for this tenth question."
Before he could continue, a girl with mint green hair closer to the center of the room huffed and spoke up, an irritated tone to her voice. "More rules? Come on, weren't there enough rules already? Now you're choosing to throw in extra rules for the tenth question? What the heck's your problem with us anyways?!"
Naruto chuckled at that, but kept quiet as he let Ibiki talk. "You'd do well to be quiet Minty if you don't want to fail for your insolence." Seeing the look on the girl's face, the proctor continued. "Good to see you understand. Now shut up, sit down, and listen."
As the girl sat down, she couldn't help but notice the blonde boy two rows ahead of her smirk as he turned back to face Ibiki. That little punk! Go ahead and think you're better than me Blondie. When we meet again, I'll kick your ass!
Sadly, it was obvious that the girl had completely misunderstood Naruto's smirk. She's got a good attitude. Seems like she might be a pretty interesting person. Yep, Naruto was just thinking about making friends with the girl because he found her to be pretty interesting. Oh the misunderstandings a simple look can cause.
"The most important thing you maggots need to realize is that you have a choice to make. You can either choose to remain and take this tenth question, or you can get up and walk out that door." Ibiki explained, right before he heard the very question he had been expecting to hear since before he even uttered those sentences.
'Clown-Boy', as Naruto still chose to refer to him as, shot up out of his seat and pointed an accusing finger at Ibiki at this point. "Are you trying to call us stupid or something? If we've made it this far, what the hell makes you think we'd just quit now?!"
At this, the proctor smirked and ordered Kankuro to sit down. "Because if you attempt to answer this last question and fail, you'll never become a chunin. That's right, fail this last question and you'll be forever stuck as a genin. And as before, should even one of you fail, the other members of your team fail right along with you. So go ahead; attempt this last question, fail, and piss off your teammates. It'll be fun to watch." With a wicked smirk, Ibiki watched as Kankuro gulped and sat back down without uttering another word.
After saying a few more things that he felt the chunin-hopefuls needed to hear, Ibiki went quiet and continued to look around the room at each of them, a smirk playing at his lips. It didn't take long for people to begin raising their hands and announcing that they quit.
Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze couldn't help but release a sigh as team after team was forced to leave the room, whether due to one member quitting or all three of them raising their hands as one. Mostly everyone he knew was fine, so the blonde wasn't all that concerned. When it looked as if all the teams that were going to quit had left the room, the blonde's eyes returned to the proctor as he waited for Ibiki to reveal the tenth question.
Ibiki Morino had one final look around the room, waiting just a few more seconds to see if anyone else planned to quit. There were a number of teams left and he knew that the next proctor would give him a hassle over it, but it was out of his hands at this point. With a small grin, Ibiki threw up one of his arms and spoke loud enough for every genin in the room to hear him. "Congratulations! You all pass!"
Naturally, this resulted in a loud chorus of 'What?!' from many of the genin, but a few of the smarter genin, Naruto included, understood exactly what the tenth question actually represented as soon as Ibiki had said that. So, while Ibiki went on to explain things to the majority of the genin, Naruto looked around for Naruko, Sakura, Ino, and his teammates: Shino and Choji. Flashing each of them a quick message to wait for him, the blonde soon shot a quick glance around to Rihoshi, Kurotsuchi, the mint-haired girl, and a few others that he was feeling cautious about, such as the Suna genin, the Oto team, and a few others to ensure that none had caught on. When it appeared as if nobody had noticed what he was up to, the blonde returned his gaze to the front and released a slow, steady breath. He had wanted to sigh, but he knew that, with Rihoshi right next to him, the older boy would no doubt notice he was disturbed by something and his plan to talk with those few in private would be ruined.
As soon as his eyes had returned to the front, the Uzumaki-Namikaze boy saw that the proctor had just finished his explanation. Nodding his head, trying to show he had been paying attention, the blonde was soon rather surprised when one of the windows exploded inward and a banner was suddenly hanging in front of the poor proctor. "Introducing the sexy and single Anko Mitarashi, Proctor of the Second Exam!" was written on the banner, and Naruto honestly couldn't help but to sweat drop as he watched a purple-haired woman appear before them.
Not even daring to speak a word, the blonde listened to the friendly banter taking place between the two proctors before glancing around at the others again. The mint-haired girl was currently glaring his way, and the blonde quickly chose to avert his gaze to continue scanning the room. Jeez, what the hell is her problem? I know I haven't done anything to her!
Soon after that, his eyes landed on Gaara. Just like with the girl he had chosen to avoid looking at, Gaara's eyes were fixed on Naruto, a cold glare on his face. Okay, Gaara I can at least understand. Sort of. After our encounter yesterday, I'm interested in seeing what he's capable of in a fight, so I'm sure he's feeling the same way. Hopefully. His glare just kind of screams 'Die Uzumaki-Namikaze!'
Shuddering a bit at that thought, the blonde boy returned his gaze back to the front of the room. The woman, Anko Mitarashi, had just started to address the genin of the class. After instructing the lot to meet her at Training Ground #44 in half an hour at the latest, the Uzumaki-Namikaze boy rose from his seat and went to wait for his teammates and girlfriends in a corner of the room.
After the room had been cleared, Naruto stood with Naruko, Kurotsuchi, Shino, Choji, and Ino. Sakura had to argue with Sasuke for a few minutes before the idiot finally agreed to let her speak with her boyfriend. Kurotsuchi's presence was a bit different however. She had simply refused to leave, and the two Uzumaki-Namikaze siblings trusted her enough by now to allow her in on whatever it was Naruto wanted to talk about.
Taking a deep breath in and releasing it slowly, Naruto looked around at everybody around him before finally settling his eyes on Naruko. "Naruko-chan." Seeing her nod, the younger of the siblings closed his eyes and nodded his head in response. "I'm sure you noticed that Rihoshi was sitting on my left during the exam." When each of them nodded, Naruto sighed heavily and shook his head. "Yeah, I think I see what you mean now Naruko-chan."
Choji perked up at this and paused a moment, temporarily forgoing the eating of his favorite chips. "What do you mean by that Naruto? Did something happen?"
Naruto chuckled at that and nodded his head slowly. "Yes…and no." Looking around again, Naruto smiled just a little. "To put it simply, Rihoshi gives me a really bad feeling. I don't know why, but as I was trying to think of some way to get the answers to the third through ninth questions, Rihoshi answered all of my remaining questions for me. And before you say anything about that, any of you, think about it for a moment. Sure, Rihoshi might know that Naruko and I want to become chunin together, that it's been a dream of ours for a long time now, but he has no real reason to help me."
The blonde started to shake a little at this point, so his girlfriends each hugged him tight in an attempt to calm him down. "When I looked into Rihoshi's eyes to try and figure out why he did such a thing…I swear I felt like my life was coming to an end. I don't like saying this about your teammate Naruko-chan, but there's just something evil about him. That's actually why I wanted you guys to stay behind." Looking at each one of his friends one at a time, the Uzumaki-Namikaze boy shivered slightly before laughing nervously to himself. "Be careful. No matter what, be careful of Rihoshi. I don't trust him."
Looking into Sakura's eyes at this point, Naruto hugged her close and gently ran his fingers through her hair. "Don't you dare let Sasuke pull you and Shikamaru into a fight against this guy. I don't want to see you get hurt Sakura-chan." Leaning back, he kissed her passionately for a time before stepping back and looking to Ino.
"Ino, I know how hotheaded Kiba can be, but I'm sure you can think of something to keep Dog-boy on a tight leash. Keep him away from Rihoshi and keep yourself out of harm's way." Hugging his platinum blonde-haired sweetheart close, Naruto kissed her in the same way he had Sakura just moments ago.
Upon releasing each other, Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze finally turned his gaze to Naruko and Kurotsuchi. "I know you two are on a team with Rihoshi, but watch each other's backs, okay? I doubt he'll try to harm either of you, but I want you to be extra careful just in case. No matter what this next exam entails, do your best to pass it quickly and wait for me at the end. I don't know what we can expect in the next exam or whatever might come after, but…please, please just be careful. Okay you two?"
Kurotsuchi quirked a brow before she shrugged and gave Namikaze's son a hug. "Hey, no need to worry about me Naruto-san. I appreciate your concern though." Smirking, the Iwa kunoichi gave him a quick peck on the nose just to rile up his girlfriends before stepping back and whistling innocently to herself, a bemused expression on her face the entire time.
Naruko shot a quick glare at Kurotsuchi before she hugged her brother tight and kissed him as passionately as he had Sakura and Ino before her. "You be careful too Naru-kun. I saw Marco two rows in front of me. I think he's going to try and come after you at some point, so be very, very careful. Promise?"
Naruto frowned at that news and nodded slowly. "Yeah, I promise Naruko-chan. If I do encounter Marco, my big concern is his new teammates. What are they capable of? And what is that prick now capable of after being trained by Danzo? I really don't like this one bit. I had hoped he wouldn't have been allowed to participate…"
The others frowned at this bit of news, but Kurotsuchi took this moment to step forward and place her hands on Naruko's and Naruto's shoulders. "Naruto, you don't have to worry about Naruko-san. So long as she and I are together, there isn't a damn thing that rapist bastard can do to her. Besides that, we do have Rihoshi with us. As creepy as that guy is, it might help to deter Marco from attacking."
Turning her gaze to Naruko, Kurotsuchi smirked at her and punched her lightly in the shoulder. "As for you Naruko, you need to relax. Your brother's a tough guy, and if Marco tries to attack him, who do you think would win? You don't even need to give it a second thought, right? The answer is clearly Naruto-kun. Err…Naruto-san." Kurotsuchi had quickly corrected herself at the looks she had received from Naruto's three girlfriends, and all he could do was chuckle at the situation.
Before anyone could say anything to the Iwa kunoichi, Naruto gave her a quick hug and patted her on the back before backing away. "Thanks for that Kurotsuchi-chan. I knew you were awesome, dattebayo!" Smirking at her, Naruto nodded his head and prepared to leave, only to freeze after a few steps. "Wait…"
Turning back to face the others, the blonde Uzumaki-Namikaze boy began to frown again. "Stay away from the Suna genin, namely Gaara. He's the one with red hair and that large gourd on his back. Something about that guy just screams: 'I'll kill you all.' to me. Sooo, yeah. Be careful, okay everyone?" Once he saw a collective of nods, each of them left to rejoin their teams and/or head to the 44th Training Ground.
Training Ground #44 – Forest of Death Entrance
Once everyone had arrived at their destination, a lot of people were caught off guard. Oh, it wasn't the sheer size of the forest or the sounds within that caught them off guard, it was the fact that one Sasuke Uchiha actually tried to attack Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze!
"You stupid bastard Namikaze! You were trying to make me late, weren't you?!" Sasuke shouted as he attempted to punch Naruto. Of course, the blonde caught or blocked every attack the Uchiha threw at him, but this only served to enrage the Uchiha further.
Thankfully, the proctor for the second exam had decided to intervene in a rather violent way. Anko had appeared behind Sasuke and slammed him down into the ground hard. "Shut up brat! And you!" Turning to Naruto, Anko punched him hard in the face and sent him skidding on his feet backwards for a few feet. "That's for whatever it was you did to piss this idiot off! I won't tolerate any shit, is that understood? By all of you?"
Glancing around at all the genin, Anko grinned and walked off to the front. Naruto's teammates and girlfriends had quickly gone to check on him, while Sasuke muttered a few curses under his breath and walked back to Shikamaru's side.
"Ugh, this proctor's a hard ass. Didn't even do anything and I still got hit. Shit." Naruto slowly removed his hand from his face and turned to listen to the rules of this second exam. Of course, his girlfriends had decided it was more important to try and check on their boyfriend, so he had to tell them to pay attention and somehow managed to convince them that he was okay, despite the throbbing pain in his cheek.
As Anko began to go over the rules of the second exam, Naruto couldn't help but shoot a quick glare over at Sasuke. That little shit is going to pay for this soon enough.
As the blonde was turning back to Anko, he couldn't help but notice something odd. A short distance from Sasuke's team, a single Kusa kunoichi was watching Sasuke intently, a gleeful look on her face, if he had to describe it. Feeling seriously creeped out by this, Naruto quickly turned away and continued listening to the rules. These exams are seriously screwed up as is, what with all the weirdoes that are here. Now there's some creepy chick checking out the teme of all people? Seriously, that's just giving me the creeps.
Later – Inside the Forest of Death
After hearing the rules of the exam from the 'sexy Anko Mitarashi', as the proctor apparently liked to refer to herself as, each team had collected their scroll and gone to their assigned gate, where they were then forced to wait until they were told they could enter the Forest of Death. Team 10 had been assigned to a gate almost all the way around on the opposite side of where they had turned in their consent forms! They didn't complain, however, and simply waited patiently for their chance to enter the forest.
Minutes later, after being admitted entrance, the three genin of Team 10 quickly dashed inside and found someplace dark to hide. They talked strategy for a time before they decided to simply attempt to lay a trap for any nearby teams. Nodding to Shino, the insect-user of the group, Naruto and Choji watched as the young man sent his kikaichu out in different directions to search for a team they could ambush.
Half an hour later
Naruto couldn't help but sigh as his team took shelter high up in some trees. All that Shino's kikaichu had found thus far were life forms native to the Forest of Death. Apparently the Forest of Death was far bigger than they had expected it to be and they figured it might take some time before they managed to find another team.
"So what do we do now? We need to get an Earth scroll and get to the tower. I don't know about you two, but I don't want to be stuck eating worms or something until we pass this exam." Choji commented, clearly not happy about having to camp out in the woods like this without extra packs of his favorite snacks.
Naruto chuckled quietly to himself before shaking his head. "I figured we would've found another team by now Choji-san. I've never actually been in the Forest of Death before, so I don't really know how big it is. It could take us a day or two to find another team if we're really unlucky. Or…"
Shino raised a finger to his lips and shook his head. Seeing he now had his friends' attention, the Aburame pointed down at the clearing below them. "I think one of them can sense us. They haven't moved since landing in that spot one minute ago."
The Uzumaki-Namikaze boy frowned at that before he recognized that mop of mint green hair. Realizing that they were already found out and it was a matter of time before this team found them, Naruto sighed and hopped down from the tree. Landing in the clearing a short distance from the Taki team, the blonde rubbed the back of his head and grinned at them. "Yo."
The girl watched as the blonde boy's teammates appeared at his side and grumbled. "Great, I knew we had found somebody, but did it have to be you?"
Naruto pointed a finger at his face and blinked a couple of times. "Do you have some kind of a problem with me? Or are you just not looking forward to having to fight me?"
The girl growled at this and moved to strike Naruto, only to pause when his teammates moved to defend him should they need to. Scoffing, the girl looked away and grumbled for a time before finally responding. "You're a damn jerk, you know that? You just think you're so much better than me, don't you asshole?"
Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze was really confused now. After telling Shino and Choji they could stand down, he took a step forward and placed a hand on the Taki kunoichi's shoulder. "Hey, I'm not sure why you would think that, but I wasn't thinking that. I don't even know you, so how could I possibly know which of us is better, if either of us is truly superior to the other in anything?"
The girl looked into Naruto's eyes, a rather skeptical look on her face. "I saw you smirking at me during the first exam. You thought I was being stupid."
Naruto chuckled at that and shook his head. "Wow, you really misinterpreted my facial expression there. I thought you were kinda funny, but in a good way. I thought you had a good attitude and was wondering what it'd be like if we were friends. Never once did the thought of me actually being superior to you cross my mind."
The girl raised an eyebrow at that before taking a step back and looking him in the eyes. "You're a strange one, aren't you? Before we fight, why don't you tell me your name? I'm Fu."
Naruto grinned and extended his hand to her. "Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze. It's a pleasure to meet ya Fu-san!" When the girl, now known as Fu, shook his hand, the blonde quickly moved forward and struck her hard in the stomach, knocking the wind out of her and making her collapse to her knees in front of him.
Kneeling down beside her, Naruto leaned in close and began to whisper in her ear while his teammates made short work of Fu's teammates. "Sorry about that, but this is an exam after all. Besides that, I kinda wanted to talk for a bit." Seeing her angry scowl, the blonde chuckled a bit before moving away just enough so he could look into her face a bit easier. "I couldn't help but notice the scornful looks of your teammates. You're here against your will, aren't you Fu-san?"
Fu's eyes widened just slightly before she reigned in her emotions. However, it was obvious that Naruto had spotted her moment of emotion, so she let out a frustrated sigh and decided to talk. "I'm really only here so these two jerks can become chunin. Even if I were to pass every exam and beat everyone here, I'd never be made a chunin. Not in my village." Grumbling at that, Fu closed her eyes and shook her head. "I'm an outcast in my own village. I don't get any respect from anyone. Sometimes, some of the assholes have even attacked me, saying I'm just a fucking monster."
Naruto frowned at that before looking down at his stomach. Rubbing it a moment, the blonde couldn't help the question that escaped his lips just seconds after. "Forgive me for asking, but are you perhaps a Jinchuriki?"
Fu raised her head and looked into Naruto's eyes, a panicked expression now on her face. Before she could even ask him what he knew, the blonde raised a finger and told her to be quiet. So, reluctantly, the mint-haired girl remained quiet and motioned for Naruto to continue.
"The reason I ask Fu-san is because that sounds kind of familiar. Despite being the son of the Yondaime Hokage, there are some in the village that have attempted to beat me or have me killed. It's troublesome, for lack of a better word, but it happens. And the reason? It's because I'm a Jinchuriki, and what I carry inside of me is what's responsible for so much destruction and the death of my tou-san: the Kyuubi no Yoko. So, I just had to ask."
Fu blinked a few times before she felt all the strength drain from her body. Resting on her knees, Fu kept herself upright by pressing her hands on the ground in front of her. "Heh, you're not lying, are you Naruto-san? You're being serious here?" Looking up into his eyes, Fu saw that he was, indeed serious. Laughing a bit more, the mint-haired girl forced herself to stand and ended up smiling brightly at the blonde-haired boy in front of her. "In that case, it's really very nice to meet you Naruto-san. But, why tell me all this?"
Naruto shrugged his shoulders before looking past her at her two unconscious teammates. "Because you deserve better, and I think you would do well here in our village. If you're interested, I already have a plan that I think might work. If not, well…we could just deal with the consequences later, I'm sure." Chuckling to himself, the blonde awaited Fu's answer while Shino and Choji got to work with what they knew Naruto was going to suggest: they were taking Fu's teammates off someplace to dump them somewhere.
Fu was speechless for a good while. In fact, it became so bad that Naruto was actually wondering if she had remembered to continue breathing or not. When she finally collected her thoughts and managed to respond, the Taki jinchuriki had a huge smile on her face and quickly threw her arms around Naruto, hugging him tight. "If you really mean that, I'll be forever grateful! Just do whatever it takes to help me, please!" Chuckling softly at that, Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze nodded happily and began to explain his plan to Fu and his teammates.
The Next Day – Naruko's Team
Naruko, Kurotsuchi, and Rihoshi stumbled across what appeared to be the site of one seriously intense battle. In the strange, manmade clearing ahead of them, the team spotted two genin conversing amongst one another. Stepping closer, Naruko's team began to eavesdrop to see what information they could gather.
"Damn it. I didn't think anyone was strong enough to beat Fu, let alone kill her! And to top that off, those assholes took our scroll! What the hell are we supposed to do now?" One of the Taki genin asked the other.
Sighing angrily, the other just shook his head and looked skyward. "It's obvious we're not getting past this exam. We're supposed to pass it as a team after all, aren't we? So we're pretty fucked." Looking at his teammate, the second one donned a frown and shook his head again. "I'm more concerned about what sensei is going to do once he realizes Fu's gone. We fucked up big time and I am most certainly not looking forward to seeing what he'll do to us. My suggestion? We run and hope to Kami we don't run into that blonde guy and his team again. There's no telling what they'd do to us if we bumped into them again."
As the two continued to converse, both Naruko and Kurotsuchi found themselves agreeing that the person they were talking about had to be Naruto. As soon as the Taki genin had fled towards one of the exits, the team stepped out into the clearing and began to look around at the destruction.
Soon enough, Naruko turned to Kurotsuchi and frowned. "Naruto-kun's not the type to kill without reason. If I had to guess, I'd say something weird's going on. Then again, that's usually the case when he's involved." Sighing, the female Uzumaki-Namikaze brought a hand to her face and shook her head in disbelief.
Kurotsuchi, meanwhile, was looking around at the destruction. "I don't know Naruko-san. This is some heavy destruction here. Whatever happened, there's only one real way to find out and that's to ask Naruto-kun directly. Otherwise, we're just stuck making guesses without knowing the whole damn truth."
Naruko's left eyebrow twitched upwards and she quickly turned to face Kurotsuchi. "There you go again. Why do you keep calling my boyfriend 'Naruto-kun'? Are you hot for my brother?!"
Before Kurotsuchi could even come up with a retort for that, another team stepped out into the clearing. Quickly turning to face them, Naruko's eyes widened and she took a small step back, hands going for her swords. "Marco…"
Naruko's ex-teammate smirked as he looked Naruko up and down appreciatively. "Mmm, you're looking as good as ever Naruko-chan. As much as I'd love to knock you out and finally take what you owe me, I'm not here for a fight. Instead, I'd like to deliver a simple 'warning'." Seeing the looks of doubt on Team Naruko's faces, Marco grinned darkly. "After what I suffered, I'm going to make sure I kill Naruto eeeeextra slow right in front of you Naruko-chan. Danzo-sama has helped me become even stronger, and I highly doubt your puny little shit stain of a brother stands a chance of beating me now. You'd best start making funeral preparations Naruko-chan. Farewell." And with that, Marco vanished into the forest with his team, leaving Naruko and her teammates behind.
As usual, Rihoshi remained silent, though his gaze remained on Marco as he fled the scene. Kurotsuchi on the other hand was furious! Kneeling at Naruko's side, the Iwa kunoichi hugged Naruko close and gently stroked a hand up and down her back. "Calm yourself Naruko-san. I've never seen you react so badly to someone before." Sure enough, while Marco had been talking, Naruko began to feel ill and collapsed to her knees. She had broken out in a cold sweat and had started shaking as well.
Frowning at this, Kurotsuchi just held Naruko close until she was feeling better. "Feeling better now Naruko? Good. We should just trust that no matter what, Naruto-kun will be alright. In the meantime, we need to find another team and get a Heaven scroll. I'd rather not be out here with a creep like that running around. Come on."
As Kurotsuchi helped Naruko to her feet, the blonde found herself glaring daggers at Kurotsuchi again. "Seriously, why do you keep calling him 'Naruto-kun'?" At that, Kurotsuchi couldn't help but smirk for a moment before breaking out into a fit of giggles. It didn't take long for Naruko to begin chasing Kurotsuchi around, away from the destruction.
Rihoshi, noticing that his teammates were back to normal, quickly gave chase. However, he couldn't help but give a cruel smirk as he gave chase. You may just get your chance yet Marco. Only, I'm sure you'll be very disappointed when you fight him.
Elsewhere in the Forest – Team 10
After collecting Fu's scroll, another Heaven scroll unfortunately, the team had proceeded to fake her death. The massive destruction caused had been entirely Naruto's idea, and he and Choji had worked together to make it appear as if a huge battle had taken place between the two jinchuriki. Afterwards, Team 10 had taken the time to escort Fu to one of the exits where they met Anko again.
Naruto had asked Anko to please get somebody to take Fu to meet the Sandaime. When asked why, the blonde just grinned and said 'Because she's going to be living with me from now on."
Anko's reaction to this had been priceless. However, despite her teasing comments, Naruto had remained perfectly calm; Fu, on the other hand, had begun to blush a very deep shade of red. Eventually, Anko had taken Fu personally to meet with the Hokage. Meanwhile, Team 10 had decided to resume their search for a team that might be holding the Earth scroll they needed.
At the moment, Naruto and his teammates were looking around at what was obviously the sight of an intense battle. Glancing around, they could see droplets of blood on the ground, wrecked tree limbs, burnt wood, and more all over the place. What really had Naruto on edge was the fact that there were locks of pink hair lying on one of the tree limbs. Sakura…
Shino approached Naruto from behind and placed a hand gently upon his friend's shoulder. "Naruto. Sakura is most likely just fine. She may have a few wounds, but if she was dead, we would most likely already know about it. Relax for now. We will look for your girlfriend at daybreak. Okay?" Seeing Naruto nod in response, the bug-user led the team away to a darkened area and agreed to take the first watch while his friends slept.
The Next Day – Team 7
Sakura and Shikamaru had done their very best to hide out someplace where they wouldn't be found, but unfortunately luck was not on their side. So, doing their very best to keep the still unconscious Sasuke safe, the two of them stepped out to do battle with the Oto genin that had found them.
Sadly, despite how much the two had improved with time and how skilled they were, their opponents had beaten them and things were looking bad. As the Oto genin were preparing to deliver a finishing blow to the pink-haired lass, Rock Lee had appeared and saved her. But after a time, he, too, had been defeated. Granted, it was a cheap trick, but he had still been defeated!
Sakura had continued to put up a good fight, even after Shikamaru and Rock Lee had been rendered unconscious, but she just couldn't do it by herself. On her knees, praying for some kind of miracle to occur, Sakura hadn't expected Sasuke to appear before her and rip Zaku's arms out of their sockets. Of course, he had also smashed up Zaku's right arm pretty bad beforehand, but was that really important?
Glancing up at her teammate, the pink-haired kunoichi was shocked to see dark flames covering his body, and a strange tattoo beginning to cover his face. Feeling a terrible fear washing over her, Sakura began to literally beg Sasuke to stop. It wasn't long before he had defeated the other Oto genin. At this point, the corrupted, er…corrupt Uchiha to turn on Sakura. How could one truly call Sasuke corrupted when he was already a dark individual to begin with?
Regardless of that, Sakura now sat helpless as Sasuke approached her, preparing to attack his own teammate. She was therefore very thankful when a blur appeared and kicked Sasuke away from her. Getting a closer look as soon as the blurred figure landed in front of her, the pinkette smiled happily before breathing a sigh of relief. "Naruto-kun! Thank Kami you're here! He…he killed them. Sasuke just…he killed them. And he…"
Before Sakura could say anything more, Naruto rushed to her, threw his arms around her, and kissed her passionately before peppering her with questions. "Sakura-chan! Are you okay? Who did this to you? What happened?" These were just some of the questions asked; Naruto had managed to ask a lot more in the time span of a few seconds.
Sakura giggled cutely before kissing her boyfriend. "Silly, you need to calm down and relax. I'm okay, just in pain. I'll explain everything later. Right now, you really need to do something about Sasuke."
Naruto nodded slowly before he stood back up and turned to face the Uchiha. Drawing his Shi no Tacchi, the blonde quickly blocked a fireball from Sasuke, easily slicing the Katon jutsu in half, dispersing it before it could do anything more than increase the temperature in the area. As Sasuke charged, Naruto called on Haku's powers of ice and slashed forward, successfully capturing the Uchiha in a wave of ice.
As he looked at the Uchiha, Naruto couldn't help but frown. Yes, the ice had managed to crawl up Sasuke's body and entrapped him in a block of ice, but the markings are what truly had him concerned. They continued to glow fiercely, and it looked as if Sasuke was actually struggling to get out. This in itself was odd to Naruto, considering the fact that he was trapped in a block of ice and wasn't even supposed to be conscious!
Sighing at this fact, the blonde stabbed the Shi no Tacchiinto the ground at his feet and used a little more of Haku's power to suck the breath out of Sasuke's lungs. This did the trick, as the Uchiha soon fell unconscious, the marks receding quickly. "That took long enough. Stupid teme." Slashing the ice to pieces around Sasuke, Naruto soon returned his sword to its sheathe and glared down at the unconscious Uchiha. "If you ever go after my girlfriend again, you'll suffer far worse than that teme."
While Shino and Choji walked into sight and decided to keep an eye on Sasuke, Naruto returned to his girlfriend's side and hugged her close. "Sweetie, tell me what happened."
A short time later
Naruto frowned at everything he had heard. While Sakura had been explaining everything that happened to Team 10, more specifically her boyfriend, Naruto, Lee's teammates had come to retrieve him and disappeared without picking a fight. Shikamaru had also come to, thankfully.
Looking into Sakura's eyes, the blonde couldn't help but feel awful. "I'm sorry you had to go through all that Sakura-chan. You said his name was Orochimaru?" Seeing the pinkette nod slowly, the Uzumaki-Namikaze boy sighed again. "Damn. What the heck is he doing here? I've heard nothing good about him from anybody. I really can't help but wonder what he wanted with Sasuke, and what he did to him."
Hugging Sakura close again, Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze just relished in her scent and smiled to himself. "I'm just glad you're alright sweetie. When I saw your hair and the blood…"
Sakura nodded slowly and kissed her boyfriend once again before stroking his whiskers gently. "I won't leave you like that Naruto-koi. I love you too much to just abandon you." Kissing him sweetly once more, the pinkette found herself giggling at her blushing boyfriend.
Naruto smiled brightly and nodded his head slowly in response. "Y-Yeah. You make a g-good point Sakura-chan. But, now that I think on it, you said you needed a Heaven scroll right? Well…we have one extra. So…here. You take it." Reaching into his bag, the blonde pulled out Team 10's extra Heaven scroll and placed it gently in his girlfriend's hands. "When Sasuke comes to, I want you three to head straight to the tower. As soon as Sasuke is out of sight, you need to ask to speak with Jiji. He'll know what to do about that mark and about Orochimaru, I'm sure."
The pinkette nodded slowly before she rose to her feet and grinned at her boyfriend. "Don't keep me waiting too long honey. Get that Earth scroll you need and get your butt to the tower. Do you understand me?"
Naruto chuckled to himself and rose to his feet as well. Once more, he gave Sakura a passionate kiss before separating from her. "Kami do I love you. Be careful sweetheart." Seeing his girlfriend nod, Naruto looked to his teammates and the three of them quickly vanished into the trees in search of the Earth scroll they needed.
The Next Day – Tower Entrance
At the end of the third day, Team 10 had finally managed to collect the Earth scroll they needed from a pretty weak team from Kumogakure. Sadly, because it was so late in the day, the team had decided it best to camp out for the night and make for the tower in the morning.
It was now midday and, after laying out their scrolls, their sensei, Asuma Sarutobi, now stood before them. "Damn, what the hell took you three so long to get here? Four days! I thought you were better than this."
Before Naruto or Choji could retort, Shino decided to speak up. "Our apologies Asuma-sensei, but there were unexpected circumstances that happened to delay us a fair bit."
Asuma sighed and nodded to himself as he lit a cigarette and took a few puffs. "Yeah, so I've heard. The old man wants to speak to you three about that girl you sent to greet him. Then there's that problem with the Uchiha. You three were damn busy in this second exam, weren't you?"
Naruto chuckled a bit and rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, you could say that. But Asuma-sensei, think you could answer a few questions for me?"
Team 10's sensei chuckled before holding up a hand. "I'm pretty sure I know what you're going to ask Naruto-kun. Team 7 arrived safely and Sakura-chan is doing fine. She's upset with you for taking too long to get here though. Team 8 arrived on the second day, and they've been pretty shaken up after whatever they saw out there. Ino-chan could probably use you right now. And as for Naruko's team…"
At this, Asuma Sarutobi sighed and shook his head. "They arrived yesterday, but from what I understand, they encountered Marco. Before you ask, Naruko is just fine. He didn't try anything from what I've been told. But!" Staring hard at Naruto at this point, Asuma continued. "Marco has told Naruko-chan that he plans to kill you in front of her. If you have to fight him, don't hold back Naruto-kun. Make the punk suffer and make sure he can't get back up to hurt you, no matter what it takes. Damn do I hate saying that, but when it comes down to it, it's probably a kill or be killed situation here."
Naruto nodded calmly before looking down at his feet and patting the Shi no Tacchi at his side. "I understand Asuma-sensei. If it comes down to it, I'll probably use my tanto to take him out. I don't plan to use this blade against him. I'd rather not taint my sword by stealing his rotten soul."
Asuma chuckled at this and nodded his head. "I can't fault you for that Naruto-kun. Now, I'd like to inform you three that you have passed the second exam. There is still another day left, so pick out a room and get some rest. At least until my old man comes to speak with you about you-know-what." Watching his team walk past him, Asuma let a sigh escape his lips before he stared at the ceiling. "Damn it, why is it that trouble just seems to follow Naruto?"
Dining Area – 2 hours later
Soon after finding a room, the Sandaime had knocked on Team 10's door and, as expected, got right to the point. Hiruzen Sarutobi had spoken with them about Fu and the possible consequences of their actions should Taki find out the truth about what happened. Thankfully, the Taki team truly believed that Fu was dead, and they didn't know what became of the Nanabi.
The Sandaime had proceeded to tell Naruto that he had done as he had requested and sent Fu to the Uzumaki-Namikaze estate. Kushina had apparently seemed unsurprised and welcomed Fu into her household without any real complaints. Still, Hiruzen continued to stress the risks in what Naruto had done. If things turned sour because of his decision, the Hokage wasn't sure what was going to happen as a result.
Their talk had continued for a time, but there was nothing truly important that was said. Team 10 had asked about Orochimaru and the strange mark left on Sasuke, but Hiruzen had informed them to take it easy and not worry about it. This didn't allay their worries any, but he insisted that they leave it alone. As a result, Team 10 gave in and did as their Hokage asked.
Now, Naruto sat with his girlfriends at a table, the four of them eating an early dinner together. So far, they had just made small talk, but Naruto soon asked a question that had been troubling him since he had seen Ino earlier. "Ino-chan." Seeing she was paying attention, Naruto reached over and gently squeezed her hand. "What happened? Asuma-sensei told me that you were acting strange, and I'm worried."
Ino stopped eating and set her chopsticks down. She closed her eyes and shook her head. "We stumbled upon Gaara and his team. We hid, but I think he knew we were there. He…he killed another team…all by himself. Gaara never so much as suffered a scratch. He would have killed the four of us too, but he just left with Temari and Kankuro. It was horrible…"
Naruto nodded at that and closed his eyes. "I see. I'm sorry you had to experience that Ino-chan." Giving her hand another reassuring squeeze, the blonde boy went quiet for a minute. When he finally spoke again, Naruto looked his girlfriend right in the eyes and smiled sweetly at her. "Everything's alright now Ino-chan. If you have to fight him, don't be ashamed to forfeit the fight. Don't even risk it. I don't want to lose you. The same goes for you two. Is that understood?"
At this, his sister and girlfriend Naruko narrowed her eyes and pinched Naruto's cheek. "And what about you Naruto-kun? Do you think we'll allow you to fight him when you won't let us?"
The whiskered jinchuriki chuckled nervously at that and rubbed the back of his head as he so often did. "If we end up fighting, I'll fight. I don't plan to die, but I don't want to just quit either. If it gets bad, I'll forfeit the match, I promise." Seeing his girlfriends smile at that, the blonde jinchuriki sighed and nodded his head slowly. "Sorry sweeties, I just don't want you three having to fight Rihoshi, Marco, or Gaara. They're bad news. You're all strong, but…I worry, okay?"
Naruto's girlfriends all nodded in understanding before scooting closer and cuddling against him. Sadly, their lovey-dovey moment was interrupted soon by somebody none of them really wanted to deal with at the moment.
"Hello again dobe. You happy about what you did to me?" Sasuke Uchiha asked, a snarl in his voice as he spoke.
Ino spoke up for her boyfriend, clearly displeased that the Uchiha had interrupted their time together. "What do you want Sasuke? Can't you just leave us alone?"
The dark-haired boy simply smirked at Ino. It was a sinister smirk that actually sent chills down her spine. Turning to Naruto, Sasuke just grinned more. "After what you did to me, I've decided on something dobe. I'm going to take away what's most precious to you and make you suffer. It only seems…appropriate, wouldn't you agree?"
Naruto's eyes widened somewhat before he glared hatefully upon Sasuke. "I don't take kindly to threats like those Sasuke. You dare try anything of the sort and I will end you."
The four lovers watched as Sasuke walked away, laughing a dark, evil sounding laugh as he disappeared out of the room. He had never said a word in response to Naruto's counter-threat.
"Naruto-kun…it sounds like he's going to try and pull something to take us away from you." Sakura stated, clearly worried about the implications of Sasuke's threat.
Naruto grumbled before slamming his fist on the table. "He won't succeed. We're happy together and I won't let anyone tear us apart." Sighing heavily, the blonde jinchuriki buried his face in his hands. "Let's just do our best to put his threat and everything else out of our minds. We should just enjoy our time together and then get some rest. Tomorrow is when the exam ends, and we'd best be ready for whatever they throw our way next."
Later, Team 10's Room
Naruto currently lay in the dark on one of the beds in his room. His teammates were down in the cafeteria eating their dinner at the moment, so he was alone in their room. As he stared at the ceiling, contemplating everything he had seen and heard in the past days, the door creaked open slowly and he couldn't help but spy someone trying to sneak into the room. I wonder who that could be.
Soon enough, the blonde felt someone crawling into bed with him. He quickly realized it was one of his girlfriends, as the pink hair definitely indicated. Wrapping an arm around her, Naruto kissed her lips sweetly before quirking a brow. "Sweetheart, what are you doing?"
Sakura smirked before she began to place butterfly kisses along her boyfriend's chin and collarbone. The entire time she was doing this, the pinkette ran her hands up his chest, underneath his shirt. "I just really wanted to be with you Naruto-koi. After everything that happened, I just…I…"
Naruto heard the sad tone in her voice and held her close to him, pulling her on top of him. "I understand Sakura-hime. Seeing you in the forest like that…I have to admit something." Seeing her curious gaze, the blonde began running his fingers through her hair before he kissed her forehead. "I felt myself falling in love with you even more. I don't ever want to lose you Sakura-chan."
Sakura Haruno blushed hard at that before she claimed her boyfriend's lips in another passionate kiss. Leaning in closer, she whispered into her boyfriend's ear. "I want to fool around a little while we have time. You wouldn't deny me, would you Naru-kun?"
Lime Time! (Don't like, don't read!)
Before he could even say anything, Sakura's hands were fumbling with his belt buckle. It didn't take long for her to remove both it and his pants. Feeling one of her hands sneaking slowly inside of his boxers, Naruto drew a shaky breath and smirked at his girlfriend. "Well, someone is feeling awfully frisky tonight."
Feeling Sakura trying to remove his shirt with her other hand, the blonde removed it for her and then slipped slowly out of his boxers to give his pink-haired girlfriend free access to his erect member. As she began to slowly pump her hand up and down the shaft, Naruto gasped out loud when he felt her thumb gliding around the head of his cock. "Oh…oh damn. You are feeling brave right now, aren't you?"
This was a new experience for the both of them, but it was obvious that they were enjoying every moment of what was happening. Naruto soon helped Sakura out of her clothes, soon leaving her bare before him.
As she lay next to him, the blonde slowly began to run one of his hands up and down her left side, while with the other he began to slowly run circles with one of his fingers around her nipples. He continued to change which of her budding breasts he teased every few minutes as she continued to give him a gentle hand job.
Soon enough, as Naruto felt his release coming, the jinchuriki moved one hand down to Sakura's round, firm butt and gave it a squeeze. As she jumped, the blonde moved his other hand down to her clitoris and began rubbing circles around it slowly. This not only served to tease her, but it aroused her a great deal as well.
After a few more minutes, the couple released together and lay together panting. They were a little sweaty, but they seemed perfectly comfortable with one another and what they had just done. However, neither of them was ready for their fun to end just yet.
The pink-haired girl brought her hand up and stared at her boyfriend's cum for a short while before shrugging her shoulders and licking it up, swallowing everything that had gotten on her hand. The sight of this was arousing in and of itself, but the moans she was eliciting just were not fair to the teenage boy.
Seeing her boyfriend's reaction, Sakura nuzzled into his neck and grinned. "Salty, but it has a unique flavor to it. It's different than anything I've tasted before. I think I could grow to really enjoy it."
Smirking at her boyfriend, the pinkette soon straddled her boyfriend. Her face was by his erect member while her dripping honey pot hovered above her boyfriend's face. "Naru-kun, I know this may be a bit far for us, but…I really want to try this. I want to pleasure you and keep you happy."
Naruto smiled at his girlfriend's thoughtfulness as he slowly slid two fingers inside her waiting snatch. As she elicited a rather loud moan, the blonde found himself smirking. "Sweetheart, you know we don't have to rush. I love that you're thinking of me, and I'm really enjoying this special time with you, but if you are ever uncomfortable with anything, don't hesitate to stop and let me know. Okay?"
Sakura hummed quietly before she licked the tip of Naruto's penis slowly. Feeling him shudder beneath her, the pinkette giggled quietly to herself before she began to take his penis inside of her mouth. It was hard to do at first, and she had to pull back to the tip so she could catch her breath every minute or so. Still, she continued to bob her head up and down the shaft slowly, taking more and more of it into her mouth every time.
The two continued to moan loudly as they played with one another's bodies. After a short while, Naruto pulled his fingers from Sakura's vagina and inserted his tongue inside in their place. Lapping up his girlfriend's juices, Naruto found that he rather liked the taste. With a little more time, the young man began to probe her walls and enjoyed that he could make her squirm during oral sex like this.
Like this, it didn't take long for the both of them to cum again. Sakura, ever the loving girlfriend, actually tried hard to swallow her boyfriend's cum, but she could only do so much before pulling back and gagging a bit. The rest of it hit her chest and face, but she didn't care. Instead, the pinkette did as she had earlier and began scooping up her boyfriend's cum and swallowing it to the best of her ability. The rest she would have to wash off in the bathroom as soon as she felt she could stand again.
Naruto meanwhile had been caught a bit off guard and was splashed in the face a bit before he began lapping at her vaginal lips, swallowing what he could of his girlfriend's liquids. When they had both finished, they curled up together and shared a kiss, ignoring the taste of each other on their lips. After catching their breath, they told one another how very much they loved each other before Sakura eventually had to get up, wash her hands and face, get dressed, and leave.
End of Lime (Safe to read again!)
The Next Day – Auditorium
All of the passing teams now stood in an auditorium-like room as they awaited the proctor for the third exam. The Hokage had appeared moments ago, followed by the proctors and senseis for each passing team. After giving a speech to the passing genin, the proctor for the third exam jumped down and began to go over the rules for the third exam.
This man appeared and sounded to be very sickly. Every time he coughed, numerous genin cringed and began to wonder if this guy was going to keel over and die right before their eyes. However, that didn't keep their attention for long. When Hayate Gecko, proctor for the third exam, gave people the option of quitting, not one, but three people raised their hands.
Naruto glanced around at the three that had decided to call it quits and frowned at what he saw. That Konoha genin from earlier and Marco's teammates, huh? That seems more than just a little suspicious to me.
Once the three had left, the teams were instructed to join their senseis up above. Doing so, Naruto and his team glanced around at the competition, taking each of them in and considering their chances against each.
Asuma reached down and patted Naruto's shoulder. "I know you want to fight Marco, Naruto-kun. Remember what I said. If it happens, be careful, strike hard, and don't ever hesitate. He's already revealed that he's out for your blood."
Naruto nodded slowly before he looked at the screen. One of the two names that appeared had him frowning. Sasuke.
Sasuke Uchiha vs. Yoroi Akado
This fight actually turned out to be kind of interesting in a way. Sasuke had won, but it hadn't been easy for him. Yoroi had a kind of chakra draining ability, and he had forced Sasuke to use a taijutsu move that Naruto hadn't seen before. When it was all over, the blonde shrugged his shoulders and watched the Uchiha leave the floor. Not very impressive teme. But you've advanced to the final exam, so hurrah for you. Grumbling at that, Naruto turned his attention back to the screen.
Shino Aburame vs. Rihoshi
Seeing this matchup had Naruto feeling very worried. However, Shino was confident in his abilities, so the Uzumaki-Namikaze boy let his friend and teammate proceed to the floor to do battle with the darkness-user.
Standing across from each other, Shino finally understood what his friend had meant by what he had said at the end of the first exam. As unnerving as that smile was, Shino didn't let it show that he was feeling creeped out by it.
When the battle started, Shino spread out his kikaichu and watched his opponent carefully. What happened next was completely out of Shino's expectations. The kikaichu were quickly engulfed in darkness and swallowed up by whatever the hell was inside of that terrible black mass!
Stepping back when the darkness came after him, Shino tried to think of just how to fight this opponent. When an idea came to him, the Aburame boy quickly created a couple of normal clones and leaped to the side to avoid the darkness as his clones moved to either side of the room.
As the darkness began to chase after his clones, Shino slipped some of his kikaichu just underneath the floor while others slipped around behind his opponent. In one quick movement, they attacked from underneath and behind Rihoshi. Sadly, darkness shot up around his opponent and destroyed even more of the Aburame's kikaichu.
Cursing under his breath, Shino called his kikaichu back to him and began contemplating what to do next. It was looking hopeless for him, but he didn't want to call it quits just yet.
As Naruto's teammate was thinking however, the oddest thing happened. Rihoshi suddenly raised his hand, smirked at Shino, and announced that he quit. Not long after that, the darkness-using enigma vanished from the room, leaving a stunned audience behind.
Shino dropped to his knees and began breathing heavily. He didn't realize that he had been holding his breath, and his hands soon hit the floor, barely supporting him. The Aburame boy broke out in a cold sweat and he could feel tears stinging at his eyes. When Naruto and Choji appeared at his side, Shino told them both, "I thought I was going to die. I couldn't think of anything. That darkness…"
Shino's teammates helped him back up to where Asuma stood and laid him down against the wall. Their sensei knelt down to help Shino through his trauma while the others began to watch the screen once again.
Misumi Tsurugi vs. Kankuro
Overall, Naruto had been rather bored by this fight. There wasn't all that much that happened during this battle. Sure Misumi had an interesting ability to twist his body in a pretty unique way, but he really got his ass handed to him by Kankuro.
Sakura Haruno vs. Ino Yamanaka
This matchup had Naruto and his girlfriends feeling really bummed. Taking their place on the floor below, they waited for Hayate to announce the beginning of the match. As soon as he did, Sakura spoke up to Ino.
"Ino-chan, you know I don't want us to fight like this. I don't want us both to fail though, so let's have the best match we can, okay?"
Ino nodded slowly in response before showing a small smile. "I agree Sakura-chan. Don't hold anything back."
Soon, the two best friends rushed each other and began to battle each other in taijutsu. They were fairly evenly matched, both having developed their own unique taijutsu styles after training so hard with their senseis, Naruto, and Kushina Uzumaki. It had been rough trying to become experienced enough in their own unique styles to use them in actual combat, but it was absolutely worth it.
With every blow one of them landed, the other responded in kind. When they had finished their taijutsu battle, the two of them were breathing heavily and were each trying to come up with a different plan, one that would actually help them win the match.
Up in the stands, Naruto smiled as he watched his girlfriends put on a damn good show for everyone around them. He couldn't quite figure out who would win in the end though, but at least he wasn't trying to choose which one he wanted to win. Boy the problems that would cause in the end!
Sakura was the first to think up a plan. Quickly throwing a few shuriken at Ino, the pinkette began going through a few hand seals for a jutsu Kakashi had taught her. Upon finishing her hand seals, Sakura held her right hand at her side and clutched her wrist tight. Soon enough, an odd ball of lightning formed in her hand. It wasn't large and it didn't look too powerful, but it certainly looked like it would hurt something fierce.
"I'm still learning this jutsu, but Kakashi-sensei did teach me another way to use this one. Hope you're ready Ino-chan!" As Ino threw kunai and shuriken of her own to try and keep Sakura from advancing, the pinkette managed to dodge everything and leaped into the air, quickly swinging her arm back and then thrusting it forward as hard and as fast as she could without hurting herself. "Chidori Dangan (One Thousand Birds Projectile)!"
In an instant, the mini-Chidori was sent flying towards Ino at a speed that the poor girl just couldn't dodge in time, especially not at that range. When it struck, the platinum blonde let out a terrible scream before collapsing to the ground.
As Sakura landed on the floor once again, she looked on, a terribly worried look on her face as Ino convulsed on the ground. After a moment of waiting, Hayate announced Sakura as the winner and everyone watched as Ino was quickly carried off by the medics standing by. "Ino. I'm so sorry…" The pinkette muttered to herself before turning and returning to her team.
Naruto watched as one of his girlfriends was carried away to be treated while the other appeared to be incredibly depressed after hurting her very best friend in the world. Wishing that he could just go to her and hold her tight, the blonde Uzumaki-Namikaze boy felt himself being torn up inside. Deciding it best to just put his feelings aside for now, Naruto turned his attention back to the screen.
Tenten vs. Temari
This fight was over fairly quickly. No matter what Tenten tried, none of her attacks even came close to striking her opponent. Naruto felt for the girl and hoped that she didn't take her defeat too hard. Yes, Tenten lost to Temari, and while it was fairly humiliating for the poor Konoha kunoichi, the teenage boy felt that she would probably learn from this experience and grow stronger rather than give in to despair or depression.
Shikamaru Nara vs. Kiba Inuzuka
This was actually a fairly interesting matchup. Shikamaru was an incredible genius, but he was also very, very lazy. Kiba on the other hand was a powerhouse, but he didn't use his brain as often as he should.
As the fight went on, Shikamaru had done his best to avoid Kiba and Akamaru's attacks, but he had certainly taken some big damage from the Inuzuka's combination attacks with his pup. At one point, the Nara had considered giving up, but upon noticing something on the ground, he began to grin. Soon enough, he had trapped Akamaru with his Kagemane no Jutsu (Shadow Imitation Technique) and had forced the pup to punch his master hard. This resulted in Kiba being knocked to the floor, but it didn't knock him out, unfortunately.
As the Inuzuka flew into something of a rage and began to attack Shikamaru more ferociously than before, the Nara knew that he was in trouble. Deciding it best to play it safe, the Nara raised his hand and proceeded to forfeit the match. "Sorry, but I'm injured as is and I'm not going to let myself get killed trying to win a match where I'm clearly outmatched."
The proctor nodded his head and announced Kiba as the winner of the match. Nobody faulted Shikamaru for his decision, and they instead turned to the screen to await the revealing of the next match.
When the next match was revealed, Naruto's eyes shot quickly to Marco. The bastard had a wicked smirk on his face as he leapt into the ring. Up on the screen, the names clearly read "Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze vs. Marco". Glancing up at his sensei, Naruto nodded before jumping over the railing and taking his place across from his opponent. It appeared as if the battle the two had been waiting for was about to begin.
A/N: Okay, for the majority of this chapter, I actually felt pretty good and was making great progress. Then, as I neared the end, exhaustion overtook me again and I began to struggle to finish the chapter. I fought through it and managed to finish before I could pass out, buuut...
*sighs* If the chapter isn't as good as you would've liked, I do apologize. As you can see, I did introduce Fu, but it's still up in the air as to whether she joins the harem or not. After all, as mentioned in the poll, she is only a candidate at the moment. Give it time and wait to see what happens. That's all I can really say at this point in time.
Also, as a quick note for you all, don't worry about who gets to be Naruto's first lemon partner. As I think I mentioned before, Naruko is meant to be his main, and therefore will be with him in the first lemon.
As usual, review/comment, send a PM if you want, and I hope you're looking forward to the next chapter. Of course, you'll have to wait a while. Next up is chapter 4 of Wrath of a Namikaze. Look forward to it!
P.S. As a final note, there is a new poll up on my profile. It's for The Rise of Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze if you've been reading that story. If not, you can just forget it. lol.