AN: I started this story approximately a month ago I'm so happy and surprised this story has gotten so much support and likes! I love each and every one of you. As promised, here's the chapter!
"That was surprisingly a lot easier than I thought, this is almost too easy, kind of disappointing." Naruto frowned as he and Haku continued towards the tower in the middle of the forest. One pair of clones found a resting Genin team from the Hidden Claw village, and quickly disposed of them before finding their scroll, luckily enough they had the scroll that team Zabuza needed to pass the exam. The clones quickly brought the scroll back and dispelled, allowing Naruto and Haku to race towards the tower within the first thirty minutes of the exam. However all the remaining clones stayed and chose to engage other Genin teams, either weakening them or stealing/disposing of the scrolls in order to narrow down the competition.
"Don't say that! Its like you want to jinx us!" Haku scolded Naruto.
"We'll be fineee, I don't believe in that cra- nope. Never mind, you're right we have to go right now! I'll explain on the way!" Naruto urged as he changed his path towards where his clones most recently dispelled.
(In Another Section Within The Forest)
"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"
"Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu"
A giant fireball, bigger than the normal fireball jutsu, merged with the wind technique a turned into a white searing hot attack hitting the giant snake summon directly on its face. A few seconds later and the snake would have devoured the forms of Team 7, although the form of Chima seemed to be missing. The forms of Haku and Naruto landed next to the out of breath Sasuke and Sakura.
"You guys all good? What happened? One of my clones saw the snake chasing you down, also where is Chima?" Naruto asked but remained on guard in case anything else happened.
Sasuke chose to ignore Naruto completely instead focusing on calming his breathing and getting ready for any surprise attacks, it was Sakura that chose to speak up. "We don't actually know, Chima all of a sudden went very stiff as were setting up camp before he went through some hand signs and slammed his hands on the ground, next thing we know this giant snake is chasing us!" Sakura almost screamed out in a hysterical manner.
"I see, I knew something was wrong with that guy. But snakes? There are only two people in Konoha's history that use snakes. One of them is the examiner Anko, so I doubt it was her. SHIT! That means the one responsible is –" he had to stop his explanation to block a kick aimed at his face. Although blocking it, he was still hurled through multiple trees, away from the group and his arms were shaking. 'Shit shit shit shit! If this is who I think it is, we are so screwed!' Naruto thought in a panicked state before forming a quick shadow clone and dispelling it, 'hopefully the others get help quick!' Naruto thought before re-joining the others.
(Back With The Others)
Sakura was passed out, Sasuke was covered in multiple cuts and bruises and Haku was the only one fairing slightly better although he was struggling to keep up with their attacker. That was the scene Naruto re-entered.
"I knew it. Orochimaru, one of the biggest traitors in Konoha's history and one of the legendary Sannin, to what do we owe the displeasure?" Naruto said as he joined Haku's side whilst one of his clones was providing basic care to Sakura.
"Kukuku, little Naruto-kun. My how you have grown. Let's just say, I'm here to make some future investments" Orochimaru said with a maniacal grin as he eyed the form of Sasuke.
'Something to do with Sasuke? I wonder what he's got plans. Either way it won't be good, I have to try and hold him off until help gets here, Kyuubi I might have to ask for some help if that's okay?' Naruto thought to himself as he got ready to engage.
"Sure, just don't embarrass me, I hate snakes" The Kyuubi replied although judging by its tone of voice, Naruto could tell it was slightly worried for his current situation.
"Haku, we are going to have to be perfectly in sync here just to survive. I'm going to engage him first whilst you get your breath back. Don't worry about the other two, my clones knocked them out and set a barrier up around them, we can let loose" Naruto said and grew a mischievous grin at the indication of being able to let loose.
"Kukuku, very interesting development indeed, well I guess I have time to kill. Let's see how far the Kyuubi's jailor has come" seeing Naruto's widened eyes, Orochimaru allowed his grin to grow even larger, "yes I know, there's nothing in this village that I don't know about!" He would have gloated more but it was his turn for his eyes to widen as Naruto suddenly materialised in front of him and connected with a punch in his gut sending him skidding a few metres back.
"Enough talking, let's do this" Naruto said as he formed three shadow clones beside him. All three clones engaged Orochimaru head on whilst the original withdrew into the shadows to observe.
'Damn, even without my gravity seals, he's dodging effortlessly. This is the skill level of a Sannin? That is truly scary' Naruto thought as he saw an opening and appeared behind Orochimaru and tried to puncture his lungs from behind. However, Orochimaru used his freakish agility and flexibility to bend his body around Naruto's outstretched arm and tried to constrict him. However as quickly as he appeared, Naruto disappeared into the shadows again causing Orochimaru to momentarily lose his balance which gave his clones the opening they needed, one clone quickly planted a gravity seal on the snake Sannin's body allowing the other two clones to combine a fireball with the great breakthrough technique to incinerate the body.
Reappearing out of the shadows and next to his clones, Naruto remained on guard, knowing this wasn't over. He was proven right as snakes attacked the group of Narutos and managed to wrap around two of the clones. One clone was forced to dispel as the snakes injected venom into it whilst the other clone was constricted to death. The form of Orochimaru reappeared shortly after, completely unharmed although his clothes were slightly singed at the bottom.
"Very very good Naruto-kun! Maybe I should stop underestimating you? But that wouldn't be fun! Also those shadow abilities of yours are very interesting indeed, humour me though, your clones can't join you can they? Otherwise they would have escaped similar to you. Judging by how you stiffened up, I'm guessing I was right" Orochimaru grinned evilly as he used that moment to appear in front of the remaining clone and impaled him with the sword of Kusanagi before continuing the motion of the swing to try and cleave Naruto in half. The sword, however, found itself imbedded in an ice mirror. Jumping away to assess the situation, Orochimaru wasn't given much time to think as he had to dodge senbon which were headed towards him by one of Haku's ice clones in the distance.
Using the small distraction, Haku and Naruto quickly formed a plan to engage the Sannin.
"Yin Release: Shadow Mutations" Naruto whispered out. Orochimaru all of a sudden jumped away from his current location and was throwing glances around his surroundings, especially from the bushes and trees. He was seeing things move in his peripherals and was assuming it was a ploy from the Genin.
"Yin/Ice Release: Demonic Ice Shadow Technique" Naruto and Haku yelled out in unison as Ice mirrors formed around the distracted form of Orochimaru, what was different to the normal ice mirror technique, was that a veil of shadow covered the ice mirrors from the outside, embracing Orochimaru in complete darkness. With the earlier distraction gone, Orochimaru analysed the new situation in front of him.
"Good! Good! More, show me more!" Orochimaru screamed out even as both Genin began their combined attacks. Haku would move between mirrors whilst attacking Orochimaru with senbon whilst Naruto would use his shadows to compliment Haku's attack pattern. When Haku attacked Orochimaru's head, Naruto would go for the legs and ankles and vice versa. This continued for several minutes before both Genin stopped after Orochimaru stopped moving.
Releasing their techniques, and re-joining a few metres away, both Genin carefully analysed the state of their unmoving opponent. "What do you think? Did we get him?" Haku asked with a slight heavy pant and a few cuts all over his body. Practising these techniques against clones and each other is one thing, but against a Sannin? Completely different ball game.
"I don't think so. Stay on edge, something just doesn't feel right" Naruto replied. Although having enough chakra, he was also panting hard on trying to keep up with Orochimaru and was sporting a few cuts and tears too from their efforts. He was proven right as the mouth of the limp form of Orochimaru opened wide and another Orochimaru was beginning to appear.
Wanting to stop the process, Naruto quickly disappeared into the shadows and tried to reappear behind Orochimaru to surprise him. However, it was Naruto that was surprised as Orochimaru's tongue wrapped around Naruto's neck and lifted him off the ground. "You're good, I'll give you that, but definitely a few millennials too early to challenge me. I figured out this little shadow game of yours, you always appear behind your enemy Naruto-kun, you lack the experience. Anyways, let's free my little investment" Orochimaru chuckled evilly before lifting Naruto's shirt and making a few one-handed seals before adding "Five Pronged Seal".
The result was almost instant, Naruto became limp and unconscious causing for all of his clones to dispel, disrupting the barrier and making Sasuke and Sakura accessible. Letting go of Naruto and appearing beside Sasuke, he bit into his neck and quickly added, as Sasuke was momentarily woken up, "Still too weak, Sasuke-kun. At this point you'll never defeat Itachi, you're not even better than Naruto-kun. Pathetic" and proceeded to knock Sasuke back out again. Seeing the form of Haku rush to Naruto's side, Orochimaru gained a devious glint in his eyes.
"Naruto! Get up! I can sense people rushing towards us, I think it's the examiner and the – AGH" Haku didn't manage to finish his sentence, as Orochimaru grabbed Haku by the neck before also biting down on his neck.
"I'll see you all very soon. Naruto-kun, make sure the ice user trains hard, he'll be a good addition to my slaves. But for now, I have to get going, kukuku" Orochimaru chuckled as he disappeared into the ground and vanished just as the forms of Anko and the Hokage landed.
(A Few Days Later)
"You're sure you're fine?" Naruto asked Haku as they were heading out of their room towards the arena. When the hokage and Anko landed they quickly collected all the Genin and went towards the tower whilst the ANBU guards swept the area to try and find Orochimaru, but to no success.
Although initially wanting to let the Genin rest and recover, Naruto had woken up within the same day and met with the Hokage. After explaining everything to the aged Hokage, a tense discussion involving Shikaku Nara followed to discuss the plan going forward. It turns out, Chima was a sleeper agent from Orochimaru, his body was found dead in the forest. Forensics believed it was due to chakra exhaustion, using up the jutsu to summon the snake seemed to have left the young agent with no chakra left. He seemed to only have one purpose in Orochimaru's plan. In the end it was decided to pretend like nothing was going on in order to give Orochimaru a fake sense of security whilst the village leaders figured out exactly what was amiss.
"Yeah, I'm not too bad. Although this will be difficult for me because using chakra engages the cursed seal. From what the Hokage said the less chakra I use, the less I will feel the influence, but I am very much a ninjutsu user" Haku said solemnly.
"Yeah, I understand, but hey you never know! You could very well end up fighting someone like Sakura!" Naruto tried cheering up his teammate.
"Yeah, I guess time will tell, how about you? You got your control back? Also, what did the Hokage decide to do in the end?" Haku asked and hinted towards Naruto's stomach.
"Yeah, it isn't the best and I feel like I'm on fire when I use my chakra, but I will manage. In terms of the Hokage, it was agreed that for now, we'll continue about our business as normal. I have something in play which might help us in the long run but we'll have to wait for now. Anyways, we're here, let's see how this goes" Naruto said and steeled himself for what was to come.
(An Hour Later In The Arena)
"Now then if no one else is looking to quit. Let's get started!" the sickly-looking form of Hayate explained as all the Genin who remained joined their Jonin sensei on the balcony. Looking around the arena, Naruto was trying to gauge the competition that remained. From Konoha, Team 8, 9 and 10 all made it in full and non-one quit, from Kabuto's team, they survived the forest but his teammates dropped out whilst he stayed on. Team 7 and Team Zabuza were allowed to proceed due to the circumstances of what happened, although they had to swear to remain silent about what actually happened, only their Jonin sensei knew the full story.
From the foreign ninjas, only the Sand Genin made it and one team from the hidden Mist – although only one of their Genin made it, a blue haired boy named Chojuro. The main reason why there weren't any more teams was due to Naruto's clones either rendering them incapable or destroying and stealing scrolls, at least before they were all popped. It's the main reason why Chojuro is now alone, his clones engaged the Mist team and managed to severely injure two of them before the Mist team managed to overpower them when Chojuro unsealed his sword.
Naruto was drawn out of his musings by the first match up of the prelims: Sasuke Uchiha vs Shino Aburame. Although incredibly skilled and smart, Shino had a very unlucky match up. Shino didn't know that Sasuke wasn't planning on using chakra so didn't send out his bugs because he didn't want to risk Sasuke burning them. Instead, he had to resign himself to a losing taijutsu battle, which ended in him being knocked out and Sasuke being declared the winner.
The second and third match weren't even worth talking about: Temari vs Sakura and Lee vs Ino. All it took was one swing of Temari's fan to knock Sakura into the wall and knock her out, before she even had time to protect herself with the earth wall. For the third fight, although Ino had begun training better, she was no match for Lee who simply apologised before reappearing behind Ino and knocking her out with a chop to the back of the head.
The fourth match featured Shikamaru vs Choji. Although Choji initially had his doubts, following some encouraging words from Asuma and Shikamaru, himself, he grew the courage to give it his all. However, Shikamaru proved too smart and after initially dodging Choji's frenzied attacks, came up with a plan to capture Choji in his shadow and knock him out in a way that didn't hurt his friend too much. The fifth match was the Sand Genin, Kankuro against Team 9's TenTen. Although TenTen displayed incredible mastery with any weaponry, Kankuro's puppets proved to be very durable and were able to withstand TenTen's onslaught, before capturing her but she took the initial offer to give up when Kankuro offered it instead of getting skewered.
The sixth match was the battle of the byakugan, Neji vs Hinata. Although growing more confident in the last few months, Hinata was still not able to beat Neji, he was the clan's prodigy and used his hatred and anger for her and the main family to fuel his attacks. Hinata managed to get some good hits in and showed how much she improved, but ultimately Neji knocked her out. The seventh match was the Mist nin, Chojuro against Kiba. Initially Kiba was all over Chojuro due to boy's shy nature and being a bit insecure. However, his sensei and teammates screamed something about a Mei-sama which all of a sudden sparked a fire in his eyes. What followed was an impressive skill of kenjutsu. Zabuza and Haku were explaining to a few of the Konoha ninjas the significance of the sword, Hiramekarei, and they were able to first hand witness the sword's abilities. Chojuro used one half of the sword to transform it into some sort of shield to protect himself against Kiba's Gatsuga whilst the other half turned into a whip of sort which ended up capturing Akamaru. Under the threat of harming Akamaru, Kiba was forced to resign to protect his partner's life.
(Back In The Stands)
Whilst the last match was going on, Naruto, Zabuza and Haku were in a heated debate, under the protection of a privacy barrier Naruto had managed to set up with some difficulty.
"Zabuza-sensei please! You have to speak some sense into him! Gaara is unstable. If Haku fights him, he has to quit!" Naruto was pleading.
"I can't force him Naruto. It is his choice" seeing Haku thanking him, Zabuza chose to add, "don't thank me yet. If I see you're in over your head, I will stop the match myself. I trust you but I also know why you are so stubborn about this" they glanced towards the Mist team and Chojuro down below. "I don't care if you have something to prove or not, it is my duty as your sensei to try and protect you " Zabuza said seriously to which Haku just nodded in understanding.
Naruto's fears were proven right as the match finished and the next names on the board appeared – Haku Yuki vs Subaku no Gaara. Haku simply gave Naruto a reassuring squeeze on his shoulder before both Genin made their way into the arena. The two teenage boys simply stared each other down and once Hayate started the match, Haku was instantly on the defensive as he had to dodge the hail of sand shuriken that was sent his way. 'I can't throw around jutsus cos this stupid curse seal. I might have to take a risk though, but I will leave it for my trump card. For now, I will just have to use what Naruto gave me' he thought as he withdrew a couple of kunai of his own. Continuing to dodge and avoid Gaara's sand attacks, Haku threw the first set of kunai which didn't make it past Gaara's initial sand defence, however, they were a distraction as they erupted into smoke, obscuring Gaara's views and momentarily halting his attacks. Taking this opportunity to remove his own set of gravity seals, Haku disappeared from view just in time as the smoke dissipated. Scanning the arena, Gaara wasn't able to locate Haku, until his sand automatically rose to cover the top of his head as another kunai embedded itself in the sand. However this time a larger than normal explosion rocked the stadium and brought Gaara down to his knees, although he was unharmed. Looking up, Gaara was once again met with nothing, before his sand rose up behind him this time, again protecting him from another kunai. Before this kunai exploded though, a kunai lodged itself in front him this time, his sand once again coming to protect Gaara. This time however, the explosion shook Gaara from both sides and forced him into the air, his sand trailing behind him. Haku took this moment to launch a few senbon all over Gaara's body but was surprised to see instead of blood, pieces of skin falling off like another armour.
'I see, another layer. No wonder he never received any damage. I guess I will have to up the damage a little' Haku thought before appearing behind Gaara and slapping a normal explosive tag on Gaara's back, on the gourd specifically. Another explosion, although smaller in size this time, covered Gaara's form as Haku once again re-appeared a few metres away, panting quite hard from the strain on his body. 'I really hope this is it. I have no more special kunai. If he survived that unharmed, I will have to risk it all' Haku thought and had to stop himself from face palming as the form of Gaara emerged from all the sand on the ground. He was once again unharmed as the final pieces of his sand armour fell off, although he had an insane look on his face.
"YES! You'll do fine! Mother is screaming for your blood!" Gaara screamed out as sand tendrils began chasing Haku before two impaled themselves in Haku's thigh causing him to scream out. Forcing some chakra through his system, Haku channelled grabbed the tendrils and turned them into ice before breaking them off. However even that small action caused the cursed seal to flare up and burn. He didn't have time to think about it any further though as sand bullets were launched at him. Not having enough time to dodge, Haku countered with his own water bullets, causing the sand to grow damp and fall due to the increased weight. The consequence of this was the seal beginning to spread across his neck and towards his face. Deciding enough was enough, Haku retreated before announcing that he had to forfeit, however his proclamation came a split second too late as a wave of sand wrapped around Haku's arms outstretched arm and crushed it.
"I'm not done yet!" The psychotic voice of Gaara rang out as more sand spread across Haku's form who was trying to nurse his limp and disfigured arm. However, as the sand began spreading, Gaara received a stiff kick to his chin which sent him into the air. The form of Naruto appeared right above him and grabbed him by his throat before slamming him right back into the ground, although the sand cushioned his fall.
"You better not lose until I meet you in the finals. I will make sure you regret this Tanuki" Naruto growled out before throwing Gaara's increasingly enraged form away to the opposite side of the arena. He was going to retaliate but the form of Baki, their sensei, appeared and whispered something to Gaara, forcing him to calm down and re-join his team, but the crazed look never left his eyes as he eyed Naruto. Haku meanwhile was stretched off to the infirmary and Naruto was going to join before Zabuza's hand stopped him from following.
"No point. You have one more fight, and you'll need to win this if you want to fulfil your promise. Do us proud" Zabuza said before creating a shadow clone who went back to the stands whilst the real Zabuza went and followed Haku. Looking up, Naruto saw that the final fight was against Kabuto Yakushi, the Genin Naruto knew was hiding something. One thing was for certain though, Naruto had a lot of anger to release.
As soon as Hayate began the fight Naruto had already formed three seal-less shadow clones, he was about to form a hand signs when he saw Sasuke staring intently at him with his recently developed three tomoed sharingan and a hungry look on his face. Stopping his hand signs mid-way, Naruto was instead forced to dodge Kabuto's chakra scalpel as he used Naruto's momentary hesitation to get in close. 'Shit, I don't want to use jutsu with the Uchiha looking to copy them. Guess I'll have to go into hiding' Naruto thought before he dodged a scalpel aimed at his head and feigned a low sweep which Kabuto simply jumped high into the air to dodge, however Naruto had expected that and used his initial momentum of crouching to jump into the air and uppercut Kabuto before kicking him away.
'Stupid exams. I can't go all out without blowing my cover but I can't let him hit me too many times. He hits really hard' Kabuto bitterly thought before engaging the four Narutos. However, before getting too close, one of the Narutos formed a hand sign before a thick mist was created in the arena, shocking the hidden Mist team, however one look at Zabuza's smug look, made them realise he's the one responsible. Now that Naruto was hidden from view, he was able to use his jutsus more freely and began letting loose. The consequence of not being seen though, was that Kabuto was also able to showcase his true skill without blowing his cover. Almost instantly two Narutos were dispelled leaving two, who decided to stand back-to-back for protection.
"Poor little Naruto-kun, you really thought you had the upper hand here? Well I guess its time to end this" Kabuto began but before he could take a step forward he instantly tensed up and turned around, sensing something behind him, just to be met with mist. As he was about to relax, he sensed the same feeling to his left and once again turned around ready to engage but nothing was attacking him. 'Something isn't right here, I can definitely sense something but nothing is there? I need to get rid of this mist' Kabuto thought before forming a few quick hand seals and expelling purple gas from his mouth. He allowed a small smirk to form on his face as he soon heard coughing from within the mist.
"It's over. You have approximately a minute before your organs begin shutting down. Give up before then and I'll give you the necessary antidote" Kabuto explained and readjusted his glasses. His smirk quickly turned into a frown as a large fireball was on its trajectory to impact him. Choosing to jump over the jutsu, Kabuto was stuck in mid-air as a smaller water ball was sent towards him at even faster speed than the initial fireball and impacted him in the torso.
Landing in a heap, Kabuto got up, with some difficulty and spat out a bit of blood. However, his smirk returned when one of the Naruto clones dispelled, leaving the singular Naruto on his knees before falling face down on the floor.
"So silly Naruto-kun. You should have just given up when you had the chance," Kabuto said as he walked towards the balcony, but not before looking up at the Sandaime standing next to Hayate, "sorry Hokage-sama, I know he was precious to you" Kabuto said as his smile increased to a fiendish grin. However, it quickly turned to pained grimace when the Hokage smiled.
"Oh Kabuto-kun, you got a bit ahead of yourself there" the form of Naruto appeared from Kabuto's shadow. As he rose from the shadow, Naruto cut both of Kabuto's Achilles causing the silver haired Genin to fall flat faced onto the floor but not before using the downwards momentum to roundhouse kick Kabuto, knocking him into the nearby wall and causing him to lose unconsciousness. Wanting to make sure the match was sealed; Naruto quickly added an immobility seal to Kabuto's downed form. Waiting a few seconds to make sure there were no more hidden surprises, Hayate got the medics to move Kabuto to the infirmary before calling all the winners down into the arena.
After explaining the finals and handing out numbers, the electronic screen displayed the matches for the finals in a month's time:
First Match: Naruto vs Gaara
Second Match: Sasuke vs Neji
Third Match: Lee vs Kankuro
Fourth Match: Shikamaru vs Temari
Fifth Math: Chojuro vs Winner of Match 1
There was a very tense atmosphere as both Gaara and Naruto leaked out their killing intent but it ended when the Hokage dismissed everyone and Naruto quickly vanished.
(At The Hospital)
As soon as the announcements were done, Naruto had gone to visit Haku and check up on his condition. As soon as he was finished, Naruto summoned Ameya to begin the next phase of his plan.
"Ameya, take this please. I got it from Kabuto in our fight," Naruto said as he gave Ameya some pieces of tattered clothes from his fight with Kabuto, "please pass this on to a member of your family as soon as you can, Kabuto is still in hospital so it will be when he is at his weakest, but he won't be in there for too long" Naruto urged.
"I will try, but until you get the approval from my mother, you could be putting yourself in a really unfavourable situation" Ameya warned.
"I know, I will summon you again tomorrow and ask for forgiveness from your mother but in the meantime, I can't afford to let this opportunity bypass". Naruto explained with a serious expression showing he wasn't planning on budging from his decision.
Before either one of them could continue their debate, an ANBU appeared beside Naruto, informing him that the Hokage was washing to see him. Nodding towards Ameya, and using that moment to disappear, Ameya dispelled, and Naruto allowed the ANBU to shunshin them into the office.
(At The Hokage Office)
"So yeah, that's what I think. I don't know how accurate all of this information actually is, but that is what I'm hoping to find out soon." Naruto explained as he the aged visage of the Hokage grew serious following his initial explanation. The Hokage was about to say something before a kunai was flung from Naruto, hitting the window frame. "Come out. You crossed my barrier." Naruto demanded and began moulding chakra, ready to protect himself and his leader.
"Oh wow sensei, you really weren't kidding. He is good. Barriers don't usually pick up my chameleon jutsu, unless they're really high grade…then again, you did say he has some of the Uzumaki scrolls" the form of Jiraiya, one of the legendary Sannin said as he materialised sitting on the windowpane.
Seeing Naruto's shocked impression, the Sandaime took it upon himself to chime in and explain. "This is another reason why I called you in Naruto-kun. With the issue of Gaara and being an unstable jinchuriki, and you being one of our only ninjas who can take him on effectively, I asked for Jiraiya to come back and train you for a while, to prepare you. That being said, there is another reason, but I will leave that for Jiraiya's discretion to tell you." Sarutobi allowed a small smile to form as Naruto's face grew even more shocked with his jaw hitting the floor.
'You're ready Naruto-kun. I don't know what is going to happen at the finals, but I am proud of you, and I will make sure you're going to continue growing and improving' Hiruzen thought solemnly.
AN: Let me know what you think! Next chapter will be the training month (maybe as a summed up flashback), the finals and the invasion (…if it happens).
