Answers to reviewers' questions or statements:

Guest: Yes Pakura will show up in the time between Naruto's canon ending and before the beginning of Naruto Shippuden. Naruto will be hesitant to attack Pītā because the man has over a decade of experience on him.

lord web of life of destiny: First of all, I'm not an old man, second of all, no to Sakura.

Bladewolf101: No.

Disclaimer: I don't own any Marvel or Naruto characters seen, mentioned or used.

"So, who's your money on making Chūnin this year?" Anko asked as she took a bite of her Dango as she and Pītā sat on the roof of the small roof of the stand that the Genin received their scrolls from earlier.

Pītā, who was lying on his back and staring up at the sky with his goggles and face mask pulled back, shrugged "Not sure yet, I'm kinda torn between one of the kids from Suna and either Gai's Genin or Kakashi's"

Anko glanced at Pītā with a bemused expression "What, and not the girl from Taki that seems to think you're the greatest thing since toilet paper?"

Pītā chuckled at that as he rested his hands behind his head "She's my third possible choice, though that depends on if she can make it to the third stage of the Exam. The way her teammates have been acting, I'm a little hesitant to place all of my bets on her this early in the Exams"

Anko nodded at that "Yeah, what the hell is with her team anyway?"

"I have a few ideas…" Pītā said, his small grin fading slightly as Fū's description of her treatement by her teammates came to mind.

Anko hummed at that before she finished eating the last of her Dango before she threw the now cleaned wooden skewer into a nearby tree were several dozen others already laid, forming the symbol of Konoha "There, a perfect symbol of our esteemed village!"

Pītā raised his head and looked to where Anko has been throwing her skewer before he frowned "The arrowhead is a bit off up top and you made it a little too wide towards the center"

"Oh hush you" Anko said as she smacked Pītā's chest, causing him to laugh as she removed her overcoat before lying down next to him and watching the clouds pass by in a manner to give a Nara a run for their money, assuming they were motivated enough to try and run "How long we've been sitting here anyway?"

"About an hour, give or take a few minutes" Pītā responded with a yawn.

Anko hummed at that as she fiddled with her necklace with one hand while she rested her head on the other "We should head in soon and check on them, make sure not all of them ended up dead already"

"Your faith in these Genin is unparalleled" Pītā snickered.

"Better than placing all of my hopes on them only to have them crushed" Anko responded with a grin "Besides, for all we know, one of the teams from the other villages could have sent another team of ANBU to infiltrate the Exams and slaughter the competition"

Pītā's face scrunched up at that "UGH, please don't bring that up again. I still have scars from when Kiri did that at the Exams in Iwa"

"Oh yeah, forgot you were there" Anko said with a thoughtful expression "Wait, isn't that around the time you met that blonde from Iwa? The one that could cover her body in diamonds?"

"Yeah… and it turned out she was the sister of that village's Gobi Jinchūriki" Pītā said with a mental shiver as the image of the towering red armored giant came to mind "I swear, I don't know which of them was more terrifying, her or her brother"

"How can someone whose only real notable talent is covering her skin in diamond worse that a man that has the power to level a nation?" Anko asked with a quirked brow.

"Simple…" Pītā said as he turned towards Anko with a serious expression "She destroys your character before she rips you apart. And then, she sends her brother to finish you off"

Anko blinked at this before she nodded "Oh… okay then"

The two settled in silence as they watched the clouds go by, neither in a real hurry to move as they could hear the various calls of birds, insects and other giant animals that roamed the forest behind them. And if Pītā concentrated hard enough, he could very faintly make out the sounds of fighting from some of the Genin teams in the forest, at least the ones within two kilometers of his and Anko's position.

'Hmm, the rest must either be farther in or more along the northern areas of the forest' Pītā thought as he yawned before he rested his hands behind his head and watched a small bird fly overhead 'Man, it's going to be a Long five days. Why couldnt they make this part of the exam a little shorter? I mean it's as long as the survival stage when Kiri hosts the exmas and they arent even close to the near month long trials that Kumo makes Genin go through but five days is like forever!'

After several more minutes of silence, Anko spoke "You know what I don't get?"

"Laid?" Pītā guessed which in turn earned him a scowl from Anko.

"Uh nooo, I'm perfectly capable of getting any man or women I want into a bed or whatever comfortable furniture is nearby, thank you very much" Anko said with a huff before she returned to looking up at the sky "But no seriously, what I don't get is why is Uzu willing to ally with Orochimaru of all people?"

"Desperate maybe?" Pītā said with a shrug "They just started to rebuild, and they probably don't have many powerful shinobi in their ranks if any. Allying with someone of Orochimaru's caliber, while dumb, also ensures that none of the other smaller villages will attack them out of fear of earning his ire. Well barring one of the Five at least"

Anko scoffed at this "Please, like he'd go out of his way to help them if they got attack. If anything, he'll just up and leave them because they didn't meet his standards"

Pītā blinked at the sudden venom that began to enter Anko's tone before he glanced at her worriedly "You okay?"

"Peachy" Anko said with an eye roll "But back to our long-destroyed ally coming back from the grave and aligning with our former sensei, what do they hope to gain from that partnership?"

"Konoha's destruction maybe?" Pītā said.

Anko hummed at that "Maybe… or..."

"Or what?" Pītā asked with curiosity.

"Eh, just a theory" Anko said as she cupped her chin "But maybe, the survivors of Uzu's destruction, or most of it, at the hands of Mōryō thought that Konoha had abandoned them and they grew to resent us. So, over the next few years, they slowly began to rebuild themselves and Orochimaru stumbled across them, and seeing their goals aligned with his, and perhaps the chance to get some kickass Fūinjutsu out of it, partnered himself with them and manipulated the truth to make it sound like we did leave Uzu out to dry when in reality we were hard pressed to stop Mōryō's demon hordes from invading the capital and killing the Daimyō"

Pītā blinked at this as he mulled over what Anko said before he nodded "Yeah, that sounds pretty accurate"

"Yeah…" Anko said with a frown before she shrugged "Either that, or their just dumbasses with dreams of being the 'Sixth' Great Ninja village and figured trying to take us out will get them that status"

"Probably, though if that happens it'd still be five great ninja villages since we'd be destroyed and Uzu would take our place as a great village" Pītā said before they descended back into silence again.

After half an hour of silence, the purple haired beauty suddenly sat up and slowly straddled Pītā's waist and placed her hands on either side of Pītā's head, causing the man to quirk a brow at her sudden actions.

"What are you doing?" he asked with bemused grin though his tone held a hint of confusion.

Anko shrugged at this before she leaned down until her breasts were pressed tightly against Pītā's chest and she planted a chaste kiss on his lips, causing him to tense up in response "Nothing that you haven't enjoyed in the past… baby"

"Haven't called me that in a while" Pītā said with narrowed eyes as Anko moved to kiss him again before he raised his hand and put it on her shoulder, stopping her cold "And I thought you said that we're through"

Anko smirked as she sat up and grabbed Pītā's hands and placed them on her covered breasts and let out a moan as he squeezed her lightly, more out of a subconscious habit on his part than anything else "I-I did… but fuck, don't tell me you don't miss this? Besides, we can still fuck even if we're not dating anymore…"

"Well it's not like me and Kurenai are really exclusive at the moment. But I do have a date with her in a few days sooo..." Pītā remarked as he licked his lips at the look the woman above him was giving him. While he and Anko weren't exactly exclusive anymore, his attraction to her never really went away.

After all, how many beautiful women are still alive in this line of work that are reasonably sane and don't want to kill him?

Anko smirked at Pītā's comment "Plenty of time for a few but very fun trips down memory lane… hell maybe I'll join you two and make your steamy douette a threesome?"

Pītā hummed at that as Anko began to grind herself against him and just as Pītā was about to respond to her escalating actions with his own, a Chūnin suddenly appeared, killing the mood between the two. Anko scowled as she looked down at the embarrassed Chūnin while she climbed off the aroused Jōnin beneath her.

"What is it?" she snapped as she pulled her coat back on and mentally weighed the options of summoning a very venomous snake to bite the Chūnin somewhere sensative while she ripped his teeth out with a pair of nail clippers.

"Uh there's been a… well an incident that we thought you should check out, back in the village" the Chūnin said with a cough.

Anko's brow twitched at this while Pītā simply pulled back on his facemask, goggles and hood before standing up and stretching.

"Well in that case, I'll go check out the Genin on my own" Pītā said as he cracked his neck and rolled his shoulders to work out the cramp he got from lying on the wooden roof for so long "Then I'll head on over to the Tower and get it ready for the teams when they arrive"

"Fiiiiine" Anko sighed before she glared daggers at the Chūnin below her "Whatever incident this is better be pretty fucking important or so help me I'll shove an Anaconda up your ass and watch it slither out your mouth with your balls in it's teeth!"

"It is… I think" the Chūnin said with a pale face before he and Anko Shunshined away, leaving the Kiri born nin alone for a few seconds before he turned and leaped into the forest, silent as a shadow in the night.

…

Fū sighed as she sat on a small log with a bored expression on her face as her two teammates argued over their next course of action now that they were in the forest. She wasn't too bothered by it, it just meant they wont be making snide comments about her. Her team's unofficial leader, Ichiro, was in favor of heading towards the tower at the center of the forest now and wait for another team to pass by and attack them, hopefully when their exhausted from the travel and fighting another team before hand and take their scroll. Kei, her team's sort of expert on tracking and traps, was more for seeking out a team now and getting their scroll while the three of them were still at full strength and health rather than risk getting injured heading for the tower or any manner of plants and dangerous animals that inhabit the forest.

'Or I could just ask the bugs here if they know where we can find a team with a scroll that we need and they can take it from them and give it to us, avoiding any fight' Fū thought with a sigh as she examined the small clearing they were in.

She couldn't hear or sense anyone nearby, and she had several dozen beetles from her cylinder spread out a few dozen meters in every direction to make sure no one got too close.

"Fū!" Kei said as he was suddenly standing in front of her with a scowl of annoyance on his face.

Fū frowned at the teen as she looked up at his less than friendly expression "What?"

Kei's frown darkened at the tone she addressed him in before he spoke "Do you have anything to contribute, or are you just going to sit there like some retarded rock?"

The green haired girl felt a brief wave of anger rise at the insult before she adverted her gaze "What's the point? Whatever I say will go in one ear and out the other with either of you"

"Even idiots can hit a stroke of genius every once in a while, and I feel your overdue for such an occasion" Kei said with a scoff while Ichiro watched the two with a scowl.

Fū scowled at the teen "Well, I was planning to-"

She never got to finish as several kunai came flying from the tress and towards the three of them. Fū and Kei quickly jumped out of the way while Ichiro ran for cover as several shuriken shadowed his footsteps. Fū glance din the direction the deadly projectiles were coming from and saw a flash of brown in the branches moving, her eyes narrowed as she stopped and crouched down low, wincing as one of the Kunai flew over her head and cut several strands of hair from her head before she leaped towards the tree with a grunt, the ground cracking under the force of her jump.

The mint haired girl reared her fist back before she slammed it into the base of tree, causing a multitude of cracks to race up the trunk as it shook from the force of her punch. She heard the person in the branches let out a startled yelp as he struggled to keep his grip on some of the branches before he was forced to jump to another tree. Fū smirked as she watched what appeared to be a Genin from Amegakure fall from the tree and towards her with wide eyes, he clearly wasn't expecting her to be this strong, physically speaking.

'Lot of people usually don't' Fū thought as she leapt towards the older looking teen with her fist reared back, ready to send it right into the enemy shinobi's body, possibly, quite literally.

Just as the two neared one another, one because of gravity and the other because of the raw strength in their legs, the Ame Genin suddenly turned into water and fell apart. Fū's eyes widened in surprise as she passed through the falling puddle, some of it getting in her mouth.

"UGH, gross!" she coughed as she flipped her body in midair and landed on the side of a tree and quickly spat out the bit of water she almost ingested by accident.

"Dammit Fū, stop screwing around!" Kei yelled as he drew a Kunai and used it to deflect several shuriken coming towards him from another tree while Ichiro was still nowhere to be found.

Fū hoped he wasn't dead, she'd rather not have her chances of making Chūnin destroyed because her supposedly 'powerful and highly skilled' teammate was taken out by a Genin from Amegakure of all places.

'Though with my luck, that's exactly what would happen' Fū thought as she suddenly heard someone behind her and turned to see another Ame Genin, this one wearing a rebreather over his face, coming towards her with a pair of Sais in his hands.

Fū's eyes narrowed at the approaching Genin and brought her arms up in a defensive posture as she waited for him to get closer before raising a foot and slamming it into the trunk of the tree they were on. The force of the impact caused the bark under her foot to crack and shatter, sending bits of wood and sap into the air while massive cracks sprouted from the point of impact and spread all up and down the tree trunk. The enemy Genin made a startled yelp as he accidently stepped into one of the cracks that formed and lost his footing and the grip on his Sais. Within seconds Fū was in front of the startled teen, one of the Sais in her hands before she jammed the blade right into the space between his chin and neck.

'Impressive, little larva...' a voice echoed in the back of Fū's mind as she stared into the dimming eyes of the Genin while blood trickled out of the wound, on to the blade and down to her shaking hands.

"Shut up!" Fū snapped in a whisper as she let go of the Sai's handle and stepped aside and allowed the Ame Genin to fall past her and towards the ground.

She watched the body fall for a moment before she closed her eyes and took a deep breath to calm her erratic heartbeat. The sound of Kunai clashing caused her to open her eyes and see Kei was facing off against the Ame Genin she caused to fall out of the tree earlier. She narrowed here eyes at the scene and prepared to jump down and aid her teammate, much as the ideal annoyed her, when suddenly Ichiro came bursting from the brush, both his arms stained with blood and a small cut on his cheek.

And a Earth scroll in his hands!

'That's the scroll we need!' Fū thought with wide eyes 'He must've ran into the third Ame Genin and took the scroll from him'

The sudden appearance of Kei's teammate caused the Ame nin he was facing to briefly loose focus on their fight, allowing the teen to race past the other Genin's defenses and firmly plant his Kunai into the older boy's chest. Fū winced at the sight as the Genin let out a pained gasp before Kei ripped the Kunai out and jammed it right into the other boy's throat, causing him to let out a gurgled sound as he fell to the ground, blood pouring from both his chest and neck.

"A bit overboard, don't you think?" Ichiro said as he made his way towards Kei, rubbing blood off his hands.

"Hey, it's more humane compared to what the freak did to his teammate" Kei nodded towards where the other Ame nin lied, the Sai sticking out from behind his jaw.

"Ichiro hummed at this before he looked up towards Fū with narrowed eyes "What are you still doing up there? Sight seeing? Get down here already!"

Fū huffed at the boy's comments as she had a pair of insect like wings suddenly emerge from her back. She ignored the sounds of disgust from her teammates and use them to quickly fly down to where they were at before retracting them as her feet met the ground.

"Is that a Earth scroll?" Kei nodded towards Ichiro's hands.

"It is" Ichiro nodded in satisfaction "When I ran into the brush, I ran into their teammate, literally, and after I took him out, I decided to see if he'd have the scroll. Turns out he did"

"Did he hurt you?" Fū gestured towards the blood stains.

Ichiro scoffed at this "No, the worst I'm going to get from our fight is the bruise on my head from when I ran into him"

"What'd you do to him?" Kei asked as he noticed a bit of bloodied flesh on his teammate's fingers.

Ichiro rolled his eyes at this "He, for whatever reason, had the scroll inside himself"

"The fuck you mean by that?" Kei said with a raised brow while Fū looked equally as confused.

"He had this stitched inside himself" Ichiro said with a mildly disgusted face "I noticed a blood stain on his side after I killed him and was curious to see what caused it since all I did was break his neck. I lifted his shirt up and saw the end piece of the scroll straining against the stiches in his side that was keeping it in him. I just simply cut them and dug it out afterwards"

"Disgusting" Fū said with a shiver.

"Oh and like you can't be just as bad or worse?" Ichiro said with a glare aimed at the mint haired girl.

Fū's temper flared at this and she took a step towards the her fellow Taki nin before Kei was in between them with a annoyed look on his face.

"Can we do this later? We have the second scroll we need to advance to the next stage of the exam. Let's just head to the tower before another team gets us and we either get killed or have to find another"

Ichiro scoffed as he turned away from Fū and placed the scroll in his weapons pouch "Fine by me. Better things to do than argue with a walking abomination"

Fū rolled her eyes at this as she followed after Kei and Ichiro, somewhat relieved that with the Earth scroll they can get this stage over with sooner than she thought.

'Hopefully I don't have to share a room with them at the tower while we wait for the others to finally show up' Fū thought.

A few days away from her teammates would be very nice in her opinion.

...

Pītā held back a yawn as he swung through the towering trees of the Forest of Death, having spent the past hour wandering from one end of the forest to the other watching several Genin teams as they made their way through the dark trees. So far he was impressed with how quickly some of the teams had acquired a second scroll from another team or held their own against some of the less than friendly animals that wandered the woods.

They were certainly shaping up to be a better batch than the last ones, he thought.

'Still too soft in my opinion' Pītā thought with a snort as he swung over a small pond on a single web line before he launched himself from it and soared over a small bridge of vines and flowers before landing on a branch without a sound, the leaves just barely moving under his soft landing.

He looked around to see a number of birds roosting on the nearby branches and vines watching him before they returned to whatever it was they were doing before he showed up and acquired their attention. Shaking his head in amusement, Pītā reached out with his senses to see if there was any Genin nearby. The nearest team he could sense was a good half a mile away and he doubted hey would be able to sense his presence. With a small shrug, the Jinchūriki sat down on the branch he was on and let out a sigh as he listened the various animals around him and the rustling of the leaves as a breeze blew through the canopy.

'You know, aside from the giant killer animals, this place can be pretty peaceful' he thought as he watched a small group of birds take to the air and fly away.

The minutes slowly ticked by as the sun began to make it's descent, causing the forest to grow darker. He could sense a few Genin nearby engaging what felt like a Chūnin level opponent. The slight tremor he could feel from the apparent confrontation caused him to let out a low whistle of approval.

"Man, their really going at it, whoever they are-" Pītā started before he sensed a spike in a familiar chakra, causing him to frown.

It was the chakra of the Kyūbi which meant that the Genin team was Naruto's.

Pītā made a humming sound at the back of his throat as he prepared to head off in said direction to see if he'd be able to observe the confrontation before the Kyuubi's chakra suddenly vanished. This caused his frown to deepen, the Kyūbi's chakra didn't slowly cease and retreat back into the seal that contained it, rather it seemed to have been suddenly cut off, like the door to allow the chakra to flow out of the seal was suddenly slammed closed and locked.

"The hell is going on over there" Pītā muttered to himself as he sensed more flares of chakra as whatever battle was going on was continuing.

Pītā stood there as he sensed several more flare ups before the level of chakra being released began to drop until it stopped entirely. The various birds and insects that were around him had also grown quiet as the young Jinchūriki stood perfectly still for what seemed like ages. Finally the sudden tension he felt had vanished and he could hear the various noises from the forest's wildlife all around him. He could also still sense what he assumed was Naruto and his teammates charka signatures, so they weren't all dead, just had the ever loving hell beaten out of them apparently.

"Hmm, I wonder if they encountered the brats from Suna. Could be Naruto and his team tried to take on their Jinchūriki and lost..." Pītā said with a thoughtful expression.

Though if that were the case, why couldn't he sense any other chakra belonging to a bijū, he doubts that as powerful as the Kazekage's child was, he wasn't strong enough to face down a fellow Jinchūriki, clearly using his own bijū's chakra, without resorting to use his own.

'Than again, maybe the kid's tougher than he looks' Pītā said with a faint shrug as he turned to leave "Well, time to head towards the tower and see if anyone's made it there yet-"

Pītā stopped as he felt the tingling at the base of his skull continue to increase in intensity before just as suddenly it came, it stopped, leaving Pītā standing there in surprise. He carefully examined his surroundings for any signs of whatever set it off before an elongated tongue burst from the leaves and wrapped itself around his arms and torso in the blink of an eye.

"Whoa, what the fu-" Pītā began as he was suddenly dragged though the foliage, branches and leaves smacking into his face, one of which cracked the right lens to his goggles before he suddenly came face to face with a smirking Orochimaru.

The Sannin's eye lit up in amusement as he stared at his former student while his elongated tongue began to slowly constrict around the younger man.

"Pītā-kun… so good to see you again"

"Orochimaru" Pītā said in a strained voice as he felt his former sensei's tongue tighten it's grip on him "Whish I could say the same, but I'd be lying"

The snake Sannin smirked as he brought Pītā a little closer to him "How has my favorite student been? I heard you made captain in ANBU before you departed"

"I did, thanks for asking, means a lot" Pītā bit out as he tried to exert his strength and break out of the Sannin's hold.

But Orochimaru's grip on him was too tight to move all that much. The strength to rip steel apart with your bare hands was kind of useless if you couldn't move your arms enough to actually use it.

'Come to think of it, it's getting hard to breath' Pītā thought as he tried to think of a way out of his predicament. Seeing none presented at the moment, he decided to do what he did best-

Talk.

"So, what brings you back home Sensei?" Pītā asked as he stared into the golden reptilian like eyes of the infamous nuke nin "Home sick?"

"Oh, I have my reasons" Orochimaru cooed.

"Let me guess, destroy the village like some cheap knock off villain from those movies you used to take me to when I first started to apprentice under you?" Pītā asked with a snort as he slowly angled his hand to aim up towards Orochimaru's face.

"In part, yes" Orochimaru said with a chuckle that felt even weirder since Pītā could feel the vibrations in the man's tongue wrapped around him.

He made a mental note to burn these clothes later and take a very long, very thorough shower later. If he survived that is.

"Though I'm here mostly to help out an old friend of mine" Orochimaru revealed.

"Uzu you mean" Pītā said with a pointed look towards the man "How in the hell did you get them to align with you?"

"Charm, naturally-" Orochimaru began before he suddenly tilted his head to the side as a small stream of webbing shot past it.

The elder Shinobi smirked at Pītā and began to tighten his hold on the younger man before the young jinchūriki raised a leg and quickly used it to wrap up some of Orochimaru's elongated tongue. The Sannin's eyes widened as Pītā pulled down with his leg, brining the elder man's head with it and right into his knee. A loud sickening crunch emanated from the point of impact on Orochimaru's face. Pītā didn't know if he cracked the man's skulk or just simply broke his nose, it was enough for the constricting tongue he had on him to loosen enough for Pītā to shrug himself out of it and leap away. Free and with some distance between himself and the deadly nin, Pītā's mind raced through the possible scenarios he faced against the man.

While Pītā far surpassed Orochimaru in raw physical strength and even chakra reserves, the Sannin had several decades of experience on him, skills included. He also had a far greater range of ninjutsu, Genjutsu and even Fūinjutsu. All of which he knows Orochimaru has mastered to some of the highest levels imaginable. Than there was the countless modifications he's made to his body over the years since they last met.

'Either way, I can't win this without risking leveling the whole damn forest and than some' Pītā thought with a frown 'I guess I can try and stall him long enough for someone to show up and help'

Though the only other Shinobi in this forest were all Genin or Chūnin level and only had a few years of combat experience to back them up. Not exactly the kind of people you'd send against someone like Orochimaru of all people.

"You've gotten stronger than last we met" Orochimaru said as he rubbed his jaw, his face unmarked from Pītā's strike only seconds ago.

"What can I say, I've been working out" Pītā said with a shrug as his hand drifted to the hilt of his Katana before he remembered that he never brought it out here with him, it was still back where he and Anko were having lunch.

"Missing something aren't we?" Orochimaru said with a smirk as he folded his arms across his chest "Pity, I was quite interested to see if your Kenjutsu has improved"

"Well toss me a sword and we'll see if it has" Pītā replied in a snide tone.

"Yes, what a smart idea. Give a Kiri nin, even if he is a former one, a sword" Orochimaru said with a shake of his head "Honestly Pītā, I haven't lived this long by making ill minded mistakes such as that"

"Well than I guess we're gonna have to do this the old fashioned way" Pītā said as he drew several Kunai from their holster and held them between his fingers.

"Indeed" Orochimaru said with a grin, his tongue extended out and flickering in the air like a snake.

And with that, he rushed towards Pītā in a blur.

…

'And things were just starting to go well' Yūgao thought as she stood in a small clearing next to a small Buda shrine along the southwestern edge of the village.

Not too far from here laid three dead Kusa nin, Genin who were here to participate in the Chūnin Exams. Yūgao was no stranger to death, being part of ANBU for several years now had exposed her to things that left her awake for days on out of terror of seeing such horror in her sleep. But what really stood out to her about the death of these three Genin was the fact that none of the dead nin had their faces, it was almost as if they were simply peeled off.

'Kami I hope that never happens to me' Yūgao thought with a shiver 'And if it does, I better be dead already!'

She hoped that they were when it happened, to give her some small comfort.

Yūgao reached into her pocket and pulled out the identification cards that were found on the bodies and studied them again. They were young, only a few years older than the 'Rookie Nine' as many had taken to calling the latest Genin to graduate from the academy. It was a shame in her opinion, for these Genin to perish so far from home, unaware that when they left home, they'd never see their friends and loved ones again. Part of her wondered if they ever considered that one day they'd leave their home and never return, more often than not, she usually did.

'Even more so after I was recruited into the ANBU' Yūgao thought as she sighed and looked up towards the sky and watched the clouds drift by.

As she waited for the Proctor of the Second stage of the Chūnin Exams to arrive, she wondered what Pītā was up to currently. She still wanted to talk to him, about what happened on his last mission with ANBU, what they did. Even now she could just feel the phantom touches of his hands running over her body, the feel of his lips on her neck, her breasts and her aching cl-

"When were they found?"

Yūgao almost flinched at the sudden sound of Anko's voice and turned towards the Tokubetsu Jōnin as she stared at the dead bodies of three Kusa nin. Based on the smell, the fact that they haven't begin to decompose and the time frame that the Kusa teams had arrived in the village and the fact they were just now found only thirty minutes ago, it was concluded they'd been dead for at the very most half a day.

"About half an hour ago" Yūgao answered with a sigh as several more Tokubetsu Jōnin arrived to analyze the crime scene while several Chūnin set up a tent and brought out some equipment to help better analyze the area and the bodies "My team and I were trailing the red headed Jōnin sensei from Uzu when we found them"

In her personal opinion, Yūgao was certain that the Jōnin was aware of their bodies being here. With intel reports revealing that Uzu has joined forces with Orochimaru and strong reason to believe that he's taken an active interest in the current Chūnin Exams, courtesy of Jiraiya and his spy network, it couldn't be just random chance she and her squad were led here.

Anko nodded as she stepped closer to observe the bodies of the dead Kusa nin, or as close as the other Tokubetsu Jōnin would let her before she stopped dead in her tracks and her face paled.

"Oh shit" Anko whispered with dread in her tone.

"What is it?" Yūgao asked with a frown, hidden by her mask, as she stared at Anko.

"That one" Anko pointed towards the lone female of the Kusa corpses "Her clothes, I saw her earlier at the Forest of Death..."

Yūgao's eyes widened at this as did several other present Tokubetsu Jōnin and Chūnin "What?"

Anko stared at the corpse for a moment before her head suddenly snapped to Yūgao "Alert the Hokage of this and get me several squads of ANBU now!"

Yūgao blinked ins surprise at the sudden commanding tone of the woman "What is it? What's going on?"

"Its Orochimaru's handiwork"

...

When Pītā was younger, not too long into his sort of apprenticeship to Orochimaru before the man when crazy, he'd always wanted to challenge the man to a spar. Part of the reason was to test his power and skill against an actual opponent outside of the various Shinobi that made up the guard of the facility that he and Yagura were held in. But mostly it was because he struck him as a man that needed to be taken down a few dozen pegs and Pītā wanted to be the one to do it.

After only two minutes into his fight witth the Snake Sannin, Pītā discovered that he'd rather face down a pissed off Anko than his old mentor.

'This is not going as well as I hoped' Pītā thought as he used web lines shot from his wrists to swing through the various branches and towering trunks of the tress around him to avoid the barrage of fire balls at him.

So far Orochimaru has been utilizing range attacks to keep Pītā from getting close knowing the young Jinchūriki didn't posses that many range attacks. And the ones he did have would cause more harm than good. Pītā couldn't quite start tossing Bijūdama around like they were Kunai, he'd likely end up taking out a chunk of the Forest of Death and any Genin occupying that area.

'Yeah, that wouldn't end well' Pītā thought as he dodged several air bullets before he landed on a thin branch with one foot and raised an army to shoot several 'web bullets' towards Orochimaru.

The Sannin's eyes narrowed as he leaped back as several of the web bullets impacted against the tree branch he was standing on. The moment the webbing struck the wood and spread over the surface, the wood began to smoke and sizzle as it was slowly eaten away. Orochimaru hummed at the sight as he fell for several meters and landed on a branch closer to the forest floor. Pītā shot several more web projectiles towards the Sannin along with several web nets several meters across.

"Kukukuku…" Orochimaru cackled at the approaching barrage of acidic webbing before his hands flashed through several hand signs and unleashed a powerful gust of wind from his mouth.

The chakra infused wind tore through the webbing and continued on towards Pītā, forcing him to leap out of the way as Orochimaru's jutsu tore through the foliage, shredding wood into splinters. Pītā fell for several meters before shooting a web line out and used his built up momentum to carry him through the air before he released his grip on the line and sored through the air and landed on the side of a massive tree.

"Alright, where'd you go?" Pītā muttered as he looked around for signs of the Sannin, he knew the man was still there, watching him.

Pītā hummed before he felt a flare at the base of his skull and turned just in time to dodge a kick from his former mentor. Taking several steps back, Pītā's arms came up to block several punches from the Sannin before the Jinchūriki seized Orochimaru's arm and brought the man's face into his elbow. A small shockwave emanated from the point of impact and the Sannin's head snapped so far back that Pītā half expected it to go flying off before the man's head bounced back and let out a dark hiss, snake like fangs barred.

"Well that's attractive" Pītā said in a sarcastic tone as he blocked several kicks from Orochimaru before he summersaulted back and landed in a crouch. "Say, since you seem to be becoming more and more of a snake, does that mean you occasionally shed your skin?"

"Wouldn't you like to know" Orochimaru said with a chuckle.

"I kinda do actually" Pītā shrugged before his hands flashed through several hand signs and took a deep breath before a torrent of water shot out from his mouth.

Orochimaru hummed as he leaped over the funnel of water before two web lines suddenly seized him by the shoulders, causing his eyes to widen before he was dragged back into the torrent of water and pinned to the trunk of a tree from the sheer force of the jutsu. With the Sannin pinned, Pītā reached into one of his weapons pouches and pulled out a small piece of paper with numerous kanji written across it. Pītā slowly raised the paper to the torrent of water and braced himself as he sent a small bit of chakra into the paper's seal, activating the seal.

A powerful electrical current raced through the paper and caused Pītā's fingers and soon hand to go numb before he jammed his hand into the funnel of water.

'This is gonna hurt' Pītā thought seconds before the paper seemingly imploded within the water and unleashed a powerful storm of electrical energy into the water, electrocuting both Pītā and Orochimaru.

A faint hiss could be heard in the back of Pītā's mind as he cut off the jutsu and fell to his knee, his body shaking from the powerful currents racing through him. After several seconds, the pain finally subsided and he let out a sigh of relief and exhaustion as he climbed back to his feet and looked up to see the damage he inflicted on Orochimaru. Unsurprisingly, the Snake Sannin was nowhere to be seen.

"No, that'd be too much from the universe" Pītā said with a scoff as he reached out with his senses for signs of where the Sannin was lurking.

"I will admit Pītā-kun, it was a valiant attempt" Orochimaru spoke up from behind Pītā, causing him to turn just in time to narrowly avoid a strike aimed at his temple.

Orochimaru pressed his assault and forced Pītā back several steps before he sent a jab into Pītā's throat, knocking the wind out of the Jinchūriki and causing him to stumble back, his hands flying to his injured throat. With a quick flick of the wrist, Orochimaru drew a kunai from his sleeve and quickly stabbed it into Pītā's side, casuing him to let out a pained raspy yelp before he received a kick to the chest that sent him falling towards the forest floor.

Pītā's body tore through several vines and a few thin branches on his descent towards the dark forest floor. How none of the impacts drove the kunai in his side further in was a miracle in his opinion. With a loud crash, After almost ten meters Pītā's fall was broken by a rotten log laying along several exposed roots from a nearby tree.

'Well... this sucks' Pītā thought with a pained groan as he slid off the rotted wood and fell face first on to the ground. He raised a shaking hand to his injured side and grabbed the kunai and with a grunt ripped it out of his side.

Probably not the wisest thing to do, but it felt better to breath now that he didn't have several inches f sharpened metal poking his intestines and threatening to cut them open and flood his insides with whatever was going through them at the time. Pītā struggled to climb back to his feet while he brought a hand over his bleeding wound and quickly began to fill it with webbing. It burned like hell and Pītā had to suppress a whimper of pain as it partially stretched out the cut before he felt it begin to somewhat solidify, enough at least that the blood couldn't just leak out.

Still, he needed to see a medic, and soon.

'Assuming I can get to one in time' Pītā thought as he looked to see Orochimaru approaching him with a dark grin on his face.

"Despite all evidence to the contrary Pītā-kun, I'm not enjoying this as much as it seems" Orochimaru said with a sigh and shake of his head "I always find it saddening to take such a bright and intelligent mind such as yourself from this world"

"I'm... sure..." Pītā forced out as he struggled to concentrate 'A little help would be appreciated please!'

He received no response from the bijū, no surprise really. What was surprising was how silent it had been throughout this fight, normally it'd be tempting him with her power about now less he end up dead as a door nail. Pītā hopped that the six tailed beast hadn't decided to say 'fuck it' and just let him die if it meant obtaining it's freedom. Sure it'd take a few years for itself to re-constitute itself but for a being that's spent the better part of a century sealed away in various humans, a bit of time being 'dead' might be worth it.

'Can't blame her' Pītā thought with a dejected sigh as he saw his vision begin to blur and his body weakened to the point he felt to his knees.

It seemed that Orochimaru's hit had caused a substantial amount of internal damage after all.

"Heh, not the worse way to go all things considered" Pītā said, more to himself than to his former Sensei "Took a Sannin to take me down in the end"

"So it would seem" Orochimaru said with a chuckle as he raised his hand to strike Pītā, possibly for the last time, when he suddenly tensed and quickly jumped back as a straight edged Fūma Shuriken flew through the air where the renegade Shinobi was just standing.

"Stay the fuck away from him!"

Pītā couldn't stop a pained laugh from escaping him as Anko suddenly landed beside him "Never thought I'd be happy to have you come to my rescue"

"Shut up" Anko snapped as she gave her fellow Konoha nin a quick once over to see the extent of the damage done to him.

It wasn't looking good.

"You damn idiot" she said with a hint of worry in her voice as she noticed the red stained webbing on his side "What were you thinking taking him on alone?"

"I was thinking, what would Anko do?" Pītā said with a weak laugh "Safe to say, I wont make that mistake again"

"You better fucking not!" she said as she took Pītā's arm on his good side and placed it over her shoulder and slowly helped the man to his feet.

"Now isn't this interesting... hello Anko" Orochimaru grinned as Anko glared up at him awhile she adjusted her grip on Pītā "I was hoping to see you again while I was here my dear"

Anko growled at the sight of the infamous nuke nin "Orochimaru"

"Were you expecting someone else?" he asked with a chuckle.

"If you mean more impressive? Than yeah, I was" Anko bit out.

"I think he's impressive..." Pītā muttered weakly.

"Pītā, stop talking" Anko hissed in annoyance and anger, she needed to get Pītā out of here quick.

As much as she'd love to rip that smirk off her former teacher's face, she knew she didn't stand a chance in hell of even posing as a threat to the legendary Shinobi. And she had no idea just how bad Pītā's injuries really were, the dampening web path on his side was doing little to abate her fear.

"Anko…" Pītā whispered in a low, quiet voice "I'll be fine... go... go warn the Hokage… I'll stall him"

Anko couldn't help but roll her eyes at this "Riiight. And how are you gonna do that hot stuff? Bore his ass with various quantum theories of Sealing and it's applications to modern technology and for almost near instant travel from one end of the country to the other?"

"That sounds like a rather interesting topic I'd love to discuss" Orochimaru spoke up with a smirk as he watched his two former students with the barest hints of fondness.

"No one asked you!" Anko snapped at the bemused man.

"Honestly, I kinda wanna have that conversation now" Pītā chuckled before he made a pained groan "Damn, it hurts to laugh..."

"Than stop laughing" Anko said as she drew several shuriken from her pouch and held them at the ready.

This caused the rogue Sannin to chuckle as his eyes darkened and he took a step forward "Now, now, Anko there's no need to be so ru-"

Before the man could finish his sentence, he stopped and frowned and looked off to the side. Anko almost let out a sigh of relief at her former master diverting his attention from her, allowing her to tightened her grip on Pītā and quickly took off into the tree line. She didn't sense Orochimaru giving chase but she knew that the S-ranked nin could catch her and Pītā in a heartbeat.

"Think we can get to the tower before he catches us?" Pītā asked weakly.

"We're about to find out" Anko said as she adjusted her grip on Pītā as they landed on a tree branch large enough to hold several horses on it and leaped further and further into the forest.

The sooner they reached the tower, the better.

...

And done.

Next chapter, Recovery... sort of.