Naruto:KIRAI

by B-Day

What happens when Minato sealed the Nine-Tailed Fox inside of Naruto, something else came along with it? What is this thing and will it help Naruto on his path to being Hokage, or will it make him go down a dark path? Or, it could try and kill him.

18. Chapter 18: Exams IV

'Thoughts'

"Technique/Demon/Bijuu" Talk

"Demon/Bijuu" Talk from inside

'Technique in head/Demon/Bijuu' Thoughts

---

Reviews

biginferno: I don't think Gaara would spill anything about the plan. He'd rather kill Naruto than talk to him.

Celestial Indigo: I felt it was necessary to give some light to the side characters.

Obito: Sorry, but I don't want her in the harem.

10tailsJinchurikiNaruto: How so?

Spellbat: Ehhh. There's a chance they could be added. Or someone else could be with them.

Kevin Kosarych: Hana will be joining, don't worry.

---

In the harem

Fem!Haku, Hinata, Kin, Temari, Yugao

Harem currently

Amaru, Ameyuri, Anko, Ayame, Fubuki, Fuu, Fuka, Guren, Hana, Hanabi, Hotaru, Ino, Isaribi, Karin, Karui, Kaguya, Kirai, Konan, Kotohime, Koyuki, Fem!Kurama, Kurenai, Kurotsutchi, Mabui, Matsuri, Mei, Mikoto, Mito, Moegi, Natsu, Natsuhi, Pakura, Rin, Ryuzetsu, Sakura, Samui, Sara, Sasame, Shizuka, Shizune, Shion, Tayuya, Tenten, Tsume, Tsunade, Tsunami, Yakumo/Ido, Yugito/Nibi, Yukata

---

Uh… hi, welcome, yeah, I didn't expect to make this chapter this long… but enjoy anyway!

Also, here are my reasons as to why the selected girls below are not in the harem:

Kushina: I explained in the last chapter.

Tsubaki: I was all for it… but the more I thought about it, the more I didn't like it.

Uroko: Same reason as Tsubaki.

---

Chapter 18: Exams IV

'I'm going to kill Kiba one of these days,' Hinata thought as she glared at the Inuzuka boy. He was glaring back at her and Shino stood off to the sides, looking around.

"Guys, there are-"

"Quiet, Shino!" Kiba barked at his teammate, continuing to stare down Hinata. "The hell did you just say to me, Hinata?"

"I said you're a little bitch, Kiba! You act all tough but you're scared of the tiniest things, like Kurenai-sensei popping out of a bush! How does Akamaru have bigger balls than you yet he's a pup!?" Hinata shouted.

Kiba's eyes widened as he grit his teeth. "Shut up, Hinata! You're so soft and shy if I held you the wrong way you'd break!"

"Maybe back in the Academy that was true, but I'm not the same girl anymore, Kiba."

"Heh, is that why you always hid behind trees and stalked your crush?!"

"I'm surprised you're even a genin. With your lack of skills, you should be back in the Academy!"

"Hey, guys-"

"Shut up! My skills are fine! They're even better than some stupid clan's fighting style!" Kiba interrupted Shino.

"Is that why you were the dead last in the class, Kiba? Come on, even Shikamaru could beat you! That's how weak you are! And that's pathetic!"

"Fuck off! I could beat anyone's ass! Training with Kurenai-sensei has made me even stronger, stronger than that blonde nobody!"

Hinata's eyes widened. "Are you talking about Naruto?"

"No, I'm talking about Ino… Of course I'm talking about Naruto, dumbass!"

Hinata stared at him for a moment before bursting out into hysterics and pointing at him. She held her stomach as she continued laughing at him, seemingly not caring about how loud she was being.

Shino was getting slightly agitated as the fight between his two teammates continued and they were ignoring him. His bugs located a team not far from them, and they were sure to arrive if Kiba and Hinata continued shouting at each other.

"Please Kiba, please tell me another joke!" Hinata pleaded through her laughter. Kiba growled as he clenched his hands. It slightly hurt him that the girl he wanted was making fun of him, but he couldn't show it.

"I'm not joking…" Kiba said, causing Hinata to pause, then laugh again. The Inuzuka, fed up with her laughter, grit his teeth. "How could that useless nobody be better than anyone, huh?! I don't know why he was alone, but he must've deserved it if he couldn't make any friends!"

This caused Hinata to stop her laughing and look at Kiba with wide eyes. The way she was looking at him made him and Akamaru flinch. Even Shino subtly flinched.

"What was that?" Hinata asked in a cold voice, making Akamaru shake.

"I-I said that he must've deserved being alone…" Kiba repeated, and right after he did, Hinata appeared right in front of him with her palm reeled back. Kiba's eyes widened, but before she could land her palm strike, her right hand shot up and caught a kunai. She stopped her advance as she looked to her right and saw three genin on branches.

"I missed," one of them said. Hinata twirled the kunai around until she reverse gripped it and fully turned towards the team, her Byakugan activating.

The boy that threw the kunai had black hair that was swept to the left side of his face, black eyes, and his hitai-ate was over his forehead. He was wearing an orange hoodie, black shorts, and black sandals. The boy on the branch to the left of him had spiky, blonde hair that was leaning to the right. It almost looked like Kakashi's hairstyle, but shorter. He had green eyes and had blue circles on his cheeks. He was wearing a blue hoodie with black shorts, blue sandals, and his hitai-ate was wrapped around his arm.

The last one was a girl that had long, black hair in a ponytail. She had brown eyes and was wearing a black hoodie with grey pants and grey sandals. Her hitai-ate was around her neck and she had her hands in her pockets. Hinata saw the weapon strapped on her back and she noticed that the team were all Konoha genin.

"Well, well, well… if it ain't Team 8," the blonde spoke with a smirk. "What a pleasure it is to meet one of the four special teams.

Hinata narrowed her eyes. "What the hell do you want?"

"Yikes, didn't know the shy Hyuuga heiress was so snappy!" The blonde joked. Hinata swiftly threw the kunai at his arm. The boy didn't know, but once he heard the clanging sound of his hitai-ate, he shrieked and jumped, seeing the kunai fall down.

The Hyuuga clicked her tongue in annoyance. 'Lucky bastard.'

"Enough fooling around, Kenhatsu. We can't take these guys lightly," the black haired boy told as he stood up. "Plus, you know why we're doing this, right?" The blonde named Kenhatsu glared at his teammate before sighing.

"Whatever, Jomori," Kenhatsu grumbled before looking back at Team 8.

"Koshi, you know what to do," Jomori said as he looked at the noirette. The girl nodded and walked off the branch. She made the Ram hand seal with one hand and as she touched the ground, she quickly sunk into it. This surprised Team 8, but Hinata quickly recovered.

"Doing that won't hide me from you," Hinata spoke as she tracked the girl's movements with her Byakugan.

The girl quickly came up from the ground next to Kiba and jumped. The Inuzuka looked at her in surprise, but then noticed she was going to hit him. Kiba was too slow in blocking the spin kick from Koshi and got sent away while Akamaru fell to the ground. The dog barked at Koshi and was about to attack, but Hinata beat him to it.

The Hyuuga jumped in the air with her palm reeled back. She launched it forward, but the girl backed up and avoided the palm strike. Hinata landed and twirled around, instantly trying to attack Koshi. The noirette continued dodging her attacks with ease, making Hinata switch to her fingers. Koshi noted the girl seemed to be getting faster, and she might have to start deflecting in a second, but then the bluenette did something unexpected.

Hinata did a back handspring before dashing forward. The unexpected burst of speed caught Koshi off guard, but quickly recovered as Hinata raised two fingers. The Hyuuga shot her fingers forward and Koshi brought a hand out to deflect it, but Hinata stopped her fingers from going further. Koshi's eyes slightly widened and watched as Hinata's other hand shot towards her. The noirette was able to move so the hand hit her shoulder, but it wasn't something she wanted. Koshi felt the chakra points in her right shoulder disabled, but used the momentum of the hit to spin around and kick Hinata away. The Hyuuga slid and stopped while Koshi backed up, moving her right arm around.

Koshi stared down Hinata before pointing a hand towards her. 'Earth Release: Earth and Stone Bamboo Shot!'

Hinata saw Koshi pour her chakra into the ground and watched it spread out around her in four directions. She then noticed the soil and rock underneath the ground move and condense. She jumped as four spikes shot out, almost impaling her, but one sliced her leg.

'Shit!' Hinata thought as she landed on the four spikes. Koshi made the Tiger → Boar → Bird → Dragon → Rat hand seals.

'Lava Release: Molting Fire Stream!' Koshi spewed a stream of bright orange flames at Hinata. The Hyuuga jumped off the spikes and watched as the fire stream quickly melted the earth spikes. She landed and ran instantly with Koshi's lava technique following her, melting the trees behind the running Hyuuga.

Hinata glanced at Koshi and realized the distance between them was too great for her to make a beeline towards her. Hinata looked at the tree in front of her and ran up it. Koshi stopped her lava technique and was about to make hand seals for another one, but Hinata jumped off the trunk. She spun herself around to look at Koshi and got her hand back.

"Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm!" Hinata shouted as she launched her palm forward, sending out a compressed blast of air. Koshi couldn't see the technique, but trusted her instincts and moved back. The technique hit the ground and exploded in a miniature blast against the ground, but the blast was enough to make Koshi fly back.

"Let's go, Akamaru!" Kiba suddenly shouted and a bark was heard. "Fang Passing Fang!"

Koshi looked behind her and saw giant grey drills rotating around each other and flying towards her. She grit her teeth as the attack hit her back head on, but then substituted with a log. The drills continued moving forward before they turned into two boys. They both landed on the ground and slid back next to Hinata while Koshi appeared next to her teammates.

Jomori looked at Koshi. "Do you want one of us to take over?"

The noirette shook her head and stood up. She was about to take a step forward, but she froze up and fell off the branch. Both Jomori and Kenhatsu looked at their fallen teammate.

"Mm… Aburame bugs, huh?" Jomori guessed as he looked at a tree. "You must've planted it on her when your teammate hit Koshi's back." Shino walked out from behind the tree with his hands in his pockets.

"How'd you know?" The Aburame boy asked.

"Call it a sneaking suspicion," Jomori responded. "Kenhatsu."

"On it." Kenhatsu made the Snake hand seal. "Lightning Flow!" Electricity coursed throughout his body as he planted his hand on the trunk. The electricity around his body traveled down his right arm and transferred to the tree before it quickly spread throughout the entire tree before intensifying. He pointed a finger at Koshi and a stream of lightning was shot out. It hit her back, electrocuting her slightly.

Shino furrowed his brow. 'Damnit, he knew my bugs were on the tree?'

"Kenhatsu, can you tend to Koshi while looking for him?" Jomori asked.

"Of course. Though, it might take a while. This forest is big."

Jomori nodded, then jumped down to the ground. "I apologize in advance if I accidentally kill you."

Kiba bared his teeth with Akamaru and growled. "Don't act like you can kill us so easily! We're Team 8 for cryin' out loud!" Shino and Hinata nodded in agreement.

"... Are you sure? I'm not that easy to beat," Jomori stated.

"Don't get so cocky!" Kiba shouted.

Jomori nodded. "Well, you can go first."

"I've had enough of this asshole," Hinata muttered as she dashed forward.

"Hinata wait!" Kiba shouted after her, but it was too late. The Hyuuga got close to the black-haired boy and went for a palm strike, but he dodged it. She continued barraging him with her palms, but he was too fast. She went for a palm strike, but right when he dodged, she twisted her hand and swiped, successfully touching a few of his chakra points.

The boy jumped back, but Hinata continued following him. He was back on the defensive as Hinata applied more pressure on him. Jomori was now getting the hang of avoiding Hinata's strikes.

"Your Gentle Fist is starting to get predictable, Hyuuga heiress," Jomori stated as he spun out of the way of a finger strike and punched Hinata's cheek, making her stumble away. The bluenette whipped her head at Jomori and grit her teeth. She then dashed forward but right when she was about to strike him, she got on her hands and began spinning around, trying to kick Jomori. One kick successfully landed on his chest and he was taken aback by the move. Hinata got back on her feet and ran towards Jomori. Once she was close, she slid to his side and threw up a kick he blocked with his arm. Hinata did a low sweep with her free leg and tripped Jomori while landing on her hands. She pushed off of them into the air and was about to slam her palm on Jomori's exposed back, but he rolled under her. Hinata landed on her hands, then pushed forward towards Kenhatsu. Jomori looked at where she was running to and he slightly furrowed his brow.

'She was distracting me to get to Kenhatsu. You're smart, Hyuuga, but not smart enough.' Jomori made the Tiger hand seal, and was about to use a technique, hadn't it been for Kiba's interference.

"Fang Passing Fang!" The Inuzuka shouted as he spun his way towards Jomori with Akamaru. The black haired boy rolled out of the way of the passing duo and got on his feet, but not before having to dodge a kick from Shino. He was going to punch Shino, but got hit in the back by something, making him fly forward. Shino punched his gut, but also got some bugs on him before having to jump away from a punch.

Jomori covered his stomach as he looked at Shino and two Kibas. He looked at Hinata and saw Kenhatsu getting up. The blonde looked at Jomori and they both nodded.

'Looks like we found him, good,' Jomori thought as he took a deep breath and looked at the two boys and ninken. He quickly made the Bird → Hare → Dragon hand seals.

'Dark Release: Despair Bonds!' He flicked his wrists towards Shino, Kiba, and Akamaru and three black threads shot out and towards his opponents. The three couldn't move in time and got wrapped up by the threads.

"Shit!" Kiba cursed as he struggled against them. Shino tried getting a bug to walk along the thread, but as soon as it touched it, it died.

'Well that's–argh!' Shino felt his chakra being absorbed, and so did Kiba and Akamaru. 'How is he taking our chakra like that?!'

'That's better,' Jomori thought as he retracted his threads, letting the three drop to the floor. "You guys aren't that bad, well, since I'm holding back that is." Shino and the two Kibas got up.

'He was holding back?!' Kiba thought with gritted teeth.

'This is troublesome. He has a technique that can drain our chakra at long distances… how can we get close to him?' Shino asked himself. He looked at Kiba and Akamaru and got an idea.

"Kiba, get over here," Shino said. Kiba and Akamaru tried getting over to Shino, but Jomori interfered. The boy appeared behind the two Kibas and was going to grab them, but Shino quickly made the Boar → Monkey → Dragon → Ram → Dog hand seals.

"Insect Jar Technique!" He shouted and a bunch of insects came flying in from all directions. Jomori stopped his advance and jumped back as the insects surrounded the three, creating a dome of buzzing bugs.

The black haired boy furrowed his brow at the technique. He was about to make hand seals, but two giant drills flew out of the dome of insects and were barreling towards him.

Jomori instead made the Boar → Dog → Monkey → Horse hand seals. "Dark Release: Divide!" The black-haired boy split in half and moved away from the drills. He came back together as the two Kibas stopped spinning and landed on the trunk of a tree. They both crouched before shooting off of the tree and at Jomori's back. Meanwhile, Shino rushed out of the dome with insects all over his arm.

Jomori looked at the three boys rushing him from his front and back. Right when he was about to get hit, he used his Divide technique again and narrowly avoided the attacks. He reattached himself and spun around, but was surprised. Shino grabbed one of the Kibas hands and the two Inuzukas grinned.

"Fang Devil Tornado!" One of them shouted and they started spinning fast with Shino being held close by Kiba. The two miniature spinning tops quickly rushed Jomori and since he was caught off guard, he was too late to dodge, only minimizing the damage by leaning back, but unfortunately, he was struck by the two tops. He held back his scream of pain as the two grinded against his chest, shredding a piece of his hoodie and leaving deep scratches, as well as insects, on his bare chest.

The three of them spun one more time before they all threw a punch at his face. He flew back and rolled across the ground before hitting a tree.

'... Shit…' Jomori cursed as he tried getting up. He looked towards Kenhatsu and breathed a silent sigh of relief. Him and the Hyuuga's fight just started.

Hinata rushed towards Kenhatsu and threw her left palm out as soon as she got close to him. The blonde sidestepped to his right and grabbed her arm before spinning around and throwing her towards the ground. Hinata quickly put her free hand on the ground and pushed off, doing a barrel roll while pulling Kenhatsu with her before throwing him towards the ground. Kenhatsu's foot touched the ground and he quickly let go of Hinata as he jumped back. He grit his teeth as he stared at the Hyuuga, then scowled once he realized the position he was in.

'Shit! She got me away from Koshi… hopefully that girl wakes up soon. We need to move,' Kenhatsu thought before making the Dog → Hare → Boar hand seals. "Storm Release: Flowing Lines!"

He crossed his arms and pointed his palms to the side. A bright halo appeared over his wrists, then a beam shot out both of his palms. Hinata glared at Kenhatsu as she watched the beams quickly move out of her Byakugan's range. She furrowed her brow and dashed forward as she put her palm back.

"Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm!" She shouted as she shoved her palm forward. Kenhatsu smirked as two beams came into her view and almost touched before redirecting and shooting towards her. Her eyes widened slightly as she quickly ducked, but her shoulders got touched by the beams. Hinata grit her teeth as she felt the not-so-good electric sensation in her shoulders, but trudged through it and got up.

Kenhatsu cancelled his technique and ran up to Hinata. He quickly got out a kunai and was about to slice her, but she got her own kunai out and blocked the slash. She grit her teeth as her and Kenhatsu were in a stalemate, but the blonde was grinning. Hinata saw as he grabbed her free hand and made the Snake hand seal with her.

"Lightning Flow!" He shouted as electricity coursed his body. Hinata tried pulling back, and once she did, she got slashed across her chest and also got electrocuted. She bit back her pain and stumbled backwards. The technique must've not been powerful to begin with, or he was holding back, but she didn't complain.

The bluenette tried to control her breathing as she held an arm over the slash that exposed her mesh shirt underneath her jacket. Kenhatsu smirked and chuckled.

"Come on, Hyuuga, what else you got? That's not all, is it?" Kenhatsu taunted as he relaxed his posture. Hinata grit her teeth and scowled at him. The littlest of things were making her angry like Kiba and this random team of Konoha genin. She just wanted to beat the shit out of someone and find Naruto to help relieve her stress or do so herself.

Hinata shook off the remaining electric feeling and took one step forward before turning around, but it was too late. Koshi appeared in front of the Hyuuga and slammed a staff swarming with lava on her chest. Hinata shrieked as she felt her mesh shirt burning away and soon her exposed skin. Koshi kept the staff against her chest until Hinata fell to the ground. The noirette glared at her, tempted to drop the staff on Hinata's chest and let her suffer more, but that's not what she was here for.

"About time you woke up," Kenhatsu said with a scoff. Now Koshi directed her glare at Kenhatsu and felt like throwing her staff at him.

"Hinata!" Both Kiba and Shino yelled as they heard their teammate shriek. This brief distraction allowed Jomori to make the Dragon → Monkey → Ram → Tiger → Bird hand seals.

'Dark Release: Desolate Hands!' Jomori's hands were quickly covered in a black substance and he dashed forward towards the distracted trio. Once he got close, he kicked Akamaru away and the pup slammed into a tree head first, knocked out. This grabbed the attention of Kiba and Shino, but it was too late. Jomori grabbed their faces and lifted them up. The two struggled against his hands, but they couldn't escape his grasp.

Jomori drained them of most of their chakra, but enough to keep them alive, and dropped them. He looked towards his other two teammates.

"I see you're awake, Koshi. Are you feeling okay?" Jomori asked the girl. She nodded and he nodded back. "Alright, let's go, you know where he is, right Kenhatsu?"

"Yeah. Him and his team aren't going that fast, they're walking instead," Kenhatsu responded, earning him a nod from Jomori. "Hey, Jomori, you gonna be alright?"

"I'll be fine. Something a little rest won't be able to fix," he answered as the darkness around his hands traveled over his entire body, killing off any remaining bugs on him, before disappearing. "Now, let's go."

The three of them jumped away, leaving a defeated Team 8 on the ground.

---

Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke were strolling through the Forest of Death rather casually, which pissed off Sasuke. Naruto would've loved to blast through this forest, but then Sakura might not be able to catch up. She did say she was nervous.

Sasuke scowled at Naruto's back. "Why are we just walking, Naruto? We should be running! We need to get a scroll as fast as possible before it's too late!"

Naruto sighed at Sasuke's question. He's been asking the same questions since the test started and it was slowly driving Naruto mad.

'I'm going to bash his skull in, I'm going to bash his skull in, I'm going to bash his skull in, I'm going to-" "Because Sasuke, we should take this slowly and observe our surroundings in case any enemy ninja try and catch us off guard. I'd love to blast through this forest, but that'd be reckless."

"Tch, or maybe you're just scared some genin might hurt you, then you'd have to be saved by me," Sasuke doubted with a smirk. Naruto's eye twitched and Sakura looked at him concerned. The whiskered blonde managed to get a bright smile on his face and he closed his eyes.

"Sasuke~!" Naruto said as he turned around and clasped his hands together. This act caught Sasuke and Sakura off guard.

"W-What? What is it, dobe?"

"I have a perfect plan since you seem to be so restless!" Naruto responded as he opened his eyes halfway. Sasuke shivered as Naruto's eyes were red. The slits never went away and only intensified this scary feeling in Sasuke. He didn't like what Naruto had in mind.

---

"You fucking bastard! I'm going to kill you for this!" Sasuke shouted in anger. He was tied up against a tree trunk and squirmed, trying to get out of it. Naruto had the idea of using Sasuke as bait, since he knew the Uchiha was going to complain and shout. He even tied his hands up in case he were to try and do any techniques.

Sakura looked at Naruto with the same concern on her face. "You okay, Naruto?"

Naruto just watched Sasuke for a few seconds before responding. "Mhm. Don't worry about me, I'm fine, just Sasuke is all." Sakura hummed in understanding and watched Sasuke as he struggled against the wire around his body.

The two watched an aggravated Sasuke for about ten minutes until they heard voices.

"Hey look! Isn't that Sasuke Uchiha?!" A female voice questioned. To Sakura, it sounded familiar.

"Yeah, it is! Who tied him up like this?!" Another female voice wondered. Sakura started frowning as she began remembering exactly who those voices belonged to.

"Probably Naruto. You saw how he was back in the Academy with Sasuke," another female voice answered, and that sealed the deal with Sakura. The three girls landed in front of Sasuke and looked at the angry Uchiha.

"Who did this to you, Sasuke?" A girl with orange hair asked as she brought a kunai out.

"My teammates," the raven haired boy replied as he grit his teeth.

"They're awful! How could they-"

"Well, well, we'll, if it isn't Ami and the other two bitches," a voice interrupted. The three girls turned around and instantly scowled once they figured out who that voice belonged to.

"If it ain't Forehead! I'm surprised you made it this far! Thought you would've dropped in the first part of the exams!" A girl with purple hair with the left side framing her face and stopping at her shoulder. She was wearing an open, grey jacket with mesh armor under it, black pants that stopped at the middle of her shins, black sandals, and black fingerless gloves. She had her hitai-ate around her neck. The girl with spiky, red hair had on a grey scarf around her neck and was wearing a yellow hoodie with black pants and black sandals. She had her hitai-ate around her waist. The girl with orange hair had her hitai-ate on her head, pushing her hair back. She was wearing a pink long sleeve shirt with her midriff exposed, revealing a mesh shirt. She was also wearing black pants and black sandals.

"I'm shocked you're even a genin. How did you even make it this far anyway? You didn't do so well back in kunoichi training, and I wonder why," Sakura wondered as she crossed her arms. Ami and the girls behind her scowled.

"You didn't notice me before we started the written part? Wow, that hurts. I was gonna introduce myself, but then decided against it. Would've been better to surprise you. And it doesn't matter how I did, Forehead, what matters is that I'm here now. Also why'd you tie up Sasuke anyway?! Aren't you his biggest fan?!" Ami questioned.

"Tch, if you're talking about the old me, yeah. But I don't like Sasuke like that anymore," Sakura told with a smile. "And I'm glad. It's not good for you when you're obsessed with a guy, ya know."

"But tying him up like this? You tryin' to get him killed?!" Ami grilled as she took a step forward.

"That would be my idea," a new voice answered, causing the three girls to look above the branch Sakura was standing under. They saw Naruto hanging upside down. His eyes were closed, but he smiled and waved. The three girls scowled at him.

"Oh great, Naruto's here too," Ami said as she crossed her arms and scoffed, looking away.

"What right do you have tying up Sasuke?!" Fuki questioned, glaring at Naruto hard.

"He was being an idiot and wouldn't shut up. So I tied him up and used him for bait, knowing he'd make a commotion."

"Why?! You jerk! You could've gotten him killed!" Katsumi shouted.

"Hm…" Naruto put a hand to his chin, then pointed his head at Sakura and nodded. "Let's say… if Sakura was on your team during these exams, would you tie her up and use her as bait?" Sakura flinched at the question, but didn't respond and continued glaring at the girls.

"Yeah."

"Without a doubt."

Ami didn't respond, but continued glaring at Sakura.

"And that's exactly what we did," Naruto said.

"Well, we can do that to Sakura since she's useless anyway," Fuki stated. "You can't do that to Sasuke!"

"But Sasuke's useless."

"He isn't useless! At least he's cool and hot! You and Sakura are just ugly!" Katsumi insulted.

"Wow. Ouch. That hurts," Naruto responded sarcastically. "Yeah, insult my looks and not my skills, yup…"

"It's the most obvious thing about you, why wouldn't we insult you for that?!" Fuki asked with a cocked eyebrow.

"The fuck does it matter when you die?" Naruto asked, causing the two to flinch. "Looks don't matter once you're dead, ya know."

Katsumi and Fuki were about to respond, but Ami beat them to it.

"Guess you know from personal experience, huh?" Ami fired, smirking as she looked at the upside down teen. "I can see why you'd say that. A lot of people must've thought you were ugly, since you were always alone and looked at weirdly."

"Oh yeah… and when you did get a friend, it was Hinata Hyuuga! Hah! I wonder how that happened," Fuki added as she snickered.

"He either forced her or she's dumb enough to talk to Naruto of all people!" Katsumi guessed as she joined Fuki's snickering. Ami's smirk grew wider and Sasuke smirked as well.

Sakura was about to shout at them, but when their faces suddenly dropped, she looked up at Naruto and saw he opened his eyes into a narrowed look. They were still red.

"Say something bad about Hinata again and I'm going to show you what being alone is like. In hell," Naruto threatened. The four of them didn't respond, but Naruto kept his stare.

That's when Sakura got an idea. "Hey, idiots, what scroll do you have?"

"E-Earth scroll…" Fuki revealed, then her eyes widened at what she just told. Sakura looked up at Naruto with a smirk and he looked down at her with a grin.

"Shall I take these three on?" Naruto asked, cocking his head to the side.

"Please, allow me to. I've been waiting to do this," Sakura said as she took a few steps forward. "Come on, assholes. Let's fight!"

The pinkette made the first move. "Water Release: Mouth Shot!" She spat out a senbon-shaped water droplet at Ami. The purplette didn't see the attack coming and yelped in pain when she was hit by the water droplet in the forehead. She stumbled back, but then got punched in the gut by Sakura. She coughed up saliva as she fell to the ground while Fuki and Katsumi looked shocked.

Sakura quickly lifted her foot up and slammed Ami's back with it, slamming her against the ground. The pinkette looked between Fuki and Katsumi before going after Katsumi. Fuki shook out of her shocked state and quickly took out three shuriken and threw them as hard and straightforward as she could. Sakura did a frontflip while making the Dragon → Tiger → Hare hand seals.

'Water Release: Wild Water Wave!' Sakura looked at Fuki in the middle of her flip and spewed out water from her mouth. The water quickly washed away the shuriken and blew Fuki back once it hit her. Sakura stopped her technique and completed her flip but landed on her hands. Using the momentum, the pinkette brought her legs as back as she could before bringing her legs in and kicking them out, striking Katsumi's face. The orange-haired girl was sent flying back and rolled across the ground while Sakura stood back up. She looked at the downed genin team and scoffed.

"Honestly, I expected at least a little more from you guys," Sakura told as she put her hands on her hip. "But it does feel nice to beat up my bullies."

Ami looked at Sakura and grit her teeth. She couldn't let some weakling embarrass her like this! No, she had to put that pink bitch in her place. The purplette got up and made the Snake → Ram → Monkey → Boar → Horse → Tiger hand seals.

'I shouldn't be using this much chakra… I don't have that much to begin with, but screw that! You're goin' down with me, Forehead!' Ami determinedly thought. "Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!" The purplette blew in as much air as she could before blowing out a large fireball directed at Sakura. The pinkette watched as the fireball was barreling towards her. She looked at it with a curious gaze and would've stopped it with another water technique, but her blonde teammate didn't wait for her to do so.

"Coral Cast Net!" Said blonde shouted as he appeared in front of Sakura. He slammed his hand down on the ground and it rumbled before coral quickly shot up from the ground, forming a large net that the fireball technique collided with, but did nothing to the coral.

Ami looked in defeat as she fell to the ground again. "W-What…" The coral broke and Naruto and Sakura walked up to her. Sakura crouched down and smiled at Ami.

"I assume you have the scroll?" Sakura guessed as she tilted her head. Ami didn't respond, but instead gritted her teeth and would've spat at Sakura, but she was too tired. "I'll take the silence as a yes."

Sakura began searching Ami's body, though the girl protested and shouted at Sakura, who ignored the insults. She soon found the scroll and stood up, presenting it to Naruto. The boy took it and sealed it inside a seal on his chest area.

Naruto walked over to Sasuke, and was about to release the Uchiha, but then Fuki came out of nowhere and held a kunai aimed for his neck. She swiped, but Naruto ducked under it and an orange tail shot out of his back, grabbing Fuki, then threw the redhead at Sakura. The pinkette saw this and cocked her arm back and threw it forward.

"CHA!" She shouted as her fist connected with Fuki's face. Sakura threw her fist downward and Fuki unfortunately followed, getting slammed into the ground. After that, Sakura backed up and looked at the genin team again, savoring the sight. Naruto got Sasuke freed and the Uchiha spat curses at the Uzumaki.

On the ground, Ami just looked at the pinkette and the blonde in disbelief.

"Ami," Sakura spoke, grabbing the girl's attention. She looked up, but Sakura wasn't looking at her.

"What, Forehead? You wanna embarrass me more? Go ahead then," Ami responded as she looked at the ground.

"Nah, I'm not gonna do that. Answer me this: why'd you wanna be a ninja?" Sakura asked the purplette, finally looking at her. Ami was taken aback by the question. She stared at Sakura for a moment before sighing.

"Cause I want to. I just wanna be strong. Strong enough to protect my mom…"

"Why's that?"

"Cause Dad's an asshole. Been that way since I was three. I just wanna be stronger than him so I can kick his ass and get him outta our fucking house. Kami, he's so insufferable!" Ami replied, glaring at the ground.

"Why not tell someone?" Sakura wondered.

"You kidding me? He'd just beat my ass harder than he has to Mom. I can't let that happen!" Ami stated. "He could kill us if he wanted to! He's a chuunin and my mom's a civilian! I can't do much cause I'm a genin… that's why I'm taking these exams, so once I'm a chuunin… maybe I can fight back…"

Sakura looked at Ami's face. The purplette wasn't looking at her and instead at the ground. Sakura pitied her. Maybe that was why Ami bullied her back in kunoichi class… Sakura looked at Katsumi and Fuki.

"What about those two?" Sakura asked as she gestured to Ami's teammates.

"Them? They wanna help me get stronger while getting stronger themselves," Ami responded.

"I see…" the pinkette said as she stared at Katsumi and Fuki for a moment before looking back at Ami. "I can't say that I know what you're going through, cause I can't, but if you need help… I can lend a hand."

"Eh? Why would you? I bullied you for Kami's sake," Ami pointed out with a confused look.

"Yeah, but, I also bullied Naruto, yet we're friends now. Sometimes, helping out people no matter if they bullied you or not can change a person, especially if in their time of need."

Ami stared at Sakura, then looked at the ground.

"Listen, if you ever decide to fight your Dad, just come and find me and I'll help," Sakura said with a smile.

Ami cocked an eyebrow. "You tryin' to get somethin' out of me? Like a favor?"

"No, if anything, I could ask Naruto for one. He'd do it no problem," Sakura denied the thought and rested her hands on her hips.

"... Alright… fine. I'll tell you when I'm about to do it…" Ami told as she slowly sat up.

"Great!" Sakura responded as she clapped her hands together. "Well, it was nice meeting you again Ami! I definitely wasn't expecting you to be here."

"Tch, me neither." Ami watched as Sakura turned around and took a step forward before stopping.

"Oh, I forgot to say something," Sakura remembered. "Ami, whether you pass or fail the Chuunin Exams, I know you'll be strong."

Ami stared at Sakura again but this time in awe. She then grinned and nodded. "You know it! No matter what, I'll be strong!"

Sakura continued walking up to Naruto and Sasuke. The two were bickering while she was talking to Ami.

"Alright, let's go, you two," Sakura said as she walked past them.

"Alright!"

"Don't tell me what to do!" Sasuke demanded as he crossed his arms, but the pinkette ignored him.

As they walked away, Ami remembered something. "W-Wait!"

Team 7 stopped and turned around.

"A-Aren't you gonna give us back our scroll?! After that talk, shouldn't you, ya know, give us it back out of pity?!" Ami questioned.

"Heh, you kidding me? I'd be a fool to give you back the scroll we need. We don't know how many are remaining or how many people have made it to the tower by now. Sorry, but good luck finding one!" Sakura responded as she waved before her team jumped away from the area.

"Well fuck…" Ami whispered as she sighed and laid down on her back.

---

Team 7 began jumping from tree to tree. Thankfully, Sasuke wasn't complaining, though he was scowling at Naruto. Probably because he used the Uchiha as bait, and wouldn't let it go.

"Do you even know where we're going, Naruto?" Sasuke asked with venom in his voice.

Naruto deadpanned, but didn't turn around. "Possibly. It's kinda hard to tell with how gigantic this forest is. Also, we took some turns here and there."

"Great, so we might be going the wrong direction and we won't know until we see the fence or the tower. Good job, Naruto," Sasuke complimented sarcastically, making the blonde sigh.

"Well Sasuke, why don't you show us where to go, since you seem to be an expert in directions," Naruto offered as he stopped on a branch. Sasuke and Sakura stopped on the same branch with Sasuke glaring at Naruto.

"Your Byakugan is useless, dobe. How do you have that dojutsu yet you can't even find a simple tower?!" Sasuke grilled as he crossed his arms. Naruto's eye twitched.

"Maybe it's because I can't see that far! I can only see up to one hundred meters, and this forest is by far bigger than that!" Naruto replied as he grit his teeth.

"Ugh, you're useless! And you're the one holding both scrolls?! Kami, we're going to fail this exam!" Sasuke shouted in anger.

"You're being over dramatic. We'll be just fine and it's still the first day! We have a lot of time to get to the tower!"

"Not until a team interferes and takes our scrolls or kills one of us!" Sasuke retorted. Naruto was about to reply, but he felt something coming towards them. Sasuke was still ranting, not even bothering wondering why Naruto wasn't replying. Naruto whipped his head around and saw a white beam coming towards his team. He gasped before kicking Sasuke away and pulling Sakura down with the girl yelping in surprise. Naruto watched the beam pass by him and slam into a tree before that part of the tree evaporated. He sat back up and looked to his right to find three girls standing on a branch that was level to him and Sakura. The blonde narrowed his eyes at the new arrival of foes.

"Hm… nice senses," the noirette with purple eyes complimented as she crossed her arms.

The one with golden eyes narrowed hers. "Byakugan… you don't even look like a Hyuuga."

Naruto looked at the golden-eyes noirette. "I may not look like one, but I could be one."

She scoffed as she too crossed her arms. "I guess you have a point, but it's weird to see a blonde Hyuuga."

"The weirdest I've seen was one with green hair, but she still looked normal," Naruto stated as he stood up with Sakura. "You seem to know your stuff about our village. I take it you're the leader of your team?"

"Nice guess. I am, and you're the leader of yours?"

"Sure am."

Kuroka smirked, but inside, she was slightly nervous. 'Damnit… I thought I'd surely be able to hit him with my Heavenly Pillar… but it seems he's sharper than he looks.' Kuroka thought. She then looked at Kiryu from the corner of her eyes. The girl was grinning as she stared at the blonde. She looked back at him.

"Naruto Uzumaki, correct?" Kuroka guessed with a raised eyebrow.

Naruto's eyes slightly widened. He didn't know this girl, so how did she know his name? "How do you know my name?"

"Shisu told us. I'm sure you've met the hyperactive girl before, correct?"

Naruto then recalled when he used killing intent to scare everyone, then the blonde girl rushed up to him and introduced herself. 'Wait a minute…' The whiskered blonde looked at all three opposing girls and found their hitai-ate, which had two curves that looked like hills, the same one that Shisu and her teammates had. 'They're all from the same village.'

"So, you're all from the same village?" Naruto concluded.

Kuroka nodded. "Yes, we are. But, we've spent enough time talking. We'll take your heaven scroll now." 'I hope they have a heaven scroll, I didn't mean to say that…'

Naruto narrowed his eyes. "You can get it from my dead body."

"I'd rather not have it come to that. Shisu would strangle me if that were to happen," Kuroka said as she rolled her eyes and sighed.

Naruto raised an eyebrow, but didn't get to question it as Sasuke jumped on the branch they were on. "You'll be fighting me. The dobe isn't worth your time at all!" Sasuke shouted with a prideful grin.

Kiryu, who basically heard the go-to from Kuroka, got in a crouching position with a wide grin. 'Ah hell yeah! It's about time!'

"Dragon Rush!" Kiryu shouted as she leapt forward in a burst of speed, leaving a trail of fire behind her. Sasuke activated his Sharingan and got out a kunai. He then jumped off the branch and was planning on slicing her, but even with his Sharingan, Kiryu was faster.

"Outta the way!" Kiryu shouted as she threw a downward punch, striking the top of Sasuke's head and sending him flying towards the ground while she continued towards Naruto. When she was close enough, Naruto sidestepped out of the way, almost getting struck by the girl, but he whirled around and grabbed her ankle before throwing her towards the ground.

Two crashes were heard, one being louder than the other. The smoke cleared and Sasuke was lying on the ground in pain, while Kiryu was on her feet.

"Sakura, can you handle them? I'm going to take care of this one," Naruto gestured to Kiryu. The girl nodded and focused her attention to the two remaining noirettes.

Kuroka looked at Aoika, but she was looking at the ground. Kuroka followed her look and smirked.

"You can take care of the Uchiha, I'll take care of pinky over there," Kuroka instructed. Aoika nodded and hopped down, but when Kuroka looked back, she saw two Narutos standing on either side of Sakura.

'Shit… he can make clones as well…? This is going to be troublesome…' Kuroka thought with a sigh.

Naruto landed in front of Kiryu as the girl's grin got wider.

"About time I get to fight you!" The noirette exclaimed as she pumped her fists.

Naruto smirked at her excitement. "Hopefully I don't disappoint."

Kiryu crouched down and lifted her butt in the air while crossing her arms over her. She then blasted forward while creating sparks in her palms by scratching the ground before running forward. Naruto got his tanbo out and rushed forward as well. He threw one up in the air, but Kiryu didn't worry about that. Once she got close, she shot one arm forward and sent out some sparks as well as fire, making a mini explosion. She flew forward past the small amount of smoke, but when she didn't see Naruto anywhere, she got confused. Kiryu then felt something hit her back hard and quickly whipped her head around to see Naruto reel his arm back. He quickly shot it forward as a blue claw of wind came out and was headed towards Kiryu.

Thinking quickly, the girl inhaled. 'Hot Flaming Breath!' She blew out a streak of fire that covered the Beast Tearing Gale Palm and grew bigger in size by sucking up the wind. She continued blowing fire, but then was forced to stop by being hit on her left side. She was sent flying away and hit a tree before bouncing off and landing on her stomach.

'Shit! What did he do?! I feel like my chakra's been depleted a little…' Her eyes widened as she recalled Kuroka's words.

"Byakugan… you don't even look like a Hyuuga." Kiryu remembered as she got up with gritted teeth. 'Am I an idiot?! Why would I try and get close to him if he has the Byakugan?!' The girl reprimanded herself. 'But… I can only do good in close-quarters combat… so we have a big problem.' She saw the blonde twirl his tanbo around before looking at Kiryu with a smile. The girl looked down at her arm which was covered in scales. '... I wonder…'

Naruto dashed forward and was about to strike Kiryu with a tanbo.

"Defensive Dragon!" Kiryu shouted as her whole body was covered in grayish-green scales. Naruto hit her head, but she didn't even flinch. His eyes widened as he jumped back. The girl stood up straight before going into a defensive stance. Naruto ran forward and threw his tanbo in the air while making two Shadow Clones. The Shadow Clones ran beside the original before they both vanished in a yellow light. Kiryu's eyes widened before she looked up in the air and saw the two clones by the tanbo. They both spun around before kicking the rods towards her. She jumped back as the tanbo got stuck in the ground, then the clones appeared by the tanbo and picked the weapons up before dashing towards her.

One of them threw it over her head and quickly teleported behind her while the other one threw it forward. Kiryu blocked the tanbo in front of her, but then got hit in the back making her stumble forward, then she got hit in the chin, which didn't do much. The clones disappeared and the original appeared in front of her. She went for a right hook, but Naruto easily dodged it and struck her chest with his palm, making her slide back. The blonde narrowed his eyes at the girl. The Gentle Fist wasn't affecting her.

'... She said 'Defensive Dragon' and then her whole body got covered in scales… could those scales be acting as another layer of skin, but hardened? If so, that's troublesome… guess I can't use the Gentle Fist,' Naruto thought as he crouched down, staring at Kiryu. 'She's also getting defensive. It must be safe to assume that her defenses are high if my tanbo and attacks didn't faze her at all. Well shit.'

"An easy solution would be to just overwhelm her, to force her to come out of her defensive form," Kurama inputted, making the boy hum and nod.

'You're right.' Naruto dashed forward and quickly opened his hand up. 'Wind Release: Tatsumakigan!' A ball of intense wind formed in Naruto's palm. 'Magnet Release: Human Field.'

Kiryu cringed as she felt her body parts shuffling around. 'What the hell did he do?!' She didn't get to think about that as Naruto threw his ball of wind at Kiryu. The girl took in a deep breath, and was about to blow a stream of fire, but didn't get the chance to.

"Fire Release: Blooming Fox Flower!" She suddenly heard, making her stop. 'Huh?' She then saw a ball of fire with the ball of wind coming at her fast, and since she stopped, she didn't get to breath out fire before getting struck by the two spheres of elements.

An explosion of wind and fire occurred. The fire blazing wildly and the wind supporting it, making it bigger than it should be.

Naruto saw the girl quickly substitute, but she gained some damage in terms of burnt scales. The girl was now on a tree branch, trying to catch her breath.

'Damn, I really let my guard down! But this is exciting nonetheless,' Kiryu thought with a grin. 'He can probably see me, so I gotta think of something fast!'

The whiskered blonde looked in the direction of Kiryu before making two clones. The three Narutos made the Tiger → Ox → Dog → Rabbit → Snake hand seals.

'Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!' They all thought as they took a deep breath and blew out wind. The three winds combined into one greater one. 'Super Breakthrough!'

Kiryu was about to move but then she could feel the wind pick up furiously. When she looked at the three Narutos, her eyes widened. A huge blast of wind was coming at her, but she couldn't move because of the intense winds. She was going to let the wind take her to avoid the attack, but it was too late.

As the giant wind hit Kiryu, the trees were uprooted from the ground and blown away, as well as the air she had in her lungs. The three Narutos watched as some of the large trees were blasted away and a large crash was soon heard, as well as the ground shaking a little.

The Naruto on the left looked at the other two. "You think we used too much force?"

The middle Naruto adopted a thinking face before shaking his head. "Nah."

---

Sasuke jumped back from a punch aimed for his stomach and quickly made the Snake → Ram → Monkey → Boar → Horse → Tiger hand seals. 'Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"

He blew out a fireball that came barreling towards Aoika. The girl smirked, then made the Tiger → Snake → Rat → Snake → Tiger hand seals. 'Water Release: Water Formation Wall.' She spat out water that quickly went around her before a wall of water shot up before her, successfully stopping the Fireball Technique. She made the Hare → Bird → Dog → Monkey → Boar → Snake hand seals then slammed her hand on the water wall. 'Plasma Release: Static Rejuvenation!" Light purple lightning surrounded by a dark purple aura traveled to the water wall before shooting out towards Sasuke. The Uchiha's eyes widened and he jumped back onto the trunk of a tree, narrowly avoiding the lightning.

"Dokessho!" He heard Aoika shout. He looked up only to see a purple orb flying towards him. He instinctively put his arms up and got struck by the purple ball. He let out a pained scream before substituting with a log. He watched as the purple ball shot out some electricity before sizzling away. He quickly looked at the girl as her Water Formation Wall went away. He activated his Sharingan and put his arm down while holding it.

'Chidori!' Lightning gathered to his hand, making a sound like a thousand birds chirping. Before Aoika could locate where the noise was coming from, Sasuke shot off the branch he was on and aimed for the noirette. Once he touched the ground he sprinted over to her, the chirping getting louder. Aoika finally found Sasuke but he was too close for her to do anything.

Sasuke reeled his arm back and was about to launch it forward, but then the ground shook and he lost his balance. He yelped as he fell to the ground, accidentally stabbing it with his Chidori. Aoika lost her balance too, but quickly regained it and ran towards Sasuke. But what both of them didn't expect was for the lightning off of Sasuke's Chidori to still be active. The lightning broke the ground before Sasuke as it traveled towards Aoika in three lines. The girl's eyes widened as she slowed to a stop and jumped away, only for the lightning to jump as well and strike her at the same time, causing the girl to shriek. She fell to the ground and twitched while Sasuke stared in shock. He looked at his hand as his Chidori faded away. He flexed it, then grinned.

'Chidori Tracer,' Sasuke thought with pride. While he was transfixed by his hand, Aoika gripped the ground hard with a grin.

'I didn't think I'd get shocked so badly….' She thought as she struggled to sit up. Once she finally did, she looked at Sasuke and chuckled. Sasuke looked up at her and his eyes narrowed.

"Hey, Konoha genin," Aoika spoke, making Sasuke's eyes narrow more.

"What? You gonna beg now? Beg that I spare you?" Sasuke guessed with a cocky smirk. Aoika stared at him for a moment before laughing.

"Beg? You're out of your mind if you think I'd beg!" She said as she laughed some more. "Ah… no, no. I wanna know if you know something."

Sasuke was now glaring. "And what's that?"

"Do you know anything about nature transformation kekkei genkai?"

Sasuke thought about it for a moment, before he remembered Haku. 'Oh yeah… that ice bitch has a kekkei genkai.' "I do. Ice Release is one."

"Right. Ice Release is water and wind combined. More specifically, it's water being cooled down at a tremendous rate by cold wind before it's used… or at least, that's what my friend does for her ice techniques. And that kinda applies to my Plasma Release."

Sasuke grit his teeth. 'So that's why I felt shocked and burnt at the same time…'

"For my Plasma Release, I heat up my electricity to a point where it can melt things like trees. The same goes for my friend on my team. But… what if I did the opposite? What if I charged my fire with electricity, or made my fire act like electricity?" Aoika theorized as she looked at her right hand. "Oh, the possibilities."

"... Why are you telling me this?" Sasuke asked, growing cautious as to why this girl was rambling to him.

Aoika looked up at him with a smile. "To buy time." She then made the Tiger hand seal with one hand. 'Plasma Release: Crackling Flames!' She slammed the ground with her left hand and fire quickly spread across the ground towards Sasuke in a frenzy of lines. The Uchiha's eyes widened and he tried to jump to the side, but he was too late. The fire caught up to him and first shocked him before it traveled up his body like electricity and lit him on fire. He screamed in pain before the fire wisped away a second later. Aoika quickly shot up and dashed towards the stunned Konoha genin. She made a Dokessho in her palm as she ran towards Sasuke. Once she was close, Aoika shoved the ball of light purple plasma into Sasuke's chest. The Uchiha could only render the pain of the electric and burning ball, before he flew back and hit a tree. He bounced off of it, then hit the ground and started twitching.

Aoika fell down and breathed a sigh of relief. "Damn that lightning hurt…"

---

Sakura jumped off the tree with the Naruto clones following after her. The two clones did the Snake → Ram → Boar → Horse → Bird hand seals then clapped their hands together.

'Wind Release: Gale Palm!' They both put one hand on Sakura's back before releasing the wind into a powerful Gale, making the pinkette fly forward. Kuroka's eyes widened as she didn't expect them to do that. She crossed her arms in an x shape to block Sakura's punch. The girl put some chakra in her fist to enhance it and it seemed to be efficient. Kuroka's arm felt like it was going to shatter, so she stopped resisting and let Sakura throw her back. Sakura was grabbed by a blue claw and looked back to see one of the Narutos had grabbed her and was pulling her back.

Kuroka quickly repositioned herself and landed on a tree trunk. She looked at Sakura getting pulled back and quickly made the Tiger → Snake → Tiger hand seals.

'Plasma Release: Heavenly Pillar!' She slammed her hands on the tree trunk and a large beam of white plasma surrounded by a blue aura shot out of the trunk and was coming towards the trio.

The Naruto holding Sakura saw this and quickly threw her in the air. He jumped off the branch he was on and the second clone followed suit. They both put their feet together before pushing off, avoiding the beam while being sent to different directions.

One Naruto clone landed on the ground and instantly dashed towards Kuroka. The other one was in the air and had caught up to Sakura while making hand seals. Once he was behind Sakura, he put both hands on her back and launched her towards Kuroka.

The Naruto on the ground had just made it to Kuroka's tree and instantly ran up it. He threw a punch that she deflected and the two engaged in close quarters combat. Kuroka kept deflecting Naruto's punches, but then the blonde did a back handspring and made the Tiger hand seal with one hand. He vanished in a yellow flash, catching Kuroka off guard.

'What?!' She quickly whipped around but was hit in the chest with a palm strike. She felt some of her chakra suddenly disappear as she stumbled back. Unfortunately, the lost chakra was also what kept her planted on the trunk, so she lost her grip and fell, but Naruto grabbed her arm and threw her higher. Kuroka was confused by this maneuver, but Sakura came in and punched the same spot Naruto struck, knocking the wind out of her lungs. She was sent flying towards the ground and crashed into it before bouncing off and skidding across it, soon coming to a halt.

Kuroka coughed up blood as she tried standing up. 'Fucking hell… that girl is ruthless with her punches…' The noirette thought as she made it to her feet, but stumbled a little. She finally found her footing and felt the spot Naruto and Sakura hit. 'She might have cracked a rib or two…'

In front of her, the trio appeared. She silently cursed, hoping she'd get a little more time to be prepared. She quickly got in a fighting stance while Sakura charged forward. The pinkette raised her fist and quickly threw it at Kuroka, but she sidestepped out of the way. She smirked as she threw her own punch, but the pinkette rolled forward and got to her feet. Sakura turned around and tried punching Kuroka, but she kept dodging her attacks. Sakura even went for a spin kick, but Kuroka spun and ducked under the kick.

The noirette dashed forward. She was about to punch Sakura, but the pinkette shot senbon-shaped water droplets in her face, forcing her to back up while rubbing her eyes.

"CHA!" Sakura shouted as she landed a chakra-infused punch at Kuroka's cheek, making her fly away in a spiral. She hit the ground and rolled before stopping. The Naruto clones appeared next to her and one of them made the Rat hand seal.

"Barrier: Confinement!" One of them shouted. A blue barrier quickly formed around them. "Shrink!"

As the barrier was shrinking, Kuroka smirked. She made the hand seals needed and placed her hands on the ground. 'Lightning Release: Spider Web…' She released a surge of electricity around herself and effectively shocked the two clones. She continued the surge until they disappeared, along with the barrier.

Kuroka's smirk turned into a grin as she forced herself to get up. 'That last attack used up a lot of chakra just because those clones wouldn't disappear quick enough…' She finally got up but stumbled around. 'I don't even have enough to perform any regular techniques… nor can I even stand properly… fuck.'

Sakura looked at Kuroka in surprise. She was amazed the girl was still standing after having some of her chakra points attacked and struck thrice by chakra-infused punches.

'But she's weakened considerably now. I could end it with one punch,' Sakura thought confidently.

'Screw it… I'll use as much remaining chakra as I can for this last technique…' Kuroka thought as she weakly made the Dog → Dragon → Hare → Horse → Rat → Bird → Tiger → Snake hand seals. Sakura realized she was trying to do another technique and dashed forward, but the distance between the two girls allowed Kuroka to complete the hand seals.

'Plasma Release: Body Charge!' Kuroka's body started swarming with electricity before she was visibly electrocuted by it. Sakura stopped in her tracks as she stared at the girl that seemingly electrocuted herself.

Kuroka bit back a pained scream as the electricity shocked and burned her at the same time. The electrocution shortly stopped after and smoke rose from the girl. Her pupils were gone and her eyes were white.

Sakura stared at the girl, unable of what to do, but then Kuroka moved. She straightened herself out and closed her eyes before opening them. A blue glow surrounded her fully white eyes, and there was also a flaming white aura around her that crawled with blue electricity. Kuroka grinned as she stared at the now shocked pinkette.

'My body hurts like fucking hell,' Kuroka thought. 'I feel like I'm on fire and constantly being electrocuted…' She then crouched down and took off in an unexpected burst of speed. Sakura was even more shocked, but leaned back, barely avoiding a punch from Kuroka. Sakura jumped back, but she got shocked while jumping back and messed up her landing.

'What the hell?! I didn't even get touched!' Sakura thought as she quickly got up, but instantly got punched in the gut. She coughed up saliva as Kuroka tossed her in the air. The noirette then punched Sakura's face and made her fly back. Sakura hit a tree and bounced off of it as blood flew out of her mouth. Before she could land, Kuroka appeared next to her with Sakura's face gripped by her palm. Kuroka threw her arm down and slammed Sakura into the ground. Kuroka then produced electricity in her arm and forced it to travel onto Sakura.

The pinkette below her got electrocuted and she let out a pained scream. Kuroka would've continued going, but the girl substituted with a log.

'She was able to substitute?!' Kuroka asked herself as she pulled her hand away, then saw the explosive tag on the log. 'Shit.'

It instantly exploded and sent Kuroka flying back. She quickly fixed herself in the air but was slammed in the back by a water technique.

"ACK!" She fell to the ground, and was instantly covered by something. Her legs, arms, and midsection were encased. She moved her head to the side and saw Sakura limping towards her. 'Damnit… I can't use any techniques in this state, or I'll kill myself. I'm also in so much pain. The adrenaline is wearing off… fuck, I lost.' Kuroka stopped glowing and her electricity plus aura went away. She coughed up more blood before relaxing her body. She used up too much chakra and was exhausted to no end. She saw Sakura plop down in front of her, but couldn't ask questions since she succumbed to exhaustion.

Sakura stared at Kuroka while trying to catch her breath. 'This girl… is strong… if Naruto's clones weren't here, I'd have lost for sure…' She stared at Kuroka for a few more moments before sighing and closing her eyes. 'I need to get stronger, so that I can catch up to Naruto, or at least, stand behind him. I'm still very far from where I want to be…' She laid on her back and let out a sigh of relief as she smiled. 'But I'll take this victory as mine.'

---

Kiryu was flying past the trees, and sometimes used them to propel her forward. She was trying to get to her previous spot after being blown away far from it. Her scales were now a greenish color and her slits were narrower. She had wings and a tail made from scales she produced with her body.

'I did NOT expect him to do that! I wonder what else he can do!' Kiryu excitingly thought. She made it to where she had originally started fighting Naruto and looked around frantically. She took a step forward and instantly froze. 'Huh?'

Below her, a dark blue circle with seals appeared.

Kiryu tried to move, but she was frozen. 'When did these seals appear…?'

"Wind Release Tatsumakigan: Hurricane Rampage!" She couldn't even look around to find out who said that, but the next thing she knew, multiple balls hit her everywhere and blew up in a cluster of sharp, intense winds. Kiryu bit back her scream as the blades of wind sliced her less sturdy scales. The winds briefly stopped before she felt a palm jab her stomach.

Naruto appeared before her and he jabbed her, but he furrowed his brow once he realized he didn't touch her main chakra point. 'Damn. Her scales are getting in the way,' Naruto thought as he jumped back. 'I need to get her out of that form… but how do I do that…?' He then got an idea. 'Kirai! I need to ask something!'

Some of Naruto's clones jumped out from their hiding spots and ran towards Kiryu. They each took a turn striking a random spot of her body before jumping back. Two Naruto clones ran out from a hiding spot and rushed Kiryu. One leaped onto the other's shoulders before jumping high in the air. He made the Ox → Dragon → Bird hand seals.

"Tornado Release: Fuujin – North Wind!" The Naruto in the air clapped his hands together and pointed them straight at Kiryu. Wind circled around the Naruto's arms and traveled downwards towards his hands, getting fiercer and more intense. Once they reached his hands, the wind shot off and grew in size, forming a drilling tornado. Kiryu gawked as she saw the wind coming straight at her, but once it hit, strong, intense winds were released and was blowing everything back, even uprooting some trees.

The clone that formed the technique had popped right after it and the clones were trying to hold their ground. The wind blocked the clones' sight from Kiryu, but their Byakugan was able to see through it. They saw the girl unable to move against the winds.

Another few seconds of violent gusts passed before the tornado exploded where Kiryu stood, breaking the ground beneath her and sending her flying back.

She was about to hit a tree, but a blue claw made of wind caught her. She looked forward and saw that Naruto was the one who did it. Kiryu grit her teeth and was about to blow fire at him, but then a clone jumped up in the air behind him and made the Snake → Dragon → Tiger hand seals.

"Fire Release: Naiteki Kitsunebi!" An orange circle of fire formed in front of his chest and fire shot out of it. The fire joined with the Beast Tearing Gale Palm and was flowing down the length of the claw arm. Suddenly, it started swirling and grew exponentially in size, forming a fox head and body made from fire. Kiryu's eyes widened as the orange fire fox opened its jaw and was about to clamp down on her.

'... Oh fuck…' The fox chomped down on her horizontally, effectively cutting off the tree that was behind her, before exploding in a giant blaze. Kiryu was sent flying high in the air this time with burn marks all over her scales, some of her clothing being burnt as well.

'Kami damnit… if they keep this up, my scales will break and expose my skin… just like my burnt clothes…' She used her wings to reorient herself and stared down at the Naruto clones she could see. She spread her arms out and they lit on fire.

'Let's see you survive this!' "Dragon Hell Blazing!" Kiryu swung her arms down and the fire on her arms started spraying large flames of fire down at the ground. The clones' eyes widened and they quickly scrambled out of the way to avoid being caught by the flames.

The original Naruto watched with a thinking face. Kurama was sitting beside him in a smaller Kyuubi form that was the same height as him.

"Why not try shooting her out of the air?" Kurama suggested as he watched Kiryu's flames burn the area.

"Her scales are resistant to ninjutsu and the Gentle Fist," Naruto replied.

"But these scales look different than before… could it be her kekkei genkai?" Kurama theorized as he tilted his head. Kirai appeared next to Naruto and she stared at the fire-spewing Sanya girl with her Byakugan.

"Yup, that's her kekkei genkai," Kirai spoke, making the two look at her.

"How do you know?" Naruto wondered with a raised eyebrow.

"Cause I can see her chakra network."

"That still doesn't answer the question, ya know," Naruto pointed out.

"My Byakugan is better than yours, that's why. I got the purest Byakugan alive, so I can extensively see people's chakra points. Something yours can't do yet… or maybe at all."

"Okay… so what do you see?" Kurama asked.

"That girl has another layer of chakra over her chakra network."

"What? How?" Naruto asked.

"Well, it's right underneath her skin. Either that's from her kekkei genkai or somethin' she was born with and her kekkei genkai," Kirai responded. "Huh, that's pretty interesting."

"Okay, so how do I beat her scales?"

"Either keep attacking her till her chakra underneath her skin is depleted, or stab her."

"W-What?! I'm not stabbing her! Also, her scales are hard as hell."

"Well, they're scales. Scales aren't connected, ya know. They have spots in between them that are soft," Kirai informed as she looked at Naruto and Kurama. "If you are gonna stab her, well, figure it out on your own."

"... Thanks for the advice," Naruto thanked sarcastically as he scooted off the branch while making more clones. Kurama looked at the smiling Kirai confusingly before shaking his head and disappearing.

Kiryu floated in the air as she searched the scorched area for Naruto. 'Damn… I dunno where he is at all…'

She took a deep breath in, but then noticed what looked to be two fireballs coming towards her. She easily avoided them, but when she looked back, she noticed the clouds were turning grey and it started raining. She raised an eyebrow and turned back around at the ground. 'Why is it raining suddenly?'

The two fireballs that she avoided were Fuma Shuriken disguised by two Naruto clones. A puff of smoke appeared and the two clones were now behind Kiryu.

They both quickly made a bunch of hand seals that rivaled the Water Dragon Bullet Technique and raised a hand in the air.

'Thank Kami she didn't notice us,' one of the clones thought. "Water Release Creation: First Shark!" Some of the rain spiraled above the clones hand and started forming a large orb of water.

"Water Release Creation: Second Orca!" The other clone shouted as the same thing started happening.

Kiryu turned around and saw the two clones and their giant orbs of water above them. Her eyes widened as she fully turned around and made the Tiger hand seal. "Fire Release: Great-" Kiryu didn't get to finish as the water orbs popped and revealed a giant shark and a giant orca above the two clones.

'Fuck! This is too straining!' The clone below the shark thought as he grit his teeth. "First Shark: Apex Water Tornado!"

"Second Orca: Demolishing Wave Crasher!"

The shark and orca both looked up in the sky before quickly shooting their heads back down and firing off two large torrents of water. The shark fired off a large tornado of water while the orca fired off a large surge of it.

The two torrents of water soon combined and grew bigger in size while Kiryu stood there dumbfounded.

"What the fu-" the water hit her hard and shot her into the ground before slamming into her again. The water then exploded and started flooding the forest floor, dispelling both clones.

Sakura heard the explosion and looked where it came from. Her eyes widened and mouth was agape as a large wave of water was coming her way.

"Holy shit!" She yelled as she stood up despite being exhausted and picked up Kuroka before jumping out of the way. She set Kuroka down and watched as water began moving across the ground. "... What the hell is Naruto doing…? The trees flying in the air weren't as bad as this…"

Aoika finally got up before hearing an explosion and looked towards where it was coming from before her eyes widened. She quickly grabbed Sasuke and threw him towards a high point near a tree. She threw a kunai at him while jumping on a branch high in the air. The kunai she threw went through Sasuke's collar and pinned him to the tree.

She watched as the water flowed throughout the forest in shock. 'Who the fuck… Oh Kiryu, who the hell are you fighting…?'

---

Anko was sitting atop the booth the genin got their scrolls, eating a stick of dango while looking at the sky. She then drank her soup and smiled in content, before noticing the sky was turning grey and it started raining.

'Huh? It's raining? That's surprising…' She thought, but continued eating her dango. 'Guess I'll greet those kids at the tower after I'm done eating.' She then ate her final dango and threw it at a tree. The tree had many sticks in it already, and the one Anko threw completed Konoha's symbol. 'Perfect Konoha symbol, nice!' She stared at it for a second before unconsciously rubbing the spot where her Curse Seal used to be.

'What did that blonde brat do to me? I haven't felt that much different since then… but something left my body…' While Anko was in her thoughts, a sentinel appeared before her, bringing her out of them.

"Pardon ma'am, there's a problem," the sentinel told the purple haired woman.

"Hm? What sort of problem?" Anko wondered as she swung her legs.

"There's three corpses ma'am."

"Really? Can't you just dispose of them?" Anko asked, feeling lazy.

"You'd want to see these for yourself, there's something strange about them."

The woman put a finger to her chin and narrowed her eyes. "Besides being dead?"

Anko and the sentinel made it to where he said the bodies were.

"I went through their belongings and found their identification. They're from Kusagakure. All three of them were registered for the Chuunin Exams. They weren't just killed," Kotetsu reported as he crossed his arms.

Anko grit her teeth as she realized something. "Their faces… they're gone…"

"Yeah… there's nothing where their faces used to be like they melted or something," Kotetsu agreed with a saddened look.

Anko felt her Cursed Seal and bared her teeth. 'No doubt about it. This is his technique!' The proctor realized. 'Why's he here… and what's he doing at the Chuunin Exams?!' She then looked at the sentinel that alerted her of this. "I need photos of what these genin used to look like, where are their IDs?"

"Right here, ma'am!" He pulled out three IDs and gave them to her.

'So this is the face he's stolen? When the hell did he do this?! It had to have been before we started the second part of the exams… was it right when the first part ended?!' Anko barraged herself with questions before turning to the three Chuunin behind her. "We've got big trouble! Okay, get moving and tell Lord Hokage exactly what's happened here! While you're at it, tell Anbu Black Ops they better get a couple of convoys to the Forest of Death! Meanwhile, I'm heading in and getting this bastard! Now go!"

"Right!" They all responded before flickering away.

'I gotta get a move on! Orochimaru's here for some fucking reason and I need to catch that bastard!' Anko thought with gritted teeth. What she didn't know was that her eyes changed to a reddish color and she now had a brown slit for an iris.

---

Jomori, Kenhatsu, and Koshi were traveling high above the ground through the trees.

"Where is he now, Kenhatsu?" Jomori asked as he took a quick glance back at his blonde teammate.

"He's just a little ways ahead… wait, there's multiple of him…?" Kenhatsu responded with a confused look on his face.

"How many?"

"Uh… around ten… wait, no, thirteen, wait, it's back to eleven… I'm confused…"

"It's the Shadow Clone technique," Jomori quickly deduced. "He must be-"

He didn't get to finish that thought as a large explosion was heard and water began rushing throughout the forest beneath the group. Koshi's eyes slightly widened as she looked at the water crashing against the trees.

"I guess we're close…" Jomori said as he looked ahead.

"Sheesh… who the hell has this much power to do this…?" Kenhatsu asked. The group then continued forward and stopped once they made it to their destination. They saw water going in all directions and soon saw a girl with black hair and greenish scales emerge from the middle of it. She didn't get a chance to breath as she was dragged in a random direction.

Jomori looked around and saw his target, or rather, targets sitting on a branch and watching the girl struggle.

"Found him," Jomori spoke, grabbing his two teammates' attention. They both looked where Jomori was looking and Kenhatsu smirked.

"Sweet. Should we go now?" He asked as he looked at Jomori.

"Not yet. We need to see more first."

---

Naruto watched as Kiryu struggled against the aggressive wave of water he caused.

'... I need a stronger form of Water Release to use that technique… at least for me, my clones can't handle that and that might be the same for me,' Naruto thought as Kiryu dug her claws into a tree and climbed up the trunk of it before resting on a branch. 'Her scales are really resilient to ninjutsu… just how strong are they?'

'Holy fuck! What the hell was that?!' Kiryu asked herself as she tried catching her breath. She looked around and saw Naruto with two clones next to him.

"Yo! Your scales are really tough!" Naruto shouted at her.

"You almost drowned me!" Kiryu shouted back.

"Well… if you died… that's not my fault, right?"

"I-..." Kiryu lowly growled. He was right. "Still! You almost drowned me! And what the hell was that technique?! That fucking stung!"

"A Water Release technique that even I could barely control. But, we're still fighting, ya know!" Naruto stated as he made the Ram hand seal. "Earth Release: Antlion Technique!"

The ground beneath Kiryu's tree began sucking into itself at a rapid pace, scaring the girl and making her jump away from her tree. Naruto pushed off the branch of the tree and landed on the ground while making the Ram → Dog → Snake hand seals.

"Earth Release: Great Mole Trap Technique!" He slammed his hands on the ground and the earth below Kiryu caved in, forming a large hole. Kiryu looked below herself and noticed the hole. She was going to fly away, but one of Naruto's clones jumped high in the air.

"Earth Release: Rock Shuriken!" Kiryu looked at the clone and saw four huge pieces of rock rotating above his palm. He then threw it towards her and the rocks slammed into her stomach, making her crash into the giant hole.

The original Naruto stood above it and looked down. He quickly made the Hare → Snake → Monkey hand seals. "Earth Release: Stone Monkey!" When Kiryu stood up, her feet began getting covered in stone.

"Huh?! What the hell's going on?!" She asked herself as she tried moving her legs, but they were getting covered in stone as well. She looked up at Naruto with gritted teeth while he smiled at her. She then smirked back as she let the stone encase her. 'Well played.'

"Now, let's move on to the next technique," Naruto said as he began thinking of a technique to do a lot of damage.

Sakura came to the clearing carrying Kuroka while Aoika came from another direction carrying Sasuke over her shoulder. The two girls looked at each other, then at their teammates, then sighed. They then looked at Naruto and saw him thinking.

"Well, Pinky, can't believe you took down my leader," Aoika spoke with a smirk.

"I can believe you took down my teammate," Sakura replied with a deadpan stare.

"Well, he did do some damage. Too bad he wasn't fast enough," Aoika said with a shrug.

"Well, I had some help defeating your teammate. I would've lost hadn't it been for Naruto," the pinkette pointed out as she looked at the blonde.

"So I assume you came here for the same reason?" Aoika guessed as she too looked at the thinking Naruto.

"Yup. I wanna know what all that water was about."

Naruto then snapped his fingers. "Alright! Let's do this!" Three clones got into position around the crater, and they were about to start, but then a great gust of wind blasted through and blew Naruto away while dispelling his clones.

"Shit!" Aoika shouted as she got slammed into a tree with Sasuke pushing against her.

Sakura yelped as she too slammed into a tree, but kept Kuroka close. After the gust of wind settled down, the two girls opened their eyes and saw a woman walking into the clearing. The woman had a straw hat on with a tan tunic, black sleeves, a purple rope tied around her waist, grey pants with bandages wrapped around her ankles, and black sandals.

"Who the hell are you?" Aoika asked as she narrowed her eyes. The stone around Kuroka retreated back into the ground, allowing her to see the new arrival. She instantly narrowed her eyes at the woman. She was the one responsible for blowing her opponent away.

The woman then smirked and a snake-like tongue protruded from her mouth, licking her lips. "I'm going to need you to wake up that boy you have with you."

"You mean this one?" Aoika asked as she shoved Sasuke off of her.

"Yes… I need to test something with him," the girl replied.

"I dunno what you wanna test with him, but your whole vibe is bad news. Sorry ma'am, but I'm not granting that request," Aoika said as she moved in front of Sasuke.

"You also blew away my opponent! Couldn't you have waited till after our fight to do that?!" Kiryu grilled as she hopped out of the hole.

The woman turned towards Kiryu. "Hm… you have an interesting kekkei genkai. I wonder how it works…" She said, ignoring Kiryu's question.

This surprised the two noirettes. "How the hell you know it's a kekkei genkai?"

"Because people don't just have scales all over their body… unless they were surgically implemented, but that's not the case with you. You even have a tail and wings," the strange woman pointed out. Kiryu flinched at the realization. "Well, since you don't want to wake up Sasuke, I guess I'll have to do it myself."

The three girls got ready to fight, but then she released killing intent. The three girls froze over and fell to their knees with their eyes widened. Many scenes of their own deaths played out in their minds.

'W-What the hell is this…?' Sakura asked as she stared at the woman in fear.

''This is… way worse than when Naruto did it…' Kiryu thought.

'This… this woman… she's death…'

"I guess I'll play around with you three. It would be a bit boring if I killed you straight away," the woman decided as she smirked.

---

Naruto flew far away and got slammed into a tree. He fell down and hit the ground.

"Fuck…" he whispered as he struggled to get up. "What the hell was that…? And why was it so powerful…?"

"Someone used Great Breakthrough on you… but that was way stronger than what you could do. It was stronger than your Super Breakthrough," Kurama responded. Naruto finally got up and rested against the tree.

"Damn… someone that strong used a basic technique on me and made me fly all the way out here…" Naruto sighed before his eyes widened. "Wait a minute! Sakura and Sasuke! Shit, I need to find them right away!" Naruto instantly got up despite the pain still lingering, and was about to move, but he then heard someone shriek. He turned his head in the general direction and reactivated his Byakugan. He saw a girl against a tree and a giant snake creeping towards her. He then looked back in the direction he came from before making a clone. The clone dashed towards the girl while he ran back to where he was fighting Kiryu.

The clone that ran towards the girl hopped onto some branches before leaping into the air. He saw the snake and took a deep breath.

'I hope this works,' he thought as he closed his eyes. Blue tanuki ears formed on his head as a sandy-brown tail covered in blue cursed seals popped out from his back. Seals then covered his body and he had two blue zig zags on his cheeks with two dots on his forehead. He opened his eyes and his sclera were black with yellow irides and a black four-pointed star with four black dots around it.

The newly transformed clone looked at the giant snake before slamming his stomach with his arm. His cheeks puffed out and he spat out a giant ball of air like a cannonball, launching him back a bit. The ball of wind shot through the air and slammed into the snake's body before exploding, sending it off course and crashed into a couple of trees.

The girl, a redhead with spiky hair on one side with red eyes and glasses, was surprised to see the snake get blown away so easily. She then saw a blonde boy with blue animal ears, markings, and tail appear in front of her. He was focused on the snake and probably didn't notice her.

"Sand Pyramid Sealing!" He called out as he slammed his hands into the ground. The girl looked at the snake and saw the ground beneath it shuffle and turn into sand before shooting up and forming a pyramid with seals on it. The sand completely captured the snake, making the girl sigh in relief. "Bury."

She continued watching as the sand pyramid flattened into the ground, no trace of the snake ever present.

The blonde's weird appearances went away and he looked normal, besides the whiskered marks on his cheeks. He fell back and breathed out a sigh of relief.

"Damn, that took a lot outta me," he muttered to himself before turning and looking at the girl. "You okay?"

The girl flinched, noticing that he was talking to her. "Y-Yes… thank you…"

The boy smiled. "No worries. Say, what's your name? And are you from Kusagakure?"

"Um… m-my name is Karin… and yes, I'm from Kusagakure…" Karin shyly responded.

"Thought so! Kusagakure must be nice, I've never been there before, but I'd like to visit!" The clone stated with a grin.

"Tch… it's not as nice as you think it is…" Karin muttered as she looked away with a glare, but Naruto heard that.

"Hm? Why isn't it nice?" The blonde wondered, tilting his head curiously.

"Because… for people like me, it's fucking hell."

Naruto fully turned towards her and crossed his legs. "Tell me about it."

Karin looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "You really have the time for that? What about your teammates?"

"And what about yours?" Naruto asked back.

"I lost them… but you still haven't answered my question," Karin pointed out.

"I'll get to your question once you tell me why Kusagakure isn't as nice as I make it seem," Naruto told.

Karin looked at him for a moment before sighing. "Fine… but it's only cause you saved me from being swallowed." Naruto grinned at that, making Karin feel a little warm inside. "I have a special ability that can heal someone if they bite me."

"Oh wow! That's pretty cool!" Naruto complimented.

"Heh, it is… but it's horrible how my village used it," Karin said. Naruto's brow furrowed as he didn't like the implication her words gave off. "My mother had the same ability as me… but she was used as a healing source in exchange for us taking refuge in Kusagakure. One day, there was a surprise attack on our village that left many people wounded, and my mom had to work overtime to heal everyone… but she died and the responsibility was immediately thrusted on to me… I hated it so much because people just bit me without me saying it was okay… but I couldn't say anything back or else I'd just get hurt… or worse…"

Naruto glared at the ground after listening to Karin's tale. He then looked back up at Karin. "How long has this been going on for?"

"Ever since I was six…"

"And how old are you now?"

"... Thirteen." Naruto stood up and stretched. "Um… what are you doing?"

"Going back to my team," the blonde responded.

Karin was confused by his actions, but he turned around, getting ready to jump.

"W-Wait! W-What's your name?!" Karin desperately asked.

Naruto turned around and grinned. "Naruto Uzumaki! If you wanna talk later, stay in the village after the exams if you fail! Ask around for a woman named Tsume and tell her Naruto sent you!" Naruto then jumped away, leaving a confused Karin behind.

"... Wait, did he say Uzumaki?"

---

The original Naruto jumped from tree to tree in a yellow zig zag. He saw Sakura and the two other girls from Sanya fight a woman that was dodging all of their attacks.

Sakura made the Ram → Tiger hand seals and spewed some starch syrup at the woman, but thanks to her exhaustion, it was weak and the woman easily moved backwards. Aoika threw her ball of plasma at the woman who easily ducked.

"Oo, a nature transformation kekkei genkai. That is very interesting. And it's one I've never seen before too!" The woman noticed with wide eyes.

"Shut up!" Kiryu shouted behind her. She scratched her scales and threw sparks at her before shooting some fire out of her palms, causing mini explosions.

Smoke arose from the spot the woman was at, and the three girls waited to see if they got her, but instead, Kiryu froze.

'W-What?! I don't see this woman anywhere! And I don't sense killing intent either!' Kiryu thought as she looked around. The smoke was slightly clearing up, but that didn't matter since the woman rose from the ground with a smirk.

She pointed a hand at Kiryu. "Snake Bite." A small, brown snake shot out from underneath her sleeve and bit Kiryu's neck in between her scales. Kiryu let out a shout of pain as she felt her chakra being depleted.

"Shit!" Aoika cursed as she ran through the smoke and her hand crawled with light purple lightning. She tried to grab the woman, but she sidestepped and jumped away before Aoika could land a hit on her. Sakura ran around and jumped in the air. She reeled her fist back and threw it forward. It was about to connect with the woman's back, but she flicked her head at Sakura and grinned. The pinkette's eyes widened as the woman grabbed her arm and twirled around before throwing her towards the ground.

Sakura braced for impact, but someone caught her. She opened her eyes and smiled when she saw it was Naruto who caught her. The blonde jumped away and put Sakura down on a branch.

"Stay here and rest up. I'll handle this," Naruto said before jumping back down. Sakura just watched him. She didn't even get to say thank you.

The woman landed as Naruto got in front of her. "You're fast, boy."

"And you're rude for blowing me away like that, ya know," Naruto replied as he narrowed his eyes.

The woman's grin turned into a smirk. "Apologies, but you were in the way."

"There's other ways to go around someone."

"But why do that? That's just extra work."

"To be polite, but I can't expect much from someone from a different village," Naruto answered with a shrug. The woman's grin returned again before she looked behind Naruto and saw the area was cleared of anyone.

"Where's the Uchiha? And your other brats," the woman asked.

"Away from here. You're fighting me now," Naruto declared.

"Boy, you're no match for me."

Naruto grinned as he closed his eyes and put his hands behind his back. "If you say so."

The woman cocked an eyebrow, but she soon got electrocuted by a bolt of lightning.

'What the hell?! Where did that come from?!' She asked as she looked around, but didn't get an answer as her body was slammed into the ground by wind.

A Naruto clone in the air made the Snake → Ram → Monkey → Boar → Horse → Tiger hand seals. "Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!" He blew out a fireball down at the woman and it exploded once it hit the ground. The smoke and fire quickly cleared up to reveal a clone of mud, but it then reshaped itself back into the woman and she stood up.

'A clone that can reshape itself…?' The original Naruto ducked under a spin kick and did a barrel roll out of the way of an axe kick. 'I see.'

The original turned around to see the woman rush him. The two engaged in close quarters combat with Naruto going on the defensive. He deflected a punch before leaning back from a kick. He continued the motion and did a backhand spring before flickering away in a yellow flash. The woman's eyes widened as she turned around but got jabbed in the stomach. She stumbled back and held the spot where Naruto hit.

'My chakra… it suddenly disappeared…' She looked up at the boy sprinting towards her and smirked. 'So, he has the Byakugan? I don't know how it's possible, but I must find out!' She dashed forward and shot her hand out, multiple snakes coming out and launching at Naruto. The blonde's eyes widened before he made the Boar → Tiger → Rat → Dragon hand seals.

'Fire Release: Scorching Limbs!' He then did a barrel roll and slammed a foot into the ground. 'Fire Release Scorching Limbs: Fear of the Dragon!' The fire on his foot quickly leaped towards the snakes and formed a dragon made out of fire. The dragon consumed the snakes and burnt them to a crisp while making its way towards the woman. She smiled as the dragon bit down on her and exploded, launching her body back while burning her skin and clothes. She hit a tree and bounced off of it, but before she could hit the ground, a tanbo slammed into her body and in a yellow flash, Naruto appeared before her. Her eyes widened as Naruto hit her chest with his palm, blowing her back while also closing many of her chakra points. The woman hit the tree again, but Naruto ran up to her and quickly struck her chakra points in different places like her arms and legs before kicking her chin, making her fly in the air. A Naruto clone was above her and made the Rat → Ox → Dog → Horse → Monkey → Boar → Tiger hand seals.

"Fire Release: Great Fire Destruction!" He blew out a massive stream of intense flames at the woman while the original Naruto on the ground had nine orange tails sprouted from his back. He pulled them down before throwing them up.

"Great Sickle Weasel Technique!" Many currents of wind collided with each other as they made their way towards the woman. Once they got to her, they began slicing her up, then the Great Fire Destruction consumed her and the wind in a sea of flames. After the clone in the air finished his technique, he fell to the ground and landed next to the original. The woman's body fell to the ground with severe burn marks all over her body and smoke rising up from it. The two Narutos took a step forward, but then something came out of the woman's mouth. Both Narutos watched in disgust as the same woman… came out of her mouth covered in slime.

"What the fuck…" the clone whispered as he took a step back. "That's gross!"

The original narrowed his eyes as he realized the new woman didn't have any injuries on her. "Wow, I didn't expect for you to be that strong. You could've killed me… if I was any other shinobi, that is."

"I was planning to," Naruto stated.

"Fufufu~ what a way you have with words. Now that you're done, it's my turn, correct?" The woman assumed with a sickly smile.

"I wasn't planning on letting you go at all."

"Too bad," as she said that, her skin started peeling off, showing a yellow eye with a black slit and a purple marking over the eyelid as well as white skin.

The clone furrowed his brow as he watched the woman basically shed her skin. "Oh, it seems like that body was at its limits."

As all the skin shed and gave way to white, the clones gasped. The man shook his head, and his long black hair shook with it.

Jomori and his teammates watched as their eyes widened. "Orochimaru? What is he doing here?" The black-haired boy asked.

"Wait a damn minute…" Naruto said as he fully looked at the man, then scowled. "You're Orochimaru!"

The man's eyes widened as he smiled. "Oh? And how do you know of me?"

"Sandaime told me. You were his student, and a teammate of Jiraiya and Tsunade," Naruto responded as he grit his teeth. Before Naruto and Hiruzen finished talking about Kirai, Naruto brought up Jiraiya again and Hiruzen told him about his other students and what had happened to them. When Naruto learned of Orochimaru's awful deeds, he grew pissed. But seeing the very same man now, made him angry and his eyes red with black slits, and also his clone that was with Karin popped, transferring the clone's anger to him.

"Kurama Clone!" He shouted as he made the reverse hand seal. His clone was swapped with Kurama in his clone (or human) form but he had orange ears on his head now and a sharp tooth protruding from his upper lip. His hands were also orange claws and were crossed over his chest as he glared at Orochimaru.

Orochimaru's smile turned into a grin. "Oh my… you keep on surprising me boy. From being able to blindside me to having a Bijuu as a clone! Keep this up, boy, cause we've only just begun! Formation of Ten Thousand Snakes!" Orochimaru leaned his head down as countless snakes swarmed out of his mouth and quickly slithered towards the duo. The thousands of snakes all surrounded Naruto and Kurama.

"This will be your first time using this… you sure you want to use it?" Kurama asked as he glanced at his Jinchuuriki.

"Yeah. I'm gonna kill Orochimaru, believe it," Naruto responded with a nod. "This man doesn't deserve to live after what he's done."

"Agreed."

The snakes jumped towards Naruto and Kurama, baring their fangs and swords protruding from their mouths. Kurama and Naruto bumped fists, and right before the snakes could stab them, red, wispy chakra surrounded them. They both roared and the snakes were sent flying back. Orochimaru covered his face with an arm and stood his ground against the powerful shockwave.

'He can even control his Bijuu at such a young age! This is marvelous!' Orochimaru thought as the shockwave died down.

Kurama and Naruto both crouched with their hands on the ground as they glared at Orochimaru.

"Fox Siege Blitz!" They both shouted before taking off. The man's eyes widened as they vanished from his sight, but he then got punched in the face and flew back. An orange blur passed by Naruto and jumped in the air. Kurama let out a battle roar as he rammed his fist into Orochimau's chest, slamming him into the ground and causing a small crater. Two of Kurama's tails shot down and dug into the ground before yanking him down. The Bijuu slammed his feet into Orochimaru's chest and made the crater bigger. He jumped away as Naruto zoomed by him and grabbed Orochimaru before throwing him up in the air. He soon followed and once he was next to Orochimaru, he did a barrel roll and slammed his fist into the pale man's face, making him shoot downwards towards the ground. Right when Orochimaru was about to hit the ground, Kurama appeared under him and punched his back, making Orochimaru gasp as his back broke. Kurama tossed him into the air and moved backwards as Naruto slammed his whole body into the man and used him to break his fall while crashing into the ground.

Naruto hopped off of Orochimaru and stood next to Kurama. The pale man stayed down for a minute before deflating into mud. Both Bijuu and Jinchuuriki turned around and saw Orochimaru behind them, grinning.

'They're perfectly in sync… they might actually give me a good fight,' Orochimaru thought.

Kurama turned over his arm. "Yang Release: White Chakra." In his hand, a white sphere quickly formed.

"Yin Release: Black Chakra." In Naruto's palm, a black sphere formed. The Bijuu and Jinchuuriki put their different colored spheres together and they combined to form a slightly larger, purple sphere surrounded by a white and dark aura.

"Yin-Yang Cooperation Technique: Faux Bijuudama." They both said before cocking their arms back and launching the purple sphere forward. The sphere was flying towards Orochimaru at such a fast pace, that he could only move so that his right side got hit by it. He let out a scream of pain as the sphere drilled into him before exploding, making him fly back and destroying any nearby trees.

"Kit, let's do this again," Kurama spoke as he glanced at Naruto. Naruto nodded and they bumped palms again, but now their aura became denser, and darker in color as it bubbled. Nine tails surrounded in the bubbling aura appeared behind Kurama while only one tail appeared behind Naruto.

"Fox Siege Blitz – Second Step!" Naruto and Kurama disappeared in an orange and yellow flash. They appeared right next to Orochimaru and ran with the man as he was still flying back. Naruto's chakra cloak changed to yellow as he did barrel rolls, forming a drill that continued to spin into Orochimaru. Kurama's cloak turned orange and he did barrel rolls as well.

"Fox Passing Fox!" Naruto and Kurama shouted as they spun around each other. The drill got even bigger as they tore through trees using Orochimaru. The yellow and orange drill soon zipped upwards into the sky and once they were high in the air, they stopped spinning and rose higher than Orochimaru. Kurama raised his nine tails while Naruto raised his one and eight more sprouted behind him.

"Kyuubi Art: Kyuubigan!" In front of Kurama's nine tails, orange spheres with a dark purple middle formed. Each sphere had nine orange wisps of aura around it that resembled tails.

"Tornado Release: Fuujin – East Wind!" In front of Naruto's nine tails, violent and intense spheres of clashing wind were contained in a ball-like shape with nine rings around them to keep it more contained. They both let out a battle cry as they flicked their tails towards the airborne pale man, launching their destructive spheres.

The spheres all crashed into Orochimaru and dragged him downwards before releasing in a large, orange, and intensely windy explosion that practically teleported Orochimaru into the ground creating a large crater followed by a powerful shockwave.

Naruto and Kurama both fell down into a freefall before making the Tiger hand seal and flickering to the ground safely. They watched as the man slowly rose from the ground covered in slime. Naruto grit his teeth while Kurama narrowed his eyes.

'Damnit! I thought Gramps was over exaggerating… but it seems like he really is immortal!' Naruto exclaimed. 'How do you kill a guy that's immortal?!'

"Ah… reforming my body is such a pain…" Orochimaru spoke with a grin. "I want to know what else you'll do, Naruto Uzumaki. So show me, show me what else you can do!"

Naruto clicked his tongue as he glanced at Kurama and the Bijuu glanced back. They both nodded and were about to take off, but then…

"OROCHIMARU!" A woman screamed from nowhere. Both Naruto and Kurama fully stood up as they looked around to find out where that voice came from.

The pale man's eyes widened, but as he turned around, he was forced to look the opposite direction. Naruto and Kurama's eyes also widened as they saw Anko appear in an orange flash and punch Orochimaru in the cheek. The man flew into a tree and got stuck in it. Anko huffed as she tried catching her breath, not even caring about the sudden entrance she made.

The woman had three wide and thick whisker marks on her cheeks, fangs, her hands were orange claws, the visible parts of her legs below her kneecaps were covered in fur, and she had one orange tail behind her.

Naruto and Kurama stared at the woman for a moment before realizing something. 'She's using the Kyuubi Emergency Mode!'

"Anko!" Naruto shouted, making the woman turn her head at him.

"... What?" She asked. Naruto had to refrain from being surprised by her changed eyes.

"Stop using that power! It could kill you!" Naruto told the woman.

"What? How?" Anko wondered as she raised an eyebrow.

Naruto was about to explain, but Kurama stopped him. "We don't have the time to explain to her why."

Naruto flinched as he realized he was right, Orochimaru was still alive probably. "Never mind, How long have you been using that form for?"

"About three minutes. Had to use it to get here faster," Anko replied. "You gonna keep on asking me questions? I have an asshole to deal with and you're wasting my time. Either shut up and help or stay outta the way." Once she turned around to Orochimaru, she saw that mud was in his place. "Kami damnit!"

---

Kuroka woke up and felt pain throughout her whole body. 'Ow, ow… and ow. I don't think I'm ever using that technique ever again…'

She looked to the side and saw the pinkette she battled looking straight ahead on another branch close by. She sat up, but immediately laid back down and grunted in pain. 'Damnit all…'

"Huh? Oh, Kuroka! You're okay!" A voice that sounded like Kiryu noticed. Said girl appeared in her field of vision with a small smile.

"Yeah… and in pain…" Kiryu helped her sit up against the trunk of the tree. Aoika looked at her and waved at her before looking in the same direction as the pinkette. "Wait… where's Naruto?"

"Um… well, a strange woman–or man–appeared and blew him away. We fought him for a bit but he dodged every one of our attacks easily! We then got a hit on him, but he somehow paralyzed me then bit me with a snake and my chakra got depleted. Aoika tried stepping in, but the man avoided her and then Pinky came around from the back, but he dodged her and threw her towards the ground. Luckily, Naruto swooped in and caught her before that happened. I dunno where he moved her, but he reappeared and distracted him while clones got the rest of us to safety. They then fought the man away from the area while the clones dealt with his clone. After a bit of Naruto kicking his ass… he came out of his own mouth without any injuries, then his skin peeled off and it was like looking at a different man. Naruto suddenly grew serious and angry and… they caused a bit of destruction… as you can see…" After Kiryu's recalling of events, she turned around and Kuroka followed her gaze. Her eyes widened at the craters and destroyed trees.

'What the hell…' She then looked at Kiryu's back. 'If he's capable of this… Kiryu was bound to lose…' She then thought of Shisu. 'Oh… oh no…' Her thoughts were cut short once she saw something out of the corner of her eye. She turned to look at the branch Sakura was on and her eyes widened when she saw a man coming out of the tree trunk directly above Sasuke.

"Yo! Pinky! Behind you!" Kuroka shouted, grabbing the attention of everyone around her. Sakura flinched then looked behind her to see Orochimaru standing on the branch. She instantly got up, but was forced on her knees by his killing intent.

"I can't make Sasuke wake up, so I'll just do this and be on my way. I've already had enough fun with the Jinchuuriki," Orochimaru spoke mostly to himself. He quickly crouched down and bit Sasuke's neck before having to retract. Anko appeared before him and almost connected her fist with his face. He grinned, but then Anko's cheeks puffed out. She opened her mouth and Orochimaru's eyes widened.

"... What-" He didn't get to finish as Anko fired off a Tailed Beast Ball as a beam directly in Orochimaru's face. After the beam destroyed some trees in front of her, she stopped and fell back, trying to catch her breath. That attack wasted a lot of her chakra, but the top half of Orochimaru was gone. His bottom half fell off the tree, and Anko watched, but her eyes widened when snakes came out where his body was cut off and connected to his top half that was lying on the ground in pain. When he was fully connected, he stared up at Anko in confusion.

'... How was she able to do that? That wasn't any normal technique… Was that a Tailed Beast Ball?' Orochimaru continued looking at her, then noticed the orange tail lying lazily on the branch. 'Wait… that's one of Kyuubi's tails… how does she have that… but the blonde brat has the Kyuubi in him?' Orochimaru didn't get to think further when Anko pushed off the bottom of the branch and headed straight towards her. He smirked as he made the Ram hand seal, but his eyes widened when nothing happened.

Anko punched his face and sent him into the ground, making a crater with him. She jabbed her one tail into the ground and it came out underneath Orochimaru, wrapping him up and holding him tightly. She opened her mouth and a mass of positive and negative chakra formed into a purple ball in front of her. She jumped in the air and swallowed the ball. Naruto and Kurama jumped out of the trees with puffed out cheeks, but they looked different. Naruto was shrouded by a red chakra cloak, completely obscuring his features. The only thing that was noticeable were his hair, fox-like ears, white eyes, and a white mouth. Kurama was in his original form, but smaller.

Anko puffed her cheeks out too and they all simultaneously shot a large beam at Orochimaru. The large explosion formed a giant crater and blew back all three who shot the beam. Anko landed on her feet, but then tumbled back while Naruto and Kurama landed safely. The Bijuu and Jinchuuriki ran up to the crater and waited till the smoke cleared away. Once it did, they grit their teeth as a pile of dead snakes were left behind.

"Damnit… he substituted again?!" Naruto groaned as he lost his red chakra and gripped his hair. He looked around with Kurama, not seeing the man anywhere.

"I'll be going now!" A voice announced. Everyone looked up to see Orochimaru high above the ground, half of his body protruding from a tree. "It was fun playing with you, Uzumaki! Maybe next time we can play for longer!"

Naruto glared at him as he made the Bird hand seal and shot many bullets of air at the man. Orochimaru saw the bullets coming and easily dodged them.

"Bye now!" He shouted as he sunk into the tree, narrowly avoiding an air bullet. Naruto clicked his tongue, but looked back down at Anko and saw the woman using the tree to support herself. He walked over to her and helped her.

"Thanks… but we need to have a talk about what the hell that was," Anko said as she looked at the boy with a stern gaze.

He sighed. "Understood."

"Great, now let's go, after all this, people are bound to come here to see what happened," Anko pointed out. Naruto nodded and they walked towards the carter. He looked up at the tree branches.

"Oi! Sakura, Kiryu, Kuroka, Aoika! Follow me and let's get a move on! We have to go!" Naruto called out to the girls up top. They all leaned over the branch and looked down at him before nodding.

"Okay!"

Naruto grabbed the back of Anko's legs before shifting her into a bridal carry.

"Woah! That was unexpected," Anko said as she wrapped her arms around Naruto's neck.

"It's the only way to carry you comfortably… unless you want a piggyback ride?"

"That would be fun, but I feel like being a princess right now," Anko responded as she looked at Naruto with a smug smirk. "My prince."

Naruto looked down at Anko and without missing a beat, said, "I must be really lucky to have such a cute woman as my princess then."

Anko paused as she looked at Naruto with a slight blush and wide eyes. 'Huh? Cute?' She didn't get to ask as Naruto leapt up the trees and jumped away, followed by the girls. Sakura carrying Sasuke and Aoika carrying Kuroka.

Jomori, Kenhatsu, and Koshi all watched the events unfold.

"That was… crazy…" Kenhatsu spoke as he scratched his head with Koshi nodding in agreement.

"So it seems the Kyuubi's Jinchuuriki is powerful. Powerful enough to keep Orochimaru at bay, even if the snake was messing around," Jomori processed with a hand holding his chin.

"So uh… should we continue following or…?"

"No, let's report back. We have enough information."

"Right," Kenhatsu said as he nodded with Koshi. They all made the Ram hand seal. "Thankfully we don't have to run back, that would be a pain."

Jomori nodded as the three flickered away.

---

Okay wow… uh… yeah, like i said before: long chapter… I just wrote and wrote and there didn't feel like a good place to stop until after Orochimaru made his appearance and fought Naruto. Anyways, hopefully you enjoyed this long chapter. See you in the next one.