Yo! This is chapter 14. Flo463, you're onto something, but it won't be soon.

Btw, in case you're wondering why Hikari hasn't blown up at the Hokage, it's because she hasn't had a chance to meet him directly, and she already blown off quite some steam previously. So she's giving him the 'silent treatment'... so to speak. But she will confront him soon.

XXX

Everyone quickly took their seats. The whole crowd was starting to have second thoughts on targetting Asuna, Suguha, Sinon and Hikari due to the aura they emitted as they stared at Kirito. The blacksmith smiled forcefully as he thought, 'I'm so dead...'

Ibiki and the other Chunnin along with most of the male Gennin, except Sasuke, around them just gave the young man a look of sympathy.

Ibiki patted Kirito's shoulder as the blacksmith nodded. Kirito cleared his throat and spoke, "Okay, first of all, do not ask any questions. Ask one and you're disqualified. Now, you'll be given ten questions. 9 of them are on the paper you will be given while the final question will be given by Ibiki-san."

Kirito paused and spoke, "If you get caught cheating five times, you will be disqualified, along with all your team members. You have 45 minutes to work on the test before we give you the final questions. Any questions?"

One random gennin from Hoshigakure raised his arm, "Umm, sir..."

Ibiki and Kirito snickered a bit as the man with the bandana spoke out loud, "Number 55, and his teammates. You're disqualified. Get out."

The Chunnin beside them all snickered as one of them repeated, "Number 55, 56 and 57. Disqualified."

Hikari, Asuna, Suguha and Sinon just gaped at Kirito for how he just disqualified a team. The others wisely shut up as Kirito asked again, smirking, "So, any questions?"

Ibiki chuckled as everyone stayed silent, "Good, you're learning. As he said earlier, you have 45 minutes, if we catch you cheat 5 times, you're out. Good luck. Your time... starts... now."

Immediately, everyone picked up their pencils and started to write. Kirito chuckled as he saw the increasingly pale face of Kiba.

The blacksmith didn't know the details of the questions, but he did know that in order to pass, they had to cheat. There were several Chunnin placed among them that knew the answers and the Gennin were required to cheat by getting answers from them, without getting caught by him, Ibiki and the Chunnin around them.

Kirito sweatdropped as he saw Sakura speeding through the paper. Knowing her, regardless of her idiocy when it came to social interaction, she could do it easily.

The young man also saw a very small dragon, the size of a lizard and almost unnoticeable, crawling around the floor discretely.

Ibiki chuckled and whispered, "Quite an interesting bunch."

Kirito nodded as he spotted Gaara closing his eyes, sand entering the eyes of the Gennin in front of him as an eye formed under the guy.

He also spotted a small bird landing on the window of the room, no doubt Suguha's summon. Kirito looked and blinked. There were several mirrors attached to the sealing with barely noticeable ninja wires attached to them.

The swordsman whispered to the interrogator, "How the hell did they get mirrors up the ceiling?"

Ibiki chuckled, "At least they're creative."

Kirito nodded as he saw Neji and Hinata using their Byakugan, Sasuke using his Sharingan, Kiba working with Akamaru, Shino using his insects and Ino using her clan jutsu.

After a while, one of the Chunnin whipped out a kunai and threw it at one of the Gennin from Kusagakure.

The teen shouted, "Hey! What's the big deal?"

Ibiki chuckled, "Kid, you got caught cheating five times. You, your teammates are out."

The teen protested, "You don't even have proof!"

Kirito sighed, "There are over a dozen Chunnin around you, if they say you're cheating, then you are cheating."

Ibiki stared at the teen, "Now get your teammates and get out of my sight."

The teen grumbled as the guy's teammates all left the room.

Soon after, more and more teams were kicked out as the test went on. Luckily, none of the Konoha teams were disqualified.

After 45 minutes, Ibiki spoke, "Times up! Pencils down!"

Everyone put down their pencils as Ibiki continued, "I will now give you the final question."

The bandana let out a breath, "But before that, you will have a choice to take the question or not."

A random gennin asked, "Why? Of course we're taking it!"

Ibiki smirked darkly, "If you take the question and you fail, you will not be able to advance from a Gennin ever again, this is something the leaders of the villages agreed to."

Kirito wanted to laugh at the faces of the Gennin as they all shouted, "WHAT?!"

Another Gennin yelled, "But there were others who took the exams before!"

Ibiki grinned, "Well, they didn't have me as an examiner then. So choose, to take the risks, either pass or never be Chunnin, or save yourselves and leave now."

Asuna, Hikari, Sinon and Suguha all looked at Kirito who just stared neutrally at them. Their eyes widened when they saw him smile slightly as he turned to look at the other Gennin.

Soon, over half the Gennin teams were out. Sakura thought as she looked at Sasuke, 'If we fail, Sasuke-kun won't advance, hell, Hikari won't be Hokage. Maybe we shouldn't take the question.'

The pinkette started to raise her hand and Hikari cursed. The blonde quickly raised her arm as Ibiki looked at her, "So, you wanna lea-"

He was cut off by the girl slamming her hands on the table as she stood up. Hikari glared at the two men, sending shivers up their spine as Ibiki suddenly saw Kushina behind her while Kirito just sweated.

The blonde spoke, "I don't care what you say. We are going to take the last question and pass. If we don't do it now, when are we going to? I can't protect my family if I keep backing down."

Her little speech seemed to stop people from leaving as Sakura put her hands down. Sasuke smirked, impressed by her show and just sat there.

After while 5 minutes, Ibiki asked again, "Does anyone want to leave again?"

No one answered as he sighed. Kirito chuckled, "Well, your mind trick failed."

Ibiki sighed, "Yeah, let's get on with it then. Okay, time for the 10th question!"

Everyone leaned forward as the man cleared his throat. Kirito however, was trying his best not to laugh, along with the other Chunnin.

Ibiki spoke, "I will only say this once... you all... pass."

Kirito and the Chunnin all thought, 'Three, two... one... boom'

The whole class erupted, "WHAT?!!!"

Ibiki laughed whole-heartedly, "Yeah, you all pass."

Temari spoke up, "So there isn't a tenth question?"

Kirito grinned, "Not really, you can say the 'Take it or leave it' question was the 10th question, but it all came down to whether you had the guts to take it."

Ibiki nodded, "Yeah, a Chunnin needs to be able to make decisions. If you make the wrong one, you fail, and in real life, in real missions, you die. This test was to test your determination to see if you can be a Chunnin."

Sakura asked, "So the first 9 questions were all for nothing?"

Ibiki chuckled, "Nah, they were to test your information gathering skills. I'm sure you all noticed, some of them finished the tests really quickly, those were Chunnin who knew the answers and were for you to cheat off."

Three of the examinees waved as everyobe groaned. Ibiki let out a breath, "Well, now that the first part is over, follow Kirito here to the next stage. He'll guide you there. Probably."

Kirito grinned, "Well, I think we should also test your skills in tracking down a target, don't we?"

Everyone groaned as Kirito spoke, "I'll see you at Training Grounds 44."

With that, Kirito activated his Acceleration and vanished. Ibiki laughed at the faces of the examinees, "Well, what you waiting for? You're gonna lose him."

Everyone quickly left the room as they went after the red and black blurr who was actually just walking with his Acceleration activated.

As they chased after the blacksmith, everyone made sure to stay clear of Hikari, Asuna, Suguha and Sinon. All of them having sweet, sickly and dangerous smiles that promised pain for anyone who crossed them.

As Kirito walked backwards, with time around him slowed down, he spotted the girls' smiles and thought, 'Its official. I'm dead.'

Kirito then turned as casually he continued walking towards the gates of the Shi no Mori with the group of Gennin/soon to be Chunnin behind him.

Soon, they arrived at the gates. Waiting for them was Anko. The dango lover frowned, "So many passed? Did you let them or Ibiki did?"

Kirito chuckled, "Ibiki did. Besides, Hikari-chan was there and boosted everyone's confidence."

Anko nodded, "I see."

The examinees all arrived panting and glared at the young man. Kirito grinned, "So, welcome to the second part of the t-"

Anko pushed Kirito away and spoke, "Welcome to the Shi no Mori. This is where death will come and where you will take part in the second part of the exams."

As if on cue, thunder struck inside the forest. The participants just stared at the forest as they heard several roars and creeks. Kirito sighed as he stood up and stood beside Anko.

Anko's grinned widened before she heard Kiba say, "Shi no Mori? I bet its just a name to scare us."

The woman grinned and threw a kunai that grazed the Inuzuka's cheeks as she Shunshin'd to behind him. The woman spoke into his ear, "Are you sure?"

Kiba turned to see the woman smiling scarily at him and jumped away in fear. Anko laughed, "Its guys like you who get killed first, I'll enjoy hearing your screams."

The woman walked back to the front as Kirito sighed, "Anyways, for the second part of the test, you'll be given a scroll per team. There will be two kinds of scrolls, the Ten and the Tsuchi scrolls."

Kirito held up two scrolls, one with the kanji 天, for sky, and another with the kanji 地, for earth. The blacksmith continued, "Your mission will be to find the second scroll. Every team will be given one of these two, so you must take another team's scroll to pass. After that, head for the tower in the center of the forest."

Anko smirked, "Which means you will be cut in half, literally. Now get your asses here to sign this consent form so we won't be responsible for your deaths and get the scrolls."

The gennin all reluctantly moved to get the scrolls and sign the form before they went to their respective gates. As everyone moved around, Hikari, Asuna, Sinon and Suguha approached Kirito.

Sinon spoke, "Kirito-kun, I believe you're going to have to explain several things?"

Asuna, Suguha and Hikari nodded as they stared at him. Kirito chuckled nervously, "Well, I think later?"

Anko grinned and decided to help the teen, "You should get to your gates, get on his ass later in private."

The girls blushed slightly as they begrudgingly nodded and went off to their gates, with Sasuke and Sakura going with Hikari.

Kirito sighed, "Maybe I should have told them..."

Anko laughed slightly, "Eh, secrecy and fairness and all those shit. By the way, I expect 10 plates of dango and a free set of equipment for that."

Kirito sighed, "The dango, fine. But the equipment, we'll see."

The blacksmith then walked to the mike, "All participants, ARE YOU READY?!"

Kirito grinned, "We will open the gates, so get to your gates now. The gates will open in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1! Now!"

The young man slammed his hand on the red button near him and opened the gates as he could hear everyone rush in. He turned to see Anko clapping lightly.

The woman smiled, "Not bad, come on, let's go get that dango, we can come back later."

Kirito sighed, he wanted to just go in and patrol the forest, to check on his girls. However, he knew he couldn't be biased, plus the girls would kill him if he helped them pass. So he just nodded and followed Anko to get her dango.

Meanwhile, with team 7. The three of them had ran quite a distance from the gates. Hikari looked at Sasuke and Sakura, "Okay, we've come far enough. Now we just need to find Asuna-chan and the others."

Sakura asked, "Why must we work with them? I mean, we don't know which scroll they have. They could have the scroll we need."

Sasuke nodded, "True, its better we find one ourselves. They could drag us down."

Hikari smiled dangerously, "Sasuke, Sakura, you do know that working with them lowers the chances of us being targetted, right?"

The two nodded as they suddenly saw a silhouette of her with her hair in the hair waving dangerously like nine tails.

Hikari nodded as her KI vanished, "Come on, let's go find team 11."

The two members of team 7 nodded fearfully as they quickly followed after the blonde girl. Then, as they walked, Hikari spoke, "Stop."

The two stopped as Sakura asked, "What's wrong?"

Sasuke however, knew why, "Sakura, quiet. We have enemies."

Hikari nodded as a dozen Kiri ninja with masks appeared around them. Hikari grinned, "Clones?"

One of the Kiri ninja replied, "Who knows? Clones or not, we have you outnumbered by a large margin, so if you don't want to die, hand over your scrolls."

They blasted team 7 with killing intent. Sakura felt uneasy while Sasuke just felt a bit disturbed. Hikari however was not affected in the slightest.

Hikari grinned, "Clones? Don't think you're the only ones who can use them. Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

In an instant, a few dozen clones appeared, some sitting beside the Kiri ninja's clones smiling. Hikari's grin widened as she snapped her fingers. Then clones sprang into action.

After a small beating, Hikari's clones tied up three Kiri ninja with the same clothing and masks. One of the clones spoke, "Boss, they're real. We got this scroll from them."

The clone gave her a Ten scroll. Hikari sighed, "The same one. Fine, we'll just keep it in case we need a spare."

The clones nodded as they dispelled. Hikari then turned to see a flabbergasted Sasuke and Sakura. Hikari blinked, "What's wrong?"

Sakura said, "You beat them so easily..."

Sasuke nodded. The Uchiha was impressed, it showed she really was strong and worthy to be his wife.

Hikari sighed, "The mission to Wave was much more than this. But then, you two didn't really fight the harder opponents. Well, we still need to find the other scroll, let's go."

The two just nodded as they quickly went after the twin-tailed girl.

Meanwhile, with team 11. Asuna, Sinon and Suguha were moving through the trees before they spotted a team of Suna ninja, not Gaara's team.

Since they were on the trees, Sinon drew her bow and nocked an arrow, packed with sleeping gas, "I feel bad for doing this, but they're just standing out in the open like that."

Asuna and Suguha giggled. The katana user said, "I guess they really are rookies."

Asuna nodded as Sinon released her arrow. The arrow landed in the middle of the team as it released the gas packed in it. The girls jumped down as the team fell asleep.

Asuna searched the pouches and took out a Tsuchi scroll. The girl sighed, "We got the same one."

Suguha nodded, "Just keep it as a spare then. We might need it."

Sinon nodded in agreement. Asuna nodded as she put the scroll into her pouch, "Okay, let's go."

As they leaped through the trees, they spotted Kiba's team and landed on a tree some distance from them. Hinata, who had her Byakugan activated, spoke, "Asuna's team is here."

They all turned to see team 11. Shino nodded to them, "Hello."

The girls nodded in reply as Kiba said, "Hey, what are you girls doing here?"

Suguha shrugged, "We were looking for Hikari-chan. You got any luck with the scrolls?"

Kiba nodded, "Yeah, we just got the one we want."

Shino then asked warily, "You're not thinking of taking ours, right?"

Asuna shook her head, "Nah, it wouldn't be right. We'll see you later in the tower then."

Sinon nodded, "Yeah, we need to find the other scrolls."

Hinata nodded, "Okay, stay safe."

The three girls smiled as they took off again. Shino sighed in relief as the girls left, "If they fought us, we wouldn't last long."

Kiba blinked, "What did you say?"

Shino nodded, "If they fought us, they could easily beat us. They would target you first, then Hinata and me. Their close ranged combat is excellent, Sinon has them covered in long range, and you know you don't stand a chance against them."

Kiba sighed, "True. Let's go."

As they leaped through the trees, Hinata suddenly spoke, "Stop."

Kiba smelled blood while Shino sensed a disturbance in the surrounding chakra. Kiba narrowed his eyes, "Something's wrong here."

Hinata nodded before she looked down, and the sight disgusted her. The Hyuga's eyes widened in fear, "Don't move."

Kiba and Shino looked down and their eyes widened. Below them laid a few corpses, all ripped to pieces with blood splattered on the ground. In the middle was Gaara, his sand floating dangerously as the Jinchurikii of the Icihibi stared at them neutrally, two scrolls in his hands.

Gaara let out a breath and turned, walking away to Kankuro and Temari. Kiba sighed in relief as Shino slumped onto the tree. Hinata just let out a breath as they sat there for a while before heading towards the tower.

Meanwhile, Hikari and her team were leaping through the trees before she spotted three familiar figures.

Hikari smiled, "Asuna-chan, Suguha-chan, Sinon-chan."

The three girls smiled as they greeted the blonde. Sinon asked, "So, how is it going?"

Hikari sighed, "We got two Ten scrolls. We need another."

Asuna blinked, "Two Ten scrolls?"

Hikari nodded and brought out the scrolls. Suguha laughed, "Then it's a coincidence, we need a Ten scroll and we have an extra Tsuchi scroll."

Hikari's eyes widened, "Really?"

Sinon nodded, "Yeah, we found a spare and decided to keep it. Your team can have the spare one."

Hikari nodded as they quickly exchanged scrolls. Sasuke and Sakura meanwhile wisely shut up lest they anger Hikari.

Then, suddenly, Hikari shouted, "Move, now!"

Everyone jumped up just to avoid a huge blast of wind that shredded the place where they were just now to pieces.

They landed to see a long haired figure with a straw hat. The figure chuckled, "Kukuku, not bad, to have avoided my jutsu."

Asuna asked, "Who are you?"

The figure threw the hat away and smiled maniacally, "Who knows? But, I'm here for your lives."

The figure shot forward and punched Suguha in the gut, sending her flying into a tree. The figure then turned and kicked Hikari onto the ground before backhanding Asuna into Sinon, sending both of them onto the ground.

The figure sighed, "Well, I guess I shouldn't have expected too much. Now, Sasuke-kun, lets see how well you do."

The figure ignored Sakura as he moved towards the last Uchiha. In that instant, Sasuke saw his death. He saw himself dying in all kinds of methods, some he didn't even know.

The figure chuckled, "Frozen in fear with just this tiny bit of killing intent, I see why Itachi spared you. You were simply too weak."

Instantly, Sasuke saw red once he heard those words. Hatred boiled in his eyes as he charged, "Don't mention his NAME!"

The figure laughed, "That's more like it!"

Sasuke threw a fist at the figure who caught it easily and kicked Sasuke into a tree. The figure sighed, "Come on, show me more."

Sasuke struggled to stand as he was stuck in the tree. The figure sighed, "It seems I was wrong about you. Whatever."

He flashed through several handseals and spoke, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu."

A huge snake appeared as the figure spoke, "Kill him."

The snake nodded and shot forward. Sakura screamed, "Sasuke-kun!"

The Uchiha closed his eyes, waiting for the impact. But it never came. He slowly opened his eyes to see Hikari standing in front of him, chains coming out of her back into the ground as several chains pulled the snake back.

The blonde spoke, "Run, now."

Sasuke was shocked, "H-hikari?"

The girl yelled, "Run, NOW!"

She turned and Sasuke was shocked to see her with slitted red eyes that burned with anger. He snapped out of his shock and got up. But he didn't run.

Sasuke spoke, "I can't run, not anymore."

The figure raised an eyebrow, "Oh, so you still can fight. Let's have some fun then, let's see how well you do against my summon."

Hikari glared at the man, "Wrong, let's see how well your summon does against mine."

She flashed through handseals, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

Smoke covered the air as a loud roar rang through the area. The smoke cleared to reveal a light blue dragon. Hikari said, "Tiamat-san."

The dragon nodded at the girl, "Hikari, I see we have a snake to skin."

The blonde nodded, "Can you handle it?"

Tiamat laughed, "Of course I can, but, the question is, can you handle its summoner?"

Before Hikari could answer, Asuna spoke as she walked to them, "Hikari-chan won't be alone."

Suguha nodded as she stood with them, "Yeah, we'll fight by her."

Sinon walked into view as she readied her bow, "If need be, we can summon our summons."

Tiamat nodded as she faced the snake, "Fine. Just don't die."

Hikari nodded as the dragon dragged the snake away. Then, the figure sighed and raised his arm, "I think this is where I stop. Besides, if we fight here, we'd attract too much attention."

The man smiled, "I should just do what I came to do and be off with my owb business."

Suddenly, the man's head extended and shot towards Sasuke, biting him in the neck as Sasuke yelled in pain. The girls reacted quickly as Suguha swung her katana at the man's extended neck, Asuna stabbing her rapier into the flesh, Sinon shooting an arrow at the neck while Hikari slammed a Chidori into the neck.

The girls quickly ran to Sasuke as the body fell limp. They saw a Sharingan-like mark form at the place where Sasuke was bitten. They were about to discuss about it when a voice spoke, "You know, its rude to interrupt someone like that."

The girls turned to see the figure standing there perfectly fine, with the corpse melting into mud. The man grinned, "Tell Sasuke, that if he wants power, I'm more than happy to give it to him. I will be waiting."

With that, the figure dissolved into snakes and slithered away. The girls all slumped to the ground as they sighed in relief.

Then, Tiamat landed on the ground. The dragon spoke triumphantly, "Hmph, the snake was an easy prey. Hikari, where is that man?"

Hikari looked at the dragon, "He left."

Tiamat, "I see. Very well. Do you need anything else?"

Hikari smiled softly, "Its fine, thank you, Tiamat."

The dragon smiled and vanished in a puff of smoke. Sakura then asked, "So, what do we do now?"

Sinon spoke, "We need to find a place to rest. We can't fight like this or get to the tower with Sasuke unconscious."

The other girls nodded as Asuna spoke, "Sakura, you can carry Sasuke, right?"

The pinkette nodded as she pulled Sasuke up and slung one of his arms onto her shoulder. Hikari nodded, "Let's go."

Meanwhile, somewhere else in the forest. Kirito and Anko were leaping through the trees. Well, Anko was... Kirito was flying.

Kirito spoke, "That wasn't natural. How can someone tear their face away?"

Anko shook her head, "No idea. But, I have a pretty good idea who did it."

Kirito blinked, "Who?"

Anko didn't reply as she stopped on one branch. Kirito also stopped as he saw a long haired figure standing there, waiting for them.

The woman glared at the man, "Orochimaru."

Orochimaru grinned, "What? Not sensei anymore? That's a shame."

Anko glared at him harder, "Why are you here?"

The Sannin chuckled, "Why, I'm interested in the 'last Uchiha'. So, who's this?"

Kirito grinned, staring down at the Sannin, "Who knows? But... you seem different from what I expected, Orochimaru."

The Snake Sannin grinned, "Is that so? But, those wings, you must be Kayaba's apprentice then."

Anko growled, "Enough."

She sent several snakes from her sleeves that coiled around the Sannin and pulled, but then Orochimaru turned into a pile of mud.

Orochimaru appeared behind them and spoke, "Still as hot headed as ever, but I'm not here for you."

The snake made a handsign and instantly Anko fell to the ground, clutching her mark in pain. Kirito saw this and charged the man, "Stop it!"

The teen drew his swords and slashed at Orochimaru. The Sannin raised an eyebrow and blocked it with the Kusanagi.

Orochimaru spoke, "Hmm, not bad. But, I heard you fought Zabuza, you must be strong. I wonder, how good are you as a body compared to Sasuke? Or maybe those girls?"

Kirito narrowed his eyes, "Body?"

Orochimaru grinned, "Oops, I said too much. But, no matter."

Kirito glared at the man, aware he was still controlling Anko's seal, "It will matter. Rise, rage, dance, spirits of the storm."

Orochimaru's eyes widened as a magic circle formed in front of him and Kirito roared, "Blow em away, TEMPESTA!"

Instantly, a huge storm shot out of the seal and blew Orochimaru away, shredding him to pieces. Kirito, however, knew it would take more than that to kill him.

The blacksmith turned to block a slash from the Kusanagi. Orochimaru grinned, "Hmph, it seems you're not that stupid, but, not a bad wind jutsu."

Kirito tch'd and swung his swords again, missing Orochimaru as he leaped back. The snake sannin chuckled, "Sorry, but this is where we part ways. If I stay here, the Anbu will come, worse, Sarutobi-sensei might come. I'm not as arrogant to think I can win. Ciao."

The snake melted into mud and Kirito realized he had been talking to a clone. He cursed and quickly went to look at Anko. The woman spoke, "Go, who knows what he'll do to them. I'll be fine on my own."

Kirito nodded as he spread his wings and shot into the air, going to find team 7.

Meanwhile, the girls and Sasuke had managed to find a resting area under a tree. It was shaped like a cave and was suitable to rest.

Sakura laid the unconscious teen on the floor and looked at the other girls, "So, what do we do now?"

Asuna hmm'd, "We should rest here. We already got the scrolls, and we have four days left."

Hikari nodded, "Yeah. We can't carry Sasuke. If an enemy comes for us, we won't be able to defend ourselves. We'll have to camp the night here."

Suguha nodded, "I don't really like it, but fine."

Sakura just nodded as they sat down to rest, unaware of the purple chakra that Sasuke was releasing.

XXX

Done. Review please. So I have exams this week, so sorry if the updates this week will be slower.