Disclaimer:
I do NOT own any of the characters written here. They are own by their respective owners. Nuff' said.
Warning: I could not think of a title for this chapter, so sue me.
This is rated M for a reason (blood, gore, extreme violence, language, and possible adult themes/lemons, etc.) Some of the characters will be a little OC.
Now on with the twenty-fifth chapter.
The Black Leaves
Chapter 25
As Venom continued to leap through the Forest of Death on his search for his host's teammates, he caught the all-too-familiar scent of fear mixed with dog and vanilla. Seeing as his host was not going to wake up any time soon, Venom saw no harm in seeing how team Eight was fairing in the dense forest. So, with a little alteration in his course, Venom followed the scent he had come to recognize as Hinata's own.
After a few minutes of leaping and swinging through the Forest of Death, Venom came upon team Eight and landed onto the trunk of a tree a few feet away. Hinata, Shino, Kiba and Akumaru were all crouched down and hiding behind some bushes and were all shaking in fear and paler then usual. The black symbiote quickly leapt up onto a tree branch high above them to gain a view of the clearing they were looking at.
He saw the blonde Suna girl that spoke up during the written portion of the exam standing near two males. The taller of the two boys was dressed in black full-body outfit that had an odd circle on the front with one side of the circle being red and the other half being yellow. The guy had some purple war paint on his face as well as a bandaged up object strapped to his back.
The boy standing in front of the 'fan'-girl and the black dressed kid was the shortest of the three, had red hair, a red tattoo of the kanji for love on his forehead and a large gourd strapped to his back. Venom felt something coming from the little guy. Something evil. Something twisted and sadistic with only the screams of pain and innocent blood needed to sustain it. Venom felt something...delicious. The black symbiote automatically started to drool as thoughts of devouring the monster that was contained in the redhead. All three of them had a Sunagakure headband tied on their foreheads.
Venom turned his attention to the two other ninja that stood on the other side of the clearing. The look of utter terror was plastered on their young faces and the reek of fear assaulted Venom's olfactory sensors. More drool started to drip from his bottom jaw as every cell in his parasitic form screamed for sustenance. His short confrontation and transformation had left Venom feeling very, very hungry and the fear-filled pair looked about as appetizing as the redhead. The strong scent of freshly spilt blood did not help the non-existent attempt to control his hunger.
Without warning; Venom shot himself directly for one of the two ninja with his two primary arms out stretched, his mouth opened wide and his tongue flailing outside his open jaws. He smashed into one of the ninja and grabbed him the instant contact was made before quickly rolling to his feet. The ninja quickly grabbed Venom's hand in an effort to release himself from the monster's grip.
Several tentacles sprouted out of Venom's gut and wrapped around his prey before the symbiote violently shoved the guy head first into his stomach. He pushed the rest of the screaming male's body inside him before his whole body started to shake lightly as he began to feed off his prey. Venom's massive grin grew larger as the life giving force of energy that allowed all life to exist was drained out of his prey, along with most of his bodily fluids.
The other remaining ninja, sans the red head, were showing signs of either fear or confusion or a combination of the two. Feeling no more energy within his prey; Venom reached into his gut and tossed out the now dry and gray ninja's corpse before turning his attention to his latest meal's remaining teammate.
"We are still hungry!"
He growled while slowly licking his chops. His prey looked up at his demise with complete and total terror. In a desperate attempt at saving his life, the ninja leapt up onto the side of a tree and made to escape. Unfortunately for the poor sap, Venom threw his arm forward and shot a tentacle directly at the ninja's back. The tip of the tentacle burst into countless black tendrils that quickly ensnared his prey and violently threw him to the ground.
Venom smiled wickedly before slowly wagging his finger at his downed prey. "No wall-crawling!" He chuckled darkly before yanking the ninja closer to him and sucking him into his symbiotic gut just like his friend. He absorbed all of the kid's energy before ejecting him from his body and giving a large smile before stretching his body; the claws on his back pair of arm spreading in an impressive fashion.
"Aaaaaaah."
Venom sighed loudly. "Nothing like a good hearty meal to make two feel in tip-top shape, hehe." The familiar sound of shifting sand forced Venom's attention to the Suna group. Several tendrils of sand were coming from halfway across the clearing and were heading directly for Venom. The black symbiote gave an irritated sigh before leaping high into the air and attaching himself to the bottom of a large tree branch just as the sand tentacles smashed into the ground and a pillar of sand launched itself directly up towards the symbiote. Fortunately, Venom was too high and out of reach of the sand being controlled by the red head, who had a partial sphere of sand surrounding his short body.
He looked down at his attacker. The blonde girl had her giant fan drawn and prepared for a fight while the other male had the item that had been on his back placed beside him with a hand on the top. He gave a low chuckle before slowly crawling closer to the children from his upside down position.
"Do you honestly expect to defeat us! We are Lord Venom of the mighty Symbiote Horde!"
He laughed loudly. He looked directly at the red headed Sunagakure kid and grinned mischievously. "And we know that you're not...completely human, we should say." His long red tongue began to drip a steady trickle of putrid smelling drool.
He saw the serious and worried looks the other two Suna ninja gave their teammate before returning their gaze back at the large predator. Venom simply chuckled at the trio down below. "Do not worry young ones. We don't plan on eating any of you. Today. Haha. We would rather feed upon the creature itself then the human that contains it."
And with that, Venom suddenly released his hold on the tree branch and free fell until his back almost touched the sandy ground. A long, thick tentacle that Venom had attached to the branch just before releasing his hold slowed down his descent and made him come to an almost complete halt. The black symbiote suddenly launched his self up and out of the canopy of the massive forest, all the while laughing as loudly as possible.
As he reached the peak of his ascent, Venom performed a little back flip before sticking his arm out and shooting another tentacle into the green mass below. Said tentacle grasped onto a branch and Venom used it to pull himself back into the woods.
A few minutes later...
Naruto stumbled into the clearing Venom had last seen his team. He was wearing a black and white version of his usual outfit, courtesy of Venom since the symbiote had destroyed the original set of clothing in his transformation. Naruto just hoped that his team members would not ask too many questions about his choice of clothing. And the reason he was stumbling about was because of the headache that still remained from when he had been knocked out. Naruto was quick to notice a number of the thick trees were knocked over and splattered with old blood.
Naruto was glad that Venom told him a very useful, if not uncomfortable way to hide his extra set of arms, since Naruto was unable to completely remove the appendages. The joints that connected to the back of his shoulders were connected by a ball-and-socket joint like his normal set of arms; but unlike normal human arms, these were able to move in a complete 180 degree angles and thus could be used to fold up against his body and be hidden underneath his symbiotic outfit.
When he entered the clearing, Naruto instantly noticed a still wrapped up Nightmare sitting on top one of the roots of a massive tree. Between that root and another was a worried Sakura using her limited medical knowledge to an unconscious Sasuke. Naruto made his way over and tripped over the very tip of the root. This caused Nightmare to release an airy giggle. This caught Sakura's attention and caused her to look at the prone Uzumaki.
"Was that really necessary?" Naruto grumbled under his breath as he eyed Nightmare. The crispy girl only giggled more before sending Naruto a not-very-sorry pitiful look. Naruto got to his feet and made his way over to Sakura, who had not left the side of the unconscious Uchiha.
"He is running a high fever and appears to be suffering some minor muscle spasms." Sakura answered Naruto's unasked question. "Basically, he's just got some minor cold symptoms and should recover soon from whatever that snake guy did to him."
Naruto nodded his head in understanding, "Then it is best to let him stay still until the symptoms go away and we can head straight for the tower." Naruto said in a matter-of-fact tone of voice. Sakura nodded her head in agreement as a busty nurse stumbled from around the tree, came up behind Naruto and draped her arms around his shoulders while placing her wrapped up face next to his whiskered face. He ignored her.
After sitting down with his back, and the nurse's back, facing Sakura, Naruto asked Sakura what she meant by 'snake guy' and what had happened to after he had been 'knocked out' by that blast of energy. Sakura explained everything that Venom had told him and continued to say that after he had been bitten, Sasuke had stumbled off the tree limb he had been on and tumbled to the ground. Because Sakura and Nightmare were too busy trying to fight off their own attackers, neither was able to catch Sasuke from hitting the hard Earth and being conked out.
Eventually, Nightmare got a little too pissed and summoned something that Sakura described as a massive blood soaked tree that had a giant human torso with arms that has thick stumps for hands and a faceless head as it's trunk and roots. The giant monstrosity quickly scared off the Oto ninja after it smashed through a couple of the surrounding trees and took a large blast of energy from that spiky headed kid.
Naruto listened to Sakura tell him what had happened as the nurse rubbed circles on his clothed chest with one of her gloved fingers. Half-way through the explanation, the nurse tried to slide her hands up Naruto's symbiotic jacket only to fail when Naruto gently grabbed her wrists and forced her hands away from the bottom of said jacket.
But, the nurse would not be denied what both she and her master wanted. So, she reached into her impressive cleavage and pulled out a bloody scalpel and attempted to cut the material separating her from her goal. The moment that the sharp tool neared the black stuff, though, the material instantly parted and allowed the Otherworld monster access to Naruto's lightly tanned back. He adjusted his extra set of arms so that they still remained unseen by all.
The nurse gave a throaty rumble of joy before tearing her blouse open and pressing her bare breasts against Naruto's back while resting her chin atop the blonde's head. Naruto gave a sigh of defeat and allowed the nurse to rub her bust up against his back, not that he did not enjoy it. Sakura had become so used to the perverted antics of the other female member of her team that she did not pay any attention to the lightly moaning monster.
The pink haired girl was secretly glad for the monster's sudden perverted actions. The humor caused by Naruto's frustration of the nurse brought a smile to Sakura's lips. Seeing how everything was calm enough for perverts to perv gave Sakura some relief from worrying about her down teammate. A more perverted part of her mind also secretly hoped that the nurse would get her attended goal. For medical reasons of course. Sakura simply wanted to get a better 'understanding' of the male anatomy.
Suddenly, Naruto sat straight up with sudden realization and snapped his head so fast at Sakura that the kunoichi was afraid it might fly off. "Where is Baby?" He asked in a near emotionless voice. His eyes, however, expressed every ounce of fear and worry he had for his alien child. To be honest, Sakura was a little intimidated by the look.
Naruto was about to shove the nurse off him and ask his question again, but an all too familiar squeal brought his attention to the in coming Baby. The little creature came to a sudden halt in front of her father and gave a happy squeal. After fighting the giant snake and turning it into an empty and dry husk, Baby had grown into the next stage of her evolutionary path.
She had gone from a large, gray, bulb-like fission metroid into a somewhat sideways teardrop shaped phazon metroid. Her membrane had changed into a light purple and showed what looked to be purple electricity constantly sparking between her membrane and nuclei with the middle nucleus elongating and following the length of the purple flesh. Her membrane was actually halved by a thick purple skin, which is what caused the tear-drop-like tail on the top of the back of her small body. The two pairs off claws on her underside also changed, going from simple curved claws into unique, jointed looking claws that went away from her body only to turn right around and face back inwards. The back, larger set of claws was located on the outside of her middle while the smaller pair was right in front. Finally, a real mouth had formed on her base, allowing her to absorb energy faster and consume organic matter at the same time.
Samus had explained to Naruto that phazon was an incredibly powerful, radioactive mutagen. So powerful in fact that a human without any sort of radiation protection gears would die in just a few seconds upon contact with the stuff. Only creatures that were already tough and durable could survive being exposed to phazon and only then after they have been heavily mutated by it. Samus also explained that Baby's fission phase was a part of her diet way back when she was an actual infant metroid consisting of large amounts of phazon. The large amounts of phazon she had ingested at such a young age had caused her to evolve in a cycle that was not her natural one.
Naruto smiled up at his child, glad to see her safe and healthy. Baby gave another squeal and started gently bumping into her dad.
"What do you want Baby?" He asked as the nurse continued to attempt to get her hand into his pants. Baby twirled around to face a busted log and started to give of a light purple light. With a loud screech, Baby suddenly released a large bolt of pure purple electricity. The log exploded when the bolt of phazon enhanced energy struck it and all that remained were several charred pieces of wood.
"That's soooo cool!" Naruto jumped up and exclaimed after witnessing Baby's new power. "Can you do anything else?" Baby only gave another sharp squeal before her body shimmered and suddenly became translucent. Naruto slowly reached an arm up to touch his child, only for his hand to go right through Baby's little body. The phazon metroid gave another squeal before returning back into her physical body after Naruto retracted his arm.
Naruto smiled before sitting back down and once again trying to prevent the nurse from performing her perverted actions. Finally, after about a half-hour of trying, the nurse finally got her fingers past the waistband of Naruto's pants. The blonde quickly grabbed her arms to stop her, but his attempt was futile for the nurse finally grasped her prize.
Expecting her actions to become further perverted, Naruto sent a harmless glare at Nightmare; who only returned his with a lust filled glare that was twice as powerful as his. Squeezing his member harder, the Otherworld nurse slowly started to rise from her seated position and forced Naruto to do the same. Sakura could not see what the nurse had a grip on and thought nothing of it when it and her teammate both stood up.
Slowly, the nurse led Naruto around the giant tree root that Nightmare was sitting on and showed him that there was a whole group of nurses waiting for him on the other side. Now, Naruto was well aware that he could easily escape, but not without harming any of the 'innocent' Otherworld monsters. Plus, the smallest part of his brain wanted to know what Nightmare had planned for him.
All of the nurses turned their bandaged heads over to Naruto and gave soft, gentle coos. They all slowly removed their blood stained gloves to reveal their untanned and clean hands and forearms. The nurses tossed their bloody rubber gloves aside and started unbuttoning their blouses to reveal their generous busts. Naruto's face turned a brighter shade of red, as he was forcibly lead into the center of the horny monsters.
With the first nurse still keeping a firm hold on his manhood, the rest of them slowly removed Naruto of his symbiotic jacket; which turned into dust just a few seconds after leaving the boy's body. They then started to try and get him out of his pants by having a few of the nurses lift Naruto off the ground so that the rest could get at their prize. Naruto was set back onto the ground after being stripped of his pants, boxers and sandals.
Naruto clinched his eyes shut and prepared himself to be woman-handed harder then a movie star in a room filled with rabid fan-girls. When he did not feel anything, besides the three nurses holding him in place, Naruto slowly cracked an eyelid open to gaze down at the group of monsters. Instead of groping Naruto like crazy, as was to be expected, the nurses were looking at his flaccid member with unusual blushes and curiosity.
One of the nurses slowly stretched her arm out and gave the head of Naruto's penis an experimental poke. She quickly snatched her hand away before slowly reaching for it again after she saw no response from Naruto, beyond an increase in his reddening cheeks. The nurse slowly brought her index finger and thumb up to the head of Naruto's penis and gently grasped it between the two digits. She slowly moved the two digits from the very tip to all the way to the base; forcing Naruto's cock to twitch a little from the feeling.
All the nurses gave a collective sigh when the one nurse ran her fingers up and down Naruto's cock once again. The nurse slowly and hesitantly wrapped all of her gentle digits around Naruto's semi-erect member and slowly increased the pace that she stroked him. Some of the other nurses hesitantly brought there hands to Naruto's groin and started to rub or stroke the boy's member, pubic area, or thighs.
Naruto's face got even brighter and a small groan escaped his slightly trembling lips. Every nurse stopped whatever act she was doing and stared up at Naruto; Nightmare did the same. Slowly, her eye turned upward into a massively perverted glare as she commanded her underlings to lay Naruto onto his back. Naruto did not even bother to resist his arms and legs being pinned down by four nurses pressing their crotches onto each of his appendages and slowly ground into him.
The lead nurse slowly stood up and gripped the zipper on the side of her skirt, winked at Naruto and slowly slid the zipper down the length of her skirt. The nurse swayed her hips back and forth slowly as she slowly pulled down the pink skirt, revealing a very clean pair of lacey pink panties stretched tightly over her shapely hips. The skirt pooled around her feet and she stood there in a very shy pose.
The nurse stepped out of her discarded skirt before sitting on top of Naruto's knees and gripping his cock firmly in her hands. Using a combination of swift strokes and gentle squeezes, the monster succeeded in bringing Naruto's cock to full attention. Despite how creepy and wrong this was, Naruto could not deny that what the nurse was doing to him felt really good. A small groan of pleasure escaped his trembling lips.
Another round of affectionate cooing rang out among the small crowd of nurses as they all started to expand where they rubbed on Naruto's young body. A small drop of precum leaked out of the head of Naruto's member and the lead nurse gently used her finger to pick up the drop and put said finger in-between the bandages wrapped around her face. The other nurses halted their activities and stared intently at the lead nurse. She was quiet for about a full fifteen seconds before slowly bringing her hands up to her face, clinching her eyes tightly and giving a high pitched cooing purr all the while twisting her body back and forth in an overly shy manner.
This sudden loud noise drew Sakura's attention away from her fallen teammate and to her blonde haired one. The pink haired girl stood up and began to walk to the other side of the large tree root that separated her from Naruto, with Baby calmly floating behind her. She calmly walked around the giant root to see a fully clothed Naruto sitting against the base of the tree right next to Nightmare. The boy's face was a bright pink and the charred girl next to him had a far away shine in her yellow eye.
Baby zoomed over and sat on top of her lightly dazed looking father and gave a happy squeak before snuggling deeper into his soft hair and falling asleep. Nightmare saw it fit to try the same and rested her covered head on Naruto's shoulder before snuggling deeply into him. Naruto gave no visible sign that he had noticed either creature make physical contact with him and just continued to appear half-conscious.
Almost a full six hours later and Sasuke was awake and back to full strength. He pulled out the two scrolls that were needed to pass through the tower from a secret pocket hidden within the inside right thigh of his shorts. So, the team made it's way to the tower without much trouble and made it inside the tall structure with two extra days to spare.
The team saw a large board sitting on the wall of the room they entered that Naruto could not read for some reason. Sakura concluded that a riddle was written on it that basically told the team to open the two scrolls and cross them together. Sakura had just enough time to notice that the two scrolls made one large summoning jutsu before a thick plume of white smoke obstructed her view.
The team quick jumped into their defensive stances before the smoke cleared to reveal a smiling Umino Iruka. Now, Naruto had not seen his surrogate father in months and was overjoyed to finally be reunited with his favorite instructor. So it was not much of a surprise for anybody when he leapt and wrapped his arms around Iruka in a massive hug all the while giving the biggest smile anyone had ever seen.
Baby, seeing her father happy, zoomed over to the pair and cuddled into Iruka in a loving manner while squeaking happily. Everyone smiled at the scene before Iruka was able to get Naruto to release his iron grip and force Baby off his head.
"Alright, alright, calm down you two." Iruka finally said to his favorite student and his child before donning a serious expression. "As much as I would enjoy meeting you on more friendly terms. The reason I am here is strictly business."
Team Seven all sobered up and gave a collective nod of understanding. Iruka returned the gesture before continuing. "First, I want to congratulate all of your for getting here before the time limit was reached and Sakura-chan for figuring out the answer to the riddle up there." He said jabbing a finger in the direction of the large board on the wall. "Secondly, because you arrived here two days ahead of the time limit all of Team Seven will be given a single room with beds and a fully stocked refrigerator. After two days have passed, you will be lead into the gathering room in the center of this tower and you will all then be told of what is to develop for the final portion of the Chunin exams."
Iruka's hardened expression softened into a more gentle and pleased one. "But, as your academy teacher, I have to say how proud I am of all of you for making it this far. I will be watching the next portion of the exams along with a few respectable individuals." He then sent a smiling glare at Naruto. "I expect you to be on your best behavior."
Naruto pouted at being singled out but could not help a large and mischievous grin spread across his face. "I promise absolutely nothing, Iruka-sensei." Baby give a confirming squeak before floating over and sitting on top of her daddy's head and snuggling in for a nap.
Iruka smiled back at the kids before waving them good-bye and vanishing in another plume of smoke. Not long after Iruka vanished a jounin wearing a plan white mask greeted them and escorted Team Seven down a series of halls and to the teams room.
For the next two days, all Team Seven could do was wait in their room. The team was not allowed to leave their room for the whole time, not for food or restroom breaks. To make sure that they did not leave, a lone jounin was always standing guard in front of the room and the windows had special seals placed just so that any attempt at escape was impossible. Luckily, there was a bathroom adjacent to the room. Despite these setbacks however, the stay was comfortable for the team. All except for Naruto, who had to fight off a countless number of horny Otherworld nurses.
After the two days had passed, one of the jounin guards led Team Seven through a little maze of hallways and into a large arena-like room. Halfway up two of the parallel walls were a set of platforms with metal rails running along their length. On one of the other walls was a massive wooden door that was like a smaller version of Konohagakure's entry gate. Across from that wall was a giant statue of two hands in the most basic jutsu hand sign along with the Hokage and several of the village's most esteemed and important individuals along with several others that Naruto could not pinpoint where their point of origin was.
The team was lined up and each member was evenly spaced apart. Team Seven was not the only team that had arrived at the tower earlier then expected. The team Suna along with the two Oto teams were present. The teams were told to wait for the remaining ninja teams.
The genin only had to wait for a few minutes before a large number of Konoha ninja along with a few ninja from Amegakure and several other ninja villages. Every team was lined up in the same fashion as the early arrivals. As soon as all the teams that were able to finish the second portion of the chunin exams were all in their places, several plumes of smoke popped into existence right close to the front of the row of each team.
The smoke clouds slowly disappointed to reveal the jounin instructors of each and every successful team. The Hokage took a step foreword and addressed the people in front of him. The old fart then went on a lecture about how the chunin exams were meant for blah, blah and to promote yadda, yadda and how there had to be a mini tournament because there were too many entries this year. Neither Naruto or Venom really cared. Naruto simply wanted to show off how strong he was while Venom simply wanted his host to grab the nearest female and turn her into a quivering pool of bliss. Where was Payback when you needed her?
"All of the people behind me?" The Hokage continued. "Are important representatives from each of your respective home villages. For some of you, they are your relatives or some one you may know on a person level. I have graciously invited them to the exams to help promote good will between all of our villages."
After the Hokage finished his speech, the whole room remained quiet and relatively motionless for a good five minutes before a man dressed in regal Amegakure clothes decided to speak up. "Lord Hokage. What, may I ask, are we waiting on? Shouldn't we be starting this little event?" The similarly dressed woman standing next to him gently nodded her head in agreement to the male's question.
Sarutobi simply gave a slight smirk before speaking. "We have a fe late guests that should be arriving in just a few minutes." As if to verify the aged worrier's response, the large wooden doors on the opposite wall slowly began to creak open. Three familiar robed figures slowly approached through the just as slowly opening doors. But, Empress, Payback and Revenge were not the only individuals walking through those doors.
The rumbling was almost unnoticeable when the doors first started to open. But as the wooden gate continued to open and the three women slowly approached, the rhythmic thumping became louder and louder, along with the slight shaking of the whole room. The shaking got so bad that several of the dignitaries stumbled around trying to maintain their balance.
Sarutobi wondered how they were able to get Kraid through the forest without causing a massive racket. His eyes widened when he was finally able to see what was causing the massive shacking. On either side of the trio of women were five other robed figures along with two massive monsters.
They were just a little bigger then the average human and more than twice the width. The beings wore ancient diving suits and were horribly hunched over. Instead of a matching helmet, the helmets the creatures used were completely round and had 16 bright yellow holes for eyes. Each of the creatures' heads were surrounded by a round metal gate. On their backs were two large cylindrical containers that each had a long tube that attached to the back of the creatures' necks.
The metal boots that the creature's wore were obviously composed of some heavy metal and, coupled with their strength, caused the very ground underneath them to crack with every step. From within their large helmets, deep groans and growls echoed out. The most prominent feature of the scuba-beasts were the massive drills that replaced their right hands.
The beasts escorted the three robed women across the large arena and stopped when their masters stopped in front of the Hokage. The beasts held their drills up in a semi-threatening manner as they looked around for any threats.
Empress gave a long and respectful bow towards the Hokage, allowing her two longest hairs to slink out and hover a few inches in front of her hidden face. "We would like to formally apologize for our being late." She motioned to one of the beasts near her. "Our big daddy's don't take their guard duty very seriously." The big daddy in question raised his bloody drill a little higher than the other in a sign of pride.
Sarutobi gave an understanding nod before motioning the group over to stand somewhere behind him. The big daddy's instead moved to the opposite sides of the large statue and kept a few eyes out for any sign of danger to their masters. The rest of the dignitaries looked on with expressions of irritation a few looked confused at just who these newcomers were.
The Hokage gave a small sign with his left hand and a large section of the wall right next to the giant statue slide back and upwards to reveal a just-as-large monitor. "Now," He spoke, "If anybody does not feel that they can compete, please raise your hand and you will be escorted out of this training area safely."
For a moment, nobody raised his or her hand. Sakura looked at the Uchiha standing right in front of her and locked her gaze on the odd three colon mark on the boy's pale skin. Fearing that something bad would happen due to the weird mark, Sakura was about to raise her hand in a desperate effort to get the Uchiha's mark checked out. But before she could even twitch her hand, something else caught her eye.
The pinkette slowly moved her gaze just a bit to right and stared hard at Naruto's clothed back. For a split second, Sakura could have sworn that she saw something moving underneath his black jacket. She did not move her eyes from that spot until she was sure that she had been mistaken and only after did she bring her attention back to her village leader.
After waiting a few seconds and seeing that nobody was going to raise their hand, the Hokage gave a small smile before the large screen flashed on and a series of names started to flash on said screen. After another moment of waiting, two names remained on the screen.
Konohagakure genin Uzumaki Naruto vs. Otogakure genin Korudo.
A sickly looking chunin landed in front of the Hokage and gave a cough. "Would those that were not selected *cough* please make your way up to the observation balconies." He sounded more like he was making a demand then a suggestion. "I will *cough* be the proctor and referee during this little event *cough*. That's all you need to know."
All except for Naruto and his completely black wearing opponent made their way up to one of the two balconies, including Nightmare and Baby, who sat atop Hinata's head for some odd reason.
Everyone missed Dozu handing off something to his Oto ally as well as the shared glance Danzo and Uchiha Fugaku had.