Shikaoi wonders how he got into this situation as he shot another fireball at the enemy.

It seems like it was only an hour ago that they were signing the waiver to enter into the forest of death.

Shikaoi recalls his blonde teammate accepting the heaven scroll and sealing it in a storage pouch with his kunai that they had purchased for this exact purpose, as he henges into Sasuke, the Uchiha hengeing to look like Shikaoi.

Team seven nodded resolutely at each other as they approached the gate. Sasuke (as Shikaoi) slouched his shoulders lazily, and Shikaoi (as Sasuke) straightened his posture and hnned conspiratorially at Naruto getting the blond to need to stifle a laugh and the actual Uchiha to have to force down a scowl, Shikaoi (as Sasuke) made no move to hide his smirk as he knew that the more cocky 'Sasuke' seemed the more likely their switcharoo would go unnoticed.

The forest seemed to welcome them, the trees fluttered in the wind, and Shikaoi was hit by a wave of familiarity not that much unlike how he felt in his clan's forest.

As soon as team seven entered the forest, Naruto created 12 clones. Two out of every set of three henged into the blond's teammates, and the four teams dashed off in different directions.

"Wait a couple of hours before you make the next batch," whispered Shikaoi (as Sasuke) stopping the blond from completing the hand sign.

"Bastard, this was the plan, believe it!" Naruto shouted. Shikaoi forced himself to school his features at being addressed with the Uchiha's usual nickname and spoke trying to ignore his third teammate's smirk (as himself).

"Well Dobe, it was also the plan for you to not make too many so that you can preserve your chakra in the event of an attack. Since you have much larger reserves and we," he gestures to Sasuke (as him) and himself as Sasuke, "already wasted chakra." The three knew holding the henge would be especially tasking on the Nara due to his smaller reserves; although, even Sasuke will be straining to maintain the henge long term and his reserves had nothing on Naruto's even if the Uchiha would rather not admit it. But, for their plan to work, the two need to stay henged as each other.

Naruto stumbles slightly as he receives some memories from a squad of clones he sent out who had the displeasure of running into a bloodthirsty Garaa.

"I don't think we should approach the guy who's like me right now, ya know. He seems angry," Naruto said as they heard an enraged shout in the distance.

"That sounds…" Shikaoi (as Sasuke) said his voice trailing off as he tried to find the right word not wanting to break character.

"Reasonable?" (The actual) Sasuke offers in a deadpan.

"Hnn," Shikaoi replied, turning his face in a look reminiscent of the famous Uchiha scowl.

Naruto led the way in the direction of some of the few clones that had yet to disperse.

Naruto winced and told the other two that his clones were all destroyed, and they were headed in the direction of a "snake-like lady with yellow eyes."Shikaoi (as Sasuke) told the other 'two' to remember the 'password.'

The genin were suddenly hit by a violent gale of wind that separated the three. Naruto found himself cutting a giant snake in half from the inside, and Sasuke (as Shikaoi) ran after Shikaoi (as Sasuke) who had been ambushed by the snake sanin.

The two genin struggled slightly under the heavy, paralyzing killing intent being aimed at them by the sanin. Sasuke (as Shikaoi) couldn't seem to break out from the fear, and they heard a flare of smoke bombs go off in the distance. Sasuke calmed himself with the knowledge that Naruto was at least okay and was calling their planned reinforcements.

Shikaoi was decidedly calm. The paralyzing chakra was not that much unlike the shadow possession jutsu, and Shikaoi got the sense that he had experienced higher levels of killing intent before. If it was as himself, or in the before, he wasn't sure, but it helped steel his resolve and ignited something inside him. Shikaoi (as Sasuke) found himself making hand signs that he doesn't typically, shooting a fireball at a sanin has to have been the craziest thing he has ever done in this life, but it seemed to do the trick of breaking Sasuke (as Shikaoi) out from his crippling fear. Sasuke (as Shikaoi) threw Kunai and ninja wire around the burning sanin and turns to the actual Shikaoi. But, before he could open his mouth, Shikaoi (as Sasuke) interrupts, "not all of us were born with the ability to shoot fireballs," he whispers complains rubbing his upper chest discreetly.

Naruto, Shikamaru, and surprisingly Rock Lee burst into the clearing just as Orochimaru reveals himself. The latter two's teams are not far behind, but stay hidden in the foliage. Naruto jumps in next to his teammates and Orochimaru seems to have decided to cut his losses, his neck elongated and he goes to give 'Sasuke' the cursed seal, but Naruto shouts, "the pedo is trying to give Sasuke a hickey!" at the top of his lungs in the voice that he reserves for announcing his dream to become Hokage, amplified by the practice of enhancing the volume of his voice with chakra with the help of his teammates and Shikamaru when they first planned for it.

Shikaoi casts a light genjutsu around himself and wraps a shadow around his neck to prevent the snake's fangs from piercing his skin. He strains to maintain the henge and collapses to his knees making Orochimaru believe the seal had been applied. The snake sanin turns to 'Shikaoi', perhaps to give the speech that he had given Sakura in the original timeline, but he didn't notice the mangeyko swirling until it was too late, and for Orichimaru the world had gone dark, "tsukiyomi," the real Sasuke shouted dropping the henge as the powerful genjutsu rapidly drained his reserves, and he collapsed next to the now unhenged Shikaoi who was struggling against the now out of control shadow that had, quite literally, saved his neck. Shikamaru jumped in to help his brother untangle the cursed shadow from his neck and neither Nara could figure out how to disperse it.

"Naruto the seal,"

Shikaoi wheezed when the two managed to pin the shadow away from his throat, and to the ground where it still writhed in what appeared to be anger. Naruto quickly emptied the storage seal and after tossing their scroll in Sasuke's direction jumped to help seal away the rouge shadow.

The clearing suddenly was filled with anbu with blank masks and Anko looked at the genin with shock when she saw that they had incapacitated her old teacher. The proctor was even more shocked when Shikaoi told her that the Anbu accompanying her were fake, but by then it was too late and they had already disappeared with the snake sanin. Anko in hot pursuit, the genin decided to part ways with team Guy, and the two Nara's teams decide to stay together. Ino drops the act of crushing on Sasuke and runs to check on the younger Nara twin whom she sees as a younger brother and begins fussing over his injuries which appear to circle his throat and neck. Choji joins his teammates by Shikaoi's side and offers the younger Nara an unopened bag of chips which the smaller boy shares with the Akimichi. Naruto goes to help Sasuke as the Uchiha looks at his Nara teammate in amusement.

Shikamaru insists on carrying his twin, who was severely chakra exhausted. Shikaoi didn't want his brother to be too exhausted for the next part of the exams, but his older twin insisted that the last stage doesn't happen for a month and, "even if there is a preliminary, I don't care Shikaoi, becoming a chunin would be troublesome." Ino smacks her teammate in the head for that and huffs affectionately when she watches Choji help the older Nara twin to place his brother on his back. Naruto picks up Sasuke in a piggyback and they are off.

Naruto leads teams seven and ten to where he had his clones hide some scrolls he had sent them to collect, and the two teams of rookies make their way to the tower.

Neither set of genin notice the white-haired teen observing them. who pushes up his glasses and vanishes in a puff of smoke.