Beating The Odds

Chapter 08: The Forest of Death

By: MikeJV37

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----12:10 PM, Forest of Death----

Naruto watched Hinata knock out her opponent, the last Grass nin from their Gate, with a Jyuuken strike to the neck. "Good work Hinata-chan, Tenten-chan. Hated to do this to them so soon, but they had the Heaven Scroll we needed.... and they'll be able to walk out of here.... well, if something doesn't eat them while they're unconscious." Naruto said then laughed briefly and scanned the area. "Since no one is watching.... how about we set a new record for finishing this exam?" Naruto said with a big foxy grin.

Hinata traded smiles with Tenten. "Hai, sounds fun Naruto-kun, we rarely get to cut loose."

Minutes later they were miles away, bounding from branch-to-branch at blinding speed, when Naruto signaled a stop, they landed next to him on the huge branch.

"Why'd you stop Naruto-kun, is something wrong?" Tenten said as she put a hand on the weapon pouch on her right hip. her only one as far as anyone could tell.

"Hai, we aren't alone." Naruto said seriously as he pulled the short short from under his shirt on his back and held it near his chest in his right hand.

Tenten gasped quietly, that was a gift from Ezara (formerly Zabuza Momochi) for letting her and her daughter Sekka (formerly Haku) live at his new house in the shinobi only Residential section of town he bought with part of the bounty he got from Mist.

Hinata had a similar reaction, Naruto had told her he'd only use it in a serious battle or.... Hinata gasped quietly. "Naruto-kun, is.... he, here?" Hinata asked nervously.

When she saw Naruto nod Tenten swallowed nervously, there was only one person they referred to as 'he', Anko's former Sensei Orochimaru!

"Hinata-chan, Tenten-chan, stay hidden and no matter what, dont get involved. He's way out of your league and I don't want either of you hurt." Naruto said seriously but with love, leaned to the side and gave Hinata then Tenten a quick kiss. "Always remember that I love you both, and if anything happens take care of Anko-chan for me." Naruto said calmly, but with a hint of sadness, then before either could react he stood, ran down the side of the massive tree and in seconds was out of sight.

Tenten grabbed Hinata's shoulder when she moved to follow him. "Don't go Hinata-chan, you know he's right, Naruto-kun has to do this alone, we'd just get in the way." Tenten said as her eyes teared up slightly. "Besides....we know how strong he really is, especially with Ky-san helping him." Tenten said and smiled.

Hinata pushed down her emotions and smiled at Tenten. "Hai, thank you Tenten-chan, but if anything happened to him before I even got to.... I'd just die."

"Hinata-chan....do you think there's anything that could stop Naruto-kun from marrying you?" Tenten asked seriously.

Hinata thought a moment, then smiled broadly. "No, Naruto-kun would move Heaven and Earth to be with me."

----200 feet below, on the ground----

Naruto stood ready, a kunai in his left hand, his short sword with the slightly green-tinted blade he'd named 'Lucky Strike' in his right hand. "Come on out you Snake Bastard and face me.... or are you afraid?" Naruto almost roared, just enough of Kyuubi's chakra released to form a red chakra tail behind him, his fingers and toes were clawed, his canines and whisker marks more pronouced and his eyes were red with vertical slit pupils.

Just then Orochmaru melted out of a nearby tree. "Ku ku ku, aren't you the impatient one.... I didn't even get to play with your friends yet.... or the lovely things above us, they would be most entertaining." Orochimaru said with a happy, sadistic grin.

Naruto's chakra spiked and a second chakra tail formed. "You leave them alone.... I won't warn you a second time." Naruto said in a cold, dead demonic voice and released enough ki to freeze a high level Jounin in their tracks.

Orochmaru just smiled. "Ku ku ku....you are quite interesting, this will be much more entertaining than last time.... how is my old apprentice anyway, I've missed her?" Orochmaru said calmly, the last line with a sickeningly sweet tone.

A third red chakra tail formed behind Naruto as he grinned very darkly. "Now I'm going to kill you." Naruto said calmly.

Orochmaru laughed. "Do you thnk you can kill me with only three tai..." Orochimaru said, then suddenly dodged to his left, his body bent at an impossible angle to avoid a slash that nearly took his head off. He twisted around, hissed and grabbed the right side of his neck that now had a quarter inch deep cut in it. "You've improved.... I'll have to take you seriously it seams." He said then flashed through a series of hand signs, took a deep breath a blew out a stram of fire that looked like a dragon.

Naruto smiled and stood his ground.

"Foolish boy." Orochmaru said as it hit with a huge explosion of fire and smoke, a few seconds later it cleared and Naruto stood there with an amused smirk on his face. "HELLFIRE RASENGAN!" Orochimaru heard from behind him as a burning pain erupted in his chest, a moment later red flames burned through his chest and spread throughout his body. a look of total disbelief on his face as he knew he was dead.

"This is for Anko." The five-tailed Naruto said a moment before his sword went through Orochmaru's neck and severed his head. Naruto flashed through a long series of hand signs, pointed his right palm at the severed head and a blue fireball shot out and struck it, engulfing it in blue flames for several seconds before it dispeled. He picked up the still intact head and watched the body burn to nothing, the only thing left was the still flawless sword known as 'Grass Cutter.' He looked at the special demon seal now on Orochimaru's forehead and smiled as he returned to normal "Your head may be intact, but only Kami could bring your sick ass back.... and I seriously doubt she will. Burn in Hell bastard." Naruto said, took a blank scroll from his pocket opened it on the ground, sat the head next to the sword, did several hand signs and touched the scroll. "SEAL!" Naruto said, the head and sword vanished in a puff of smoke and teo kanji appeared on the scroll. Naruto smiled, rolled it up and put it back in his pocket.

Up in the tree Hinata sat nervously next to Tenten. "Do you think he won Tenten-chan?" Hinata said a little worried.

"Of ocurse I won, he never had a chance." Naruto said from behind them.

Hinata and Tenten jumped up and spun around, saw a smiling, unhurt Naruto and both glomped him hard.

Naruto caught them, spun and landed on his back, on the branch, instead of falling off it. He waited a minute while they covered his face with kisses. "As much fun as this is having you two lay on me, we should get going." Naruto said with a huge smile.

Hinata pouted very cutely. "Hai.... meanie-sama."

Tenten giggled and stood up.

"Meanie-sama....very funny Hinata-chan." Naruto said dryly and stuck out his tongue at her. "You're lucky you're so cute."

Hinata just smiled cutely. "Hai."

"I want to make sure all our friends pass." Naruto said and made the cross finger sign. "MULTI-SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!" Naruto said and thirty Shadow Clones appeared on the branches around them, nodded and all leapt off in different directions. "Now let's go." Naruto said, gave a short sigh, smirked, kissed Hinata, turned and leapt off the branch to the next tree, Hinata and Tenten close behind giggling quietly.

----12:59 PM, Forest of Death Tower----

Naruto, Hinata to his right, Tenten to his left, kneeled on the stone floor in front of the giant wall scroll and opened both scrolls. When they started to smoke he stepped back, then a moment later there was a quiet *poof*, then the smoke cleared and revealed Iruka with a huge smile on his face.

"You just set a new record for this exam.... fifty-nine minutes, I'm very proud of all of you!" Iruka said happily, but it didn't last when he saw Naruto's face. "What happened?"

His face calm, Naruto stepped up to his former teacher took a scroll from his pocket and handed it to him. "Take this to Sarutobi-sama, give it to him and have him open it.... Anko should be there when he does." Naruto said calmly, stepped back and gave Iruka a full bow, joined by Hinata and Tenten. "Thanks Iruka-sensei.... join me for ramen it Ichiraku's after the exams?"

Iruka took the scroll, smiled proudly when he bowed to him. "Hai. Go get a room and relax, there's food, baths, anything you want on the first four floors." Iruka said, nodded and vanished in a swirk of wind and leaves.

----Somewhere in the Forest of Death----

"I said shut up, Orochimaru-sama put me in charge because unlike you two I can stay calm and not mess everything up by losing my temper. We're going to find that blonde kid, but until we do we have to play along, and that means getting the other scroll. They have the Heaven Scroll we need, so unless you want to tell Orochmaru-sama why we failed...." She said and waited a moment.

"We'll do it Kin!" Both men said nervously.

Kin smiled. "Good, besides.... it'll be fun, and whatever's left of the two little bimbos you can have, I just don't want to hear about it. I might torture and kill them, but I am a woman, so keep that in mind you perverts or you'll find out what my senbon can do to your manhood." Kin said, the last part coldly, then signaled them to follow her out into the clearing.

Hidden in a nearby tree a Naruto clone listened to the three Sound nin. 'If they think Sakura-chan and Ino-chan are weak, they're in for a big surprise, and if I know Shikamaru he's already set up a few...."

Just then there was a big crash, followed immediately by a crunching thuds and screams.

The Naruto clone looked at the edge of the clearing where Kin now stood alone, and fairly shocked, her two male teammates had stopped the first trap, but they didn't know Shikamaru, no one planned traps like he did, one of his backups had killed both of the male Sound nin. He watched Kin take on Ino and Sakura, she'd done pretty well until she made a crack about Sakura's forehead. Naruto winced in fear, he knew Sakura very well, and unless you were a close friend there were two things you NEVER did. You never made fun of her small breasts, and if you ever wanted to have kids one day you never.... EVER....made fun of her forehead. The second Kin had said it, he saw Ino pale and start to back up, Shikamaru shook his head, and he just made out what his lazy friend said.

"You just made the worse mistake of your life lady." Shikamaru said calmly.

Kin saw the pink-haired girl's face lock up with anger before she started walking towards her with her fists clenched tight. Kin took out several Senbon and threw them at the angry little Genin kunoichi and struck several points that should put her on the ground screaming.... and gasped when she didn't even flinch. Impressed but only slightly worried she threw several more, the girl swatted away the few aimed at her head. She took out the rest in her pouch and began throwing them, but pinky blocked every one that would hit a fatal point with her arms, ignored the rest, and every Senbon that hit just seemed make the girl madder, when the girl got ten feet away she began to panic as her Taijutsu was very basic, this had never happened to her before, she'd never met anyone so young that could withstand so much pain without even flinchng. She then heard two words that would be burned into her memory and forever strike fear in her heart, 'Cherry Splitter,' suddenly the girl was gone and an instant later a pain like she'd never felt before exploded between her legs, as her head went down she saw pinky standing there with her big fist buriied in the sensitive flesh between her legs.... and knew instantly that if she lived her sex life was dead. Her guts were on fire, especially in her lower belly. 'She destroyed my pussy with one punch!' Was Kin's last thought before everything went black.

As she woke, she realized she was in a stone room.

"You'd be dead if it wasn't for me Kin." A young male voice said.

Kin turned her head towards the unknown male voice and got scared when she recognized him. "Naruto Uzumaki.... oh Kami, are you going to kill me?"

Naruto looked at her coldly. "I should for trying to kill my friends, and for what you said about Sakura-chan.... but what she did will do for now as punishment. You're lucky she's also a great med nin, because I convinced her to repair most of the damage she did, don't make me regret showing you mercy. You can't feel any pain because a friend of mine is a Hyuuga, she temporarily blocked all feeling in that part of your body. On that table there is some medication that'll do the same thing. I'm only going to make this offer once, so think before you answer, because if you refuse, then change your mind at the last second it won't save you. I know you served Orochimaru.... he's dead now, I killed him about an hour ago." Naruto said emotionlessly and got the reaction he expected from her, shock and disbelief. "If you agree to tell me what he had planned besides abducing me, I can arrange for you to join Leaf as a kunoichi, well you'll be a civilian for a while, but you could become a kunoichi if you behave yourself." Naruto said calmly, then gave her a small sly smile. "So do you want friends and a future, or should I just torture the information from you and kill you?" Naruto said calmly then pulled out his short sword and looked at the blade.

Kin tried to move but couldn't even wiggle a finger. "Oh Kami.... this can't be happening.... but it is! If he really killed Orochmaru-sama.... I don't have a fucking prayer against him. If he's even twice as strong as pinky.... he could rip me apart with his bare hands, and if he chose to rape me, even if I could move....' Kin thought.."N,Naruto-sama....before I answer, may I ask.... I know you said she healed most of the damage, but will I be able to enjoy sex, or did pink....Sakura ruin me? I've never been hit so hard in my life.... especially not there."

Naruto looked into her eyes and saw what he'd hoped for. 'Thanks for the training Ibiki.' Naruto thought. "Hai, you will, the damage was bad, but she repaired most of it. Assuming you're still alive later, I'll have you taken to the Hospital for treatment, then you'll need somewhere to live, I can think of a few friends that'll house you, even be your friend if you're nice.... you're how old?"

"I'm eighteen Naruto-sama." Kin said right away.

"Do you prefer men or women?" Naruto asked casually.

Kin was a little shocked he'd asked her that, but considering her situation. "I prefer men, but I have been with a few women." Kin said then had a thought. "If you want to know, my breasts a full, firm D cups." Kin said, trying to anticipate where his questions were going. "I accept your terms and humbly surrender myself to you as a servant.... if you'll have me."

Naruto didn't show it, but he'd expected this reaction. He'd noticed, especially in the last year, that girls, and especially women, reacted this way to him more frequently, now that he knew what it meant. "If you mean it we could be friends, and more in a few years, but if you betray me or Konoha.... I'll skin you alive bitch." Naruto said the first part, Kyuubi the last part and changed Naruto's eyes to red as he did.

Kin paled, and nodded submissively. She'd been told he was a jinchuuriki, but that was her first personal contact with a demon.

Naruto went to the door and opened it, a moment later two female med nins walked in and smiled at him as they passed, followed by Kurenai Yuuhi.."She agreed to tell us what she knows and defect to Leaf.... does he want to see me?"

Kurenai smiled. "Hai, Naruto-kun. Hokage-sama is in the fifth floor office, with Anko-chan."

"Thank you Kurenai-chan, don't hurt her too much." Naruto said then gave Kurenai a quick kiss in the lips and vanished in a puff of smoke..

"He was a shadow clone?" Kin said, amazed.

"Hai.... so relax, if you don't resist this Genjutsu won't hurt, this is the fastest way to find out what you know.... if you cooperate anyway. You don't want our Head Interrogator to question you, so relax and open your mind. If you do try anything I'll wipe your personality and leave you a mindless slave." Kurenai said seriously then started a series of hand signs as she stopped next to the table by Kin's head.

----Forest of Death Tower, Fifth Floor Office----

The real Naruto knocked on the double doors, and waited a moment for permission to enter. When he heard Sarutobi's voice he took a deep breath, let it out slowly and went in. The instant he did he saw the old man sitting calmly behind a desk smoking his pipe, but to his right of the old man stood Anko, she had a huge smile on her face he knew she couldn't hold in if her life depended on it, and her whole body was twitching from unbridled joy. As he walked to the chair in front of the desk to sit down he knew it was taking every ounce of will power Anko had to not rip off her clothes and his and ravage him right there on the floor like the women in Jiraiya's books. He sat in the chair. "You wanted to see me old man.... this is about.... him, I guess." Naruto said politely.

Sarutobi sighed with amusment as he blew out a plume of smoke. Naruto, Anko and two of his former students were the only people he ever let call hm old man, but Naruto was the only one that did it in front of people, but he did sort of raise Naruto who thought of him like a grandfather, so he allowed it. He even liked it a little, but he wasn't going to tell anyone that. "Hai. It pains me it had to be done, and that I didn't stop him when I had the chance....but I want to thank you Naruto." Sarutobi said solemnly. "Anko remain where you are, I understand how you're feeling, but you will remember you are a respected Jounin, do not embarrass yourself or Konoha by letting your emotions control you. Naruto, please tell me what that seal on his forehead does, I assume you put it there." Sarutobi said seriously.

Anko suppressed her emotions a little, but not enough to stop herself from shaking slightly she was so happy..

Naruto nodded, then glanced at Anko and smirked. "Before I do.... can Anko-chan hug me, it'll help her get her emotions under control."

Sarutobi thought a moment, smirked subtly and nodded.

Anko ran around the desk to Naruto, who stood just in time for her to scoop him up in a monster hug and spin him around the room for a minute. When she stopped she covered his cheeks with kisses. In her twenty-two years she'd never been so happy, the pain and blinding rage she'd carried around since she was ten years old was finally gone, Orochimaru was dead.... she was free. Anko put Naruto down and yanked down the left side of her trenchcoat collar to show her bare neck. "Its gone Naruto-kun! When you killed him his seal was broken.... I'M FREE!!!" Anko squealed like a little girl as she almost bounced on her toes. "From now on Anko Mitarashi is Naruto Uzumaki's most loyal bitch, and I don't care who knows!" Anko declared proudly.

Sarutobi sighed and shook his head, he knew she was serious and even he couldn't stop her. "Anko Mitarashi!" He said with authority to get Anko's attention. "I'd prefer you didn't do that, but short of locking you in a cell I can't stop you, so I'm asking you to keep your first promise to wait until Naruto and Hinata are married. As to telling the village you belong to Naruto.... could you at least wait until after the Chuunin Exams are over?"

Anko looked at Naruto a moment then pouted slightly. "Hai, for you and Naruto-kun I'll wait to tell eeryone, and will keep my first promise."

"Thank you Anko. Now Naruto, I understand that you captured a Sound nin that was defeated by Sakura Haruno, and that Kurenai is interrogating her now. Before she debriefs me on what she learned, tell me about the seal." Sarutobi said calmly, but inside he was smiling. He'd heard about Sakura's special attack, as the best med nin of her age group and the pysically strongest kunoichi in that year's class she'd combined them to create a truely devastating Taijutsu attack. He knew most of the Leaf shinobi knew about it, but few had seen her use it.

"Kyuubi actually placed the seal, but he told me what it does. It will prevent anyone from learning anything from his head using jutsu or any other method. Its an ancient Demon Seal, only Kyuubi can break it since he placed it. It will also prevent anyone from bringing him back, not that he could anyway, Kami has his soul locked up, even if his body was restored somehow, he'll never live again. That's the best explination I can give, it's all way to complicated for any human to understand.... that's what Kyuubi told me anyway. What you do with the sword and his head is up to you as Hokage, I already destroyed his body with a Fire Jutsu as I was taught to do." Naruto said.

"Thank you Naruto.... you're both dismissed." Sarutobi said calmly and took a puff on his pipe. After they left he leaned back in the chair, closed his eyes and went deep into thought while he waited for Kurenai's report..

End Chapter 8