Chapter 3

…

"Alright, so now that we're all here I think it's best that I explain what you'll be doing today," said Kakashi after finally appearing before his team.

"Do you mean to say we're doing something different?" asked Sakura as she thought back to the words Naruto had spoken yesterday. "Naruto said we're doing some kind of similar training to what he was doing so does that mean we're all going to be doing reconnaissance drills?"

"Unfortunately, no. Well kind of but not exactly, there'll only be one objective of today's training session..." Kakashi trailed off mysteriously as Sasuke and Sakura both shrugged to themselves. "And that is to catch Naruto."

"Catch Naruto?" Sakura muttered in disbelief, "that's not even going to be challenging, he's really slow!"

"Sakura has a point," Sasuke said as his eyes darted around the training ground, attempting to look "underneath the underneath" because with Kakashi it was never as simple as he attempted to make it seem. "It's not as though Naruto's even really going to be able to get that far away from us."

"You'd be surprised," chuckled Kakashi as he twirled a kunai around his fingers. "Who said he was with you two in the first place?" With a fluid motion he threw the kunai straight through Naruto's somewhat unsuspecting stomach as it disappeared with a poof.

Meanwhile deep within the set boundary lines that Kakashi had signaled, Naruto's head lifted as he finished setting up his final trap. "There we go," he said as he wiped the sweat off his brow. "And Kakashi-sensei just told them the...wait...why do I know that?"

"Wait, you mean Naruto can use Shadow Clones too?" Sakura protested, "that's unfair, he can literally make a thousand of them! How are we supposed to know which one of them is him?"

"No, that was the only Shadow Clone he was allowed," Kakashi said as he eyed the kunai which had embedded itself in a tree. "It wouldn't be half as fun otherwise, however to level the playing field a little bit Naruto's set up a few surprises for you guys."

"Pfft like the dobe could set up anything decent," Sasuke crossed his arms over his chest as he attempted to keep up an unworried facade, however on the inside he was attempting to look for clues as to where Naruto had run off to. Naruto was loud and wore bright orange, he wasn't exactly born to hide.

"So I'll leave you guys to-"

"Wait! Kakashi-sensei, what're you going to be doing this whole time?" Sakura questioned as she noticed the man was beginning to raise his hands in order to Shunshin away from them.

"Me?" he gave what Sakura could only assume was a smile, "well I'll be supervising of course." With a small puff of smoke, not dissimilar to the one Naruto's clone had given off, Kakashi vanished leaving the least eccentric members of Team Seven to themselves.

"So where do you think Naruto is?" questioned Sakura as she attempted to break the loud silence that overcame the entire training ground.

"Well I'd say he's probably on the edges of the training ground, it's way too quiet for Naruto to be around here," answered Sasuke. "I saw a river that cut into the training ground on my way in, I reckon he'll be using the sound of flowing water to mask himself so I'll go check that out. You should probably head off the other way." With that, Sasuke began to walk away from the small clearing that they were in but just as he was about to head off he paused slightly as Sakura bellowed a few words.

"Sasuke! Don't you think it's best we stick together? I mean this could probably be another one of Kakashi's teamwork exercises and besides two pairs of eyes are better than one." she yelled as he spun around, facing her as he entertained the notion.

"Alright, we'll do that. But if we don't manage to find anything at the river we should probably split up," Sasuke said not particularly in the mood to deal with the high-pitched voice that usually paired itself with Sakura's company.

"Yeah, okay and besides I'm sure Naruto would think twice about ambushing the two of us instead of just one—he probably wants us to split up," said Sakura. She totally wasn't using the situation to her advantage in order to spend more time with Sasuke. Totally.

"So what kind of surprises do you reckon Naruto's going to have in store for us?" Sakura asked as she broke into a run in order to catch up with Sasuke.

"That's the thing, it's Naruto. He's an idiot but he's an unpredictable one, we could be dealing with anything from some insane variant of that Sexy Jutsu of his to him trying to pour a bucket of paint on us." Sasuke said, as he increased the pace. "Plus I'm sure he'll be eager to try out some of the tricks Kakashi-sensei showed him yesterday."

"What do you think Kakashi-sensei would've shown him?" asked Sakura, "Naruto's not exactly the quickest at getting Jutsu down."

"Actually I heard he got that Shadow Clone technique of his down in a couple of hours, but I reckon Kakashi would've shown him how to sneak up on people and all that. Probably something along the lines of keeping the words on the inside his head instead of yelling all over the place like a mess."

"We really didn't have a chance in the Chunin exams, did we?" said Sakura rhetorically, an absent-minded tone to her voice.

"Not really." She was surprised to see Sasuke agree with her, "As much as I hate to admit it, the three of us weren't really prepared at all for the exams."

…

As this was going on, the rest of their graduate group that had made it to Genin were currently scattered throughout training ground forty four, commonly referred to as the Forest of Death. Team Eight had been given the Heaven scroll at the beginning of the test but had already acquired the Earth scroll, having used the leeches of Konoha's natural predatory instinct to their advantage. The trap had been quite simple to set up really, Hinata had used her Byakugan to locate where the nearest team was most likely to come from while Shino used his bugs to locate the perfect ambush spot. Kiba had been the one to set up the trap since he was the fastest then all they had to do was set up a trail of leads for them to be found easily enough.

For those who had been caught up in the trap, they were lucky that Team Eight had executed the leeches before their life was ended. Now however, as they scrambled to somewhere safe, they found themselves staring at a single pair of feet before them. They looked up towards the headband, quickly noticing that it was a single ninja from a rival nation. Turning their eyes away, they hoped that this ninja would be merciful and spare their lives. It was not to be as three kunai were quickly produced and lodged themselves into the back of the necks of each of the team members.

Little did they know that apart from a single Genin from Suna, this was possibly the last person who would ever give out even a tiny amount of mercy towards an opponent. Though he was wearing a disguise, Orochimaru had no qualms with killing the pitiful excuses for ninja that lay before him. The Sannin needed to vent out his anger and frustration somehow. When he had learnt that Sasuke had failed to make it past the first part of the exam he had quickly become irritated, knowing that his chance to gain the Sharingan this time round had effectively eluded him.

Yet that was when he had located a new target, another bloodline that could potentially come useful in the years to come. While there were two Genin who he could potentially use, he was well aware of the seal placed on one of the Genin which would destroy the bloodline before he got the chance to properly experiment on it. Hence there was only one target he was interested in, in fact he was looking to see just what the Hyuga heiress could do. Leaping off into the trees, he already had a general idea of where she and her team were but he would bide his time; after all, he enjoyed playing with his prey.

…

Sasuke sighed as he looked around the large river, Sakura watching his back in the opposite direction, he couldn't seem to find any sign of his blonde haired teammate. He never recalled Naruto having had hiding skills that weren't subpar but for some reason it seemed almost impossible to find him.

The walk up to the river had been relatively quiet and even now, the only audible sound was that of water streaming down the river; Sakura had decided to stop talking after he decided to stop responding to her incessant attempts to make small talk. She looked just as confused as he was which was slightly unnerving, as he didn't have the slightest idea of where to go after the river. The training ground was a large, dense area... Naruto could literally be anywhere from under the water they were standing by to hiding up in the trees that were what seemed like a kilometre away from their current location.

In fact it would make sense, given Naruto's training session with Kakashi that he had realised that there was no incentive for him to go after the two of them. After all they were the ones who were meant to find him, it wasn't as though Naruto would willingly come after them, at least if he'd learnt something from Kakashi.

"So what do we do now?" questioned Sakura, finally breaking the long silence that overcome the pair. "He's clearly not here."

"We better split up then," explained Sasuke, "because we'll be able to cover way more ground. And like you said, we're more vulnerable when we're by ourselves so it's likely that Naruto will attempt to ambush us."

Noting the emphasis on the word "attempt" as she nodded in agreement, Sakura asked another question, "So what do we do if we find him?"

"We capture him of course," Sasuke sighed before he realised who exactly he was talking to. "Well actually, if you see him just shout out to me, I'm not sure if you could take Naruto with all his traps by yourself."

Sakura could only agree, "So where should I go?"

"Why don't you head down back where we came from?" suggested Sasuke. "Go a little further and see if we came the wrong way, I'll... stick around here and take a closer look."

"Okay, if I don't manage to find any sign of him I'll head back here," Sakura said, obviously eager to not be left alone, before walking off.

Sasuke's eyes darted around the area once more before he closed them with a look of focus upon his face. It was clear that he was calm and rather collected, however when he opened his eyes again they looked anything but. His onyx-coloured eyes had developed into a much darker red, while two tomeo appeared beside his slightly enlarged pupils. Though he knew that the Sharingan wouldn't be that much use in a situation like the one he was in, this probably being one of the few times the Byakugan was superior, it did clear up his vision slightly... he could see with more clarity, more perception.

He figured that it would be worth a shot as he still was somewhat sure that Naruto would be around the river, the other places were too quiet for someone like him after all, and it was good at picking up odd things like an odd shuffling of leaves. After having a stealth lesson with Kakashi though, Sasuke couldn't neglect the possibility that Naruto was hiding in a single spot and would have created a circular pattern of traps around him, protecting himself from getting discovered. It was a simple tactic to understand, the closer he got to where Naruto was located the bigger and grander the traps were going to be.

With Sakura having gone down her own path back the way they had came, Sasuke decided to venture straightforward. Sakura would meet him back at this location provided she found nothing and if that were the case then she would return to the side of the river where the two of them would plan their next course of action.

Yet meeting up with his teammate would have to wait as he felt his foot graze a hidden wire, activating the trap that had been set. Scanning his surroundings quickly, Sasuke watched as from all around him kunai were projected towards the singular spot where he was standing. "I was expecting more from you Naruto," said Sasuke with a smirk as he jumped up, avoiding the kunai with ease. Yet as he floated in the air he wasn't able to notice the second part of the trap until it was too late, a single ball falling from above which he only managed to see when it was directly in front of his eyes for a moment before it exploded.

From where she was, Sakura heard the explosion go off and looked back in the direction where she had come from worried for Sasuke's safety. Yet she shook her head as she reassured herself, even if one of Naruto's traps had gone off there was no way that Sasuke would have gotten caught in one this early. Unfortunately she couldn't have been much more wrong as Sasuke landed on the ground, coughing and wheezing as he the black mist surrounding him was inhaled. The mixture wasn't poisonous by any means, but it was more than irritating as Sasuke pondered just how much pepper Naruto had managed to cram into that small explosive. He tried to open his eyes but his vision was blurry with tears as he continued to cough violently. Undoubtedly, he realised that he was going to have to be a lot more cautious from now on.

Pressing forward, Sakura didn't really know what to expect out here in this training ground. The setup was unfamiliar with her so she had no real idea where the best hiding spot for Naruto would be. Looking around she quickly surveyed her surroundings, working out where the highest possibility of an attack would come from. To her left and right were thick groups of trees with numerous hiding places but at the same time it would be difficult to launch an attack without being seen. Shiting her gaze skyward Sakura viewed the canopy that seemed to blanket out a majority of the sun. This was something which quickly worried her, there could be countless amounts of potential vantage points from above where Naruto would silently wait until the time was right to unleash something that would directly land on top of her. Sakura shook her head frantically, reminding herself that this was Naruto that had set the traps but as she thought about this single topic she realised, it was Naruto that set these traps and thus they were potentially very dangerous.

Deciding to press forward once more, she stopped before she even began as she spotted a small squirrel in the clearing before her, gnawing away at a nut that it had found. To the teenage girl, Sakura couldn't help but think how adorable the situation was as she edged closer to get a better look, sadly stepping into a rope trap for her trouble.

It took a moment for the pink haired girl to realise what had happened as she hung upside down from a single ankle, her hair hanging below her as she swayed side to side. Internally she was yelling at herself for falling into such a simple trap but before she cut herself free her eyes landed upon the squirrel and even from her position she could see that it was giving her the 'peace' sign before it ran behind a nearby tree and vanished from sight. Realising she had been duped, she opted to remain hanging there for another minute or two as to calm herself somewhat so that she didn't blindly charge into another of Naruto's traps. But when she found him however there would be hell to pay.

…

Hinata let out a heavy laboured breath as she watched Kiba charge towards the pale-faced man once again. They had long since abandoned any tactics that they'd been taught by Kurenai-sensei, they had started off trying to do so but only watched with wide eyes as the man managed to evade everything they threw at them. Even Shino was sweating, grunting, as he threw fist after fist at the strange Genin... the fact that the normally silent Aburame had resorted to desperate measures spoke volumes about how horrid the situation had become. It mattered little though as they were beaten without hesitation, even Akamaru didn't leave the battle unscathed as his owner lay unconscious after having been kicked viciously into a tree.

There was only one man, they had discovered, but he was about the equivalent of fifty different Genin teams. Literally anything they threw at him was thrown back at them with an air of casual airiness about him, he wasn't just laughing at them as he tore them apart piece by part, he was toying with them. Rock Lee's team had attempted to come to their aid but it had been very short lived, the young protogé of Gai-sensei had quickly been bested in Taijutsu and had been sent flying what looked like a few kilometres in the air. Tenten had taken to the trees in an attempt to catch him off guard with her weapons, something that wasn't exactly working out too well as multiple projectiles were fired back at her striking true and Neji... Neji was lying sprawled out across the ground a couple metres away from him.

Activating the Byakugan quickly, Hinata analysed her cousin's body, relieved to find that he was on the floor mostly because he had completely exhausted his chakra... he had used so much of it that despite the close range, Hinata was having trouble seeing it normally. However that was by no means the worst of his injuries, his right kneecap appeared to be shattered and the same shoulder, fractured. He wasn't unconscious, just hanging on by a thread but Hinata was unsurprised to see that he still had his Byakugan activated despite being at such an edge.

'Neji... how are you still willing to fight? Your body has been damaged and you know that if you try and fight you'll just be hurt even more... so why?' Though he hadn't spoken a single word to her since he had arrived, the heiress hadn't been struck... at least not too violently in the presence of her cousin. It had been rather selfless of him to throw himself in the way multiple times, something she was sure he had done only out of fear for what would happen to him should she die in his presence, but she appreciated the gesture nonetheless. However as his crippled body laid on the ground, blood soaking the dirt beneath him it left only the Hyuga heiress as the only one left standing against the foe who was chuckling at the sight before him. The damage she had taken was minimal in comparison to those of her teammates and the temporary allies they had gained but it was her lack of courage that had her rooted to the spot unable to move.

The prodigy of her clan had been beaten as if it was nothing, so what could she do against such an enemy? Thankfully for her the foe had remained in place, merely waiting to see what she would do. Slowly, Hinata began to move, walking forward step by step as her body visibly shook. She didn't get far however as she stepped past Neji and raised her arms to her sides, shielding the member of the branch family with her own body much to his horror yet he said nothing.

"Kukuku, this is interesting," chuckled Orochimaru as he whipped out several kunai and tossed them mercilessly, the three projectiles piercing into Hinata's skin making the Hyuga whimper in pain but she refused to back down.

The name "Orochimaru" was definitely something that she recognised as a ninja of Konoha but it was only now that it she truly realised that the man standing before her was the most notorious traitor in Konoha. Against her own will, her body began to shake in fear as she felt blood trail across her cream skin. With every passing moment it got worse and worse as though extreme amounts of pressure were being exuded by the Sannin, and she let out a little cry in pain as she felt her knees begin to buckle as another kunai lodged itself in her shoulder.

Despite having three hundred and sixty degrees of vision, Hinata couldn't even see the ground. The feeling was horrifying, as if the man's aura was ripping apart her soul as sharp kunai continued to pierce her skin with levels of precision she had never before laid eyes on before.

"It has been a while since I've crossed roads with a Hyuga," said Orochimaru as his tongue slithered in his mouth. "Kukuku and it's just my luck that I've come across two of them today."

Hinata's eyes widened in fear as the words left the man's mouth. All her allies, provisional or not, were lying on the ground battered a few metres away from her and Neji. She didn't need the Byakugan to tell that she was the only one left with the ability to move but that didn't stop her from praying to whatever deity that would listen hoping that the man in front of her would be stopped. She wasn't sure what he wanted exactly but she didn't have to be a genius to take a guess and while there were several alternates she could only imagine what Orochimaru could do with a set of unbranded Hyuga eyes.

She knew her history, Orochimaru was the very definition of a mad scientist, so it wasn't as though he'd put aside the chance to get his hands on one of, if not, the most esteemed Dojutsu in the entire ninja world. She was just glad that there was nothing which openly stated that she was the heiress of the clan, that would just be asking for trouble. Yet she was unaware of just the amount of knowledge that Orochimaru contained along with the fact that he was very aware of just who it was that was standing before him.

Running her fingers across her arms, Hinata trembled slightly as she let out another shiver. Neji's forehead was covered by his forehead protector, hers was not and the unnerving curiosity with which the snake-like man eyed her with made her feel more than uncomfortable. As the man stopped firing kunai with cruel accuracy, he advanced towards her licking his lips as he chuckled to himself in a disturbing manner. His gaze swung towards Neji almost suddenly, as though a particularly intriguing idea had crossed his mind and he slowed his advance.

Hinata wasted no time in grabbing a kunai with a trembling hand and flinging it at the Snake Sannin, she didn't care for the accuracy of it or how much damage it would do, all she wanted was to get the man to back off, to go away and leave Neji and her friends alone... they hadn't asked to be assaulted by a legendary ninja during the Chunin exams.

...

Orochimaru's face cackled into a mad grin when he saw Hinata's attempt at defending herself, it was interesting that the heiress of the most influential clan in Konoha was so weak... almost like a flower that could have its petals peeled right off. As curious he was to learn about how exactly Konoha had slipped, he wasn't there to play games. If Sasuke Uchiha wasn't present, another person would have to do—he had gone to far too much effort plotting out his plan to let a minor hitch like the Sharingan wielder's absence to throw him off guard.

Of all the Genin present, none were truly impressive as he was sure Otogakure's Genin force would have no trouble tearing them to shreds, one shone slightly above the others. As disappointing as it was to not have Sasuke present, the thought of experimenting... improvising, it was too much. He wouldn't be able to leave the poor defenceless Genin alone in the forest without trying what he was thinking of, it was too intriguing.

Kabuto has flashed him through some of the potential Genin threats, despite how ridiculous the notion sounded Orochimaru liked to be everything but unprepared, and he'd found a few rather interesting names. It seemed as though Konoha's next generation of clan heirs were present in the one exam that he'd just decided to gatecrash but as much fun as causing some political unrest would be, he wasn't looking at any of the heirs.

The Inuzuka one was less than impressive, the Aburame as stoic as ever, and he didn't even want to bother with the Yamanakas or their two closest allies. The Hyuga one on the other hand was... different. The roles of the two Genin had been reversed, the heiress to the clan was weak while the slavery seal bearing branch member was strong. Not just strong for a Genin, a prodigy, somewhat akin to what Orochimaru himself had been, except for the fact that even as an academy student Orochimaru would've been able to blow the young Hyuga out like a candle. Needless to say it would be interesting to see what happened when the Hyuga Clan's seal and his own one clashed.

As he stalked closer to the boy's near-unconscious body, licking his lips in anticipation, his face snapped up just in time for him to block a nasty strike to his chest with his forearm. His eyes widened slightly as he realised that Hinata had taken a firm stance and even though she was shaking nervously, there was an air of determined about her.

"Interesting..." he flicked her down to the ground, only for her to spring back up once again. As tempted as he was to take her out as he had to the several other Genin behind them, there was something appealing about the thought of toying with the girl so much that the even the paralyzing genjutsu that Itachi had cast on him years ago would look like a joke. However, unlike her cousin who was still trying to get to his feet despite his limbs failing to obey him, Hinata bore no competing seal upon her body. Unlike Sasuke who he knew would have searched for power to gain retribution upon Itachi, Hinata would search for power in order to protect those around her. Even against impossible odds, she was still willing to stand in danger's way and fight against an opponent who had decimated her friends and allies. Somewhere, deep within Orochimaru's dark core he couldn't help but feel a tiny ping of respect towards the shinobi of his former nation but it was heavily outweighed by all of the thoughts and possibilities that could come from such a chance.

He also wasn't foolish enough to believe that there wouldn't be somebody coming after him shortly, undoubtedly some of the Konoha ninja would have found the dead bodies of his two 'teammates' that had been mutilated before the start of the exam. As such he expected ANBU reinforcements to start coming soon and while he didn't doubt that he could handle some pitiful excuses of 'elite' shinobi, he was more worried that his former sensei may make an appearance on the scene. Alongside however many Konoha shinobi that were brought along with him, getting caught up in a full scale battle was at the moment not part of the plan. Perhaps that had been why he had held back so much, ensuring that all of the Genin present would survive for now, he couldn't help but wonder what the future of Konoha had in store and it wasn't like him to see how others would grow, yet there was one here who would be influenced by another source.

Putting his hands into a complicated seal, his neck arose from his body much to the horror of the young Hyuga who couldn't react in time as his teeth sunk into her neck. Hinata screamed out in pain, music to Orochimaru's ears as her cousin cried out her name. As he injected his chakra deep into her skin, it didn't take long for the seal to begin to form before he retraced his teeth and his neck returned to a normal shape. Before him, Hinata dropped to her knees before she completely passed out. As her body hit the ground, Orochimaru vanished, leaping away faster than any of the Genin could see. He would see with his own eyes if the next generation had what it took to play in the big scheme of things, but having another puppet at his disposal was never a bad thing.

…

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