Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, go figure.
Posted: 12/10/08
A/N: I must say that I'm glad most of you seemed to enjoy the first chapter of arc two. I'm going to do my best not to let this part of the story get bogged down in canon rehash.
A quick note about Yugito, since some people seemed confused:
When I wrote that she wouldn't be appearing for around 100k words back in chapter five (some 30k+ words ago), I meant just that.
Yugito, being from the Village Hidden in the Clouds, is not a ninja of a country allied with Konoha and therefore would never be found in Konoha for a Chuunin Exam.
For those who don't know, the allied nations consist of Konoha, Suna, Oto, Kusa, and Ame. These are the only villages represented during the exam.
That aside, I think it's safe to assume that Yugito (now fifteen) is no longer a genin.
Chapter Title: Money For Nothing by Dire Straights.
Madara and Itachi were meticulous in their dealings with the late Uchiha clan. They made sure that not a single one of their kin was spared - even killing those who were on duty outside of the clan compound at the time of their strike.
I can understand Itachi acting on his feelings and attachments, but Madara had no love left for his clan. In truth he seemed obsessed with its ultimate destruction, which begs the question:
Why is Uchiha Sasuke still alive?
Team Thirteen watched silently as the Konoha chuunin removed the thick padlock and chain from the gate leading to the Forest of Death. The man swung the gate open and gave the three young teens a curt nod.
Then they were gone.
Naruto followed Kaoru into the thick canopy – Akira right beside him. It would probably be best not to upset his teammates' strategy – whatever that might be. He'd have to sneak away without causing a stink.
He landed loudly on a branch and stopped, waiting for the others to notice his absence. The two were a good twenty feet away before Akira got the attention of Kaoru and they both turned around – Kaoru with an exasperated look about her and Akira with a curious glance.
"I have to take a piss." It was rather blunt and in poor taste if he were to be honest with himself, but he didn't have the time or inclination to take their perhaps delicate sensibilities into consideration. "I figured better now than later, right?"
Kaoru looked a bit disgusted. "Go on then. And don't do anything stupid. I'm sending Akira after you if you're not back in two minutes."
The dark haired boy gave her annoyed look, but didn't bother to retort. He seemed to be used to her attitude.
Poor bastard.
A minute and a half later, his business done, Naruto found his two teammates once again standing on the high branch where he had left them.
"Are we ready to do this then?" The girl seriously needed to lighten up.
"I'm good to go. Sorry about the wait."
Akira broke in for the first time since entering the forest. "Since we're already on a break, maybe we should quickly go over our abilities? Kaoru and I know what we're capable of, but what about you, Yellow?"
Naruto nodded. The boy had a fair point. "These are my shadow clones." He made a small gesture towards Kaoru and Akira, who spun around immediately while drawing kunai – only to find two exact replicas of Naruto standing at ease before them. "Are you familiar with this technique?"
Kaoru nodded slowly while eying the clone before her. "It's the most advanced of the clone techniques. It creates a perfect replica of the original ninja that's solid and independent of the creator." She turned back to the original Naruto with a look of awe written across her face. "Isn't this a jounin level technique?"
"Generally speaking, yes. I have above average chakra reserves so this technique is perfect for me, despite my rank. Any other questions?"
Kaoru shook her head, dumbfounded, while Akira gave a sharp nod over his shoulder.
"Alright then, let's get a move on. And please don't misplace that scroll, Kaoru."
The girl managed to slip her countenance back into the familiar scowl that the blond had grown accustomed to at the sight of his smiling eyes.
There, now that was better.
The exam had only been going on for an hour and a half when Naruto stumbled upon something he had hoped he wouldn't have to see during these exams. The shaded clearing was covered in splattered blood. It was everywhere.
He cautiously approached the mangled hunks of human flesh that lay unceremoniously in the midst of it all. He knew he had a bad feeling about these three.
It had only taken a glance at the wood and paper umbrellas that were scattered around the clearing to confirm their identities. It also confirmed that - unless someone had pissed in Gaara's morning coffee, leaving him in an abnormally bad mood – the sandy-haired boy was still a homicidal psychopath.
Wonderful.
The corpses looked like they had been crushed under immense pressure leaving most of their bodies reduced to gristly hamburger. Thankfully they were very recent kills. Naruto could handle the stench of blood, but the smell of rotting corpses still managed to turn his stomach even now.
He'd seen enough.
Turning to the underbrush at the side of the clearing, Naruto cleared his throat and spoke. "I don't suppose you saw what happened here?"
He was met with silence for a moment, followed by barely perceptible whispers and then the rustling of bushes. Three figures emerged, and Naruto was glad to see that they were ninja he'd already met. That would cut down on time significantly.
Kiba was the first out of the bushes - his arms wrapped around his trembling puppy. The tall boy – Shino – and Hinata cautiously followed afterwards. Naruto didn't much blame them.
"He just killed them. He killed them like it was nothing – like they meant nothing." Kiba's voice was trembling slightly as he picked his way among the pools of blood. He stopped a good twenty feet from Naruto and conspicuously averted his gaze from the disfigured lumps on the ground at the blond's feet.
Naruto sighed and walked towards the three, seemingly oblivious to the bloody mud that stuck to his boots.
Hinata looked even worse than Kiba did. Her face was covered in sweat and she appeared to be trembling. Shino's steady hand on her shoulder was probably the only thing that was keeping the poor girl standing.
"I'm sorry for the loss of your comrades." It was the first time that the tall boy had spoken in Naruto's presence.
Naruto took a moment to process his words. Oh, right. These were Rain ninja. "I didn't know them personally, though I'm sure no one will be happy to hear about this. While killing is permitted here it's certainly frowned upon – especially when done in such a manner."
"If it's any consolation, this was done by…"
Naruto cut him off. "I know who it was. Sabaku no Gaara and his siblings – though I doubt the puppeteer or his sister had much of a hand in this mess."
"Sabaku… I am sorry for that, then."
Kiba blinked. "What does his name have to do with it?"
Naruto calmly appraised the Inuzuka. "His clan name is important when you consider that it is also shared by the sitting Kazekage. In fact that team is composed of the Kazekage's three children. Exacting some form of retribution on them in or out of this tournament becomes more complex as a result, you see."
Hinata shuffled uneasily. Naruto couldn't help but feel sorry for the poor girl. She didn't seem to have the constitution for this sort of work.
"So just because they're the Kazekage's kids they get to get away with doing that? I'm telling you, that Gaara kid is crazy! How could anyone let him into a tournament like this?" Kiba's nerves were obviously still rattled and he was practically ranting now.
Shino seemed to have caught onto that fact. "This tournament is about showing a country's strength, Kiba. Even if he is unstable, he is still a powerful ninja."
"B-but why did he act like that? Why did he kill those people?"
Naruto turned to the introverted girl and stared at her quietly for a moment. What could it hurt? "Gaara suffers from a rare condition that not only grants him unique powers over sand – which I assume you saw firsthand – but also adversely affects his psyche. The result is a very powerful but unstable warrior."
Shino pushed his sunglasses up his nose in response, while Kiba gave an indignant shout.
"What sort of condition turns you into a bloodthirsty monster, huh?"
Naruto crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow in the dog trainer's direction. "Well, sealing a bijuu into your newborn son can cause such a condition to manifest, if you catch my meaning."
"Are you telling us that Sabaku no Gaara is a demon host?" Shino was finally showing some emotion now. His voice betrayed his shock and concern.
"That's what I'm telling you. And if your team manages to pass this portion of the exam, I would suggest avoiding him at all costs. If you find yourself pitted against him, give up immediately before the fight can start. Even the proctors may not be able to stop him once he gets hold of you."
Shino stood as straight as a board while Kiba just nodded, eyes wide. Strangely enough, it was Hinata who was the first to speak.
"Why are you telling us this?"
Naruto turned and let his eyes wander across the clearing before looking back at the three Konoha ninja. "This may be a tournament in which killing is acceptable and common, but it is still just that – a tournament. I just don't care to see any more lives wasted for the sake of something as meaningless as rank."
Kiba nodded again. "Well thanks for the info and advice. We'll be sure to pass it on when we get the chance."
Naruto turned to leave. "No problem."
He paused then and looked down at himself carefully, brows furrowing in a pained grimace. "Bugs…" Naruto's accusing gaze locked with Shino's for an instant before he disappeared in a cloud of white smoke.
"What the… you didn't have to do that, Shino!"
The tall boy ignored his partner's outburst completely, choosing to speak quietly to himself.
"A shadow clone? How interesting…"
Naruto spent most of the first night scouring the forest – making sure, of course, that he kept his distance from the rogue Sannin running amok. It wasn't particularly difficult. Who else but the legendary ninja could or would set off such a large scale Great Breakthrough jutsu in the midst of the exam?
He couldn't make his next move until the Sannin was well and truly gone.
In the meantime, Naruto amused himself by robbing unsuspecting genin squads of their scrolls – destroying all but two. It was better to be prepared in case his team ran into unanticipated trouble. His many clones throughout the Forest of Death transformed into various three-man teams that he had caught sight of during the first portion of the exam and proceeded to attack at random - relieving three teams of their scrolls quickly.
Then he decided to mix things up and began disguising his clones as teams from the same village as their targets. While a number of teams – especially those from villages other than Konoha – thought nothing of it, others were truly shocked at the apparent betrayal of their supposed allies.
It was comical.
Best of all was when one of Naruto's squads transformed into perfect copies of the team they chose to attack. In the chaos that ensued, one of his poor victims had almost managed to eviscerate his teammate on the end of a kunai. The young team's inexperience was obvious when they so easily confused their friends with their foes.
Perhaps they would be better coordinated the next time they chose to take the Exam.
It wasn't until the early hours of the morning of the second day that Naruto sought out his real target. The poor pink haired girl – Sakura – was barely managing to stay awake. At least she had had the willpower to protect her team through the night – even though he doubted that she'd be capable of putting up much of a defense if pressed.
He quickly scouted the surroundings and found two hastily constructed traps. Upon closer inspection, he was mildly impressed to find that they had been built to work in conjunction with one another – the first a fairly obvious pitfall and the second a swinging log held in place by thin ninja wire that was barely discernable in the early morning light even to his trained eyes.
The girl may have come off as a horrible ninja, but at least she was clever.
Avoiding her notice was simple given her level of alertness. She barely spared a second glance at a squirrel that wandered into the clearing beyond scaring it away from her first trap.
Taking stock of his surroundings one last time, Naruto decided that now was the time to act. He jumped down from his perch amongst the thick canopy and landed next to the hollowed out tree that the girl had secured her two comatose teammates in - only five feet from the exhausted kunoichi.
Her nerves were an absolute wreck. She started badly at the sound of his landing and clutched a kunai close to her chest, eyes gazing around madly before falling on his unassuming form.
"Hey there."
Sakura hunched over and took a deep breath, trying to calm her nerves while never taking her eyes off of his own. "What do you want? Can't you see my team is in no condition to fight?"
Naruto raised his gloved hands before him in an effort to placate her. "Relax. I'm not here to hurt you or your team."
The girl shuffled backwards into the hollow of the tree, obviously trying to put herself between Naruto and her helpless comrades. "Then what do you want?"
Naruto lowered his hands only to point at the resting boys. "Orochimaru of the Sannin attacked your group, right? I'm here to take a look at the cursed seal he gave the Uchiha." He paused for a moment in thought. "At least I'm assuming he gave him a cursed seal."
Sakura's eyes widened in fear as she strengthened her two handed grip on the kunai before her. "How do you know about that? Are you working for Orochimaru?"
Naruto let out a light chuckle at that. "No, no. Nothing like that. I'm just curious. I've never seen a cursed seal up close, ya know?"
Apparently, she did not. "That's what's giving Sasuke such a high fever? The cursed seal? What is it? What did Orochimaru do?"
Naruto was becoming impatient. "Let me in there and I'll answer all the questions I can."
The girl still didn't seem keen on letting him by.
"Look, I'll even let you hang onto my kunai pouch and shuriken holster. How about that?"
The girl's eyes went to the long pouch strapped to Naruto's right leg at his words. She furrowed her brows in thought for a moment before acquiescing. "Alright, fine. But you'd better not try anything."
Naruto nodded and removed his two equipment pouches before dropping them to the soft earth next to the girl. Then he stepped around her, completely ignoring the death grip she still had on her kunai.
Naruto crouched between the two unconscious boys and observed the Uchiha silently before turning his attention to the pale boy. "What happened to this one?"
Sakura had stood and moved behind Naruto to look over his shoulder. She still clutched the kunai closely to her as though it were a lifeline. "Sai got knocked out fighting Orochimaru. I'm not exactly sure what's wrong with him." Upon seeing Naruto reach out to lift his head, the girl panicked. "What are you doing?"
Naruto turned to look at her over his shoulder. "I was going to examine him to see what the problem is."
"Are you a medic ninja then?"
"I have some training."
The kunoichi backed off a bit after that. "Oh, alright. Can you tell what's wrong with him?"
Naruto carefully lifted the boy's head and turned it gently from side to side. There was nothing wrong there aside from an ugly welt on the back of his skull. Lifting an eyelid Naruto confirmed his diagnosis. "Looks like a concussion. He should be alright after a few more hours of rest." The blond turned his eyes to the real prize before continuing. "Did you see where Orochimaru put the seal?"
"On his neck, I think. He bit him on his neck."
Naruto had to turn around from his crouched position at that. "Did you say he bit him?"
Sakura just nodded, a look of confusion laced with fear written across her face.
The blond turned back around. "Now that's fucked up." He pulled down the Uchiha's high collar and began to look for the strange seal, finally finding it on the back of the boy's neck at the junction where it met his left shoulder. "Alright, I see it. Do you mind coming over here and holding him on his side while I take a look?"
Sakura looked unsure for a moment before nervously nodding and moving to Naruto's side. She carefully placed her kunai on the soft ground on her left side where the blond couldn't reach it before looking to Naruto for instruction.
"I'm going to roll him on his side. I need you to hold him like that while I look at the seal, alright?"
He received a nod in reply.
Naruto rolled the body up onto its side and laid his hand over the strange purple seal. He could see the two bloody holes where the snake freak had bitten the boy now.
Yuck.
"What does it do?" Sakura apparently wasn't content with just watching.
"It creates a secondary source of chakra within a person's body while slowly corrupting their mind – enslaving them to Orochimaru. The chakra is incredibly harmful to the body since it's not only highly corrosive but also unnatural and foreign." Naruto indicated that Sakura could lower the Uchiha back down and they both sat back from the boy.
"In short, it's a quick and easy path to power with rather dire consequences for those who abuse it. I can only imagine it would appeal to ninja who aren't picky about who or what they have to sacrifice to achieve greater strength."
Naruto turned his attention to the pink haired girl beside him. "Sasuke here should be fine so long as he understands that there are consequences that come with using this power." He paid close attention to the worried expression that graced the kunoichi's face. Perhaps the Uchiha wasn't so noble as to resist Orochimaru's lure?
"How do you know so much about all this?"
Naruto didn't respond. He walked outside of the hollowed tree and retrieved his kunai and shuriken pouches before strapping them back on. "Perhaps instead of asking me more questions, you should be attending to your guests?"
Sakura gave him a strange look as she followed him out, her kunai back in her hands.
"Have a rough night, pinky? How about you, metalhead?"
Naruto grinned behind his re-breather. "Ooh, I like that one. How long have you been mulling it over, I wonder? You've had nearly an hour now and that was the best you could come up with? Shame."
The boy who had spoken wore camouflage pants of dark blue and gray, along with his two teammates. His light gray shirt was adorned with the kanji for "death," written three times. His gunmetal faceplate – not unlike Naruto's – sported a lone musical note engraved in its center. He scoffed at Naruto's retort and stood from his seated perch on a thick, winding root with a look of hatred on his face.
"Enough. Wake Sasuke, we wish to fight him." The speaker this time crouched low – his hunched back exaggerated by the large fur mantle he wore that trailed down his back to hang past his knees. He sported a loose gi whose long sleeves hung limply at his sides and covered his hands completely. His scalp and most of his face were covered by white bandages, which gave him the appearance of a burn victim. Maybe he was one?
The third member of the team – a kunoichi who appeared to be a few years older than Naruto and the girl beside him – wore a light gray, unadorned, sleeveless jacket similar to the blond's own armored attire. She stepped forward in what she most likely hoped was a menacing manner.
Naruto crossed his arms in front of him and leaned against the hollowed tree.
"Wake him up? How can I do that when Orochimaru knocked him out with his cursed seal?" Sakura seemed completely oblivious to the surprised expressions on the faces of the Sound ninja. "Orochimaru said he was from Sound too! Why are you here when he already attacked us? What do you want?"
The bandaged ninja stepped forward taking the role of the leader. "I don't know what that man is thinking, but we have our orders. Now wake up Sasuke or we'll kill you and your team."
Sakura was beginning to look desperate. Naruto avoided looking at her, but couldn't help but feel her gaze on him. "Tell them! Tell them that he can't wake up!"
Naruto looked back at her indifferently before turning to the three Sound ninja. "He can't wake up."
"Then he'll just have to die!" The "death" junkie sure was loud.
Naruto shrugged and continued lounging against the tree.
"Come on, Dosu. Let's just kill 'em already!"
The bandaged one – Dosu – spared his partner a glance with his good eye before speaking. "Wait a moment, Zaku." He stepped forward to Sakura's poorly disguised pitfall and bent down to lift the feeble covering meant to hide – or display – the hazard. "What a poor excuse for a trap. You really are a pathetic ninja, you know that?"
Sakura gave a small smirk – the first sign of a smile Naruto had seen on her face since meeting her in the forest – and casually cut the barely visible wire near the entrance to the hollow just as the three Sound ninja jumped to the attack.
Dosu's visible eye widened in mock surprise at the sight of a massive log hurtling towards his airborne team, but the look disappeared as quickly as it had come as he revealed the metal device on his right arm and used its power to tear through the massive hunk of wood.
Sakura's expression was priceless.
She was lucky though, for it seemed help had arrived just in the nick of time. The pink haired girl was spared the blow aimed at her head by the arrival of a green blur that sent the three attackers sprawling across the damp earth of the forest floor.
Naruto blinked at the form of Rock Lee standing tall before the fallen form of Sakura with a… squirrel… perched on his shoulder. That was odd.
"Don't worry Sakura, I promise to protect you 'til the day I die!"
It was incredibly corny in Naruto's opinion, but he'd heard stronger shinobi give dumber lines than that. Results were what mattered – or at least that's what he'd be telling himself after this was all said and done.
Dosu was the first to recover. "You may be strong with taijutsu, but there's a limit to what physical training and hard work can accomplish. I'll take pleasure in showing you the extent of your skill."
Naruto seriously doubted that this Dosu had even an inkling of where the "limit" for training existed. Still, he was interested to see how the taijutsu specialist handled this battle.
Dosu charged straight in brandishing his strange gauntlet. He seemed reliant on the thing.
The blond expected the taijutsu expert to lash out quickly before the gauntlet could come into play, but was somewhat shocked at what happened next.
Instead of attacking, Lee plunged his arm into the damp earth and pulled a truly massive root from beneath the spongy soil in order to block the Sound ninja's attack.
That was certainly unorthodox.
It was also rather brilliant.
Dosu seemed at a loss as to how to react. That hesitation would cost him. Before he could recover and defend himself, Lee had burst forward and planted his right arm and leg against the ground below the bandaged warrior before using the same kick to the jaw that he had utilized against Uchiha Sasuke. He jumped into the air, and mimicking the Sound ninja's shadow, wrapped him from behind with his own bandages. Dosu was well and truly caught, but the technique didn't end there. Lee grabbed him around the waist and plunged them both headfirst towards the forest floor while spinning at speeds impossible to achieve under normal circumstances.
That caught Naruto's eye.
Luckily for the captured ninja, his partner managed to build a cushion of air below his point of impact saving Dosu from a fatal separation between his head and neck.
Lee seemed weakened by his own attack, which only increased Naruto's curiosity. There were only a few abilities he knew of that worked quite like that – none of which he would expect to see used by a genin. Lee was too slow to stop the Sound ninja from attacking him with his sonic arm – which Dosu happily explained to his captive audience.
That was fairly stupid considering how much he seemed to rely on it in battle.
Even then – while he was laid out on the ground with his eardrum shattered and his head no doubt spinning – the green clad boy still managed to get up and take another attack in Sakura's stead. It was fairly impressive in Naruto's estimation.
And the chivalrous fool still hadn't taken off the weights he was obviously wearing on his legs.
Lee threw up and passed out. Even a nut like him could only take so much abuse, it seemed.
"Well, that was annoying."
Naruto turned his gaze toward Zaku with a look of curiosity plastered on his face. The expression was mostly lost thanks to his re-breather.
"It doesn't matter. You take care of the girl, Zaku. I'll kill the Rain shrimp."
Naruto raised an eyebrow at that pronouncement. "Don't be so hasty. I'm just here to observe. I have no reason to get involved here. Your business with the Konoha ninja here is just that – your business. I don't intend to interfere."
Sakura wore a betrayed expression on her face, her gaze darting between Dosu, Zaku, and Naruto in rapid succession.
Dosu's eye narrowed in what could have been a sneer. "You think we care? You've already overheard too much. Don't take it personally, we're just tying up loose ends."
Naruto finally stood up and uncrossed his arms, frowning all the while. He hadn't been expecting to fight here, but he needed to see how the Uchiha's predicament resolved itself. "Come on then. If you're so eager to fight, then let's have at it."
Dosu didn't need any more prodding – charging in as straight as an arrow. He was far too confident. Just as he did against Lee, the bandaged teen brought his right arm forward in a wide hook. Just like Lee, Naruto brought his left forearm up to block the Sound ninja's arm just before it connected with his head.
Dosu grinned under his bandages.
Naruto snorted at the stupidity of it all.
The blond's left arm quickly snaked around the metal gauntlet – his fingers finding purchase within the wide holes that granted the sonic weapon its ability. Pivoting his body, Naruto used his grip on the gauntlet to twist the bandaged ninja's arm violently.
Dosu didn't even have time to scream at the pain that accompanied his arm being wrenched out of its socket before Naruto's boot connected with his ribs in a sickening crunch that rang through the small clearing. The shocked ninja flailed like a rag doll as his body bounced across the forest floor before impacting solidly with a tree trunk twenty feet away.
His lone eye darted around wildly and he coughed violently. A red stain formed on the bandages covering his mouth. The teen couldn't believe what had just happened.
"Despite all your posturing, you're only a genin, so you probably haven't had much chance to fight against many opponents capable of advanced elemental manipulation." Naruto let his raised leg fall to the ground before resuming his former position against the tree trunk. "But for a wind user as accomplished as I am, your sound trick means absolutely nothing. After all, your sound waves have to travel through a medium in order to be effective. Since I control the air around my body, such a pathetic gimmick is completely useless." Naruto turned his gaze to the stunned Zaku next. "Don't even get me started on you. No one else here needed elective surgery in order to become a viable ninja."
Zaku and the raven-haired kunoichi seemed shaken from their shock at Naruto's words and quickly leapt to their teammate's side. Dosu rose slowly to his feet – still coughing intermittently – and gave Naruto an unsure look.
The blond just ignored it.
The bandaged ninja grunted as he popped his arm back into its socket against the tree behind him. "Zaku, Kin, kill the girl and her team. I'll be alright in a few minutes."
The two nodded and began an attack against Sakura, who performed about as well as could be expected of an obviously sub-par ninja. She did manage to stab Zaku though, which Naruto found amusing. The pink haired girl seemed to be on the verge of defeat when, lo and behold, the three-man team that had been hiding in the bushes the last ten minutes finally decided to jump in to help.
Naruto recognized the three as Shikamaru, Chouji, and the blonde harpy who had been all over the Uchiha prior to the first exam. While they each possessed interesting clan techniques that Naruto had only gotten a vague description of from Hanzou's journals, none of them seemed to be ready to face the relative power and ruthlessness of the Sound team.
Were all Konoha ninja so soft? That couldn't possibly be the case, given how many incredible shinobi the village had produced. Then what was it? To Naruto it seemed almost cruel to shelter the young ninja of this village to such an extent that experiences like Gaara's massacre and the Sound ninja's viciousness came as a shock to these genin.
But really, who was he to complain?
Thankfully, the three-ring circus that "Ino-Shika-Chou" versus Sound had become came to a halt with the arrival of the rest of Lee's squad. The Hyuuga seemed in no mood to let the Sound ninja off easily for knocking out his teammate.
"What's this? Some pathetic Sound declaring victory over barely-ninja? Leave now or I won't forgive you for what you did to my teammate."
Zaku's loud mouth just wouldn't quit. "Come on down here then and we'll settle up."
The Hyuuga didn't take his eyes off of the Sound ninja, but Naruto could tell his attention was elsewhere. "It doesn't look like that will be necessary."
Naruto turned around to find Uchiha Sasuke rising from his prone position in the hollow of the tree with an aura of sinister purple chakra whipping around his form. On the left side of his body – from his face to his foot – Naruto could see the black marks of the cursed seal creeping along his skin like ants in a line.
This is just what Naruto had been waiting for.
That, or for the Uchiha to die. The dark haired boy did have an awful lot of malicious, foreign chakra dumped into his system. While it was nothing compared to having a bijuu sealed inside of him, it was still a dangerous prospect even for one with the infamous Uchiha blood running through his veins.
"S-Sasuke."
The named boy ignored his teammate's concerned exclamation and stood staring at his marked arm. "This power – he gave it to me. I understand now…"
Naruto tuned him out as he went on to ramble a bit about avengers and his brother, Itachi. The unnatural power was obviously going to his head – not that Naruto could comment. He'd had issues of his own. Still did, if he were being honest with himself.
Sasuke's eyes panned over the crowd, pausing as they fell on Naruto. "Sakura, who did this to you?" He took a step in the blond's direction and his eyes flashed red.
Naruto didn't budge, his slit cerulean eyes meeting the Uchiha's, unwavering.
"We did."
Sasuke stopped and turned to face Zaku, the idiot. "Is that right?"
"Zaku, wait! Don't you understand?"
"No need to worry, Dosu. There's no reason to be afraid of this half dead idiot. I'll kill them all with one blast!"
Naruto decided that now would be an excellent time to move, seeing as he was still leaning up against the hollowed tree only feet from Hatake's team. Zaku's eyes followed him is he slowly stepped a few paces over and found another tree trunk to support him.
Zaku sneered. "I'll deal with you after them, then."
Naruto shrugged. "If there is an after."
"One blast, you were saying?" Sasuke didn't seem to have the patience or inclination to be left out of the spotlight.
The Oto ninja let loose with his technique then – even larger than before. Naruto still wasn't particularly impressed. He could get the same effect from the Great Breakthrough technique with little effort.
The Uchiha was fast, and managed to scoop up his two teammates and race around the wall of pressurized air before it slammed into the tree where they had been hidden through the night. Zaku was ready to announce his victory even before his technique was complete, and paid for it dearly when the Uchiha sent him sprawling with a backhand and then followed up with a clever shuriken and fire ninjutsu combination trick that left the fool wide open. Naruto even let loose a small chuckle when the arrogant bastard got his arms snapped by the vengeful Sasuke.
Now there was some poetic justice.
All in all the Uchiha's abilities seemed to be significantly enhanced by the seal's effects. On a good day the boy could probably even tousle with a low ranking jounin with that level of power. It was interesting. Staking out the boy had certainly been worthwhile. Naruto wasn't privy to all of Pain's intelligence on Orochimaru's operations, but in the case that the fallen Sannin had a number of such cursed seal users under his banner he could most likely cause even some of the stronger villages quite a headache.
The Oto kunoichi – Kin, Naruto had overheard – was unconscious due to the friendly fire her teammate had subjected her to during the Konoha ninja's assault. That left only the bloodied figure of Dosu standing. Naruto had to respect that. Given that he had a number of ribs broken and his two teammates were unconscious, the bandaged ninja managed to put on a strong face even in front of so much opposition.
"You're next. I hope you entertain me more than this trash." Sasuke appeared to still be going strong.
Naruto waited with eager anticipation for the one-sided fight that never came. Sakura had wrapped the Uchiha in an embrace from behind and put an end to the boy's cursed seal driven rampage. Now Sasuke got to experience the wonders of a chakra low – the same type that Naruto was often subjected to after relinquishing Kyuubi's power.
Dosu was at least smart enough to take advantage of the opportunity and promptly left with his team after giving Sasuke his earth scroll. Naruto found it disappointingly anticlimactic.
"Well, that was enlightening." Stepping forward towards the winded Uchiha, Naruto instantly found himself under the scrutiny of no less than fourteen eyes. The Ino-Shika-Chou team had emerged from the bushes after the Oto ninja's departure and stood around the injured Sasuke and Sakura leveling Naruto with mistrustful glances. "It seems you managed to survive after all."
Sakura's eyes widened. "You mean the cursed seal could have killed him?"
The rest of the assembly quickly shifted their focus to the pink haired girl in confusion.
"Given the amount and nature of that chakra, I'd say it's a miracle he survived, actually." Heads snapped back around to Naruto at his pronouncement.
"Why didn't you say anything?"
Naruto shrugged. He was doing that a lot. "No need to crush your hopes. It all turned out alright in the end, anyways."
Sasuke looked slightly pensive, but his desire to stare hatefully at Naruto won out.
"No wonder that chakra looked so odd. Are you so incapable that you have to rely on the strength of others to win your fights, Uchiha?"
At least the Hyuuga's comment relieved Naruto of Sasuke's stare. Now Naruto just had to leave before a fight broke out. Then again, that might be amusing to watch.
No. He had other loose ends to tie up.
"And just where do you think you're going?"
It was Lee's other teammate – the kunoichi. She had landed ten feet from him with a kunai held loosely in her right hand. Maybe this would be more difficult than he originally intended.
"I have to meet back up with my team, of course. They're probably at the tower by now. I doubt Kaoru will be too happy about waiting up all night for me."
The girl blinked at his flippant response.
"And just what were you doing here to begin with, Yellow?" This time, it was Shikamaru.
Sasuke's voice cut across the clearing. Apparently he was finished glaring at the Hyuuga. "It doesn't matter what he was doing. Hand over your scrolls and we might let you go without trouble."
Naruto just looked up to the white-eyed boy, who appeared as impassive as ever. "What do you think, Hyuuga?"
For nearly half a minute, all Naruto received was an emotionless stare. The boy was trying to make him sweat some, it seemed. "He doesn't have any scrolls on him."
"Then take us to your team. If you're sure they've passed already then they should have both scrolls by now." The Uchiha wasn't going to let it rest.
"Sasuke! Please stop. He helped me… us… sort of."
Naruto looked at Sakura one last time. "Don't think much of it. I was just satisfying my own curiosity." Turning to the rest of the gathering, he said his goodbyes. "Good luck with the rest of the exam, all. Hopefully I'll see a few of you in the third round."
He left to the sound of an indignant yell that sounded a lot like Sasuke. It didn't matter though – he wasn't being followed. Three minutes later he met up with a shadow clone, which dutifully handed over the two scrolls that he had spared from destruction.
Naruto had one more stop to make before meeting up with his own team at the tower.
"Anko! I have another update to make!"
She turned quickly, causing her trench coat to whip around as she glared at the door. "Idiot! I thought I told you not to interrupt me. I'm in the middle of an important discussion with Lord Hokage here."
The chuunin turned quickly to find the amused face of the old ninja looking back at him from under the rim of his large red and white hat. "F-Forgive me, Lord Hokage."
The old man waved him off. "Not at all. We were just finishing up. Go ahead and make your report."
The man nodded quickly. "Of course, sir. ANBU just reported another squad of dead ninja in the forest of death."
Anko widened her eyes in concern. "Another one? That's four now, including those killed by Orochimaru before the exam started. What happened this time? Was it the Kazekage's children again?"
"No ma'am. As you know, they finished the exam nearly twelve hours ago and it appears the only ones they killed were the Ame team we found earlier."
The Hokage pulled his hat low over his eyes at that. He regretted allowing them to enter the exam, knowing just who they were and what young Gaara contained. The rumors of Gaara's instability and the Kazekage's own efforts to rectify the problem were no secret to those shinobi of Hiruzen's stature. Still, in order to maintain good relations with Sand it had been necessary to allow them into Konoha. "Just who was it this time?"
The chuunin turned to address the Hokage. "A Sound team, Lord Hokage. They were found near the western edge of the forest."
Anko had a suspicion as to what she would hear next. She had had her own experience in that area just the previous night. Thank goodness that the ANBU captains had such excellent timing. "Were they killed by ninja?"
She received a vehement shake of the head in return. "No ma'am. Their injuries are consistent with the tigers that inhabit the area. Their bodies were covered in slashes, though it appears that they were suffering from injuries sustained earlier in a battle with other examinees."
"So they escaped their attackers and left the dense forest to tend their injuries, only to be ambushed by the giant tigers. It's a shame, but those are the realities of the Forest of Death."
"That was the conclusion I came to also, sir." The chuunin put a hand to his chin in thought. "Though it is a bit strange that there were no bite marks."
Anko laughed morbidly. "I can't blame the tigers for that. I wouldn't put anything that Orochimaru got his scaly hands on near my mouth either."
The chuunin didn't know how to respond to that, though he supposed that she did have a point.
"I'll leave things here to you then, Anko. Bird and Boar will remain with you in case Orochimaru makes another appearance, though I am fairly certain he won't be showing his face again in this exam. I'll return in four days' time to explain the final round to those who pass this stage of the exam." The old man stood slowly and left the room, giving both Anko and the chuunin small nods as he left.
"You can count on me, Lord Hokage."
As it turned out, Kaoru hadn't been thrilled to find out that her teammate had replaced himself with clones and was out wandering the forest alone for the first night. She had displayed her displeasure by disemboweling the unfortunate clone that had relayed the information to her when they had reached the tower sometime in the wee hours of the morning on the second day. Consequently, Naruto had been particularly careful when approaching his disgruntled teammates where they waited with his remaining clones at one of the many sealed doors at midmorning that same day.
Kaoru, Akira, and Naruto's three clones had managed to gather a total of four scrolls – one that they started with, one which they took from a Grass team late the previous night, and two more early that morning when a Konoha team had wandered right onto them while trying to enter the tower. Those three were currently tied up and lying against the side of the tower. The relief they exhibited when Naruto had finally appeared gave the blond the sense that they had been the unlucky recipients of Kaoru's ire over discovering his absence.
Poor bastards.
When they finally entered the tower – after a solid fifteen-minute tirade against Naruto – it took all of fifteen seconds to deduce that they needed to open two of the scrolls. In doing so, they summoned a Konoha chuunin proctor who took the four extra scrolls the Rain team produced with a mystified expression and then sent them on their way to their temporary residence within the tower. Because they finished so quickly, Team Thirteen would be able to enjoy four and a half days of free time within the tower while they waited for the second exam to end.
It sounded great until Naruto realized that, unlike their dorms in the village, these team dorms were three man rooms. While the blond had no problem sharing space with the opposite sex – he'd done it many times before on missions, after all – he wasn't sure how Kaoru would take it.
As it turned out, not well.
Naruto barely made it through her long-winded speech about… something or other. He decided not to touch her things and leave it at that. If she expected anything else from him… well that was just too damn bad.
The first hiccup in their arrangement occurred when he was returning from the men's communal shower just down the hall from their small room. Thankfully there had been no one else present due to the current low population of the tower. Not many teams had managed to pass so far. As a result, Naruto could mercifully doff his constricting outfit and get the dirt and blood out from under his nails. Those could get particularly foul if left to fester.
After a long, hot shower, Naruto padded back to his room in only a towel. Well, two actually – one around his waist and one around his head. It took real effort to dry out his wild mane of hair, after all.
Opening the door to his team's room and stepping through, he was greeted with a crystal-cracking scream. Slapping his hands over his ears, Naruto absently wondered if Kaoru had been working on her own form of sonic attack.
"What? What is it?" Akira sat up from his cot abruptly with a kunai in hand and stared around wildly for whatever threatened them. He had opted to take a nap to recover after staying up the previous night in the forest.
"Holy shit! You've got a set of lungs on you, you know that?" Naruto slammed the door quickly behind him and deftly grabbed Kaoru's arm – which was arcing toward him with a kunai in hand. "Calm down, dammit! It's just me!"
Akira's eyes settled on the half naked Naruto and he visibly relaxed, while Kaoru struggled in vain to free her arm from the blond's iron grip.
"Calm down Kaoru, that's just what Yellow looks like under the getup."
The girl's struggling died down as his words registered in her mind.
"Are you done being psychotic, then?"
"W-What the hell happened to you?"
Naruto looked down at himself before turning back to the shaken girl. "What do you mean? I've looked like this for a long time now."
"But your face! It's totally creepy!"
Naruto frowned and unconsciously licked one of his fang-like canines, causing Kaoru to shiver slightly. "I can't really help that, now can I? Plus, I think it gives me a unique appeal." As he said the last part his frown morphed into a playful smile, which unfortunately looked to Kaoru like he was sizing her up for dinner.
"Unique. Well, that's one way to say it." Akira had slipped his kunai back to wherever he kept it and rubbed his eyes blearily.
Kaoru recovered quickly, and only moments later, was surveying his upper body with intensity.
"Are we done, then?" Naruto was getting a bit tired of the scrutiny.
"No." Kaoru stepped forward and jabbed Naruto in the front of his left shoulder - just above the armpit - a bit harder than was necessary. "What's that?" Her eyes continued wandering along his arms and stopped just above each wrist. "And those."
Naruto looked at the complex circular markings tattooed on his body for a moment before replying. "They're seals, and you missed one." Naruto rolled his right arm to reveal the identical tattoo that rested on the outside of his right shoulder.
Akira sat up straighter on his cot, apparently interested in the proceedings. "What do they do?"
"They just store things."
"Like?"
"Well, the two on my forearms are for shuriken or kunai, but really I can store pretty much anything of similar size in one."
Kaoru again poked him in his shoulder. That was getting annoying. "And this one?"
Naruto glanced down at the tattoo on his left shoulder – only five inches removed from where he'd wanted it. Unfortunately, Pain had told him in no uncertain terms that he was not to seal anything onto his torso for fear of it interfering with the Kyuubi's seal array. "That's something precious to me."
With that, Naruto walked over to his own cot and began pulling his clothing together. He didn't feel the need to elaborate anymore for his teammate's sakes.
This was one of the few things that Naruto held close to his heart.
"Hey, Yellow! You made it!" Kiba was waving Naruto over from across the small cafeteria that the tower operated in order to feed the examinees that passed before the five-day time limit was over.
Naruto changed course from where his teammates were sitting to join the dog tamer and his two teammates – both of which observed him carefully as he approached.
"Shino wanted to apologize for what happened yesterday."
The tall boy didn't appear to want to do any such thing, and though his eyes were hidden behind dark shades, Naruto could practically feel the glare he was sending his teammate.
"It's alright, Kiba. He's got nothing to apologize for. It was part of the exam, after all – he was just being prudent."
At least that seemed to dissipate the Aburame's ire a bit.
"I was impressed with your solid clone. I haven't seen any other ninja our age able to form one."
Naruto couldn't be sure, but it almost sounded like Shino could form a solid clone as well. He'd have to store that information away for later use. "I have a lot of chakra, so the shadow clone is a great jutsu for me. I use it a lot, as I'm sure you'll see in the next round – assuming we fight."
Shino nodded. "The third round is one on one battles, so I'm sure we'll all be seeing one another's techniques."
Kiba was practically jumping up and down with enthusiasm. "Yeah! And you'd better hope you're not matched up against me and Akamaru, because we'll kick your ass!"
Naruto raised an eyebrow at the boy's enthusiasm. Slowly, he reached up with his hands and unhooked the massive re-breather from his faceplate before setting it softly on the tabletop next to his food. "Is that right?"
His eyes danced with amusement at the shocked looks plastered on Kiba and Hinata's faces. Even Shino's eyebrows rose above his round sunglasses.
Kiba was the first to recover, his tongue unconsciously darting out and whetting his lips while passing over his own larger than normal canine teeth. They had nothing on Naruto's fangs, however. "Wicked."
Naruto gave a mischievous smirk before turning to his food. "I'm full of surprises, so I'd be careful making such bold statements if I were you."
"Heh. Doesn't matter. Me and Akamaru are unbeatable."
Naruto nodded at the Inuzuka. The kid had plenty of confidence, at the least. Shino still appeared to be staring at Naruto's face. After a minute of watching him eat, the boy stood and collected his own tray. "Perhaps we should get some training in, Kiba, Hinata. I hear that there are practice floors on the second floor."
The Hyuuga girl nodded quietly and stood. Kiba gave his teammate a confused look before rising as well and giving Naruto a wide smile. "Well, see ya 'round, Yellow."
"Sure thing, Kiba. Good luck with your training."
With the three Konoha genin gone, Naruto turned most of his attention to his lunch – a plain fish and rice dish – which when seasoned with a liberal helping of salt was surprisingly edible. Not five minutes later he looked up at the presence of a blond haired kunoichi that he had first caught sight of the day before. The cafeteria had cleared out while he had been talking with Kiba and company, and the girl was probably a bit lonely. Upon seeing his face however, her eyes widened and she quickly turned to find a place at an empty table.
"Sit down. I don't bite." He enthusiastically bit into his meal. "Unless you're on the menu, of course."
She looked a bit apprehensive at that, but seeing no excuse to avoid him and remembering how starved she was for companionship that wasn't one of her brothers, she set down her tray across from Naruto and settled herself onto the bench.
"Hi."
"Hey there. I'm Yellow."
The girl visibly made to pull herself together. His appearance had apparently startled her more than he had first suspected.
"I'm Temari."
Naruto grinned widely, which had the effect of causing Temari to lean back a bit in her seat. "Cool. So when did you get in here? Sometime this morning?"
She shook her head slowly, lost in thought. "No, we actually finished just after sunset last night."
This didn't surprise Naruto, of course, given that he had stumbled across Gaara's path of destruction the prior evening. "Really? That's pretty damn impressive. You guys are really that strong, huh?"
Temari gave him an odd look before answering. "We're the strongest team in this exam, if that's what you're trying to get at."
"Wow, that was blunt. Guess you saved me some time though. I noticed your fan there, does that mean you use wind techniques?"
Before the kunoichi could answer, a cold voice cut across the table. "Temari, get away from him."
Naruto looked up to find Gaara standing a dozen feet from their table, sand slowly swirling around him in anxiety. "Better be careful there, that stuff'll ruin your lunch. No one likes eating dirt, after all."
"What's wrong, Gaara?"
"Get away from him. Right now, Temari." The sandy-haired boy stared at Naruto, who returned the gesture with a vicious smirk.
"We were just talking, Gaara. No need to be rude."
Temari looked at Naruto strangely upon hearing her brother's name from his lips.
"Now, Temari."
The blond kunoichi rose from her seat and moved to her brother's side, casting glances between the two younger boys in confusion.
"Still having your little temper tantrums, Gaara?"
"I'm going to kill you when we fight. I'm going to kill you. Mother will have your blood." His eyes were starting to look a little crazy.
Naruto calmly reached for the glass of water sitting next to his tray before taking a drink. "Same old song and dance then, is it? Well then, you can tell your mother that if we fight, I'll be taking just what I threatened the last time we met." He turned to look Gaara directly in the eye, a spiteful sneer spreading across his lips. "If that little trick you showed in the first exam is any indication, though, you shouldn't have any trouble without it."
Gaara brought a palm to his forehead and screwed his face up for a moment before dropping his arm and spinning on his heel. As he began walking out of the cafeteria, he turned his head to look over his shoulder. "I will kill you. I will prove my existence. No one can hurt me and get away with it. I won't allow my existence to disappear."
With that, he left.
Temari's face had slowly twisted into a look of horror as the conversation progressed. "You… you were the one?" She shook her head in consternation. "He wouldn't let anyone near him for a week after he was attacked. He almost starved to death!"
Naruto stared at her impassively. "Did he now?" He took a final bite of his meal before setting his chopsticks down. "I don't care. He tried to kill me. He got off easy."
"It's not his fault! If you only knew…"
Naruto gathered his dishes onto his tray and turned to her once again. "He's dangerous, and that's all that matters. He can't control his power, or his urges. He's an animal. If he comes after me, then I'll simply do what is done to all dangerous animals." The boy walked past the older kunoichi to return his tray at the end of the serving counter.
"I'll put him down."
"One more thing. It seems that Kin, Dosu, and Zaku didn't make it out of the forest."
"That hardly matters now. I'll simply take the place of your jounin sensei and no one will be the wiser until it is too late to act."
"Very well, Lord Orochimaru. I can only hope that Sasuke is as interesting as you hope him to be."
"I expect him to be all that and more, Kabuto. All that and more."
"Whether it was because the first two exams were too simple or because the field is exceptionally skilled in this round of exams, there are too many examinees still in the running and a preliminary round must be held immediately."
Shocked indignation was the response that the third examiner – Gekkou Hayate – received from the majority of the twenty-one genin before him.
"Before we begin, I will ask if any of you wish to withdraw from this round."
Only one hand went up, and Naruto had to admit that he was hardly surprised by the owner of said hand. Kabuto had rubbed him the wrong way when they first met, and this decision only cemented in Naruto's mind that there was something deeper about the older teen than was presented by his friendly facade. As far as Naruto could tell, he didn't seem to be injured in any discernable way.
Apparently the jounin proctors and the Hokage were equally baffled by the withdrawal.
Strange, that. He'd have to be wary if he ever met up with Kabuto again.
"No more withdrawals? Very well. The board behind me will randomly select match ups and display them. The first two examinees chosen are to stay here while the rest of you may make your way to the balconies on either side of the room."
Naruto caught Hatake Kakashi having whispered words with his dark haired student on his way up to the balcony. The man discreetly indicated the seal on Sasuke's neck and then leapt up to the balcony behind his other two charges, ignoring the frown plastered on the boy's face. At least the higher ups of Konoha were taking the cursed seal seriously, even if the Uchiha was not.
Naruto joined his team on the balcony and greeted his sensei quietly. The man just nodded back at him. He had apparently decided to cut down on the awkwardness by not speaking to Naruto at all.
Not surprisingly, the blond was perfectly fine with that.
"Uchiha Sasuke. Akado Yoroi. Are you both ready?" The two opponents nodded curtly, not taking their eyes off of one another.
"Very well. Begin!"
A/N: Just to let you know, some of the fights in this preliminary round will be canon compliant while some will obviously be different. I already have the match-ups planned out.
Next Chapter: Keep Yourself Alive by Queen.