Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto. Kishimoto Masashi does…

"spoken"

"as spoken by Kyuubi"

-thought-

-as thought by Kyuubi-

Awakening of the Slumbering Beast

Chapter 4: The Forest of Death or 'how to give snakes lethal indigestion'

Sasuke was mildly annoyed… no he was actually very annoyed. Since he'd lost to Naruto the previous day he'd been pondering the enigma that was this 'new and improved' dobe. First he'd pulled out a technique used by another village, something he was sure the moron hadn't picked up just by seeing Zabuza perform it once. Then he'd exhibited a great amount of stealth and had actually managed to pull one over, and humiliate, him… -I'm going to squeeze out the info about his new skills after or during this damn exam. I just wish he would shut up about being the leader of my team… Obviously just a fluke but still it makes me look bad.-

He had been dead set on doing the said squeezing after his match with Naruto the previous day but the dobe had simply vanished afterwards. He wasn't even at the Ichiraku's, nor was he home or in any of his usual training spots. Sasuke had abandoned his search well after nine, only to miss the object of his fervent search returning from a psyching session, which involved only slight warm-ups, with Lee and Gai-sensei. When Naruto had appeared to the academy there wasn't the time, or the privacy, to grill him about his abilities and Sasuke was yet again forced to delay the inevitable. He vowed that the dobe's secrets would be his soon enough…

After entering he'd gotten to a slightly better mood though. There had been a slight scuffle at the door to the fake room 301 which had been stopped by a weird green spandex wearing Genin. Then he'd met someone who really piqued his interest… Hyuuga Neji, last years 'Rookie of the year' and reputedly the greatest genius born in the Hyyuga clan in a hundred years, incidentally Sasuke was appalled that someone could be so arrogant and overconfident as the said boy was… nonetheless here, finally, was someone worthy to fight. Naruto had naturally ruined the moment by giving an order, an order… of "Stop that pointless staring contest and let's go already". His mood, already sufficiently dark, was about to get worse when Lee appeared and challenged him to a fight… that was prevented by Naruto who politely asked Lee not to damage his SIDEKICK. He'd been seething since then, devising ways to make Naruto suffer…

The said boy was in a tight spot at the moment. Ino had jumped out of the blue and latched herself to Sasuke squeaking a delighted "Sasuke-kun you are late!... You too Naruto-kun!" which caused an instant reaction from Sakura who jumped to defend her claim on Sasuke. Naruto felt threatened, he was in between two scary girls who would probably beat him into a pulp if he sided with either one. Luckily he was rescued by appearance of Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Choji who were soon followed by Team Eight. Using the distraction that these new arrivals caused Naruto was able to slip away from the bickering girls and into relative safety of the other rookies.

Inuzuka Kiba, or dogboy as Naruto dubbed him, was bragging to Sasuke about how they had trained a lot and would kick everyone's ass. So Naruto decided that a loud "Shut up! Sasuke might lose, but I won't lose to the likes of you!" was in order. His proclamation was answered by very faint and stuttering voice belonging to Hyuuga Hinata who was, in his opinion a weird and shy girl who always looked away when he looked at her… Kyuubi giggled for some reason at this mental description of the girl.

Keeping her eyes downcast, and using all her willpower not to faint or get yet another nosebleed… the images of Naruto in the process of removing his pants was permanently imprinted into her mind, she managed to stutter out a "Gomen Naruto-kun, Kiba-kun didn't mean it in that way…" which caused Kiba to raise an eyebrow at her -Damn, there she goes again… can't she realize that if she wants to make me jealous she should pick someone more plausible as a fake target of affection than that moron…-

The third member of Team Eight, Aburame Shino didn't say anything but took note of Kiba's reaction. -Damn, there he goes again… why is he so dead set on the idea that Hinata-chan is in love with him and is only trying to make him jealous by getting all tongue tied on the mere mention of Naruto. Seems that Naruto is over Sakura too… this could get messy if he realizes that Hinata is head over heels for him and decides that he too might like her.-

The situation was escalating, Hinata had let out a surprisingly loud "Kawaii!" after having noticed Akai-chan peeking from her carry pouch and had made beeline towards the said fox. Kiba, and to an extent Akamaru who immensely enjoyed the prolonged petting sessions he got from Hinata, instantly felt surges of jealousy and rushed forward to protect their interests causing Shino to move forward and restrain the dogboy and his dog. Hinata on the other hand suddenly became aware that she was only an arms length away from the object of her affections and petting something that she had snatched from… from Naruto-kun. Mortified by the situation she was barely able to hear Naruto who was currently saying something about "…Akai-chan and I think she likes you…" promptly handed the fox back to Naruto while sputtering out apologies and then quickly hid behind Shino's back.

This volatile situation was defused by the arrival of a silverhaired Genin who introduced himself as Kabuto and warned them against attracting too much attention. He then proceeded to explain how he was a seventh time veteran and volunteered to give a few tips to the rookies of the bunch. He then flashed out a deck of cards and began to explain how his 'nin-info cards' worked.

Soon enough Sasuke was hooked and asked "Do you have individual info cards? And if so would you happen to have info on Sabaku no Gaara of the Sand, Rock Lee and Uzumaki Naruto of the Leaf?"

Kabuto nodded and said "You have their names… should be easy then." whipping out cards on Lee and Gaara he explained the basics on them. When he was about to turn over Naruto's card the foxboy in question decided to cut in "You know Sasuke-teme, if you want to know about me… you could just ask"

Kabuto raised an eyebrow over his glasses. "You are Naruto-kun?" Seeing him nod he quickly scanned the contents of the card and looked over at the boy again. "There's some interesting stuff in this card…" he nodded towards the other rookies "…is it ok for me to show it to them?"

Naruto pondered for a moment, there could be stuff about Kyuubi there though he doubted that. "Can I see it first?" he asked and was immediately given the card. Looking it over he handed it back to Kabuto and shrugged. "Yeah, sure… though I think that bit about my academy graduation is supposed to be classified or something. But then again, maybe not…"

This conversation had naturally piqued everyone's curiosity and they were now dying to see the card, especially Sasuke who was ready to make a grab for the said card had Naruto declined to show it. Whipping the card around Kabuto held it up for everyone to see. "Uzumaki Naruto: Worst in his class in every subject. His graduation from the academy was rather unusual as well… after failing to produce a viable Bunshin during the exam he was tricked by a teacher to break into the Hokage tower and steal a forbidden scroll of seals. He then saved another teacher and defeated the traitor using 'Kage Bunshin no Jutsu' a Jounin level technique that he'd mastered in space of few hours."

Checking the card again for more info he continued. "After graduating was placed into Genin Team Seven. Mission record is: D-rank 19, B-rank 1, A-rank 1. Wow successfully completed A and B rank missions as a Genin, that's fairly unusual…" He stopped for a moment "According to my info his taijutsu and ninjutsu are average at best and genjutsu below that, he hasn't been rated for those recently though so it's hard to say… hmmm… it also says here that he has recently activated a dormant bloodline limit which grants him enhanced senses… Not bad." Raising an eyebrow in surprise he continued "Stamina and chakra are off the charts for a Genin, probably somewhere between Chuunin and Jounin… also report from his teachers and Jounin instructor states that he is 'loud'."

Flipping Naruto's card back into the deck he looked back at the rookies who were more or less intimidated by the realization that they were in a serious situation and would be competing against the best the other villages would have to offer… Naruto had even begun to shake making Kabuto think that maybe he wasn't so confident as he was reputed to be. Sakura was about to cheer him up when the blonde let loose a deafening "MY NAME IS UZUMAKI NARUTO! I WON'T LOSE TO YOU BASTARDS!" followed by a loud "YOU GOT THAT!" and a delighted "Ahh… that felt great!"

This bold, others would describe it as suicidal, declaration caused a multitude of reactions. Gaara simply shrugged, he wasn't going to pick a fight with other Jinchuuriki, and told his brother to shut up and stay away from Naruto. Neji scoffed when Lee pumped his fist in the air and declared something about the power of youth and Naruto in particular while Tenten simply shrugged. Kiba was sort of pissed for Naruto hogging the spotlight but decided that it would only make him look worse when he'd get his butt kicked later in the exam. As for the rest, Ino bonked Sakura on the head after she stated that "Naruto is too stupid to be intimidated." and Hinata was simply blushing and twiddling her fingers while repeating -Naruto-kun... so strong… brave… Naruto-kun…- in her mind.

Some punks from the hidden sound also took offence, whether it was from Naruto's challenging outburst or from stating that the Hidden Sound was a minor and insignificant village, and picked a fight with Kabuto… only to be interrupted by a poof of smoke and a loud. "Quiet down you worthless bastards!" The smoke soon cleared revealing a group of Chuunins led by a large, scarred man who introduced himself as Morino Ibiki, the head examiner for the first test.

After everyone was seated Naruto heard a faint, he probably would have missed it was it not for his enhanced hearing, "Naruto-kun…" that caused him to turn to see a blushing Hinata, something which confused him to no end… the girl was acting like lovesick, albeit shy fangirl and that just didn't make any sense. "Let's do our best" came out in a stuttering voice to which Naruto replied with an absent nod, he was at the time trying to badger Kyuubi into helping with the test. Continuing his argument with the demon fox he, in an effort to get more comfortable as it was somewhat hot in the classroom, removed his vest causing, much to Kyuubis amusement, a stifled gasp from blushing Hinata who quickly covered her nose with a handkerchief. On a related note, there were similar reactions from several other females who got a good view of Naruto in a revealing fishnet shirt.

Not soon after Ibiki had explained the rules of the exam making Naruto sweat lightly from the intense killer intent that was flowing towards him from two distinct sources...namely his teammates. After the exam begun Naruto quickly scanned the questions with Kyuubi, who after some coaxing had agreed to help… although Naruto couldn't for the life of him understand why Kyuubi would want to be called 'Kyuu-chan the greatest scientific genius in the universe' before agreeing to help, he shrugged it off as a probable 'girl thing'. The questions were hard, too hard for most Genin and there was something weird about the 10th question.

"There's a catch here kit, there's something about that 10th question… hmm most curious. Anyway you could just take a nap and we'll answer that last question correctly… saves us the trouble of writing all sorts of complicated equations on the small amount of space allotted." With that and a small giggle Kyuubi was again immersed in her plan to make Naruto realize that Hinata had a crush on him… and dreaming about the power of 'grandchildren' with a combination of Byakugan and Naruto's demonic blood… she let out loose another barrage of giggles causing Naruto to wonder just what the hell was the damn fox plotting.

He soon got bored though, napping just wasn't an option when there was so much tension in the air. Not to mention that the killer intent he'd felt earlier had intensified when he had tried to take a nice nap. Deciding to be creative he began to doodle on the answer boxes, blissfully unaware that Hinata could see what he was doing with her Byakugan and was mortified by this carefree attitude. A soft whisper of "Naruto-kun… you can look at my test" from his right side interrupted his doodling. Quickly glancing over he noticed a blushing, as per usual, Hinata who was holding out her test paper for him to see and whispering "You can look at my answers… Naruto-kun"

He quickly declined, hastened by the scratching of pens he heard from the 'watchdogs', explaining that he was just passing time until he got the last question and pointing out that she might get into trouble from helping him. He was confused by Hinata again though, no one had ever offered to do something like this for him, more he thought about it the louder Kyuubi's giggles, snorts and outright laughter got… the bastard fox obviously knew but didn't volunteer info. He went through a myriad of reasons but none of them seemed to fit. -Maybe she was trying to set me up with false info or something…but that doesn't seem to me like something Hinata would do. Heh, maybe she's in love with me or something…- shaking his head in amusement he dismissed the idea as absurd and continued his artistic work.

Some time and several abstract pieces of art later, the head examiner Morino Ibiki, announced his do or die rule for the 10th question. Naruto tensed initially but soon relaxed as Kyuubi explained her theory of the question "Quite clever this human, I bet he's using this as a trick question to see who's willing to risk it all to continue… It might be enjoyable to talk with this one someday he seems well versed in psychology." The now reassured Naruto raised his hand and then slammed it into the table yelling "Don't underestimate me, I will not run and even if I will remain Genin forever I'll still become Hokage somehow… I'm not afraid!"

This caused the tension to deflate instantly and made Ibiki cringe as the few who had been teetering on the edge of giving up apparently grew a spine after Naruto's outburst. He smiled and said "You all who stayed have now passed the first part of the exam…" and began to explain exactly why they had passed while taking note that Naruto had started furiously scribbling something to his test sheet. -Interesting guy, this Uzumaki Naruto…-

Ibiki had just wished them luck when a ball of cloth shot through the window, and then with the help of several kunai turned into a banner, heralding the entrance of the examiner of the second test… Mitarashi Anko. The examiner was quite baffled when there was almost no reaction from the group who had the collective thought of -Sheesh, she's just as loud as that blonde moron- running through their minds, but shrugged it off and began to question Ibiki about why there were so 26 teams still left, followed by a statement that she would reduce the numbers by at least half. After that she gathered the Chuunin hopefuls, of whom some were quite anxious by that last statement, and led them towards training area 44 leaving behind Ibiki in the now empty classroom.

Ibiki, his curiosity roused by Naruto's antics took note of the blonde's test sheet. To his amusement the answer boxes had been turned into cartoon screens that depicted someone, who apparently was Naruto, beating up others participants of the exam. On the bottom left box was a surprise though, a doodle of a fox with nine tails was drawn there with a word balloon that said "Nice work on the test Ibiki-san, for a human, though you could have upped the pressure a bit… If you want tips on making it nastier for the future takers do pay the boy a visit…" He didn't move a muscle for a long time until he, all the while chuckling, folded the sheet and went to look for the Hokage… interesting guy indeed.

Near training area 44 or the 'Forest of Death' Anko was attempting to scare her charges only to be foiled by Naruto who made a quite comic imitation of her Forest of Death introduction and, what was worse, caused amusement instead of trepidation among the Genins. Deciding to make an example of the blonde she flipped out a kunai and threw it towards Naruto slicing open his cheek and causing lovely red blood to spill out… tasty blood that she was happily licking off Naruto's cheek. After having her Kunai returned by a long tongued ninja from the Hidden Grass she remarked in a suitably cheery voice… "Looks like we have a lot bloodthirsty ones in the test… this should be fun." …succeeding in totally creeping most of the Genins out, she began to give out consent forms.

Naruto was troubled… Anko had given them thirty minutes to decide whether or not to sign their forms. That didn't bother him, he had signed his and was quite sure that both Sakura and Sasuke would sign theirs as well. What bothered him was the weight of responsibility, he was the leader and he was supposed to come up with a plan of sorts that would get them through a difficult mission that could last five days… more than that he was supposed to make a plan that would not only keep them alive but keep them in the exam as well. Sighing he absently scratched Akai, a habit he had developed when he was in deep thought, and stopped his aimless walking when he noticed Hinata who seemed to be in deep thought too. -I really should thank her for that offer of help during the first exam…- With this though he headed towards the girl and called out "Hey Hinata, what are you doing here?"

Hinata stiffened, blushed and turned towards Naruto while stuttering out "…Naruto-kun… umm… hmm…" She then noticed the cut on Naruto's cheek and rummaged through her equipment pouch for a jar of healing salve she'd made herself and in her haste totally ignoring Naruto who was thanking her. Much to Naruto's amazement she then lifted the jar of salve while mumbling out a "Ano, here… salve… wound…"

-Huh… what's this? Healing salve for my cheek or something? Sheesh there she goes again, first trying to help me at the exam and now this… Heh maybe she really does like me or something.- Taking the salve and nearly causing Hinata to faint when their hands accidentally brushed together he said. "Hey Hinata I actually was trying to thank you for what you did in the exam and now you give me a healing salve… I really can't take all of this you know."

-Arrrgh why am I such a weakling that I can't tell him… I must be stronger and tell him that I know he isn't the Kyuubi, that he's someone I look up to…- Blushing furiously she struggled to gather courage and let out a "Naruto-kun… please you must…" after which she hung her head. -Damn it Hyuuga Hinata… you are so weak.-

Naruto only shook her head at the girl but decided that it would be impolite not to accept the gift. "Well if you insist then… I guess I'll take it." He flashed out a dazzling smile causing the shy Hyuuga's heartbeat go wild. "But in return, you'll have to let me treat you to some deluxe ramen at Ichiraku's as way of saying thank you…" This pretty much froze Hinata's mind, after all she'd just been asked out by none other than 'Naruto-kun', but she did manage a strangled "Hai" and a shy nod.

Seeing as that was settled Naruto bid a brief farewell, pointedly ignoring the hoots and catcalls from Kyuubi, and set out to find his team to discuss the plan he had formed. Soon after he found both Sasuke and Sakura who had their consent forms ready and signed. In a hushed tone he told them to listen up "I think we should head towards the tower using our best speed… If we meet any other teams on the way we take them out and hope they have the right scroll on them, if not then we set up traps near the tower and ambush any teams that come our way until we get the right one. Then we enter the tower, which I think is a safe-zone, to wait out the remaining time." after explaining his plan he asked for opinions. Sakura and Sasuke both agreed as they had been thinking on the same lines themselves, though Sasuke wanted to stay near the tower and ambush more teams… an idea that Naruto, and surprisingly, Sakura both opposed.

Not soon later Team Seven was heading towards the tower. Naruto was running point carrying Akai and keeping a keen eye, ear and nose to the surrounding. They were followed by Sakura while Sasuke, carrying their heaven scroll, was bringing up the rear some twenty five meters behind Naruto. After about twenty or so minutes later Naruto, on Sakura's request, called for a break. Deciding that it was a good time to answer the call of nature he let Akai out of her pouch and went, again on Sakura's 'request', some distance away to do his business… only to be ambushed by a trio of Mist nins. Well they didn't really ambush him, he heard them coming even before the clearing he was on began to fill with mist. -Heh that won't work too well against me I'm afraid… maybe we'll get lucky and they have an earth scroll...-

The Mist nins, who'd been certain of an easy victory, soon realized that the mist they had created hindered them more than it did their intended prey. And that their prey wasn't all that alone when all of them were simultaneously and efficiently pummelled into oblivion by Naruto and five aiding clones. The mist faded along with the consciousness of the Mist nins leaving Naruto and the clones free to search their bodies and soon one of the widely grinning clones tossed Naruto a scroll. Too bad it was a heaven scroll though, but still… when combined with a stack of explosive tags he'd found not bad loot for such an easy job. Snickering to himself about the stupidity of his would be stalkers and about the dismay Sasuke would feel from not having been in the fight he dismissed the clones, finished his business and headed back towards the others… and received a fist in face as greeting from Sasuke. Flying backwards against a tree he yelled in confusion "What the hell did you do that for you bastard?"

Sasuke meanwhile was stalking Naruto and demanded to know where the real Naruto was. Seeing the confusion he pointed at 'Naruto' and declared that he was a fake because there was no cut on his cheek. This caused the said 'Naruto' to feel his cheek and exclaim "Wow… You are right teme, it's healed. That stuff Hinata gave me must be amazing." Standing up he glared at Sasuke "And you… I'm the real Naruto and Akai-chan can prove it for me." Much to Sakura's relief and Sasuke's dismay the said fox happily bounced to Naruto and began yapping away causing Naruto to nod at his pet fox "Yes, yes Akai-chan he's a degenerate bastard who's paranoid… for a good reason though, I ran into some trouble and all…"

Naruto didn't have time to explain about the trouble he had been in as a violent gust of wind suddenly swept him of his feet and into the air. When he came to his senses the first thing he noticed was that he wasn't alone, though given the company of an overtly large snake he would have preferred to be. The snake wasted no time in attacking and while Naruto managed to dodge the initial attack he wasn't able to avoid the tail and was subsequently swallowed. His discomfort at the thought of being eaten was heightened by a slight tingling of his skin that began immediately after he was swallowed into the snake's gullet and Kyuubi's disdainful "Kit I seriously don't feel like turning into snake shit…"

Thinking for ways to get out from the snake's digestive tract he thought about burning his way out with foxfire but just as he was about to do so he remembered something else… a mental image of him and Sasuke eating too much and then barfing. Several moments of silence followed before a muffled "Take this! Kage Bunshin no Jutsu" was heard, followed by the snake suffering a lethal overdose of Uzumaki Naruto. Sniffing himself in disgust Naruto performed a set of hand seals to activate a low level water jutsu that he used to douse himself with water, sniffing himself again he decided that the stench was bearable until he found his team and/or a stream… whichever came first.

Meanwhile Sakura and Akai-chan, who had found Sakura only minutes after the wind had hit, met with Sasuke who was, judging from Akai's behaviour, the real deal. They were at the moment following Akai towards the direction where Naruto had flow off to when they came face to face with the boy in question only to go defensive when Akai began to growl furiously at the impostor. The dispelling henge revealed none other than the long tongued ninja from the Hidden Grass. "Hmm annoying pet you got there… belongs to the blonde loudmouth does it not. Well no matter, this only makes it more fun." The creepy ninja then pulled out an earth scroll, wrapped his freakish tongue around it and of all things swallowed the scroll whole. "Now, let's begin the battle for each other's scrolls… with our lives."

They were struck down mercilessly, kunais stabbed into their skulls as they watched helplessly. Sasuke lost the contents of his stomach at the overwhelming fear. Struggling against it he managed to pull out a kunai and in a final act of desperation plunge it into his own leg to distract himself from the fear. The last ditch attempt worked too, he was able to pull Sakura out of harms way. Pulling out the kunai that was still in his thigh he silenced Sakura. Sakura however managed to free herself and scream out "Sasuke-kun, snake!" just in time for them to evade the attacking reptile. Peppering the offending animal with shuriken Sasuke landed panting, only to see its skin crack to reveal the, now even creepier, Grass ninja who instantly began to 'slither' around a tree branch only to be stopped by a few well placed shurikens.

There, on a higher tree branch, dirty and with a confident grin on his face, stood none other than the Uzumaki Naruto. "Sorry for being late guys but I had a dinner engagement I couldn't talk my way out of…"

The Grass nin sneered at this "Looks like you successfully defeated my giant snake… Naruto-kun, maybe you aren't as worthless as you initially look like."

Naruto wasn't least bit intimidated. "So it was you huh? Well your snake ate something that didn't agree with his stomach… a severe case of indigestion I'm afraid." He was about to goad the snake freak some more but was cut off by Sasuke who decided to play politician and surrender their scroll to the Grass nin. This didn't sit well with Naruto though and he jumped to grab the scroll and punch Sasuke. "What the hell are you doing you cowardly bastard? Just because you are too scared to fight doesn't mean you can do what the hell you want… and there's no guarantee that this freak would let us go even if you gave him the scroll."

Sasuke was about to retort but was cut short from a chilling cackle that came from the Grass nin. "You are correct Naruto-kun… I have no need to let you go seeing as I can easily kill you for the scroll." He began to leak out killing intent from his eyes again in an attempt to paralyze his victims, an attempt that worked on Sakura, Sasuke and apparently Naruto, then again maybe not. Naruto was frozen yes, but not because of fear, he was frozen because the eyes that stared him from the face of this Grass nin were the same eyes that he'd seen in his dream… Eyes he'd seen when the Sandaime had used a henge to transform into a likeness of Orochimaru.

In a burst of primal rage he dashed forward, only to be slammed towards a nearby tree by the tail of a snake that had suddenly appeared in a cloud of smoke. This didn't slow him down though, he wiped his mouth clean of blood, ran his tongue across the now menacing fangs that had formed and grabbed half a dozen shurikens. Throwing them towards the snake summoner, who was smiling somewhat conceitedly, he yelled out "Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu" turning the six shurikens into a hailstorm of six dozen shurikens. Orochimaru was no longer smiling, he had managed to dodge the shurikens but they had effectively pummelled his summoned snake out of existence and the brat was now stalking him and the eyes… "Orochimaru… I will kill you… You set Kyuubi against Konoha you bastard and because of you I had to grow without parents." … there was no mistaking it. This was the Kyuubi brat but how in the nine hells did he know about his involvement in the Kyuubi attack and how had he recognized him.

Orochimaru was again forced on the defensive when another six dozen shurikens came flying towards him. This time the shurikens were only covering a nastier surprise. Two kunai, wreathed in odd blue flame came in the shadow of the shurikens. He managed to dodge one but the other embedded itself in his left hand causing the most excruciating pain he'd felt in some time. The wound began to bleed out bluish flames as Naruto's foxfire spread outwards from the kunai, this was one of his better tricks though he could only maintain it for a few moments. The foxfire suddenly blinked out of existence leaving dumbfounded Orochimaru staring at his blackened hand and more specifically the kunai itself and a familiar seal that was engraved into it. With an evil grin he turned towards the 'Kyuubified' Naruto and said "Kukukuku… so he sealed it inside his own whelp, this almost too deliciously ironic to be true. Had you not caused me so much pain I would be inclined to invite to join me Naruto-kun… but alas you may have cost me a hand so in return…"

With that he shot out with speed that was beyond anything Naruto had seen and appeared before the startled boy. He then produced his freakish tongue and wrapped it around Naruto, uncovering his stomach at the same time. "Kukuku…so the seal is transferring energy to you Naruto-kun, we'll have none of that now. Gogyo Fuin!" with that he slammed his right hand onto the existing seal causing Naruto to yell out in pain. Then, after grabbing the heaven scroll, with a disdainful flick of his tongue he hurled the boy away and turned to the two remaining members of Team Seven.

Sakura who had shaken herself from the fear saw Naruto fall and threw a kunai which pinned the blonde into a tree. The she began to yell to Sasuke and managed to spark some response from the petrified boy. Sasuke then began a furious battle with the miffed Orochimaru and was doing rather well against him seeing how he was almost unable to use his left hand. He managed to trap Orochimaru with chakra strings and then burn off his face only to be again immobilized by him. Before leaving he bit Sasuke on the neck and said "Sasuke-kun will seek me out… to seek power and to become strong like Naruto-kun, it's not like he can otherwise." With that he sunk into the tree branch and vanished leaving a collapsing Sasuke and panicking Sakura behind.

Naruto was feeling like crap, he hadn't passed out when that bastard Orochimaru did something to his seal but it'd been a close call. He'd managed, with help from Sakura, drag himself into a nearby cave where he promptly collapsed and fell asleep. When he woke up it was nearly dawn and he wasn't feeling any better either, he was feeling… crippled actually as if something that had always been part of him was missing. Pulling up his vest he stared at his stomach and there it was… the seal had now additional markings. Few tests later he realized that not only did the additional seal block him off from Kyuubi's chakra it also pretty much crippled or unbalanced his own chakra system. Frowning Naruto sat up and motioned for Sakura. "Sakura-chan, that bastard Orochimaru did something really weird to me and totally messed up my chakra system… I'm going to try and see if I can fix it but it'll take some time so could you please stand guard a bit longer or would you like to rest right away?"

Sakura, who was relieved beyond words quickly nodded "It's my turn to be useful so try and fix yourself up if you can… but don't take too long though, it's been a long night." She practically beamed at Naruto who flashed a foxy smile in return and then lied back, closing his eyes.

Naruto concentrated and then found himself in the corner of his mind that he'd dubbed as 'Kyuubi's realm'. Earlier he had, following a request and instructions from Kyuubi, modified the surroundings from dank sewer into a sunny forest meadow with a small pond and a lively stream and turned the cage that bound Kyuubi into a cutesy collar. Looking about he saw no sign of Kyuubi, but there was a dome of red and black energy near the stream. Making his way to the dome he could see Kyuubi frantically pacing inside the dome, she stopped her pacing on the instant that she noticed Naruto and obviously tried to yell at the boy. Naruto was relieved too, she wasn't dead at least, but soon grew frustrated when they couldn't communicate. No sound passed through the dome and he really couldn't make out Kyuubi's weird sign language so he only pointed at the new seal and then signed something he hoped Kyuubi would understand as 'I'll try and get help' and turned to leave.

Naruto snapped back into the real world only to see Sasuke, covered with what appeared to be moving flame like tattoos and feeling really off, brutally breaking the arms of a Sound nin. He really didn't quite understand what the hell was happening, this wasn't Sasuke was it? He also took note of Team Ten and Lee who was laying sprawled on the ground. -What the hell happened, why is thickbrows hurt and what's wrong with Sasuke-teme?- He stood up groaning while warily watching the Sound nin leader leave an earth scroll on the ground. "Yo! What the hell is going on here?" He immediately regretted asking when Sakura and Ino both launched into a heated explanation about Sasuke-kun's heroics. Sighing he leaned over to Shikamaru who in a low tone summed up the events for him.

"So basically… those Sound guys beat up Lee and then you guys and then Sasuke… did his thing?" He scratched his head. "Well now that we have both scrolls we'll just head out to the tower, It shouldn't be too far" he checked the position of the sun "We should be there before midday."

Sasuke scoffed at this "Dobe, we only have one scroll…" he then tossed a calculative glance at the Ino-Shika-Cho trio making them sweat slightly.

Before he could even suggest that they take the scroll from Team Ten, Naruto fished out another heaven scroll and said "We have both scrolls Sasuke, though not thanks to you… what the hell were you thinking anyway, trying to give our scroll away to that bastard Orochimaru. Luckily I ran into three Mist nins that had a heaven scroll when I was meeting nature's call so to speak..." walking over Sakura he began to bandage her wounds. "You could have at least tried fighting before chickening out and trying to buy your way out of the situation… well, no matter, he won't be using that hand of his for some time now." He finished his ministrations and again marvelled the efficiency of Hinata's salve, it had visibly relieved the pain and had begun to slightly mend the wounds before he even could cover them with bandages. Standing up he looked about again. "Right, now let's go I want to be in that tower before lunch."

And so they left leaving behind Shikamaru and Chouji who were eyeing the starry eyed Ino rather nervously. They recognized the danger signs, Ino was quickly fixating on yet another idol… Though they had to admit that it had been rather unnerving to see the 'deadlast' casually mention that he'd run into three Mist nins and that he had managed to hurt the infamous Orochimaru. Nudging his friend, Chouji whispered "Do you think we should warn him? I mean he's not a close friend or anything but it would be the humane thing to do." He received no answer as they both suddenly felt the pressure of barely controlled killer intent that was radiating from Ino...

Oblivious to their predicament Naruto and the rest of Team Seven made it towards the tower with good speed despite their injuries. Other than a giant centipede, they didn't meet any nasty surprises on the way and made good time, arriving some time before midday. Wasting no time they puzzled out the mystery of the scrolls and used them to summon none other than Iruka-sensei who profusely congratulated them on passing the second exam. Naruto, suppressing his urge to jump up and down in excitement requested that they be allowed to see the Hokage. "We ran into little trouble on our way here… Orochimaru made an appearance so…" The name Orochimaru had almost magic like effect, Iruka quickly ordered them to follow and led them to the upper levels of the tower and then ordered them to stay there and wait before disappearing through a door.

Sasuke was seething as he listened Naruto's debriefing -I'll kill him, I'll hurt him… I specifically told him not to mention the bite that I got from Orochimaru and what does the dobe do? Blabs it all out, even describes how my chakra felt 'evil' when I transformed… pfft he's just jealous and is now acting all high and mighty leader- he then glared at Sakura who was nodding timidly to confirm what Naruto was saying -They're holding me back, that's what they're doing… I felt that strength and I need it to kill Itachi, nothing else matters and if that dobe is trying to stand in my way…-

The Sandaime and Kakashi were both looking troubled as they listened to Naruto's debriefing. They had already heard of Orochimaru's involvement from Anko who'd met the wounded Sannin. What they didn't know was that it'd been Naruto who had caused the wound which, according to Anko, had all but crippled him. They exchanged worried glances when Naruto mentioned the seal that was placed on his stomach and the bite on Sasuke. Finally after the debriefing was over the old man spoke "Kakashi… I trust you can perform a 'Fuja Hoin' to take care of Sasuke's problem while I'll remove the seal placed on Naruto." Dismissing Kakashi along with Sasuke and Sakura he then turned to Naruto. "Now Naruto, lift up your shirt and I'll fix you right up."

Naruto was again feeling great. He had a belly full of food and what was best the quarters they were given came with complete bathing facilities. He'd immediately, earning multitude of curses from Sakura, called the first bathing turn. After a nice long shower he'd enjoyed even longer soak in the tub with Akai, who despite her initial reluctance towards bathing had quickly learned to enjoy nice warm soaks. He had washed his clothing too and was now wearing clean and, thanks to clever use of foxfire, mostly dry clothing. Only thing that was bugging him was the sulking Sasuke who kept glaring at him with murder in his eyes. He shrugged and decided that it was time to go for a walk… let Sakura-chan deal with that grouch.

He was happy to note that the area meant for the participants of the exams was large, not to mention a strict 'no fighting' zone, with open air balconies to that gave a good view of the forest and a multitude of rooms with training equipment ranging from dumbbells to training dummies. Feeling still bit worn out from the whole 'Forest of Death' episode he decided that a nice relaxing napping session on one of the balconies would be a good idea -I won't be caught making fun of that name again though… Forest of Death indeed.- so he headed to one of the balconies.

One hour later he was in still resting comfortably on a chair with Akai-chan curled up in a ball on top of his chest. He was currently idly fingering the jar of salve he'd gotten from Hinata. -Man this stuff was great, I wonder if Hinata even realizes how much this helped me… Hope she makes it through the forest though, even without Orochimaru it was though going.- Seeing her Naruto-niichan looking thoughtful and fingering the jar given to him by that nice girl Akai decided to start a conversation.

Hinata was walking around the tower hoping to find Naruto, she really didn't know if she would have the courage to say anything again but maybe Naruto would at least notice her and confirm that she hadn't dreamed the part where he'd asked her out on a date… -Well not a date really, we'll just be eating ramen together… Oh My GOD, that sounds so much like a date!- She was suddenly snapped out of fantasy where her 'Naruto-kun' dropped on his knees and… when she heard a soft, cutesy voice say "Ne Naru-chan… Are you really going to take that girl out for ramen?" She almost suffered a heart attack there and then. Some floozy was trying to dissuade her Naruto-kun from taking her out. The veins surrounding her eyes bulged as she activated her Byakugan to find Naruto-kun and the bitch that was obviously pestering him, maybe it was that Ino girl who had been dragging him to the clothing store.

What she saw stole her breath away. Naruto was lounging on a chair with Akai sitting on his chest and there was no sign of the tramp. -But who was speaking then? I'm sure I heard…- With her Byakugan she saw Akai's mouth move. "Ne Naru-oniichan do you like her? It's obvious that she likes you…are you going to ask her to bear your pups?" She didn't even see Naruto blush, she was so shocked that someone would have noticed her secret crush and a fox no less… she gasped -Wait a minute, that fox can speak?- She considered running away, it had worked before but then noticed that Naruto and Akai were both staring at the balcony entrance with look that clearly said BUSTED. Steeling her courage she decided that it was time to tell Naruto-kun … things.

Naruto was indeed staring at the doorway with a feeling of dread all the while berating himself for not paying more attention to his surroundings. Then he heard someone moving in the hallway and soon the said someone entered the balcony. Both Naruto and Hinata were blushing badly, Naruto because he was sure that Hinata had heard Akai bluntly asking if he was going to ask her to bear his pups and Hinata for well… she really blushed whenever she came to a hundred yards of Naruto. They both spoke at the same time. "Ne Hinata…" "Ano Naruto-kun" Naruto motioned furiously and blurted out "Ladies first…"

Twiddling her fingers and fighting the urge to run Hinata began to stutter. "Ano… Naruto-kun… did Akai-chan… speak?... Gomen… it's so silly… umm couldn't happen…" Her eyes widened when Akai hopped off Naruto's lap and softly walked next to her and jumped up to her arms. She still began to pet the adorable little kit who yapped softly to Naruto who began to nod his head.

Hinata almost dropped the kit when she heard the same soft voice from her arms say "Please don't tell anyone that I can speak…" and Naruto continue "…Akai-chan is somewhat… special, as am I for that matter. Now this is an official secret of Konoha so you can't tell anyone about it but… Well you see the thing is that… umm…" He was interrupted by Hinata's almost inaudible whisper of "Kyuubi is sealed in you" which she breathed out clearly, if very quietly.

Naruto almost fell from his chair. He was to say the least amazed and let it show too… so comical was his face that Hinata actually let loose a small giggle and blushed scarlet right afterwards. Regaining his senses, or at least some of them the Foxboy of Konoha managed to gasp out question as to exactly how had Hinata found out. This brought yet another session of finger twiddling and blushing from the girl. -How can I tell Naruto-kun that I've been following him around, I'd sound like some weirdo stalker or something.-

Finally Naruto grew tired with the blushing and finger twiddling and firmly grabbed Hinata's hands causing the shy Hyuuga to swoon. Startled he grabbed her before she hit the ground and quickly deposited her on the vacant chair. When Hinata regained her breathing she tried to twiddle her fingers but found out that her hands were still being held by Naruto who was peering at her face with a worried expression. "Please Hinata, don't faint on me now… and if you don't want to talk about it you don't have to. And I can understand if you don't want to go for that ramen after the exam either."

-Oh no! Now Naruto-kun thinks I don't llov…like him anymore, not that I blame him for such fears… poor Naruto-kun.- She, yet again, noticed that she couldn't poke her fingers together so gathering her courage she stuttered "Gomen Naruto-kun, I didn't mean, I mean I don't care and I'd like to be your… friend." Now she really would have liked to say 'girlfriend' instead of just 'friend' but as always her courage failed her. -At least I'll be his friend and maybe… just maybe- she suddenly saw it in her mind's eye: They were practicing together and she tripped and Naruto-kun was there to catch her… their faces almost touching she could almost hear him saying...

"Hinata… Hinata… hey HINATA!" she snapped out of the daydream to see Naruto waving one hand before her face. She blinked then mournfully realized that Naruto had let go of her hand. "Gomen Naruto-kun… I spaced out." She blushed again, realizing how close Naruto was and how confused he looked. "Ano… I saw you telling the Hokage's grandson about… the, umm the thing and Kurenai-sensei has been teaching me how to lip-read so I found out… And then I ran away because I was shocked… gomen…" she hung her head at yet another admission of her weakness.

Naruto didn't know what do or say, obviously Hinata felt bad for being shocked when she found out. To further add to his confusion he was now face to face with the only person of his own age group that knew his secret and yet she didn't want to scream or hate him but to be his friend. He decided to do as Kyuubi instructed and gently lifted Hinata's chin upwards till she was looking him in the eyes. He then flashed his wide smile at her and said "Hey don't worry about that Hinata, it's not like being shocked over something like that is bad or anything… and you aren't running away screaming either. But I have tons to tell you if you have the time"

Badly blushing Hinata could only nod and so Naruto launched into a long and amazing tale. Before Naruto, who was eagerly explaining everything that had happened since Wave country, or Hinata who was just as eager to hear about the exploits of her one and only love interest, noticed it was getting dark and Hinata's teammates, at Kiba's insistence, had come looking for her. Kiba naturally was furious when he saw, what he considered 'his' girl, and the stupid moron Naruto in such an intimate setting. It actually looked somewhat suspicious… A boy and a girl sitting side by side on a balcony that was facing a forest and there was a sunset too. Luckily Shino, who said he wanted to stay outside for a moment, was there to prevent any bloodshed. Shyly waving goodbye Hinata followed Kiba back inside with a happy bounce… Her Naruto-kun had been eagerly talking to her of all people. She blushed again and shot a last parting glance towards Naruto who was still standing outside with Shino.

Shino simply stood there watching, he didn't move or speak and soon Naruto became uncomfortable under the silent eyes. He was just about to leave when Shino spoke up. "So it was because of Kyuubi that we were all told to stay away from you. Sometimes we do stupid things out of fear… Did you know that I too, grew up without friends because I'm of the Aburame clan? No one wanted to play with the 'icky' bugboy. Still I have to hand it to you… you had it much harder than I did, I at least had… family."

For the second time today Naruto was not believing his ears. -How many damn people know already? I mean do I carry a sign that says 'Kyuubi is sealed inside, please be quiet' or something?- Sighing he sat down and asked. "And just how did you find out? and why are you telling me this?"

The bug user just shrugged "I have a bug placed on both of my teammates, and that bug just relayed it all to me… And I'm telling you because I… don't think that you are a monster either." He turned to leave "Oh and Kiba is in love with Hinata who is in love with you so watch your step. I'll try to keep him on a leash so to speak but you probably should avoid letting him see the two of you like he did today… it looked rather intimate. And if you aren not going to act on this information, please let Hinata down easily... she really cares about you." with that he left a stunned Naruto on the balcony.

When he saw Hinata the next day he made no mention of what Shino had told him, hell he wasn't even sure about how he felt about something like that himself. It wasn't unpleasant to think that someone loved you but still… oh well, his ramen date with Hinata was still on so he had plenty of time to think about it and right now he needed to focus on the exam. Instead of talking about any romantic stuff Naruto managed to coax Hinata into a nice sparring session… and was surprised with the level of skill she exhibited and even more so when she apologized for not being better.

For the next few days he regularly sparred with Hinata and at her insistence, after she finally mustered the courage, told her more about his life. They'd gotten into a point where Hinata actually managed to speak without much of a stutter, albeit in a very tiny voice, and only blushed, stuttered noticeably and/or poked her fingers when her eyes met Naruto's. They were often joined by Lee who had arrived at the tower on the third day. They were also watched by Kiba and Akamaru who, to Kiba's dismay really didn't watch Naruto but instead played around with Akai and generally spent time bonding with the fox when they were both petted profusely by Hinata. Naruto was also pretty sure that he'd seen Sasuke on occasion, skulking in the shadows with his Sharingan active and watching as they sparred, copying their techniques which was the very reason he'd suggested that they only use the basic stuff.

He'd also seen Gaara and his siblings and the changes on their appearances were rather dramatic. Gaara's insomniac look had been passed onto his siblings Temari and Kankuro who now looked like they hadn't slept a wink in days. Gaara on the other hand looked quite well rested though there still were slight remnants of the black rings that surrounded his eyes, the smirking boy told Naruto that he was yet to tell the two about what had occurred over a week ago and that his siblings still feared that Shukaku would suddenly devour his soul and come out unchecked. All in all Gaara was in a good mood and behaved almost amiably towards the Leaf Genins when Naruto introduced them.

Soon the one hundred and twenty hours of the second exam had passed and all the Genins who had made it to the tower were called to the central room. It was time for the third round… and some serious ass kicking.

TBC… (in two to four days or something)

Author's rant

Gogyo Fuin stands for Five Elements Seal

Fuja Hoin stands for Evil Sealing Method

Oopsie, I submitted this without the ending paragraph first, well not much harm done there I guess...

First I'd like to thank all you reviewers for the input you gave. As you may have noticed it's dobe now and that Naruto had 1 A- and 1 B-class missions done… A-class was the Wave country thingy and B-class was when he kicked Mizuki around like a rag doll…

I would like to point out that writing stuff that Hinata would say was pretty damn hard, mostly because she really only says… well nothing really in either Manga or Anime. And her thoughts are mostly… Naruto-kun ;) Oh well, I hope it came out ok though… Oh and all her lines are stuttered out if you didn't notice, I just didn't feel like w-r-i-t-i-n-g it li-li-lik-e t-this…

No, Naruto can't draw well… his artistic creations were more in par with Rukia's bunny depictions of Hollows in Bleach… which is a great manga btw. read it… It even has more than a few women in it that can compete with Tsunade on equal ground when it comes to umm… lung size :P

Yes, Ino is now fixated on both Naruto and Sasuke… and no, she didn't kill her team mates in the forest (only slight dislocation of joints and the like)

And yes, Kyuubi now has a collar with the word seal on it and yes she lives in a nice little forest clearing surrounded by flowers and butterflies and all the works…