? ? ?

"What should we do?" Sakura wondered. She and her two teammates Naruto and Sasuke were currently resting after just fighting off an amegakure team. Currently, they were under a tree to avoid trouble. They damn well knew another Ame and Konoha team were after them.

Sasuke got out some water from a scroll and handed it too his two teammates, "We could go to the tower and wait for people there. We strike and take their earth scroll," Sasuke thought it was a good plan. But there was the possibility of others doing the same.

Naruto guzzled down the bottle quickly, "Yeah but wouldn't other people be doing the same? There might already be some bastards there already," Naruto brought up a good point. Someone else could be there already. That wouldn't be good. Sure it was unlikely they could beat team seven alone but if there was multiple people and teams there then they were kinda screwed. People were likely to ally with each other to get what they want.

Sasuke nodded, "True. Plus there might be some people teaming there too. It wouldn't be good to fight a 6 vs 3," Sasuke knew that as good as they were, there had to be a bigger fish somewhere. There already was Kukui, Neji, and Lee. The last two made themselves known earlier. Those were three of the people that could wipe their team. There had to be more. The suna genin looked strong, especially the redhead, Gaara. Sasuke was weary of him. From what Kabuto's stat cards said, he was untouchable.

Sakura had an idea but didn't know it would go well with her two prideful teammates, "Should we ask another team or help then? Like team ten or team eight," Naruto and Sasuke looked like they were thinking about it.

Naruto grinned, "I don't see why they wouldn't help us! Maybe Kiba wouldn't but everyone else would definitely help!" Naruto believed in his fellow genin's will to help them. They were friends after all.

Sasuke was more skeptical however, "They could backstab us if they had an opposing scroll. I have another idea though," Naruto and Sakura were curious as to what the idea was. It'd either be a fucking spectacular shit show of an idea or it'd be their ticket to freedom, "Naruto. This plan would rely entirely on you though," Sakura looked shocked that an entire plan would rely on Naruto and not all three of them like usual.

Naruto perked up at that, "Really!? What do I need to do?" Naruto was normally the main focal point of their plans. His skills with the wind clone jutsu just made everything easier. He could even transform them into other people. Thats what made the jutsu so terrifying. He could be anyone. Anywhere. Anytime.

Sasuke smirked, "Okay good. How many wind clones can you make? Make the most you can and make 2 thirds of them look like me and Sakura. Spread them out throughout the forest," Sakura and Naruto were amazed by the plan. Simple yet genius. Naruto quickly did just that and about 99 wind clones spread out in the forest. 33 team sevens.

Naruto then looked to Sasuke, "So should we get going and look for a team?"

Sasuke nodded, "Yeah we need to get out of here quickly,"

Sakura agreed, "We can always go for that Ame team,"

"Naruto shrugged, We could but eh," Naruto found the idea of picking on the Ame team boring... Plus they knew he could just send a cyclone at them now so it wouldn't work the second time. Sadly...

Sakura then had another idea, "How about that sound team?" They didn't seem like they were too strong. Just intimidating. The redhead girl seemed like the strongest and even then she didn't look that strong at all. Just like a big talker. All bark. No bite.

Naruto nodded, "Sure. They deserve it after what that mummy looking tried to do to Kabuto," Naruto quite liked Kabuto from their interaction. He seemed nice and he even gave out some info on the other genin. Kabuto didn't deserve to be harassed by the sound genin. Luckily Kukui stepped in and completely embarrassed the sound genin.

Sasuke got up from the tree he was leaning on, "So its settled... We'll be looking for the sound team,"

"Mhm!" both Naruto and Sakura said.

Kukui's POV

"Ah stay away from us!" A poor Kusa genin shouted as a kunai pierced his back. It wouldn't kill him but it would render him useless for a long while. We raided his pockets.

"Damn another earth scroll. How many people do we need to attack before we get a heaven scroll?" I mused as I pocketed the third earth scroll we had. Tenten and Mika were laying the unconscious genin somewhere safe. We hoped they'd be okay.

Mika shrugged, " Probably a few more. Hey, this just means less competition for us later. We can keep these scrolls of just burn them somewhere if need be," Mika was right. We could always use these scrolls. Its been a few hours since the exams started so no pressure. All we had to do was just get a heaven scroll. Still no sign of team seven. Or really any Konoha team.

Tenten quickly robbed the Genin of their Kunai, "Yeah we could always just get rid of them,"

I nodded, "That would be a good idea. I think we should keep them for now. May be good for bartering later," If we got in a sticky scenario I planned on simply just offering an earth scroll. If it didn't work then Tenten would make wind clones that Mika and I would enhance with flame once they are near our enemies. Works like a charm.

Mika grinned, "I get it. A trap! If we meet someone like that Gaara guy we can just use the trap and buy us some time to escape," Not my plan really but I'd roll with it. I nodded, "Okay then. Tenten and Kukui. Lets go before we actually meet that Gaara guy," We both nodded and took to the tree's again.

Tree hopping was actually pretty fun to do. I enjoyed roaming freely. It made everything seem so insignificant. So fun. But alas we were in a forest... of death. Appropriately named. The forest of death... Yeah. I sensed no large amounts of chakra. Nobody too strong was in the area. Good to know, "No large chakra quantity in the area, Biggest one is 30 meters west, resting" Mika and Tenten nodded and we began to head west. Soon a team of random Kumo shinobi was in our vision.

Tenten flashed through some hand seals as they saw us, "Wind style: Great breakthrough!" Tenten spat out a gust of wind that would normally only send Academy students back.

Me and Mika went through some hand seals of our own, "FIRE COMBO: GRAND FIRE STORM!" We spat out a giant flame at the wind. The wind and inferno combined and engulfed the genin.

"AAAHHHHHHHHH," Soon the fire ended and only 2 logs were there. There was a heavily burnt genin left in the middle. He was alive.

"DIE KONOHA SCUM!" We heard from behind us. We looked behind us and saw two pissed-off Kumo genin with lightning-covered chukoto's out. Tenten unsealed a Bo-staff and slammed them away. The two angry genin knocked into each other and their blades were sent to the ground. Hilt up. They landed on the hilts of their blades and were promptly knocked out.

I went to go check each of their pouches... Another fucking earth scroll, "DAMNIT!" I showed them the earth scroll and we all sighed.

Tenten stole the chakra metal chukotos from the genin, "At least I got these now," Tenten said as she sealed away the Chukotos, "A fourth earth scroll... do we really need to keep it?"

Mika nodded, "Better us then them," We could torch it but... eh.

I shrugged, "Yeah fair enough. Off we go again," I said as we took to tree hopping once more, "We should be close to the tower now,"

Mika nodded, "Yeah we should, Tenten do you think you could send a wind clone out to scout?" Tenten nodded and created a wind clone. It was a better scout than me at the moment as I could only sense chakra. Not buildings.

Tentens wind clone came back soon after, "A few more miles until we reach the tower, There also a few more teams just up ahead, Neji and lee's team is 70 meters to the left of us, A takigakure team is 50 meters to the right of us, and another Kumo team is 20 meters to the left" The clone said and we all nodded. The clone turned back into wind. We needed to be careful of the Kumo team, Tenten looked to us, "The kumo team is likely to be here soon. We need to prepare for a fight,"

Me and Mika nodded

Kumo team Pov

"AAAHHHHHHHHH,"

Three Kumo genin stopped, "That was Marui's voice! What happened?" Omoi questioned worriedly. Marui was one of his friends from the academy. He helped Omoi learn how to use a sword. He was the reason he loved the sword so much.

Komoi was also worried, "Someone got to him, Probably Somoi and Korui too. We need to help them,"

"DIE KONOHA SCUM!" Two more screams were heard. This time they were battle cries.

"Konoha. Its them come on you two lets go!" Karui shouted, grabbing her two teammates arms. They ran to their friends aide and found a charred body and two unconscious genin. Marui was the charred one. At least 7-% of his body was covered in burns.

"MARUI!" Omoi shouted as he ran to his friends aide. His teammates went to go check on Somoi and Korui. Marui noticed Omoi and smiled. He was clearly in tremendous pain, "What happened? Who did this? What kind of Konoha nin could do this amount of devastation with a fire jutsu?" Omoi had a feeling it was their target somehow... It was just a gut feeling.

Marui coughed up some blood, "It was the kid with an eyepatch you told me about's team... They just appeared. The bun haired girl did a wind jutsu and the other two made an inferno... I couldn't make it through hand seals in time... Heh... Somoi and Korui escaped and tried to kill them but they were quickly knocked out,"

Omoi was normally a calm person. Now he was pissed. His friends were attacked by Konoha nin. Fucking Konoha nin. He wanted revenge, "Those bastards! We'll avenge you Marui. Do you know where they went?" Omoi was hoping they were close so they'd be able to ambush them right away. They were going to die this very night.

Marui smiled, knowing his friend wanted to avenge him. He was probably going to die anyways, "They weren't northeast... That *Cough* is all I *Cough* know," Marui's eyes closed and his body went limp. Dead. Omoi carefully put down his friends body.

Omoi looked to his teammates and the now awakened Somoi and Korui who were crying over the loss of their teammate, "We're killing them," Omoi had the spotlight. Everyone was looking at him, "Our friend was needlessly murdered... We can't let this slide. We need to get our revenge,"

Karui smirked, "For once I agree with you Omoi. We know at least one of them has a wind affinity so we need to take them out first. Then we can have fun with the two fire using bozo's," Everyone nodded at the plan. Simple but good. They had an idea of what direction the Konoha nin were in.

Korui grinned with murder in his eyes, "We'll avenge him! We'll slowly kill them too,"

Komoi was the only level headed one here, "Aren't we going into things too quick here? Shouldn't we think a bit? They took down three of us in a few attacks. Shouldn't we be careful?" He wanted revenge too. Don't get him wrong. But he thought that since three of the 6 of them were taken out with ease that meant they wouldn't fare much better.

Somoi slapped him, "MARUI DIED. THEY KILLED HIM IN A SCUMMY WAY THATS HOW THEY BEAT US KOMOI! SHUT UP OR LEAVE," Everyone looked at the two of them, "Sorry," Somori said, blushing in embarrassment.

Komoi pat Somoi on the back, "Its fine. We're all sad about his death... We'll avenge him though. We just need to plan how we're going to do this," Komoi was right and they all knew it.

"First though we should actually try to find them,"

Orochimaru POV: Third person

This was bad. Really fucking bad.

Kabuto had been captured. He didn't know why or how but he had. Konoha had grown to suspicious of him. He was even being interrogated by Ibiki Moreno himself. Normally Orochimaru would just go break him out and Kabuto could work for him full time. But this time it was different. With their invasion plans coming up soon he couldn't afford to let his presence be announced early. Not before he had Sasuke-kun.

But if he left Kabuto to rot until the crush then the crush could be found out before he was fully prepared. What to do? What to do? He didn't have any useful pawns at the moment to help him. Kimimaro was still not at 100% and he could be captured still. He had one pawn he could feasibly use. Guren.

Guren was his second most useful pawn and his next choice of body after Sasuke and Kimimaro. She was strong. Yes she'd do finely. He'd have to get her before the finals of the exams. He knew there was going to be a preliminary this time around... there would be to many genin left thankfully. That boy helped him actually with his little stunt.

For now though he'd need to look for Sasuke-kun and his te- Orochimaru spotted the three genin he was looking for, "Wind style: great breakthrough" Orochimaru said and a large gust of wind was sent into the genin. The genin turned into wind. Orochimaru was surprised but excited. The challenge would be there, "Smart move. lets see how long it takes before I find the real Sasuke-kun," Orochimaru licked his lips and continued traveling.

He would need to find them before the third day otherwise he'd just need to wait for the crush to mark Sasuke. he'd need two days to recover from the mark and be able to use Taijutsu. He wanted him to stand a chance after all. If he wanted his precious gift to be used well he needed it to be used correctly.

Orochimaru was proud of the curse mark. Very proud of it. It was his best creation. It allowed him to control his servants will.

It made things so much easier when dealing with people that weren't like Guren and Kimimaro... Kabuto too but The first two were more loyal by miles. But they weren't as useful to him as Kabuto was outside of combat.

Another 3 genin appeared. Orochimaru smirked, "Are you three real?" He mused, "Summoning jutsu," A second later the blond one was taken away by the large snake. The other two looked shocked, "Bingo!"

Kukui's pov

"This is bad. Really fucking bad," I said to my teammates, Tenten with an injured arm, and Mika with an Injured leg. I managed to get away with a cut in my arm and a broken finger only. The cut was deep but I'd live. We were ambushed by Kumo genin. 5 of them. Two of them were two from earlier. The third must have died from burns. They were out for blood.

Mika rolled her eyes, "Thank you for your eternal wisdom caption obvious," We were hiding under a large tree. The kumo genin weren't too far away. They were recovering a bit too. Tenten managed to stab one in the leg. The wound was deep. So we had time. Plus they had to look for us. But we had to wait for Tenten and Mika's wounds to heal a bit so we could move again.

Tenten glared at us both in a 'Be quiet or I'll kill you tone' She was getting more violent by the day it seemed... She then went back to normal, "Not the time you two. We need to think of a plan," She was right. We were injured and crippled pretty much. Tentens injured arm was her throwing arm. Mika's leg meant her speed was fucking crippled and my finger was my middle finger which meant like half of my jutsu were taken away from me... I could always try that one but... no not the time. I'd only use it as a last resort. I didn't even know if it worked yet.

I nodded, "Your right. We're practically crippled at the moment. Your throwing arm is fucked up, Mika's leg isn't at its fullest so she isn't as fast as she needs to be, and most of my Ninjutsu is taken away and its not a good Idea to punch someone with a broken finger. We need to find a way to escape for now,"

Mika stood up, "Yeah I agree, we should go now before they finish recovering,"

Tenten nodded, "Yeah that sounds like a good idea,"

I nodded as well, "Lets go then,"

"Not so fast Konoha scum,"

Random point in the forest.

"This is bad. Really fucking bad," Sasuke said to Sakura. Naruto had been taken away by a giant snake and there was this Kusa genin here. He was making him feel like... No it was best to not think of that. Sasuke looked to the man, "What do you want?" Sasuke stood in front of Sakura protectively. 'Come on Naruto. Come back already,' Sasuke thought

The man just smirked sadistically, "I want you to entertain me more but it seems your time has run out," He pulled out a kunai and threw it at Sasuke whilst looking at the boy. Sasuke saw a vision of his own death. The kunai piercing his head.

'MOVE!' Sasuke thought in slow motion. He could see the kunai pierce his skull. He couldn't let that happen. He needed to live. He had to live. Sasuke's thoughts flickered to three people. Itachi, Sakura, and Naruto. He wanted to kill Itachi. He wanted to live for his team. His mind flickered to a fourth person. He wanted to beat him. 'MOVE!' Sasuke stabbed himself with a kunai. In the thigh. He grabbed Sakura and they got out of the way. He then entered the tree's quickly. The snake like Kusa genin let them.

He moved through the forest quickly. Sakura in shock. He needed to find Naruto. He needed to find Kukui. He needed to find Team 8 and 10. They needed to defeat this guy. They all stood a chance. Sasuke grimaced in pain from the wound to his Thigh... maybe he could rest for just a second.

Yeah that would be a good idea, "We're going to rest for a second, Okay?" He wanted to know if Sakura wasn't in complete shock still. He saw chakra enter her system through his Sharingan. That mission with the genjutsu expert B-rank shinobi wasn't fun.

Sakura weakly nodded, "Okay,"

Sasuke then laid Sakura down and he sat down as well.

Orochimaru's pov: Third person

Orochimaru licked his lips. He was good. His desire to protect the pink haired girl was strong. He didn't know why but he was excited. He could corrupt the very kindness in Sasuke's soul that he used to have. He would take great joy in it too.

He wondered if he should have taken the blond one out. He wanted Sasuke to progress in the exams but at the same time he didn't want to risk Gaara killing him. That wouldn't be a good thing at all. But his mark would ensure victory. Oh well he can't take it back now. The brat was probably already dissolving.

Orochimaru slowly hopped through the trees, looking for Sasuke and the pink haired girl. She had potential judging by the way she almost cast a genjutsu on him. Almost. To bad he showed her a horrible image of her loved ones dying. Ah genjutsu was one of Orochimaru's favorite arts.

Soon Orochimaru found Sasuke and he smirked evilly, " Found you,"

Sasuke looked horrified.

Chapter end.

I'm proud of this one. I decided to focus on Team seven. More specifically Sasuke and Naruto. Sakura will get her own development but I'm going to be honest. I don't have much of a place for her in my story. Anyways I had fun with this chapter. Writing this reminded me why I loved part one Sasuke. He honestly was a great person and he fucking protected Naruto and Sakura no matter what. Anyways did you enjoy?

So not much to say today. I've started a new fic that I actually have intentions of continuing. I hope to write another chapter today. I also hope to get started on another chapter of this today. The forest of death should be wrapping up in about three or four chapters. It depends on how I stretch this and what I include. I could still include the Kiba redemption I planned... Sorry off topic.

Oh yeah we're coming up on 400 favorites and 500 follows. Honestly I'm stunned. I thought I'd have less by this point. It honestly makes me want to write more knowing that many people are reading my fic and enjoying it enough to favorite/follow.

Anyways I have a discord server. Here's the link if you want to join. The server is small still by the way: The link is: dis cor d .gg /QCbZzhRJdR just without the spaces.

So now finally question of the day time!

Question: What is your favorite part of the chunin exams? The first of death or the prelims/finals? Mine is the prelims/finals as I wasn't a fan of the forest of death really. Except Orochimaru and Team seven. I loved that shit.

Anyways Tobi-kun out!

Ta ta!