I revised the story a bit, so there are some changes on the previous chapters. Anyways enjoy!

I do not own Naruto

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Chapter 10

As team 7 entered the room they were surprised to say the least. The room was crowded with many different genin from different villages. After seeing so many genin Sakura became nervous, wondering if she actually had a chance. Her train of thought was suddenly interrupted by Sasuke.

"Don't worry Sakura. As long as you, Sai, and I are together as a team, we'll be alright." Sakura smiled and nodded.

"Sup guys!" Looking on their left team 7 sees team 8 walking towards them. Kiba, the one who called them out earlier, had his right arm up and hood off with Akamaru on top of his head. Hinata, right behind them while look shy as ever and Shino, right next to her being silent as ever.

"Troublesome, it looks like "The Rookie Nine" are all here." Looking to their right team 7 sees team 10: There was Shikamaru, look bored as ever, Chouji, happily munching on a bag of chips and Ino, chastising Chouji for eating too much. Sasuke raised an eyebrow at Shikamaru's comment

"The Rookie Nine?" Shikamaru nodded.

"Yeah, apparently the nine of us are the only genin that had just graduated a couple of months ago and are participating in the chunin exams." Kiba grinned at the sound it.

"I guess that makes pretty badass huh?" Shino responded to his teammate

"Kiba I suggest you lower your voice. Why? Because you are going to attract too many unwanted attention." Kiba smirked and put an arm around his teammate's shoulders.

"Don't worry Shino, I'm sure we can take them on! With the special training we had." Sakura looked at Kiba with a curious face.

"You guys had special training? Do you mean from Naruto sensei?" Kiba as well as the rest of team 8 and team 10 looked her with surprised looks. Sakura answered their unasked question.

"Kakashi sensei told us that Naruto sensei was helping you guys train." Chouji answered with a mouthful of chips

"Looks like Naruto sensei helped all of us, pretty cool guy if you ask me."

"Will you guys try to be quite?" Nine heads turned to see a guy with silver hair, tied to a ponytail, and glasses, walking towards them.

"Um may I ask who you are?" Hinata asked with a stuttering voice. The man was about to respond, but was interrupted by Sakura.

"Kabuto-sempai!" Kabuto recognized her as well in response.

"Oh Sakura, how are you doing?" Sai looked at Sakura.

"Oh? Sakura you know this man?" Sakura nodded.

"He works in the hospital as well. He is one of the best medical ninjas there." As she said this, Kabuto scratched the back of his head.

"Unfortunately that's the only thing I'm good at. Not good enough for me to pass the chunin exams though. This is my sixth time taking it." He said sheepishly. The genin gave him a surprised look.

"Wow so you must have a lot of experience in the chunin exam." Ino added. Kabuto nodded smiling.

"Indeed I do, you see one another skills I have apart from healing is information gathering." He then fished out a deck of cards from his back pouch.

"These are my Ninja-Info cards. As it turns out, yours truly has information on almost every ninja in this room. Want info on someone? Go ahead ask." Sasuke stepped forward.

"Garra Sabaku." Kaubto nodded.

"You already know his name? Well that's no fun. Give me a second." He took one card and placed it on the ground. After adding chakra to the card with a tip of his finger, the card that Kabuto touched then revealed a picture and status of a red haired boy.

"Garra Sabaku, apparently he is one of the three children of the current Kazekage of the Sand. As it turns out after every mission he comes home without a scratch, very impressive." Kabuto said shocking the nine genin. To come home without a scratch for each mission seems impossible.

"Well anyways, there are many villages taking them exams this year. It seems that the exams will be harder this year considering that each different genin from different villages have his or her, own special talent. Well good luck to you all and try to attract less attention." After he left the group, some of the nine rookies started to get nervous.

"After hearing that, it makes you lose confidence." Hinata said quietly as she twiddled her fingers.

"Don't worry Hinata, we got each other's backs, right guys?" Ino said while looking at the rest of the rookie nine. Shikamaru sighed and scratched his head.

"It's troublesome, that's sounds like a good idea, coming from the troublesome blonde surprisingly." He muttered the last part.

"Hey!" but apparently said troublesome blonde heard it. Sasuke nodded, agreeing with the idea.

"Agreed, if any of us are in a sticky situation the rest of the group should try to help out. That way all of us can have a better chance of passing the exams." Then a sudden arm wrapped around Sasuke's shoulder.

"Well well well, it looks someone is starting to become a team player." Kiba said smirking. Sasuke rolled his eyes and removed Kiba's arm from his shoulder.

"This is only temporarily Inuzuka, besides it looks like you're going to need all the help you can get." Kiba growled.

"Yeah? Well let's see if you can say that again when I'm chunin and you're not!" Sasuke gave a smirk

"Is that a challenge?" Kiba gave an identical smirk.

"You bet it is!"

"Alright you lot! Shut up and listen up!" Every genin in the room started turning their heads towards the source of the voice. In front of the room they see a talk man wearing a black coat and his ninja headband with the style of covering the whole surface of his head. He then gave a smirk.

"My name is Ibiki Morino and I am the proctor for this first exam."

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Jounin Lounge

"You know, without the without my genin it's getting to feel lonely around here." Kakashi said, as he sat on the couch reading his book. With him were his fellow jounin comrades as well as other jounin senseis from other villages. Sitting next to him Asuma responded.

"Well I don't think you have to worry about that, you might see them sooner than you have expected."

"Oh?"

"Yep, it seems Ibiki is testing the genin for the first part of the exams." Kakashi raised an eyebrow at this.

"Well that should be interesting." Kurenai looked back and forth at the two male jounin.

"Interesting? What do you mean?" Asuma looked at her.

"Ah sorry I forgot that you just became jounin. Well Ibiki is a fellow leaf jounin, who is also head of the Interrogation and Torture division. Kurenai looked him with wide eyes.

"Torture and Interrogation?" Kakashi nodded.

"Yeah, but don't worry about your genin Kurenai. I doubt Ibiki is torture for the first part of the exam. Though I bet a lot of genin will fail because of his exam" Kurenai gave Kakashi a disapproved look.

"That's reassuring." She said sarcastically. Asuma gave a chuckle.

"Relax Kurenai, I'm sure our genin will do just fine. By the way…" He looked around. "Where are Guy and Naruto?" Kakashi answered him.

"Guy is training as usual and Naruto, well I don't know what he is doing exactly." Kakashi said as he scratched the back of his head. "My guess is that he is just walking around the village." Kurenai spoke up at the mention of Naruto.

"Speaking of Naruto, how is Sasuke by the way?" Kakashi eye smiled.

"He is doing great in fact. He's getting along with his fellow genin comrades and his skills are not too bad either. He seems to be more open to others now and since he is more open, he, Sakura, and Sai have been more cooperative in their teamwork. All in all, he is making great progress thanks to Naruto."

"Yosh! Greetings fellow comrades!" The three jounins looked up. Standing in front of them was Gai, his face sweaty but still looking happy as ever.

"Gai, how was your workout?" Asuma asked lazily.

"Very well thank you, but I come bearing great news! It seems our precious genin has passed the first exam!" Kakashi responded while getting back to his book.

"That's good." Gai nodded

"Indeed my eternal rival. As we speak our dear students are proceeding to the second exam."

"To the Forest of Death" Kakashi answered quietly.

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"The hell Ibiki, why is there so many participants left?" A purple haired woman asked Ibiki. Ibiki grunt and responded.

"We had a lot of good candidates this year."

"Well don't worry about it. I'm sure I'll be able to cut this room into half size." The woman said wickedly. Sasuke sweat dropped.

'The hell is going on?' Earlier the first proctor had just announced that the leftover genin had just passed the first exam. Then suddenly that lady crashed through the window and placed a banner behind her, stating her name which is apparently, Anko Mitarashi.

"Alright you maggots!" yelled Anko, snapping Sasuke out of his train of thought. "It's time for the second exam so meet me at the Forty-Fourth training ground! Aka the Forest of Death! Now let's go!" She jumped through the window she had crashed earlier. The remaining genin just sat there and gaped at what just happened. Ibiki looked at them for a second then shouted.

"Well, what are you brats waiting for?! Get a move on!" Then the genin started leaving the room in a hurry.

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"So that's the forest of death huh?" Kiba asked, "Doesn't look like much."

"Yeah keep saying that, wait till you get inside kid." said the proctor, Anko as she passed by ruffling the hood of Inuzuka's head, said head growled.

"Alright kiddies here's the deal." She flushed out a two scrolls, each with a different symbol, from her coat pocket. "Each team will have a scroll similar to the ones I'm holding right now. One has the symbol of earth on it, the other has heaven. Now the object of this test is simple. In order to pass you must have one of each scroll. How to get the other one? Simple, take it from the other team by any means necessary. Once you have both scrolls, you and your team must bring to them to the red tower near the opposite end of the forest. This exam will last for five days, so you have exactly five days to get your scroll, which means you can be stuck in the forest for five days if you are lucky enough." She grinned wickedly, as a giant centipede came revealing itself on one of the nearby trees, which some of the genin started shivering. "Also do not even try to think about trying to make another copy of the scroll, we'll know." She grinned. Chouji then spoke up.

"But what about food?" Anko smirked.

"You are going to be in a forest that is full of animals, improvise." Then she looked to the amass of genin and yelled. "Alright you pipsqueaks, each team will be assign to a gate number, so go to the registration table over there," she pointed the long table full of chunin behind it on her left, "receive your scroll, sign the death waiver, receive your gate number, and go on and head to your designated gate."

"Death Waiver?" Anko waved her hand around to answer the random genin's question.

"You know, stating that Konoha is not responsible for your death, body parts loss, blood loss, etc etc," She smiled at the full crown of genin. "Alright you heard your instructions, get to it! And Welcome to the Forest of Death!" She cackled and spread her arms in welcoming manner.

Forest of Death, Gate 46, Team 7

Sasuke, Sai, and Sakura gathered around in front of the gate after signing the death waivers and receiving their scroll.

"Alright so we got the Earth scroll," said Sasuke, "We're going to have to think up a strategy to pass this test." Sakura nodded in agreement. Sai nodded as well but then noticed to his left a familiar figure.

"I think I just found out our strategy, Sasuke." Following his gaze Sasuke noticed Shikamaru beckoning him to come over, standing alongside him was Shino. Knowing what both genin could be thinking about Sasuke headed over, telling Sakura and Sai to stay put. After a couple of minutes, both Sakura and Sai see Sasuke coming back towards them. Sai asked,

"I'm assuming there will be an alliance?" Sasuke nodded confirming his question.

"Yeah, since we all know each other, its best to help each other in getting our scrolls. Once we meet each other in the forest, we will team up. Is that okay with you guys?" Both Sakura and Sai nodded.

"Alright let's get ready." After a few minutes, the speakers above the gates announced.

"Alright the gates will be opening in 5 seconds! 5!.. 4!.. 3!.. 2!..1! Begin!" The gates suddenly opened and the genins started heading towards the Forest of Death.

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Naruto's Apartment

In the bedroom of his apartment, Naruto was sitting cross legged on the floor in deep meditation. As he breathed in and out, a soft breeze would come in and out through his windows at the same pace of his breathing.

Mindscape

"You awake?" Naruto asked, standing in the middle of the darkness.

"I'm awake Naruto, do you need something from me?" A rumbling voice responded, echoing throughout the room. Naruto folded his arms with a frown on his face.

"I need to know how much time we have left before the seal is broken."

"Hmmm, it would be a couple of more years until the seal is completely broken and him being unleashed." Naruto brought out a questioning look.

"Completely?"

"Yes, you should know that fragments of his existence have been already leaking out. Those fragments are becoming like agents for him. They will be able to live inside living beings and use them as hosts. As we speak some poor souls are already being consumed and used by his agents. You should be careful Naruto." The container nodded

"Understood, I'll be more alert from now on, thank you for your help." He was then fading from the room, but before he was completely faded he asked the anonymous voice. "By the way how do you like the new accommodations?" The tone anonymous changed then suddenly giggled and responded to him.

"It's better than the last one Naruto! Seriously too much orange!" Naruto chuckled and faded from the room.

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Forest of Death

In the Forest of Death, as of right now Team 7 is passing through the trees, looking for their friends. A couple of hours ago, they ran into a couple of foreign teams. With their teamwork and skills Team 7 was able to beat them will little trouble. They were able to get their match up scroll, the heaven scroll, along with extras. Sai pointed out they could go to the tower right now, but Sakura reminded him that they should still meet with the others. It was then she also reminded the two that they still have the challenge of getting to the tower, knowing that had set the Team 7's decision of meeting up with the others. As they were passing the trees, Sasuke told them to stop at the current area. The area they stopped at had a good area of flat land with surrounding trees.

"This looks like a good place to rest." Said Sasuke. He looked back at his teammates. "You two okay?"

"We're good Sasuke." Sakura said as she handed them water bottles. Taking a few gulps Sasuke looked to Sai.

"Sai can you send some scouts out.?" Sai nodded, putting down the water bottle and taking out a scroll and drew some birds. Using a hang sign he send out the ink birds into the sky. As he did Sasuke took out a mini telescope from his pack and looked for the tower.

"I see the tower up ahead, it looks like to be around 4 or 5 miles ahead. Let's keep going hopefully we will be able to meet the others. The other two nodded.

"Well well, what do we have here?" The team stopped moving to see look at the source of the voice. On the other side of Team 7 they see a women standing alone on a tree branch looking at them with a smile also with no hitate. Team 7 instantly took out their weapons readying themselves for battle.

"Who are you and which village are you from?" Sasuke asked with narrow eyes.

"My my, such hostility and what did I do to receive such aggressive welcome?" The women asked.

"You haven't answered my question." Sasuke answered gripping his bokken more tightly, why does he have this uneasy feeling? The woman is by herself with no teammates. Surely he and his teammates can take on a single genin and yet he still feels uneasy knowing that. The women signed and nodded.

"Indeed it seems I haven't, how rude of me, well allow me to introduce myself." She took a bow. "My name is Orochimaru." At this Team 7 froze, their eyes widened in recognition. Sai muttered.

"A sanin here? What is a sanin class missing ninja, doing here in the genin exams?"

"I don't know" Sasuke said gritting his teeth. This is trouble. Sakura spoke up.

"Wait how can you be Orochimaru, Orochimaru is male!" The women claiming to be Orochimaru, sighed and wagged a finger back and forth.

"Well you see my dear, you should know I take many forms but I am sure my disguise won't prove anything. Instead how about I prove it to you in combat?" at this Team 7 tense. Sasuke said

"Why you here though?" The woman chuckled

"Well believe it or not I came from a favor, but in truth I am interested in you Sasuke." The woman smirked. Sasuke flinched at these words. Sai spoke up

"Why are you interested in our teammate.?"

"Well I am curious at what skills he contains, especially with the Sharingan." Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "But I won't lie, I curious to see how well you can do also Sakura, Sai. But enough talk, I think I was trying to prove to you that I am Orochimaru? Let me show you an example of my skills!" The women said in glee as she jumped off and landed on the flat area while biting her thumb. As she slammed her hand on the ground the area was instantly covered in smoke. Suddenly A giant snake burst through the smoke and headed towards Team 7. Sasuke eyes widened.

"Move!" He ordered. The genin moved out of the way as the giant snake smashed against their previous location. It moved its head and headed towards Sasuke.

"Sakura yank him!" Sakura used her whip to wrap around the snake's neck and pulled it towards her. Sasuke looked at Sai.

"Sai pin him down!" Sai got out his blade, extended and pinned the snakes head to a nearby tree. As it was pinned Sasuke did a couple of hand signs until he took a deep breath.

"Fire style! Fire ball jutsu!" and he launched a huge fire ball at the snake and right before it came contact to the snake Sakura and Sai removed their respected weapons from the snake and jumped away from it. The fire jutsu contacted and was quickly burning the snake whole until it was reduced to ashes. The team relaxed but tensed again when they heard a clapping noise. Turning around they saw the woman clapping and smiling on the field.

"Well done, you took out one of my summonings pretty quickly. But let's see how you fare against me and don't even think about trying to run, I'll catch you." The woman smirked. Sasuke cursed and looked at his teammates.

"He's right, there's no chance of escaping him. We gotta have to try to take him head on." Sai responded with a frown.

"That is suicide." Sasuke nodded in agreement.

"I know but trying to run away from him is all the same, if we take him on, we might have a chance to make a diversion to escape. Are you with me?" Both Sakura and Sai nodded and Team 7 look towards the woman or Orochimaru who said woman smiled.

"Not running I see, smart. Now let's see how skillful you three really are!" The woman cackled in glee and starting running towards Team 7, said team started jumping ahead on towards the woman.

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Ichiraku Ramen stand.

Naruto was spending time with Ayame but then he tensed and look towards the direction of the Forest of Death.

"Naruto? Is something wrong?" Naruto looked back at Ayame, said woman was looking at him with concerned eyes.

"It's nothing Ayame, sorry about that." He smiled proving to her and Ayame smiled in response.

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Forest of Death

Sasuke felled on his knees and got on ground with his hands panting.

'Is this the skill of a Sanin even against our teamwork?' Looking at his teammates he can see that they weren't faring any better. Sakura was lying facedown breathing heavily while Sai was on his knees using his blade as support.

"Well, not bad I suppose" Sasuke looked at their opponent, said opponent did not even have any scratches at all. "For genin fresh out of the academy I am satisfied. I am shuddering in excitement to see what waits you in the future. Sasuke tchhed in response.

'There is no doubt about it, this is Orochimaru. He's beaten us but now what?" Orochimaru took a step forward.

"Well I gues-" He was interrupted as a voice interrupted them out of nowhere.

"Bug style! Swarm of Darkness." Team 7 was surprised as a swarm of black bugs was swarming around Orochimaru and then encasing into a dome around him.

"Oh my, what is this?" They heard from Orochimaru's voice.

"Chouji! Ino help them out of there! I got Sasuke!. Sasuke suddenly felt his right arm being pulled over a shoulder. Looking to his right he sees Shikamaru supporting him.

"Shikamaru?"

"You can thank us later, now we need to get away from that person." Shikamaru hoisted Sasuke up and they jumped and started moving away from the battlefield. Looking away Sasuke saw Ino helping while looking at her with a concerned look. Other side he sees Chouji helping Sai also. As they a few distance away from the Sanin, he notices Team 8 joining them as well surrounding them to protect them.

"Just rest Sasuke." Shikamaru muttered. "We'll talk about this later." Sasuke nodded in response and let his head down and slept.

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Back at the battlefield, the black incase dome of bugs suddenly dispersed, leaving Orochimaru standing in the exact same spot smiling.

"That was unexpected, well not matter I got what I what I came here for, I'm sure he will be satisfied with the results." He turned around and headed towards in the forest.

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A day later, Forest of Death.

Sasuke groaned and open his eyes.

"Morning" He turned to his left and saw Shikamaru sitting on a rock giving him a short wave. Sasuke grunted in confirmation and tried to sit up, feeling a hand he supporting his back he saw Ino helping him with a concerned look. Looking around he saw Hinata helping Sakura with her wounds while a good few feet from them he saw Sai resting against a tree stump, sleeping soundly. Next to him on stem of the tree sat Chouji while eating a bag of chips. Looking up he saw Kiba and Shino in different branches looking around. Standing up with the help of Ino he thanked her who nodded and smiled in response. Then she went back to Sai to check on him. Sasuke walked over to Shikamaru.

"I guess I should thank you for this." Shikamaru rolled his eyes

"Troublesome don't mention it, you would've done the same for us if we were in your situation." He eyed the Uchiha. "No doubt I know you would." Sasuke smirked

"Yeah." Sasuke looked and walked around. "So what happen?" Shikamaru responded.

"Well after Shino caused a distraction for us, my team and I got you out of there. Along with Team 8 we managed to get out of there. After we got here, Hinata and Ino started helping with you and your team's wounds. Which leads to the question, who the hell did you guys fight?

"Yeah seriously I didn't think you get your butts kicked so early." Sasuke and Shikamaru looked around and saw Shino and Kiba walking towards them.

"Don't Kiba, there has to be a reasonable reason into why Team 7 is in this state." Kiba smirked.

"I know I know, I'm just teasing."

"It was Orochimaru one of the Sanin." Sasuke muttered loud enough for everyone to hear. At this everyone tensed excluding Sakura and Sai. Kiba looked apologetic.

"Woah, sorry dude my bad."

"Don't worry about it." Shikamaru cursed.

"Well I guess it's lucky for you and your team to be alive." Sasuke nodded in confirmation.

"Yeah, how far are from the tower?" Shikamaru stood up.

"Not far just two miles away, but my team and team 8 still need our respective scrolls."

"Which scrolls do you need?"

"Earth, Team 8 needs Heaven, but we're not going to fight each other for it." At this Sasuke to his belongings which is piled along with Sakura's and Sai's thanks to the other two teams. He took out a heaven scroll and an earth scroll and gave toss it to Kiba and Shikamaru.

"Considered this as a thanks and debts covered." The rest of the teams smiled while Shikamaru smirked.

"Fair enough, well we got what we needed as soon as Hinata and Ino finished, all of us will head on over to the tower."

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Some other area in the Forest of Death.

Orochimaru is jumping for branch to branch but suddenly stopped on one. As he stopped he smiled and said. "Well I done as you ask." A voice responded.

"And?" Orochimaru crossed his arms.

"They somewhat exceed my expectations not bad for only a few months of training. I'll consider on the second thing on what you ask for."

"Please do, he needs to be ready."

"Don't worry, I might even accept it, but this is the last favor I owe you no more. I need to head back to my village. By the way, try to visit more often Tayuya does miss her cousin so. Bye" As he said this he resumed going through the trees. As he left a man got of the shadows of a tree, the man kept moving until his whole body was visible. Naruto Namikaze smirked.

"Yeah see you later."

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Another chapter done, thank you for reading and please tell me what you think.