Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any other characters but my original character, nor do I own any techniques mentioned unless they were originally invented by me.
Konoha's Second Yellow Flash
Author's Note : Hey there, not much to say, since I only got one decent review, and it's a flame. It's a plus for my OC for helping the main characters, and I try not to change the canon pairings, unless I strongly dislike or outright hate them. In the end, the only thing I can say to sum things up has been said before : Don't like it? Don't read it. The only other thing I want to mention is to ask anybody reading this to check out my other Naruto fic, Naruto Chronicle. It's more of a multi-crossover, so far consisting elements of Tsubasa Chronicle, XXXHolic, and Naruto. I need ideas for what the worlds they go to should be. Please take a quick glance and leave a review with some ideas, it'd be much appreciated. Other than that, here's chapter 6, continue to R & R, thanks!
Chapter 6 : Reunion, Talking Smack and Scuffle; Sleeper Exam; Flirt with One Snake, 'Ambush' by Another
Room 301
Team 7 walked into the room, which fell silent for a moment, observing them. A few seconds later, chatter and whispers resumed, with the exception of one Suna kunoichi winking at our hero. Kyuubi snickered as Naruto weakly laughed in discomfort and commented from inside, 'Aw what's wrong Naruto-kun? I thought you want to rebuild your clan.' 'Very funny Kyu-chan. Just because of that stupid law doesn't mean I want every cute girl I see as my girlfriend, let alone future wife. Besides, she's Gaara's sister, and he's my best friend. It'd be weird.' 'So it wasn't just because the Kazekage tried to set up a political marriage between you two then?' Before he could reply, his train of thought was interrupted as 6 familiar people walked up to them. Well, 5 walked, one ran and glomp-attacked Sasuke.
"Mendokuse (Troublesome), you guys are in this thing too?" asked Shikamaru in a bored, yet subtly annoyed tone, while his best friend Choji was doing what he usually did, pig out. "Yeah, but lazy sensei thought we were ready, and emo-pants over there would have a cow if he couldn't come because we wouldn't come with him. Besides, we're ready for it too, so we may as well," replied Naruto calmly. Sakura for once, didn't screech at him for the insult at the Uchiha, probably because she was too busy arguing with Ino over the person the insult was directed towards, even though the young Yamanaka did steal a few glances at her fellow blonde.
Kiba spoke with a confident smirk, "Heh. Confident aren't you? Our team definitely won't lose to yours." Naruto returned the smirk towards the Inuzuka, while his teammates were their usual selves, Shino stoic and silent, and Hinata blushing at the sight of the confident blonde. He then gave the two fellow genins a nod, getting the expected responses and patted Akamaru, who seemed to have taken a liking to the blonde who paid attention to him also as he barked happily. Kiba was about to tell him to get his hands off his partner like he was a pet, when another Konoha genin walked up to them.
"Hey you guys, I noticed that you're new, just thought I'd give you a heads-up about not making so much noise as to attract unwanted attention. There's a lot of tough competition around here," said a gray-haired man with eyewear slightly smaller lenses than Yuuki and circular frames. Sasuke asked rudely, "And who are you?" "Yakushi Kabuto, just a fellow Konoha-nin helping you new guys out."
Kiba scoffed after a glance at the seemingly unimpressive-looking man and asked, "And how many times have you taken the exam, two?" "Actually, this is my seventh try, since there's only two every year." Hearing that, most of the rookie 9 looked a bit concerned, wondering about the difficulty of the exams. The young Namikaze didn't buy his words for a second however, especially once he got a whiff of his scent. He asked in an accusing tone, "And how did such a powerful guy like you fail so many times? Surely there's more to it."
Kabuto casually waved him off with a casual laugh, although it sounded a bit strained. "You flatter me. The exams are actually really hard. All this time did help me learn a lot about the exams and our competition though." He pulled out a deck of cards, saying that they could reveal background information on any participant with a bit of his chakra. Sasuke immediately described the appearance of Gaara, then asked for info on Rock Lee and his fellow male teammate as well.
Kabuto complied and looked up Gaara's information first. Sabaku no Gaara (Gaara of the Desert), 8 C-rank missions and 1 B-rank completed. His teammates were his siblings, Temari and Kankuro, with a man named Baki as their jonin sensei. His skills were unknown, but he never had a scratch on him from any of the missions. It was his first exam. The rookies gasped at the impressive record, while Naruto had a small smile showing, happy that his best friend was every bit as good as he expected.
Rock Lee was 1 year older than the rookies, since his team waited before deciding to take their first exam. 20 D-ranks and 11 C-ranks completed, teammate Hyuuga Neji and Tenten, with Might Gai as their jonin sensei. His taijutsu is above average, but every other area's skills were practically nonexistent.
Just when he was about to read out Naruto's info to the others, said card and the deck were suddenly aflame and were burning down to nothing rather quickly. Kabuto gasped as he let go before his hands were burned as well. The others were also surprised except for Naruto, who was whistling as if he didn't do a thing, and said sarcastically, "Aw! They burned up! Too bad. Guess you'll have to watch me in action, or fight me to find out for yourself what I'm about." The others looked in amazement as they didn't even see him move, with the exception of Sasuke, who was conscious to see him do the same to Kakashi's book when they fought him in the genin exam, not that he saw how he did it then either.
Naruto then turned to face the entire room with a confident grin and proclaimed in a loud voice, as they were looking his way because of the noise the group was making. "That goes for all of you too. I Namikaze Naruto, won't lose to any of you-dattebayo! Just try and stop me!" He then sent out a wave of killing intent throughout the room to those that he considered a potential enemy, making it harder for most in the room to breathe. Those that the killing intent weren't directed towards still felt how powerful it was, getting varied reactions out of them. The lazy Naru sighed and remarked, "Mendokuse, so much for keeping a low profile. He just went and made an enemy out of everyone in the room. It looks like he may be able to back up that talk though." Hinata blushed a bit redder and began to poke her forefingers together again. Shino may have lifted an eyebrow in interest, not that it was very noticeable considering that most of him was covered by his attire. Sakura, who refrained from scolding him as she usually did and thought, 'He talks so big, but he doesn't come off like Sasuke-kun when he does. Could he really be stronger than him?' Sasuke was seething in anger and jealousy at what his teammate could do so effortlessly, annoyed that he couldn't attain that kind of training and power yet because Yuuki refused to give it to him. Kabuto thought that he was worth keeping an eye on, and would have to report to a certain snake later, if he didn't already find out for himself.
A few moments later, Naruto let the killing intent drop, much to the relief of most genins in the room, as they took deep breaths in relief. They then began to whisper amongst themselves. "Did he say Namikaze? Isn't that the Yondaime's last name?" "Namikaze Naruto? I thought the bingo book said Uzumaki!" "How did a kid like that get in the bingo books? He must be strong!" "He must've taken Uzumaki as an alias. I heard that he was the Yellow Flash reborn!" "Yeah? I heard that he was trained by the Proto Flash himself!" "No way! The Yondaime's brother, also the guy who came up with the incomplete form of the Hiraishin?"
While this was going on, Kabuto recomposed himself and went on to explain about the competition sent from each nation and village. Just when he went and said that the Sound Village was new, unknown and probably nothing to worry about, the only genin team from said village took action from the putdown. One male who looked like Kiba without the hood on threw a kunai to distract Kabuto, while the other male on the team that looked like a partially wrapped mummy threw a punch, which the Konoha-nin evaded. Suddenly, a wave of vibration headed towards him and was about to make contact, until it was stopped cold by what appeared to be a barely visible wall of wind.
When the wall of wind dissipated, the Sound team and Kabuto looked in surprise as Naruto appeared in front of them, standing between them and Kabuto, seemingly to have been the one who blocked their attack. "Not bad for a cheap sneak attack, but that's nothing against the power of kaze (wind). We really shouldn't fight here just before the exam starts, but if you insist on hurting a fellow Konoha-nin, I'll take you on," spoke the blonde confidently, while thinking, 'That ought to confuse glasses there a bit. And if they don't back off, I get a nice warm-up too.' Before the situation escalated however, a deep male voice bellowed out, "HEY YOU FOUR THERE! QUIT FIGHTING LIKE CHILDREN IN MY EXAM ROOM, UNLESS YOU'D LIKE TO GET KICKED OUT OF HERE!"
Turning to see an older man that he was very familiar with, Naruto just tried to look as nonchalant as possible, while the mummy Sound genin apologized for getting overexcited, saying that it was his first exam. The man just told him to shut up and ordered the genin to take their respective seats, introducing himself as Morino Ibiki, the proctor for the first exam. Naruto himself was assigned to be seated next to the Hyuuga heiress, much to her surprise, delight and nervousness.
While Ibiki did his best to intimidate the genin as he explained the rules, Naruto was lost in his thoughts as if he was alone in the room. Kyuubi asked, 'Naruto-kun? Shouldn't you be paying attention to what he's saying?' 'Don't worry about it Kyuubi-chan, I can hear him just fine. Besides, you're doing the same aren't you?' 'I suppose so. None of this seems all that interesting.' Naruto was about to agree when Ibiki looked at him in annoyance and shouted, "OI Naruto! Are you paying attention?"
The genin replied nonchalantly, "Yeah I heard you. 100 points, 2 points for each time cheating, yadi yada. I was paying attention. Calm down before you blow a blood vessel Ibi-chan. Oh hey Haku-chan!" He waved at his chunnin girlfriend, who waved back with a blush as she decided to help Ibiki today, knowing that he would be here, ignoring all the glares she was getting from certain ladies in the room. Everyone in the room snickered at how easygoing the blonde was being with the frightening proctor, while the man himself smacked his forehead with one of his hands, muttering, "Why did you have to teach him that annoying nickname Yuuki?" He spoke louder in resignation, "All right Naruto, just be quiet and pay attention. You have 45 minutes before we give you the final question. Hajime (Begin)!"
Everyone in the room began to get to work, some more efficiently than others. Sasuke used his newly awakened Sharingan to get his answers, while Sakura answered the questions just fine by herself, being the one with book smarts on the team. The others were using the same techniques they did in the canon story to get their answers as well. Meanwhile, Naruto just wrote his name on his paper, took a glance of the questions, turned the paper over to scribble a few words and put his head down to sleep. Kyuubi asked, 'Naruto-kun, shouldn't you answer the questions?' 'Nah, why bother? I don't know the answers to any of them, and this thing's set up to make people cheat with jutsu anyway.' 'That's true, but are you sure this is the time for a nap?' 'Don't worry about it Kyuubi-chan. I'm just getting some shuteye for the real exams after. Wake me up when Ibi-chan's about to give the tenth question.' Kyuubi complied, and he was about to fall into real sleep when he heard a stuttering female voice.
"Ano (Um)… Na-Naruto-kun…" Said young man got up and looked at Hinata, who seemed to want to say something. "If you want… you can copy my answers." Taking a quick glance at her paper to see some done before turning back to her, Naruto said with a foxy grin, "Thank you Hinata, but no thanks. I don't need to resort to cheating to pass this exam. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to take a nap." And he did just that, leaving her heart fluttered and amazed, since he actually spoke to her, thanked her and seemed so confident, despite the fact that he didn't answer a damn thing. Snapping out of her trance as she realized that she had an exam to finish, she returned to work.
Outside the exam room, Yuuki and a certain mophead were walking towards the exit of the building. Kakashi said solemnly, "I know what I said to Gai and Iruka before, but could I have jumped the gun, sending them into cold water like that?" "Eh, stop worrying 'tansai' (genius). Naruto and Sakura will be fine, and you trained Mr. 'I am an avenger' until he managed to activate his Sharingan. It'll all work out. Now let's go meet the others. I want to get a quick snack with Ku-chan." After a perverted giggle at the potential sexual innuendo and a quick slap in the head, they disappeared in shunshins.
The chunnin were watching the examinees like hawks, while Haku chuckled as she looked at Naruto. She remembered him telling her that he absolutely hated paper tests, since he stunk at them whenever Yuuki gave him any. She really didn't expect him to put his head down and sleep though. 45 minutes into the exam, Ibiki was about to announce the tenth question. The intimidation tactics were having some effect as some teams began to leave the room, not to mention the ones kicked out earlier for cheating poorly. Our hero was still in dreamland however, despite his girlfriend's attempts to wake him from inside.
Meanwhile, the jonin were in a lounge of some sort, chatting away. When the name of Ibiki as the proctor was brought up though, Kurenai shook her boyfriend, who was taking a nap after the snack he went and had with her and asked, "So who is this Morino Ibiki?" Asuma went on to explain what Ibiki's usual job was in interrogation and torture, and how intimidating he can come off as, making him a difficult person to get past. At hearing that, Yuuki snapped his head up, wide awake and commented, "Huh? You mean Ibi-chan? Don't worry, our team can handle him."
"Ibi…-chan?" Kakashi asked, as the other jonin looked at Yuuki with interest for the nickname. "Yeah Ibi-chan, he may look scary and all that, but he's not a bad guy, and has a soft spot for Naruto too, what with all the assholes sent there for attacking him when he was little, minus the ones I killed of course. I'm actually more worried about him not staying awake through the whole thing, since he always hated paper tests," he replied, not reacting to the varied reactions he was getting from the jonins.
'Naruto-kun, wake up! It's lunch time!' "Lunch time? Where's the ramen? Where?" The blonde snapped his head and looked around, as the others in the room chuckled at his antics. Only then did he realize that he was duped by his girlfriend into waking up. Ibiki smacked his forehead when his hand again at his easygoingness ruining the atmosphere he was trying to set. He tried to sound intimidating, yet came off filled with resignation as he asked, "All right gaki, now are you taking the tenth question or aren't you?"
Looking confused for a second until Kyuubi filled him in as to what Ibiki meant, Naruto began to raise his hand, much to the surprise of his teammates. That was, until he slammed his hand down and said, "Just kidding. Me quitting would make no sense. I have to become chunnin to get one step closer to becoming Hokage. I'll never quit! Even if I stay a genin forever, I'll still find a way to become Hokage! Oh and, you have no say as to whether we can take the exam outside this village anyway, so stop trying to scare us Ibi-chan."
Noticing that his resolute response was changing the atmosphere of the room, Ibiki asked the genin again if they were going to stay or quit, although he knew he wasn't going to get any more of them to quit, as the rest of the examinees significantly relaxed after Naruto's words of bravado, some even snickering. He sighed in resignation and said, "All right… you all pass the first exam!" That got a nearly synchronized "NANI?" through the room.
After explaining to the confused genin (well, most of them) about the point behind the way the exam was set up and what it meant to be a chunnin, a harmless explosion occurred as somebody crashed into the room. When the smoke cleared, a certain female jonin wearing a jacket open, shorts and fishnet shirt proclaimed dramatically, banner and all, "The beautiful and sexy second exam proctor, Mitarashi Anko is here!" getting sweatdrops from nearly everyone in the room.
Ibiki coughed into his fist and said, "Eh Anko, do you not notice the atmosphere in the room? You're early, and you're ruining it like the gaki." Pointing at Naruto as he said that, Anko licked her lips as she looked at the boy with interest, making the genin cringe and certain ladies in the room look at her with animosity, not that she paid any attention. She turned to see all the genin still in the room, and commented, "Man, you let 26 teams pass? You're not getting soft on me, are you Ibi-chan?" "WOULD YOU STOP CALLING ME THAT! It's bad enough that you told Yuuki that nickname, but then he went and told the gaki," Noticing the strange looks he was getting, he coughed and recomposed himself as he continued, "Besides, a lot of them show promise this year." "Promise huh? We'll see about that, since at least half of them will fail the next exam by the time they're through with my exam." This got the reaction she wanted out of the genin as most of them seemed shocked and intimidated, with the exception of a few who were eager to fight or even kill.
As Anko led the genin off to show them where they should be tomorrow for the second exam, Ibiki went around the room to gather up the papers. He stopped at Naruto's and saw that it was blank other than his name. He couldn't help but laugh as he said, "That gaki. He may be hyper one minute and lazy the next, but he's sure an interesting guy. He had the balls to go through my exam without answering a damn thing. I wonder how he'll make out in the next exam." Noticing that there was writing in the back, he turned the paper over. Naruto wrote : Keep an eye on glasses. He smelled like hebi (snake). Ibiki's face turned serious as he said, "I thought it was odd that he kept failing. I'd better report this to Hokage-sama."
After spending time with Yugito and Haku for the rest of the day as he might not see them for a few days during the second exam, information courtesy of Yuuki who was chased by Anko in the same day for a date and possibly more, much to Kurenai's annoyance at her friend, Naruto showed up in front of the place the second exam would take place in the morning with Haku, who didn't have a mission that day and came to see him off, or in since he was heading into an area inside the village. He greeted his teammates, but found that his 'subordinates' there as well, who were talking to Anko. After answering the Konohamaru Corp's interview which covered the few jutsus that Sasuke revealed and the ones Naruto used outside of training, they wished their leader luck and left. The interruption over, Anko exclaimed, "Now that they're out of the way, welcome back kiddies, to Training Area 44, the Forest of Death!"
While she was getting the effect she wanted out of most of the genin, Naruto simply scoffed and remarked, "Che! Overrated name. Aniki's brought me to far scarier places than this." Anko suddenly threw a kunai across his cheek and made him bleed, much to the surprise of his teammates, but not the couple present. Haku was more surprised by the fact that her boyfriend didn't dodge, who knew that she wouldn't quit until she cut him, as Anko appeared behind the blonde and whispered into his ear while licking the blood coming out of the wound. "You blood tastes good. I wonder how the rest of you tastes." Blushing at what she was implying, Naruto just stood frozen for a few moments until a senbon needle aimed at the jonin got her to jump back. Anko looked at the direction it was thrown from to see an angry Haku who spoke coldly, chakra flaring. "Anko-sempai, please keep your flirtatious self off Naruto-kun."
The jonin was about to retort when a certain Kusa-nin move over to her with her tongue in a strange manner, returning her kunai, saying that she was returning what she dropped. She shrugged off the words from Haku earlier, and said to the Kusa (Grass I think) genin, "Thanks, just don't sneak up on me again or you may find yourself dead." Haku walked up to Naruto and whispered to him as she healed his facial wound with medical chakra, "Be careful of that one there. Her chakra doesn't feel right." He whispered back, "I will, don't worry. She reeks of hebi too, and her scent is much stronger. If she tries anything, we'll be ready."
A few moments later, the teams each got their scroll after Anko explained the rules and consent forms were signed. After the final advice to try not to die from her, the genin shot off like arrows into the forest. Haku looked a bit disappointed, until somebody poked her on her shoulder and she turned to find Naruto, who promptly kissed her on the cheek, said "See you in 5 days at most, Haku-chan," and dispelled himself, as it was a Kage Bunshin. The chunnin blushed as she rubbed the cheek where the clone kissed her and uttered out words softly, "Good luck, Naruto-kun. Be careful."
Each team began to set their own plans into action. Hinata activated her Byakugan and found a team with a scroll already and headed off that way with her team, getting it from the Ame-nin (Rain ninja I believe) not long after as they were ambushed by leeches. Sakura asked as their team came to a stop, "So what's the plan Sasuke-kun?" Naruto chuckled and said, "Sakura-san picked you, so you may as well speak your mind Sasuke. What's your grand scheme o brave leader?" Sasuke was about to retort in irritation of the blonde's sarcasm, when Naruto suddenly said, "Gomen, didn't go to the bathroom after all that ramen broth at breakfast. Be right back," and he leapt off before the others could get a word in edgewise.
When he returned, Sasuke immediately attacked him, as he saw through the henge what with the number of differences on his attire from the real Naruto. The fake released his henge to reveal an Ame-nin, who called himself Mubi and attacked. Sasuke retaliated with a cry of "Katon : Housenka no Jutsu (Fire Element : Phoenix Fire)!" and got his foe to back off for a moment. He then searched and found Naruto tied up. The blonde told him to look out behind him and dispelled himself, as he was only a Kage Bunshin. Sasuke turned around to see a barrage of kunai from Mubi, one with an explosive tag attached to it. He managed to dodge, but found Mubi behind him with a kunai on his neck, telling him to hand over their scroll if he wanted to live.
That didn't last, as Naruto suddenly appeared behind the Ame-nin, doing the same thing to him. Mubi leapt back as Naruto was about to slit his throat before he could even threaten him with Sasuke, barely dodging the kunai as the three separated. Sasuke activated his Sharingan as he pulled out a kunai of his own and managed to stab Mubi with it. Sakura ran up to him in concern and asked if he was hurt, but the Uchiha told her to watch out for any other enemy within the vicinity. Mubi said that he came alone, and he escaped.
Sasuke turned to Naruto and asked, "You knew and stayed hidden the whole time until just now. Why didn't you kill him?" The blonde replied calmly, "There's no point. Since he came alone, he probably didn't have a scroll on him. Besides, letting him off to get his teammates may lead them coming straight back to us. We can kill them and get the scroll then." Sakura was a bit mortified at how casual the two were being about killing, and only meekly nodded along with Sasuke.
Sasuke then proceeded to talk about setting up a password to distinct between the real them and henged enemies. At hearing the long-winded password, Naruto looked a bit irritated but didn't say anything as he counted on his tenant and girlfriend to remember it for him. Suddenly, Naruto got hit and had his cheek sliced, or it seemed that way, until he went 'poof' and a block of wood was in his place as the real him jumped back down from a tree branch. He exclaimed, "Whew! That was close. What was that?"
Suddenly, a strong gust blew them back and the Ame-nin team with the guy who attacked them earlier appeared. The wind separated the trio. After a few minutes, Sakura met up with Sasuke and recited the password. Shortly after, Naruto also reappeared and recited the password. Remembering the look on Naruto's face earlier, Sasuke immediately attacked by throwing a kunai at him, calling him an imposter. The fake Naruto released his henge to reveal the same Kusa-nin that they saw before they entered the forest. She asked how he knew. He explained the look of irritation and the way Naruto was sweating as he told them the password gave him the idea that Naruto would have trouble remembering. Meanwhile, some distance away from the others was Naruto who got swallowed by a large snake, much to his annoyance.
The Kusa-nin swallowed her scroll whole and gave the duo a look as their eyes connected for a second. With heavy killing intent from her, Sasuke and Sakura were paralyzed as horrible images of their deaths flashed across their minds, while she walked towards them, kunai in hand and ready to strike.
Naruto inwardly cursed, 'Shimatta (Shit)! I got careless. Not only did I get hit by my own element, but I got swallowed by a giant snake of all things.' 'This isn't the time for that Naruto-kun. This fox isn't interested in becoming snake cuisine. And besides-' 'I know, what with this summon, it's got to be him. Enough playing around, let's get out of here and kick his ass before he hurt Sasuke and Sakura-san.' With that, he slammed his hand onto the sticky surface as he called out his attack, "Futon : Daitoppa! (Wind Element : Great Breakthrough)" creating a great explosion of wind, ripping the snake into pieces from the inside out. After getting most of the sticky innards of the snake off him, he began to leap towards the direction where he was blown from. 'Hang on Sasuke, Sakura-san. I'm coming.'
Back to the fight, the fearful Sasuke was trying to escape the Kusa-nin, but was having little luck. After stabbing himself in the leg to escape with Sakura, another snake, only larger than the one who swallowed Naruto, attacked them. Sasuke threw kunai at it and they hit, but the Kusa-nin emerged from its body and took form, scaring the Uchiha. Just as he was about to hand his scroll over in an attempt to escape with their lives, a kick connected with the enemy's face as she was sent crashing into a tree. The two looked up at the attacker, only to see their teammate on a tree branch, smiling as he exclaimed, "Looks like I made it in time. The future Hokage, Namikaze Naruto-sama, has arrived!" He turned to his teammates and said apologetically with a sheepish look on his face, "Gomen minna (everyone). I forgot the password, it was too long-tebayo."
Sakura looked on in relief that it was her earlier-missing teammate who came to aid them and that he was safe, while Sasuke's look of fear didn't change as he shouted, "What're you doing! Egatero (Run away)! This guy's on a whole other level from us, we can't beat him, even with your help!" Naruto turned to the Kusa-nin as he replied, "Sorry Sasuke, but I can't do that. What makes you think that he'd let us go after you give him our scroll? I'm not a bebe-neko (scaredy cat) like you. I never run away from a fight, plus I have to pay this guy back for siccing that damn snake on me back there. Isn't that right Hebi-teme? Show yourself!" Not understanding what Naruto meant, his teammates' expression changed from confusion to shock as their opponent shed her disguise like a snake shedding its skin to reveal the man underneath. They were flabbergasted as their opponent laughed in a creepy way and introduced himself to be the snake Sannin, Orochimaru.
"Kukukukuku, very good Naruto-kun. How did you know it was me?" asked Hebi-teme (I'll continue to refer to him as such, since I can't stand the bastard). Naruto taunted, "First of all, stop it with that creepy laugh, it's making my skin crawl. I heard from aniki that you're gay, but I don't swing for that team. Stop trying to come onto me." Hebi-teme ordered his snake to attack the blonde, only to see it ripped to shreds as a wall of wind appeared in front of him. Naruto taunted with a smirk of his face, "Hehe! Don't tell me that's all a Sannin can do?" 'No weak summon's going to get past my incomplete version of stage two Wind Shield, or as I like to call it, Wind Shield 1.5!' Hebi-teme retorted angrily, "Insolent gaki. I'll shut that smart mouth of yours for good!" "Just you try it!" And with that, they charged at each other as they began combat in taijutsu.
The two other genin looked on in amazement as their teammate went head to head with the Sannin. They couldn't believe it as Naruto could go up against an opponent of this caliber and he matched the snake man blow for blow, leaving cuts all over the Sannin's body as his wind chakra-augmented strikes made contact time and again. What they didn't see however, was the way Naruto was getting worn down as he began to breathe harder. While he was jonin level on his own, he was still a genin for a reason. His taijutsu may be augmented by elemental chakra, but keeping it up for an extended period of time can take its toll, plus his style was that of a brawler, which would've been no match for the Sannin who was well-trained had it not been for the cuts his chakra was making. And even then, Hebi-teme didn't looked nearly as worn out as he'd hoped, as the Sannin was able to keep going, his stamina giving Naruto's a run for his money for some reason.
Regardless of that though, Hebi-teme was getting irritated that the young shinobi was holding his own against him, not to mention all the wounds he was receiving. 'How is this gaki so powerful, to be able to keep up with me? It must be due to 'its' chakra, but I'll put a stop to that.' Just as he said that, he paid Naruto back for earlier with a kick of his own as his foot connected with the blonde right in the gut, sending him crashing into another tree. Sakura was about to jump in to help, but was stopped as Sasuke grabbed her shoulder, shook his head, and pointed at Naruto. She looked confused until she saw that Naruto was slowly getting back to his feet, albeit a bit slowly, and her expression of worry changed into a smile.
Naruto inwardly cursed, 'Kuso (Damn)! What is his skin made off? I keep pounding and cutting him, and he keeps coming back for more! I can't keep this up. I have to finish this fast, or he'd do it to me first!' Just as he finished his thoughts, he looked surprised as Hebi-teme appeared right in front of him and lifted his shirt up to reveal his belly, where the seal was.
The Sannin spoke gleefully as he held up his other hand, ready to strike. "Now Naruto-kun, with this seal on top of yours, you won't be able to use 'its' power to help you any furthe-" he stopped as he looked shocked, not recognizing what he was seeing. "The seal! It's changed, but how?"
Naruto taunted with a foxy grin, "Ha! Did you think I traveled all that time with aniki, and he wouldn't come up with a way to improve the seal?" Not able to come up with a comeback, Hebi-teme simply punched him through the tree in anger as his body soared towards the ground, unconscious from the impact of the attack when he was knocked through the tree trunk. Sakura, in concern of his teammate and trainer, yelled out his name and threw a kunai, catching him by the back of his jacket and nailing him to the tree trunk, keeping him safe from plummeting to his doom due to gravity.
Hebi-teme turned to looked at the two still conscious genin and asked, "Now there's just you two left. Do you wish to try your luck?" Sakura looked so frightened like she was about to cry, as she thought, 'Even Naruto was taken down, and he was running him ragged. What chance do we have?' Sasuke looked worried as he looked back and forth at his female teammate and their opponent, sharing similar thoughts. 'Damn! What do I do? We can't beat this guy!' As he mulled over how to escape with his life, Naruto's words of insult and Itachi's last words to him flashed across his mind, haunting and taunting him. 'But even the dobe gave him all he's got before he passed out. I can't run away! I have to win! To live and kill that man!' At that thought, his Sharingan activated and spun in a circle as his chakra flared.
Hebi-teme looked on with interest as he asked, "Hooh? It looks like you have some fight left in you after all. Let's see what you can do, Sasuke-kun." With that, the Sannin charged at him. Sasuke pushed Sakura out of the way as his struggle with the Sannin began. He fought valiantly, managing to tie up the Sannin with wire at one point and used it in a combo with Katon : Ryuuka no Jutsu (Fire Element, Dragon Fire Technique), making the Sannin cry out in pain as the flames made contact and enveloped the Sannin's body. It was no use however, as Hebi-teme simply shed his skin again and came out looking as if he was never wounded, with the exception of the cuts Naruto gave him earlier, as they were deep enough for marks to remain. The Uchiha looked on helplessly as Hebi-teme extended his neck up to his own and bit him, giving him a strange mark. After words were exchanged between him and Sakura as Sasuke rived in pain before falling unconscious, the Sannin was about to take his leave, not noticing what was happening behind him.
Hanging on the tree trunk, Naruto slowly regained consciousness as he began to look at his surroundings, realizing that he was being hung like a coat. Kyuubi spoke in relief, 'Thank goodness you're finally awake Naruto-kun! I kept calling for you to wake up, but you were so out of it.' 'Thanks Kyuubi-chan, but this isn't the time,' he turned his attention to Hebi-teme and his teammates. 'There he is. My friends need my help, and I'm low on chakra. We can't hold back against this guy, he's too strong. Let's give him everything we've got!' 'About time Naruto-kun, I thought you'd never ask.' With that, a red glow began to appear all over Naruto's body, as Kyuubi began to heal his wounds with her chakra. Shortly after, he got back into standing position on a tree branch above where he was nailed. Hebi-teme and Sakura looked on in shock as the young shinobi got back to his feet. A red glow began to appear where the seal was and out came a small fox that was half the size of Naruto with one tail. Naruto yelled out, "I knew you were gay, but I didn't know you like little boys. The fun and games are over Hebi-teme! For hurting my friends, today you're going down! Go K-chan, Kitsune Flame!"
The fox complied as she released a powerful burst of flame from her mouth like a flamethrower, aimed right at the Sannin. He managed to dodge the attack, but not completely as he cried out in pain for part of his left arm was charred by the flames. He cursed inwardly, 'Kuso! He's far stronger than I imagined, and his wind affinity. He may be another worthy vessel for me, but I can't take him on as I am now. If only I didn't waste all that chakra earlier playing around with them… no matter, I've completed my objective. Sasuke-kun will seek me out for power.' With that, he began to make his retreat.
Naruto shouted "Matte (Wait)!" as both Kyuubi and he struck him, only for his body to melt down to a pile of mud. "Shit! It was a Tsuchi Bunshin (Earth Clone). He got away, but we'll get him next time-tebayo." They then jumped towards his teammates, as Sakura looked at Sasuke with concern, the marks expanding a bit and shrinking back on his body. She asked, "He gave Sasuke-kun this weird hickey when he bit him, and said that he would seek him out for power. Can you do something to help Sasuke-kun Naruto?"
The blonde replied, "That's no ordinary love bite, that's a cursed seal. Damn him! If only he didn't knock me out earlier, I could've stopped him. I don't know enough about seals, but aniki may. Let's find a place for him to rest first and then make a pla-" Both Kyuubi and Sakura called out his name in concern as he stopped mid-sentence and collapsed. Kyuubi looked him over and said, "Daijoubu (It's all right). He's just suffering from chakra exhaustion. He barely managed to beat Hebi-teme back with the last of his chakra and willpower. A good night of sleep and he'll be back to his old self." "But, aren't you his summon? How can you still be here if he's out of chakra?"
Kyuubi fibbed, "He's just about out, that's why I have to leave too. Take care of them." Before Sakura could say another word, the fox returned into his body with a glow of red back into the seal, leaving her alone with two unconscious teammates and a lot of questions on her mind, like how Naruto's summon was so different from what she learnt about nin-animals in the academy.
While the intense battle was taking place, Konoha-nin found the dead bodies of the real Kusa-nin that Hebi-teme disguised himself as and the rest of that team. They reported this to Anko, who after she told them to report this to the Hokage, charged into the forest to confront the snake Sannin, suspecting that the deaths were his doing. The fight went about the same way as that of the canon story, only she didn't pass out as he left, leaving her struggling to stay conscious with the cursed seal around her neck giving her throbbing pain. She couldn't help but wonder as she stood and watched Hebi-teme escape, 'But what's with all the cuts on his body? And why was he holding his left arm with his other like he was in pain?'
Anko sat down alone, not long after several ANBU showed up, asking her about what happened and offered to take her to the Hokage, since the seal was acting up. She refused and told them to bring him to the tower.
With all the excitement going on, Sakura looked on in concern at her two unconscious teammates under a hole in a tree trunk, unaware that she was being watched by the Sound genin team. They've been ordered to kill Sasuke. The trio planned to make their move come morning, when Sakura was at her weakest, exhausted from watching over them.