Naruto: A Second Chance
A/N: Hello my good people. I deeply apologize for the long absence. I hope you can forgive me. Now this chapter will feature the Chunin Exams.
Chapter 10: The Chunin Exams
Naruto was snoozing lightly on his bed. He was suddenly awoken by a knock on the door. He got up to answer it, it was Sakura. He yawned and scratched the back of his head, "What brings you here Sakura?" He asked.
"May I come in?" She asked, abruptly averting her eyes. Naruto stepped aside to let her in. She walked in and sat down on Naruto's couch. Naruto went into the kitchen and poured two glasses of orange juice. He walked into the room and handed Sakura a glass and sat down on a chair across from the couch. They were quiet for a few minuets then Sakura suddenly said, "All of what you said was true right?"
Naruto looked away, "Yeah."
"About the village being destroyed, you unleashing the Kyubi, coming back in time…all of it?" She asked.
"All true…" Naruto confirmed.
"You trained Sasuke in the Land of Waves." She said. Naruto looked up into her eyes, they looked determined, "Please train me Naruto!"
Naruto's eyes widened, "Train you?" He asked. Sakura nodded. Naruto's mouth cracked into a smile, "Sakura I would be glad to train you, but the thing is…." He didn't get to finish his sentence before Sakura stood up and turned away from him.
"I get it," She said, "It's because I'm weak and not worth you time, right?"
Naruto stood up as well, "No, no, no." He said, "It's not that."
"Then what is it?" Sakura demanded.
"Well something is coming up very soon and we wouldn't have much time." Naruto explained.
"What's coming up?" Sakura asked.
"The Chunin Exams." Naruto said, "The turning point of our lives."
"Turning point?" Sakura said confused. She sat back down to hear Naruto out. Naruto sat back down as well.
"Well you see, back in my past life when we did the Chunin Exams our entire lives changed." Naruto said, memories flooding back, "We competed against old friends, faced terrifying and powerful rivals, fought other shinobi who wanted to kill us. And most of all…we found ourselves."
"Wow…" Sakura said, "Was it really that life changing?"
"Yeah, it was so challenging yet so amazing." Naruto said.
Sakura was about to say something when she was interrupted by a cloud of smoke. Out of the cloud came Kakashi. "Yo." He said with a small wave of his hand.
"Hey Kakashi-sensei." Naruto said, "What brings you here?"
"I just came here to give you both these," He reached into one of his vest pockets and pulled out two slips of paper. "Your participation slips for the Chunin Exams."They took the slips, "It begins in three days." Kakashi said and gave them a little wave before disappearing.
Sakura was looking at her slip with excitement and anticipation.
"Sakura." Naruto said, she looked at him, "We have three days."
"Three days for what?" Sakura asked.
Naruto sighed, "Didn't you ask me to train you?"
"Oh yeah!" Sakura remembered, "But we only have three days."
"So?" Naruto said, "I prepared Sasuke to fight a Jounin-level shinobi in a few days."
"True…" Sakura said, "But to be fair, Sasuke-kun is a whole lot better than me…"
"Not true!" Naruto said, he placed a hand on her shoulder, "You have way better chakra control that Sasuke. You could surpass him if you tried."
"Really?" She asked.
"Of course." Naruto said with a wide smile on his face.
Sakura looked down, then back up with a smile, "When do we begin?" She asked.
"Begin what?" The voice belonged to Sasuke, who was standing a few feet from her.
"Sasuke-kun?" she asked, "Where is Naruto?" she asked looking around.
"Naruto?" Saskue asked, "He's still back in the Hokage Tower."
Sakura took another look around and realized she was a little ways away from the Hokage Tower. "But I was just talking to Naruto at his house." She said to herself.
"What?" Sasuke asked, "I was just told to escort you out of the room as Naruto was explaining his crazy story. Then you started to get a little dazed."
"But…but…" Sakura was so confused.
Sasuke grabbed her hand, "You were daydreaming. Its obvious."
"I guess…" Sakura said. Sasuke started to pull her.
"Lets get you some tea to clear your head." He said. Sakura blushed, "He's never been this nice to me, it must have been Naruto's story." She told herself. A few minuets later they were sitting at a tea shop, silently drinking their green tea. Sakura was looking into her cup when Sasuke said her name. She looked over at him and his face was very close to hers, as if he was going into a kiss. "No way, this is really happening!" She started to lean in as well but came to a revelation, remembering how Naruto grabbed her shoulder. She pushed Sasuke away and made a hand sign, "Kai!" She shouted.
The world melted around Sakura, revealing Naruto's apartment. "Nice work. You've just passed your first real test." Naruto said.
Sakura got angry, "The hell was that?" She demanded, standing up and raising a fist.
"You're the one who wants trained." Naruto replied, "And this is exactly how I was trained."
"The same way you were trained?" Sakura asked, "Who trained you?"
Naruto suddenly grew a little serious, "It's nothing." He said, "And please, don't mention what I just said. Please."
"Okay…" Sakura said, "That's weird, he doesn't want anyone to know who trained him." She thought.
"Now then, we have three days." Naruto said getting up. He walked into his room and came out with a bag full of scrolls and other objects. "Lets get training."
Three days later Team Seven was waiting on the bridge they established as their rally point. Naruto leaned against a rail, Sakura next to him and Sasuke was across from them, trying not to look at Naruto. Yet again Kakashi was late, three hours today.
"Yo." Kakashi said, appearing on one of the bridges rails.
Instead of shouting at him they all gave him an evil glare. "Okay…now today is the big day." Kakashi said, "Are you all ready."
They all nodded. Kakashi looked at Sakura, "Sakura, I mean no disrespect at all when I say this. Are you sure you want to go through with this?"
Sakura gave him a determined look, "More than ready!" she said boldly, giving him a thumbs-up and a wink.
"Good." Kakashi said, and pulled out his book, "I guess I'll see you guys later." Kakashi disappeared.
"Sakura?" Sasuke asked.
Sakura didn't even look at him, "Don't worry about me Sasuke-kun," She said firmly, "I can handle myself."
They made their way to the Chunin Exam building. They were about halfway there when Konohamaru flew past Naruto, with Narutos headband. "Hey!" Naruto yelled.
"Ha!" Konohamaru shouted, "Try and catch me!" He stuck his tongue out and started to run. Naruto raced after him, up until Konohamaru ran into a man with paint on his face and a large bandaged object on his back.
"Hey you little punk." He said as he picked up Konohamaru, "That kind of hurt." Konohamaru struggled to get free.
"Let him go Kankuro," Said a blond girl with four ponytails, "We don't want to cause trouble."
"I will Temari," Said Kankuro, "Right after a little pounding."
"I suggest you let him go." Said Naruto, standing a few yards away.
"And what do you think you're going to do about it, chump?" Kankuro asked.
Naruto was suddenly in Kankuro's face. "He's fast!" Kankuro thought as he let Konohamaru go and jumped away from Naruto. Kankuro started to reach for the object on his back when a voice came out of nowhere, "Don't even try it." It was a young redheaded boy, with the character for 'love' above his left eye. Sand swirled around the boy and he appeared between Kankuro and Naruto.
"I apologize for this imbecile's actions." The boy said.
"No problem," Naruto said, he leaned forward a little to finish his sentence, "Gaara."
Gaara didn't look surprised at all, though Naruto didn't think he would. "You know who I am?"
"I know enough about you to say this," He leaned in very close and whispered, "If you ever harm my friends…I will kill you." He sat the last part demonically. He pulled away as Sasuke and Sakura caught up.
"What's going on?" Sasuke asked.
"Nothing," Naruto said, "Just having a little talk with our friends from the Sand Village. See you guys at the exams." Naruto started to walk away, his team following him. As he passed Gaara, they exchanged glances in the corners of their eyes.
As Naruto's team moved off into the distance, Temari and Kankuro looked at Gaara who was shivering, "Whats wrong?" they asked.
"I…I want his blood." Gaara said thirstily. Temari and Kankuro exchanged looks of fear.
"Naruto who was that?" Sakura asked.
"Gaara…" Naruto stopped and looked at his team mates, "Whatever you do, don't mess with him…he wont hesitate to kill you."
Sakura and Sasuke looked at each other. They made it to the exam building and walked up the stairs to the third floor. They got there just in time to see one kid push a girl down then punch another kid. Naruto didn't stop to watch, he tried walking past the bully kid.
"Whoa there guy." Said the kid, "You don't look tough enough for this exam."
"You think so?" Naruto asked innocently, "I don't feel especially confident."
"Then you should back down." The kid said nastily.
"I'll take you advice." Naruto replied, placing his hand on the guys shoulder. "Hey, there's a spider on you shoulder." The kid crushed the spider only to have another one appear. He started to crush them all, freaking out in the process.
Everyone in the room was staring at the kid, very confused. It looked like he was dancing around slapping himself. He suddenly exploded into smoke and everybody saw him for what he was, a Chunin. Naruto turned to everybody else, "We're on the second floor by the way." He pointed the sign above the door, which turned changed before their eyes. Naruto started to walk away, along with Sakura and Sasuke.
"Hey wait." Said a voice Naruto could never forget. "What's your name?"
"Its not polite to demand a name from someone without giving your name first," Naruto replied, "Hyuuga Neji." Naruto and his team just kept walking. They walked into a large open room that led to the stairs to the third floor.
"Excuse me!" Yelled another voice Naruto recognized. The kid Naruto saw get punched jumped into the room, "I am Rock Lee, what is your name?"
"Uzumaki Naruto." Naruto replied.
"Uzumaki Naruto," Lee said, "Please fight me?"
Sasuke and Sakura looked at each other.
"No thanks." Naruto simply replied.
"Why?" Lee asked, "I am the number one Genin in Konoha, and I want to test my abilities on you."
Naruto laughed, "That's a lie. Hyuuga Neji is the supposed 'number one Genin' but then again that's a falsehood as well."
Lee looked slightly taken aback, "What do you mean by that?"
Naruto was in Lee's face before he could blink, "Because I am." Lee stumbled backwards. "Now if you'll excuse me." Naruto turned away and continued to walk away, but not before he noticed Sasuke deactivating his Sharingan. "Well isn't that flattering, he's trying to copy me."
When they left the room Naruto stopped, "Sasuke."
"What?" He replied.
"Don't copy me." Naruto turned around, "Just because you mimic my techniques doesn't mean you can pull them off."
Sasuke got mad, "Are you trying to say that I'm not good enough to do what you do?"
"That's exactly what I'm saying." Naruto replied.
Sasuke lunged at Naruto using the intense speed he just saw, when he was where Naruto was he got slammed into a wall. "I saw that." Naruto jeered.
"But how? I did exactly what you did." Sasuke said, angry with himself.
"You may have done what I did, but your body isn't conditioned to move as fast as mine." Naruto explained, "Now do you understand what I said earlier?"
Sasuke looked down, "Yeah." He admitted. Naruto pulled him off the wall and they continued to the room. When they arrived Kakashi was standing in front of the door.
"What are you doing here Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked.
"Just wanted to wish you guys luck again," He said, "The Chunin Exams are no pushover. Some of the people here wont hesitate to kill you if they need too."
"It wouldn't be a challenge if they didn't." Naruto replied, "And besides Kakashi-sense, I remember these exams very well. I think we'll be okay."
Kakashi nodded, "Of course. But Naruto you must remember that you need to stay secretive about yourself." He looked at Sakura and Sasuke, "That goes for you guys as well, don't let out Naruto's secret."
"I wont." Sakura said.
Sasuke grunted in confirmation.
"Good." Kakashi gave them a small wave and disappeared.
They walked into the room, Naruto wasn't phased, but Sasuke and Sakura were slightly shocked by the amount of people.
"Well look whose here." Said the cocky voice belonging to none other than Inuzuka Kiba.
"Kiba." Sasuke said, "They let you out of the kennel early today?"
Kiba smirked, "No kennel could hold me and Akamaru back today." The little dog on his head barked.
"Might want to watch out Kiba, I heard fleas have been going around." Naruto joked.
"The only parasite I know is on my team." Kiba replied.
"What's that?" asked a sudden, quiet voice.
"What?" Kiba asked, "Oh nothing Shino, just chatting up with some old friends."
"I see." Shino said, he looked at Naruto and gave him a slight nod. Unknown to everyone else Naruto and Shino were better friends than anyone thought. Naruto nodded back, then he noticed someone behind Shino.
"Hey there Hinata." Naruto said. He heard a small yelp, then the shy kunoichi moved out of her teammates shadow.
"H-hello there N-Naruto-kun." Hinata said shyly. She touched her fingers together as she usually did when she was nervous. "You look well…"
"I am." Naruto replied, Hinata smiled slightly.
The good mood was interrupted by a loud scream, "Sasuke-kun!" Ino leapt on Sasuke's back.
"Get off of me!" Sasuke demanded.
"Yeah leave him alone you boar!" Sakura yelled.
"Aw don't feel inferior Sakura," Ino taunted, "You are, but you don't need to fell like you are."
"Get off." Sasuke said once more, putting some force in his words. Ino quickly got off of his back and pouted.
"All this commotion is troublesome." Said a lazy voice.
"Always the whiny one, eh Shikamaru?" Naruto said.
Shikamaru rolled his eyes. There was a crunching sound and the hungry shinobi Chouji walked up to everybody.
"Wow all nine of us rookies are here." Kiba said, "This exam should be good."
"Well hi there my young friends." They all looked to the voice, a guy a little older than them with silver hair. "My name is Yakushi Kabuto."
Naruto didn't show it on his face, but inside he felt so much anger he could barely control himself. He felt a hand on his shoulder, it was Shino. Naruto looked him in the eye and nodded, "Control you anger Naruto, you can kill Kabuto later." He told himself.
Kabuto was saying something about the cards that had the statistics on every Genin in the exam. Sasuke asked about Gaara and Lee, the two people who Naruto confronted earlier. Naruto let his gaze fall to Neji, who gave him an evil glare. He then looked over to the Sound Genin. They tried to avoid his gaze. Kabuto was explaining the reason for the massive amount of Genin when he threw down and insult about the Sound Village. While everybody was distracted by the Sound shinobi assault Naruto took the time to quickly make a clone and use a camouflage technique. The clone went behind Kabuto and when he went to dodge the attack aimed at him, Naruto's clone pushed Kabuto forward. Kabuto was struck in the face as well as hit by the sound. He flew back into a wall. Naruto smirked to in his head.
"What the hell?" Kabuto asked, bleeding from the lip, he shot forward and vomited.
"Settle down you idiots!" Yelled an angry voice, "Sound shinobi, if you wish to continue with this exam I suggest you stop roughhousing!"
"Sorry." Said the lead one, Dosu as Naruto rembered, "I guess we're just nervous."
"I am Morino Ibiki, the proctor for the first test of the Chunin Exams." Ibiki said, "Take you seats and prepare for the written exam."
Everybody in the room looked at each other, all thinking the same thing, "Written test?!"
Everyone was seated at their desks, Naruto's head was propped up by his arm. "Hello Naruto-kun." Said Hinata quietly.
"Hey Hinata." Naruto replied, with his usual big grin.
"Are you as nervous for this as I am" She asked, so quietly Naruto barely even heard her.
"Not one bit." Naruto said. Hinata looked at him like he was crazy.
"But you hate written tests." She said.
"Yeah, but lets just say I know exactly what we're getting into." Naruto replied.
"Everyone be quiet I'm about to explain the rules!" Ibiki shouted. He spent the next few minuets explaining the rules and answering the questions he specifically said not to be asked in the first place.
Everybody was trying to get the answers by any means necessary, except for Naruto, who sat back in his chair and was lost in thought. He felt a pair of eyes on him, he stealthily looked over at none other than Sasuke, most likely trying to copy his answers. "I just got a funny idea." He thought to himself. He put his pencil onto the paper and started to write as fast as he could.
Sasuke was following Naruto's writing determinedly. When Naruto put down his pencil Sasuke did the same and looked down at his paper, "What the hell?" he asked.
His paper read:
1. I enjoy wearing frilly pink dresses.
2. I love snakes, and not just the kind that slither on the ground.
3. I enjoy long walks on the beach with other men.
4. If I had one cent for every time I thought I sucked, I would be rich…er.
5. I think I will come out of the closet soon.
Sasuke stopped reading after number 5. He was so furious that he almost leapt up from his chair and killing Naruto.
Naruto could barely contain his laughter, Hinata looked at his paper and blushed. Naruto looked at her and tried to explain, "Its not what you think, Sasuke was copying me so I made him write really stupid and ridiculous things."
Hinata let out a small laugh, "I see…its kind of funny I suppose."
At nearly the end of the test and with more than half of the teams remaining, it was time for the tenth question.
"Alright, time for the tenth question!" Ibiki yelled. "But before I present it, anyone who doesn't think their up to par should quit now!"
Many people became nervous, after several minuets many teams gave up. Naruto sat back in his chair and stretched out.
Ibiki looked at him, "Well aren't we the confident one?"
Naruto looked him in the eye, "Not really," he replied, "I'm just unable to be interrogated, especially by an armature like you."
"What was that?" Ibiki asked viciously.
"You've seen some combat, maybe even killed a few people. So what?" Naruto asked, "You don't scare me." Naruto narrowed his eyes, looking straight into Ibiki's.
Ibiki didn't break his mask, but inside of his head he was truly frightened, "This mere child has me frightened to hell. What the hell has he seen?"
After their little conversation, nobody else decided to quit.
"Well since you have decided to answer the tenth question…you all pass." Ibiki said.
"What?" Almost everyone in the room asked.
"It was a test to see how you gather information under pressure of having your entire team fail." Ibiki said, he pulled off the bandana on his head, revealing the various nasty scars and burns and not to mention screw holes. Many of the students gasped. "Information gathering is one of the most important things in a battle. It can determine the outcome of life and death." He tied the bandana back on. "Also-" He was about to say something when something crashed through the window.
Two kunai imbedded themselves in the ceiling holding up a banner of congratulations. "Congratulations to all those who passed the first test!" Yelled a woman with purple hair. She looked around the room, "Wow Ibiki you must be slipping, there are so much more than usual."
"It's a good crowd this time around." Ibiki replied, looking at Naruto.
"If you say so." The woman said, "Listen up people! My name is Mitarashi Anko, your proctor for the second test of the Chunin Exams!"
The class just looked at her, dumbstruck. "Now you bunch of gutless, talentless mongrels get to training area 44 for the second test."
About an hour later they were at training area 44. "Alright everyone listen up!" Anko yelled, "This is training area 44, or as we higher up shinobi like to call it…the 'Forest of Death'."
Many of the Genin gulped. "Now for this test you will have five days to make it to the tower in the middle of the forest."
"That doesn't sound that difficult." Sasuke said.
"I wasn't finished." Anko retorted pulling out a white and purple scroll, "Each team will have either an Earth or Heaven scroll. The objective is to make it to the tower…with both scrolls."
"So what you're saying is that we have to get both scrolls and make it to the tower in five days." Kiba asked.
"That's correct." Anko replied she pulled out a piece of paper, "Oh and before I forget, you need to sigh theses forms."
"Forms? What for?" Sakura asked.
"They basically say that we aren't liable to any deaths that may…and will occur in this test." Anko said with a twisted smile on her face. Many of the Genin gulped again.
"Like I'm going to die. I'm the greatest one here!" Naruto said obnoxiously.
Anko quickly grabbed a kunai from a holster on her leg and threw it at Naruto. Naruto saw it coming from a mile away, he listlessly tilted his head to the side. Anko growled silently to herself, "That kid's not bad." She walked up to Naruto, "The ones with cocky attitudes always are the first to be killed." She said, trying to scare the kid.
"Too bad there are none of those around here." Naruto replied. Just as he suspected the odd grass shinobi came up from behind with Anko's kunai in his tongue.
"I believe this is yours." He said to Anko, with his tongue around Naruto's neck.
"Shit, he's here as well. After all I did to prevent it!" Naruto yelled in his head, not presenting a single emotion on his face.
"Thanks." Anko said with a big smile on her face. "Now everybody go to the tent behind me and get your scrolls. Oh and one last thing…don't open the scrolls."
"Why?" Sakura asked.
"Trust me." Anko said, "It's too brutal to explain." That made the Genin's gulp again.
There was a big line and team 7 was currently in there getting their scroll. "A Heaven Scroll." Said the man behind the desk. "And you will be gate seven."
"Alright." Naruto said as the team left the tent and made their way to their designated gate, as they were going Naruto noticed Gaara to his right. Their eyes met briefly and Naruto noticed the thirsty look in them. "Oh damn, now he's got me in his sights."
They waited at their gate for about half an hour before they were finally told to get ready.
"So how bad is this one?" Sakura asked.
"It should go pretty smoothly this time around." Naruto replied. He looked at Sasuke, "Sasuke, if you're attacked by any Grass Shinobi…run."
"Why?" Sasuke asked, not liking to be told to run.
"Because…" They heard the announcement to go, "Not everyone is what they seem." He bolted off just as he finished talking.
Naruto made a quick lead, but the other two caught up quickly, "What the hell are you talking about Naruto?" Sasuke demanded.
"There is a man…no not even a man anymore. He is a monster." Naruto said disgustingly, "He was once a student of the Sandaime, he is a Sanin."
"A Sanin?" Sakura asked, "Weren't they the most powerful shinobi of the Leaf Village?"
"Yes, but his particular one, Orochimaru was exiled after he was caught kidnapping people and conduction experiments and using forbidden techniques. He vows revenge on the Sandaime and the entire village…" Naruto explained.
"That's not everything!" Sasuke said angrily.
Naruto suddenly stopped on a branch and gave Sasuke an evil and angry look and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, "He filled your head with visions of power! He took you away from me and Sakura! He took my best friend from me! That's what he did!"
Sasuke was too shocked to react. "That's why I've been so hard on you for all these years. To stop you from being an idiot and going with him."
Naruto was about to continue but was cut off by clapping. They looked over and it was the same Grass Genin from before. "What a nice little story." He said.
Naruto was in no mood to chat, "Orochimaru!"
Orochimaru was a little taken aback that his identity was revealed.
"If you know what's good for you," Naruto said viciously, "You will leave right the fuck now!"
Orochimaru laughed, "I cant do that my young friend. I have an appointment with my dear Sasuke over there."
"Not this time." Naruto said and sprang into action. He used his Shushin to get in Orochimaru's face. He threw a kick at the Sanin, which was blocked. Orochimarus neck extended and rushed for Sasuke. Naruto channeled wind charka into his arm and cut the neck in half. The neck melted into mud, as Naruto anticipated. He turned around and made a mass of hand signs. "Katon: Raging Fire Dragon No Jutsu!" an enormous amount of fire escaped from Naruto and rushed at the three humongous snakes Orochimaru just summoned.
"Damn!" Orochimaru yelled and tried to escape the fire.
Naruto was panting, his teammates behind him were so shocked they could hardly move. "You little bastard." Came a voice behind the two. Orochimaru's fake skin was melted and revealed his actual pale skin underneath. His fangs emerged from his mouth and he tried to bite into Sasuke's neck, but his head was knocked away by a most powerful kick.
"Don't you dear touch him!" Sakura yelled, her emerald eyes blazing with anger.
Sasuke, now recovered from his shock hurled several kunai at Orochimaru. They met their mark but didn't stop Orochimaru. As soon as he regained his footing he rushed at Sasuke again and sunk his fangs into the young Uchiha. He felt triumphant in his head but those thought crashed down when he saw his fangs in the boys arm, not neck.
Orochimaru couldn't do much more before Naruto came back into the picture. Orochimaru turned to confront him, but knew suddenly there was nothing he could do when he saw what Naruto was doing. "RASENGAN!" The orb of pure wind energy slammed into Orochimaru's gut. Orochimaru was hit so hard that it took several moments to get up.
He gave Naruto an evil look, "You win this time, demon fox. But I will be back." He looked at Sasuke, "My dear boy Sasuke, if you ever want to even hope of defeating Itachi, you will join with me." And with that he was gone.
Naruto was down on one knee and the others were looking at him, a little concerned. Then he just started to laugh. He couldn't stop laughing, "I did it." He said, "I saved Ssauke from Orochimaru…for now."
"Ah!" Sasuke yelled before stumbling back into a tree and sliding down into a sitting position.
"What's wrong Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked, feeling Sasuke's forehead. He was breathing very heavily.
"That guy…" Sasuke panted, "bit my arm…I think its poison…" Sasuke started to sweat and his vision started to go blurry.
Naruto ran over to his fallen comrade, "It's the curse seal, its in your blood stream." He made a few hand seals, "Now Sakura, before I do this I have to tell you that this technique will leave me and Sasuke powerless for a little while. And you need to protect us. Are you up for that?"
The pink-haired girl nodded, "I think you of all people know what I'm capable of Naruto."
Naruto smiled, "Right." He concentrated his chakra into his hands and placed them on Sasuke's chest. "Fuin: Curse Suppression No Jutsu!" a wave of chakra passed from Naruto to Sasuke and started to eat away the curse seal in Sasuke's body. When the technique ended both Naruto and Sasuke were in a coma-like state.
A few hours went by and Sakura managed to build a make-shift shelter for her and her teammates out of a large tree stump. Sakura appeared to be ignorant to the fact that she was being watched, but she saw them coming a mile away. The Sound Shinobi were prepared to attack. She set up some mediocre traps to lure them into a false sense of superiority.
Sure enough they leapt out of their hiding place and came at Sakura in a three-pronged assault.
Dosu was in the middle with Zaku on the right and Kin on the left.
"Get out of the way little girl." Said Dosu, "All we want is the Uchiha."
"I'll never let you lay a hand on Sasuke-kun!" Sakura said darkly.
"Is that so?" Zaku asked.
Naruto, laying nearly unconscious in the tree base could only hear the conversation, "Damn body, move!" He demanded of himself.
"Can I kill this one Dosu?" Zakua asked his bandaged partner.
"Yeah, go ahead," Dosu said lazily, "I just want to kill Sasuke."
"Alright!" Zaku yelled, he crouched slightly and crossed his arms, "Now hold still little girl, don't make this too hard on yourself." He gathered a large amount of chakra into the holes in his hands and shot a huge gale of wind at the kunoichi. The resulting explosion put a smile on Zaku's face. "Stupid girl…" Zaku couldn't say anymore as he had a kunai lodged in his stomach.
Sakura was crouched in front of Zaku, her hand covered in blood from the kunai wound she had just inflicted on her enemy. "I warned you!" She knocked Zaku away with a chakra enforced kick to the gut. She twisted around and hurled several shuriken at Kin, who was too shocked to dodge. Instead she pulled out a kunai to deflect the shuriken. The only problem in her plan was that one of the projectiles turned into Sakura, who kicked Kin in the face. She whirled around to confront the last Sound Genin, Dosu. When she was turned Dosu was in her face, about to
clobber her with is metallic arm casing. Before it reached Sakura's face it was suddenly stopped by a familiar hand.
"You know Dosu…" Naruto began to say, "There is a way to destroy any material in existence. You find the materials center, or focal point…" Naruto used his fingers to find such an area, "And you apply chakra into the area and…" Dosu's metallic arm apparatus shattered into pieces.
Out of intense fear of Naruto, Dosu leapt back to avoid any more damage. By this point Kin was back up and she rushed to Dosu's side and helped him stand, "Don't help me." Dosu said, "Get Zaku…where's Zaku?"
Everybody looked back at Sasuke's direction, Zaku was standing over him, laughing hysterically, "This is for you! Orochimaru-sama!" He was about to strike but his arms were suddenly unable to move. He looked behind him, Naruto was griping both of Zaku's forearms. His elbows bent in a way they shouldn't.
"Give me one good reason not to kill you!" Naruto yelled.
"No! Don't!" Dosu yelled, he pulled out his earth scroll, "Take our scroll and we will call it even."
Naruto looked at Dosu as if he were crazy, but then suddenly broke into a smile, "Deal." He grasped Dosu by the hair and tossed him at Dosu, who in turn tossed the Earth Scroll to Sakura.
The three Sound Genin took off with their tails between their legs. "Good riddance." Naruto spat, sitting down, completely out of energy.
"Are you okay Naruto?" Sakura asked.
"Just tired, my body still hasn't recovered fully from the technique I used earlier." He explained, "And using a time-space ninjutsu inst a cake walk either."
"I guess." She sat down too, surprised at what she did today.
"Sakura…" Naruto said, she looked at him, "I'm proud of you." Naruto said with a big grin. Sakura's face lit up and she moved over next to Naruto and put her head against his shoulder. "I hope you fight like that after all this is done." He said playfully. When no response came he looked at Sakura, she was sleeping. He gently moved her to a laying position next to Sasuke. He put an illusion around the tree stump and walked a little ways away from his team. "You can come out now." He called out.
"When did you notice me, Naruto?" Asked a voice in the shadows.
"I've noticed your presence since the Land of Waves." Naruto replied.
The voice laughed and a figure walked out of the shadows. He was fairly tall, he had ink-black hair and wore an ANBU outfit with a wolf mask. He moved the mask to the side of his head, he wore a mask similar to Kakashi's only it was black to match with his outfit. "Your too sharp for you own good. You now that Naruto?"
"I've been told that before." Naruto replied, "Why are you keeping tabs on me Kai?"
"I'm not." Kai said flatly, "I'm 'keeping tabs' on Uchiha Sasuke."
"Protecting him from Madara?" Naruto asked.
"Something like that." Kai said, "There is also Pain in the picture…"
"You leave him to me." Naruto said…he was about to say something else when a noise stopped him. He grabbed a kunai from his pouch and looked towards the noise. It was the three Rain Shinobi he remembered from his past life.
"Oh please." Kai said, "Mind if I…? "
"Go for it." Naruto said with a bored voice.
Kai chuckled, his dark eyes turned purple and his pupil morphed into a four-pronged star, the ends of which curved slightly, "Goodbye." He said. The three Genin grabbed their heads as if they were on fire and fell to there knees, not a sound escaped from their lips as they slowly lost the use of their minds. A couple of wolves came out a few seconds later and dragged the bodies away, "Sorry children, but nobody can know about me just yet."
"Still being secretive?" Naruto asked, "I'm sure they would accept you back…"
"No…" Kai said firmly, "I failed Minato and Jiraiya in the past. The only thing I can do now is to protect what they hold dear."
"Yeah…" Naruto said sadly.
"Don't worry Naruto, I will try to keep in touch, but I cant keep any promises." Kai vowed.
Naruto nodded, "You should go, my teammates will be up soon and I don't think they need to know about you."
"Nor do I." Kai agreed as he jumped out of sight, "Safe travels my young friend."
"Goodbye…master." Naruto said quietly. Sasuke and Sakura woke up soon after Naruto's meeting and they set off towards the tower.
"It's a good thing we have the scroll…" Sasuke said, "I just wish I could've taken on those guys." He clenched his fist.
"Forget about them." Naruto said, "Their just trash students of Orochimaru."
"I see." Sasuke said. A few hours went by and they finally made it to the tower.
"Wow two days." Naruto said, "It took five days last time."
"That long?" Sakura asked.
"Well yeah, that time Orochimaru utterly kicked mine and Sasuke's asses." Naruto said.
"Well lets not waist time." Sasuke said, they walked into the tower and looked at the large, incomplete, poster on the wall. They opened the scrolls and completed the saying on the wall. When done with that Iruka puffed out of the scroll.
"Congratulations you guys." He said cheerfully, "You've just passed the second exam."
"What?" Sakura asked.
"You made it to the tower through the intensely dangerous forest, and you were one of the first teams to make it." Iruka said.
"So we pretty much have three days to kill?" Sasuke asked.
"Well…yeah." Iruka said.
"Great." Naruto said and fell straight on his back. Everyone else just sighed. Prepared to wait for the next test, Team Seven took a well deserved rest.
A/N: Well hope you enjoyed it.