The Kitsune Seal

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, but it sure would be nice if I did

"Hello" - Speaking

'Hello' - Thoughts

"Hello" - Demon/Boss Summon Speaking/Jutsu

'Hello' - Demon/Boss Summon Thoughts

Author's notes: This chapter will be a lot like the manga, but later chapters will diverge more and more from canon, or at least they should. Please Read the Author's Notes at the end, they are very important.

And I must thank author BackYard id: 1209437 for helping me with my concept for the seal in this story.

Chapter 2 – Awakening seals

Racing through the tree-tops of Training area 44 aka the "Forest of Death" was the Tokubetsu Jounin Mitarashi Anko. Right now she was supposed to be overseeing the second test of the Chuunin Exam. That is until evidence was discovered that one of the most dangerous missing-nins to ever come from Konoha was interfering with it.

Many would consider going after the S-ranked missing-nin Orochimaru of the Legendary Sannin to be suicidal, but for Anko this was personal because she was Orochimaru's apprentice before his betrayal. 'Why is he here? Why now? What is his purpose?' Were the thoughts that were continually running through the purple headed kunoichi's mind. 'It doesn't matter, if you are here then it's time to settle this once and for all, even if it costs me my life.' "Isn't that right Orochimaru." She said coming to stop upon a tree branch.

"Kukukuku…Anko, I see your skills haven't dulled since our little falling out." Chuckled Orochimaru, emerging from the same branch of said tree.

Trying to use any advantage she has Anko immediately leaps into the air preparing to throw the kunai she had hidden in the sleeve of her trench coat. Unfortunately the snake Sannin was prepared and countered by extending his tongue to grab hold of his former pupil's wrist, forcing her to drop the kunai. In response Anko extends her left hand and with a cry of "Seneijashu (Hidden Shadow Snake Hands)" extends three snakes from her sleeve that latch onto Orochimaru and drag him towards her. Once close enough Anko spins on her heels to pin Orochimaru to the tree trunk, whips out another kunai that she rams through the her left hand and his right hand, in an attempt to keep him from escaping and from using jutsu. Giving the sadistic grin she learned from her former sensei, Anko uses her free hand to grab and manipulate Orochimaru's other hand to make a seal. "I'm just going to borrow your hand for a sec."

"That seal!" Orochimaru gasps upon recognizing the seal.

"That's right, I am taking you down even if I have to go with you, Souja Sousai no Jutsu (Twin Snake Double Assassination Technique)." Said a grinning Anko believing that she had won against the man who caused her great pain with his betrayal.

"Kukukuku…Planning to commit suicide Anko? As a Tokubetsu Jounin you really shouldn't be using those Kinjutsu I taught you." Came the voice of the Sannin from behind Anko.

"WHAT?" Cried the Jounin as she whips her head around as the Tsuchi Bunshin (Earth Clone) she had been battling dispersed, only to see the form of her opponent leaning against another tree.

"Come now, you didn't think it would be that easy, did you?" Questioned Orochimaru as he ripped away the melted face of the Kusa Shinobi he was impersonating revealing his true serpent like features, and formed a one-handed seal to activate the Curse Seal on Anko to render her helpless.

"Gaaah…Why are you here?" Anko asked dropping to her knees from the pain emanating from the seal on her shoulder.

"Awww, why so cold? I thought that you would have been happy to see me again after all these years." Mocked the former sensei.

Despite the pain the kunoichi was still trying to do her duty to obtain information in case she came out of this confrontation alive, Anko asked one of the most logical questions. "Have you come to assassinate Hokage-sama?"

"No no, I simply don't have enough men to attempt that yet. So I decided that first I would recruit some of the more outstanding shinobi that are currently in this village." Calmly replied Orochimaru. " In fact, I just gave some of the more promising children in this exam one of my Curse Seals. Originally there was only one that I wanted, but then I found another intriguing specimen."

"Arg…How selfish, those kids are going to die." Anko struggled to say through the continual pain of the seal on her neck.

"Hmmm…Don't be so sure. There is a 1 in 10 chance of survival. So he could live through the process like you did." Orochimaru replied, brushing off his student's last statement. "As for the other one that caught my eye, well considering what he is, I am sure he'll survive."

"You must think pretty highly of these two." Said Anko, knowing she was drawing close to collapse.

"Jealous are we? Are you still upset that I threw you away…kukuku?" Asked Orochimaru noting the pain on his former student's face. "The first boy is, unlike you, talented. He's a kid who carries Uchiha blood after all. He's also very beautiful. A perfect vessel to be my successor. As for the other boy, he contains a rather powerful demon that already grants him some special gifts. He'll provide me an abundance of research material that I can use to improve the power of future Curse Seals." Orochimaru continues seeing that Anko was at the threshold of unconsciousness. "If they survive, things could get very interesting. So please don't end the exam prematurely. I am going to enjoy seeing those boys going against the Gennin from my village. If you try to end my fun, I will use all my power and destroy Konoha." Finished the Sannin as he disappeared in a cloud of smoke from his Shunshin no Jutsu(Body Flicker Technique).

As he leaves all Anko can do is fall upon the branch she is on as the pain of the Curse Seal finally recedes.

(Back with Team 7 day two of the exam)

Sakura had managed to drag her two unconscious teammates to a small cave formed from the roots of one of the massive trees of the forest. She had stayed up all night only getting about five minutes of sleep every hour, and using a solider pill from her first aid kit to keep her energy up. Once morning had come around she noticed that the tremors of their bodies had decreased and that Sasuke's fever had gone down as well. Despite her best efforts Sakura just couldn't figure out what the grass-nin that attacked them did to cause this reaction. Unbeknownst to her was the fact that she was under observation by the sound Gennin.

"There he is." Remarked the team leader Kinuta Dosu, the mummy wearing a throw rug. "Our target is Uchiha Sasuke. Our orders from Orochimaru state that we are to kill him at the first opportunity. We'll attack at dawn."

"Can we kill the other two if they get in our way?" Asked Abumi Zaku, a boy with spiky black hair with some sort of helmet that protected the sides of his face.

"I don't think it will matter. From the looks of it, that blond boy is out cold from an injury, and the girl appears to have been up all night. Even if they try to stop us they won't be able to do anything." Replied Tsuchi Kin, the only female of the group and obviously the brains of the team.

"Regardless, our orders also say to get rid of any threats to our mission. If they attempt to fight, kill them." Dosu responded. "Here's what we'll do." He said as he began to outline the plan.

Sakura was beginning to nod off again when she detected movement from the bushes. She immediately gripped her kunai and prepared for whatever was coming. She relaxed when she saw that it was only a squirrel, but after a moment of observation, threw the kunai scaring it off. 'That was close.' Sakura thought has she watched the squirrel scamper off.

"Huh. She's pretty observant. I didn't think that pink haired girl would notice the explosive note we put on the squirrel." Muttered Zaku.

"No, that's not it." Said Dosu.

"What do you mean Dosu?" Asked a now confused Zaku.

"We'll find out when we get closer, and probably not until then. That means we're going in to attack directly." Came the team leader's reply.

Sakura was coming down from the small adrenaline rush she got from when she was startled by the squirrel. She was beginning to drift off for another few minutes of sleep, and would have if not for the intrusion of a rival team of Gennin.

"Heh heh, have you been up all night?" Asked a mocking voice from behind Sakura's position.

Adrenaline pumping through her system again, Sakura whipped around towards the speaker and recognized the three Oto shinobi from the tussle right before the first exam. 'Oh no! Why did another team have to find us now?'

"Don't worry; you can go to sleep in a moment, but first wake up Sasuke so we can fight him." Dosu said as he took another step towards the only conscious member of team 7.

"You might as well go find some other team, because our scroll as already taken by some grass-nin!" Sakura shouted at the sound-nins in hopes that they would leave if they believed that she no longer had a scroll to give, while at the same time reaching for another kunai in case they decided to attack anyway, which was a more likely outcome.

"Heh, we don't care if you have a scroll or not. We're not here for the exam; we're here to kill Uchiha Sasuke." Stated the loud mouth of the Oto team, Zaku, who had no qualms about telling others details of the mission since he figured that they would be killed anyway. "But before we do that. I think I'll shut you up for good." He said as he started to advance towards Sakura.

"Hold it Zaku." Cautioned Dosu as he pulled back his teammate.

"WHAT? Why?" Questioned the now irritated Zaku.

"Don't tell me you didn't notice. The ground around here is all wrong. There's a recently turned over stone, spots of darker dirt indicating digging, and patches of ground where it appears that grass doesn't grow. You know, traps don't work very well if their noticed." Said Dosu, directing that last comment at Sakura.

"Man, what a stupid mistake for a ninja to make." Remarked Zaku.

"So when she threw that kunai earlier, it was to stop the squirrel from setting off the traps. Not because she noticed the exploding note." Observed Kin, who caught on to the significance of the action before Zaku.

"So can I kill her now?" Asked Zaku.

"We have no use for her. Go ahead and kill her." Commanded Dosu.

With that the three Gennin leapt into the air to jump over the poorly hidden traps on the ground. However because they were feeling pride in detecting and easily avoiding the leaf-nin's traps they failed to look "underneath the underneath". Thus they failed to notice Sakura's smirk as she cut a wire anchored to the ground next to her that led into the treetops. However the sound Gennin did not fail to notice the rather large log that suddenly came swinging down from the canopy.

"A second trap from above!" Shouted Dosu. "You'll need more than that." He said as he braced his right hand against the log while making a half Tora seal with his left hand to more easily focus the chakra going to his Melody Arm. The chakra was molded to create sound waves that the unusual weapon than amplified to a point that the waves were able to shatter the log into splinters. Of course Dosu and his teammates were the only ones in the Chuunin exam that knew of this unusual property.

'Oh no.' Were the horrified thoughts running through Sakura's head as she watched her trump card break into useless firewood.

"Nice try, but a weakling like you has to work a lot harder before you could hurt someone on our level." Jeered Dosu as he descended to attack Sakura.

"KONOHA SENPU (Leaf Whirlwind)." Was the only sound that marked the entrance, of the incredibly fast, spinning mass of destruction that came rushing into the clearing and sent all three Sound Gennin flying away from their target. "If that is the case, then I must give the same advice." Said the spinning mass as it came to stop in a defensive Taijutsu stance in front of Sakura, revealing one of Konoha's strongest, bravest, and freakiest Gennins, Rock Lee. He was one of the strongest due to his intense Taijutsu training that would break lesser ninja. He was one of the bravest for never backing down from a challenge that could possible kill him (refer back to why he is strong). And he is one of the freakiest because he wore a green spandex jumpsuit, had a bowl style haircut, buggy eyes, had the thickest, bushiest eyebrows you had ever seen, constantly screamed about the power of youth, and for some reason there was a squirrel riding on his shoulder.

"Who the heck are you?" Asked Dosu as he pushed himself off the ground to face the new arrival.

"I am the Beautiful Green Beast of Konoha…Rock Lee!" Exclaimed the green clad shinobi.

"L-Lee? Why are you here?" Asked the highly surprised Sakura.

"As I told you before. I will always appear when you are in trouble, and I will protect you with my life." Proclaimed Lee as he set down the squirrel and continued to stare down the Oto shinobi. This was without a doubt the coolest he has ever looked and it is in front of the girl he has a crush on no less.

"Nice speech, but you weak leaf-nins are going to have to do better than that if you want to stop us." Said Dosu as he charged forward with his right arm cocked and ready to use his Melody Arm weapon.

Sakura immediately recognized the danger of facing someone who had an unknown ability and threw a third kunai to disrupt Dosu's attack. It worked in the sense that it delayed him has he dodged once again into the air and descended to strike Lee. That extra few seconds were all Lee needed as he thrust his arm into the ground and used his incredible strength to pull out a giant portion of the root of the giant tree that Sakura had chosen as a hideaway while her teammates were knocked out. Using the root as a shield he blocked the punch Dosu had directed at him. Upon impact of fist and wood, the root exploded in a similar manner to the log form earlier. Using the bursting splinters as a distraction, Lee then maneuvered out from beneath the broken root and delivered a punch to Dosu's stomach, sending him back several yards.

"I don't know what kind of trick you use, but I do remember your demonstration from before the exam, so I know that simply dodging won't do me any good." Stated Lee as he brought up the incident where Dosu had decided to show the strength of Otogakure no Sato. This meant that he showed some of his abilities in front of other Chuunin hopefuls who had two days to devise a strategy to counter it. 'But I am at a disadvantage of 3 to 1 . I will have to risk revealing the full power of my own technique.' Thought Lee as he partially undid the wrappings on his arms.

"Bah…don't think that I'll give you a chance to do that again!" Exclaimed Dosu as he rushed forward yet again. He was only able to get to within a few feet when Lee made his move. "What? He vanished!"

Lee had moved at a speed where he was able to cross those few feet in the span of an eye blink. He had completely bypassed Dosu's guard and delivered a powerful kick to his chin, launching the sound-nin into the air. Lee immediately jumped into the air, appearing behind Dosu, whom he tied up with his arm wrappings before flipping each other so that their heads were pointing to the ground. Once that was part was prepared, Lee started spinning both of them at a speed that made them look like a mini-tornado. "PRIMARY LOTUS!" And just as Dosu had made contact with the ground Lee had unwrapped himself from Dosu and leapt away.

"Phew…looks like I made it in time." Muttered Zaku who had his hands stuck in the ground after using a jutsu to soften the landing.

"Aaaahhhhh." Breathed Dosu as he extracted himself from the soft dirt.

"NO WAY!" Exclaimed Lee as he saw someone actually get up after getting hit by one of his most powerful techniques.

"What a terrifying technique. To do this much damage even on a sponge of dirt." Stated Dosu as he shook off loose dirt on his person, and turned to Lee while prepping his arm once again. "But now it's my turn." With that he rushed at Lee once again.

'Damn. My body still isn't ready.' Thought Lee as he knew his body was still drained after using one of his most tiring attacks. So this time he could not dodge Dosu's punch which hit him square on the jaw.

The punch itself was nothing a person of Lee's caliber couldn't handle, but the jutsu was. Once the strike connected Lee's vision blurred and it felt has if the world was spinning underneath his feet.

"If your moves are at high speed." Said Dosu as he started gloating, "Then ours are at the speed of sound. And that is a wall no amount of hard work can surpass."

As these words were spoken, Lee spewed vomit. It was then that he felt something warm and wet in his ear. Touching it with his fingers and bringing it into his field of vision he saw that it was blood, meaning that his ears were bleeding.

"Have you figured out why you can't simply dodge my attacks." Stated Dosu, "The trick is sound. Even if you dodge the fist, the sound will still attack you. Sound is comprised of vibrations in the air that the ear drum catches. And if the sound waves are at the proper pitch and frequency, they'll break the ear drum. Not only that, but they can damage the membrane of the inner ear, which controls balance in the body." Explained Dosu. "Heh heh…you won't be able to properly move your body for awhile."

Now Zaku decided to add in his own gloats. "Your lame old Taijutsu won't work against us. You did well. You even forced me to use my jutsu. Of course you still failed." Zaku said, both complementing and insulting the leaf-nin. "With my jutsu I can control supersonic sound and air pressure to such a degree that I can even destroy rocks with it. So blasting air into the earth making a cushion is nothing." He said explaining how his technique works, which for a ninja is a rather stupid thing to do.

Lee just glared at him as Zaku insulted the moves that his sensei and mentor had taught him.

"Now it's your turn!" Said Dosu as he charged at Sakura. Fortunately for Sakura, Dosu had forgotten that you should never underestimate or disregard another ninja unless they are dead. This is why he was taken completely by surprise when Lee suddenly moved in front of him and prepared another kick. Unfortunately his balance was still off, so Dosu was able to use his leg as a hand board to dodge.

"Whew…You scared me there for a moment, but it looks like my jutsu is affecting you. So now you've lost the ability to use repeated Taijutsu in a flash. Which leaves you open." Dosu says, punctuating his point by punching Lee again. Lee managed to block with his arms this time but was immediately assaulted by the sound waves. "This melody arm of mine is capable of amplifying even the smallest of sounds to the highest levels. You can think of it like a speaker. Except the sound doesn't follow my arm. I use my chakra to make it go wherever I want it to go." Explained the sound user.

"AAAAHHHHH!" Screamed Lee as he collapsed under the pressure in his ear.

"Lee!" Shouted Sakura seeing her rescuer brought to his knees.

"Now, let's finish this." Dosu brought up his arm to deliver the finishing blow, not taking any more chances with the Gennin that had already surprised him more times than he liked.

"I won't let you!" Shouted Sakura as she whipped out three more kunai in one hand, and some shuriken in the other. She threw the kunai which went right at their target, Dosu.

In response Dosu merely brought up his right arm and blocked them with his Melody Arm.

This time Sakura threw her shuriken, only for those to be intercepted by Zaku, who had been moving into position to join the fight, as he finished the seals for his jutsu. Raising his arms he let loose powerful sound waves to create enough air pressure to knock away the weapons.

'Damn it. He can use that air pressure jutsu to knock away anything I throw at them.' Thought Sakura as she tried to think of plan to get past their defenses. But in her attempts to think of a plan to deal with Zaku and Dosu, she didn't notice the movements of the kunoichi until she was right behind her.

"My, my. Such lovely hair." Commented Kin as she roughly grabbed Sakura's long hair. "No wonder you were brought down so easily. You must spend more time brushing your hair then training." Kin turned her attention to her teammates. "Hey! Zaku how about you kill Sasuke now. It ought to leave quite the impression on this pathetic excuse for a ninja."

"Heh heh…Good idea Kin." Chuckled Zaku as he moved towards the unconscious boy.

Sakura was in turmoil. In every fight she and her team had been in, she had always been useless. Kakashi had taken her out with a simple Genjutsu during her Gennin exam. When team 7 was attacked by the demon brothers, she just stood there while Sasuke disabled them. In the first fight with Zabuza, it was Naruto's plan that freed Kakashi with a little help from Sasuke. In the second fight, even though she doesn't know the details because of the mist, she knew that it was Naruto, Sasuke, and Kakashi that took out Zabuza and his apprentice Haku while she stayed behind to guard their client Tazuna. Then there was the Kusa shinobi from yesterday who hadn't even considered her worth his notice, instead focusing on Sasuke and Naruto and he got back to them. Now here she was in a disabled position because of her desire to have beautiful hair while her teammates were out cold, and the only other Gennin who was probably even willing to help her had been taken out by these sound-nin that were about to kill one of her teammates. 'No more.' Sakura thought has she took out another kunai.

"Pffft…Don't make me laugh. You won't be able to use that on me." Said Kin as she continued to hold onto the Konoha kunoichi.

"What are you talking about?" Asked Sakura as she swung the kunai behind her in the most desperate move she had ever done. And it worked as she cut through her intended target. She moved away from Kin while pink locks of hair fell to the ground with her hitai-ate.

"Damn it. Kin kill her!" Yelled Zaku as he was getting really annoyed with how his opponents just wouldn't quit.

Kin pulled out some senbon from her pouch and tackled into Sakura while sticking the needles into her spine. However Sakura had already used the seals for a Kawarimi no Jutsu (replacement technique) and replaced herself with a log. Zaku had seen the seals and was preparing his jutsu as he searched for her position.

'Is she kidding? Using such a basic jutsu. Now where is she? ...There, to the right' "Kin, out of the way!" Zaku shouted as he swung towards his target and unleashed his technique right when Sakura threw more kunai at him. "Zankuuha (Decapitating air waves)." The air blew the kunai right back towards Sakura, striking her, only for Sakura to disappear in a puff a smoke revealing a log from yet another Kawarimi. "You aren't fooling anyone. You're above." He said has he looked up to see Sakura using the seals for Kawarimi again. "It's useless to keep using that trick." Zaku threw some kunai, not wanting to waste anymore chakra on a log. "Now where are you?" He muttered as he turned his attention to the surrounding forest. He stopped when he felt a drop a of blood fall upon him. He looked up in growing horror to see Sakura with some kunai in her arms and legs and another in her hand. 'It's not a Kawarimi' Were his only thoughts as she fell upon him thrusting the kunai into his right arm as she bit into his left wrist. "AAAHHHH! Let go of me!" Shouted Zaku as he repeatedly hit Sakura on the head in an attempt to get her off. Finally after quite a few punches he threw her off. "I'll get you for that you brat." Zaku said as he raised his arms and looked into his opponent's bloodied face.

"Stop right there!" Shouted a bossy female voice as three more ninjas, two who jumped in while dragging the rather large third member by his scarf, appeared in between Sakura and Zaku. The three ninjas were none other than Sakura's fellow leaf-nins and former classmates, team 10. A team comprised of the lazy Nara Shikamaru, Sakura's bossy, blond rival Yamanaka Ino, and the "big-boned" Akimichi Chouji.

"What are two thinking? These guys are way too dangerous to fight!" Whined the reluctant Chouji. "Shikamaru, let go of my scarf!"

"Yeah right baka. I know this is troublesome, but we have no choice. If Ino is coming out to fight then we men can't run away." Explained the oddly chivalrous Shikamaru.

"Sorry to get you involved guys. But we are a team. We share the same fate." Apologized Ino.

"Don't worry Ino; we'll get through this somehow." Assured Shikamaru.

"You both are nuts!" Shouted Chouji, who was still trying to get away.

At all of this Zaku couldn't help but let his mouth run, "Heh heh…Go ahead and leave if you want…Fatty."

At that word all of Chouji's struggles ceased instantly as his ears twitched. "What did he say? I didn't hear him." Said a deceptively calm Chouji.

"Huh?" Was Zaku's reaction to the large boy's sudden change.

'Uh Oh. That word is taboo around Chouji. If he says it twice…' Trailed off Shikamaru's thoughts as he awaited the expected reaction.

"If you want you can run away…Fatass!" Said Zaku even louder than last time to get his point across.

With that Chouji turned on him, a look of rage that would scare anyone who was smart enough to understand (Cough…not Zaku…Cough…sorry about that, the snow must be giving me a cold). "I AM NOT FAT! I'M BIG-BONED! HURRAY FOR BIG-BONES!" Shouted the enraged Akimichi, surprising Sakura who had always considered Chouji as gentle as a teddy bear. "You guys understand! This is now a war between Konoha and Oto!" The excited giant said to his teammates.

'Hee hee…Now that Chouji's snapped, this will be a lot easier.' Thought Ino.

"Aw man. This is so troublesome." Said Shikamaru seeing his friend's reaction as he dropped the scarf he had been holding.

"That's our line." Said Zaku to Shikamaru. 'Sigh…We're supposed to kill Sasuke before the end of the exam…' Were his annoyed thoughts.

As all this banter was going on, no one noticed the sudden change in Naruto and Sasuke's condition.

"Hey Sakura," said Ino, "take care of those two. While we take care of these three."

"Yeah." Was Sakura's only response.

"Alright boys! It's time to show the full power of the new team Ino-Shika-Cho!" Shouted Ino to excite her teammates.

"YEAH!" Shouted the already excited Chouji.

Despite seeing the situation as troublesome, Shikamaru couldn't help but give a small smile. Which is as excited as he gets.

"Ino-Shika-Cho first formation! Chouji do your thing!" Commanded Ino.

"OK!" Said Chouji as he ran though the seals for one of his family's jutsus. "Baika no Jutsu (Multi-size Technique)!" He shouted, expanding his body to the size of a boulder twice his size. "Followed by Konoha Taijutsu Nikusha (Meat tank) (This is my best translation for Meat Tank)!" With that his head and limbs disappeared into his body has he started spinning at a high speed. On a collision course with Zaku.

"What kind of weird jutsu is this?" Questioned Zaku, "No matter, it's just a rolling fatass. Zankuuha!" He said, unleashing his air pressure jutsu. However the jutsu did not cause the expected result of sending his enemy flying backwards. Instead after a few seconds of struggling against the air, Chouji bounced into the air, surprising Zaku. 'Damn it. With all that spinning air pressure is useless. And I have to touch him to use sound waves, but that would crush my arms.' He thought.

Seeing his teammate's predicament, Dosu moved to intercept the falling leaf-nin.

'I don't think so. You're the most troublesome of all.' Thought Shikamaru as he went through the seals for the most basic of the Nara clan's jutsus. "Ninpo: Kage Mane no Jutsu (Ninja art: Shadow Imitation Technique)" The jutsu he used caused Shikamaru's shadow to expand and stretch until it connected with Dosu's shadow. Causing him to halt in his tracks as he started imitating Shikamaru.

"What the? My body? My shadow?" Exclaimed Dosu, seeing the shadow and feeling the effects of the jutsu. Meanwhile, Zaku had barely managed to avoid being crushed by Chouji. Now Shikamaru was getting creative and forced Dosu's hands above his head in some weird pose.

"What the heck are you doing Dosu?" Screamed Kin.

"All right Ino. Take out the girl." Said Shikamaru to his blond teammate.

"OK, be sure to take care of my body." Replied Ino has she made the seal for her clan's jutsu. "Ninpo: Shintenshin no Jutsu(Ninja art: Mind Body Change Technique)." Immediately her body fell over unconscious as her soul left it and entered the body of Tsuchi Kin. "It's over now!" Exclaimed Ino in Kin's body as she took out one of her kunai. "If you guys move an inch I'll kill this girl. If you don't want it to end here, then leave your scroll and get out. After 15 minutes I'll let her go." Threatened Ino, but was disturbed when all Dosu and Zaku did was chuckle darkly. 'What's with this two. It's like they don't care.' She thought. Then Zaku gave her his response. That response was a one-handed Zankuuha that blasted Ino/Kin into a tree. "GAAA!" She cried as she fell.

"Ino!" Shouted Shikamaru, who was looking at Ino's body in his arms, while blood dripped from the mouth.

"Why did these guys hurt their own comrade?" Ino weakly questioned from the ground.

"Heh…Are you confused?" Asked Zaku.

"Our goal is not to collect some stupid scrolls or to complete this exam…" stated Dosu, shocking the leaf-nins, "…it's Sasuke."

'Damn, this is bad. And my jutsu is ending.' Thought Shikamaru.

"Ah…Looks like your jutsu has a time limit of about 5 minutes." Said Dosu as he saw Shikamaru's shadow return to normal and he regained control of his body. "And it appears that the girl's jutsu allows her spirit to enter and control another's body. But if that bleeding is any indication then if we kill Kin, then we kill her as well." He observed.

"I can't take anymore of this!" Exclaimed annoyed voice above them. "Watching some minor sound-nins bullying a bunch of second rate ninjas, and declaring victory before they've been disabled." Said the voice's owner Hyuuga Neji standing next to a girl with a twin bun hair style whose name is Tenten, Rock Lee's teammates.

"These guys are like cockroaches. Get rid of one and a dozen takes its place." Said Dosu, annoyed that some leaf-nin considered himself above the Oto shinobi.

As Neji's eyes swept the battlefield he spotted the prone form of his comrade Lee. "You made a mistake." He stated turning his attention back to Dosu. "That knocked out freak right there is from our team and…Your going to pay for that!" He punctuated by activating his Byakugan, the famed Doujutsu of the Hyuuga clan and rival of the Uchiha's Sharingan. The bulging veins and intense stare of his eyes was enough to freeze the younger ninjas in their tracks. "If you intend to continue this, then I will have to go all out on you." Neji warned. 'Huh? What is this chakra?' He thought as he spotted something unusual with his Byakugan.

"Heh heh…If you don't like it so much, then stop acting cool and come down here." Taunted Dosu as he recovered.

"Hmmm…No." Stated Neji as he deactivated his eyes. "It seems that won't be necessary." He said confusing Dosu.

That's when everyone felt a pulse of chakra from the base of the tree. There they saw Uchiha Sasuke getting up onto his feet, but instead of instilling hope into the leaf-nin like it should have it instilled fear. Sasuke appeared very menacing with his Sharingan blazing, and black fire markings covering half of his body. But what truly frightened the onlookers was the purple chakra that swirled around him, giving off some sort of tainted feeling. As if it was poisonous.

"Sakura, who did this to you?" Sasuke asked when he saw his injured teammate. After not receiving an answer he spoke again. "Who did it?"

"We did it!" Zaku proclaimed who didn't grasp the whole situation.

But Dosu did. 'That's Orochimaru-sama's Curse Seal. The only way he could have that is if Orochimaru-sama put it there himself.'

Sasuke heard Zaku, but he was more focused on his teammate Sakura.

"Sasuke-kun…your body." Was all she could say.

Sasuke looked at his hand to see what she meant. "Don't worry Sakura. I can feel the power and how it overflowing in me…I feel great. And he gave it to me." He said, confusing Sakura with that last remark. "I finally understand. I am an Avenger. So even if I must make a deal with the devil, I will do it to obtain the power I need." He explained. "Now, it was you guys who did this, right?" Sasuke asked, turning his attention to the sound-nin.

"Ino! Return to your body, we don't want to get caught up in this! You too Chouji, we're out of here!" Shouted Shikamaru as he started running for the hills, as Ino released her jutsu and Chouji followed.

As team 10 was running, the amount of chakra coming from Sasuke started increasing, causing the seal markings to spread across the rest of his body.

"So much chakra." Whispered a scared Dosu. 'Not only did he survive the process, but he already has this much control over the Curse Seal.'

"Hey Dosu! There's no need to be afraid of this half dead freak!" Shouted Zaku as he prepared his strongest jutsu.

"No Zaku! Don't you realize what that is!" Yelled Dosu trying to warn his teammate, but it was too late.

"Zankyokukuuha (Extreme Decapitating Air Waves)." Zaku yelled while releasing the strongest wave of air pressure yet, that blasted apart everything in its path. "Heh…I've blown him away." He said eyeing the destruction.

"Blown who away?" Came the voice of the Uchiha from behind Zaku where he appeared with Sakura and a still unconscious Naruto. Right before delivering a backhand strike, strong enough to send Zaku flying several yards. He didn't stop there as he made the hand seals for one of his jutsus. "Katon: Housenka no Jutsu (Fire Release: Mythical Fire Phoenix Technique)." Taking a breath Sasuke released numerous small fireballs from his mouth.

Zaku had recovered from the backhand and raised his arms to use his favorite move again. He succeeded in blowing out the fireballs, but he didn't use enough chakra to blow away the shuriken hidden inside the fireballs. Some of the shuriken managed to hit Zaku, but they didn't hit any vital spots, nor did they do anything to disable him. However the shuriken were just distraction so Sasuke could get in under Zaku's guard. Before Zaku knew what was happening, Sasuke had holding his arms out behind him with his foot on Zaku's back.

"So, your proud of your arms?" Asked Sasuke. "Then why don't I do to them what you did to Sakura's hair." He said as he applied opposing pressure to both arms and back. He kept at it until an audible snap was heard in the clearing, followed by Zaku's scream of pain. "You're the only one left." Sasuke said as he turned his attention to Dosu. "Let's hope you prove more entertaining than your comrade."

"STOP!" Shouted Sakura as she couldn't stand to see Sasuke act so cruel.

Sasuke did stop his advance on Dosu, but not because of Sakura. It was because of a second pulse of chakra that was equal to if not stronger then what was coming from Sasuke, and that was coming from Sakura's direction. Turning his attention towards her he, as well as everyone else, saw what it was. There stood Naruto, but this was not the happy-go-lucky Naruto everyone knew, nor was it the serious Naruto that only team 7 and Iruka had seen. This was a feral, beast-like Naruto. Where Sasuke had appeared menacing with his Sharingan and black flame markings, Naruto looked predatory with his claw turned nails, lips curled in a snarl revealing fangs that could put an Inuzuka to shame, deepened whisker marks, and blood red eyes that possessed and animalistic slit for a pupil. But like Sasuke it wasn't his appearance that frightened those around, but the feeling coming off his chakra. Sasuke's chakra felt like it was some poison that would slowly consume you from within in a steady controlled manner. Naruto's chakra felt like more like a raging wild-fire that would quickly burn and consume you from the outside.

"Hnnn…Well Dobe, it looks like you finally woke up." Commented Sasuke, eyeing Naruto.

"Teme." Was Naruto's response, looking at Sasuke, then Sakura, and finally turning his attention to Dosu. He did not like how Sakura looked and if what he saw was right then it would be the sound-nin that would feel his wrath.

Needless to say Dosu was terrified. Not only did Sasuke have the power of a Curse Seal, but his teammate had a similar yet different power. "You two are far too strong." He said drawing Sasuke's attention again. Placing his Earth scroll upon the ground, he started to move to gather his teammates. "Consider this a peace offering to allow myself and my team to leave."

"Hnnn…To quote the one who gave us this power, 'Why would we accept the scroll when we can just kill you and take it'." Said Sasuke, sounding like Orochimaru, as he started to advance on Dosu. This time with Naruto by his side.

"STOP IT!" Shouted a terrified Sakura as she brought her arms around their shoulder and hugged both of them. "Please, stop." Was all she said as she wept while trying to turn her teammates and best friends back to normal. This time her voice reached them and their seals deactivated.

Sasuke's markings receded as he came out of his anger and revenge obsessed state. At the same time Naruto's beast-like features shifted back to his normal appearance as he came out of his instinct driven state. Both boys were tired from having their seals activate for the first time however they could still fight if Dosu tried anything.

"Even with those seals deactivated, my offer still stands. I would continue, but there are things I must find out." Said Dosu as he picked up Zaku and move towards Kin. "But I will promise you this. If we meet again in this exam, we will neither run nor hide." He said as he picked up the kunoichi.

"Wait!" Shouted Sakura, catching Dosu's attention. "Who is Orochimaru? And what are these seals he put on Sasuke-kun and Naruto?" She questioned.

'So, he did put a Curse Seal on the blond, but that was not a normal one.' Thought Dosu as he answered. "I don't know. We were simply ordered to kill Sasuke, nothing else." 'What are you planning Orochimaru-sama? First you order us to kill Sasuke, only to attack him first. And instead of killing him, you gave him a Curse Seal which he could live through and get stronger because of it. And what kind of seal did you put on this Naruto kid' With that the team of ninja from Otogakure disappeared into the forest.

Author's Notes: Well this is the second Chapter. I would have written more, but I felt I was taking way too long to update. I am a college student working on a research paper, and I never really liked the confrontation between the sound and leaf Gennin. The parts I truly enjoyed writing was the bit with Anko and Orochimaru, and the part where Sasuke woke up and I finally got to change some things to suit my needs. I would have skipped much of the chapter, but then it would be a lot shorter and I felt that it was an important scene overall for development.

Now for the fun stuff.

Here is the how the pairings are going

Naru/Hina 2

Naru/Saku 1

Sasu/Hina 1

Shika/Tema 1

Ino/Cho 1

Neji/Ten 1

Other 1

So far 4 people have made their opinion known. Two voted for a Naru/Hina pairing. One voter said that any pairing will work for him except Naru/Hina, that's the other. And one voter gave me the rest of the listed pairings. And I might go with his suggestion because he really got into it. Again if you have a preferred pairing, please inform me. You guys have until the end of the Preliminaries, which will give you about two maybe three more chapters. I'm sure I can find a way to make all the final pairings work out. Although I don't think I can have Hinata in a believable relationship with anyone until after the time skip, considering her problems with confidence and the family she is from. But I know I can make it work, even if it is with Sasuke.

Also when I feel the time is appropriate, I will up the rating of this story to M, once I figure out how. When that happens there is a good chance that I will write some citrus, actually that would be the only reason to make it M. I doubt I will be writing any scenes that will be that violent and gory. But I have a pretty high standard for how much blood and action a teen can handle (I saw Starship Troopers when I was eleven, and that is a nasty movie). And I personally frown on people who feel the need to result to vulgar language to express their feelings, to insult others, or simply because they know what the words mean and find it funny (No offence to any readers).

Please Read and Review. I will not stop writing if I do not get reviews, but if you play your cards right, then they will guilt me to update faster. And I enjoy getting suggestions and critique from people willing to read my work.

Also I am looking for a Beta. Preferably one using a Microsoft Word 2007 program. Maybe even a Window Vista operating system, because I don't know how that affects file transfer.