Chapter 6: Konoha's Chunin exams

Chapter 6: Konoha's Chunin exams

It had been roughly three months since the fiasco in the Land of Waves and since he had met Haku, things have been…different for Naruto since then.

Haku immediately, once realizing they would be traveling together, wanted to get to know each other better, so they knew each others skills and weaknesses. Naruto had informed him that he wasn't really bad at anything but he preferred using Genjutsu, his puppets, which Naruto showed him (except for his human puppets) and Fuuinjutsu. He had also told the boy that though some may call it unhealthy, he had a fierce Pocky addiction, to the point where he would constantly carry hundreds of boxes of the delicacy on him at all times. If Haku found that weird, he never said anything.

Haku had told him that he preferred medical jutsu and elemental ninjutsu – obviously with his bloodline limit. After giving a demonstration of all of the Hyoton and Suiton jutsu he knew, Naruto began to teach him some of the more advanced Suiton and Futon jutsu he knew. Naruto knew a fair bit of elemental ninjutsu, he just preferred not to use it though as it consumed much too much chakra, thus not allowing him to use the chakra for better purposes, like augmenting his movements.

Haku absorbed all the ninjutsu Naruto had to teach him, as well as the ones from scrolls he had stolen from Kiri, Kumo and Suna which held Suiton, Raiton and Futon jutsu respectively. Haku found that he didn't have much talent for Doton and Katon jutsu as opposed to the other three elements, which was fine. What Haku really excelled at though was medical jutsu and he had nearly began to do back flips when he had shown him the medical scrolls and journals he had acquired from Konoha that were written by the legendary healer Tsunade herself. Naruto was relieved that he had taken an interest in that branch of jutsu, for a healer was always a welcome addition to the team.

Naruto also never stopped training his stamina as he had to keep the physical aspect of his chakra balanced with the spiritual aspect that is constantly being added to his body thanks to the Kyuubi – he wasn't complaining though, it added incentive to constantly train.

Now though, Naruto happened on Haku who took to poisoning different animals, only to heal them with a poison removing technique he had learned, of course, the poisons were supplied by yours truly, giving him more experience with the removal of all types of poisons – there weren't many people who knew as much about poisons as him.

Naruto watched silently as Haku healed their dinner while munching on a stick of strawberry pocky. After 10 minutes of constant bubbles of green chakra removing black liquids from within the animal Haku stopped only to watch with a smile as the dear he was healing got up, licking him on the nose and ran off into the woods. Naruto wondered if the dear would have been so grateful if it realized Haku was the one to poison it in the first place.

"It seems you are quite proficient with that jutsu Haku-chan" commented Naruto, much to the annoyance of Haku.

"Would you please refrain from adding 'chan' to my name, I am a boy" he replied, with a frown, causing Naruto to shrug.

"Then perhaps you should stop dressing like a girl?"

It seemed Haku did not appreciate that one bit and was about to show Naruto why he was so proficient with using Senbon when Naruto interrupted the agitated boy.

"Our next destination is Konoha" he said simply.

"Konoha?" Haku asked with confusion, knowing that was where Naruto was from "Why?"

"I have received intelligence that the newly developed village Otogakure has formed a secret alliance with Sunagakure and intend to invade at some point during the chunin exams" Naruto answered. Haku was shocked at how his partner always seemed to be privy to such information that no one else would be able to happen upon. Whenever he asked how he could always come upon such information, Naruto always answered by saying that 'Fuuinjutsu was a powerful branch of ninjutsu'.

"Not that I mind, but how is that of any concern to us? I would imagine you have cut all ties to that village?" Haku asked, still confused.

Naruto while walking away to their campsite paused long enough to give a piece of information that answered all of Haku's questions "Orochimaru is the Otokage".

Orochimaru. When Naruto had first told him that his main goal for now was to kill the Snake sannin because he was the one to kill his sensei, Haku disapproved, telling him that seeking revenge would not make him happy, Naruto had responded by telling him that it had nothing to do with revenge, more about his sensei's dying wish.

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"Who knows, Haku-chan? Perhaps you can find the man of your dreams once we arrive and take in the sights, ne?" he finished before leaving the clearing, loud enough for Haku to hear. One thing Haku could do without was Naruto's weird if a little sarcastic sense of humor.

"I'M NOT GAY NARUTO!" Haku yelled back, knowing it was futile. Haku would never know how the blonde shinobi could aggravate him so easily when he was always so calm and polite!

Hatake Kakashi sighed as he eyed his genin team. It had been a few months since the mission in wave country and as soon as he had arrived back home, he had informed the Hokage about the possibly of Naruto still being alive. This of course forced the aged leader of the village to inform the shinobi and civilian council about him which resulted in Naruto being made an 'S' class missing-nin. He wasn't sure whether to be happy or distraught at that piece of information that they would deem him enough of a threat to be grouped with the likes of Uchiha Itachi and the Snake Sannin Orochimaru, or distraught because hunter-nin from all over the world will be trying to hunt him for the massive bounty on his head – which was on the same level as Uchiha Itachi, yet still less then Orochimaru. It had only taken two weeks for Naruto's profile to be in the Bingo book with no picture supplied seeing as the only people who knew what he looked like were people who had seen him covered with a straw hat.

The reason such a matter affected him so was simply – not long after Naruto's supposed 'death', The Hokage had informed him that Naruto was his old sensei's son, someone who he should have been tasked to looking after. At the time, Kakashi had given him a good piece of his mind and quit ANBU to grieve, which the Hokage didn't dispute at all and only excused his actions by saying that it was his father's wish for no one but the Hokage to know his heritage.

Now though, he had another problem to deal with. The council had ordered him to place his team in the Chunin exams so Konoha could flex their proverbial muscles by showing off their 'genius' Uchiha. They didn't much care for the other two members of the team and though he wasn't too worried about Hanabi, the girl being even better at Taijutsu then Sasuke, he was worried about Sakura – no matter how annoying the fan girl shinobi wannabe was.

Arriving at his team meeting place at the bridge near training ground seven three hours late like normal, he was greeted with the sight of a meditating Hanabi, a brooding Sasuke and a fuming Sakura.

"Ohayo Team" he greeted jovially

"YOU'RE LATE!" greeted back the pink haired banshee of the team, honestly, you'd think by now she would expect it and arrive late, or at least enjoy his hard thought out excuses.

"Sorry I'm late, but when I went to the bathroom this morning, I had to wrestle an alligator that popped out of the toilet before I could use it and naturally, it took me the better part of the morning to do" he replied, congratulating himself on coming up with another brilliant – to him – reason for being late.

"LIAR!" she shrieked again, as if it weren't obvious.

"Anyway, I've nominated you three for the Chunin exams" he said, while smiling.

This caught Sasuke's attention after having a little run in with a team from Suna who said they were competing in the tournament. Maybe he could test his strength against the red head one that was leaking killing intent that sent shivers down his spine.

Hanabi just nodded while accepting the entrance form her sensei handed her; her father having already informed her of the possibility earlier that month.

Sakura had paled and while shaking, took the entrance form Kakashi had handed to her. She read about the chunin exams and people could die in them…suddenly being a shinobi became more 'real'.

"If you agree to participate, sign those forms and hand them in at the academy in room 301 by noon tomorrow; Ja ne!"

With a wave, Kakashi disappeared in a puff of smoke leaving his team to decide whether they want to participate in the chunin exams.

"Are you sure Orochimaru is here?"

"Aa"

"What makes you so sure? You seem to know a lot about his plans…"

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"His plans are obvious. His goal is to learn every jutsu ever known, and he will attempt to do so by obtaining the Sharingan and gaining immortality"

There was a pause "From what I've read in your scrolls, he is not an Uchiha. How will he get the Sharingan and on that issue, how could he become immortal?"

"He does not possess the Sharingan himself, but he has created a Kinjutsu that will allow him to use his soul to occupy another body. If he does this with an Uchiha, he will have access to the Sharingan"

"He truly is like a snake, shedding his skin whenever it gets old. With a technique like that, you could technically be immortal – the soul never dies" There was another pause "So, he's after the Uchiha I fought in Wave country not a few months ago?"

"Aa"

"Aren't you going to stop him?"

"Orochimaru will place the 'Curse Seal' on the boy; he will not physically take him"

"I've read about your notes on the 'Curse Seal' too, how does this relate though and how do you know so much about it?"

Looking into the large forest they were standing in for a few moments, he spoke "The 'Curse Seal' – once applied – forcibly draws all of the chakra and stamina from one's body to allow the user to use much more of their chakra then they usually would be able to – similar to the effects of releasing the eights celestial gates, thought not as violent. Should the seal be left as is, without being controlled, it will eat away at the target's personality into madness, so, there was a second level created – one that allows the user to control the power"

"I don't understand, how does this relate to why Uchiha-san will not need to be physically taken?"

"Uchiha's are prideful mammals, except for the one traitor ironically enough; he will want to control this new power regardless of the cost. There is only one man who can help him control it"

"He will go to Orochimaru of his own free will so he can use that power, even though there is a way to suppress it"

"Aa"

"So that's why you aren't stopping it, he's doing it of his own free will"

"If he wants to be an idiot, let him be an idiot, I don't care. He is not important" finished Naruto as he heard a scream going through the Forest of death signifying that the Snake Sannin had most likely applied his seal on the last 'loyal' Uchiha.

"Haku, keep an eye out for anyone that might be working with Orochimaru in the forest and destroy any cameras you come across – we must not be seen now that my old village has deemed it prudent to mark me as an 'S' class criminal for having the audacity to survive a brutal attack by their hands"

With a nod signifying he understood, Naruto disappeared using Shunshin only leaving behind a twirling wind in his wake. Haku likewise melted into the branch he was standing on leaving only a puddle of water where he once stood and a broken camera.

Mitarashi Anko was running through the forest of death at top speed where she felt her former sensei's vile chakra. Her subordinates had recently informed her of having found the bodies of three dead Kusa shinobi with their faces melted off – the telltale signs of Orochimaru when he takes the shinobi's face as his own.

Now, she would exact revenge on the man she hated the most in this world. Even if it killed her. She knew she was going to die if she engaged him like this, but as long as he died too, it didn't much matter. She hated Orochimaru with a passion, for betraying the village she loved, for experimenting on innocents right under her nose, her being one of them, for abandoning her when he left the village to turn traitor and most of all, for leaving her behind and spitting in her face.

She was loyal to her sensei who had become a father figure to her regardless of his misgivings but all he did was shun her and leave her to the mercy of Konoha who treated her as they would treat him. A Traitor. She hated him for that and would make him pay – if the villages thought she was guilty of any crime, surely they would change their minds if she used her life to end the one of the true traitor.

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Orochimaru was speeding through the forest of death with a cruel smirk plastered on his pale features. He had infiltrated the Chunin exams and everything had gone to plan. The whole purpose of this 'invasion' was to mark the Uchiha brat as his next body then show him why the village he was currently in was weak – giving him more reasons to want to leave.

If wanting to control the power of his curse seal wasn't enough incentive to want to flee this weak village, then surely when he killed his former sensei, the Sandaime Hokage of Konoha, when security was at its tightest, it would open his eyes.

As Orochimaru continued to mentally congratulate himself on his ingenious plans, he almost failed to notice the trio of Kunai sailing in his direction that would have impacted had his finely tuned senses not heard the 'whistling' sound they made as they traveled through the air. He mentally cursed his inattentiveness that could have gotten him severely injured had his opponent been a little more skilled. He then gracefully landed in the clearing below the branches he was using as a means to travel to meet with his attacker, which only served to amuse him.

"Ah, Anko-chan, what a pleasure to see you of all people here; still a failure like you used to be?" he asked, amusement shining through his eyes though the cruel smirk that many thought was simply the way his lips were shaped was still present on his face.

"Orochimaru" Anko snarled, feeling her anger rising by titanic proportions for every second she was forced to even look at his annoyingly cruel smirk and taunting tone "Today…you die!"

Orochimaru, clearly amused at his former pupil allowing her anger and fury at him get the better of her easily dodged her ballistic kunai stripes.

"Sen'eijashu" Anko hissed, performing several hand seals and from close range, releasing six snakes from the sleeves of her tanned trench coat, three from each sleeve and ensnaring her former sensei, who didn't look surprised in the least, opting to continue to smirk at her and not even try to break out.

Feeling her anger reaching its peak, she performed some more hand seals, finishing on the 'tora' seal "Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu" she announced, before inhaling deeply and blowing out a large breath of fire that ignited the snakes holding her sensei in place, completely incinerating the Snake Sannin that was being kept captive under the snake binds.

Anko's victory however was short lived when she heard clapping coming from behind her. Spinning around quicker then most would be able to track; Anko spotted Orochimaru leaning against the trunk of a tree while watching her, amusement in his eyes.

"You really are a failure, aren't you?" he asked, making Anko see red, but he wasn't done "A mere genin" Orochimaru began, making sure she caught the emphasis on the rank "tried that exact same trick on me only moments ago, now I have to put up with jounin, not to mention a previous student of my own, using such petty and weak" he emphasized again, knowing how to push her buttons – one of the perks of being Anko's sensei for as long as he was "trick against me? Did you honestly expect it to work?" he finished, with an evil sounding cackle that just sounded downright creepy coming from the mouth of a female Kusa shinobi, Orochimaru really was twisted.

Forcefully calming herself down, else she knew she would make a careless mistake; Anko began the hand seals for a technique she had saved just for this man.

Many may think Orochimaru to be deranged, slightly touched in the head, a regular megalomaniac but one thing he most definitely was not was stupid. The Serpent like man immediately recognized what his ex-student planned on doing when he saw helplessness, resignation and resolve flash through her eyes before she started a very familiar set of seals. She intended to use a Kinjutsu that he had invented! Was the girl stupid? There was no way he would allow for her to finish using the technique that would summon two snakes from her wrists to bite them both, injecting a deadly poison into both of their bodies, he was NOT going to let this girl kill him.

Anko paused in her sealing when she saw her ex-sensei stop smirking and instead frowning at her. That was all the time Orochimaru needed though as quicker then she had expected, the man appeared in front of her and planted a fist in her gut. Hard.

Orochimaru watched on in amusement as Anko collapsed to the ground holding her wounded stomach coughing and wheezing as all the air in her body was forcefully expelled with one strike in that split second she had dropped her guard to use the suicide jutsu on him.

"Kukukuku, you amuse me greatly Anko-chan" he began, the cruel smirk back on his face "did you honestly believe I would allow you to use such a technique on me to begin with? One that I created and taught you? Do you underestimate me so?" Orochimaru asked, enjoying the shame and fury she felt that was clearly visible by her features.

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"However, I think that your usefulness has finally reached its peak and I should finish what I started all those years ago" said the Snake sannin while raiding his right hand in a half seal, activating the curse seal that he himself had placed on Anko before they parted ways.

Anko let out a loud scream of agony as Orochimaru attempted to kill her using the cursed seal. This was it, there was no way she could stop him now. She had known from the start that he could activate it like this and end her but she honestly hoped her would underestimate her long enough for her to do the suicide technique he had taught her. Everything worked to plan save for the fact that he was able to intercept his technique, now though it was too late and she could barely think coherently enough to admonish herself for her foolishness.

Had Orochimaru not been having so much fun seeing his ex-student being tortured the way she was, he probably would have sensed the incoming presence – however, as it were, he was and he did not.

The pain suddenly stopped for Anko and she wondered if she had already died. That theory changed however when she saw Orochimaru leaning against a tree holding his ribs while a stranger stood barely a few meters from her covered in a dark grey cloak and wearing a straw hat. She too, like any other respectable jounin had read through the most recent edition of the Bingo book which described in very much detail as much as it could about all of the known missing-nins in the shinobi nations and having read said book, she recognized who this was immediately – the traits were undeniable. Grey cloak, straw hat and he did look kind of young if his height was any indication of that. This was Uzumaki Naruto, the 'demon brat' of Konoha.

Orochimaru, seeing his attacker glared at him before properly observing him and letting out a sinister chuckle.

"Kukuku, Naruto-kun, come to avenge your late sensei's death?" taunted Orochimaru, having righted himself from the – admittedly – painful blow the brat landed on him.

Anko watched the exchange with interest, irrationally angry at having someone interrupt her while trying to kill Orochimaru and naturally curious about the boy who had the 'gonads' to interrupt Orochimaru, the legendary Snake Sannin from torturing his latest victim.

"Iie" was all he said as Anko felt a shiver run down her spine. The kid sounded emotionless; there was no anger, no happiness, no eagerness, no malice, just a simple indifferent answer to a simple question. The kid sounded eerily familiar to another that she once knew and worked with from the Uchiha clan.

"Oh? Not trying to avenge poor, deluded Sasori-kun?" goaded Orochimaru, trying to get this boy too attack him as Anko had, making this much easier on his part. He was not stupid enough to underestimate someone who was trained by someone like Sasori, a known perfectionist.

Anko meanwhile was processing the information she just learned at a mile a minute. Sasori? Uzumaki's sensei was someone named Sasori, that named rang a bell but she just couldn't place it. She decided to just store that piece of information in the back of her mind for later use and see what would happen from this.

"Iie Orochimaru-san" replied Naruto, with just as much emotion as his last reply had, angering the snake sannin slightly. This brat reminded him of someone he would gladly kill if he could from his old organization and suffice to say; he didn't like that brat one bit.

Naruto turned his gaze to Anko, who tried to get a look at his features but they were obscured by a straw hat shadowing his eyes and a high collared cloak that covered the lower half of his face.

"You were foolish Anko-san for allowing the anger to get the best of you" he began, making Orochimaru smirk and Anko seethe "instead of putting up a fight like a respectable jounin would, your skills were reduced to that of a genin simply because you let anger cloud your judgment, thought, admittedly" he continued, oblivious to the death glare Anko was directing at him and the amusement in Orochimaru's eyes "the man is quite…annoying" he finished.

Anko and Orochimaru had their opinions of the situation switched as now it was Anko with humor in her eyes and Orochimaru glaring in his direction with a frown on his face.

"What is your purpose here Naruto-kun?" asked Orochimaru, actually intrigued. He doubted the brat cared at all for Konoha, so he wondered what was motivating him.

"To kill you" he responded, as if it was the simplest question in the world. Inwardly, Naruto was amused at how the Snake sannin's eyebrow twitched, showing that his annoyance was finally getting the better of him. It seemed that he wasn't used to people simply being so apathetic towards him.

"I thought you didn't want revenge for your sensei's death? You lied?" he countered, the brat was really starting to annoy him and once he got the information he desired, he would kill him nice and slowly right after he was done with his old student.

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"Iie, I didn't lie" answered Naruto truthfully, though he hated the man for taking his beloved sensei away from him, he didn't let that hate cloud his judgment or have an impact on his actions. He simply wanted to kill Orochimaru because Sasori asked him to do so; it was the man's dying wish, who was he to deny it? Of course, saying he wouldn't enjoy fulfilling said wish would be another lie, but who cares?

"Not many people would need a particular reason to want to kill you Orochimaru-san, you are not very likable" he said, earning a snicker from Anko which she covered when Orochimaru glared at her.

Wanting to goad the snake sannin further, Naruto proceeded to do something that would always aggravate Haku when the two of them sparred. Retracting his hand from his right sleeve, which did not go unnoticed by the other two shinobi present, Naruto reach up his cloak from within and began to unbutton his cloak from the top down to his chest, revealing the bottom half of his face, which Orochimaru and Anko noted was quite neutral, showing none of the emotions both observers were hoping to see.

Naruto then replaced his arm in his right sleeve and flicked back the lower left half of his cloak, making Orochimaru tense and Anko pay more attention as she continued to sit on the sidelines and observe, not being able to do much else as Orochimaru's 'torture' made her whole body feel weak and screwed wit her control.

As Naruto flicked his cloak to the side, his left thigh became visible which had a kunai holster attached to it. Orochimaru now readied himself for an attack and Anko watched intently, wanting to see what this smart mouthed and annoyingly indifferent brat was planning to do, but neither expected what he did next.

Naruto clicked open the holster and removed…a stick of Pocky – Banana flavored, Anko noted – which he then preceded to place in his mouth and munch. Everything became eerily silent after that, except the sounds of Naruto continuing to munch on the biscuit stick. One munch. Two munches. Three munches. Four munches.

Anko watched with barely veiled amusement as Orochimaru's eyebrow seemed to twitch in tandem with every munching sound that Naruto made after every chew of his Pocky.

Naruto, noticing the anger in Orochimaru's eyes, no matter how much he tried to conceal it went in for the killing blow. Reaching down to his left thigh holster again, he took out another stick while still chewing on the one in his mouth, he expertly flicked it towards Anko as it landed perfectly in the perplexed girl's mouth.

"They're quite good" was all Naruto said, still chewing on his Pocky as Anko stared at him dumfounded. Naruto could tell Orochimaru was getting increasingly angrier so he continued with his course of action. Seeing that Anko hadn't started to chew his most generous gift, he narrowed his eyes and looked at her.

"Anko-san, it would be in your best interest if you eat that stick of Pocky. Eat it and enjoy it. I don't give them away very often" he said, in a deadly voice, yet it was lost on Anko as he used the deadly voice for such a ridiculous request. Slightly perplexed, she took a slow bite and found herself liking the delicacy, it had nothing on Dango, but this 'Pocky' stuff wasn't bad at all.

"Enough of this!" Orochimaru screeched, apparently finally fed up with being ignored. With another burst of speed, Orochimaru launched at Naruto and aimed a punch directly at his face, hoping to crush that accursed sweet and stuff it down his throat, however, as soon as his first was to connect, Naruto's body disintegrated into thousands upon thousands of tiny insects.

Orochimaru gasped in shock at the Kyuubi brat proving that he was able to control bugs similarly to the Aburame clan of Konoha. As the bugs that were once Naruto's body flew around the clearing, making visibility of anything outside the blanket they had created quite difficult, Orochimaru leapt back, not wanting to get caught by those damn chakra sucking bugs.

Orochimaru looked around for any signs of his opponent but found none while randomly throwing kunai in the directions he assumed he heard or sensed the brat. He would defeat this annoyance though like many other Aburame that had tried to cross his path in the past, only to be demolished under his might.

Interrupting his train of thoughts however was a sharp pain to his lower back that sent him stumbling several feet forward. As he spun around, he saw nothing, only those accursed bugs circling him and buzzing in the most infuriatingly annoying way possible. Once again though, his thoughts were interrupted as he felt another sharp pain, similar to a punch, connect with his abdomen, but he was certain no one was there – was this a new jutsu the Aburame had created?

Calming himself, he thought to the one thing that the Aburame could not stop, and that was fire. Going through several hand seals, he announced his jutsu.

"Katon: Housenka no Jutsu" he said, before bringing his hand up to his mouth and breathing out several dozen small fireballs in all directions as he turned in a clockwise direction, making sure to fire them in all directions and incinerating all of the pests. After completing a full circle though, he was shocked to see that his jutsu did have an ­

effect, but not quite what he had expected. Every bug was on fire, but instead of dropping dead like they should, they were still circling him while their bodies were alit, creating an effect not too different from him being surrounded by a sphere of fire. Were these bugs resistant to fire? It would explain a lot, and not to mention the heat of being surrounded by fire in all directions was starting to affect him, if the sweat on his brow was any indication.

Once again, his thoughts were interrupted as he felt three almost simultaneous pains occur at once, one in his ribs, the next in his chest and the last right in his face, sending him flying back into the wall of fire.

Orochimaru quickly performed Kawarimi to switch himself with an earth clone he had created while the brat was chewing on his candy and watched with surprise as the enflamed insects created an opening in the wall of fire for his earth clone to sail through so it impacted with the tree.

Orochimaru frowned when he saw this, but he decided against re-engaging. His opponent showed skills he did not expect to fight against and going into a fight without information was simply foolish, so he did the thing he did best, he escaped while his clone impersonated his body flying into a tree, swearing to kill that boy the next time they met.

Mitarashi Anko was treated to the weirdest and bizarre thing she had ever seen. At first, when Orochimaru made the first move and decided to punch the Uzumaki, he appeared right in front of him only to pause when his fist was inches from his face and look around with confusion. All Naruto had done in response to that was staring at his fist which was inches from his face before disappearing in a swirl of wind – some kind of Shunshin most likely.

Orochimaru had then leapt back and started to look around in all directions, as if looking for something before hurling kunai in random directions, completely off target as Naruto was calmly standing on a branch on the opposite side of the clearing, observing what was going on.

Naruto then used Shunshin to appear behind Orochimaru and punch him in the spine, which confused her as she was sure Orochimaru would have sensed that – he did when she tried that on him when they sued to spar way back when. Instead, Naruto disappeared with Shunshin again as the Snake Sannin whirled around to find nothing.

In a surprising and ridiculous move, Orochimaru did a Housenka, sending the small fireballs that were shot out of his mouth in all directions, barely missing her and scorching the trees surrounding them, yet causing no damage, and he hadn't come close to hitting Naruto once.

It was that move and what Naruto did next that showed her what was really going on. Naruto appeared right in front of the Sannin and hit him three times, lastly in the face, which sent him flying into a tree. It must have been a Genjutsu; there is no other way Orochimaru's senses would be so clouded that he couldn't sense where these strikes were coming from, especially when he seemingly shot his Katon jutsu at nothing. Orochimaru was never wasteful of his chakra, and firing Housenka like that was indeed wasteful. What baffled her most though was that she had never seen Naruto cast a Genjutsu, no hand seals at all. Was it when he got the Pocky? Did he use it as a distraction? Even if that were the case though, he would only be able to use one handed seals to cast it then, and a Genjutsu that would fool someone on Orochimaru's level to be done using only one handed seals was absurd at best!

Yet, she could honestly come up with no other explanation, he had put Orochimaru under a Genjutsu and her old sensei was none the wiser! Just who was this kid?!

"Anko-san, I suggest you get your injuries treated" he said, from somewhere above her as Orochimaru's body impacted against the tree and turned to mud "It seems our slithery friend has decided that retreat was his best option and when a snake does not want to be found, it would be quite difficult to find it" he said, before he too left in a gust of wind.

After several moments of silence, Anko struggled to stand; only succeeding with the help the tree provided her. She then replayed the memories of her bizarre encounter with her ex-sensei and 'Uzumaki Naruto' and came to one conclusion. She extremely disliked the brat and next time she saw him, she would plant a kunai so far up his urethra that by the time she was done with him, he will find aiming while urinating to be pretty much impossible.

Haku had decided to silently trail Uchiha Sasuke and his team if he was to find anyone working for Orochimaru at all in the forest. If the Snake Sannin's main goal in his operation in Konoha was to tame the Uchiha, then surely following him would prove useful, though for the first few days of his following and systematically avoiding detection that would no doubt occur if he allowed the surveillance cameras spotted him, nothing much occurred.

The Hyuuga and the Pink haired girl had to carry the Uchiha around as the continuously changed their camp locations, completely oblivious to his presence. It seemed that when Orochimaru had placed the cursed seal on Sasuke, it knocked him out for quite some time as he did not awaken for quite a few days, and when he did, it was quite the scene to say the least.

He and Naruto had agreed to meet again after this part of the exam was over on the outskirts of the forest on the northern side near the river so he had plenty of time to father information.

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The first sign of action occurred two days after he separated from Naruto when team seven tried to make camp to rest after having to haul the Uchiha around while the Hyuuga scouted for potential scrolls. Haku was quite relieved that Naruto had taught him about the abilities of the Byakugan and the Sharingan else he was certain the girl would have spotted him easily with the use of her eyes, the fact was though that Haku continuously stayed out of range of the girl's eyes at all times to avoid detection, which seemed to work as she had made no signs of having spotted him.

However, his observations became infinitely more interesting when the team of two conscious and one unconscious genin were ambushed by a group of sound genin apparently sent to 'kill Uchiha Sasuke' which Haku found amusing. Honestly, as if the Otokage would allow for his carefully laid out plans to fail because of some genin under his command – he more then likely sent them to test Sasuke out some more, which Haku was more then willing to just observe.

At first, the girl from the Oto team attacked seemingly with Genjutsu, which the Hyuuga easily saw through; however, the pink haired one was not as lucky as she was caught by the Oto girl by the hair. The Hyuuga, however, proved her worth as a shinobi by quickly and easily disabling the Oto genin with spiky hair that tried to blast her before she could get close enough to him with wind blasts from his arms. The Hyuuga easily dodged them and disabled his tenketsu in his arms and legs, rendering him useless. However, the Oto Nin that resembled a mummy was not as easily defeated as he used some weird contraption on his arm to make the Hyuuga double over in pain. Interesting.

As all hope seemed lost however, a strange green clad boy with a bowl cut hairstyle rushed into the clearing and kicked away the mummified Oto genin while the pink haired Konoha shinobi freed herself from the hold the Sound genin had on her by cutting her hair and falling free from her grasp.

Haku continued to watch with interest as the green clad boy actually seemed to be demolishing the mummified genin up until the point where he performed a double edged sword technique that slammed the both of them into the ground at high velocities – his opponent coming out of his worse for wear.

"That's i-impossible" Haku heard the green kid say, much to his amusement. It was obvious that he had used chakra to cushion his fall so that he wouldn't receive as much damage, but what really piqued his interest was a spike of foul and vile chakra, a chakra that could be recognized as Orochimaru's. The Uchiha boy seemed to be awake as purple chakra swirled around him like a vortex as black markings went up the left side of his body, covering his face and arm. The boy seemed to have a psychotic grin on his face also while feeling said power course through him. Haku thought it prudent to listen into whatever was happening at that time.

"This power…" Sasuke muttered to himself "I feel great"

"Sasuke-kun, what's wrong?" asked Sakura tentatively, not sure how to process whatever was happening.

"Wrong? WRONG?! Nothing's wrong! I FEEL GREAT!" the Uchiha exclaimed before his eyes settled on Sakura "Sakura, who did this to you?"

"S-Sasuke-kun" the girl stuttered, seemingly afraid of what lay before her "I'm o-okay now, there's r-really no problem" she said, trying to diffuse the situation.

"I SAID WHO DID THIS TO YOU?!" the Uchiha snapped, causing Sakura to flinch and point a shaking hand in the direction of the girl of the Oto team. Before said girl could say anything, Sasuke appeared behind her in a burst of speed and punched her with all of his newfound strength. The result was a large cracking sound that caused everyone in the clearing, and those watching, to either wince or pale. Sasuke had punched her in the lower back, most likely breaking it in the process.

As the girl collapsed like a puppet that had lost its strings to the ground, Sasuke moved onto his next target – chakra still swirling around him while he basked in its power. Sasuke took slow yet deliberate steps towards the Mummified genin who seemed to be contemplating his options.

Suddenly, the remaining Oto nin who was still able to fight reached into his pouch and produced a scroll "Please let my team and me go and we'll give you our scroll" he humbly requested, yet Sasuke would have none of it.

"Why shouldn't I just kill you and eliminate the competition in the process?" he countered "Then take the scroll from your dead hands?" he asked, a cruel smirk not unlike Orochimaru's on his features.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura screamed out fearfully "stop this madness!" she screamed, as if killing in a ninja exam was wrong and he was a monster for killing someone who intended to kill him in the first place. Sasuke and Hanabi, who had recently recovered from Dosu's attack turned an angry glare at Sakura, causing her to flinch, however, when Sasuke turned back, his prey had already disappeared.

Seeing this, Sasuke turned his anger on the next logical target – Sakura. However, before he could charge at her, Hanabi put a hand on his shoulder, causing the Uchiha to glare at her also. It seemed though that the young Hyuuga was either used to such glares and leakage of killing intent or wasn't fazed by the Uchiha at all "Though I am not quite ­

fond of Haruno-san right now Uchiha-san" she began, complete with a glare in Sakura's direction "we unfortunately need her to pass this portion of the exam, therefore I can't let you kill her as you will be harming us more then aiding your own sudden need for bloodlust" she finished in a calm yet demanding tone that she probably inherited from her father.

Haku watched with interest as the black markings on the Uchiha's body faded away and the purple chakra subsided as the Uchiha nodded in Hanabi's direction. It seemed that the curse seal had not completely eaten away at his personality as rational thought was still a possibility for the genin.

For the rest of the exam, Haku watched team seven try their hardest to pass the exam, only succeeding when an interesting character stepped in to help them. Someone she immediately recognized from Naruto's information – Yakushi Kabuto. The man was known by the two wandering nuke-nin to be Orochimaru's right hand man, yet here he was, with a Konoha forehead protector, impersonating a genin. How could the Hokage let this happen?

Haku left the forest when team seven made it to their destination, thus passing this part of the chunin exams and headed to the place he was supposed to meet Naruto at when his information gathering was complete.

Naruto stood in the middle of a demolished clearing, training with one of the futon jutsu he was attempting to create when he picked up Haku's scent heading in his direction. He was earlier then expected but that just probably meant that team Uchiha finished before the last day of the second portion of the Chunin exams.

Heading over to the campfire in preparation to Haku's arrival, Naruto began to drink some water when the boy appeared before him by rising out of a puddle of water that had mysteriously appeared on the floor of the completely dry campsite – they were in the land of fire after all, rain was not too common.

"Salutations Haku-san, I trust your information gathering was eventful?" asked Naruto, after taking another sip of water from his water bottle. Haku just eyed him shrewdly, Naruto looked tired and worn out, which was completely a surprise seeing as even after rigorous training exercises he would never look this worn out. Seeing the question in Haku's eyes when he removed the white mask he still opted to wear, Naruto elaborated.

"I was creating a new…difficult technique" Naruto elaborated, without too little or too much information at all "Orochimaru was not a problem in the slightest, he did get away though" he finished.

Haku sighed before reporting everything he saw in the forest to Naruto, who seemed to be listening intently.

"It seems Uchiha-san has a better control of the curse seal then the other test subjects are recorded to have. I met the first test subject fighting Orochimaru when I went to intercept him and she seemed to be easily taunted into fits of rage – either the Uchiha has more control over his emotions then we gave him credit for or this curse seal was designed to take a longer time consuming the personality so that he could remain in Konoha for the remainder of the Chunin exams…" Naruto mused out loud, as Haku nodded.

"I assumed the latter also. What do you think about Kabuto being a spy in Konoha?" asked Haku, while Naruto simply took a sip of his water in response.

"I know a lot more about Kabuto then he would probably like – Sasori-sensei used him as a spy before his…death and his role as a spy in Konoha for Orochimaru was known by me. I find it amusing though that he still is a spy masquerading as a genin, especially with his chakra levels and skill, one would think the illustrious village of Konoha would be able to notice such things" he finished, with an amused tone in his voice while putting an emphasis on his description of the village.

"What are our plans for now?" asked a curious Haku.

Naruto leaned back against the tree and took out a stick of pocky while pondering their next move "Oto has allied with Suna to conduct an invasion, this much we know" he began, continuing when Haku nodded "We should scout out any sound shinobi who have infiltrated into the land of fire and…hamper their plans…I'll leave that to you" he finished, getting an extremely confused look from Haku.

"I may not like Konoha" Naruto conceded "but I do not wish for them to be destroyed by Oto, it would bolster their village's popularity and power and that is something Orochimaru should not have" he elaborated, sure that Haku understood now.

"I will attempt to gather more information on Orochimaru" he stated "I doubt he is anywhere near here anymore, so it would be rather troublesome if I were to look for him; the best I can do is wait for him to make his move and then strike"

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Haku looked worried and voiced this thoughts "What if Konoha shinobi capture you?" he asked, not wanting his first real friend to be taken away from him. Naruto laughed softly, yet the laughter didn't much reach his eyes.

"I very much doubt they are skilled enough to apprehend me" he began "and even though they may not know much of the scheduled invasion, I very much doubt that they are completely in the dark, so their efforts will be directed elsewhere" he finished.

Both shinobi sat in a comfortable silence as Naruto created a small campfire to cook their dinner. The following month will be interesting indeed.

Author's note:

I really appreciate all of the reviews, they help me continue to write and give me ideas in the process; I'll try to answer as many queries as I can now:

Haku is a boy because I already have a pairing lined up for him – I am not against fem Haku stories, in fact, I rather like them, though I intend to pair him with someone that I think would be rather…funny yet plausible at the same time. You will discover that soon enough.

A lot of people expressed their dislike of Sasori dying so early and easily, but to be perfectly honest, I had no idea how to write his death any other way. From what I've seen in the manga and anime, Sasori should be more powerful then both Orochimaru and Kabuto, yet at the same time, Sakura was able to defeat him with the help of Chiyo. If I were to go from that – I'd imagine Orochimaru and Kabuto are MUCH stronger then Sakura and Chiyo, especially if Orochimaru still had the use of his arms. I'm rambling though and what I'm getting at is if Sasori pulled out all his puppets and ape shit on the two, he may have won, but what would I do with Sendaime-puppet hm? Surely it would have to be destroyed for Sasori to die? I toyed with the idea of Naruto arriving at the scene after Sasori had used his performance of 100 puppets technique to see 100 destroyed puppets and a beaten Sasori, but I wanted Naruto to be able to see a reason for him to be cautious of Orochimaru. Not to mention that I had written it as if Sasori was exhausted, probably after killing a large amount of bandits with his 100 puppets technique or something, it doesn't matter, but it was in the end, Sasori's confidence that he was protected from other missing-nins by Akatsuki that lead to his downfall. He hadn't counted on Orochimaru not caring because he knew about Naruto.

Pairing will stay NaruAnko, its fun to write because she's so easy to anger and Naruto is so infuriatingly calm and unable to anger. Something that I'm sure Anko will find annoying. They will meet a lot more before any pairing happens and it won't happen till he's 18-20 at least (he's 14 now). I will write in random missions and the such where Naruto will interact 'unintentionally' with different Konoha shinobi because its 'in his best interest' but I honestly want for the Konoha rookies and jounin to earn a respect, even if it stems from fear, of Naruto. More then a few of these 'mission' will have Anko in them. She will also report Naruto's ability to do seal less Genjutsu to Sandaime, which will eventually get to Orochimaru who will realize how he was beaten so easily, therefore, it won't happen again. Sandaime may even put Anko on a secret Naruto 'retrieval' mission to bring him to Konoha, though you all should remember that I said he WON'T go back to a hidden village, period. To live anyway.

Naruto and Pocky? Honestly, I've kind of molded Naruto's personality around my own – hard to anger, often infuriatingly calm, intelligent and calculative, observant and completely pocky crazy. I may not be all 'emotionless' but that's a seasoned warrior thing anyway.

Question about him being too powerful with him controlling three Kage puppets are valid. I intend to make it clear that currently, it's very difficult for him to manipulate all three puppets as freely as he would like, though he will find a way to counter that soon enough. I just find it slightly hard to believe that someone could conceivably 'perfectly' control three puppets like that with such precision, it would be like, theoretically, spinning three arms in three different directions at the same time – its defiantly possible, but to be able to do it efficiently will be a nuisance. I think I gave a clue there as to how he would overcome that though.

About puppets that he could control from within like Hiruko. I definitely thought about it but I decided against it simply because of one fact. His strongest field may be the puppeteer technique, but it is not his only field. He is masterful in the areas of Fuuinjutsu, Genjutsu and manipulating his elemental chakra, so, he has other ways of fighting. If I made him a 'Hiruko' it would severely limit his ability to use other branches I think anyway.

About people who had grievances against the rape scene, yes it was gruesome; yes it was dark, but honestly? I probably would have happened if they had taken her. I'm trying to make this fic as realistic as possible and I think that's what would have happened. Besides, it gave me a way to show Naruto at his most 'sadistic' level.

That's all I can think of now; thank you for all of the wonderful reviews and I will try to keep the chapters to MINIMUM once a week, of not three a week, it depends how my schedule is I guess (I play a lot of WoW p ). I hope you enjoyed the chap and the character interactions within, there will be more of Naruto interacting with favorites next chapter. Adios.