A/N – Thank for the reviews, blah-blah-blah, you probably want to read the story, right?

Chapter 5 – Explaining

As they barged through the door, most of the ninjas inside of it stared at them in shock. Kakashi shook his head. He had been thrilled when the radio-guy had told them that team 7 had arrived, but now, if they got themselves eliminated…

"What do you think you're doing?" Anko as good as screamed and most of the ninjas, who had been on her bad side even once, cringed.

"We're talking to our sensei whether you like it or not," Naruto said. "Sasuke…"

"Get OUT NOOOW!" Anko bellowed. More cringing by most of the elite ninjas. Sasuke and Naruto didn't even move, but Sakura moaned slightly in her sleep. Only now did Kakashi see her state. But the two boys didn't see him giving them quizzical looks; they were giving glares at Anko.

"Don't wake her up," Naruto said, blinking.

"Yeah," Sasuke agreed, "She's sleeping."

"Exactly. Are you blind or something? Sweet ramen, what does a girl have to do to get some sleep?" Naruto said, looking at Anko like she had murdered someone important.

Kakashi was confused. Since when did the two of them cared that much and since when did they ever agree on something?

Anko stared at them. "What do you want?" she hissed.

"Wow, way to impersonate the snake-dude," Naruto said and most of the ninjas stared at him. "Oh come on, it was kind of like him. Now all you need is pale skin and a freakishly long tongue."

"And you should be dead," he added after a moment, "but you can leave that detail out."

"Naruto," Sasuke growled softly, "Shut up, will you? We need to talk to Kakashi. The mark, remember?"

"Wait, what do you mean I'd have to be dead?" Anko asked, her tone making a complete 180.

"I mean that the snake-dude is dead. Gone like that," Naruto said, snapping his fingers.

"Naruto," Kakashi spoke up for the first time, "What do you know about Orochimaru."

"Ugly bastard, bit Sasuke, got killed by Sasuke, end of story."



Sasuke growled in annoyance, while everybody stared at him. "Great, effing great."

"Close the door," Anko said to Ebiki who did so almost immediately. "Take," she coughed, "Please, take a seat."

Sasuke looked at the armchair and the couch and Sakura in his arms.

"You can put her into the armchair," Asuma, the leader of Ino's team spoke up. Sasuke looked at him for a moment, before sitting down on the couch, Sakura in his lap. As daring for someone to protest he let out a small hn, before falling into silence as Naruto sat down into the armchair.

"So Sasuke, Naruto," Kakashi spoke, clearing is throat as he pocketed his Come, Come Paradise, "Could you start from the beginning of the second task."

Anko started to protest, but glares from everyone else shut her up. She was scary, but then again with the whole group of ninjas, they managed to scare her as well.

"Well," Naruto started, happy that he was being paid so much attention all of the sudden, "When we were let into the forest, we kind of thought to bid our time. Take stuff slow, you know? I needed to, you know, pee, but when I went into the forest to do that, out of somewhere that rain village dude jumps out and ties me up." Kakashi chuckled softly, so nobody could hear. Anko still gave him the evil eye though, so maybe she did hear or maybe she was just pissed they would have to wait to hear about Orochimaru. Doesn't the woman know that patience is a virtue?

"He personated as Naruto, but I figured him out," Sasuke continued, in the bored tone, that he always used and which made people think it was patented by him.

"Yeah, anyways, I got loose and went to help and we beat him and he ran off, saying he was alone. Then Sasuke came up with this really long pass-speech, which was… I forgot, but anyways, the three of us got separated and I was hit unconscious… again.

This time Kakashi rolled his eyes, as Naruto continued, "That dude went as me again and told Sasuke the correct password and Sasuke, uh tried to beat him up too, because I would never remember that password," Naruto glared at Sasuke. "In the meanwhile I was eaten by a huge snake, but I got out using my clone technique."

Sasuke took it as a sign for him to continue. Not looking away from the spot on the wall which he stared, he spoke, "The fake Naruto turned into a ninja from the sound village and we battled a bit, until his face started to peel off."

"Peel off?" One of the ANBU ninjas asked. Everybody shushed him.

"Yeah, it was the same grass ninja with that hideous tongue. But actually it was Orochimaru."

Everybody waited for him to continue.


"We fought again. The bastard ate one of the heavens scroll just for the kicks of it and then his eyes… It was a mental attack, which brought up the worst memories we had and made up even worse ones, like dying."

Anko nodded, she knew that attack.

"I couldn't move and neither could Sakura. So I did the only thing I could to get moving. I stabbed my own leg."

"So that's where the wound came from," Kakashi thought.

"I grabbed Sakura and escaped. Then the bastard turned into a snake and got ready to strike and I was paralyzed," Sasuke spat out, angry at himself.

"That's when I showed up," Naruto energetically explained, "I was shocked that Sasuke was just standing there, offering to give away our scroll. I was sure he was a fake. So I kind of fought with Snake-face and the snakes he summoned while trying to make Sasuke snap out of it. But I didn't last long alone, since Sasuke was still just standing there and Sakura was too far above to help out. Then everything went black for me… yeah, again, you in the back stop snickering at me!"

"He sent Naruto flying and took our scroll," Sasuke continued, rolling his eyes at Naruto, who was making rude hand signs to the ninja in the back, who found his number of unconsciousness funny.

"Sakura saved Naruto by throwing a kunai which left him hanging by the tree top, instead of falling down all the way and I finally managed to force myself to battle."

"I fought," he said slowly, "And I thought I beat him, but he survived. Then he, he bit me and I fell unconscious some moments later, after he burned our scroll and left."

"Neither of us remembers anything after that," Naruto spoke, suddenly more solemn and only glaring at the ninja in the back. "All we know is what we heard from Lee and Sakura the next morning. Sakura carried us to a hidden place, but that Snake-dude sent his goons to get Sasuke. Sakura was alone and there were three of them. Those, those, pathetic morons. Three of them against one. Those…"

"Naruto," Kakashi said, "What happened?"

Naruto nodded and shrugged it off, as he continued.

"The three sound villagers attacked in the morning I guess. Sakura hadn't slept or eaten for a long time and there were three of them," the blonde boy looked down as ashamed that he wasn't there to help. "Lee went to his aid." Naruto ignored the gasp from Guy as he continued, "But Lee couldn't do a thing. They were too powerful. His hurricane hadn't worked and the Flying Leaf Shadow was powerless."


"THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE!"

"SHH!" Kakashi glared his old rival, "I'm trying to live the story here."

"What happened next," Yuuhi Kurenai, Hinata's team-leader asked.

"Sakura beat them up," Sasuke said, with a hint of sarcasm in his voice, "Completely by herself. Took their scroll and everything and let them walk away. She couldn't bring herself to kill them, I think."

"Sakura?" Kakashi asked. "You're saying that Lee couldn't do anything, but Sakura, our Sakura beat them all up?"

"Yeah," Sasuke said, "A mystery that one."

Kakashi noted that Naruto looked uncomfortable for some reasons. "Naruto, do you know anything?"

The blonde boy looked up and shook his head quickly, indicating no. He then took a deep breath and nodded, "But I can't tell. I promised her."

"Naruto," Sasuke started.

"No, listen teme, I'll bet if I asked her about all the stuff the two of you were on about today, then she'd tell me the same thing. That it's your business and it's not her place to tell. Would you want for her to tell?"

Sasuke stared.

"Thought so. I'm not telling either." Naruto crossed his arms and huffed.

"Right, she beat them, then what?" Anko asked, frustrated and clearly not getting the point what it meant that Sakura beat up people Lee could hardly touch.

"Well we were woken up by Ino and Choji. After that their team left and we stayed to camp out for a while, to give Sakura a moment to rest. She needed it desperately," Naruto said.

"Maybe we should put her into a bed in the hospital wing," Kakashi suddenly spoke. The boys looked up.

"No," a small voice murmured, "Fine… here." Sakura grasped Sasuke's blouse a bit more, before she fell quiet again.

"But…" Kakashi spoke.



"She said she was fine," Naruto said, rising from his seat in the armchair and sitting in front of the couch and his team mates, "If she say's she's fine…"

"…then she's fine," Sasuke ended and the two boys glared at the other ninjas in the room, daring for them to disagree.

"Wow," Kakashi thought, "How much can two boys change in a day and a half?"

"Moving on with the story," Guy said.

"Right," Naruto said, grinning again, "We made a fire and roasted some fish, but we barely got to eat, because our all time favorite snake-face pops by. He did something with his eyes and I felt like I could never be happy. That I was going to die and that everyone hated me. I felt so completely alone."

Naruto spaced out for a moment; while Anko and Sasuke did that as well, remembering how it felt.

"I couldn't move at all and I could only watch as I tried to block out the images," Naruto explained, "Orochimaru was all like "Sasuke I'll give you power, yada-yada-yada."

"Then out of the sudden, Sakura starts to laugh. I swear to god, she laughed."

"She did," Sasuke agreed, quietly, but still agreed.

"I mean I was shocked that she could laugh at a moment like this. She had been affected like we had, but she was laughing and for some reason, it made me feel a bit better. Then she told us to remember everything good that had happened to me."

Most of the ninjas murmured, actually asking how they didn't think of that when against a similar jutsu.

"Then I tried, but nothing happened," Naruto gulped, "I didn't think I had anything good happen to me, except finally becoming a genin, getting this and those two," he said indicating on his headband and the two persons on the couch.

"Yeah, I had the same," Sasuke said, looking at that point on the wall again.

Kakashi felt sorry for them, but there was nothing he could ever do to change the past. He could just be curious about the present, which he was. Trust me, curiosity could kill the cat, but it was torturing Kakashi, slowly and painfully.

"How did Sakura break out of it?"

"No idea," Naruto said, "But then, she um, started to sing, because it was obvious neither Sasuke nor me was snapping out of it. It made me feel a bit better, but teme here, sorry, Sasuke here, he broke 

out completely because of the song."

Sasuke was aware that people were staring at him. He shrugged nonchalantly and said, "My dad sang it to my mum when they got engaged and my mum sang it to me all the time when I was little. When I was reading or when I was hurt or…" he trailed off as if afraid of showing too many emotions.

"Sakura got me out of it as well," Naruto continued as it was obvious Sasuke wasn't about to continue, "She told me to think of all the free ramen I'll get when I become the hokage and when everybody will respect me… Mmmm, free ramen."

Sasuke nudged Naruto with his foot. The blonde's eyes became focused again and he said, "Right, battle. The three of us fought like hell, but he seemed physically indestructible. That's when Sakura got the idea about attacking him mentally."

"Interesting," Kakashi thought.

"While I used my shadow clones to keep snake-face busy, Sakura and Sasuke were arguing over something and then, uh, Sakura threw a lightning bolt at Sasuke. I did something stupid for I don't know what reasons. I jumped in front of him and well, he then jumped in front of me and then the lightning bolt just disappeared. Poof."

Sasuke explained a bit, "We were arguing about something I may or may not be able to use. She asked me if I trusted her more than a certain brother of mine. I said I did and she hit me with a lightning bolt. Nice trade, I'd say."

"Yeah, but you did get to Mango Snake-face's ugly face off the Earth, didn't you? So stop whining and be grateful for once," Naruto snapped.

Sasuke just did a noise in his throat as Naruto spoke. "My part was to hold the bastard down for long enough so Sasuke could get close. Sakura was completely out of energy and in no condition to fight. So after some time, we managed to get into a right position but Uchiha screwed it up and we got flung back, again."

"I didn't screw it up," Sasuke growled, "It was the stupid mark on my neck. I couldn't activate it. He took away my chakra."

The whole room was listening carefully as if afraid of missing any important details. Even the hokage himself didn't breathe a word. He was too busy praying that whatever these kids did, that it killed Orochimaru for good.

"I couldn't use it and I believed we were done for, when Sakura told me to come closer. I did and she gave me temporarily some of her chakra as well as something else, but that's Sakura's thing to explain. Well, then she passed out."

"And we kicked ass. It took some time, but my clones got to hold him put for long enough for Sasuke 

to use his mango and then it was over."

"Mango?" Anko asked, "What the hell is a mango?"

"A fruit," The third hokage spoke, "I'm rather fond of them."

Sasuke smirked, as he closed his eyes, when he opened them, everybody in the sight gasped, except Naruto who just shrugged, "Big deal, another eye moving stunt that makes him look like a freak with spinning eyes."

"Dobe," Sasuke snapped.

"Teme."

"Dobe."

"Could… cut…off… tired," Sasuke murmured into Sasuke's shirt. The two boys glared at each other but otherwise shut up.

"You can use the Mangekyo Sharigan," Kakashi finally spoke after getting over from his shock, "I'm impressed, but I'm bothered by one thing…"

"Killing my best friend?" Sasuke spoke, finally deactivating it.

"Yes, that'd be it." The rest of the ninjas were quiet.

"Let's say I found a way past that," Sasuke said, "Anyways I used my vastly found gift and I assure you Orochimaru is dead and he is NOT coming back."

"How do we know you're speaking the truth and are not hired by Orochimaru to make us let down our guard?" Anko asked. Everybody turned to look at her. She shrugged under their gazes.

"We got that Heavens scroll from the pile of ashes that was left after he died," Naruto pointed out as he began going through his stuff, "And his headband and this thing." He pulled the two other things out.

"And how should we know that Orochimaru didn't give them to you?"

"Okay," Kakashi said, "That's enough."

"Wait," The hokage spoke, "Could I see this?"

He pointed towards the silvery thingy. Naruto nodded and gave it to him.

"Anko, I can assure you that there was no way Orochimaru would willingly give this," he said after a 

short examination.

"How do you tell?"

"Because this, this is his heart."

Sasuke stared him and almost every other ninja did the same. Naruto stared at his finger wondering how many soaps he should use to get Orochimaru's heart off his hands. Gross, heart germs.

"So Orochimaru is surely dead?" One of the ANBU's spoke up.

The hokage nodded and then everybody burst into cheers, before being silenced by the Hokage.

"This will be under wraps for now. Kakashi, show your team into the hospital wing, if you may," the hokage said as he looked at the two boys, "And young ninjas, know that you have done well. Very well indeed."

As Kakashi walked out of the room with his team, excited chatter broke off. Some pieces, see if you can figure out who they belong to

"They're the first useful maggots I've seen."

"OH, LEE!"

"I think I need another smoke after this."

XxXxXxXxXx

"So Kakashi sensei, where are we going?" Naruto asked.

"To the hospital wing, so you can get checked. I'm surprised you got here so fast and happy the same. Gives you time to heal before the third round." Kakashi was acting all cool again.

In the inside Kakashi was confused as hell. Was this even his team? The team, that couldn't even get two lousy bells from him. The team, who wouldn't work together if the existence of something important, like the universe or even worse, Come, Come Paradise was at stake!

And Sakura, what had happened with her? He could feel it. Something had changed about her. He considered using the Sharigan just for a moment, but thought against it. She's unconscious. He wouldn't see anything. Sasuke had changed as well and so had his chakra, but at least here he knew the reason – the curse mark, which wasn't a curse anymore, since it still supplied the wearer with chakra and could've used for extra power with some training without the slimy consequences.

"Here we are," Kakashi exclaimed.



They walked into a small room with fifteen hospital beds. "Put Sakura on one of them."

Sasuke nodded and placed her on the bed no. 2 as Kakashi walked out of the hospital wing.

He returned a minute later with a blonde woman in tow. They walked straight towards Sakura's bed, but Naruto stood into their way.

"What did I do in your first class with me?"

"Prove that you were a moron by letting a blackboard sponge hit my head, a really dirty one might I add."

Naruto nodded and Sasuke asked, "Is she trustable?"

"I don't get you guys," Kakashi complained, "You're safe. This is the safe location in the forest and yet you act like anyone could be an enemy, ready to strike."

"I'm so proud of you," he said, shedding a fake tear. Naruto and Sasuke sweatdropped.

"Yes, she is completely trustable by the way. Boys meet Chie, Chie these are Naruto and Sasuke. The young lady on the bed is Sakura Haruno."

The woman nodded at them and they nodded back. She stepped towards the bed and pulled the curtains closed. Naruto stared for a while, before he asked,

"What are they doing in there?"

"It's called an examination, you twit," Sasuke said, rolling his eyes. In about three minutes the woman pulled the curtains open and now Sakura was under the covers.

"She's completely unharmed with the exception of some bruises. Other than that, it's just pure exhaustion," she told them. All three guys were happy to hear that news. Kakashi expressed it by smiling. Naruto jumped up and down yelling Hell Yeah and Sasuke, Sasuke said something really deep, something that makes even the brightest heads think about the importance of the universe. He said,

"Hn."

XxXxXxXxXx

A/N – Right, there wasn't much new stuff in here. Just some reviewing on first chapters. But the next chapter is even better. Find out how the boys act while Sakura's 'hospitalized.' Kakashi get's more confused of the boys' protective acting and corners them about it. Their Sakura watch get's a bit out of hand and some trouble is rising before the third round even starts!



READ AND REVIEW! PLEASE I LOVE REVIEWS! GIMME, GIMME, GIMME. You can have the next chapter when I have enough reviews. ''Sticks out her tongue'' Its weekend so if I get much reviews I can write much. Somewhat… Today… Tomorrow's Saturday and since I was sick the whole week I have a lot of homework to catch up with. Groan…