Hey all! Sorry that this chapter's a bit short. Reason why's at the bottom.
I don't own Naruto. If I did he'dve stopped chasing Sakura ages ago.
With the help of Tenten, Team 7 managed to fight on equal terms with the Sound trio. That is, until Zaku managed to pin the blonde to the ground. Before the Sound ninja could unleash a killing attack, Sakura woke up, covered in a dark chakra. Knocking their teammate out to prevent her from killing Zaku, Dosu grabs his wounded teammate and runs, believing his other teammate dead. With their scroll of Earth left behind, Team 7 now makes for the tower with their unconscious teammate and their injured prisoner.
Forest of Death, Tower, Main Floor
"Finally made it…" Naruto gasped, gently setting down Sakura before collapsing onto the stone of the tower's main floor. Sasuke grunted, but didn't comment. The blonde had, after all, been carrying their teammate for miles without break while also dispensing shadow clones like they were candy to make sure their path was clear.
"Finally get tired dobe?" Sasuke asked mockingly, his own breath far from calm. Truth be told, he could barely keep up with Naruto and it was only his pride that kept him upright.
"Dream on teme! I just needed to catch my breath for a second!" Naruto said, jolting upright.
Sasuke just sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Where does he get the energy?"
Looking around, they noticed that there was no one around, along with no obvious instructions as to what to do.
"So what now?" Naruto asked, turning to nod at the shadow clone who had been carrying Kin as it walked in. Taking the wounded kunoichi from his clone, Naruto allowed it to dispel as he laid Kin on the floor next to Sakura.
"Can't you remember anything? The instructor told us not to open the scrolls, until we got to the tower." Sasuke said, rummaging through his pack until he took out the scrolls, tossing one to Naruto. "Meaning that we've got to open the scrolls to find out the next step."
"Exactly like I thought." Naruto said, nodding like he knew it all along when he clearly didn't.
"…Whatever. Just open yours along with me on the count of three." Sasuke said, holding out his scroll.
"Gotcha!" Naruto said, also holding the scroll out.
"Three."
"Two."
"One."
As Sasuke said one, they both broke the seal of the scrolls, unfurling them in an instant.
"A sealing array?" Naruto said in confusion.
Sasuke's eyes widen at Naruto's words. "Naruto! Drop the scroll, now!"
Both boys drop the scrolls before jumping away, Naruto pulling out a kunai while Sasuke grabbed at some shuriken just as a large cloud of white smoke appeared over the two discarded scrolls. Naruto's kunai dropped to the ground, however, when he recognized the figure in the smoke.
"Iruka-sensei!" Naruto said, rushing forward and happily hugging his old teacher. Sasuke put away his shuriken, but kept his guard up.
"Hey Naruto!" Iruka said, grinning broadly at his overly-energetic former student. "Congratulations on passing the second exam!"
"So we DID pass?" Sasuke asked, relaxing his guard.
"Yep! And may I say that I'm proud of all three… Of… You…" Iruka's smile faltered and turned into a frown as he beheld the unconscious Sakura. "What happened to Sakura? And who's this on the floor next to her?"
"We were attacked by a man claiming to be Orochimaru." Sasuke said quickly, interrupting Naruto before he could go on a confusing and probably ramen-fueled tangent.
"Orochimaru?!" Iruka exclaimed in shock.
"Yeah…" Naruto said, nodding his head in agreement. "He was really strong. He kept trying to get snakes to eat me and he used some kind of weird attack on Sakura, but it I think it was meant for Sasuke. When she woke up, she had a bunch of weird lines on her body and was going crazy so Tenten had to knock her out. He also hit me in the stomach with some kind of weird jutsu and my chakra's been feeling funny since."
Sasuke almost winced in pain at how Naruto described his irregular chakra flow as 'his chakra feeling funny'.
"Whatever Orochimaru did, it messed up Naruto's chakra flow. He's still able to make his shadow clones, but he's been unable to control the amount." Sasuke said, stepping forward.
Iruka was deeply troubled by these turn of events. "And what of the girl?" He asked, a grim look on his face.
"She's a kunoichi of the team from Sound. One of the more… Talkative members of the team revealed that they were ordered to attack us by Orochimaru." Sasuke said, once again taking the lead in the conversation since Naruto had been unconscious during that part of the exchange.
"Tenten gave her some first-aid and then passed her off to us since we had both scrolls." Naruto added.
Iruka nodded, curious as to why they kept mentioning Tenten, a kunoichi not of their team. But they had MUCH more serious problems at hand. "Sasuke, pick up Sakura. Naruto, you pick up the Sound girl. We're going to see the Hokage about this.
One hour later, temporary office
As soon as they arrived, the Hokage had a medical officer take Sakura to the medical wing of the tower before listening to Naruto and Sasuke's story.
"…And then I told Sasuke that it looked like it was a sealing array on the scrolls and he told me to drop them. Then Iruka came, we told him a short version of the story, and here we are." Naruto said, finishing up the story.
"I see…" Hiruzen said, sighing deeply. "So my old student is finally back…" Hiruzen looked into the distance in regret before turning to address the two genin and the chunin standing in front of him. "Iruka, while I know you would like to spend more time with your former students, I need you to go back to your duties. Sasuke, I recommend you find a room to relax in before the second test officially ends. Naruto, I would like you to remain. I need to continue speaking with you."
Iruka and Sasuke turn and leave, the former looking at Naruto with a hint of concern and the latter with a look of curiosity. What could the Hokage want with Naruto?
The duo waited before Hiruzen received an invisible signal from his hidden ANBU. Hiruzen activated his usual array of privacy and security seals before turning back to Naruto. "So you say that Orochimaru did something to your seal Naruto?"
"Well, I don't know exactly what he did Jiji." Naruto said. "He said 'Five-Pronged Seal' and then I felt really weak."
"I see…" Hiruzen took a puff of his ever-present pipe before releasing it with a sigh. "Naruto, do me a favor and lift up your shirt and channel some chakra."
"Sure thing Jiji!" Naruto said cheerfully, raising up his shirt and channeling some chakra. Hiruzen took note of the chakra flow, noticing how irregularly it flowed before examining the seal itself. Its usual spiral surrounded by eight prongs now had an overlying array of five seals.
"As I thought… He used a five pronged seal to interfere with your eight-pronged seal. Created a block in your chakra." Hiruzen said, examining the two seals.
"Uh… Whaddya mean by that jiji?" Naruto asked, confused.
Hiruzen sighed before standing up straight. His voiced changed from his usual resigned tone to one filled with authority. "Imagine that your natural chakra is like a river. Your original seal is like a stream feeding into the river, increasing its size slowly but steadily. Stably. This five pronged seal is like someone created a number of half-finished dams in that river. The water still flows through, but at a changing pace. Now substitute the water for chakra and that's why your chakra is so unstable right now."
"Right. I got it." Naruto said, nodding.
Hiruzen sighed at Naruto's obvious lie. "Well, it doesn't matter now. All that matters is that we find a way to- FIVE-PRONGED RELEASE!" Having kept Naruto distracted with his lecture, Hiruzen had channeled chakra to his fingertips before slamming his hand into Naruto's gut, releasing the five-pronged seal.
"OW! What the hell old man?!" Naruto yelled, rubbing his stomach. From behind him, there came an almost totally silent snicker. "And quit laughing Shika-San!"
Hiruzen sighed at Naruto's obvious ability. The kid had a gift to be able to detect the well-hidden ANBU operatives in his office. "I released the seal on you Naruto. Your chakra should flow normally now. I apologize for it hurting, but it was important that I do it while you were off guard."
"Hmmm… Ok…" Naruto said sullenly.
Hiruzen smiled at Naruto. "Go and get some rest Naruto. You might need it before long."
"Ok. I'll see you after the second test! Maybe we can get some ramen!" Naruto said excitedly.
"Ok Naruto. I'll take you to Ichiraku's after the test." Hiruzen said.
"Yatta!" Naruto shouted out gleefully, hugging Hiruzen before running out of the office.
"Always so excitable…" Hiruzen said, sitting down before picking up a scroll on the desk. "Now then, what should I do about this 'Kin'?"
Hey guys! Again, sorry that this chapter's shorter than usual. I was going to do the prelim round in this chapter, but I decided to do those in a seperate chapter. And now to explain stuff! The seal techniques aren't bolded like other techniques since Fuinjutsu is fundamentally different from other jutsu. Plus, those are the only two 'out loud' Fuinjutsu techniques in the series. I think. I may need to re-watch the anime. Also, 'Shika' means 'Deer'. So when Naruto was growling at that ANBU he wasn't referring to anyone from the Nara family. Brings me to another point. Naruto's been evading ANBU for years due to his pranks. This has resulted in him being able to spot them wherever he goes in case he needs to run from them.
Still looking for a beta! Those interested please PM me!
And last but not least, I would like to extend a special thanks to LuckDuck, who wisely said that if you have enough time to read fanfiction, you have enough time to sign the petition to stop SOPA! Google 'Stop SOPA 2014' and click on the first link. We need all the help we can get!