Nekomi was looking pale again.
Shina asked, concerned, "I thought you were feeling better."
Zabuza asked "Are you okay?"
Shina said, annoyed, "You've been asking that every five minutes. Stop before I get annoyed."
Ishigo said "You were feeling better, has something else happened?"
Nekomi frowned a little "I've had a bad feeling about this exam since we got into Konoha. Something's off..."
Shina said "Don't look now, but I think all that commotion mr. swordsman here caused got the attraction of that jonin you're trying to avoid."
Nekomi noticed the grey haired man making his way over. 'No, go away...I really don't want to have to deal with you...'
Kakashi's POV
Kakashi had been talking to his fellow jonin wondering about the progress of their teams in the exams. There weren't so many cameras when you got farther into the forest. Then he noticed that woman again, the same one who had caught his eye from before. There was something familiar about her...like he had seen her before. Maybe if he talked to her...
"Hello."
Nekomi frowned a bit and modified her voice to be a little higher than it usually was "Yes?"
"Have I met you before?"
"Iie, jonin-san, I've never been to Konoha before. This is my first time here."
"You're from waterfall, right? As what? Are you a shinobi?"
"Iie, I'm just a representative sent to watch the matches. These three are the jonin with participating genin teams."
"I see." There was a pause, then he repeated "Are you sure we've never met?"
Zabuza growled a little bit and said "Hey, when you keep saying that it sounds like you're hitting on my wife. Cut it out unless you want to make something of it."
Kakashi was surprised "You two are married?"
Nekomi answered "Hai."
Kakashi said "Gomen, but I wasn't insinuating anything. How did waterfall decide to send three teams this year. That's an unusually large number for them."
Shina said "There was a good batch of genin this year."
In the forest of death...
Itachi had set Naruto down and Sasuke were both in Itachi's mindscape, thanks to wakeshin. Itachi had just shown Sasuke his memory of the massacre. It had gone back to being blank, a dark landscape.
Sasuke said "I don't understand...so..it really...wasn't you? It was...that man?"
Itachi said "You saw how powerful he is, do you understand now? He is evil, pure evil. He massacred our clan!"
Sasuke said "A...aniki...I..." Itachi hugged him.
"I'm so sorry, otouto, that I didn't return sooner."
Those outside the wakeshin noticed tears running down Sasuke's face and Itachi's. Sasuke's team mates were shocked. He never showed emotion. A minute later, they suddenly moved and quickly wiped their eyes with a sleeve.
Gaara said "Good, you two are sorted out. That's going to be necessary to get through the rest of this mission."
Naruto asked "How much longer are they going to be gone?"
Gaara said "It's only been 15 minutes. Be patient."
Naruto whined "But I could have been there and back by now."
Gaara said "Not stealthily."
Naruto whined "But I'm bored. I haven't got to spar any at all."
Kai asked "What, you don't call what you did earlier fighting?"
Naruto said "That doesn't really count. All I did was some blocking, I want an actual fight."
Miwa said "I'm sure I-kun wouldn't mind giving you a little spar, N-chan."
Naruto blushed a little "Don't call me chan. I'm a ninja."
Miwa giggled "But it's cute."
Itachi rolled his eyes, then said "No spars. We're trying to not attract attention to ourselves. Besides, you're still low on chakra. You'd pass out again with heavy sparring. Go check with her to see how much work she's got done on the seal."
Naruto turned serious "Yeah...I guess I should, huh?"
Itachi said "I'll let you know when K gets back." Naruto nodded and closed his eyes.
Sakura asked "Are you alright, Sasuke-kun?"
Sasuke nodded "I'm fine."
Kai said "You look...different."
Sasuke nodded again. He smiled slightly then looked at Itachi. "Niisan?"
Itachi looked at his little brother "You know, your little girlfriend there is going to figure out who I am if she hasn't already if you keep doing that."
"Gomen."
"What do you want?"
Suddenly it clicked in Sakura's head. "Uchiha Itachi!"
Itachi said "See, I told you."
Sakura said "But you're an S rank missing nin, wanted for the massacre of the Uchiha clan."
Sasuke said "He was framed, by the man that attacked us in the forest."
Sakura said "But I've never heard that."
Sasuke said "It's new information. Information that should be told to Hokage-sama."
Their group frowned a little, especially Naruto. He said "No way, why should their kage know? It could cause trouble for Aniki. It's not like they'll go 'Oh, we believe you. We're sorry about putting that bounty on your head. Here you go, full ninja status and citezenship rights.'"
Itachi said "Naruto's right. It's best if no one but us knows who we are...unless your team mates are very good at keeping a secret, we should wipe their memories."
Sasuke frowned a little "I'd go with that." He got agreement from Itachi and the other ban teams and soon there was one semi conscious Sakura and Kai waking up from the oblivion jutsu.
Itachi said "Now, remember, call me I, okay?"
Sasuke nodded "Hai...I."
"Good boy."
Sakura and Kai were looking around confused.
"What happened?" Sakura asked.
Sasuke said "You guys got knocked out by some enemy ninja. We're now on the second day of the exam."
"Who are all those people?" asked Kai.
Sasuke said "They decided to team up with us."
Kai asked, disbelievingly, "And you teamed up with them?"
"Hai."
"But you hate teamwork."
"Things change." Sasuke left his team mates dumbfounded and said "Now, what, I?"
Itachi said "K and T should be back soon."
Sakura said "K and T? Don't you guys have names?"
Gaara's mouth twitched a little in amusement as he answered "Hai, we do, but you don't need to know them."
Sakura looked dazed for a minute 'Woah, deja vu.'
Just then Haku and Taro returned. They tossed a scroll to Haru and Naruto, then one to Sasuke and Taro gave the last to Itachi, who nodded. "Good work. Let's get to the tower."
Sakura said "They got our scroll for us. Why would they do that?"
Sasuke said "Because we teamed up."
"But..."
Sasuke said, annoyed, "Be quiet Sakura. Your constant talk annoys me."
Sakura shut up. That was more like the Sasuke she knew.
They all travelled together, but slightly apart, back to the tower at top speed. They made it there as it was closing on nightfall. Once they made it in, Naruto gratefully collapsed against a wall, pale. His teammates instantly surrounded him. He waved them off. "Open the scrolls already so we can be done. I'm fine."
Itachi frowned, but opened his set of scrolls and the other team captains followed his example. There were four poofs. Suddenly, all their senseis stood before them.
Zabuza said "You guys made a good time."
Itachi said "S-sensei, N needs a look at. We ran into some trouble with snakes in the forest."
Shina's eyes widened and she ran over. She got a look at Naruto, seeing a bruise like mark...a curse seal...snakes...Orochimaru! She looked at him in the eyes and that confirmed it. "N...she must be told at once. This is bad, this is very bad!" She poofed away.
Zabuza said "Oh hell, I get it now too."
Kakashi asked "May I ask what is going on?"
Zabuza said "I believe our genin had a run in with Orochimaru. He's back in Konoha."
Kakashi's eye widened "Orochimaru! Which teams?"
Sasuke said "My team did, these guys came into help us."
Kakashi said "All of you are going to need to talk to the Hokage." He noticed negative reactions from several of them.
Ishigo said "Team captains will follow to report to the Hokage on the matter."
Gaara nodded. Itachi contained a wince, but hid his surprise when Misa stepped forward with Gaara. As the third team captain stepped up, they joined Sasuke's team and Kakashi on their walk to the hokage tower.
Meanwhile, the remaining ban-nins walked back with Zabuza. Ishigo had been elected to follow the Konoha nins to the Hokage's office.
Naruto asked "How's kaasan?"
Zabuza thought 'Kid doesn't need to know that she's pregnant. At least, not now.' He said "She'll be fine. How is She going to deal with this? Have you talked to Her?"
Naruto started as he caught Zabuza's meaning. He said "I talked to her. She said that she's working on it, that she can keep it from gaining power, but not remove it. I'll need a seals expert for that, one familiar with the snake's seals."
Zabuza said "You'd need one of theirs then. What was the name of that guy...Jiraiya. He's a seals master and one of the sannin, like Orochimaru. He should be able to get rid of it, if ..."
"If kaasan can't." Naruto sighed. Then he said "I want to see her! She was feeling sick earlier."
Haku asked "Toussan? Are you hiding something?"
Zabuza said "Nothing that you need to know right now."
At the hokage's office...
Sarutobi was surprised to see team Kakashi come into his office followed by a ninja from waterfall and three waterfall genin. "Kakashi?"
Kakashi said "My team said they had a run in with Orochimaru."
The third sat up straighter than before and said, with shock, "Orochimaru?!"
Ishigo said "You probably won't find him in the forest," as he noticed the Hokage sending out ANBU.
Sarutobi continued sending out the ANBU with hand signals, then asked "Why?" somewhat suspicious.
Ishigo said "From what I hear, he seemed to be in a hurry to get out of there."
"If he's not there, I don't suppose you know where he went?"
Gaara said "He didn't seem very happy about leaving, but he left, towards the North."
"I want a full report of what happened. Now."
The genin looked at each other, then the jonin did.
Gaara looked at Sasuke, then sighed. "I guess we'll have to, since between the both of us, we've seen the whole story." Gaara shared a look with Sasuke.
Sasuke understood, he needed to be careful not to reveal his niisan. He said "We had just begun this mission, when G's team joined up with ours."
"G?"
Sasuke shrugged "All they gave us was initials."
Ishigo was impressed by this, but he played along. "Full names are not important, indeed they are dangerous to use on the battlefield. Continue."
Sasuke said "Later that night, Orochimaru attacked our group. He targeted me, but G's team defended ours. He tried to bite me, but failed and he left, saying he'd be back for me."
Sarutobi asked "You are not known for your teamwork, Sasuke. Why did you decide to accept help?"
Sasuke looked at Gaara "They looked pretty strong. I thought maybe I'd get done with it faster if we worked together."
"Why not join up with a Leaf team? Don't you think it's dangerous to trust people you've never seen before?"
Sasuke frowned. He said "I just teamed up because they wanted to, besides, there were no leaf teams close by."
"Why would a team that you've never seen before, defend you?"
Gaara answered "Even though the forest of death is a mock battle between nations, I do not like to sit by and watch other shinobi get slaughtered. Especially if they are not my enemy."
Sarutobi frowned a little. Something was up here, there was something that they were hiding from him. He asked "What do you mean, failed?"
Gaara said "He stretched his neck out to bite and my team mate shot senbon at it. He retracted his neck, failing to bite Sasuke-san."
"And he just tried once?"
Sasuke glanced at Gaara from the corner of his eye. Gaara frowned. The Hokage was suspicious already and they hadn't actually lied to him yet. If they lied he would only get more suspicious...He said "Iie, he tried twice, but he failed the second time as well and then he left."
"What happened the second time?"
Gaara answered "My other team mate intercepted him."
"Intercepted..."
"Hokage-sama!" One of the Anbu had dropped back in. "There are no signs of Orochimaru in the forest, but Inuzuka-san picked up a scent. Should we pursue?"
Sandaime frowned. He said "Team Kakashi, I want a more in depth report later. You are dismissed. Waterfall team."
Ishigo said "Hai, Hokage-sama?"
Sarutobi frowned, then said "You are also dismissed, but don't leave Konoha for now."
Ishigo frowned. A tail was going to be put on them. That was bad. He still hadn't reconnected to Nekomi. He nodded "Hai." They left. When they got outside of the hokage's office, the rest of the ban nins were waiting, including Nekomi, who was carrying Naruto. She embraced Gaara, but let him go after a minute, not wanting to draw too much attention.
Ishigo put his hand up, requesting a link. They performed it. Ishigo thought 'We're going to be followed from now on. The hokage is suspicious.'
'That is reasonable.'
'Can you fix the seal?'
'No. It is not one I am familiar with. I will have to find the toad sannin.'
'But we don't know where he is and we can't get help finding him...'
'We'll find him. Kyuubi-san can only do so much.' She said "I guess all there is to do now is to wait for the other participants to finish the second stage. Do you suppose they'll go straight to the third stage after that?"
Itachi said "I hope not. I've had enough fighting for a bit." He thought 'We can use that time to find that toad sannin to help Naruto.' "Is N okay?"
Nekomi nodded "He's just exhausted. He's had a hard day. All of you have. Let's go get something to eat."
Shina asked "What do you want to eat?"
Nekomi said "I'm starving. How about ramen, neh?" She smiled as Naruto woke up "Ramen!" She chuckled.
Haku said "That's just like him." She smiled.
They went off in search of a ramen stand.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Hope you guys like the chapter. Sorry it's been a while since the last update, but I was busy. I've got some free time now, so I should be able to update a little sooner than usual. Oh well, until next time. Ja ne.