Leaf Warriors Chapter 7: Chuunin Exams: the begining, a naruto fanfic

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

School held me up. It's been really busy. Here is your next installment of Leaf Warriors.

'Normal Thoughts/Flashback'

'KYUUBI THOUGHTS'

'summons thoughts/Inner Sakura'

"KYUUBI SPEAKS"

"Normal People Speak"

Chuunin Exam: The Beginning.

"With a team as strong as that, with individuals as strong as that, this chuunin exam is bound to be fun." Sasuke said with a small smile. "I can't wait."

Naruto and Sakura nodded in the affirmative.

This chuunin exam was definitely going to be fun.

It was a nice sunny day and the birds were singing in delight at the perfect weather overhead. The members of Team 7 could not help but feel that this was the calm before the inevitable storm, and their apprehension was written all over their faces. Make no mistake, it was not fear of fate that made them want to stay in their homes on this day. It was the fear of the unknown and the undecided that frightened them. After all, this particular team had Konoha's most unpredictable in it. With him around, nothing was set in stone, and he proved this fact to his teammates daily.

Besides that, it was a relatively special day. It was the day the chuunin exams began.

Team 7 were currently walking into the academy building where the first exam was scheduled to take place. The team had decided how to go about the exam the night before. They would play Naruto's possum card and take up their usual identities from the academy.

Naruto with the loud, obnoxious attitude. He had been a little bit annoyed and having to play that part again but found it the most reasonable choice. Sasuke had suggested that he wear his old jumpsuit, but Naruto had flat out rejected saying that it was suicide to go near the exam like that.

Sakura would play the happy fan-girl with confidence issues. She had given both boys a good beating when they had laughed at what she used to be. It was amusing when the two boys first saw her flush with anger and embarrassment, but both had fled when they noticed her embarrassment dissipate and her righteous anger and killing intent rise. At least, she had made sure to inflict wounds that were within her healing capacity….for Sasuke. Naruto was not given any such luxuries because she new he would be okay eventually.

'Sasuke will play Sasuke', were Naruto's exact words. Although he had toned down the avenger act immensely, he was the individual who had changed the least.

They had finally arrived on the second floor to see several gennin trying to get past some older gennin bullies, or so they appeared. Team 7 immediately saw the genjutsu for what it was. Sasuke's snort was all it took for all the proceedings in the room to stop. The set of Konoha gennin who had just gotten beaten by the bullies also looked up, and seemingly forgot the previous struggle.

Naruto mentally cursed Sasuke for drawing attention to them, but he knew that Sasuke realized the genjutsu's purpose. To weed out the few that had absolutely no chance of going anywhere in this exam. Despite this fact, it wouldn't do if the teams saw them as the top contenders and actively avoided them throughout the exam. It would spoil all the great strategies he had come up with to defeat opponents without using chakra and weapons.

'I guess this is where I come in then. Troublesome.' Naruto thought before smirking at the bully gennin. "You better get out from the front of that door or else I, Uzumaki Naruto, future Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato will beat you to a pulp." Naruto shouted as loudly as he thought necessary.

Most of the more experienced shinobi looked at Naruto and sweat dropped at his pathetic attempt to look threatening. Sasuke and Sakura were stunned momentarily by Naruto's change, but quickly prepared themselves for their respective roles.

"Baka, it is a genjutsu. How did you not notice something this simple. You must have been the first to notice it Sakura, since you held the most promise in this field when we were at the academy." Sasuke said while smirking at Naruto's angered face.

"Hai, Sasuke-kun. I noticed it immediately we arrived here. We are on the second floor, yet we are going to room 301. Therefore, that room that you are guarding is not room 301." Sakura said. During her speech, her voice steadily grew louder which gave off the impression that she was gaining little bits of confidence by the second. It seemed she was almost a natural at acting.

"Heh, so you noticed." One of the bullies said as the genjutsu dropped and the room was revealed to be 201. "But that is only the first part of the weeding out process. That was also the easy part. The harder part will be getting past me, the Konoha gennin shouted as he ran towards Team 7.

Sasuke immediately broke ranks to intercept him, and they both threw simultaneous kicks to test the others defenses. Shockingly, both kicks were blocked by the green clad boy from the Konoha team that was getting beaten up previously. All present were too shocked to say anything, until the weird boys' teammates walked behind him and spoke.

"I thought you said we should not show our abilities so early Lee. Why are you not following your own advice?" The girls spoke with apparent anger.

The boy named Lee looked up with an apologetic smile on his face while stealing a quick glance at Sakura. "Gomen Tenten-san, but I couldn't let all of this youthfulness mix together without contributing my own flames of youth...and Sakura-san is around.

The member's of team 7 had their eye brows raised in surprise at this development. They all took a moment to analyze the person who knew one of their names. He wore a green jump suit that hugged his body, while sporting a bowl cut hairstyle with black hair. The thing that surprised them the most had to be his eyebrows, because they were huge and looked alive.

The scene turned even more hilarious when Lee asked Sakura on a date and started blowing kisses after Sakura's polite decline. Sasuke took the initiative and slashed all the floating hearts into pieces with his katana. Sakura made the fan-girl act all the more believable when she got stars in her eyes.

'Worst part is that I am not sure if she was acting or serious with the star struck eyes.' Naruto thought with a shiver. 'But still, these guys must be pretty good tactically and pretty strong as well if that Lee guy is any indication. And this team has THE Hyuuga Neji. He may be a comrade, but I will definitely have to beat that arrogant smirk of his face…..if only for Hinata-chan's sake.'

After a brief but tense talk between Sasuke and Neji, Team 7 finally left and started making their way to room 301. They were stopped by Lee who requested to fight Sasuke. Naruto had declined as politely as his loud boisterous self could manage and ran away dragging his two teammates to the door where Kakashi was waiting for them. He seemed truly glad to see them and gave them a few parting tips.

"Make sure you come back alive…..all of you." Kakashi said without all the usual mirth or passiveness.

The members of team 7 all took it seriously as they turned and faced the door to their future. With a mighty push, they were assaulted with a blinding white light, a deafening silence, and a very tense atmosphere.

Interesting indeed.

Once inside the room, and subjected to the concentrated killing intent from most, if not all the participants, Team 7 decided that this was the point when their acting would become most crucial. All the other teams had found places to sit and were trying to scope out the competition. The teams who were confident in their abilities and wanted to test their worth against opponents of equal standing were not really bothered with small fry. Therefore they paid little attention to the rookies. However, the veterans with little talent, but a desperate desire to move on in rank were looking out for the weakest teams like their lives depended on it.

Exactly what Team 7 were hoping for. Small fry looking for even smaller fry. They would definitely be in for a shock when they challenged Team 7. Naruto decided to seal the deal in their favor.

"You all don't scare me. I am Uzumaki Naruto, future Hokage of Konoha and I will defeat all of you. Believe it." Naruto shouted with a carefree grin on his face. All eyes turned to face him and the killing intent directed towards him continued to rise. He seemed oblivious to the danger until Sakura hit him in the back of the head, and drilling his face into the ground. Desperate muffled sounds were heard from him that sounded vaguely like someone cursing. "Ah ah, gomen Sakura-chan."

"Naruto-baka….Are you trying to get us killed?" Sakura said in an intimidating voice. Then in the blink of an eye, she had turned to face Sasuke with hearts in her eyes. "Why can't you just be cool like Sasuke-kun?"

"Tch." Sasuke said while turning and walking away from the scene altogether. Sakura followed close behind while Naruto crawled after them while muttering more curses under his breath. Most of the weaker gennin who had seen this interaction, had chosen that particular leaf team as their targets. After all, they knew the team had an Uchiha, but the other two seemed incompetent enough to drag the Uchiha down.

"Why are you guys acting so troublesome?" Shikamaru asked in a whisper as his team walked over to Team 7. "I know you guys are probably the strongest team here. Why act like fools? Don't answer that. It can only be a strategy that my prank loving cousin would come up with. Troublesome."

Naruto grinned widely at Shikamaru's obvious dismay at having to put up with him. "Ah Shika, I didn't know you cared so much. I…"

He was cut of when a loud voice interrupted his whispering. "So we are all here. We are going to defeat everyone here, aren't we Akamaru?" Kiba asked his ninken partner who let out a series of barks in response.

"Ha, you wish dog breath. My team is going to defeat all the other teams out there just you wait." Naruto said while pointing towards Kiba. Inside, he mentally sighed for having to actually do this.

"Ano, why are you…" Kiba curiously started asking Naruto aloud before Shino interrupted him.

"Drop it Kiba." the silent boy said. Team 7 and 10 were extremely grateful for the interruption. Shino then spoke in a whisper in Kiba's ear. Realization dawned on his face and he couldn't help but grin at Team 7's plan. It was near ingenious. Since they were the team that were least specialized, it only made sense for them to use an option like that even though they were all battle experts. He was brought out of his musings by an unfamiliar voice.

"Hey, you rookies should keep it down. This isn't a picnic or something."

"Heh, who are you to tell us what to do?" Ino said after feeling a bit left out in all the proceedings. Truth be told, everyone was a bit surprised that she had not tried to glomp Sasuke immediately she saw him. Shikamaru and Chouji had something akin to pride shining in their eyes as they looked at their teammate. She had definitely come a long way.

"Ah, just a fellow konoha-nin looking out for this years rookies. The name is Yakushi Kabuto." Kabuto said as he pushed his glasses up his nose and performed a small bow. "I decided that I would help you rookies out, by giving you some information on this exam."

"You must have taken this exam quite a few times to be able to speak like that." Shikamaru deduced.

"Indeed. This will be my 7th time taking this exam. Which means that if the exam is held twice a year, this is currently my fourth year." Kabuto said as he saw most of the gennin try to be respectful and not laugh at his predicament. However, he saw Sasuke's eyes narrow in confusion, before it changed into a condescending look at Kabuto. Naruto however had different plans.

"So you must know a lot about the exams? Tell us something...give us some pointers." Naruto said with a foxy smile on his face.

Kabuto smirked before bringing out a pack of cards from pouch. "These are my ninfo cards and they give detailed information that I have collected over the past exams. Here is a look at all the countries that are participating. Otogakure are the new comers so don't expect too much out of them. They are probably the weakest people in this exam." Kabuto said. "I also have cards on certain individuals. Is there anyone you would like to know about?"

Sasuke spoke almost immediately. "Sabaku no Garra, Hyuuga Neji, and Rock Lee."

"You already know their names. Great, it will make things a lot easier." Kabuto said as he searched for the aforementioned chuunin hopefuls. "Ah, here we go. Lets start from Sabaku no Gaara. Completed 8 C class missions and one A class mission. Not much is known about his abilities, but it is said that he came back from all his missions without a scratch."

The gennin were in awe, but Naruto decided that he would only pay half attention to the abilities of the remaining two. He had made a team of three clones who would make up a konoha team. They had been scoping out the competition for him and his team, because of the strategy which consisted of Team 7 playing possum for a while. They had reported in and had basically confirmed the most dangerous people in the room. The sand team which had Gaara of the sand, Neji's team, the sound team, Kabuto's team and two grass teams. The clones had reported one particular grass-nin whose chakra was much more focused than anything they had ever felt before. Even when Naruto felt the Hokage mold chakra, it was never that focused. Noticing the end of Kabuto's information, Naruto caught Sasuke's attention and made a few hand signs while signaling to the grass-nin. Sasuke just smirked and looked towards Kabuto again. Kabuto had caught the whole interaction and frowned in thought. It seemed that Team 7 was hiding their true abilities, and they wouldn't be the only people in this exam. He was brought out of his musings by Sasuke's voice.

"One more person. The grass-nin sitting in the middle of that group." Sasuke said as everyone turned to face the specific direction. Kabuto's frown deepened when he realized who he was referring to.

'They couldn't have found out. No, this is Orochimaru-sama. He does not make such mistakes, but these boys must just be better than we gave them credit for.' Kabuto said as the grass-nin lowered the straw hat she was wearing. "Ah, I believe her name is Kogemoke Misoko…..Give me a second. Ah, there we go 13 D-ranks, 2 C-ranks. Her team also failed 1 C-rank. Uses the poisoned needles common among grass ninja, but has no known special ability or bloodline limit. Adequate in genjutsu because of her below average chakra reserves. That's about it."

Kabuto cursed himself for not seeing that one coming. Orochimaru's chakra was nothing to be trifled with, and it must have been taking it him so much restraint with all the killing intent flying around. He was not a Sannin for nothing though and had thought out all possible contingencies in his plan to destroy Konoha…. All contingencies except a certain blond haired gennin.

'Interesting…to have been noticed so early on by a gennin no less' Orochimaru mused 'Maybe Konoha are not only breeding useless excuses for shinobi. Or he may just be a chakra sensing type of shinobi like that Karin girl I recently recruited. He is on Sasuke-kun's team, so our meeting is inevitable.'

However, everybody was brought out of their respective musings when a blur appeared in front of Kabuto, a metallic arm cocked back to throw a punch. The rookie gennin were about to stop them before Naruto and Sasuke blocked their paths. They were about to protest as well, before they noticed that Kabuto dodged. Relief swept over most of them, but the more astute and logical noticed what was wrong instantly. For someone who had failed the exam 7 times consecutively, Kabuto had too much information and too much skill. His movements were precise and calculated. There was very little shock or delay in reaction and he made no unnecessary movements. It was like he was prepared long before the attack came to him and was ready to counter it without a seconds notice. Time seemed to slow down as Shikamaru, Shino, Kiba, Sasuke , Naruto and Hinata looked into Kabuto's eyes and saw a cunning that put Naruto's cunning to shame. There was no way he could have been gennin level.

When the attack stopped and the group was about to run to Kabuto's side to support him, when he suddenly bent over and threw up the contents of his last meal. Surprise was written all over his face when the frame of his glasses cracked.

"I am here to pass along a message. The three gennin from the sound will definitely become chuunin." the masked sound-nin said as he looked at the spectators. Kiba was ready to return the favor before a loud booming voice disrupted them.

"WHO ORDERED YOU TO FIGHT SCUMBAGS. I SHOULD HAVE YOU IMMIDIATELY REMOVED FROM THIS EXAM." A tall man wearing a bandana shouted as the puff of smoke around him faded. Several other men appeared beside him in the same fashion, all carrying note pads. "My name is Morino Ibiki, and I will be your proctor for this exam. Come to the front of the room, get a seat number and sit down at the number assigned to you."

Most looked on in awe and fear of this man and very few wanted to approach him, until he spoke again.

"You have approximately 4 minutes and 55 seconds left….and counting."

Everybody seemed to forget about their fear in that moment.

'I love the chuunin exams. There is so much fear in the air that it excites me.' Ibiki thought to himself as he saw all the gennins dash around to get to their seats in time.

After all the gennin had taken a seat, surprisingly before the five minute mark, Ibiki began to explain the rules of the exam. The collective morale of the group of gennins had taken several leaps into the negative, and Ibiki was glad his intimidation still provided results.

Ibiki and the other examiners were now watching the gennins take their test. It seemed that some had caught onto his game. Those who had not caught on, but were desperate to pass had started cheating by looking over to another persons paper or trying to communicate with familiars around them.

'Ah, that one behind the Uzumaki kid has officially been caught three times.' Ibiki thought with a small grin, while removing a kunai from his pouch. 'I guess its time to get this show on the road and weed out the people in this room who are not cut out for the shinobi world.'

With practiced ease, Ibiki hurled the kunai at the persons paper and watched in amusement as Naruto bent to the side and distanced himself from the kunai's trajectory, without even looking up from his paper. The kunai landed with a thud on the paper of the accused and before the boy could cry out, Ibiki had mastered his facial expression into a glare and was leaking a considerable amount of killing intent.

"Number 48, you fail. Leave this place. Number 12 and 25 follow your teammate out." Ibiki said as he watched the aforementioned gennin stand up and leave the room without further argument. 'Kuso, they usually put up more of a fight….then I get to give a cool speech and intimidate everyone further.'

Ibiki sighed as one by one, the chuunin instructors in the room started sending the gennin away. One put up a decent fight with the good old 'you have no proof' excuse, but was beaten down by the chuunin who had caught him.

Ibiki was not a person who let his mind roam too much, because in his line of business, it could essentially cost you your life. But he had to wonder what Naruto had been doing for so long that had caused him to forgo all pleasures, but to stare blankly at the paper in front of him. Ibiki had noted the slight usage of chakra from the boy every now and again, but couldn't figure out the boys secret.

'Impossible, no gennin should be able to fool my experience. What is your game, Uzumaki?' Ibiki thought as he focused his attention solely on the gennin while pretending to look at all the other people who still occupied the room. He never noticed that a few other sets of eyes were also concentrating on the phenomenon known as Uzumaki Naruto.

"Are you sure that last answer is correct? I mean, it sounds reasonable, but your choice of words sounds kind of outdated." Naruto asked in a solemn voice while gazing into a large set of glowing red eyes and sharp teeth. Upon closer inspection, Naruto was sitting Indian style in front of the massive cage that held the kyuubi. In his hand, he held a paper and pencil. A faint blue glow was sorrounding him.

"I HOPE I DON'T HAVE TO SAY THIS AGAIN BRAT. THE ANSWER I GAVE YOU IS CORRECT, AND I WORDED IT THAT WAY, BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT I REMEMBER IT BEING AND I HAVE BEEN LOCKED UP HERE FOR TWO LONG TO HAVE BEEN ABLE TO UPGRADE MY KNOWLEDGE OR VOCABULARY. DEAL WITH IT." Kyuubi answered while grinding his teeth together in frustration.

"Ah, remind me again why I am even listening to you? You are probably setting me up, so that I will fail this exam and you will have something to torment me about later." Naruto answered while going through the answers the Kyuubi had given him.

"GRRR. THIS IS THE LAST TIME I WILL EXPLAIN BOY. ITS SIMPLE, YOU PASS THIS EXAM AND MAKE CHUUNIN. ALL IS GOOD AND WELL IN THE WORLD. THEN, AS A CHUUNIN, YOU START GETTING HIGHER MISSIONS, WHICH IN TURN GIVES YOU STRONGER OPPONENTS TO FIGHT. STRONGER OPPONENTS MEANS MORE ENTERTAINMENT FOR ME IN THE LONG RUN. IT IS ALSO PREFERABLE TO ME LETTING YOU FAIL, EVEN IF MOCKING YOU IS VERY INTERESTING. PLUS, STRONGER OPPONENTS ALSO INCREASES MY CHANCES GETTING SOME FIGHT TIME. DO YOU NOW UNDERSTAND GAKI?" Kyuubi said while grinning in a feral way.

"Hai, it does make sense. Well then, I guess I should be leaving. Ja ne" Naruto said as he the blue light that surrounded him suddenly consumed him.

"GAKI NEVER SAID THANK YOU FOR TEACHING HIM HOW TO REMAIN AWARE OF HIS SORROUNDINGS WHILE IN HERE." The kyuubi said with annoyed expression on his face. Turning back to look at Keigan who was sprawled out on the floor, the Kyuubi's frowned deepened. "I DIDN'T TELL HIM THAT I ALSO HAD MARGINAL ACCESS TO THE OUTSIDE WORLD WITH THAT TECHNIQUE. ONE OF THE CHAKRA SIGNATURES OUT THERE WAS FAMILIAR AND IT ONLY SPELLS TROUBLE FOR US IN THE NEAR FUTURE. KUKUKUKU, TROUBLE MEANS I MAY GET SOME MORE FREEDOM, OR GET TRANSFERED FROM HERE. IT ANNOYS ME THAT MY LIFE IS IN THE HANDS OF A MORTAL CHILD, WHO IS BARELY ABLE TO PROTECT HIMSELF...BUT IT'S THE REASON I HAVE BEEN GIVING HIM A MEANS TO SURVIVE. FOR MY OWN SURVIVAL."

Chakra suddenly started flowing from the Kyuubi to Keigan. Keigan's eyes opened and he glared at the Kyuubi. The Kyuubi merely closed his eyes and sighed. "DARK CLOUDS ARE GATHERING ABOVE US AND IT WILL BE TIME FOR YOU TO PLAY YOUR PART SOON ENOUGH. OUR TIME IS LIMITED AND I WISH TO LIVE...WE BOTH DESPISE EACH OTHER, BUT SURVIVAL IS PARAMOUNT. I WILL NO LONGER HOLD BACK AGAINST YOU. IT WOULD DO YOU WELL TO NOT BELIEVE THAT YOUR CHAKRA CAPACITY IS ANYWHERE CLOSE TO MINE. I WOULD DESTROY YOU EASILY IF YOU WERE NOT CONNECTED TO THE BOY. NOW, YOU WILL GET BEATEN DOWN EASILY EVERYTIME...BUT I WILL REVIVE YOU IMMEDIATELY. THIS ENSURES THAT YOU ARE GETTING STRONGER AS FAST AS POSSIBLE. TIME IS EVERYTHING FOR US NOW."

"Hai. I understand." Keigan said. The seriousness in Kyuubi's voice unnerved him and he would jump at any chance to get stronger. "I am a part of Naruto after all, but what could make the greatest of the Youkai

'Might as well fail him now and get it over with. I can't have him passing just because he decided to stay for the tenth question.' Ibiki thought to himself as he tried to find the words he would most definitely need to explain this to the Hokage. Failing a team when they had yet to be caught while cheating would be looked down upon, but letting them pass without them trying was worse in his book. Then just as he was about to call out their names, Naruto's head snaps up so fast that some people thought they heard his neck snap.

Immediately after his neck snapped, he looked down at his paper and brought his pencil to the page. Most people were looking at him strangely by now, and then he started scribbling down on the paper furiously causing a small amount of smoke to rise from the friction it caused. Sasuke, Sakura and Hinata looked visible relieved at this revelation and watched as Naruto flew through the exam in record time. It was mesmerizing, almost as if he had all the answers at the tip of his mind and didn't need to think it out.

Ibiki's shock almost came through his mask, but he schooled his features before anyone took notice.

'It seems I was mistaken about him. He just managed to fool everyone in this room, with regards to his methods of cheating. Even the other members of his team had quizzical looks on their faces. The joy at having their teammate start writing overshadowed their need to have their questions answered though.'

Naruto finished with seconds to spare and Ibiki decided it was time to go on the offensive again.

"Alright kiddies. Your fifty minutes are up and it's now time for the tenth question." Ibiki said as he turned an evil grin on the gennin. "The question you all need to ask yourselves first, is whether or not you will tale the tenth question."

The room erupted into murmurs the moment he said that, but one brave genin shouted above the rest. "Do you even need to ask? We will definitely take the tenth question. It's the reason we struggled to get through the previous nine."

Ibiki smirked. Hook, line and sinker. "Well then, I should probably tell you the consequences of taking or not taking this question. If you choose to take this question and fail, then you will never be allowed to participate in another chuunin exam again. Your teammates will also be automatically disqualified from the current exam, but they will at least have a chance to come back sometime in the future and take the exams. However, if you choose not to take the question, you will be allowed to come back next time and take the exam when you are better prepared." Ibiki finished as he put on his intimidating face.

"But you can't do that. What about all the people who have taken this exam before? They were not subject to this." Kiba shouted from his seat as Akamru and several of the other participants agreed.

"Well, too bad for you, because I am the examiner this year….AND MY WORD IS LAW." Ibiki said as he started leaking small amounts of killing intent into the air, just to help out their decisions a little bit. It was not enough to make low level gennin freeze or anything, but these gennin were in crisis and some of their minds were not registering it. Fear was all they could feel already, and Ibiki was only speeding up the process. After all, he didn't have all day. Anko was probably going to burst through the window any second now, so it would be wise to finish up before she got there.

Finally, one gennin broke down, and with him, he carried the confidence of several others out the door. People started giving up all over the place and their teammates were thrown out immediately after.

Naruto and the many others who had seen through Ibiki's ploy were sitting down silently. Naruto looked around and saw the doubt in some of his comrades eyes. None had more doubt than Hinata right now. Even Sakura seemed somewhat shaky.

'Kuso, I can't allow them to go. They are all stronger than they give themselves credit for. I have to act fast and I may give away some of my abilities to some others present, but it will be worth it.' Naruto said while forming rapid hand seals under the table.

"Ninpou: Kage Nui" Naruto whispered under his breath while continuing another set of seals for another jutsu. It seemed some people felt the surge in chakra, but were clueless about what it might pertain to, or who exactly it had come from, so they chose to face their own fears and weigh the pros and cons of one option over the other. Ibiki gave Naruto a hard stare as he saw the different shadow tendrils dash out towards various members of the rookie nine.

"Ninpou: Kagemane no Jutsu."

Immediately, Sakura, Hinata, Ino, and Chouji's hands stopped their upward rise. Their team members gave contented sighs that Naruto had acted fast enough while Ibiki looked on relatively amused. Kabuto had been watching the whole ordeal and had been secretly upgrading his cards. Orochimaru was relieved that he didn't have to cut of Sakura's hand yet for trying disturb his amusement and cancel his test for the Uchiha.

After a few more minutes of tension, Ibiki thought it would be sufficient to pass the remaining.

'Fifty four teams. I guess that's an acceptable number. Especially considering how many exceptional candidates we had this year. No doubt, they will all become great in their own right.' Ibiki thought. "Alright, those of you who chose to stay….Pass the first portion of the chuunin exams."

"WHAT??" was the collective scream that echoed through the room.

"Think of it like this. Your village gives you a high priority mission, and it is turning out to be more bothersome than you imagined. Do you turn back and head home without completing your mission, or do you forge ahead no matter the consequences? Those who backed down from the tenth question are nothing but cowards and do not deserve to be in this chuunin exam. Those of you who stayed, Congratulations. You deserve it."

"What about all the previous questions? What was their purpose then?" Temari asked from her seat.

"Those questions were to test your information gathering skills. In the field, many have lost their lives because of a lack of information. Information is everything, and if you can't get it without being caught, then your life is automatically forfeit. I was saving those good for nothings a lot of trouble, and I maybe even saved their lives." Ibiki said with a calm voice. Sensing an approaching presence, he took a step back and simply watched as a blur exploded through the window and drew everyone's attention.

"No time to be happy punks, because it's time for the second exam. My name is Mitarashi Anko and I will be the proctor." Anko said as she looked at the amount of genin remaining. "fifty four eh? Not too shabby Ibiki, and here I thought you were getting too old for this. No matter, I will still cut their numbers in half."

Many just stared at the woman in fear and exchanged curious glances between the shattered window, the door and the black banner that was now hanging from the ceiling displaying Anko's name. Some of the more uncouth candidates were ogling Anko's scantily clad form.

Ibiki sighed as he came out from behind the banner. "Anko, Hokage-sama requested that I give you the bill immediately you made your entrance this year. It's considerably higher this year because of the multiple offender law now put in place." Ibiki said as he handed the gaping Anko a piece of paper. Turning to face the gennin, he spoke in a more authoritative voice "The rest of you are now done with the first exam. Now please follow the second examiner out the door."

Many noticed the emphasis he put on the door and snickered silently to themselves. A death glare with plenty of killing intent from Anko silenced them immediately. Soon, they found themselves walking to one of the training fields in Konoha. It seemed it was finally time to get a workout.

Everyone gaped at the huge forest that lay in front of them. So the second exam was meant to be a survival exam. Well, it was a good thing they had come prepared. Naruto had spent the better part of the previous week sealing stuff for the rookie teams. Shikamaru had asked him to do it for team 10, but he felt the need to help Hinata and her team out during the exams. He had handed her scrolls to her early in the week and explained how they worked and she had gotten back to him expressing her teams gratefulness, although he doubted Kiba was among the grateful ones.

All attention turned to Anko as she started talking excitedly. "This is training field 44, also known as the forest of death. You will be spending the next five days inside there for the second part of the exam. There is a tower in the middle of the forest, 50 miles away from all the gates. Your mission is to bring one set of these scrolls to the tower. In a set, there is one heaven scroll and one earth scroll. Each team will be given one of the scrolls and you will have to get the other scroll from another team if you want to pass. For those of you who think you can waste time, there are only five days, so you better get your ass in gear."

"So, that is what she meant by cut us in half. It sounds reasonable once we are able to listen to her logic." Naruto said to Sasuke as both of them shared a laugh. The sound of a kunai whizzing through the air was the only thing that alerted them to the danger. Shinobi training kicking in before the acting skills could rein dominant, they both jumped in opposite directions and pulled out kunai to protect themselves. They remained in slightly relaxed stances, so as not to reveal to much about their fighting styles. Sasuke needn't have bothered much, because he was not the main target. Naruto was basically jumping away as the crazy jounin attacked him relentlessly. After a while, he got nicked slightly on his shoulder and decided to stop running before she actually forgot about her job. It seemed she was having similar thoughts because she stopped and stared at the knife with glee before licking his blood off it. Almost everyone grimaced as they watched the scene, except for the grass-nin who had the high chakra capacity and potential. She just smiled at the display and liked her lips.

Everyone shivered at the bloodlust that filled the air, including the chuunins stationed out the outpost. Anko quickly regained her bearings and decided to get on with the exam.

"Alright kiddies, you will have to sign this waiver before you can receive a scroll and begin the exam." Anko said with a deceptive smile.

"Ano, why do we have to sign a waiver?" Ino asked while looking clueless. Anko decided to kill the girls naiveté there.

"The waivers are just legal forms that make sure Konoha is not responsible for any deaths in this exam, and that you are participating according to your own volition." Anko said as she handed out the stacks of paper. She saw Ino go as white as a sheet and nearly considered going over to console the girl, but thought better of it when she saw more and more people were taking on that shade immediately they realized she was not joking. 'These kids are in for a real big surprise. Uchiha and Uzmaki are well prepared though. It should have been impossible for gennin to move in time to avoid that kunai, but they both did it seemingly easily. Worst part, was that in the end, I had to go almost full out to nick the Uzumaki boy. His blood did taste good though.'

The rest of the hour went by in a more relaxed mood as people turned in their waivers and got the scroll they were required to carry. Most teams had gone somewhere private to discuss details of a plan before they were ushered to their individual gates. The chuunins at each gate had told them to get ready, that the exam would start any minute now, so the fear, tension, anticipation, and killer intent were permeable in the air.

"One last thing. Don't die." Anko's voice came over the speakerphone. Most gave a somewhat weak smile at her words and turned their most determined faces towards the gates while gathering some chakra to their legs. "The second part of the chuunin exam begins now. Hajime."

And the gates opened.

Team 7 had been running for a while now. They had kept their scroll with Sakura because her role was to stay out of direct combat, and just use genjutsu to make the job for Naruto and Sasuke easier.

Their plan was simple, make it closer to the tower, and set up an ambush. Any team they met on the way would just be an added bonus. Naruto had sent out clones as scouts, to gather information on various teams, and possibly even obtain the needed scrolls. They went in groups of three to maintain stealth and each clone team had one seal enhanced clone incase some of them got expelled or the real Naruto was knocked out. All in all, Naruto thought his plan was decent and they were assured a place in the next part of the exam.

Well, to every plan there are certain unknowns that could make or break a mission, and Naruto knew this very well therefore he always tried to limit the amount of room the unknown had to affect the outcome of the mission. Unfortunately, it seemed like the unknowns didn't want to take the allocated space this time, but the whole picture.

They were stopped when Sakura asked for a break to rest her feet. They obliged because she had run a long way without objections, and if they did encounter a team now, she would not be in the best condition to fight. Naruto started walking away immediately Sakura sat down.

"Naruto. Where are you going?" Sasuke asked in a neutral tone.

"To use the bathroom, or rather, the bushes." Naruto replied. Without even turning his head, he knew Sasuke had nodded at him and flopped unto the ground as well. 'It seems Sasuke needs this rest as well.'

About a minute later, Naruto walks out of the bushes he went into, and walks over to his team who took very little notice of him.

"Alright, lets start going." Naruto said. "I am going to be Hokage someday, and it can't wait. Believe it."

Sasuke and Sakura smiled as they stood up and nodded. They were jumping to the next branch when it seemed that Sasuke was jumping directly onto the same spot Naruto was. Naruto also looked to take note of where Sakura was, but found her nowhere in sight.

"Kuso" he said as he threw 3 shuriken at Sasuke. They passed through Sasuke harmlessly and his eyes widened a fraction before he was hit in the back of the neck, essentially knocking him out. Sakura's body came into view after that as she checked him for anything valuable. Sasuke and Naruto landed beside her, talking in amused whispers.

"He actually said that? Haha, that is almost too good to be true." Naruto laughed as Sasuke nodded and smirked. They both turned eyes to Sakura who was looking at them wearily. "Don't worry Sakura, its us. He used a genjutsu on me that took a while to disable. Sasuke managed to get me out before it became even more troublesome. Sasuke is proof that we are not intruders"

Sasuke scowled at Naruto before activating his Sharingan. Sakura seemed satisfied and voiced her own opinions.

"He came alone, and was obviously not carrying their scroll. What do you propose we should do with him?" she asked while looking at her teammates.

"Keep him with us and use him as leverage to get their scroll, or wait till he wakes up and follow him under a genjutsu." Sasuke said while looking at his teammates. Seeing the dissatisfaction on his teammates faces because he wanted to divert from the plan and fight head on, made him shrug and look upwards towards the tree canopy.

"Good idea Sasuke, but I feel you will get your chance to fight head on, later in the other parts of this exam. For now, we will let him go while my bunshins follow him under the Meisaigakure no Jutsu." Naruto said as he already started making three seal enhanced clones.

Immidiately he was done, the team gathered all their stuff together again and started heading towards the tower. They were stopped when they felt a presence gaining on them rapidly. Naruto made a signal for his team to go higher into the trees. He quickly replaced them with another set of clones. He was unable to enhance them, but they managed to Henge into Sasuke and Sakura before the presence got any closer. They watched as the clones raced away and the presence came by only seconds later moving faster than they thought possible for a gennin.

Naruto gave a sigh which brought surprised looks from his teammates. He chuckled a bit before speaking. "I get a bad vibe from that one. We need to stay far away from her for now."

To say that his teammates were shocked would have been an understatement. If there was anyone who was fearless, it was Naruto. If he was afraid of someone, then that meant they would probably do well to steer clear of the person.

"Well then, you are wiser than you let on, Uzumaki Naruto." a voice said from behind them. Naruto was a little more prepared for an intruder, and grabbed his two teammates by their shirts and flung them onto lower branches while taking the full effect of the jutsu that the intruder called out.

"Fūton: Daitoppa" was the jutsu called out by the grass-nin.

In an act of desperation, Naruto tried to jump out of the way of the jutsu, but only managed to worsen his condition. He was blown far away from the area his teammates were located in and he could only assume that he would either die from the fall, or die when he tried to come and rescue his teammates. Either way, he would do everything in his power, to make sure that they lived.

Sasuke and Sakura had been so shocked when they heard the voice that they never even felt the intruder molding chakra. They were even more shocked when Naruto threw them out of the way and took the brunt of the attack. They had run at top speed toward the ground to find their teammate and provide medical assistance if possible in case he didn't land properly.

However, that was not meant to be. The mysterious grass-nin landed right in front of their path and immediately proved that he was higher than gennin level when he dodged Sasuke's point blank kunai.

"I must say, your teammate is quite clever. His plan to ambush people close to the tower is probably the most ingenious plan you could come up with in this exam. Unfortunately for you, I am just as clever as he is and a hell of a lot stronger. From this moment on, we will do battle, and fight to the death for our scrolls." The grass-nin said as she swallowed her earth scroll, which was what team 7 needed. "Remember this though, I chose you, and you are now officially my prey."

Sasuke and Sakura immediately dropped to their knees from the amount of killing intent the grass-nin in front of them was emitting. Sakura was already crying at the visions she was experiencing while Sasuke threw up. Struggling to look at Sakura, Sasuke realized that she would be out of the fight for sometime. Turning his attention to the front, Sasuke saw the shinobi pulling out two kunai, which she was probably going to use to kill them.

'I already let my own best friend die. Does this torture never end? Will I ever grow strong enough to defeat this woman and eventually Itachi? This is no time for doubt….I need to protect Sakura. If she dies, then I will never forgive myself' Sasuke thought while activating his Sharingan. Almost immediately, he was able to break through the mass of killing intent and save Sakura from her early demise.

The grass-nin looked momentarily shocked and Sasuke capitalized by throwing several smoke bombs around the area and making a hasty but silent retreat.

Landing on a sturdy tree with a lot of cover, Sasuke proceeded to try and shake Sakura out of the trance she was in. She came out with a start and hugged him almost immediately.

"Sas-Sasuke-kun? I thought you died….I thought that shinobi killed you back there, and I thought she killed me as well." Sakura said frantically as Sasuke tried to get her quiet. Finally remembering Naruto and realizing that they were not out of danger yet, Sakura proceeded to shut up and keep a weary eye on their surroundings.

She gave a warning when she saw a snake bearing down on them from the top of the tree. Sasuke jumped in the opposite direction from her and landed on another tree branch only to see the snake disappear in a puff of smoke. He was shocked to see another snake on the underside of the tree he landed on. He immediately starting running up the tree as the snake wound round the tree hoping to grab him. Just before Sasuke reached the top of the tree, he pushed off the bark and launched several kunai at the snake before landing gracefully on the branch of another tree. All the kunai struck true and Sasuke gave a small smirk before its skin molted to reveal the grass-nin who looked unharmed.

"You may be able to run, but you cannot hide from me because you are my prey, Uchiha Sasuke."

'Kuso, it must be a personal grudge match or something. I can't help but wonder what happened to Naruto though.' Sasuke thought as he drew his katana and faced the enemy.

Naruto had landed in a grass clearing with a lot of soft ground and was grateful for the earth's softness. He looked to the side and saw the last set of bunshin he made as a distraction for the grass-nin. They had obviously expended all their chakra to pump the ground full of air, and only offered a small smile before they departed in clouds of smoke. Immediately the memories reached him, he performed a kawarimi no jutsu and substituted himself for a nearby log which was consumed before it touched the ground.

Naruto sighed from his position on a branch above, causing the snake that had devoured the log to look up with a look bordering on surprise. Naruto frowned thoughtfully as he lifted his right arm and performed two half seals. Four clones came to life beside him without so much as the usual smoke. Together, they dove down towards the snake who was already aiming to come after them. Only one Naruto remained on the branch with the thoughtful look on its face. The snake seemed to put hunger before thought and dashed past the other Naruto's with unimaginable speed. It opened it's maws and swallowed the surprised Naruto before he could make a move to counter. It coiled around the tree to savor its meal and tasted the air around it to sense for any danger. It only sensed 3 clouds of smoke and one real body heat signature.

Turning around as quickly as it could manage it only got a glimpse of the boy as he smiled and started running in the direction its master was in. That was the last image it ever had as it belly grew to impossible sizes and it exploded leaving several chunks of flesh and blood scattered across the clearing.

Naruto had finally made into the clearing only to see Sasuke with his Sharingan eyes blazing with hatred and malice at the grass shinobi in front of him. He could also see Sakura sporting a few new injuries most likely from him throwing her. He decided to focus on the conversation going on between Sasuke and the enemy nin.

"Why have you chosen to attack us and you probably even killed my best friend." Sasuke said in anger. "If you had a personal grudge against me or my family, then you should have left him out of it."

"He was the one who sacrificed himself, although I made sure he would not survive and come back to haunt us. Now Sasuke-kun, show me why your Sharingan is feared around the shinobi countries." the grass-nin said.

"Well, it seems that my will to survive is greater than your ability to kill me. Or maybe you are just getting complacent. I have a theory about you, but nothing concrete to confirm it." Naruto said as he made his presence known in the clearing. Sasuke and Sakura turned to him with smiles on their faces, but that was short lived when they saw Naruto not make eye contact with him. Infact, he was back to back with three clones. He was surveying the damage of the clearing and trying to create time to plan an escape. "Ah. On the contrary, I believe I have finally put everything together. You can stop hiding your true identity now traitor. I know you were a part of the leaf's legendary three."

Shock was written on Sasuke and Sakura's faces. "Impossible." they both said at the same time.

"Kukuku. It seems I have been found out, by a dead last no less. I am curious, how did you find out?"

"The summon hebi were a dead give away. We all read that you are the one of the only two people alive who can summon snakes. We saw a demonstration from the second wielder of the snake contract one day in class. She also mentioned one important fact. Summons are essentially loyal spirits beings that are given forms on this plane when called upon with a necessary amount of chakra. The bad part about their loyalty is that when they have a conflict of masters, or simply put, two or more people who wield the contract are in mortal conflict….then the summons stick with the stronger master. Essentially, Anko does not have and will not have full control of the contract until you die. She said she had practiced so much, that some of the lower level ones allowed her to summon them, for the simple reason that you would probably never have much use for them anyway. The snake you sent after me was definitely a higher level summon by my standards. There was also the possibility of the snake being a natural animal of this forest, but seeing all the molted snake skins in this area has made me scratch that thought as well. Snakes are very territorial and so many big ones will not be found in the same area. Leaving you as the only possible explanation."

Orochimaru seemed impressed and pulled of the mask he was wearing over his face making the gennin grimace as their fears were realized. This was to be their burial ground.

"Well, it seems that this chuunin exam just got a whole lot harder. So tell me, what is your business here?" Naruto asked.

"Kukuku, you are a bold one aren't you. I shall humor you though. I want something that is not exclusive to the leaf anymore, but is only obtainable from the leaf. With it, I can become truly immortal and learn all the jutsu in the world. You might as well stop prodding your teammates with chakra. There is no possible escape for you, except you have both scrolls and can make it to the tower. If not, you efforts to stall are all in vain."

"Gomen, I must have been insane to actually think that we could get out of this without a fight. Sasuke, Sakura, are you ready?" Naruto asked.

"No. Naruto take Sakura and run. He doesn't really want you guys and I can hold him off long enough for you to get help." Sasuke said as his two tomoe Sharingan spun in complete revolutions. His eyes widened when he saw Naruto in front of him.

"Gomen Sasuke. That is out of the question. Firstly, no one would listen to our plea for help against him for either fear of their lives or fear of getting tricked by me…. And lets not forget we are in the middle of an exam. Secondly, I refuse to leave you here, because you are an equal Konoha shinobi, and my best friend. I would be damned before I ever left you alone to fight a losing battle." Naruto said. Shock was written on Sasuke's face and he was even further shocked when Sakura walked up and put her hand on his other shoulder, signifying that she was with him all the way. He closed his eyes to burn this memory forever into his mind. He had asked them to leave because he couldn't take losing his precious people once again. They had effectively denied him that request and told him they would rather die by his side than run and live while he died for their sakes.

'They are better than me in that respect.' Sasuke thought as he remembered the Uchiha massacre. 'I refuse to let them down. I refuse to let them die.'

"Very touching for you all to find your team spirit here in front of me, but it will do you little good, because against me, your teamwork counts for naught." Orochimaru said as he started forming seals. "Kuchiyose no jutsu."

"You are wrong, we will not die here." Sasuke said as he opened his eyes to reveal a fully matured Sharingan. "Naruto, lets go….Sakura, support us."

'Amazing, to be able to master the Sharingan by using emotions only. His will is strong, now lets see how strong his eyes are." Orochimaru thought as his snake slithered forward rapidly. The girl of the team had already jumped away and hidden herself in the trees. The boys used power enhanced jumps to get out of the way of the snake.

Orochimaru sent his tongue after Naruto and managed to grab him by the ankle, before proceeding to slam him into a tree. Naruto seemed a little dazed and by the hit and took a second to regain his bearings before dashing into the trees and out of view. Orochimaru decided to face Sasuke for the time being. After all, these gennin seemed to get more and more interesting. So interesting that he was considering adding them to his army along with Sasuke. They would have to wait though.

Sasuke had faced Orochimaru and the incoming snake with his back against the tree. The tomoe in Sasuke's eyes were swirling and the snake stopped abruptly before wrapping around Orochimaru and crushing him. Instead of bones being crushed, Orochimaru turned into mud. Sasuke was breathing hard, but looked relatively unconcerned about Orochimaru's disappearance.

"That was pretty cool Sasuke. I guess reading those scrolls on advanced techniques for the matured Sharingan paid off." Naruto said as he jumped out of the bushes he was hiding behind. The snake who was confused about what was going on quickly dispelled itself.

"Indeed it has Naruto." Sasuke said with a smile. Spinning lightly on his foot, Sasuke used his katana to block the swipe by a long katana that looked very much like one he had seen in the history books. Orochimaru's whole body gradually emerged from the tree trunk that Sasuke previously had his back to.

"Kukuku. You have already surpassed my expectations Sasuke-kun, but you are not strong enough to defeat me or Itachi." Sasuke's eyes started to spin as he cast another genjutsu on Orochimaru, but it was in vain as Orochimaru's body turned into mud again.

"Kuso" Sasuke said as he turned around and faced Orochimaru as he stood on the edge of a branch a few trees away. "What do you know about Itachi. Tell me where he is, now."

"Sasuke…." Naruto said as he looked at his friend. Sasuke was literally leaking chakra and killing intent towards Orochimaru. It looked truly menacing and even managed to send chills down Naruto's back. "Calm down Sasuke. He is getting you riled up and you won't be able to last much longer at this rate."

Sasuke calmed down a bit but was still glaring at Orochimaru. Orochimaru merely laughed and watched as Naruto and Sasuke charged him intent on ending his life. They were working in tandem. For every opening Orochimaru created in Naruto's guard, Sasuke would compensate and keep Orochimaru open for Naruto to attack. Unfortunately, it seemed Naruto was just not fast enough to match the sannin, and his lack of his dual katana made him a lot less effective than usual. Naruto and Sasuke saw the futility of this course of action and sought to remedy it. After a few minutes of meaningless taijutsu and kenjutsu, Naruto and Sasuke jumped away from Orochimaru who looked rather bored.

'I must have overestimated them. They have sharp minds, but if their other shinobi skills are so lacking, I may not even have any use for Sasuke-kun.' Orochimaru thought bitterly.

"Well Sasuke. I think its time we took this fight up a notch, as it seems he is currently unwilling to kill us. I think he is testing us. No escape, no retreat, no tangible chance at survival. I think we should use him as a measuring stick to see how far we have come, one skill at a time." Naruto said while smirking while bringing out 8 shuriken. Sasuke smirked back and nodded. Naruto threw the shuriken and Sasuke blurred through a set of seals.

"Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu" Sasuke whispered. The fireballs and shuriken were aimed at Orochimaru and covered him in a way that he didn't have much of a choice other than to jump in a particular direction. Deciding not to use any higher level techniques in this fight, Orochimaru took the bait. He landed and managed to block a sweeping kick meant for his head courtesy of Naruto, but before his very eyes, Naruto disappeared. It was different this time, because there was no smoke or explosion to signify the death of a clone. This Naruto just simply disappeared.

Orochimaru's heightened senses caught the slight displacement of wind below him and his eyes widened before he poured a significant amount of chakra into his chin. It was a good thing too, because he was ruthlessly kicked into the air by Naruto's foot. Orochimaru who knew the basics of the technique quickly brought out a kunai while ignoring the aching throb on his chin. He had to believe that he had lost a tooth or two in that exchange. Sensing an approaching chakra signature, Orochimaru threw the kunai in the path of his shadow but there was no blood curdling scream that signified that he had hit his mark. He looked behind him and noticed the kunai lodged between Naruto's eyes, before he burst into smoke.

Orochimaru was once again surprised. 'He anticipated my counter-attack perfectly. Then that means…"

Orochimaru's momentum was forcefully changed as Sasuke pulled him upside down. The difference was that Sasuke's legs were next to Orochimaru's head and vice-versa. Sasuke added a spin to their fall thereby making Orochimaru's head a drill. Once the landed, Sasuke took a few seconds to re-orient himself before looking away from the Orochimaru who turned into mud. Orochimaru came running at Sasuke with his katana drawn, and Sasuke replied in kind. They had an all out kenjutsu fight that are only spoken about in legends. Orochimaru's experience was partially nullified by Sasuke's genius; and Orochimaru's superior speed was nullified by Sasuke's Sharingan. Naruto and Sakura who had met up to discuss some things briefly were in awe.

"All my genjutsu are not having any effect on him, and you all are moving to fast for me to attempt something stronger. It would be a waste of chakra and I would rather not waste anything seeing as we are fighting such an obviously superior opponent." Sakura said as she watched the fight.

"You are right. We are outmatched, but he won't kill us and it would be wise to have someone at the ready to take care of the rest of us." Seeing Sakura's confused face in his peripheral vision, Naruto continued. "He is a legendary Sannin. They just don't show up and participate in chuunin exams unless they have an ulterior motive. In his case, I believe he wants to scope the upcoming talent. He won't kill us because I believe he is interested in us, or at least one of us. If he does kill one of us, then the others will not be able to go on to the further stages….so I doubt he will result to that. This is merely a test to him, nothing more."

"So why are we going all out against him? If he is trying to recruit us, then won't it be wiser to act mediocre? That way, he won't have any interest in us."

"No, a lack of interest means we are as good as dead. Fortunately, he doesn't know all the details about us. I still have one trump card left that will surprise him. If I can get close enough, I may even be able to kill him and end his terror forever. If I don't succeed, I should be able to buy you and Sasuke enough time to finish him off for good." Noticing her panic, Naruto continued before she could speak. "You have to let me do this Sakura. He is a traitor to this village, and as a shinobi loyal to this village, I will do everything in my power to kill him. I have to cross this bridge, and I have to cross it alone….Please"

Sakura saw Naruto's pleading eyes and could do nothing but smile at the irony of it all. 'He doesn't have a real reason to fight for us, but he insists that he must do things that many people twice his age would shy away from. Ma-maybe someday, I can be more like you Naruto.'

"Stay alive, Naruto. Then maybe, we could go out for ramen when we get out of here. My treat." Sakura said.

"Hai, I would like that." Naruto said as he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Naruto sat in front of the Kyuubi's cage and stared at the Kyuubi with an unblinking gaze. The Kyuubi returned it in kind, with a grin on its face.

"So, you will get your chance to fight even if it is only your chakra, and in return, I will get what exactly?" Naruto asked with trepidation.

"WHAT YOU GET IN RETURN WILL COME WHEN YOUR CHAKRA IS MORE FOCUSED AND YOUR CAPACITY IS AT LEAST TWICE THE SIZE IT IS ALREADY. I ASSURE YOU, THAT YOU WILL LIKE WHAT I HAVE TO OFFER." Kyuubi answered back. "WHAT IT IS, IS NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS FOR NOW. YOU WILL GET IT WHEN YOU ARE STRONG ENOUGH TO WIELD IT. NOW LET ME HAVE MY FUN."

Naruto looked at the Kyuubi critically. "Your freedom is not total. I will still have complete control over myself, so why are you getting so excited?"

"YOU FORGET I AM A BEING SEALED WITHIN A CHILD. I AM MORE OR LESS COMPOSED OF CHAKRA IN HERE. I HAVE NO BODY ANYMORE, SO CHAKRA WILL BE MY MEANS TO THE REAL WORLD. EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENS OUT THERE WHILE YOU USE MY CHAKRA, I WILL FEEL. I WILL ALSO HAVE CONSCIOUS CONTROL OVER IT WHICH CAN ONLY BE OVER RUN BY YOUR CONSCIOUS CONTROL. NOW GO AND TAKE ON THAT SNAKE SO THAT I MAY ROAM FREE AGAIN, IF ONLY FOR A LITTLE WHILE."

Naruto nodded and wordlessly stood up before walking away from the Kyuubi's cage. In a few seconds he was gone from the room.

Another Naruto who was sitting on top of the tallest tree in the clearing opened his eyes slowly. He breathed in and out a few times before standing up and examining his fingers. His nails had elongated into claws and he had never felt so light in his life. It was partly due to the fact that he had released his weight seal before starting the Omote Renge.

Looking down, Naruto saw Sasuke and Orochimaru fighting. Naruto could see everything in detail even though he was so far away, and saw Sasuke look up at him momentarily. In that millisecond, Naruto started running down the tree at breakneck speeds while being as silent as possible. Sasuke took one last jab at Orochimaru and back pedaled as fast as he could while starting as sent of seals. Orochimaru, who had never seen such a sequence of seals was intrigued and decided to watch before he noticed a small smile form on Sasuke's face. Orochimaru's danger sense then kicked into overdrive, and he summoned a higher level snake as quickly as he could. The snake was wrapped around him immediately it came into the world. It tucked its head in right before something small, fast and strong slammed into it. It gave a loud hiss to indicate its pain as it was flattened and the tree limb it was on gave way. The summon disappeared almost immediately after it touched the ground, but there was no dead Orochimaru there. Only a small pile of mud.

Naruto spun on his heel and threw a clawed hand at the trees. A chakra appendage then proceeded to rip through the offending trees and a certain missing-nin was forced to jump back to the clearing lest the appendage tear him to shreds. Naruto's focus immediately shifted to Orochimaru whose grin widened considerably.

'So, they put the Kyuubi's jinchuuriki on the same team as Uchiha Sasuke. How ironic. Itachi would be pleased, until he finds out that his brother will come to me and be my next container. Kukuku. This team was doomed from the day they met each other.' Orochimaru thought as he wiped a drop sweat from his brow. 'These kids have come a long way already, but no great thing lasts forever. First, the jinchuuriki will go down. He is no more useful to me. If I took him, Akatsuki would be on my tail day and night. That is an outcome I would rather not chance.'

Looking straight into Sasuke's eyes which had reverted back to the normal black because of obvious fatigue, Orochimaru performed a Kanashibari no jutsu to keep Sasuke from interfering. He watched in satisfaction as Sasuke fell down to one knee while trying to shake off the effects. His satisfaction ended when he turned to face Naruto and found the boy in his face, ready to deliver a chakra enhanced claw strike.

Orochimaru took the blow head on, and moved with the flow of the strike. Performing a standard flip in mid-air, Orochimaru launched his tongue at the hand Naruto had outstretched. It wrapped around Naruto's hand, and Naruto's hand wrapped around it. Orochimaru's eyes widened in surprise as Naruto pulled hard, but he quickly recovered by bringing out the snake that held his katana and directing it at Naruto. Naruto used his free hand and made a gesture to grab the blade of the katana, while it was still several feet away from him. Another chakra appendage sprouted and grabbed the katana before Naruto proceeded to slam Orochimaru through several branches and eventually the ground. It seemed he was not finished as he gripped Orochimaru's tongue a bit harder and proceeded to send a punch at the grounded Orochimaru. His chakra appendage shot out from the hand holding the tongue and slammed hard into Orochimaru while kicking up dust.

Sakura who had landed next to Sasuke gave a small laugh at Naruto's current posture. It looked like the final pose for a fusion in a manga she had once read, except that his hands were fisted instead of putting the index finger out. Her laugh died in her throat as Orochimaru's body came out of the branch Naruto was standing on as silently as possible.

Naruto noticed him, but it was far too late. Orochimaru had pulled up Naruto's shirt and slammed his five fingers into Naruto's stomach.

"Gogyo fuuin" Orochimaru said. Naruto's eyes widened as pain filtered through every fibre of his being. Unfortunately, he was not given the opportunity to shout as he was ruthlessly backhanded into a tree. As if his pain was not enough, he was kicked in his stomach and saliva mixed with blood came flying out of his mouth. Naruto hit the branch he was on with a thud, obviously unconscious. Sasuke and Sakura watched in horror as their teammate was kicked off the branch he was on and onto the forest floor. Luckily, he seemed to be alive because they could see his chest rise and fall rhythmically.

Then the unbelievable happened. Naruto's hand twitched, before it gathered a fistful of the sand he was currently lying on top of. Gradually, he started making his way back to his feet. His breathing was ragged and his forehead protector lay on the ground beside his feet, thereby making his hair fall around his face and keeping it in a shadow.

Orochimaru looked puzzled. It seemed that this boy actually wanted to die. His back was to Sasuke and Sakura, so they couldn't see the full extent of the damage Naruto had caused him. He could easily get Kabuto to heal him, or just use up a lot of chakra to molt his skin like a snake. The second option was out of the question because he needed the chakra to give Sasuke the curse seal. This boy in front of him, was becoming troublesome though. If he had somehow found a way to counter the five element seal, then giving Sasuke the curse seal might be impossible today. His fears were quelled the second Naruto raised his head.

Instead of the fierce red eyes that signified the use of the Kyuubi's chakra, or the calm blue orbs that showed Naruto's confidence…there were plain pupil less eyes that confirmed that Naruto was indeed unconscious.

Orochimaru instinctively let his guard drop. Even as he heard Naruto chuckling lightly. Orochimaru actually lifted an eyebrow in surprise. Then he saw Naruto's shoulder's sag and his knees give way, but he also saw Naruto's mouth move slightly. Years of shinobi training had taught Orochimaru how to read lips, so he was perplexed as to what the gennin meant.

"What could he possibly mean by 'I refuse to go down without a bang'?" Orochimaru asked as he turned around to face the other two members of the team who had small smiles on their faces.

THUD.

That signified Naruto's body hitting the earth again.

BOOM.

That signified the activation of the explosive notes Naruto had managed to place on Orochimaru before he had received the one sided beating.

Everyone was so caught up in the moment and the explosions, that they never noticed the spike and disappearance of a new chakra signature.

"Well thankfully, that pest is finally out of the way." Orochimaru said with a slight grimace. Naruto was certainly full of surprises. Orochimaru knew this was the end of the line for the rest of the team. Sasuke was tired from all the fighting he had been through, and all the genjutsu's he had cast with his newly awakened mature Sharingan. Sakura knew she was not even half as tenacious as her two teammates and stood very little chance of holding Orochimaru's interest for even a few seconds.

Orochimaru was shocked when Sasuke stood up and stood in front of Sakura, Sharingan blazing to life again. Orochimaru who was not ready to use up any more chakra than necessary decided to end it as quickly as possible. Pouring all his killer intent into his kanashibari no jutsu, Orochimaru paralyzed both Sasuke and Sakura even though it looked like Sasuke's eyes had copied everything and were already coming up with a suitable counter for it.

Orochimaru's worries on that faded when Sasuke's eyes faded to black again. Performing the necessary seals, Orochimaru's neck elongated and his jaws clamped down on Sasuke's neck. Sasuke let out a scream before falling on the floor and letting out pained whimpers. Sakura had fear written all over her face as Orochimaru's neck went back to its normal size.

Sakura's inner self was screaming at her to move and help her teammates, like she had promised them all those months ago, but her body wasn't responding. Her inner self then did something that shocked both of them. She put her hands in a chakra gathering seal and started radiating chakra. Almost immediately, Sakura was able to move again and the paralysis had no effect on her anymore.

Orochimaru looked midly shocked at her sudden movement, but passed it off as Sakura's desperate want to know why her idol was whimpering. He simply turned around and looked at the ground that Naruto lay on. With all the killing intent and chakra that had been thrown around, there were bound to be a few ANBU on their way to investigate. Gennins shouldn't be this strong after all. Looking back at Sakura who was looking after Sasuke already, Orochimaru snorted.

"Sasuke will seek me out for more power when he wakes up. Be sure to tell him that I will be waiting."

Sakura looked about ready to scream at the man like he was crazy, but as soon as she looked up, she saw nothing but a few leaves being carried by the wind.

Orochimaru was finally gone.

She quickly gathered her teammates so she could find a more suitable place to protect them while they were asleep.

Ocean blue eyes opened with a start and the owner of the eyes got into a fighting position almost immediately.

"Where am I?" he asked no one in particular.

"You are home, Naruto." a vaguely familiar voice answered.

Looking around a little bit, Naruto realized he had never been here before this. It was a forest that had the biggest trees he had ever seen, with the greenest leaves he had ever seen. It almost seemed like a paradise to him. He decided to humor this relatively familiar voice.

"What happened to my teammates and Orochimaru then?" he asked.

"They are all alive. Orochimaru seems to have given Sasuke the curse seal, but that can be easily remedied by us, right Naruto?" the voice said as Naruto's eyes widened. "I see you have figured it out. About time."

"Ke-Keigan? How?" Naruto asked as an eagle landed on his shoulder. The eagle was golden in color with golden pupil less eyes and a single blue dot in the centre of the eye. He was a lot smaller than the last time Naruto saw him.

"Well, it seems that Orochimaru's choice of jutsu while trying to stop you, helped me out. If you are wondering why I am so small now, don't worry too much about it. I have been training since I was released and I realized how much more control it takes to keep myself smaller. Therefore, I will do this as training outside of our training." Keigan said.

Naruto nodded and started walking forward to where he could sense the Kyuubi's chakra. The walk didn't seem to take too long, before they were standing before the gates of the great demon again. Only difference being that the Kyuubi was asleep and chained to the floor of his cage, and the sewers surrounding it had all been turned into forest. The Kyuubi's cage had also changed as well. The paper which held the kanji for seal was gone and replaced by several runes and seals etched into the golden bars that separated them. Naruto looked on in wonder at all the gold that surrounded him, and couldn't help but grin at the dramatic change that had happened within his psyche.

"Ah, I could get used to this." Naruto said as he looked at Keigan. "Maybe we should leave him be and start training. He will join us once I get someone to take off the Gogyo fuuin."

Keigan simply gave a nod in confirmation as Naruto walked back the way he came, intent on finding somewhere suitable enough for them to train.

It had been a day since Orochimaru had left team 7 to their own devices and Sakura had diligently watched over her two unconscious teammates while holding up genjutsu to hide the few traps she had set up. She knew that she was being watched by a group of people with unfamiliar chakra signatures. She had been waiting for them to make a move, so she could spring her traps and even the odds a bit, but it seemed like they were bidding their time and thereby making her waste chakra. She also had to worry about her teammates who had yet to wake up, or show any signs of waking up.

Sakura's worry stemmed from her inability to protect them alone. She was decent and would probably get the upper hand in a fight against mid-level gennin, even if she was outnumbered. Unfortunately, she was sure all the cannon fodder gennin had been effectively eliminated before the second exam began. If she was going to face anyone now, it would be some of the finest from their respective villages. Thus, her apprehension was not unfounded and self-centered, but it was born from a growing protectiveness for her teammates well being.

'I guess it's now or never. I have to use my chakra wisely and I don't know when Naruto or Sasuke-kun will wake up.' Sakura thought. Sakura started standing up and felt somewhat dejected that the constant voice in her head had been silent since the end of the fight with Orochimaru. "Alright whoever it is out there, I have tired of your constant surveillance. It's about time we end this."

To back up her statement, Sakura pulled out two kunai and held them like Naruto held his dual katana. She always thought he looked fearsome while he wielded his dual katana. It cost their team a lot of intimidation points, but they broke for a good cause. Tetsu was a better person because of those broken katana.

Sakura shook her head to rid her of those unwanted thoughts as three shinobi landed a few yards away from her and stared her down. Then the boy who was not wrapped from head to toe in bandages laughed mockingly at Sakura.

"Don't play brave with us little girl. We are here on orders to kill Uchiha Sasuke, and we don't want to waste energy on some weakling like you. Now go and wake him up before we kill you, and him eventually."

"Oh really? Let me get this straight. You were sent to kill Sasuke-kun, then you consider me a weakling. Is there anything else I am unaware of?" Sakura asked in a completely calm voice. Sakura gained some confidence from their shocked faces, and she decided to bluff. "You probably forgot to tell me that Orochimaru would probably not be very happy if you all failed our mission. Oh my! Did I say something to upset or surprise you? I hope you will find it in your hearts to forgive me."

"You are getting ahead of yourself Onna. Your knowledge of Orochimaru has officially signed your death warrant. I don't know how you knew, but it would have been better if you had stayed silent." the mummified gennin said.

"I couldn't help myself, due to your teammates arrogance. I may not look it, but I have trained with some of the most cunning, clever and underhanded people you will ever meet. Don't you dare underestimate me!" Sakura said with as much conviction as she could muster. So entranced she was in their little squabble, that she never noticed the people who were watching from the trees and bushes.

"Cunning? I seriously doubt that. We have already seen through your traps. Grass cannot be so smooth, so it's obvious there is a trigger for some other trap under there. Well, we can always avoid that." the female of the group said.

As she said that, all three pumped chakra into their legs and jumped over the overturned tuft of grass. Sakura just smiled as they did that and put her hands into the tora seal.

"Jibaku Fuda: Kassei" She said. The gennin in the air were effectively shocked as the genjutsu dropped and dozens of exploding tags came into view. They were all held up by numerous strings that were crossing each other at different angles. Fear was written all over their faces. The tags burned faster than they imagined and left no room for a quick escape Kawarimi. The mummified guy managed to turn his head towards his male comrade and shout.

"Do it now Zaku, or we will not survive." He shouted as his comrade lifted his arms and shouted something into the air that was drowned out by the explosions that rocked the whole forest. Sakura frowned when she felt a strong wind blow some of the smoke over her.

'So they survived! Good thing Kakashi-sensei always told me to have a back-up plan or trump card. These are indeed not the cannon fodder gennin.' Sakura thought as she hurled one of her kunai behind her, where it cut a trap wire before hitting the ground. Sakura looked up to see the three sound gennin exit the boundary of smoke with very few injuries. There were a few burns here and there, with the occasional cut from the sturdy ninja wire she had used to hold the explosive notes in the air. They had death glares directed toward Sakura, but those glares soon turned to surprise at the approaching log which was head directly at them.

"Dosu, its your turn to get us out of here." the girl said as the log got very close to them.

"I don't see you contributing much, Kin" Dosu said as he swung his arm at the log which shattered under the pressure. Splinters of wood flew in all directions and some even managed to cut them. "We underestimated her and she is making us pay. I am already half wishing you were as useful as she appears to be."

Kin just scowled at Dosu's remark. She was about reply in kind, but Dosu planted a leg in her side and pushed her out of the way. She let out a curse as she turned to see Dosu and Zaku propelling off each other in different directions. Kin wondered why they had gone through all that. She understood when more than 60 kunai flew through the air where they had been a second ago. Kin looked down to see Sakura with a smile on her face, and her hands in a seal. The seal that had probably produced all those kunai.

Sakura was indeed happy. This team were good, but not good enough to escape an ambush from her and her trusty soldier pills. She would probably be sick for days after taking two pills in under 15 minutes, and she was still prepared to take more if only to refill her dwindling reserves. She had trapped them in a genjutsu and was looking for ways to end this fight as soon as possible. It didn't seem like they had sensed the fact that they were already in a genjutsu. It was time to go on the offensive.

Kin was shocked when she saw the Sakura on the ground disappear in a flurry of Sakura petals. If not for the fact that Sakura had jumped to the top of her 'must kill list', Kin may have actually agreed that it was one of the prettiest things she had ever seen. She didn't have such luxuries though as two sounds coming from different places brought her to attention. Out of the bushes came two Sakura's and at the same time, they all yelled the same thing at the other person closest to them.

"Onna, I will kill you." All three people shouted at the same time. Rage consumed them for a second and they didn't recognize the genjutsu before it was too late.

Kin was slammed into a tree after being the recipient of a very nasty Zankuuha, Zaku was holding his ears because of the high intensity sound that had gone through his ears, and Dosu had a few senbon needles stuck in his unamplified arm.

"Kuso, we let our anger get the best of us and she exploited it perfectly. She is very cunning indeed." Dosu said as he pulled out the Senbon needles in his arm and assessed the situation. "Both of you will be able to fight in a few seconds right?"

Two strained nods answered his question. All of them were wondering how this girl who had looked harmless during the first exam had become such a good strategist and even better kunoichi. They realized that it was futile to dwell on depressing topics like that and they filled their hearts and minds with revenge.

After a few minutes, the sound trio jumped out of their hiding place and landed on the ground were Sakura was sitting. Fatigue and shock were apparent on her face, but she forced herself to stand up and face them. She popped another soldier pill into her mouth, before bringing out two kunai again before resuming her previous stance.

Zaku whose patience had worn thin a long time ago decided to eliminate the girl quickly. He attempted to raise his arms but found out that he couldn't. Infact, he couldn't move any part of his body. None of them could. Involuntarily, they all looked at their feet and saw that all their shadows were connected and there was definitely someone standing behind them. They all looked up again only to see Sakura's smiling face as she sat down on the ground ungracefully. The worst part about all this, was that they were smiling at her against their own wills.

"What is this? Why can't I move my body?" Dosu said with strain.

"Because you have been caught in one of my teammates jutsu. It's about time one of them woke up." Sakura said with relief.

"What are you talking about Onna? Your teammates are still asleep behind you." Dosu said with anger in every word he uttered.

Sakura's eyes widened as she looked back and saw Naruto and Sasuke still asleep in the positions she had left them.

"Shikamaru?" She said uncertainly while following the shadow's trail. The bushes she had projected her voice toward shook before someone walked out.

Sakura's eyes widened before a look of understanding came across her face.

"Good to see you too Sakura. Before we go on with anymore formalities, I would like all the other people to show themselves. It would be very unfortunate if I had to attack friends and comrades."

Out of the bushes on the other side of the clearing came Shikamaru, Ino, and Chouji. They all greeted with sheepish smiles while Ino looked at Sakura immediately after her greeting. It almost looked like there was a bit of pride mixed with regret in her gaze. Sakura was thankfully too tired to notice.

On the upper branches at the rear end of the clearing came the members of Team Gai in all their glory. The all looked on with varying degrees of confusion. Neji didn't show it, but even he was confused and wanted to get answers as quickly as possible. He wouldn't stoop so low as to ask this person though.

Tenten had no such restrictions. "How? How can you be unconscious and walking around at the same time?"

"I do not trust you enough to tell you about that. Even if I felt you deserved to know, I would refrain from saying anything in front of Neji." The mysterious person said. More questions arose from seeing the individuals statement and everyone apart from Sakura and Shikamaru was teetering on the edge of sanity and insanity.

"Naruto, you are a freaking genius." Sakura exclaimed loudly as she let out a small laugh.

"Why thank you Sakura." Several Naruto's said at once from their various positions around the clearing. Now, the sound trio were wondering just how it was possible that someone could still be asleep yet have solid clones capable of performing jutsu running around. Before they could ask anything, they started removing their possessions from their pouches.

A different clone jumped down and collected all the various items that would be useful, including the sound teams scroll. Two other clones jumped down and started drawing seals over Sasuke's body with their blood. In a few minutes, all the leaf teams were equipped with the scrolls necessary to pass the exam, the sound team were bound with ropes to a tree and Sasuke's curse seal was sealed.

Sakura was extremely glad because his fever dropped considerably. The Naruto's had explained their absense to Sakura who had berated them on taking their time. Their simple excuse was that they had expected to meet the team at the tower before they entered. It was only because of the explosion that they had been able to find Team 7. The others had asked for explanations, but neither Sakura nor the Naruto clones were forthcoming, except with Shikamaru who Naruto could trust without a shadow of a doubt. With the scrolls the Naruto clones had collected, all the leaf teams in the clearing were able to head towards the tower.

And they all started making their way to the tower to rest. After all, they had 3 and a half days before the second exam officially finished. Neji didn't really like it but couldn't deny the convenience. He simply told the Naruto clones that it was their fate to give him the scroll, and it was his fate to pass the exam. It was comical seeing several Naruto's rolling their eyes in tandem. Sakura chuckled as she was carried to the tower on one of the Naruto's backs.

They left the sound trio spewing curses at them.

It was a day of humiliation for the sound genin, and they swore that revenge would be just around the corner for the pompous leaf brats.

After all, it was either revenge for the leaf brats, or death by Orochimaru.

Orochimaru didn't take failures likely.

Next Time: Prelims...

Well, there it is. I am having a few problems right now. Thing is I am good with jutsu names, but I got most of them from Wikipedia before. There were some jutsu's that I was going to use from there, that I haven't put in this story yet, but they changed the page. If anyone knows a comprehensive jutsu archive for Naruto, please tell me. I mean really good though.

I would also like to ask if anyone knows how to translate into Japanese because I have some ideas for some jutsu that I want to put in the later chapters. You will be acknowledged in my story for your contribution.

I have been thinking that maybe I am making Team 7 too strong. I would like to say that no matter what, Team 7 will not be invincible in the next 20 chapters (Probably). I just feel that a team with so much potential should have been a bit better and wiser than they were. Right now, not that many people know about them so they are severely underestimated. This is what helps them out the most. When they get older and grow in status, they will have tougher opponents. In my story right now, Kakashi will still be able to beat them without resorting to higher level techniques or the Sharingan.

Please Review. My ego demands it.

Thanks.

the 6th fire shadow.