Sasuke immediately activated his Sharingan and, while Naruto did what he always did, being as obvious as possible and shouting "Hey, what do you think you're doing with that girl?", went through the signs of the Sparrowhawk Jutsu. Before the boy even had had time to fully turn towards Naruto Sasuke was there, grabbing his still drawn fist with one hand while delivering a quick jab to the elbow of the arm he held the girl with. With a rather angry, and totally un-ninja "Ouch!" the boy, who Sasuke now saw wore a Sunagakure headband, let go of the girl. Sasuke grabbed her, lifted her in his arms and, before his opponent could do anything else, sprinted away placing her behind a fence close by. He turned, to see the face of the offender redden in rage and Naruto, looking quite threatening in his new attire if he was honest, advancing on their opponent, scowling. He decided it was time to say something as well, probably a well-aimed barb targeting the boys slow reaction speed or some-such, when a sudden gust of unnaturally sharp wind came towards him. He evaded it rather easily, due to his Sharingan, but he obviously had to be more cautious. It seemed as if the guy had backup as well.

Darn.

Naruto actually managed to spot the new arrival, a scowling blonde Kunoichi with a huge fan in her hands, almost as quickly as Sasuke, and promptly started to shout again. "Not enough that you threaten little girls, you are even setting ambushes for Konoha Shinobi in their own village! Bastards..."

While he could not help but agree with Naruto's indignation, he once again wished the blonde would be a little less straightforward at times. But that could not be helped now.

"Actually I was just removing 2 attackers from my brother...:" the Kunoichi drawled, lifting her fan again. "Kankuro, keep out of trouble next time, will you? While I will help you of course, I can't help but agree. Hitting little girls is rather low..." As the black clad boy grabbed for the bandaged … thing on his back he quietly answered. "Yes Temari..." And while they were doing that the Kunoichi, Temari, used the distraction and shot another gust of wind towards Naruto, who was too far away for Sasuke to intervene, that lifted the blonde up and threw him roughly 30 feet away.

He had the guts, and skill Sasuke admitted, however to produce 3 Kage Bunshin behind him while on his back and flying, landing on them and while of course dispelling them not even his new suit was dirtied. That produced some raised brows from the 2 Suna-Nin. Which were accompanied by slacked jaws when Sasuke stepped up and they saw his Sharingan. He winked at Naruto, who grinned, almost smirked, back and stated: "Seems you picked the wrong moment to harass that girl. I think you are going to pay for your bad behavior now..." He smirked evilly.

While Kankuro unfolded a… puppet(?) from his back and Temari once again lifted her fan, Sasuke went through the hand signs for the Hosenkà and Naruto produced a full squad of Shadow Clones, all executing the Sparrowhawk Jutsu and then rushing the offensive "visitors". Sasuke's fireballs swallowed the wind Jutsu that was thrown their way, thereby getting strengthened, and the Suna-Nin barely managed to jump back out of the explosion range, the puppet getting singed a bit, before around a dozen Naruto's pummeled them to the ground. It seemed his efforts had paid off. Naruto's clones were at least 2-3 times as effective in such a situation than they had been without the boost and additional armor. He had not expected to have to do so little, but he liked it. Seemed his team had gotten quite the competence boost.

Sasuke smirked at Naruto, who smiled back, as they walked towards the 2, to lecture them on "good behavior", when suddenly they felt some pretty strong killing intent. On a nearby tree another Ninja had appeared, this one red-haired, with dark rings under his eyes and the Kanji for "Love" on his face. He was also wearing a… jar(?) on his back. Oh, and he was looking at them as if he wanted to kill them, right here and now. Sasuke swallowed. This was obviously another type of Ninja, and aside from the palpable amount of killing intent he exuded, he felt … wrong somehow.

The redhead spoke with a quiet, totally emotionless, voice. "If you continue to annoy me, I will kill you." His gaze then locked on the Suna-Nin, which were each held to the ground by 4 Narutos. "Temari, Kankuro, you are too noisy. Come." And towards Sasuke: "Let them go." without any particular inflection. And with that he jumped off the tree and started to walk towards the main road. The 2 beaten Ninja suddenly looked frightened AND ashamed, while Naruto only looked flabbergasted. "What's with that guy?" He asked Sasuke, who shrugged. He had no idea, but it seemed he was the leader of the other 2, which almost made him feel sorry for them.

The last Uchiha walked up to the pinned Ninja. "Naruto will let you go now. Do not attack any villagers again, or we will have another … encounter. With a less pleasant result for you." His Sharingan, including flickering Raiton Chakra, bored into their eyes, spinning lazily, and they nodded. Still not as afraid of him as of their "leader" it seemed, but he thought that his meaning had come through. "Let them go, Naruto, I think they understand now." Which his teammate did.

Without doing much more than throwing them murderous glances, especially for some reason Naruto, Kankuro and Temari left, following their creepy "superior" along the main road. As did Sasuke's and Naruto's worried looks. Both looked at each other, sure that this guy would be trouble.

Sasuke and Naruto then turned to look if the girl was OK and found Sakura kneeling beside her, obviously having already comforted the youth a bit. Good thinking, Sasuke thought. It seemed his efforts towards getting Sakura to be more useful and less … annoying were going rather well. Which his expression clearly (well, for him that was) showed when he nodded at her, which she answered with a smile. "Now, Nanao-chan, why don't you run home? I am sure no one will bother you anymore." Sakura softly stated, to which the little girl nodded, her pony tail flying, and ran off.

She then looked at Sasuke with a mixture of "Wow, you are so cool" and worry. "Who was that guy? He made all my skin crawl just by being there..." Which once again proved that the pink haired brainiac was pretty perceptive. If he had had a little less self-control, Sasuke might have experienced the same.

"No idea except that he's obviously from Suna and … pretty crazy if you ask me." Naruto enthusiastically nodded at that. "However, let's get to the mission now, we don't want Kakashi-sensei to tell US we were late, do we?" At the only half teasing remark both his teammates shuddered. If that ever happened they would never hear the end of it. Being so late that Kakashi realized it, unthinkable...

And off they went, to spend an entirely uneventful day with escorting a bunch of sweating miners and their cargo.

Not everyone was that lucky...

Meanwhile, further along the main road, Kankuro was rubbing his still hurting elbow. And annoying Temari by continuing to unload his anger and self-pity on her. Typical, the blond Kunoichi thought. One brother an emotionless omnicidal psychopath, the other a whiner with self-control problems. What had she done to deserve this fate?

"Shut it, Kankuro. You lost your cool and tried to attack a little girl, and now you are whining about the fact that 2 Konoha-Nin acted? If I had not interceded you might have been hurt, this way we both were humiliated, and almost had to face Gaara`s displeasure. Don't you think that's enough trouble for one day?" Her tone clearly said that she meant "one week" and her expression would have scared even people who did not know her. And Kankuro had known her since he was born. Too well at times. So, in a sudden expression of wisdom, he decided to shut up.

Roughly 15 meters ahead of them, Gaara was walking towards the Chuunin Exam Registration office, not bothering to listen to their squabbling. Or with anything at all, except for imagining how he would kill the 2 Konoha Shinobi once they met in the Exam…

A few hours later, Haku arrived at Konohas main gate. Instead of the fake Hunter Nin outfit he wore what would come to be the uniform of Sword's Ninja pretty soon. A blue-gray Ninja Suit, with dark blue shoulder pads (in his case molded to fit as perfectly as possible, and with a smooth wave pattern) as well as a thin black pocket-vest. And of course his new headband. It still made him feel a little … strange to belong to a Village. But as long as he could serve Zabuza-sama, he was as happy as he could be. His registration went without incident, and he received directions to his room.

Still another 3 hours later, almost all participants had registered. The only ones missing were the delegation from Sound and some local Genin whose sensei had been lazy with the paperwork. So Iruka closed the counter for the day, deciding that after all, tomorrow was the deadline, so there was no reason for him to work overtime already. There would be enough of that once the exams were running.

Instead he opted to go to the main gate and welcome Naruto and his team home.

Which he did some time later. And after the usual exchange of pleasantries, he had to wonder. What was the matter with Sasuke Uchiha? While he had always been his "pet prodigy" (and cause for the other teachers to envy him quite a bit), he had never much liked the aloof, darkly snobby, well yes, emo, boy. But here he saw him, exchanging friendly barbs with Naruto, and actually smiling? He would inquire about that when next meeting the Hokage he decided. While he did not think someone was manipulating the last Uchiha, it always paid to be careful, and ever since Mizuki's betrayal he had had trouble trusting anyone around Naruto.

But for now, he invited his favorite pupil and his team to Ichirakus, which caused the expected reaction in the blonde, even if his new outfit made him seem at least a little bit less childish, and so, with lots of smiling and even more ramen, ended the day for Iruka and Team 7.

At the same evening, in a small pension in Konohas outskirts, a well-known Suna Jounin stood looking at his (well two of them at least) "Chuunin-Exam-Infiltration-Cell" and scowled. "I am disappointed. You did not even manage to be in Konoha for an hour without incident. What exactly was it you did not understand regarding "keeping a low profile" prior to the invasion?" His voice was scathing and his "pupils" looked ashamed enough for 3. Temari shrugged.

No reason in denying it, Baki was always perfectly informed anyway, so she answered openly. "Kankuro felt insulted by a little girl, and tried to teach her a lesson." Her voice was sharp and derogatory, Kankuro merely grunted. "Instead, Sasuke Uchiha, whom we identified by his Sharingan and the Uchiha crest on his shirt, and an unknown Ninja in a red suit and armor parts he called Naruto, who is also pretty strong obviously as he created multiple Bunshin to attack us, "rescued" the girl. They then attacked Kankuro and myself with fire Jutsu and around 10 Bunshin, which were all really fast due to a Jutsu I've never seen before and probably Kage Bunshin to boot as I saw no elemental effects and they were "real" enough. I tried to intercede, but was overwhelmed as well." Baki had remained impassive at all that, his mind working fast. The little Uchiha had awakened his Bloodline already, good to know. But this other Ninja... he had never even heard of this Naruto kid, and for a Genin to not only make but use multiple Shadowclones... he must have a Bloodline of his own, probably one granting him a Jounin's Chakra capacity. And both were very likely already antagonistic to his pupils. This was bad...

He asked his pupils some details, and after receiving good descriptions of the 2 attackers, sent them to their beds. It was time to meet his … contact. Maybe he could tell him more about the 2…

Soon the first day of the exams, the 1st of July, finally came, and all 153 participating Genin were on their way to (or already in) the class room for the first Exam. Lots of talking, in parts nervous in other parts boisterous, sounded through the staircase as Sasuke and his team walked in.

He had kept training his Sharingan with Kakashi for the last few days and was now entirely sure his eyes hadn't lost any of their effectiveness. He was also quite a bit better at predicting movements, due to the wider array of information the mature Sharingan provided.

He had also kept some time to train with Naruto and Sakura, after all he was sure there would be a team part in the exam, and had been pleasantly surprised by the fact that Sakura had full 3 shots with the "Cutting Dust Barrier" and her control had increased even more. In fact he was pretty sure she had better control than everyone in their age group, including himself, and had told her so. He still could not believe that she could turn so uniformly pink. Maybe it was some sort of Bloodline? Naruto on the other hand could execute the Sparrowhawk with only 3 clones now, and it was really quite frightening what a dozen Naruto's "on speed" could do. No threat to him of course, but everyone without a Sharingan, even a Hyuga, would be hard pressed. In addition to that their teamwork had improved as well.

In short: they were ready.

They had entered the building together and just climbed the first stair, and Naruto just wanted to move up another stair, when Sasuke elbowed him. "That's a Genjutsu. There is the door to the classroom" he whispered. Naruto looked sheepishly, but followed him nonetheless. Sasuke however was wondering who on earth would fall for such a simple trick. He had not even used his Sharingan for this one. Ah well, maybe it would get better later on…

Hours later Sasuke had to admit: It had not gotten more interesting. Aside from a little incident with a guy named Kabuto (who had participated, and failed, in the exams before and had sprouted "information" about other participants that might or might not have been true) and a Oto-Nin crashing his glasses with some sort of sonic attack (how unsurprising) nothing happened. And the written exam… well best forget it. He was already on his way to tell them that no one could actually believe the crap about never being allowed to take the exam again (really, as if ANY village would allow other villages to permanently determine if any of their Ninja would become Chuunin eventually) when Naruto held his little speech. At times he could be really obnoxious, but as he looked around he seemed to have strengthened the resolve of some of the Genin. Who would have guessed Naruto was such a motivational speaker?

But overall Sasuke had been vastly disappointed by the exam so far, so now, standing in front of door 12 of the "Forest of Death" (really, how… non-descriptive a name…) or Training Ground 44, he was really eager to enter. Danger, battles, and his team running like a well-oiled machine… his gaze clearly said "bring it on!".

And so, after receiving a "Scroll of Heaven" Team 7 entered the Forest, Sasuke with eager anticipation, Naruto... well as Naruto always did, with a wide grin and full of energy and Sakura a few steps behind them, thinking "boys…"

Only about a minute later they were attacked by 2 absolutely huge (as in more than 1.5 meters long) bugs of some kind (where was an Aburame if you needed one?). Which caused Sakura to shriek, Naruto to produce a few Shadow Clones and swarm them and Sasuke to think that maybe, just maybe, he should not have wished for more excitement THAT strongly. However, they were no real threat to them, and some seconds later the lay dead, beaten by lots of Kage Bunshin and riddled with a few Kunai. As he collected his weapons Sasuke motioned his teammates to come closer. "Listen, obviously the rumors about this place DO have some base in facts. So we will keep to the trees and move as silently as possible from now on. We still need an Earth Scroll, but for now I'd say we simply try to evade the local fauna. And you Sakura, get a grip. Yes, there are huge ugly bugs in this forest. I assume there will be other, even bigger, animals as well. We need to be as alert as possible. Deal with it." She hung her head, slightly blushing, and mumbled something along "Yes Sasuke-kun…" Hopefully she meant it. If she was "on" Sakura could be quite the asset, he admitted to himself. "Good. Now lets get a move on." With that Sasuke made a single Kage Bunshin, which jumped off, jumped up the closest tree and started towards the widely visible tower, Naruto and Sakura behind him, and his Kage Bunshin as well as 2 of Narutos trailing 20 meters behind them. And they moved on, undisturbed, for a while.

That is, until Naruto stopped. "What's wrong?" Sasuke scanned the area, maybe Naruto had heard or smelled something (he would never assume that the mostly rather obnoxious blonde would SPOT something he missed, friendship only went this far after all). Naruto's smile however was somewhat forced and heanswered while scratching his head. "Ah, I really need to … pee" he whispered the last part, "Right NOW." Sasuke shook his head. Typical. "Ok, but hurry. We were making good progress so far and I want it to stay that way." He jumped down to the trees roots, Sakura following him, and Naruto vanished to the other side of the colossal piece of foliage. Which was probably about 25 meters or so away, give or take. What a crazy forest...

About a minute later Naruto returned, spouting an "All done..:" towards Sasuke's and Sakura's direction, only to receive Sasuke's totally unexpected, rather vicious, knee right to the face, followed up by a sweeping, straight-legged kick that sent "Naruto", who by now looked nothing like Naruto at all, into the tree, cracking some bark and a few bones for good measure. "Sasuke?" Sakura's usually useless shout was silenced by Sasuke's glare. He returned his gaze to the downed but still barely conscious "wannabe-Infiltrator". "A Henge, really? How many levels of stupid does one need to be to try and deceive an Uchiha like me with such a basic Genjutsu?" His voice was dropping venomous sarcasm, as he slowly walked up to the still "Narutoesque" Ninja, who just dropped the Henge, revealing him to be a breather-bearing Ame-Nin with brown hair. He tried to jump Sasuke, but he easily evaded the blow, sending the attacker flying with an upwards kick to his chin while his reappearing Shadowclone jumped in to kick him to ground again. His opponent landed with a dull thud and did not move any longer. "So much for that. Sakura, he might have surprised Naruto, maybe hurt him. We need to find him. Fast." While saying that Sasuke searched their opponent for a scroll, finding none. He removed his weapons instead, and used rope he found in one of his pockets to bind him.

Sakura quickly obeyed his rather harsh command, and they began to search for their missing team mate. It did not take long, and the spotted the bound and gagged Naruto leaning in a dent in one of the huge trees. Sasuke smirked as he dispelled his clone and cut the rope. "Drmmph ffaay iff!" Naruto managed through the gag, and even though it cost him quite a lot of restraint, Sasuke managed to comply. For now.

"We should agree upon a secret code though. After all, someone might try to impersonate ME next time. And obviously you two are … less than well equipped to see through illusions..." He mentioned in passing as Naruto ripped out the gag. "You know, that's a good idea. After all, WE don't have the luxury of being gifted with the most ridiculously overpowered Kekkei Genkai in Konoha…" He murmured/nagged while stretching his arms and legs. Sasuke merely smirked. Then he leaned towards Naruto's ear and whispered something, at which Naruto turned an angry shade of red. "Sasuke-baka! That's NOT going to be our password!" Sakura "ssshhhed" but too late, Naruto's yelling had lured a lynx to them. And of course, seeing the forest they were in, said Lynx was about 6 meters long. They jumped out of the great cat's way, and went to … subdue it. Sakura mainly evaded though, as she was well aware of not being any threat in close-quarter-fighting. ESPECIALLY to a cat as large as her room. Naruto on the other hand had quite a lot of success with his clones, Sasuke mused. So he only threw 2 Kunai at the cat's eyes and let his team mate do the rest. Yes, it was noisy (well, mainly the cat was, but for once that seemed to scare other beasts OFF rather than attracting more) and slower than his method. But effective nonetheless. So when a rather dirty and sweaty Naruto "Yay`ed" after roughly 3 minutes, Sasuke just smiled. "Now, for our real password..." he whispered it into his friends ears, and since no one cried out in outrage his choice seemed to be better this time. OK, maybe "Loud Orange" HAD been a bit mean, but oh so funny... Ah well, onward.

The next hour was rather uneventful, but of course it should not stay that way...

Meanwhile, somewhere else in the forest, Haku, who had been paired with 2 Konoha Ninja whose third team member had fallen for the "Wrong Answer-Never Chunin" fraud at the end of the first test, had managed to surprise another Konoha Team, whose members obviously had earned the enmity, maybe even rage, of his interim-team. It had been over in seconds, and luckily their victims had been carrying a Heaven Scroll. So now they were speeding towards the tower.

Overall it had been a very easy test so far, the former Missing Nin mused. It seemed like Zabuza-sama had been right. No challenge...

Sasuke was just about to order a short break, when a loud crashing sound came towards them. "Scatter!" he shouted, while focusing his Sharingan. He would not have needed it however, as even a blind and deaf Inuzuka could not have missed the incredibly HUGE snake that broke through the trees. They had expected, and seen, "large", but a snake with a diameter of at least 2 meters? No way!

Luckily all of them managed... oh shit, the thing had made a quick turn and swallowed Naruto! Sasuke was just about to try to cut the huge reptiles smooth underside, when he was interrupted by his Sharingan signaling multiple missiles coming his way. He dodged the 3 Shuriken, rolling back towards a tree and bouncing off the same tree towards the new assailant. A rather creepy looking Grass Nin. Who out of some reason had a very disturbing smile on his face... And managed to evade his jump-kick-combo with obvious ease.

"My my, you are pretty fast." Great, the voice was even creepier. Sasuke flicked 2 Shuriken towards the guy while he ran up a tree. Time for some other Jutsu, huh? After all he needed to go save Naruto. No time to waste with creepy assholes. "I was looking forward to see you … work, Sasuke." Sasuke's brows rose. The guy knew him, and the way he said his name...well, let's say he had another reason to dislike the guy, not that he needed it. No matter, he was far enough away. A few well aimed Hosenkà-Firebolts later, the area where his opponent had stood was covered in smoke and raining debris. That should have taken... "Kukuku, you ARE a feisty one." That oily voice came from directly behind him! He turned, using his fastest spin-kick, which almost managed to hit his opponent, even scratching at his long hair as he ducked below Sasuke's right leg. However, this only served to widen his smile further. He jumped away, standing straight and looking at Sasuke, and as far as he was concerned he seemed entirely at ease. "Now, I would like you to show me what you are truly capable of, Sasuke-kun." He took out his scroll, an Earth Scroll, and swallowed it. Yuck.

"Give me all you've got. Do not hold back anything. Or. You. Will. Die." At the last words he released Killing intent. A LOT of it. Almost as much as Itachi had once used against him, or Zabuza`s display in Wave. He heard Sakura whimper somewhere behind him, and he himself was shaking visibly. But still able to act. "I think I will motivate you by killing off your second team mate, hm?" The creepy guy said in a friendly tone, and went through a few finger-signs. "Fuuton: Daitoppa!" Another Jutsu copied, Sasuke thought idly as he moved to get Sakura out of the way of the wide arc of wickedly sharp air.

"My my, you are still able to move. I am impressed, truly." His eyes bored into Sasuke's Sharingan, and widened. "A mature Sharingan no less. I only heard you had activated it, but to mature so fast…" The tone of his voice was admiring. About the way one admires a weapon one wants to buy. "Let us see what else..." At that Sasuke interrupted him. While his opponent had been talking he had executed the Sparrowhawk Jutsu, and now he was going at him with everything he knew, Taijutsu fully supported by his Sharingan. And out of his first 3 attacks, 2 even managed to hit. But instead of shocking or scaring the guy, he only kept smiling. It was almost as if he WANTED Sasuke to be as good as possible... Still, he kept the pressure up, but his efforts were overall unsuccessful. His opponent was obviously more skilled than any opponent short of Itachi or Kakashi he had ever had a Taijutsu bout with, and he somehow could not shake the feeling that he was still holding back.

At that moment the huge snake came toppling through the trees nearby. Or to be precise, parts of it, and a red flood. It seemed like Naruto had done what he always did: Applied clones until the problem was solved. Or in this case burst. His opponent stared for a moment, obviously quite surprised.

Suddenly he vanished, only to reappear on a tree a few meters away. "You have passed. But I simply HAVE to see if you were holding back anything. Time to give you a reason to REALLY fight me..." And with that he started to rain Daitoppas on the area. Smashing Naruto in a tree that was soon cut to splinters, some debris smashing into Sasuke despite his best efforts, and halfway burying Sakura below another tree before Sasuke could do too much. Then he jumped down and walked towards them. "Now then, Sasuke, you will have reason to go all out."

At that Sasuke almost despaired. The sheer speed and force of the last few attacks had clearly showed him that he was facing a Jounin. He could not beat him, that much was clear. But if he did nothing, he would kill his team, no his friends. No way in hell he would allow that to happen. And if it cost his life to take out that creep, then so be it. His expression hardened, and he began to go through the signs for the Grand Fireball while running straight towards the guy. If he timed it just right …

And at the exact moment his opponent released a Daitoppa that would have very likely shredded Naruto and Sakura, Sasuke jumped in between and blew a Fireball as big as he could right back. The effect was immediate and impressive. The ball of fire quickly tripled in size, exploding and swallowing the Wind Jutsu whole, as well as his opponent. He was sure he saw that before the concussion wave hit him and flung him high up into a nearby tree, where he landed on a broad branch, debris raining down around him, spent and singed on more than one place. He was still alive, which he had not expected, and had saved his friends. Good. He tried to smile, but in that exact moment his eyes seemed to be set on fire. He weakly tried to reach for them to somehow ease the pain, but saw something that prevented him from doing anything more than staring.

Down where the fire had engulfed his opponent, something moved in the smoke. And stepped out of it. It was the creepy guy, only that part of his face was … missing, like a snake shedding its skin, to which the face that appeared under it fitted pretty well, and most of his clothing burned black. Yet he was alive! HOW?

"That was impressive. Perfect timing, almost perfect execution. Very well done. Futile, but nonetheless..." The voice was now hissing, and the … guy? ripped off the rest of "his" face, which had to be some kind of disguise, revealing white skin and snakelike eyes and features, and ignored the prone Sasuke. Instead he turned towards the area where the unconscious Naruto and Sakura lay, and slowly went towards them, obviously intent to finish the job.

In this moment, where he should be afraid, for his friends and himself, and hurting all over his body, Sasuke suddenly felt … calm. Tranquil even. There was no pain, no fear, no anger. He stood up, something that had seemed impossible a few moments ago and was so easy right now, and looked at his surroundings. He saw everything in the area in perfect clarity. Every falling leaf, every crawling bug, every single beam of light, it all was a tranquil, perfectly quiet world. And he saw it all, from dozens, even hundreds of angles, every movement predicted, every detail sharp. A thin smile appeared on his lips, his face was … serene, collected and yet determined. He would show this creep what happened to those who threatened his friends.

His opponent must have had extremely sharp senses, as he suddenly turned around and looked at Sasuke. More specific at his eyes. "What is that?" He hissed almost perplexed. Orochimaru knew the Sharingan well. And yet he had never seen, or even heard of, a Sharingan that looked like this. Instead of the "normal" black pupil in the middle there was a 3-sided, thin star. And the Tomoe seemed to have wandered anti-clockwise, for about a third of the eyes circumference, and inwards, while trailing a knife-like appendage to their former place, looking like pearls with a part of an incomplete spiral trailing outwards from each. But even more worrying: all of it gleamed in purest, almost too bright, white.

He HAD to give the boy his seal right now. A new, unknown form of the Sharingan, he almost drooled in glee, he simply HAD to have it! His neck extended, as did his teeth, and he tried to bite Sasuke in the neck. Tried being the word, as Sasuke flicked 2 Shuriken away while the … head raced towards him. Exactly as he was close enough to bite the Shuriken hit Orochimaru in the legs, distracting him enough that Sasukes upward-kick managed to perfectly hit his chin, snapping his mouth shut and causing him to bite his own tongue. He began to draw his head back as quickly as he could, but Sasuke was on the move already. He followed the head, aiming another attack, this time with a Kunai, at the throat, drawing blood. And landing in front of the startled Sannin, already executing a sweeping kick. The Snake managed to evade it, just to land where Sasukes balancing arm swept a punch in his face, causing him to stumble back. What the hell, not only was this … boy roughly twice as fast as he had been just a few moments before, it seemed like he saw more than even the Sharingan could. It was almost like he was omniscient! The Spiral even vaguely remembered him of the Rinnengans rings, maybe this boys eyes had developed some of its predecessors abilities, unlikely as it was... No matter the reason, he had no way to subdue him without resorting to measures that would kill the boy. And after having seen THAT, he would do everything to keep him alive. With this Sharingan... He barely managed to evade Sasukes next attack, a short range Daitoppa, and decided to leave right now. He would get other chances to apply his seal. And he was looking forward to seeing what the boys true potential would be. He vanished into the ground, and Sasuke stared into nothingness, still seeing everything around him in this new, perfect clarity. He had won, it seemed. Now, time to get Naruto and Sakura...out...of...

He toppled over, for a short moment pain raced through his body, then blackness claimed him.

AN: Sorry for the late chapter, but lots of Work+short-time illness + difficult to integrate Chapter conspired towards this end. As compensation it is the longest so far, and if I might say so myself, the most important.

The next update should come within my regular one-week-interval though, if nothing unforeseen happens. And cover the rest of the exam up to the break before the "real" 3rd exam.

I hope you enjoyed it, and if you want to hear the right song for the mood during Sasukes "First Time" at the end, listen to "Pearls of Light" from Within Temptation.

Now: Please review!