Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and I'm doing this for fun not profit
Chapter 14: Lions, Tigers, Snakes…Oh My!
After forty-five minutes Anko finally showed up at training ground forty-four, shortly thereafter Naruto did as well although he stayed out of the crazy-snake lady's line of sight. She had hunted him for a good thirty of those minutes before she realized she had an exam to run. Luckily for Naruto none of the snakes she sent after him, that had appeared from her sleeve, hit home.
Naruto arrived as she was explaining the rules; basically they had five days to take a scroll from one of the other teams. Walking up to Haku and Sai he said, "You guys ready for this?"
Receiving a nod from Sai, he turned his attention to Haku who said lightly, "Did you have fun with the proctor?" However despite the light tone, he gave a hand sign to Naruto that said trouble.
"Hey Sai, do you think you can get our permission forms considering I'm on the proctors shit list?" Naruto asked.
"Sure Dickless," Sai replied giving that annoying fake smile of his.
After he left Naruto said, "Can we just kill him and leave his body to rot in the woods?"
Shaking his head Haku said, "All three of us need to reach the central tower in order to advance."
"I don't know if I can last five days with him," Naruto said then turning serious asked, "What is it?"
"The Sound team was in Orochimaru's base in Grass country," Haku said in a near whisper.
"Are you sure?" Seeing Haku's stance he said more to himself then anybody, "Yeah your sure. Sometimes I wish Rock Clones sent their memories like Shadow Clones do."
Just then a kunai appeared in Anko's hand and she sent it flying at Sai who had grabbed the permission forms as requested. But unfortunately as he was walking away he said something about Anko dressing like a loose women and received a cut to the side of his head for it. Licking it she said, "It's foolish boys like you that end up spilling the most of that delicious red blood in my beautiful Forest of Death."
Feeling a presence behind her she turned slightly to see a grass-nin whose tongue had extended holding her kunai. Anko grabbed her kunai from the strange grass-nin who said, "I believe this is yours."
"Thhhaaannks," Anko said stretching it out, "but unless you have a death wish I suggest you refrain from sneaking up on me."
"Of course, forgive me it's just the sight of blood being spilled so early in this exam has gotten me a bit riled up," the grass-nin responded calmly almost mockingly.
Choosing to ignore the minor disrespect she heard, Anko said, "Well there seems to be lots of blood thirsty competitors in this one. This ought to be fun. Alright maggots those that want to continue sign your forms and then turn them in for your scroll."
Seeing that Sai was making his way back Haku said, "How do you want to handle the Sound Team."
Naruto replied, "We'll go after them, with any luck they'll have the scroll we need. We'll then turn them into the proctor and let the Hokage decide what he wants to do with them."
Nodding his head Haku thanked Sai as he reached them and handed them the forms. Feeling the cut along his face Sai said, "I don't think the proctor likes me."
Deciding to have a little fun with him Naruto said, "That's just the way she shows affection."
"Interesting then cutting someone and then licking the wound is a way of greeting then?" Sai said as if it made perfect sense to him.
Naruto getting an image of Sai throwing a kunai at him and then licking the wound popped into his head, shivering at the mental image he answered, "On second thought you're probably right. She doesn't like you."
"Oh," was all Sai said.
"Well let's hurry up and fill out these forms so we can get our scroll," Naruto said excitedly.
Team Seven was conferring among themselves about who they should target, "I think we should go after Team Ten, if that blonde-kid could take them all down by himself they have to be pretty weak," Kiba said.
"Hn, what does it matter mutt," Sasuke said dismissively, "Picking a team because their weak just makes you look weak."
"It's called strategy, there's no sense in going all out since we have no idea what the last test has to offer," Kiba countered glaring at the last Uchiha. "What do you think Sakura?"
Not really paying attention, being too busy watching the creepy forest, but recognizing somebody had called her name Sakura looked at the boys to see them glaring at one another. Sighing at their attitudes she thought, "Sometimes I wish they would just admit they are friends and quite trying to antagonize one another."
"Sorry what did you say?" she asked.
"I said we should go after Team Ten since their probably the weakest group here," Kiba said looking away from the still glaring Sasuke.
"I don't think we should go after any of the teams from Konoha," she said after thinking on the matter for a few moments. While she could see Kiba's point attacking their fellow genin just seemed wrong to her.
"Come on Sakura, just because its Ino's team doesn't mean we shouldn't try and take their scroll." Kiba said.
"I noticed you didn't volunteer Hinata's team, Kiba," Sasuke said.
"That's because they have Hinata and Shino," Kiba said, "no way I want to tussle with those two." Turning to Sakura he added, "I don't want to fight Leaf Shinobi either, but unfortunately the majority of genin that passed come from the Leaf we can't just ignore them. That limits our options."
Sakura nodded her head saying, "Your right, but can we at least try not to go after our friends."
"Don't be ridiculous," Sasuke said coldly ignoring the hurt look on Sakura's face, "Everyone in this competition is fair game."
Team Dosu was watching Team Seven from a distance. They were eager to complete their mission. The truth was these exams were just the cover so they could complete their true object: Kill Sasuke Uchiha. They didn't know why Orochimaru wanted the boy dead, but it was a chance to show their master they were worthy of his belief in them. None of them could understand why the Leaf Village hated him so considering everyone in the Grass Country Base would gladly give their life for him. He had a way of making you feel as if you were the only thing that mattered.
While Zaku was his most ardent supporter, all of them felt indebted to the Snake Sannin. However, recently Kin had been having doubts. She felt as if she wasn't being told the truth about what they were supposed to accomplish. Why send the three of them here just to kill one genin. Recently she felt as if things were going on around her and she was but a minor player in some major scheme that she wasn't even aware of. The feeling had started when lots of new faces had begun to show up at the Grass Country base. Then there had been that alert were everyone had been order to chase after some escapees or something but her team had been left out, instead they had been told to grab their gear and head to Konoha. Once they had arrived they had met a man who claimed Orochimaru sent him to act as their sensei yet after registering them he had promptly disappeared.
But she supposed she should just listen to the advice that Dosu had given her before and trust in Lord Orochimaru. He had given her everything a home, food and clothing as well as strength. She cringed when she thought of the weak little girl crying in the street due to being forced out of the orphanage at eight-years old due to a lack of funds. Orochimaru had found her there starving, he had then promised to feed her and make her strong. He had honored that promise the least she could do was trust in her master.
"What's the game plan Shikamaru?" Ino asked.
"Pick on someone weaker than us I suppose, and stay the hell away from those sponsored-nin," he answered.
"Right, I like that plan," Chouji said.
"Me too," seconded Ino.
Hinata was staring at Ronin again, every few seconds she would look just to make sure he was still there. Every time she looked though she would feel her cheeks heat up.
"What's got you so flustered, bitch," Ami suddenly said.
Rolling her eyes she looked at the purple-haired girl and said, "Nothing."
"Then how about you focus on what we're going to do once this test starts," Ami said angrily.
"Your right," Hinata said, "You were saying something Shino."
"I have marked several teams as candidates for us to engage for their scrolls," Shino said.
"By marked do you mean you planted a female beetle on them?" Hinata asked.
Shaking his head yes he said, "The proctor has not stated that we are not allowed to attempt to gain an advantage while we wait."
Nodding her head Hinata said, "Okay, have you marked Team Seven."
"Yes."
"Oh hell no, there is no way are we going to attack Sasuke's team," Ami said angrily.
"I have not marked them in order to attack them," Shino said, "Kiba is on Team Seven so we would like to know if he is alright."
"Aw how sweet," Ami said her tone mocking.
Hinata just sighed five days trapped in the woods with Ami was going to seem like a lifetime. Perhaps that was the reason they made the rule that you needed all three of your teammates to advance.
At the jounin station the sensei were getting restless. The test was supposed to be over at four o'clock it was now almost approaching five. The door opened and Ibiki stepped in. Looking at the various senseis he said, "The following teams have moved on to the next exam," he then rattled off the various team designations.
Zabuza just smirked when he heard his team called, especially since Asuma face clearly showed his surprise at it. Kakashi said, "May I ask why you are personally reading out the list Ibiki? You could have sent a chunin."
Looking dead at Zabuza the head proctor said, "I wanted to see the face of the man whose student has made me have to reevaluate how I handle this test."
Leaning back into the couch he was sitting in Zabuza said with his voice showing how pleased he was, "What did the brat do?"
"How much do you know about what they faced?" Ibiki asked.
Shrugging Zabuza answered, "The basics I guess, some sort of test that encourages cheating. With a do or die question at the end."
"Exactly," Ibiki said, "Your student first decided to assault one of the hidden proctors I had scattered among the test takers for his answer sheet. He then had the audacity to say my test was bullshit and didn't take into account that some genin just aren't geared towards the discreet means of gathering information."
"Wait a second, why didn't you disqualify him when he attacked the proctor?" Asuma asked still stunned.
"Why you ask," Ibiki said with a smile, "Because it was brilliant, also the way he defended his actions was he used my own rules against me and finally he was right not everyone is skilled in gathering information discreetly. Especially when they don't have Kekkei Genkai to rely on and only those skills that just about every shinobi knows. With that in mind there was only one person in the whole test that managed to get all the answers without being caught cheating once and we believe she answered the questions on her own."
Having said his fill, Ibiki left to go inform the Hokage of his sponsored charges actions and their results. Getting up, Zabuza walked past the shocked Asuma gloating, "See as I said, he's as subtle as a hammer, but never bet against the brat or you're going to end up looking like a fool."
After all the teams that wanted to continue handed in their forms they approached the gates that surrounded the forest. Naruto's team took the gate near the Sound team. They had been given the Heaven scroll; hopefully the Sound team would have the Earth Scroll. The plan was simple as soon as the head proctor said start they would head right at them. Then once they defeated them, they would hand them off to a proctor hopefully then the Hokage would be able to learn just what Orochimaru was up to.
As the time approached the proctor at their gate began to unlock it. All of a sudden a buzzard sounded alerting all the teams that the second round of the Chunin Exams had begun. Dashing through the gate they took a course they believed would take them across their targets' path. If worse came to worse they should be able to backtrack to the gate to pick up their tracks.
Sai was a bit confused about what they were doing seeing as they didn't include him in there plan. Getting tired of blindly following he said, "What is our course of action."
Feeling a bit guilty about leaving their teammate out of the loop Haku said, "We are going after the Sound Team."
"I do not believe that is a wise plan," Sai said calmly, "that team does strike me as weak."
"We know," Naruto said, "but we believe they are working for Orochimaru."
Sai eyes widened in shock at the name, "I still do not understand what purpose it serves in targeting them."
"If we can capture them we may learn what they are up to." Naruto said. Then making a cross sign he created a dozen Shadow Clones that fanned out in front of them.
It was fifteen minutes before one of them dispelled itself. The Sound team was heading right to them choosing a suitable spot to set up an ambush they waited. Five minutes later the three Sound genin showed up. As soon as they appeared the girl threw a wave of senbon into the trees. They impacted into the trees near each of the boys, when they spotted the paper bombs attached to them they were forced to abandon their hiding spots. Taking up positions in front of the Sound genin, each team then began sizing each other up.
"So it seems that not only can you not cheat without being noticed, but you can't set up a proper ambush either," the bandaged leader of the Sound team said.
"Well perhaps you can help and tell me what I did wrong," Naruto said.
"Simple you chose us as your opponents," the boy Naruto tripped earlier said.
In truth the ambush would have worked but Dosu had been sending out sound waves through his melody arm causing it to act like the sonar of a bat. When he had detected the three boys he had told Kin through hand signs giving her their relative positions.
Dosu though recognized that a fight would delay them from their true objective said, "There is no need to fight here," he then pulled out the earth scroll they were given holding it for Team Zabuza to see.
Naruto narrowed his eyes saying, "What that's it? All that talk about disrespecting the Sound Village and you're a group of spineless cowards."
Zaku looked about ready to fight at that, but Dosu held up his hand to stop him. Haku witnessing this came to a conclusion and said, "I see you have another objective, these exams are just a cover to allow you the ability to move freely within the Leaf village."
Lowering his hand Dosu said calmly, "Well I guess we'll have to fight after all."
"Alright, the loud-mouth blonde is mine," Zaku said happy with the sudden change of plans.
"Don't underestimate him Zaku," Dosu warned.
"Sai, would you mind handling the guy in the bandages?" Haku asked.
"Sure thing Ugly," Sai said chipperly.
Sai whipped out a scroll and after drawing in it, several fu dogs flew from the scroll towards the Sound trio causing them to split up. Naruto charged at the guy who had called dibs on him, about half way to him the guy raised his arms and Naruto saw what appeared to be nozzles in his hands. From the nozzle a huge blast of air erupted, nailing Naruto in the chest sending him flying into the woods.
Walking in the direction Naruto flew Zaku gloated saying, "Not so tough now are you punk."
From the bushes he heard, "Wind Style: Air Bullet Barrage."
Twenty air bullets flew from the brush shredding it with several of them connecting with Zaku throwing him back. Quickly scrambling to his feet and sure that several ribs had been cracked by the attack Zaku looked on in surprise as he say two rows of the blond-boy standing there, the front row was kneeling while the back row was standing, one of boys was standing to the side with his sword drawn holding it in the air.
The one with the sword said while he waved it downward, "Volley two, fire!"
From the two lines of shadow clones another barrage of air bullets shot forth. Zaku brought up his air vents and fired a concentrated blast at the incoming projectiles. His stronger attack easily overcame the few air bullets that hit it and plowed into the clones dispersing several of them.
"Hah, is that the best you got bastard," Zaku called out watching the few remaining copies trying to stand.
"It's called a distraction moron," the blonde-boys voice came from behind.
Zaku attempted to turn and bring his air cannons to bear on the boy; however Naruto hit him with a roundhouse kick that to Zaku felt like it could have decapitated him. Flying away Zaku bounced a couple of times before finding his footing. He was breathing heavily and there currently seemed to be three or four of the boy as his vision was all blurry.
Preparing himself for the next attack Zaku thought, "I'm not going to lose to a bastard like him; I'll justify Lord Orochimaru's faith in me."
Dosu was having a hard time with the pale kid. Apparently anything he drew he could bring to life and the kid had a very vivid imagination having had to avoid several fu dogs as well as fight a giant scorpion. Dosu had gotten close once hitting him with the full effects of his melody arm only for the boy to turn into ink. Dosu was scanning the surrounding area looking for any sign of where his opponent was hiding.
Sai was watching his opponent from a tree behind the sound-nin trying to figure out the trick behind his attack. Despite never having connected a single physical blow his ink attacks were being dispelled whenever the boy swung the device on his right arm. Furthermore when he had attacked his Ink Clone he had seen some sort of pressure wave move towards the ear of his clone right before it dispelled. Forming a hypothesis of what his opponent attack was he prepared a suitable defense.
Sai watched as his opponent uncovered the weapon on his arm and then flicked it with a finger on his other hand. He wondered what he was up to until he disappeared. Sensing the attack he parried it with his tanto catching the weapon on Dosu's outstretched arm.
"Too bad, the games over for you," the sound genin said right before Sai felt a large pressure hitting his left ear and fell out of the tree.
Dosu followed the fallen Leaf ninja as he crawled away knowing he probably wouldn't be able to stand let alone fight. Especially with all the blood leaking from his ear, getting closer he pulled a kunai preparing to finish him up close and personnel when he noticed something funny about the blood that it seemed darker than usual. Realizing what it was too late to avoid the vicious kick Sai delivered to his knee. Luckily for Dosu that while it locked the joint it didn't break it. He never the less stumbled backwards eventually falling but quickly rolled to a kneeling position.
"I see you figured out my attacks are based on sound," Dosu said.
"I'm afraid I can't hear you," Sai said while standing and figuring that the movement around the bandaged boys mouth meant he was talking, "However if you're asking about how I'm still conscious I'm afraid it's due to your over reliance on that weapon of yours. But what really gave it away was how after tapping it you were suddenly aware of where I was hiding, after that it was easy to figure out that your powers are sound based."
Readying his tanto Sai prepared to press the advantage he had gained by plugging his ears with the Ink earplugs he had made.
Kin was beginning to really get annoyed with the masked boy facing her, every time she attempted to throw a senbon at the boy he countered with one of his own. She half suspected that he was holding back against her. Sometimes she wished that she had allowed Orochimaru to experiment on her the way Zaku and Dosu had. While it was apparent what Zaku had had done to him, only Dosu's teammates knew that the wrapped boy's incredible hearing was a result of Orochimaru's tampering. However, Kin could never bring herself to do it although she could never fully understand why. She supposed that she felt if she was going to become stronger that she wanted it to be due to her own resolve not as a result of being some lab experiment.
She was jerked from her thoughts as several copies of the boy attacked from different angles. Cursing herself for allowing her mind to wander in the midst of battle she quickly recovered by sending several senbons at the clones. These senbon as opposed to her previous ones had a little extra surprise tied to them; the fronts were also heavier so after they hit the water clones they fell with the needle facing down burying themselves into the ground.
Haku wondered why the girl had thrown senbon with bells attached to them, were they going to act as some kind of distraction. He also noted that they fell funny, most senbon where balanced to fly smoothly through the air but these seemed to be front heavy. He would have to be cautious and decided to use his Crystal Ice Mirrors Jutsu. Using the water from the dispelled Water Clones, Haku began forming the mirrors around the female sound-nin. Once the jutsu was fully formed he stepped into the nearest one and his image then appeared within all of the mirrors.
"Please stand down and surrender, we know you work for Orochimaru and cannot allow you to achieve your objective," Haku asked not wishing to harm his opponent and hoping she would see reason. "You cannot escape this jutsu."
"I'm not impressed if this jutsu was all that, you would have simply crushed me already," Kin retorted.
"I do not wish to inflict any unnecessary harm upon you if I can avoid it," Haku said calmly.
"You won't live long as a shinobi with that attitude," Kin said while preparing her attack.
"Perhaps," Haku said nodding his head, "nevertheless please surrender."
"Tempting," Kin said while pulling the strings attached to her bells, "but I have another idea. How about you die now?"
Hearing the bells ring Haku focused on them but didn't see any reason to be alarmed until he turned back to Kin and saw dozens of copies of her appear. Hearing the bells again he found that suddenly his body didn't want to respond.
"Now you understand who the bell tolls for, it tolls for thee," Kin said mockingly before aiming at the mirror she saw the boy had stepped into with another senbon. Letting it fly it hit the mirror right between the boy's eyes but bounced harmlessly off of it.
Seeing no other choice Haku said, "I'm sorry," before sluggishly reaching into his pouch for his own senbon. Kin smiled confident the boy would miss after all she knew how her jutsu worked he could literally be seeing hundreds of her. But she was treated to a shock as senbon began appearing from out of all of the mirrors not just the one the boy had stepped into. Realizing the danger she was in and that she could no longer count on her illusion she tried to make a break for it only to be peppered by several of the flying needles.
Her jutsu disrupted Haku steeped out of the mirror and began approaching the barely conscious girl who asked, "h-h-how?"
"You made the mistake of assuming that I was only in the one mirror in actuality I'm in all of them and none of them and can attack from all of them instantaneously if need be. It was just a matter of attacking all of the replicas then, to hit the real you."
"Now rest," he said rendering her unconscious he then set to work treating her wounds.
Dosu hated to admit it but the boy may have had a point about his overreliance on the melody arm. The boy was easily matching his taijutsu. He also had the impression that the boy was herding him. Deciding enough was enough he threw a smoke bomb onto the ground and took the opportunity it created to disengage. He didn't move far and he could still see the boy from the bushes he hid in but he would wait until his opponent left to help one of his friends. Then Dosu would go help double team whoever it was the boy didn't help and then whichever teammate it was Dosu helped would join him in either helping the third or escaping depending on the situation. They still had a mission to complete and technically they didn't need all three members to achieve it, but despite the fact he found them annoying most of the time they were his team and Dosu wouldn't abandon them if he could help it.
Dosu froze when he felt something brush against his leg looking down he saw a black snake. The snake was quickly joined by others as they proceeded to quickly climb up his body and binding him thus preventing him from swing his arm to disrupt the ink creatures. Tumbling out of the bushes he had been hiding in, he tried to free himself, but the snakes had completely encased his body and began squeezing.
Sai walked up to the wrapped Dosu saying, "If you continue to struggle those snakes will continue to tighten until you can no longer breathe. I believe my teammates would be rather cross with me if I return with a corpse, so please don't do anything foolish."
Zaku crashed against the tree the blonde had sent him flying into with the kick he had landed. He then slumped down it until he was sitting against the base of the tree. From that sitting position Zaku raised his right arm to blast the blonde cursing the fact that his left was useless having broken it trying to block one of the boy's other strikes. But the blonde quickly closed the distance and kicked his arm off to the right sending the blast flying into the forest. Before he could bring his arm back to block his world went dark when the blonde smashed his knee into Zaku's face sending the back of his head against the tree.
Watching as the boy slumped to the side Naruto wondered whether or not any of his teammates needed help. Well, truthfully he was only wondering about Sai, sure that Haku could handle the girl. Unless of course Haku let his tendency to go easy on his opponents get him into trouble. However that fear was put to rest as Haku showed up caring the unconscious girl bridal style in his arms. Raising an eyebrow at that he imagined that underneath his mask Haku was blushing furiously, especially considering in all the years they had travelled with Zabuza they hadn't gotten the opportunity to be near lots of girls, let alone hold them.
Deciding to leave his opponent with Haku, Naruto was just about to go in search of Sai when he showed up with his opponent wrapped in a black mass of writhing snakes. The pale boy was carrying him over one shoulder and once Sai reached them dropped the bandage boy to the ground none too gently. The Sound-nin locked like he wanted to complain about his rough treatment but a paper seal over his mouth appeared to prevent it.
Taking in the rough appearance of Naruto's opponent Sai said, "Well it appears you didn't need my help after all Dickless."
Ignoring the nickname Naruto said, "Funny, I was just about to see if you needed a hand. I guess you're not as weak as you look."
"Perhaps you two can refrain from arguing so we may discuss what to do with them now that we've captured them," Haku said wondering silently if the two boys would ever get along.
"Well first did you get your opponents scroll Sai?" Naruto asked. The answer was Sai throwing a brown object at him that he caught. Smiling that they now had a complete set of scrolls, he said while putting the scroll in his pouch, "Then let's hurry and bind them up so we can drop them off with a proctor."
Haku then moved towards Dosu and injected him with a sleeping agent while Naruto went to bind the still unconscious Zaku. Once all three were tightly bound they then began making the trek towards the fence hoping to find someone along the perimeter they could drop the captured sound-nin off with.
Hinata was following Shino with Ami traveling just behind her. Hinata secretly wished Ami could be like this every time they were together, which was calm and focused on the task at hand. The second exam had been going on for roughly one hour by here calculations. Considering this test had started at five o'clock and that it was now almost six they had at most maybe an hour of sunlight before it got dark. While that wouldn't mean they were safe they figured that most people would at least bunk for the first day seeing how everyone would still be relatively rested and prepared.
No the night attacks would probably start happening on the second or third night as the other teams got more and more desperate. Shino stopped on the branch in front of her and then dropped down to the forest ground below. Hinata noticed a wolfish smile appearing on Ami's face and had a hard time from keeping a pleased grin from appearing on her own as the fact that Shino had stopped leading them around the circular path they had been taking around this spot meant their plan was working.
Activating the Byakugan, while she appeared to be resting like the others, she caught site of three genin behind them taking up ambush position in the trees above them. Unfortunately for them the genin didn't appear to know that those trees already had inhabitants in the form of the leaf village jumping leeches that were preparing to drop down on the unsuspecting genin.
After about another minute the leeches began raining down and the genin tried to escape but ran right into their trap. The net they had laid on ground in preparation of this moment sprung up around the three effectively removing them from play.
Outside training area forty-four Anko heard a scream while sitting on the shack that the genin had received their scrolls from. Popping another dumpling in her mouth she said, "Sounds like the fun is already beginning."
Taking a swig of her red bean paste her eye began to twitch when she heard, "Hey, crazy snake lady."
Turning around she saw the blonde-boy from earlier standing on one of the large branches of the giant trees. Raising her arm at the boy with a closed fist she said, "Don't think I won't come in there and kill you, you little twerp."
If the blonde was scared in the slightest he didn't show it as he said, "Awwww, don't be like that. I brought you something."
In a voice a child usually used when a parent said they had bought a gift for them she said, "Really what?" To respond the blond lifted what looked to be a person tied up in bandages from head to toe above his head and then threw it at Anko.
If Anko was surprised then Kin, the person who was tied up in the wraps Naruto had liberated from the mummy wrapped sound-nin, was definitely taken aback as she suddenly found herself flying head first at the stunned proctor. As Naruto and the others had made their way around the perimeter looking for someone Kin had the distinct impression of floating. When the feeling ended she began to hear yelling and then slowly becoming even more aware of the world around her as she felt herself being picked up and thrown. At the moment what she really wished was that the boys who had obviously tied her up like a mummy had also covered her eyes as the Kin missile came closer and closer to the ground.
Luckily for Kin the proctor stepped to the side easily catching her about the midsection. Gently setting her down Anko did the same as Naruto then sent down Kin's two teammates in the same fashion. After catching the last of the captured sound-nin Anko turned towards the blonde boy saying, "You don't need to throw out the ones you defeat, just leave them in there to give them a second chance to get a scroll."
"Take them to the Old Man and tell him Ronin said they were in the Grass Base we escaped from he'll know what you mean," the blond boy said.
"I don't know who you think you are genin to be ordering around a jounin," Anko started.
Only to be cut off by the blonde boy, "Look lady it's important trust me. Just find the old man he'll explain it to you."
"Well who is this old man you keep talking about," she countered.
The boy in the white and red mask next to the blonde said, "He means the Hokage." Having nothing left to add the three boys disappeared back into the woods. Leaving a surprised Anko who then found a couple of her assistants to help her carry the three genin to the I.T department before she then went to find the Hokage.
As the sun began to set Naruto and the others found a defensible position to settle in for the night before heading to the tower the next day. Haku had taken off his mask and Naruto could see he was still concerned about what it was that the Sound genin true objective was. Trying to ease his mind Naruto said, "Don't worry Haku, I'm sure the Hokage will get to the bottom of what they were doing here."
"Yes," Haku said, "but that isn't what is vexing me."
"Oh then what's that Ugly," Sai said seeming as oblivious to how much his teammates hated their nicknames as ever.
"I guess I'm just concerned that whatever Orochimaru had planned, those three just played a small part in it," Haku said. "Also, whatever they were supposed to do they were going to do it during this exam."
"How did you come to that conclusion?" Naruto asked clearly surprised at that line of thought.
Haku thought about how to phrase his answer a moment before he said, "They had no need of their scroll and were willing to just give it to us. That suggest they wanted to be able to quickly move on. This may be a stretch, but I think they may be targeting one of the other teams to kill them."
Naruto sat down on the exposed root near his foot before blowing out a breath saying, "I guess quickly heading to the tower then is out of the question."
"I do not think that is a wise course of action," Sai said calmly, "Our objective is quite clear and that is to get the scrolls to the tower."
"We know, but if Orochimaru is targeting one the other teams then we should help them if we can," Naruto said his voice leaving no doubt that is preciously what they were going to do.
However Sai wasn't going to let the subject go, "Even if that is the case we have removed his agents from the competition."
Haku pointed out though, "Unfortunately we can't be they were the only team he has in this competition."
"But the Sound village only had one team in the Chunin Exams," Sai said.
"True," Haku conceded, "however as we stated before we spotted them in a base in Grass Country, therefore we can't be sure that all of the Sound Village is working with Orochimaru. He may have agents among several villages."
"We don't even know who he is targeting though so how will remaining in the forest prevent his plan from succeeding?" Sai asked legitimately.
Naruto getting tired of arguing in circles said, "Look we're staying! We are going to at least try and do something to help. If you want, head to the tower with the scrolls and we'll meet you there okay."
"I'll stay, although I find this to be a foolish endeavor," Sai said as close to showing an emotion as he had gotten so far.
"Fine," Naruto said glad it was settled, "I'll take first watch you two get some sleep."
As Sai and Haku settled in to get some sleep Naruto looked up at the few stars visible through the canopy. All he hoped was that whatever Orochimaru had planned Hinata and Sakura weren't going to get sucked into it somehow."
Sakura woke up at sunrise as her and her teammates had agreed the previous night. She had been in charge of the first watch. When it was her turn to sleep she found she had slept reasonable well considering the circumstances. Although she was finding her long hair rather inconvenient at the moment considering how much care it often required.
Kiba was wide awake but considering he had been given the last watch that wasn't a surprise, what did surprise Sakura was just how much of a morning person the young Inuzuka was. Sasuke also began to stir, quickly gaining his bearing he joined them around the small campfire Kiba had started sometime that morning.
"So what's our game plan?" Kiba asked.
"Obviously we find a team and take their scroll mutt," Sasuke said already in a sour mood.
Sakura wished she could say it was due to Sasuke not being a morning person but the truth was that his mood had steadily gotten worse since they hadn't come across any other teams with scrolls. Apparently he had some idea of smashing the old record and ever since it became apparent that it wasn't going to happen he had been getting short with both his teammates.
Trying to placate her teammate Sakura said, "I think he wants to know how we are going to go about doing that Sasuke."
"Well since Kiba seems to have let us down so far," Sasuke said.
"Hey man, I found those two teams we came across not you, it's not my fault they were already defeated," Kiba said angrily. But the anger draining from him he added, "And while I don't know about you two I'm just glad we didn't run into the team that killed the Rain team we found."
Sakura could only nod her head at that when they had come across the Rain team she had been sick to her stomach at what they saw. Senbon needles were lying all over the place but what had really disturbed her where the compressed remains of what she could only have guessed had once been shinobi. It hadn't been till Kiba had poked through the remains that they had found the barley recognizable faceplate of a headband that had identified them as Rain-nin. All Sakura could hope for was that whoever it was those guys had fought she never had to face them.
Any further discussion was put on hold as a large gust of wind began to blow. The wind increased even further gaining enough strength to lift the three bodily. Team Seven grabbed onto whatever they could to anchor themselves but unfortunately Akamaru couldn't hold on and was blown away.
Kiba seeing this yelled, "Akamaru," then let go of the ground with his chakra following after the small puppy.
A good distance away with Team Eight who were on their way to the tower Shino came to a sudden stop, surprised his two teammates joined him on the branch he was on with Hinata asking, "What is it Shino are we being followed?"
Making small head motions indicating no Shino said, "Kiba has suddenly and rapidly been separated from his two teammates."
Not seeing the point Ami said, "And we care why exactly."
Hinata understanding what Shino was implying said, "It means there is a good chance Team Seven is in trouble."
Ami catching on suddenly took off the way they had come and seeing her teammates hadn't begun following said, "What the fuck are you two waiting for an invitation," and then continued on her path to rescue her Sasuke. Sharing a look the two remaining members of Team Eight then began following their suddenly charitable teammate.
Kiba was not having the best of days, as after finding Akamaru, the pair had then been attacked by a giant snake. Also, strangely enough the snake seemed to be targeting them having chased the pair for quite some time now. It definitely seemed a lot smarter than your run of the mill snake having tried to set up a couple ambushes for the pair.
Looking behind him he saw that it had disappeared again which meant it was probably going to spring out from in front of him from somewhere again. Seeing a flash of scale he changed course only to find that the snake had exposed a portion of its tail in the hopes of driving him towards its mouth. A plan that seemed to had succeeded as he saw the gaping wide mouth heading towards him.
"Outsmarted by a stinking reptile," Kiba thought dismally, "what a shitty way to go."
As he was about to become the snake's meal he heard, "Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu" The snake instead of enjoying a tasty treat reared back as several fireballs shot down it's gullet. Kiba was able to stop safely and then jumped backwards in the direction the jutsu had come from. Finding that Hinata was the one standing there holding her hand to her mouth.
Landing next to her he said, "Whew, thanks Hinata you saved my bacon."
Putting her hand down Hinata said, "Your welcome Kiba."
The snake though wasn't about to be deterred as it turned towards the pair, rearing back it then sped towards the two genin only for several kunai with exploding tags to fly from the canopy above impacting with its head. The tags promptly exploded; when the smoke cleared they found that most of the snake's skull was missing as it began rolling about in its death throes.
Dropping from the canopy were Shino and Ami as they approached the pair Ami asked, "Where's Sasuke?"
"I don't know," Kiba replied, "We got hit by this huge gust of wind and then the next thing I know that snake was trying to eat me."
Shino pointed in a direction saying, "Sasuke and Sakura are over that way, they were running for a moment but they seemed to be stationary right now, but what that means I do not know."
Sasuke hadn't been this scared since the day his brother had killed his clan and family. He was also disappointed that despite coming so far he found that his response was the same which was to run as fast as possible. It had been all he could do to move when the creepy Grass-nin had looked at them and bared down on them with his Killer Intent. They were currently hiding in a tree with him looking in the direction they had just come from looking for some sign of pursuit.
So focused on the other direction was he that he didn't sense the approaching snake until Sakura called his name. Turning in time to avoid its poisonous bite he jumped into the air away from it. As it turned to follow Sasuke saw an image of the grass-nin. Screaming his revulsion Sasuke sent a barrage of shuriken at the snake pinning its head to a branch in the next tree.
Rising from the snake's corpse the Grass-nin said in her creepy voice, "Prey shouldn't ever relax in the presence of a predator."
Sasuke knew what he had to do, since all he could see was death in the kunoichi's eyes, so pulling out his team's Heaven Scroll he said, "Here take our scroll we know we can't defeat you."
Catching the scroll the Grass-nin said, "Clever offering up something of value in order to escape with your lives." Starting the scroll on fire with her chakra she said, "However I'm afraid you're the one I want Sasuke." She then charged at them while slithering like a snake.
Half-way to the stunned Sasuke a blue-haired girl dropped in front of the charging Grass-nin. The grass-nin choose to push past the orange wearing genin only to find that she was a Hyuuga as she said, "Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms."
Sasuke and Sakura watched in amazement as Hinata hit the Grass-nin time and time again. Finally finishing with a devastating hit that sent the shinobi crashing back the way she had come. Hinata cautiously made her way towards the downed Grass-nin only to watch as it dissolved into mud. Rising from the tree branch behind her, Hinata tried to spin and attack only for the woman to grab her arm with her hand and throw Hinata from the branch like she weighed nothing. Her trajectory didn't allow her to grab onto anything, but she was saved from falling to her death by Kiba who snatched her out of the air.
"Thank you Kiba," she said as he set her down.
Smiling at the girl Kiba said, "Don't worry about it, now we are even for back there with the snake."
Sasuke coming out of his previous stupor narrowed his eyes at the smirking grass-nin and said, "What do you want with me."
"Now that would be telling wouldn't it," the woman said her long tongue coming out to lick her lips. Looking up at the trees she said, "But first let me deal with the other pests that accompanied your teammate here."
Seeing no point in remaining in hiding Shino dropped down from the tree canopy above his Kikaichu beetles swarming from his sleeves but before he could reach the Grass-nin her tongue shot out wrapping around his neck and then smashed him into the branch before retracting her tongue. She then shot out a kick behind her catching Ami in the gut as she tried to plant a chakra needle into her neck. Smashing into the trunk she slumped down it after coughing up some blood. The woman then threw a kunai at the downed Shino but he was pulled out of the way by Sasuke who then retaliated with several shuriken of his own. The grass-nin easily avoided them and Ami's eyes opened wide when she saw them coming right at her, but then the shuriken seemed to reverse course as Sasuke pulled the strings attached to them. The shuriken wrapped around the grass-nin as they returned and Sasuke then put the string in his mouth setting them aflame. As the flames reached the woman she began screaming for a moment before laughing as the flames died down revealing burnt and tattered skin. Strangely enough beneath the burnt portions of skin, milky white flesh showed through.
Naruto and the others arrived shortly before the Grass-nin started on fire taking up position above he battle. When the Grass-nin began laughing Haku leaned forward saying, "It's worse than we thought, that's Orochimaru."
Looking at the masked-boy Naruto said, "Alright let's get ready to attack."
Sai however felt enough was enough especially if that was the Snake Sannin down there and said, "We should retreat, we cannot possibly survive attacking a Sannin."
"What about our comrades down there?" Haku asked.
"It is unfortunate but throwing away our lives would serve…" Sai tried to say.
However he was surprised when Naruto grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him so they were face to face saying, "You are nothing but a worthless piece of trash. You don't deserve to be wearing that headband even as a sponsored-nin. You want to be a Leaf shinobi well you have to be willing to stand by your fellow shinobi even if the whole world is against them."
Looking down and seeing the snake Sannin stretching his neck towards Sasuke he said, "Do it Haku."
Laughing sinisterly Orochimaru said in a now male voice, "Excellent, Excellent, you are as exceptional as I hoped you would be. So let me give you a parting gift." Then his neck suddenly elongated traveling towards Sasuke, however before his head reached the shocked Uchiha two Ice Lances shot downward from above, sensing the attack he managed to move his neck so that they landed on both sides of it. Trying to retract his neck Orochimaru found that the lances were too close together and that they caught his skull.
Now that his head was stuck Naruto came from the canopy above with his ninjato drawn. Cutting through his neck everybody breathed a sigh of relief until the head that was still in the air landed splashing into mud and the rest of the body followed like-wise.
Looking around he was surprised when a tongue wrapped around his foot. Pulling him off his feet he was held upside down underneath the branch he had been standing on. Coming face to face with Orochimaru who had been sticking underneath the branch with chakra. He attempted to cut the tongue holding his foot with his sword only to have his wrist caught by the Snake Sannin who said, "What do we have here, another annoying pest?"
Above the branch Haku approached Sasuke saying, "You and your team have to leave immediately."
"We aren't cowards," Kiba said who along with Hinata had joined up with Sasuke and Sakura on the branch, "we'll stay and fight."
Sasuke looked like he wanted to argue with that, but the fighting spirit Kiba displayed struck a chord with him. However Haku merely said, "And we'll all die, however he is targeting you Sasuke Uchiha if you leave he may leave as well."
"So you are sacrificing us so you can live. Why bother helping in the first place?" Sasuke said.
Shaking his head Haku said, "That isn't it at all. Now that his disguised is ruined it may be only a matter of time before he is discovered. If you leave now he may pursue, but that increases his chance of being caught in the village something he has taken great pains to avoid. By running you may be saving us all."
Sakura grabbing Sasuke's arm said, "He's right Sasuke, he said he wanted you not our scroll."
"Fine," and with that Team Seven fled the area. Haku turned to Hinata saying, "You should collect your team and leave as well."
Shaking her head Hinata said, "We won't leave, by staying and helping you we will give more time for Team Seven to escape. Plus we do not abandon our own."
Smiling beneath his mask Haku thought, "It must be a truly blessed thing to be a part of this village." However he just nodded his head in recognition of Hinata's words.
Underneath the branch Orochimaru said, "You seem familiar boy."
Naruto defiantly said, "Sorry we never actually met Snake Face."
The voice sounded familiar to Orochimaru, figuring out the boy's identity he smiled saying "Ah, if it isn't Zabuza's little jinchuriki that was quite the nasty little trick you pulled in my throne room. Allow me to return the favor." Wrapping his tongue around Naruto more to free the hand holding the blond boy's wrist he raised up Naruto's shirt to see that the seal on his stomach was visible. Pulling his other hand back he said, "Five Prong Seal," as he slammed his hand into the boy's stomach. Feeling the boy go slack he threw him behind him. Naruto was caught by Sai before he could hit the ground.
Stepping back on top of the branch he had been standing under Orochimaru frowned seeing that Sasuke was nowhere to be seen. "Damn it," he thought, "I don't know how much longer I can remain undetected before the bodies we left outside the forest are found."
Seeing all the remaining genin had taken up positions on both sides of him he said, "You brats are lucky I cannot waste any more time fooling around with you," he then proceeded to fade into the branch before adding, "But should we met again you will not be so lucky."
Breathing a sigh of relief at still being alive, Haku then began to panic having not seen what happened to Naruto. Looking at the ground he found an unconscious Naruto being stood next to by Sai. Making his way to the forest floor Haku asked worriedly, "What's wrong with him? I don't see any bleeding."
"I do not know. Orochimaru hit him in the stomach and then Dickless passed out," Sai said, "He is fortunate I caught him or else he probably wouldn't have survived the fall."
"I'll be sure to tell him when he awakens," Haku said.
"Don't you mean if?" Sai asked.
"He'll awaken, he's too stubborn to remain inactive for long," Haku replied.
Joining Team Zabuza on the ground Hinata speaking for Team Eight said bowing slightly, "Thank you for your assistance, it was very well timed."
"You should save your thanks for Dickless and Ugly. I personally was against it," Sai said honestly.
Not quite sure to who Sai was referring she ignored what he said and then addressed the boy in the mask, "Will he be alright," her concern for the blonde evident in her voice.
Standing back up having checked Naruto's vitals Haku said, "I believe so, he just needs rest."
Shino speaking up said, "I believe that is something we can all use, perhaps it would be advantageous to join forces till we are back on our feet."
"We can't trust these guys they may try and take our scrolls," Ami said.
"Am I to take it, you possess a complete set?" Haku asked.
Going on guard a little Hinata nodded her head so the masked boy said, "Then neither of us has anything to worry about because we have one as well." Pulling out the scrolls Naruto had in his pouch and placing them in his own.
Accepting the reason Hinata said, "Then perhaps we should find a more defensible position, do you need help carrying him."
"No thank you," Haku said with a light tone, "I have plenty of experience carrying him around when he is in such a state. Unfortunately, he doesn't know the word moderation and he often trains himself to the point of exhaustion."
"By the way I'm Haku," then indicating the black-haired genin next to him said, "This is Sai and my blonde friend here is Ronin."
Nodding here head Hinata introduced her own team as well, while studying the blonde as closely as she could. The tidbit that Ronin would train until exhausted was just another thing that made Hinata wonder if he was Naruto. Taking in her own team's condition she noticed that Shino was favoring one of his wrists probably, from when he was smashed into the branch and that Ami was holding her side, quickly using her Byakugan she saw that several of her ribs had small fractures but they weren't completely broken. Once everyone was ready both teams took off looking for a place they could hold up in for the rest of the day and probably the night as well.
Anko was definitely going to file for a vacation after this exam was over as she tried to make her way to the tower. She had just dropped off the Sound-nin and explained everything to the Hokage when one of her proctors had found her to tell her about the bodies. As she made her way towards the murder scene she hadn't been able to keep her mind off of what the Hokage had told her about the Sound team that they served her old mentor Orochimaru.
Once she arrived at the scene and saw the condition of the faces she knew that her old sensei was here in person as well and had then gone in pursuit of him, leaving a message to tell the Anbu and Hokage with her proctors. As she made her way through the forest she had berated herself plenty, the bastard had come up right behind her and she hadn't even sensed it. After searching all night and well into the next day she had finally found him recuperating from a battle it appeared.
The meeting between sensei and student had been less then satisfying for Anko as her cursed seal had begun to act up. Something that had never happened before today, that fact frightened her did it mean he had some way of controlling or influencing her actions. Was that traitorous scum still somehow connected to her soul? Whatever the case she knew she had to find away to deal with it, unfortunately there was only one seal masters in Konoha and he had barely set foot in the village in the past six years. Well if she had to, she'd find the old pervert and drag him back to the village by the short hairs if she had to.
Sensing herself surrounded by several of the beasts that called this forest home Anko cursed her inattentively. Watching as the giant tigers stepped around her she prepared to fight but luckily for her the Anbu showed up killing the beasts.
"Better late than never," Anko called out before wincing in pain.
One of the Anbu dropped down asking, "Are you alright?" Seeing where she was holding her hand, he asked, "Is the curse mark acting up? Let's get you to the hospital."
"No," she said quickly, "take me to the tower. Have the Hokage meet us there I'll explain everything then."
"Forget it Anko," the Anbu ordered, "as soon as Orochimaru showed up these test became meaningless."
"Just do it," she said with some steel in her voice, "We'll let the Hokage decide what to do once he heard what happened."
"Fair enough," the Anbu said while allowing Anko to climb on his back.
As they made their way towards the tower Anko wondered what it all meant, why after so long was Orochimaru back. Who was the person that he said he had his eye on? And why send agents if he was going to come here on his own anyway, surely whatever task he sent those genin on he could of just as easily accomplished. Closing her eyes to rest a little bit she thought to herself, "Maybe a vacation isn't such a good idea after all. Especially since it appears things are going to become quite lively around here pretty soon," before drifting off to sleep.