When I started Team Itachi, I had no idea it would be this popular, because this is only the second Naruto story that I've written that has been successful so far. The first apparently violated this website's rules and got deleted. Anyway, 63 reviews at 16 chapters. I cannot thank you guys enough.

Blood-red Moonlight: Hero's Comeback is awesome, that I have to agree. Not my favorite though! :P

Akatsuki no Kyara: I like the third too! Basically, I like the first five Naruto openings, and the first seven Shippuden openings :D

Swordianspeed: Thank you so much! :)

Thanks to TheOrangeStar802, Akatsuki no Kyara, Blood-red Moonlight, magicaltoothbrush, swordianspeed, Charmed and The True Not Important for the reviews!

"Oi! Naruto!"

"Naruto!"

"Oi, Naruto."

"Naruto."

"Naruto..."

"Um, Naruto."

"Naruto...!"

"Naruto, wake up! Quick!"

"NAAAAAAAARUTO!"

"... Too late," Sasuke said lamely. An angry Sakura was beside him punching Naruto awake.

"Ouch! Ouch! I'm! Ouch! Awake! Ouch! Sakura! Ouch! Chan!"

"Good," Sakura smiled. Sasuke shivered. Her personality had done a complete turnaround.

"Good morning, Sasuke, Sakura-chan!" Naruto grinned, yawning and stretching. "You guys missed one hell of a night! I fought Kiba, Shikamaru, Choji, got our Earth Scroll back, got the Heaven Scroll..."

When Sasuke finally got Naruto to calm down, the blonde explained everything to them.

"Where's the Heaven Scroll?" The raven-haired Uchiha asked.

"In your pocket."

Sasuke frowned as he felt something bulging in one of his pockets, and nodded. "Good job, Naruto."

You, Naruto, are something else, Sasuke shook his head, smiling. The dead last had taken on Kiba and Team 10 on his own! He, as a Rookie of the Year, felt embarrassed.

"Oh yeah, Sasuke," Naruto frowned. "You've got a mark on your neck, from where Long Tongue bit you. What is it?"

"I've seen it," Sasuke nodded, his face worried. "I don't know what it is. I have to ask big brother when we get out of this place."

Sakura stared at Sasuke's neck, where the mark was. She examined it closely. "Does it hurt you, Sasuke-kun?"

"Yeah, sometimes," he admitted. "Whenever I use the Sharingan, it acts up. I wonder why?"

"Our priority would be to get to the tower first," Naruto reminded his teammates with a grin. "Itachi-sensei should be there. I think...?"

"He should," agreed Sasuke. "Well, let's go."

"Right!"

"Orochimaru did what?!"

Itachi and Fugaku Uchiha were all gathered in front of the Hokage. Hiruzen Sarutobi had a grim look on his face, and Anko Mitarashi, standing beside the Third, had an equally uncomfortable look.

"I'm going to kill the fucker!" Itachi roared, his temper flaring.

"Itachi, calm down-"

"How do you expect me to calm down?!" The Jonin forcefully brushed his father's hand away. "This is Sasuke we're talking about here! My little brother! Your son! Why are you so calm? We should be taking him out of this exam immediately and taking down Orochimaru before he leaves the village again, and-"

"Calm down, Itachi!" The Third slammed his fist on the table. "That's an order."

Itachi sighed, and stopped his rambling.

"I am sorry for my son's interruption, Hokage-sama," Fugaku said respectfully, trying to hide the fear building up within him. "Could you please tell us more about this?"

Hiruzen sighed. "We found three Kusa shinobi just after the second stage of the Chunin Exams had begun. They were supposed to be in this exam, but instead they were dead and their faces were just... missing."

"We suspected that they were targets for a Facial Copy Jutsu," Anko added. "And the only one who can use this jutsu is..."

"... Orochimaru," Fugaku finished.

Anko nodded. "Orochimaru and his henchmen posed as these Kusa shinobi to infiltrate the Forest of Death. I searched the forest and ran into him there. He..." The purple-haired Special Jonin sighed. "... told me that he'd left the Curse Seal on the Uchiha boy. I tried to kill him, but..."

Itachi frowned. "Hokage-sama, please. You must call off the exams now. If we have a missing-nin running around town-"

"Actually," Anko cut Itachi off before he could finish. "Orochimaru warned us not to end the exams."

"Or else what?" Itachi growled. "I could kill the bastard on a one-on-one."

"Itachi," Fugaku turned to his son, telling him to shut up.

"I have a lot of confidence in your abilities, Itachi," Hiruzen assured him. "But even if there is little possibility of it, I would still prefer to walk the road of peace than war."

"Fine." Itachi sighed. "But if any more shit happens, I'll be going in to stop Orochimaru myself."

"Found them."

"Took you long enough."

Dosu Kinuta snorted at his teammate. "Maybe if you pitched in and helped with the tracking, we could have found them earlier, Zaku."

Zaku Abumi shot the bandaged man his middle finger, causing Dosu to growl.

"Calm down, you two. We're here to kill Sasuke Uchiha, not kill among ourselves." Kin Tsuchi glared at her two teammates, and cast her glance towards Dosu. "Where are they?"

"Here."

Kin's eyes widened, but before she could turn, someone kneed her up in the butt, knocking her off her feet.

"Y-You pervert!" The kunoichi blushed, as a blonde Leaf Genin landed in front of her.

Naruto smirked, withdrawing his two katanas.

"She has a firm ass, doesn't she?" Zaku laughed.

"Zaku!" Kin snapped, annoyed.

"Who are you?" A voice called out. Sasuke stepped out, intently studying the trio's headbands. He didn't recognize the symbol on it. It was a music note.

"Sasuke Uchiha," Zaku sneered.

Sasuke seemed taken aback. "How do you know me?"

"Take this!" Zaku positioned his hands in front of him, blatantly ignoring Sasuke's question. "Slicing Sound Wave!" A blast of air slammed into Sasuke, throwing him off the tree and towards the ground. Zaku leaped down as well, intent on battling the Uchiha.

"Who are you?" Naruto demanded. "How do you all know Sasuke?"

"But of course we know," Kin took out three senbon. "We are here to dispose of him!"

Dispose? Naruto frowned. "Like hell I'll let you do that!"

His reply was a trio of senbon flung towards his face. Naruto knocked them away with his katana.

Sasuke twisted his body in mid-air, landing safely on his feet. "Supersonic Slicing Wave!" He looked up, and dived out of the way just in time as Zaku's attack hit the ground, creating a massive dent.

Regaining his composure, he stood up. "What scroll do you have?" Sasuke asked cautiously.

"We don't care," Zaku had a mad glint in his eyes. "Because we're here to kill you!"

Damn. Weird things keep happening to me in this exam, Sasuke thought. He activated his Sharingan.

"If you want a fight, so be it."

Up in the trees, Naruto was waving off senbon after senbon. As the senbon army stopped, Dosu attacked. Naruto brought up his katanas, waving them toward the mummy-like Genin.

That girl is off her guard now... Sakura-chan, now!

Sakura seemed to have read his mind. There was a flash of pink behind Kin, and Naruto's lips curled into a smile. Unfortunately, Kin whirled around, kicking Sakura in the face.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto yelled.

"You have no time to be worrying about that girl!" Dosu aimed a punch at his face, but Naruto jumped back to dodge.

Sakura lied on the branch as Kin inspected the inactive explosive tag in her hand. "Hmph. Silly girl. You think you can get me with this?" The Oto nin laughed and crouched down to pick the tag up cautiously, and tore it apart.

Naruto growled, wanting to keep Kin off Sakura, but this mummy boy was being annoying. He thrust his two weapons forward, but in an instant, dropped them as he felt a screaming pain in his ear.

"Arrrrrrgh!"

"Have you felt the aftereffects of my Echo Drill?" Dosu chuckled. "My move enters your ears and attacks from the inside!"

That was all Naruto could hear, as he felt himself going deaf. This'd better be only temporary, he thought, jumping forward to land a punch on Dosu.

Dosu dodged with ease, and rammed his own fist up Naruto's chin, earning a cry of pain from the blonde. One kick from the one-eyed Genin sent Naruto toppling from the trees back onto the ground.

"Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!"

"Supersonic Slicing Wave!"

Sasuke shielded his face as he was blown back from the devastating attack. His fireballs had burned out from the impact of the sound waves.

Kabuto, in his hiding spot, observed the battle carefully. Dosu, Zaku and Kin are all Chunin-level ninja. Your teammates don't stand a chance against them, and you will have to activate your Cursed Seal if you want to beat them. Let's see what you can do with it, Sasuke-kun.

"Graaargh!"

Suddenly, the searing pain was back again. Sasuke clutched his neck, quickly deactivating his Sharingan to ease the pain. Zaku eyed him curiously, but shrugged and placed his hands forward again.

"Slicing Sound Wave!"

Sasuke was blown back into a tree. Groaning, he got back up, making a flurry of hand seals. "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu. Argh!" Before the fireball could rise up his throat, the pain was back. He cut off the Fire Style technique quickly.

So... it seems the mark acts up whenever I use my Sharingan or ninjutsu! That means... Sasuke looked up. It reacts to my chakra!

"Die already!" Zaku yelled. "Supersonic Slicing Wave!"

It can't be helped... I have to... bear the pain!

"Sharingan!" Sasuke leaped into the air, dodging the sound waves. "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"

The pain returned, and Sasuke tried his best to ignore it as Zaku dived to the side, avoiding the flame. Suddenly, he felt a surge of power. The mark was spreading.

Sasuke's eyes widened as more power and energy shot through his body, the pain going away little by little. However, his gaze was focused on the mark, which was now glowing orange and spreading to his left arm and leg.

"Whatever you're doing..." Zaku stated confidently. "... you'll still die!"

"I will die?" Sasuke's head snapped up to face Zaku. The Oto Genin stepped back, his eyes wide with fear. Sasuke's eyes were filled with insanity. "Let's see!" He cackled.

"Wha-?"

Zaku was kicked to the ground. He looked back, to see Sasuke, grinning madly at him.

"Y-You were there a second ago! How did you-"

"You like these arms very much, huh?" Sasuke's grip on his arms tightened, his foot placed on Zaku's back. "Say goodbye to them then!"

A crack was heard as Zaku shrieked in pain. Sasuke kicked the older boy away, and looked around, intent on finding something to attack and kill.

This worthless, pathetic boy had teammates. Two of them.

With a delighted cackle, Sasuke was about to return to the trees, when he saw Naruto landing in front of him. Dosu landed on his feet soon after.

Sasuke cracked his knuckles, the evil grin on his lips failing to fade.

Within the bushes, Kabuto had an equally evil grin.

Apologies for the short chapter, but I really wanted to end this on a cliffhanger sort of thing. Anyway, Sasuke activates his Cursed Seal! In the next chapter, Team Dosu are defeated and Team 7 finally make it to the tower. Stay tuned.