Naruto let his senses take over again as he relaxed. After between a half hour to forty five minutes, he noticed people were leaving in large numbers. He blinked, his eyes feeling like sandpaper, and looked around. Everyone was waiting for the tenth question. "...You were staring off into space, weren't you?"

Naruto shrugged. "Sorry, the test was so boring we took a nap under here."

"Then I will fill you in. You can quit now and save your career or you can take the last question and pass or fail and be stuck as a genin forever," Ibiki told him, grinning on the inside at how this ninja was going to panic. But Naruto again yawned under his mask.

"We thought something important was going on. So the other nine questions were pointless then." He stretched in his chair and relaxed again. Naruto then felt killing intent roll off Ibiki is such a wave it was comparable to Zabuza. "...Gasp," Naruto said in a sarcastic tone. Unfortunately, others were not so use to this and they really began to fall out. Naruto looked at the door and then at Ibiki. "Stop wasting time already and get on with it."

Ibiki scowled at him. "For those still here, you pass the first..." He noticed Naruto look away from him, out the window, and Ibiki almost threw a kunai at him.

"Incoming," Naruto told him.

The window shattered as a cloth ball went threw it. It unfurled and was pinned to the ceiling by two kunai. The sexy and single Mitarashi Anko has arrived! "Listen up bastards! This is no time to celebrate! All of you are to follow me!" A breeze blew through the room.

"Anko..." Ibiki said from behind the banner, "...I hadn't told them that they passed yet." Anko's face fell slack when she heard those words. Especially when a few genin started to snicker at her.

She shook her head. "Did Ibiki ask if you would take the tenth question," she demanded of a genin in front who nodded yes. "Then you all pass. Damn it, came in too early, still far too damn many left."

"What about the tenth question," Temari asked.

"To stay or go was the tenth question," Ibiki told them. "You are not always going to know every detail of a mission, only that to take it is dangerous. But you still have to take it." Ibiki probably said more but Naruto ignored it. He looked left and still saw Shino so he knew Hinata-chan was still here. He looked behind him and saw her. She smiled at him and Naruto gave her the thumbs up.

"Now follow me," Anko yelled again.

—oo000oo—

Trees hundreds of feet high. The sudden cries of animals being cut off as their maker was killed. Ten kilometers of hell on earth. "Its beautiful," Naruto cried, seeing at all the fun he would have int there.

"That it is," Anko said. "This is area forty four, lovingly known as the Forest of Death."

Kiba scoffed. "Please, that doesn't scare me."

Anko smiled before she threw her kunai and grazed his cheek. She appeared behind him and licked his blood up. "Spirited eh? Ones like you are always the ones that die first in there. And it is always..." She spun, pressing another kunai against a tongue. "Messy."

"Sorry, you dropped this. Plus you cut my hair and blood makes me excited," said the Grass kunoichi that Naruto said was dangerous.

"A lot of blood thirsty ones this go round," Anko stated. "Now where was I?" She explained the rules and had Kiba hand out the forms. Naruto looked at his and signed it right away. When team seven turned them in, Naruto took it and placed it in his cargo pocket. Might as well have been a safe.

"Well," Sasuke said as he looked around as they waited at the gate, "Which should we go after?"

"We'd say... the weak ones are the ninja from the Hidden Sound, the Hidden Star, several teams from Konoha, sad but true, one Iwa team, and a few others."

"That gives us a lot of room to work with. Who should we avoid," Sakura asked.

"The Sand team with Gaara, the Grass team with the lady with the tongue, we wouldn't say Lee's team is the most dangerous but they are more trouble then they are worth in there. Also the Rookie Nine. Here is the thing, we wouldn't say Kabuto isn't dangerous. But we would say he is holding back, we can feel it. He is a lot stronger than he shows. We just don't know why he quits the exam when he could pass."

They looked around them and soon enough spotted one of the team Naruto mentioned near by. The Sound Genin.

—oo000oo—

Naruto went up and was jumping from tree to tree like it was a play ground. Even with the two following, he quickly found the three Sound nins. He raised a finger to his lips and jumped off. 'Time to follow the foot steps of a master.' He settled over them and then... "HAHAHAHA!" The three below them stopped running and went on guard. The whole area went dark as Naruto flooded it with killer intent. "Eight targets," Naruto said, still using that evil voice. "Heart, liver, lungs, kidneys, spine, clavicle vein, neck vein, brain. Which should I go after?"

Sasuke shook his head. "Show off," he muttered.

The girl was taking it the worst. She didn't remember her training and was looking all around her at every noise. "Kin," the one with black hair called to her. "Calm down or I will kill you." She tensed but stopped her fidgeting.

The black hair boy saw movement from the corner of his eye again and turned to fulfill his threat. But all he saw was this white spider. Then Naruto came fully in view, crouching between the three, with a zanbatou across his back, one hand on the handle, the other in front of his face. "Its over." He started spinning. The one that threatened his teammate was first. He received a heavy gash on his chest. The girl was hit in the head by the handle. The third one raised his gauntlet to block him. Naruto smirked...

"RAGH!" He dropped to the ground, clutching the side of his head. He wanted to run, get away from that horrible sound!

"Oh, what's this," the mummy wrapped on asked. "Not so hot now are you?" He kicked Naruto in the ribs, getting a satisfactory crack. Dosu rung his melody arm again, adding a new wave of pain to Naruto as he rolled around on the ground in agony.

"So you don't like noises eh," Zaku asked. He nodded to Kin. He couldn't but she could. Kin took her bell and threw them in a circle around Naruto. The chakra enhanced bells were hell to him. Naruto tried to reach passed them but couldn't. He could only form a coherent thought long enough to drop the darkness.

"Shit," Sasuke shouted as he jumped down along with Sakura. "Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" He blew a fireball at the girl. She jumped out of the way, giving the bells a final but much greater ring. When they stopped, Naruto laid on the ground, not moving except the rise and fall of his chest.

"Naruto," Sakura shouted as she reached him, picked him up and carried him away from the fight. "Naruto, are you going to be alright?"

"...It seems...we are not...as unbeatable...as we thought." He forced Sakura to stop. "We...have to... help Sasuke."

"He can take care to himself. You are almost dead."

"Then...they didn't do it right," Naruto told her. "We will show them the correct way." He was able to stand up by himself. He turned and ran back, a little off balance but alive. His arms began to bristle as several kunai started to be formed in them. He threw them at the mummy, making sure to stay away. They hit him a few times before he jumped away.

Naruto then faced the girl. She was trying to reach some of her shenbons. "Tsubame Fubuki!" He slapped his hands together and pushed them out. Several swallows made of ice flew at her. On missed and hit the ground. An ice crystal formed where it shattered. The other five hit her on target. She pulled the crystals from her arms and one from just above her right hip.

Naruto looked at the last one. He was blasting Sasuke with these two wind tunnels in his hands. Naruto started to make another handsign but couldn't. He could barely stand. "This...is new." He forced his hands to do as he wanted but they were shaking too much to form them properly.

He stopped and looked at the two. The wrapped one was starting to get up while the girl was wrapping her wound. "You are not walking away from this, Uchiha Sasuke," Dosu said to him. "We have been ordered to kill you. And your friends are not going to stop that."

"Want to bet," Sakura growled as she threw a kunai at him. He caught it and was about to insult her. Except the explosive note on it went off. Naruto tensed as the Melody Arm rung again but it was quick. Dosu hit a tree behind where he had been standing, his gauntlet cracked and ruined.

"You bitch," Zaku yelled as he turned a single arm at her. As a blast of air almost hit her, Naruto jumped in the way of it, a shield of web between his hands. He was pushed back several feet, but was still able to stand. His whole body shook for it and his ribs felt like they were on fire. When it stopped, he shot a web line at Zaku, and pulled. He threw Zaku against several trees before he threw him away from there.

Zaku growled as he got back up. And he heard something else growl as well. Looking up, he saw a giant centipede looking down on him with fangs that could tear something much bigger than a human apart. He raised his one good arm up and blasted it but it ignored the wind and brought its jaws down on him.

Naruto watched it a moment longer before he turned to the other two. The girl could barely move. The leader wasn't at all. Walking over to him, he put his hand on his shoulder. And found something was holding him to that spot. He pulled him away to find a broken branch through his back. Dropping the body to ground, he searched it for a scroll. "Earth," he called to Sasuke and Sakura. "We are set, lets go."

Sasuke held back, looking at the girl. "Just a second." He walked over to her, kunai at the ready if she tried anything. "Why were you ordered to kill me?"

"Because that is what our leader wants," she growled at him. She wanted to hurt him but she lacked the strength to do it.

"...We take her with us," Sasuke said to his team.

"She tried to kill you," Sakura reminded.

"As an order. If the same was done to us about her, we would have done the same thing. Except we would have succeeded."

Naruto was silent a moment before nodding. "She is beaten and if we leave her, she is dead." Walking over to her, he knelt down and started binding her wounds with his webbing. "This should keep you from bleeding to death. Sakura-chan, can you check how many ribs on my right side are broken?"

She lightly press against them, not seeing him grimace in pain under his mask. "Four."

Naruto nodded as he stood up, pulling the girl with him. "You have anymore weapons on you?" She didn't answer. "Because I am going to be carrying you. And as we all saw, I don't like high pitch noises. So if one should hit me while I am moving, not only should I fall, you will too. And I will twist so you take the brunt of it." Kin began to drop several shenbon needles with bells on it. No chakra was added so it didn't hurt as much.

Picking her up, he secured her to his back. "Sasuke, we should head straight to the tower."

"Think you can keep up?"

"We know we can." He jumped, shot a web into the trees, and started swinging off. Sakura and Sasuke were behind him, jumping from branch to branch.

"Why is he so stubborn about getting there. He should be resting," Sakura stated.

"Because he knows the longer we stay here, the better the chance is we will meet someone or thing that will kill us. Better to take a little pain now than die," Sasuke told her.

Naruto landed on a branch and waited a moment for them to catch up. "We need to hurry. The tower is only nine kilometers away."

—oo000oo—

Naruto untied Kin and set her on the floor. "How are you still standing?"

"By forcing myself to," he said to her. He pulled the scrolls from his pocket and tossed them to Sasuke. "Remember Anko-san said don't open them until we reached the tower."

Sasuke nodded. He unrolled them and tossed them to the ground as they began to smoke. There was a cloud that normally happened when something was released from a scroll or summoned. But nothing appeared.

"...What was that," Sakura asked. "Wasn't something..."

Kakashi appeared. "Huh? Already?"

"CAN'T YOU BE ON TIME ONCE IN YOUR LIFE," his three genin demanded

Kakashi struck a thinking pose. "But then the universe will collapse." And for once, his genin didn't call him a liar. "I didn't expect to see you so soon. So, do you know what it means?" Kakashi pointed to the sign behind him.

"...Heaven is mind, earth is body," Kin stated. "Ninja need to be strong in both."

Kakashi looked her up and down. "And you are?"

"Tsuchi Kin," she told them. "These three killed my team and took me prisoner."

Kakashi looked to them. Naruto had removed his mask, leaning against the wall, holding his ribs. Sasuke was looking at him then at something in his hand. Sakura was the only one standing, looking at him. "Why did you bring her," he asked them.

"She was ordered to kill me," Sasuke stated. "Her and her team were ordered by their leader to."

"...Who is your leader?"

She held her head high. "He is Orochimaru-sama."

"What did you say?"

"Orochimaru-sama," she said again.

"...You three, take this time to rest. Sasuke, I am going to have round the clock ANBU guards for you. Naruto, you injured badly?"

"Four broken ribs. Think they tore open the skin on the way here."

"Come with me then. You are coming as well," Kakashi said as he lifted Kin to her feet. "Oh, and by the way, you three broke the previous record by hours." Kakashi led Naruto and Kin to the medics. "Why didn't you dodge them, Naruto?"

Kin grinned. "He happens to be very sensitive to extremely high pitch noises. He had us dead to rights but one of us got an attack off. And he went down like a rock."

"...Sounds?"

"We can't explain it, Kakashi-sensei, but it felt like our head would split for it. Our whole body hurt."

"...Luckily sounds are not used that often for combat. And only slightly more often for genjutsu." Naruto nodded as he gingerly sat down on the table. He pulled off his shirt and blood started pouring down from it. "How are you moving?"

"By forcing myself to." He groaned as a medic put her hands on his side, using chakra to reset the bones. When she stopped, Naruto collapsed down on the table. "That...hurt."

"First time you have ever been hurt in years, right?"

"Yeah." His body tensed again as the medic did some hand signs and mended the bones back together. When finally she stopped, Naruto was ready to leave, wounded or not. Luckily, only closing the wound was left.

"...There," she said to him. "You will be tender for a few weeks and the bones might break again if you get hit there. I recommend pulling out of the exam."

"No," Naruto replied. "I'll get some armor for it or something."

She sighed, they never listen. "I am prescribing rest though. You will stay here for the next day while you get a blood transfusion." Another medic came up with a bag of B negative blood. As it was hung up and a needle attached to it, Naruto put his shirt back on and pulled up his right sleeve.

"Now for you, miss," the medic said as she turned to Kin. She took her to another table and pulled the curtain close. "Take off your clothes."

"Uh...I can't take these bindings off."

The medic was about to grab a pair of scissors. "Anything other than me touch those webs, they will be stuck to it," Naruto warned her. "And they are like steel anyway."

"...How do I get them off then?"

"Give it another ten, fifteen minutes and they will dissolve away." Naruto turned back to Kakashi. "We have heard that name before, haven't we, Kakashi-sensei?"

"Orochimaru is the greatest traitor this village has ever had except Uchiha Madara. He was also one of the Sannin with Jiriaya and Tsunade."

"...Now that first name we know. We have seen it on your book." Naruto leaned back into the table, tired and hungry. "We will see you when we wake, Kakashi-sensei." He closed his eyes and drifted into sleep's embrace.

—oo000oo—

Kakashi took Kin in front of the Hokage and explained what he learned. "What is he planning," Sarutobi asked kindly. One of the first rules of interrogation was that getting information often worked by being kind. The messy stuff came later.

"You might as well kill me now," she told him. "I am never going to talk."

"Hokage-sama, I believe the other two were the ones that were the cold, killer type. I doubt she will last five minutes with Ibiki, nor would she have the mental fortitude to resist even Ino." Kin glared at him in challenge. "Care to prove me wrong?"

"We don't need to go that far, Kakashi," the Hokage said to him. "I am sure she will simply consider her options and realize that she has a better chance of living with us than with Orochimaru."

"Not a chance," she said to him.

"Has Orochimaru's punishment for failure chanced?" Kin swallowed. "No, I guess not." He looked her in the eyes. "And you mission was to kill Sasuke?" She nodded. "Well, not only have you failed that, you were captured. Maybe if you are lucky, he will kill you quickly we return you to him."

Kin began to panic. She had always been told the Leaf were weak and would never hurt prisoners. And they were going to give her back with a ribbon! "NO! I-I'll tell you! Just don't send me back!"

"Then talk," the Hokage said in that kind voice again. "Just think of me as the person you bare your soul to." She told him everything she knew. From the upcoming invasion with the Sand as allies to the location of the Hidden Sound Village branch in Fire where she trained at.

"We won't kill you then," the Hokage said to her. "But you will have to be placed in protective custody. ...Haku, take her to you house for now."

The chunin entered the room, pouting a little. "But we wanted to congratulate Naruto-kun."

"That might not be wise, Hokage-sama. Naruto was severely hurt by her. Not only does she have the same abilities and possibly the same weakness, she might let her feelings for Naruto drive her too hurt her," Kakashi whispered.

"I trust her. Haku, take her there and protect her if someone comes to kill her."

"Hai, Hokage-sama." She turned to Kin. "Come with me."

"...You Naruto's sister?"

"No, his girlfriend. Let's go."

—oo000oo—

The next day found Naruto in the cafeteria, trying to eat his weight in ramen. "...Five bucks says he gets sick before he finishes this bowl," Sasuke said to Kiba who arrived last night.

"...Ha, ten says he finishes it and goes onto the next stack." They watched as Naruto scarfed down the last of the noodles and drained the soup. He tossed the bowl on top of a stack already twenty high. He grabbed another bowl and started eating. Sasuke paid Kiba the ten.

"N-Naruto-kun, why are you e-eating so m-much," Hinata asked him.

Naruto looked up at her and slurped the noodles into his mouth. "Yesterday, we had to be treated for an injury that took jutsu healing. As such, our body has little energy inside it. We need to store up our reserves for the next exam." He took a sip of water, swished it around in his mouth a moment, and swallowed, removing the taste of ramen. He then reached across the table and kiss her. "We missed you, Hinata-chan." While his girlfriend blushed, Naruto went back to eating. Kiba dropped his jaw and looked around. Shino was behind him, holding out a hand.

"Damn it," Kiba said as he put twenty in Shino's hand.

—oo000oo—

The fifth day ended and it was time for the third exam preliminaries. Gekkou Hayate explained the rules to them and the first name came on the board. The teams present were Team Seven, Team Eight, Team Ten, Team Gai, the Sand siblings, and one Rain team.

"Kiba, Kagari, cough, please remain down here. Cough. Everyone else head up to the balcony."

When they were there, they got started. Kagari used the the Kirigakure no jutsu to cover the arena in mist. "Having trouble finding me," he asked Kiba.

Kiba sniffed the air. "You reek," he commented. The mist whirled around him as he did a round house kick on the Rain ninja, sending him into the wall. The whole room sweat dropped at how easy a victory he just got.

"...Cough. Winner, Inuzuka Kiba. The next match is...Sabaku no Gaara and Hyuuga Hinata."

Gaara jumped down there while Hinata seemed to freeze up. She knew she wasn't a match for him. "K-K-Kurenai-sensei, I can't beat him!"

"Hinata, calm down," she told her student. "You never know if you don't try. Remember what you learned from Naruto? Hesitation ruins all chances."

She was shaking and didn't want to go down there. But Naruto wouldn't hesitate so she refused to hesitate as well. "Hinata-chan, be careful and kick his ass," Naruto cheered.

"...Do you best," Shino said to her. "But remember what we saw in the forest. If he gets close to doing that to you, quit."

"I will." She walked down there and stood in front of Gaara, shaking like a leaf.

"...Why am I fighting a weakling?"

"I am not weak," Hinata shouted with conviction. "I won't be looked down on!"

"Prove it," Gaara said to her. "Strike me and I will believe you are worth my time."

Hinata swallowed her fear and took on a Juuken stance. "Byakugan." She ran forward and struck a hand at his chest. For it to be stopped by the sand.

"Only one person has ever gotten pass my sand. And he is the only person I wish to fight. Surrender or die, it makes no difference to us anymore."

Hinata swallowed, she couldn't reach him so she couldn't hurt him. 'No, stop thinking like a Hyuuga. Start thinking like how Naruto-kun would reach him.' She jumped back and started doing handsigns. "You choose death then," Gaara said as his sand fell from his gourd and shot at her.

Hinata finished the last handsign and touched the sand as it was about to touch her. It froze for the barest of a moment before falling to the ground. "It... It worked."

"What did you do to my sand?"

Hinata smalled as the sand closest to her began to change. It turned to mud and it flowed back to the source. Gaara cut it off from the rest of his sand. "I-It was Doryuu Taiga no jutsu. And sand is just small particals of earth." She ran at him again, planning on doing that to the rest of his sand.

"So it is still my sand," Gaara stated, ignoring Hinata. She was about to hit him with a Juuken strike when the mud grabbed her leg. "...It is harder as it is more condensed. But I can still control it. Now as for you." Hinata was swung against a wall. She cried out in pain as blood flew from her mouth before Gaara did it again. This wasn't a match anymore, it was a beating.

"...Let her go," Hayate said to Gaara. "You have won, let her go."

Gaara glanced at the proctor and shrugged. He never cared about this match to begin with. He dropped the girl and shushined back up. He turned to look at the person who's blood his mother wanted so bad, she ignored everyone else. Naruto had jumped down there and was cradling Hinata's head in his lap. "Hinata-chan... Hinata-chan, say something!"

"...Naruto-kun, I-I tried to...do what y-you would."

"You did great, Hinata-chan. Where does it hurt?"

She swallowed the blood in her mouth. "My...My back, behind my lung."

Neji looked at her with his Byakugan and almost smiled. "Her right lung has collapsed and her left is bleeding internally."

Naruto glared at his happy tone. "You say another word and we will kill you."

Neji did smirk. "It was her destiny to lose that fight. She should have quit. I wouldn't have lost." It was everything Naruto could have done not to jumped up there and strangle him.

Gaara scoffed. "You would have died," he told Neji. "But I have no interest in any of you but him."

"We will fight later then," Naruto told him. He was mad that Gaara had done this to her but he had stopped. Neji never has, no matter how much he had beaten Hinata-chan. The medic finished his jutsu and frowned.

"Son, we are going to have to take her to the emergency room."

"What happened!?"

"Just like he said, her lungs are barely working. We need to drain her left lung of blood and inflate her right lung for her to begin to breath normally again. You have to let her go." Naruto helped them put Hinata on a stretcher before he finally let go of her hand. He then turned to Neji. "Pray that we don't fight you."

"If you do, it will have the same result as that match."

Naruto jumped and landed on the railing, about to take Neji's head off with a sword. But Sasuke tackled him to the ground before he could. "Get off us!"

"No. You would have been arrested for murder of another Leaf shinobi."

"Bull shit! Hinata told me about all the times he almost killed her! This would be no different!" He threw Sasuke off him and found He was being held back by Kakashi, Gai, and, to his surprise, Kurenai. "He deserves to die!"

"Then do it in a match," Kakashi told him. "But not right now. Patience is the greatest weapon of a ninja."

Naruto strained all the harder to get free of them. Kurenai was quickly losing her grip on him and he was pulling her several inches. Kakashi could barely hold his legs back. Only Gai had no trouble stopping his arms.

"Naruto," the Hokage shouted. "You were given an order by your sensei and superior!"

Naruto stopped pushing and they all fell over. "Aye, aye, sir," Naruto said to him. He glared at Neji who only grinned back. "...When we fight, the only thing that will say the fight even started will be your blood hitting the ground." Naruto turned to the board and waited.

"...Jeez," Kakashi stated. "He is going to be the next Zabuza."

"What does he have to do with Naruto," Kurenai asked.

"Naruto met him and ever since, his style has been moving a bit more to silent killing. He was already near impossible to follow."

—oo000oo—

Sasuke fought one of the Rain genin and won. Choji fought Shino and lost. Ino fought Sakura and they both lost. Shikamaru fought Tenten and won, amazingly enough. Lee fought Kankuro and wore himself out fighting a puppet. Kankuro revealed himself inside the bandaged thing on the puppets back and broke it apart. One of its many knives took Lee in the shoulder.

"Lee, take them off," Gai called from next to Kakashi.

Kakashi frowned as Lee jumped up on the Rat handsign statue. "Weights, Gai? Those shouldn't..." Two eruptions of dust reached the roof. "...Never mind." Kankuro nearly shit himself when he saw his puppet suddenly slammed into the ground, unable to move as they were stuck in it blade first.

The next thing he knew, a fist met his jaw then stomach. Lee jumped back and landed in his customary stance of 'bring it on'. But Kankuro fell to the ground, unable to move. "Cough. Winner, Rock Lee." Hayate looked up to the board. And his eyebrows climbed up under his headband. "Uzumaki Naruto and Hyuuga Neji, please step down here."

Naruto grinned before he pulled his mask over his face. "Let's see if we've gotten it." He shushined in a flash of darkness down there. "You are dead, Neji."

"You can say that after you kill me. But likely, I will be saying it to you."

The two stood across from each other, ready to attack. Hayate raised his hand and brought it down. "Begin!"

Naruto brought his hands in to the handsign that reminded people of a yin-yang and shouted, "Enmu no Jutsu!" Darkness filled the room. "Eight targets...which, oh which shall we strike?"

"This brat is good," Temari stated. "You been giving him lessons on how to scare the hell out of people," she asked Gaara.

"Personally, we prefer the spine, fourth lumbar down, on the right side. The sweet spot, a real gusher."

"I won't fall for these intimidation tactics," Neji said. "These eyes see right through it. Byakugan." Neji looked but found the range of his Byakugan drastically cut.

"This darkness isn't a genjutsu. It is pure chakra and it will interfere with all types of vision enhancements. You won't see me coming until we want you too."

"You were right," Gai said. "He is the next coming of Zabuza."

Neji was turning around and around, the sounds of a person jumping from place to place. 'Relax, he is trying to wear you down and mentally exhaust yourself. Focus your Byakugan, find him.' He brought his hand up into a seal in front of his face. And he began to notice him. He was moving from place to place very quickly, jumping through his field of divination. A staff appeared in his hands. The next instant, the end of it flattened out. Finally, it became a sword as large as an adult. 'His ribs...'

"Now you die!" The was the sound of something hitting something else and something fell to the floor. The Enmu no Jutsu lifted to reveal both Naruto and Neji holding their sides. Neji had a sword wound from where Naruto tried to cut him in half. Naruto was holding where his ribs had been broken. "...You may have seen through that but I haven't even started." 'Damn, we should have sensed that coming. Venom hasn't recovered from those attacks.'

'He still hit me, even when I broke those bones again. What is he?'

"...I guess it is time to stop holding back," Naruto said, slinging the Shadow Keiri onto his back. "This time, it won't matter if you see me coming or not."

—oo000oo—

Author's notes. Cliff hanger! Don't you hate them? I am sorry if you were looking forward to your favorite fights but I am following it from Naruto's point of view mostly. And he only cared about who he fought and who Neji fought. The Rain genin are the three that cast that genjutsu on team seven and Kabuto close to the end of the second exam.