Along Came a Symbiote
Author's Note: Chapter four got forty reviews in a mere three days! That's not including the reviews for the other chapters included. Now I don't know if that should be common but I'm only used to getting between 15-20 reviews a week. So I can't help but feel great about it.
Important Info: After taking a look at the reviews I have decided to give Naruto the Venom name as a code name later down the road. This wouldn't happen till after Shipudden. Anyway read and enjoy. Also remember to review.
Chapter 5: End of the Second Test
Hiding under the roots of an enormous oak tree was one of the few places Sakura ever expected to find herself. Doubt swept over her as she watched over Sasuke's unconscious body and she couldn't help but remember what Naruto had told them before his disappearance.
'We trust Sasuke to save his own ass when the going gets tough and you to help him in his time of need.'
'How true those words were.' Sakura thought.
After Naruto had been literally blown away, Orochimaru appeared and proceeded to attack them. Once Sasuke discovered that they stood no chance of winning, he tried to offer the scroll of Heaven as a trade for their lives.
Sakura would never forget the mixture of fear and anger etched on Sasuke's face as he pulled out an obvious fake scroll with Naruto's signature on it. Not that it mattered as Orochimaru made it clear that he had no interest in the scrolls. Once the snake Sannin finally did leave Sakura found herself carrying Sasuke to their current hiding spot.
After she had laid Sasuke on the earthen ground in a comfortable position and placed a wet rag over his forehead she proceeded in setting up traps around the perimeter. It was only after she had finished insuring that she and Sasuke would be fine that Naruto entered her mind.
'Naruto was right. I took care of Sasuke without even thinking if he was ok or even alive. Is he ok? And if he is, where is he?'
Sasuke groaned and gritted his teeth. Sweat trickled down his face and Sakura used the rag to wipe away his perspiration. She squeezed the mixture of warm water and sweat from it before damping it with some of the cool water from her canteen. With her rag in a more suitable condition, Sakura placed it once more onto Sasuke's forehead.
Before putting her canteen away, she took a much needed sip of her water.
"Please be ok... Naruto."
The forest of death was indeed a vast training field, something Naruto was growing to dislike as he leapt and swung from tree to tree. He had hoped that finding Sakura and Sasuke would be a simple task of retracing his steps, but the thousands of similar trees and vegetation left little indication of where he was or where he was going.
The only real key marker was the large tower located in the forest and that was only because of the fact that it was located in the middle of it. Another thing that impeded his search was the several other Genin teams and over grown wild life. He had already chanced upon a few foreign teams and didn't want to start an unnecessary fight. Especially with how the gathered fatigue from his previous two fights was beginning to set in. If Naruto had to judge, he'd say he had one good fight left in him before he would need to rest.
His vision suddenly became unfocused and he felt dizzy. Stopping on one of the many tree branches near him, Naruto waited until his vision returned to normal.
'Damn sound nins. Even now we're suffering from their attack.'
His head cleared as did his vision and once more he continued his search. Ten minutes passed and the only difference in the forest Naruto could find was the scars left from battles and a few dead bodies in the case that one team wasn't so merciful.
Ten minutes turned to fifteen and fifteen turned to twenty. His frustration had begun to get the better of him along with his fatigue when an all too familiar shout rung a few yards from Naruto's left.
"Decapitating Airwaves!"
Naruto stared at the direction and couldn't help but feel anger. He began turning away as he hoped to think logically instead of letting his anger dictate his actions, but stopped when he recalled that the sound team was Orochimaru's minions. It wouldn't be too far of a stretch to say that the sound nins would be ordered to attack his team, especially with how Orochimaru's anger was now directed upon him and his previous interest with Sasuke.
"We best at least check." Naruto whispered to himself.
Landing on a nearby branch, Naruto studied the scene before him. Naruto's only guess was that God decided to smile upon him as he found Team Ten defending Sakura from Dosu and his teammates. A closer look revealed Rock Lee laying unconscious a few feet from Sakura. The fact that his back was facing her was a nice hint that he was protecting her as well.
Team ten had the sound nins distracted, something that Naruto would take full advantage of. He made his way closer to Dosu and prepared his sneak attack. While he stalked across the branches, Naruto couldn't help but notice how still the sound nin was or the fact that he was mimicking Shikamaru. A better look at the ground cleared that question.
'Oh, it seems Shikamaru has him ensnared. Well that just makes things all the easier for us.' Naruto thought with a laugh echoing in his mind.
Ino had succeeded in using her family's jutsu, invading Kin's mind and took control. Reaching into Kin's pouch, she retrieved a kunai and placed it at the girl's neck.
"Alright if you don't want your teammate killed you'll give up!" Ino threatened.
Dosu who was still trapped in Shikamaru's shadow merely glanced over at the now possessed Kin and Zaku looked over confused once he had successfully defended himself from Choji. Neither seemed to care that their teammate was seconds from slicing open her own neck, a fact that made Ino nervous.
"Hey you guys listening! Give up now or else!" Ino said as she brought the kunai even closer to Kin's neck.
Dosu moved his gaze away from Kin and towards Shikamaru only to move it once again towards Zaku after a few seconds.
"Do it."
Dosu's words caused Zaku to grin and unnerve Shikamaru. Seeing Zaku raise one of his hands and point it towards Kin caused the lazy Genin to shout out a futile warning.
"Ino watch out!"
He cursed as he not only watched Kin's body be sent hurtling into a tree, but for his Shadow Possession to release Dosu as well. The now free sound nin immediately went to charge Shikamaru, but a strong grip on his forearm prevent him from moving.
Dosu turned his head to see a grinning Naruto. "You again!"
The shock of seeing Naruto wasn't enough to prevent Dosu from trying to retaliate. He instantly went to strike his melody arm only to have Naruto grab that arm as well, mimicking the grip of his other arm.
"Sorry, but we don't intend to let you hurt us again!" Naruto said, increasing the strength of his grip to ensure Dosu couldn't escape.
Sakura saw Naruto and couldn't help but smile. "Thank God."
Shikamaru smiled at seeing Naruto as well, but frowned when he saw Zaku point one of his hands toward Naruto.
"Oh no you don't!" said Shikamaru was he performed his Shadow Possession jutsu.
Zaku's hands suddenly shot up and released two loud blasts of pressure.
"What the hell?" Zaku yelled.
Naruto nodded towards Shikamaru. "Thanks Shikamaru, we'll quickly take care of this."
Shikamaru nodded and replied through grit teeth. "No problem, just hurry up. It's too troublesome to keep him still."
Dosu struggled to break free from Naruto's grip, but found himself lacking the strength to do so. The wicked grin Naruto's mask seemed to make only fueled his attempts to break free.
Naruto slammed his head against Dosu's, momentarily stunning him.
"Have you ever heard the saying 'Never hurt what you can't kill'? We don't plan on making the same mistake." Naruto stated before placing one of his feet against Dosu's chest.
"And we don't plan on letting you keep these devices." he added.
Dosu quickly caught onto Naruto's plan as did Shikamaru and the others, much to their collective horror.
"NO DOOONN'T!"
Naruto didn't know whether it was Dosu who yelled the protest or one of the others, but that didn't matter as the words were quickly replaced by Dosu's agony filled scream. Two useless, bloody appendages were dropped from Naruto's hands and he made his way to Dosu's armless form as he flailed around helpless with blood quickly spraying from the nubs that remained of his arms.
Sakura's complexion nearly turned as bone white as the two splinters that jutted from Dosu's nubs. The image before her seemed to burn its way into her mind and she couldn't bring herself to look away. Blood covered much of the ground and was clearly visible on Naruto's hands as small droplets fell from them.
Despite the nightmarish picture before her, Sakura wished she could mute out the scream she continued to hear to hear even more.
'Please! Please just put him out of his misery!'
Team ten wasn't fairing any better than Sakura. Shikamaru was lucky enough to be too busy holding Zaku in his shadow to focus on Dosu, but his pain filled screams got to him. Ino had let go of her hold on Kin and returned to her body, hoping that she wouldn't wake up while the sound nin still suffered. Naruto's action seemed to affect Choji most as his kind heart couldn't handle what he witnessed. Bending over, the Akimichi released his stomachs contents.
Surprisingly the one who seemed least affected by this was Dosu's own teammate, Zaku. The look on his face wasn't of horror or disgust, but surprise.
'Didn't think any of these tree huggers had it in them.' he thought morbidly.
Naruto had finally reached Dosu. He simply placed one of his boots on Dosu's throat, slowly adding pressure and choking him. A quick jerk of his foot was all Naruto needed to end the sound nins life and silence him forever.
Zaku didn't have much time to think afterwards before Naruto appeared behind him and knocked him out. Luckily for Shikamaru, he had let go of Zaku's shadow just in time for Naurto's balled fist to slam over the pressure point at the back of the sound nins neck.
Naruto wasn't allowed to relax despite both Zaku and Kin being unconscious. It wasn't the morbid stares his fellow Leaf Genin were giving nor was it Lee's teammates watching over them. No it was the dark chakra that was now floating around the now conscious Sasuke.
Following Naruto's gaze she soon found Sasuke standing a foot or so behind her. She was glad to see that he was awake, but the weird flame like markings that covered over half of his body and the visible purple chakra unsettled her.
"Who did this to you?"
Despite the concerned question Sasuke asked, Sakura couldn't help but feel the malice behind it.
"The sound nin attacked us while you were unconscious. B-But it is ok, Naruto and the others protected us."
At the mention of Naruto's name, Sasuke's anger grew and his focus shifted from Sakura to Naruto. Reaching into one of his pouches, he produced the fake scroll of Heaven.
"This your idea of prank!" Sasuke growled out.
Naruto only returned Sasuke's glare. "What, you angry that your bargaining chip wasn't available?" He proceeded to pull out the real scroll of Heaven, an act meant to mock Sasuke.
Sasuke's anger rose and he threw the fake scroll at Naruto. The fake scroll was batted away and Naruto leapt to the side in time to dodge Sasuke's rushed kick.
'Never thought we'd use the last of our strength to defend ourselves from Sasuke.' thought Naruto as he fought back.
Sakura watched in confusion and fear as her two teammates fought. It just seemed like no matter what happened something horrible seemed to follow. Naruto showed up to protect her, only to traumatize her with one of the goriest kills she'd ever seen. And Sasuke woke up only to be surrounded by a chakra that disturbed her and had even begun fighting Naruto.
Team ten didn't try to intervene as they didn't know who to help and were unsure if they could stop either one.
Sasuke was sent flying thanks to a hook from Naruto. Instead of his back slamming into the tree, he flipped himself over and used it as a springboard. Kicking off the tree, Sasuke launched himself above Naruto and began a series of hand seals.
'He's stronger and faster than before.' Naruto thought to himself.
A large in take of air from Sasuke warned Naruto of the fire jutsu coming. Unfortunately he had been prepared for a large fireball, not the multiple fire blasts that exploded forth. Explosions littered the forest floor around Naruto and a pained cry filled the air.
Smoke slowly cleared, and Naruto stood amongst the burnt earth, half of the clothes on his upper body were burnt off. His mask gave way to reveal the right side of his face, showing his long forgotten whisker marks and the matching side of his jacket and shirt were now replaced by the burnt skin of his pectoral and arm.
The blinding pain Naruto felt was easily ignored in place of the anger that coursed through him.
Sasuke and Naruto stared each other down once more, waiting for any signal to let loose the pent up rage both had for the other. Finally the two dashed towards each other with the intent to end each other.
Mere inches away from each other, both seemed frozen and unsure. Their hands were pulled back and ready to strike, but the pink haired girl between them prevented either from finishing their attack. Sakura's soft hands pressed against both teens chest and they looked at her face to see the tears spill from her eyes.
"Please, just please stop fighting." she begged weakly.
Naruto hesitated for a few seconds before dropping his fist and walking over to Dosu's corpse. Sasuke simply stood stunned, unsure of what happened. Relieve filled Sakura when she saw that Naruto wasn't continuing the fight and that the dark chakra and odd marks began to fade from Sasuke.
Rummaging through Dosu's supplies, Naruto found the scroll of Earth. Pocketing the scroll, Naruto walked over to the hollow Sakura had used before to hide in and slowly let his body fall and relax on the cool earth.
"Sakura." Naruto yelled out.
Hearing her name called, she turned her attention over to Naruto and panicked when she saw his prone form. Rushing over, she kneeled next to him and rested a hand on his side, being care to not put too much pressure on his burnt skin.
"You ok Naruto?" she asked with genuine concern.
Naruto didn't look up but he did nod. "We need you to use any ninja wire we have and restrain the remaining sound nins. They work for Orochimaru, we need to take them to the Hokage."
The seriousness in Naruto's voice told her to do as he asked without question, but the exhaustion that echoed from him only fueled her concern.
"Are you sure you're ok?"
"Yes Sakura, We just need to rest. Please tell Shikamaru we said thanks." Naruto replied.
Two Days Later
It had taken two days of rest for both Naruto and Sasuke to be able enough to fight. In truth Naruto could have been ready the next day, but with his symbiote it was expected for him to recover faster. Sasuke's curse mark was another factor in his slower recovery. Ever since the seal had been put in place he hadn't been able to mold chakra as easily and he would go through fits of pain at random moments. Once Sasuke was able to confidently fight, they decided to complete the second portion of the exams.
Team seven made their way towards the tower with Naruto carrying both Zaku and Kin. Just as he did with Haku, he used parts of his symbiote to bind them. Speaking of his symbiote, it had regenerated enough as recreate his clothes. This didn't go unnoticed by his teammates and when they asked how his clothes had returned to normal Naruto lied, using the excuse that he had storage seals with spare clothing.
It would be another day of travel before they reached the center of the forest and both Kin and Zaku presented much protest and struggle as they moved on. Naruto had wanted to arrive at the tower sooner but Sakura argued that with both scrolls in their possession, they shouldn't rush to the tower and make themselves an easy target.
Once they finally did arrive at their destination, they were greeted by a riddle written on one of the walls of the room they entered.
In the end team seven had to risk disqualification by opening both Heaven and Earth scrolls which resulted in summoning someone Naruto hadn't expected to see.
"Iruka?"
The Chunin teacher smiled as he looked at Team seven, but it lessened as he looked at Naruto and noticed the two tied up sound nin.
"I don't think you're allowed to take prisoners Naruto." Iruka stated with a jesting voice.
Naruto shook his head. "They work for Orochimaru."
The mere name made Iruka's face grow stern and he moved closer to Naruto.
"I heard that he's been seen here in Konoha, but I didn't know that the sound was his ninja…. I take it you will want to see the Hokage."
Naruto nodded as he adjusted Kin over his shoulder.
Hiruzen Sarutobi could feel his age really affect him at the moment. An S Ranking nin was currently using Konoha as his personal play ground and to make matters worse it was his old student. At the moment the Hokage could only be happy that both Naruto and Anko had managed to escape with their lives and that nothing further had occured.
He took a long drag of his pipe and letting the smoke float form his mouth before turning to team seven and the other occupants of the spare office room. Kakashi stood behind his students while Iruka and Anko stood at the side.
"Everyone I want to thank you for the information you have provided. Kakashi I need you to place a counter seal over the curse mark. I would have Jaraiya handle it, but he isn't here at the moment."
Kakashi nodded before placing a hand on Sasuke's shoulder and disappearing in a swirl of leaves.
The Hokage then turned to Iruka. "I would like you and Ms. Haruno to wait outside, there's something I want to discuss with Anko and Naruto in private."
Iruka did as he was told and exited the room with Sakura. Closing the door behind him, he could faintly sensed seals going off. Most likely to prevent any sound from escaping the room. A few minutes passed as the two simply stood in silence while they waited for Naruto to exit the room.
"Iruka sensei…." Sakura whispered.
"Yes Sakura?" Iruka asked with a curious look.
Sakura opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out. She closed her mouth and bit her lip before opening it again.
"Wha-What have we gotten ourselves into?"
"Don't think too hard about Orochimaru. You and the others did nothing to drag yourself int-"
"That's not what I'm talking about."
Iruka looked at Sakura questionably before understanding came across his face. He placed a gentle hand onto her shoulder, feeling the shudders that racked her body.
"I had hoped my students wouldn't have to face this side of a ninja's life for a bit longer." Iruka stated.
Sakura shook her head. "Naruto… He ripped that sound nin apart… before our very eyes. I didn't even kill him….. and yet I'm still haunted by his screams! How could Naruto do that, and appear completely unfazed?"
"I don't know." Iruka whispered. "Naruto has been an enigma to me ever since I've known him. I know that Naruto has had a hard life, even more than most orphans have. Maybe Naruto has had to kill before in order to save his own life, or maybe he's just holding it in where no one can see, I mean he is wearing a mask."
Iruka allowed Sakura a minute to soak in everything she had been told before continuing.
"That being said. I understand what you are feeling right now. It's not easy to witness such horrid deaths. Whether it be an enemy or an ally. Unfortunately this is a part of life for ninja. I have seen my enemy hit with a fire jutsu and survive, only to scream for the remainder of their life as the burns send them into shock. I had a close encounter with a wind jutsu once. I never even saw it coming until someone pushed me out of the way. Watching my comrade's body fall to pieces due to hair line slashes is one of the few things I never want to see again."
Sakura shook her head in the hopes of ridding herself of the mental images that formed.
"What am I suppose to do about Naruto? I haven't been able to speak two words to him without talking to the team as a whole and every time I look at him…. I see blood covering his hands."
Iruka let out a sigh. "I don't know what to tell you. But I should inform you that Naruto will most likely see the blood on his hands far more than you do. Whatever reason Naruto had for killing in such a way, it doesn't change the fact that he killed that ninja. He will have to live with it, and the sad fact is that there will be many more. For Naruto… and you as well."
Sakura's eyes widened upon hearing this. Instead of trying to deny or lie to herself, she just went silent.
Inside the office
"There is a lot going on and Orochimaru seems to be at the center of everything." Naruto stated.
Hiruzen nodded before taking a puff of his pipe. "With the sound nins taking orders from Orochimaru, it's safe to say that he is Oto's leader and has its entire army at his disposal, which still doesn't explain why he has marked Sasuke with the curse mark. Orochimaru wouldn't return just for Sasuke, not during a time when our security is at its highest. Not much is known about Oto, but it isn't large enough to successfully attack Konoha."
"Maybe he has more than just an army." Naruto stated as he reached into his jacket and pulled out a slightly burnt card.
'Luckily Sasuke's fire jutsu didn't hit the majority of it.' Thought Naruto as he handed the card to the Hokage.
"A participant by the name of Kabuto Yakushi had a deck of cards. Each card holds information on different ninja and this card was among them."
The Hokage studied the card for several seconds before he understood what was wrong with the situation.
"There's no way he should know all of this." Hiruzen spoke out loud.
"We thought the same thing. Ever since we've met Kabuto we haven't been able to trust him. His demeanor and the things he says, tells us that he's far more than he pretends to be." said Naruto.
Anko opened her mouth to speak. "Kabuto Yakushi, I remember his name. He's the one that Jonin medic brought to our village from a battle several years ago. His record is rather ordinary, nothing really impressive, but if he's a spy, then this would explain a lot."
Hiruzen shook his head in disbelief. "A spy amongst us. This would explain how Orochimaru managed to slip by the patrols."
"Hopefully the two sound nins we brought in will give us some information. We would advise extra guards for their cells, don't need them killed off under our nose" said Naruto
"Brats' got a point. I doubt Orochimaru will simply let them live." Anko added.
The Hokage nodded in agreement. "True, I'll assign more Anbu to watch over them."
"What about Kabuto? It wouldn't be smart to allow a spy to roam around as he pleases."
The Hokage nodded in agreement with Naruto's statement. "We'll wait until after the second portion of the exams before we apprehend him, same goes for the sound Jonin. This way Orochimaru will believe that we haven't caught onto Kabuto or Oto."
A grunt escaped Anko's clenched teeth. The hand she had pressed against her shoulder told the Hokage exactly what the cause was for her pain.
"The curse mark still acting up." he stated.
One of Naruto's eye brows rose as he took interest in the subject. "What exactly is the curse mark?" he asked.
The Hokage didn't answer immediately, as he took time to think. "I'll admit that I don't know much about the curse mark. It's a seal that Orochimaru created in order to enhance the abilities of the bearer. Unfortunately there are severe and even fatale side effects. The chance that the curse seal won't kill the person it's placed upon is slim."
Anko decided to continue the explanation. "Even if you do survive, resisting the seal can cause bouts of pain. Giving into the seal is even worse as you're taken over by anger, hate, and even greed. It can take the worst of you and bring it out to the surface."
"He plans to have Sasuke come to him." Naruto stated. "Sasuke wants power to avenge his clan. If he gives into his greed, he'll leave."
The Hokage blew out a cloud of smoke. "Hopefully the suppression seal Kakashi puts on him will prevent that."
Naruto gave an unconvinced look, though it was hard to see as his eyes were the only indication. "We wouldn't put too much trust into it."
Anko laughed at this. "What, you don't have confidence in your sensei's skills?"
"It's not that we don't have confidence in Kakashi, it's Sasuke that we lack confidence in."
The Hokage cleared his throat to regain both ninja's attention. "Is there anything else that either of you would like to inform me about."
Both nins thought for a second before shaking their heads.
"In that case you are both dismissed. I would recommend resting for the majority of your stay here Naruto."
Naruto nodded and didn't bother asking why. If the Hokage was going to tell him, he'd have done so. Following Anko out the door, he saw Sakura standing next to Iruka. The fact that Sakura looked away from him wasn't missed and he'd decided that he would figure out what it was about later. For now he just wanted a decent meal and a place to sleep.
"Hey Anko before you go any chance this place has a cafeteria? We haven't eaten anything but fish for the past couple of days."
Anko shrugged her shoulders. "Yeah yeah, there's one somewhere in this place. Just have Iruka there lead you to it." she said before disappearing into a hallway.
Naruto turned to Iruka afterwards. "Alright, lead the way."
Two days later
Naruto stood in a room with twenty other Genins around him. All attention was towards the Hokage and many others that stood around him. Behind the Hokage were two statues of mesh covered arms forming a hand sign.
The Hokage began explaining the true meaning of the Chunin exams and how they were meant to supposedly prevent wars. Naruto only gave partial attention to what was being said as he chose to study his surrounding instead.
The circular floor they stood on was littered with cracks and scuff marks. An upper level surrounded them and was fenced off by sets of rails. The Hokage's advise from the day before and his observations helped Naruto realize that the room they were in was an arena of some sort.
Naruto picked up on the bickering around him and heard the Hokage mention something about a preliminary round. A smile crossed Naruto's face at the thought of being able to actually fight one on one.
Suddenly an ill looking man decided to take over for the Hokage and explain the reason behind the preliminary round. Once the new examiner was done explaining he decided to inform them of their choices.
"If you don't believe you can continue the exams, let us know now before we start." before letting out several coughs.
The Hokage, Anko, and Naruto all watched as Kabuto raised his hand. "Sorry but I don't think I can continue."
The new examiner, Hayate, check him off a list. "Alright are there any more that would like to quit now."
The other Genin were talking amongst them while Naruto watched Kabuto leave. As this happened Sakura began trying to convince Sasuke to drop out due to the curse mark, something he had no intentions of doing.
"This is the one time where I can test myself and see where I stand in the world. I've told you before, I'm an avenger. If you take this away from me, I wouldn't forgive even you Sakura."
Sakura's eyes went wide as the tone of Sasuke's voice told her that he was serious. She relented afterwards and simply prayed that he'd be ok.
Seeing as no one else was going to leave, Hayate began the preliminary.
"If everyone will leave the arena we will begin."
The Genin walked up a set of stairs and were soon joined by their Jonin sensei. Some of the Genin wondered how their opponents would be selected, only to get their answer in the form of a flat screen that lowered from the ceiling.
Two sets of names rapidly flipped through the screen before stopping. The selected names were Sasuke and Kiba. The Inuzuka gave an excited yell before taking his place on the arena floor, Sasuke simply jumping down into his spot opposite of Kiba.
Naruto couldn't help but feel disappointed as he watched medic nins pick up Kiba's burnt body and carry it out of the room on a gurney, his faithful dog following after them. Kiba had told Akamaru to stay out of the fight as he wanted to prove that he could take on Sasuke by himself.
The fight had started out as a trade of punches and kicks. Sasuke's eyes were blazing with the Sharingan two tomoe form. With his Sharingan active, Sasuke began winning the taijutsu fight as he began to predict Kiba's movements.
Realizing that he was losing the fight, Kiba retreated away from Sasuke, who threw several kunai and shuriken. Without hesitation Kiba pulled out his trump card. His features became more beast like as he hunched over and jumped towards the projectiles. Many had gasped as Kiba suddenly spun his body around till it appeared as nothing but a gray cyclone.
Easily knocking the projectiles aside, Kiba continued flying towards Sasuke. A stinging pain in his neck caught Sasuke off guard and he had only been able to barely dodge and three long slashes ran down Sasuke's arm as proof that he had not been able to fully dodge the attack.
As soon as Kiba's feet touched the ground, he turned around and leapt towards Sasuke again. This time before spinning his body he threw a smoke bomb onto the ground. The clouds of smoke effectively blocked both participates vision as well as hiding them from the spectators.
But Kiba's sight being taken away did little to hinder his attacks as he could still smell Sasuke, who on the other hand had to trust his ears to alert him. Sasuke had managed to dodge Kiba's airborne body, but only by split seconds. When the smoke cleared, Sasuke stood with various claw like slashes riddling his body.
An over confident Kiba didn't even bother throwing another smoke bomb and spun towards Sasuke again. Not intending to throw away an opening Sasuke spun through hands seals before leaping to the side. Once again pain throbbed from his curse mark, this time however Sasuke gritted his teeth and ignored it. As Kiba's hurling form passed by, Sasuke launched a fire ball from his mouth.
The second the large fire ball hit, the torrent of winds spread the flames and soon covered Kiba's body. The Inuzuka's rolled against the ground and his body shook as the scorch marks covering him throbbed, a pain filled cry rolling out of his mouth. He had tried to get up, but quickly collapsed back onto the ground.
Seeing that the fight was over, Hayate declared Sasuke the winner.
After that fight, a few quick ones passed by. Tenten had fought Gaara and had to forfeit when she discovered that none of her thrown weapons could get through Gaara's sand. The fact that his opponent had quit before he could even fight had infuriated Gaara. A stern command from his Jonin sensei seemed to keep Gaara from attacking his defeated opponent, though Naruto doubted Gaara even considered the man as his sensei.
The fight afterwards was Hinata against one of the rain Genin. The fight began with the Rain nin performing a genjutsu that created several copies of himself and scattering them among the room. The shy Hyuga though nervous, kept herself from being too distracted from the copies and activated her Byakugan. The Rain nin had ignorantly ignored the change in her eyes and made his way towards her back.
The second he was within a few feet, Hinata spun around and began stabbing her index and middle finger into several spots of his body, shutting off his chakra points in the process. The Rain nin had tried to make a retreat only to have his legs shut down as well. With her opponent unable to move, Hinata took a few steps back and waited for Hayate to declare her the winner before taking her place back on the upper level.
Naruto decided to make his way over to Team 8 and congratulate Hinata. "Good job Hinata!"
"T-T-T-Thank y-you." she stuttered out with a dark blush covering her cheeks.
Naruto chuckled at Hinata's shyness before looking at Shino and seeing his tense figure. Looking at the screen he noticed that Shino name was shown on the screen while the other name had yet to be picked. Shino's posture relaxed and he let out a sigh of relief when the name Misumi Tsurugi appeared.
Naruto chuckled as Shino's team gave the Aburame heir a questioning look. Having noticed the looks he was given, Shino decided to explain himself.
"There are two people here that I do not wish to fight. Gaara and Naruto." he said in his usual stoic voice.
"Aahhhh, what's wrong Shino? We wouldn't bite…. much!" Naruto said, chuckling after he said much.
Hinata and Kurenai couldn't help but giggle at Shino's expense.
"As true as that is, I rather not fight you." Shino stated as he walked by them and made his way down to his spot in the arena.
Naruto looked over at Misumi and noticed that he was one of Kabuto's teammates. The realization came from the fact that just as the sound nins seemed to have a dress code, so did Kabuto's. The only difference between Misumi and Kabuto's choice in clothing was that Misumi draped a purple cloth over his face and wore his head band in a bandana style similar to Naruto along with thin glasses. His skin was slightly tanned and his eyes seemed in a permanently narrowed manner.
The fight didn't last long after Hayate announced the start as Misumi didn't appear to have any long range jutsu. With nothing preventing Shino from swarming the so called fellow Leaf nin with his bugs the match ended.
When Shino returned to the upper level, Naruto decided to state his disappointment.
"Geez, how the hell did he get this far? Looks like you were given a free pass Shino."
The bug user agreed with Naruto and began thinking of several reasons his opponent was so simple to overtake. Seeing as his friend was analyzing his situation, Naruto turned his attention back to the board and watched as two more names were picked.
He burst into a fit of laughter when Sakura's and Ino's names appeared. The other Leaf nins that knew Sakura and Ino didn't join in Naruto's laughter as they were aware of the broken friendship and rivalry between the two teenage girls. Oddly enough the match lasted far longer than any of the others before it. But fifthteen minutes into the match, Ino had captured Sakura in her family's jutsu and possessed her body.
Naruto had to admit that what Ino had done was rather smart, using her hair to stop Sakura's from moving. But he couldn't help feel bad for Sakura and decided to at least cheer for his teammate, hopefully help boost her morale and give her a small boost in the fight.
Strangely enough, Sakura had managed to break free and Ino had returned to her body. Afterwards the two ended up knocking each other out with a single punch, something that once again had Naruto laughing loudly while the others simply stared in shock. Both Asuma and Kakashi dropped down onto the arena floor in order to retrieve their respective students.
With the arena now empty save for Hayate, the board once more began the process of choosing the next two participants. Naruto jump over the railing without a second's hesitation when he saw his name flash to life and waited for his opponent. For some reason unknown to Naruto, Hinata's eyes widened when she saw her cousin's name appear. She sent a worried look towards Naruto, hoping he'd leave the arena in the same condition he entered.
Naruto looked towards the opposite end of the circular room and saw Neji Hyuga. Aside from the obvious fact that he was a Hyuga, Naruto didn't know much more about his opponent. He didn't know about his status, the fact that Neji was Hinata's cousin, nor the real reason he wore his headband over his forehead.
"You should give up and spare yourself the embarrassment." Neji stated in a matter of fact tone.
Naruto chuckled as he began to approach the center of the arena. "Oh, and what makes you believe you'll win?"
"Because fate has already determined the outcome of this fight."
Neji had expected many responses. Defiance, anger, shock, and even fear. But never did he expect full blown laughter. Naruto bent over and held his ribs as his laughs bounced off the walls and his eyes filled with tears of amusement.
As he began to calm down, Naruto gave Neji an amused look. "If there truly is such a thing as fate, then it has abandoned you."
Neji's pupil-less eyes seemed to focus as veins around his eyes bulged. "You can't say I didn't warned you!" he said as he dropped into a low stance. One arm pulled back and allowed it rest behind him while his other hand was brought forward with the palm facing Naruto.
Naruto's amusement had yet to fade as he let out a few small laughs. 'If there is such a thing as fate, then it brought the symbiote to us.'
Hayate looked at both teens before starting the match. "Begin!"
Neji had chosen to remain glued to his spot while Naruto began to walk a slow circle around him, a lax posture as his only stance. As his opponent stalked around him Neji turned his body so as to keep him in front of him, not that he needed to.
Naruto finally stopped and dashed towards Neji. When they were within striking distance, the two clashed. Naruto threw in several punches and kicks while Neji retaliated with many thrusts using his middle and index finger. After landing a hook across Neji's temple, Naruto staggered back.
'Gentle fists our ass! It felt like he just drove several four inch nails through our muscles.' thought Naruto as he rubbed one of the spots that had been hit.
Neji couldn't chase after Naruto as his vision had become blurred and fuzzy, the spot over his temple already showing signs of bruising.
"How preposterous! You think you can beat the Hyuga style with brawling." Neji stated in disbelief.
Naruto ignored Neji's words and shot a small thread towards Neji, yanking back as soon as the symbiote touched him. A quick chop from Neji severed the thread, but this didn't stop him from hurtling towards the wall.
Instead of hitting the wall head first, Neji flipped his body and landed on his feet and prepared to kick off. At least that was his plan. Instead Naruto had already jumped onto the same wall, landing on all four limbs and lunged towards him. Naruto tackled Neji off the wall, his hands holding onto Neji's shoulders, while his feet planted themselves onto his torso.
As soon as Neji's back touched the hard ground, Naruto kicked off, not but before the Hyuga slammed a gentle fist strike over his heart. Both teens' attacks rewarded them with pained grunts before the two separated. Naruto flipped away from Neji and landed on his hands and knees, his back facing towards the Hyuga's downed form.
Coughing could be heard from Naruto and the white teeth of his mask slowly stained red with blood as he attempted to calm his breathe. As soon as Naruto stood, a cold chill went up his spine.
"I can't believe…. I've been forced….. to fight you seriously." said Neji between pained gasps.
Naruto turned around and saw that Neji was now in a different stance, one that had him lower his entire body so that his left extended hand nearly touched his foot and his right hovered high behind him. Before Naruto could even react, Neji blurred towards him and landed two strikes.
"Two palms!" Neji declared.
Naruto took a step back as the impact pushed him, and found that Neji wasn't done yet as he continued thrusting even more sets of strikes. As Neji struck he openly stated the set he was on.
"Four palms! Eight palms! Sixteen palms! Thirty-two palms!"
Each strike pushed Naruto further and further until his back met the wall.
"Sixty-four palms!" Neji finished as he hit Naruto with the remaining thirty-two strikes of his attack.
Cracks formed in the wall behind Naruto as his body became abused against it. Witht he attack finished, his entire body seemed to slump and it appeared that the only thing holding him up was the wall he seemed embedded.
Neji took a step back and observed his work. A smile crept across his face despite his labored breathes.
"I told you that you were fated to lose. I've shut down all of your chakra points…. the fact that you're still standing is surprising enough." Confidence exuded off of him as he turned his head towards Hayate. "I've won, call the match."
Deciding to take one last look, Neji turned back towards Naruto, only to have an open hand block his vision and slam him against the wall. Hinata amongst others that knew about the gentle fist stared on in shock as the two had now switched places.
Naruto smiled as he held Neji, lifting him off the ground and proceeded to repeatedly slam his head against the wall. His chakra points had indeed been shut down as the pain coursing through his body made it easy to know even without the all seeing Byakugan. But while Naruto had chakra points, his symbiote did not. At the moment Naruto wasn't truly moving, his symbiote was controlling his body like a marionette would a puppet.
Despite his predicament Neji didn't simply sit or hang idly and allow Naruto to slam him against the wall and proceeded to attempt to fight back. He threw strikes to the arm holding him and attempted to throw kicks that would hopefully force Naruto to let go.
But this proved useless as his kicks couldn't gain enough strength while being held above the ground and his strikes couldn't do anything to the already shut down chakra points. The cracks and indent created from Naruto's body being beaten into the wall paled in comparison to the crater that Neji's body created and continued to deepen.
After the eighth slam Neji stopped fighting back and a look in between Naruto's fingers would show that Neji's eyes began to roll into the back of his head. Naruto brought Neji closer to him so he could whisper a few words of advice.
"I could care less if you decide to believe that everyone has a fate that they can't be avoid. But realize this, if there is such a thing, then fate gave us the unbreakable shield to your sword, fate decided to have you fight an opponent you couldn't defeat, and fate abandoned you to the beating you have received."
One of Neji's hands suddenly shot forward and struck Naruto left pectoral, a defiant look in his eyes as he fought to stay conscious. Blood seeped through Naruto's mask and dripped down his chin.
Despite the pain, Naruto simply chuckled. "Goooooddd. Fight back, don't let a word decide everything for you." he said before slamming Neji against the wall one last time, forcing him unconscious.
Neji's body dropped against the ground and Naruto walked away as Hayate declared him the winner. Jumping back onto the upper level, Naruto became aware of the stares he got from his fellow Leaf nin. Shino shook his head as he understood what many were thinking as he couldn't logically explain how Naruto could move after having his chakra points shut off either. But Shino had learned long ago that Naruto defied logic on many occasions. Hoping to help one of his few friends from the awkward attention, Shino decided to speak up.
"Now do you see why I don't want to fight him? His fighting style reminds me far too much like a spider."
The now red teeth on Naruto's mask mimicked the appreciative smile he had and Naruto sent a nod towards Shino, a hidden message Shino understood and returned. Many of the Leaf nins took their attention away from Naruto, but some still kept an eye on him, especially Hinata.
'Can he continue to fight through sheer determination alone?' she asked herself, her Byakugan active and showing her yet another mystery as his chakra points began to turn on one after another like stars in the sky.
Once Neji had been removed from the arena via medic nins the fights continued.
Shikamaru ended up fighting one of the Rain Genin. Just as his teammate did, the Rain nin created several genjutsu clones except he proceeded to hide in one of the shadows created from said clones. Anyone that knew about the Nara clan and their abilities would have known better.
Shikamaru left the arena after forcing his opponent to slam his head against the arena wall. Afterwards Choji fought against Temari. In the middle of the fight Naruto commented on how Choji never stood a chance. Especially with how Temari could use her fan to float above Choji as he turned himself into a living bowling ball or meat tank as his jutsu implied.
After Choji was forced to revert back, Temari swung her fan and created a tornado that lifted Choji off the ground and proceeded to dig several slashes into his skin. Temari left the arena untouched while Choji had been carried away.
Lee's battle had him fighting Kabuto's other teammate. A fight easily won by Lee as his opponent's main ability revolved around him touching someone in order to absorb their chakra. A few punches ended the fight and the final fight between Kankuro and the last Rain nin. Before the fight even began, Kankuro released the bandages from the contraption on his back and revealed a bizarre brown, human sized puppet.
A shaggy wig acted as the puppets hair and it had been given three eyes. Its long dirt colored cloak covered much of its body except for its four arms and two legs that hung lazily beneath it. At the start of the match, Kankuro's puppet flew across the room and latched its four arms around the Rain nin.
"Let me guess… you were going to create clones and hide." Kankuro stated smugly. "Well too bad. Give up or I'll have Crow crush your bones." he threatened.
With no way out the Rain nin had no choice but to give in.
Hayate, the Hokage, and the other examiners approached the center of the arena and signaled for the winners to approach.
A Week Later
Naruto traveled across Konoha in search of a sensei. After the preliminaries ended the Hokage explained that they would have a month to rest and prepare for the third and final part of the Chunin exams. Afterwards Anko walked in front of them and had them reach into a box to take a number. Naruto didn't pay attention to the numbers the others recieved and simply waited patiently for his turn while taking the time to properly admire Anko's curves. Something that Anko was fully aware of as she sent a playful glare at Naruto once it was his turn to draw a number.
When everyone was done drawing their number, a chart was displayed to show everyone who they would fight. Naruto snickered at the fact that he would get to fight the person that beat Sasuke, Lee.
Afterwards Kakashi had offered to train both Sasuke and Naruto, but Naruto had passed it up and warned Kakashi exactly what Gaara was. With the new knowledge Kakashi immediately agreed and began making plans to train Sasuke in a more private area.
Naruto had chosen to rest the next few days as the gentle fist strikes had harmed him a lot more than he let on. Afterwards he began trying to find the person he wanted to learn from. Only problem was that he couldn't seem to find his intended instructor. He could have easily asked the Hokage to set up a meeting, but chose not to as he felt the old man had enough on his hands.
So instead Naruto began gathering information. He asked several questions about his hopeful teacher such as home address, hobbies, and even places frequented. Naruto didn't even bother with the home address as he got some unknown thrill from actually having to hunt down his target. So instead he simply waited for the opportune moment to strike. He didn't know when his simply search for an instructor became a game, but he enjoyed it.
Landing in front of a small restaurant, he proceeded to walk in. Scanning the room, he quickly spotted his target and continued to silently move forward until he was a mere feet away.
"Hello Anko. Isn't it such a nice day?"
Anko quickly spun around with a kunai in her hand, stopping once she saw Naruto and a grin spread across her face.
"Well if it isn't Naruto. Shouldn't you be training with Kakashi?"
Naruto took a seat next to Anko and ordered a plate of dango. "We passed up the chance in order to seek training from someone that interests us."
Anko's brow rose in interests. "Oh, and who is the person you plan to have train you?"
"Why….. you of course." Naruto said playfully.
His words shocked her only for a moment before her earlier attitude came back.
"Hah! And why would you want me to train? While we're at it why should I take time out of my schedule to train you?"
Naruto chuckled. "Why wouldn't we want someone as skilled and beautiful to train us. "
"Flattery will only get you so far brat."
Naruto's order of dango finally arrived and Naruto slid the plate towards Anko. "Oh we have much more than flattery to offer in return for your tutelage."
Picking up one of the sticks of dango, Anko bit off one of the round balls of pastry. "Hmmmm but I can easily buy my own dango."
Instead of getting discouraged Naruto simply decided to up the trade. Carefully walking behind Anko, he placed his hands on her shoulders and began messaging them.
"There are other things we can offer. Things that someone of your career could easily buy but wouldn't get the quality of service we offer."
"Mmmm, you have a point there." said Anko as she enjoyed the sensation of the knots on her shoulders being rubbed loose.
She had already decided to train him, but it wouldn't have been any fun if she gave in to his request immediately. Truth be told, Naruto interested her. The fact that the Hokage spoke so highly of him during the Genin team selections had made her curious and now she had been given the chance to actually train him.
"So tell me brat. When do you want to start?"
Author note: Sorry if reading about Dosu's arm was disturbing but when I was rereading the manga and saw Zaku blow one of his arms off thanks to Shino and not start screaming bloody murder I couldn't help but think WTF. I mean seriously, Sasuke breaks both of his arms and he screams, but one of them explodes and he's perfectly fine. He even proceeded to try and punch Shino with the other one afterwards. LOL.
Anyway I feel I should warn you that there will be other scenes just as disturbing in the future.
On another note, planning out the fights was a pain in the ass. Except for Sasuke's, Naruto's and Sakura's fights, I had to keep randomizing the fights until I got a fight selection that I felt ok about.