I do not own Naruto (i am not that smart).

"Talking" will be done with the normal font.

'Thoughts' will be done by Italic.

Chapter 11- The Desert Is Cruel.

"That guy!"

"What!?" Konohamaru looked at them funny.

"He's one of the three I talked about before. And if I had to put them on order from best to worst, he's the best one." Kazumu had a fierce look in his eyes. "I'm actually excited, even if I'm a bit weakened." He pulled something out of his cloak. It was some white bandages that he started wrapping around his hands.

"Hey! That's the same thing 'bushy brows' wears!" Naruto yelled.

"Bushy brows? Oh! You mean Lee?" Kazumu said understanding the nickname. He had finished wrapping the bandages that were now covering his arm almost up to his elbows.

"Yeah, he uses the bandages for the Primary Lotus. Wait. Can you open the Eight Inner Gates!?" Naruto asked trying to piece it all together.

"You'll have to wait and see Naruto. I have a lot more that one trick up my sleeve, lets just leave it at that for now. I'm more interested in that Genin." He looked back over at their competition. He was a moderately tall guy who was slim and wore a hooded cloak covering everything except for the Sand Village headband wrapped around his arm.

"He seems a bit creepy." Konohamaru was standing there shaking.

"Calm down. With us here it will be ok." Naruto let off a cheesy smile and gathered the team together. "We need to go guys."

"Ok then." Kazumu turned to Ino. "Don't worry about me. I won't do anything stupid." She nodded and smiled at him as he left to go to the explanation.

"Hurry up everyone! I want this stage to start this year, not the next one!" Kankuro yelled out as the remaining candidates for the exam came together. "Ok, the next stage of the exam will be starting soon. This stage will take place in the desert as you may have already guessed and will require a long period of time out there, depending on your efficiency as a ninja of course." Kankuro looked around the crowd to see a few unhappy faces. "You haven't heard the worst part yet. You will be given one scroll at the beginning of the stage, either a Heaven or Earth scroll and by the end of the stage you must have one of each scroll in your teams possession."

"Hey! That's the same test that the Leaf did!" Naruto yelled out making everyone look at him.

"What do you want a medal? It doesn't matter, it makes no difference to the rules of this exam. You must get a Heaven and Earth scroll back to the village to pass this stage. And by this I mean you need to fight other teams to get you hands on the other scroll with no rules in place for the fighting."

"If that's the case where are the forms of consent? We need to agree to this." Naruto opening his mouth again didn't sound happy.

"There isn't one. You should all know what you're getting into. You don't need some stupid form to say so." Naruto crossed his arms and backed off. "Anyway, you will all be summoned out into the desert by various Chunin scattered around the entire area. There you will receive your scroll. You all have five minutes to prepare for this stage. Get ready." Kankuro then walked off to the other Chunin running the event.

"You mean people will probably die in this stage?" Konohamaru had a sad look in his eye.

"Unfortunately yes." Naruto said with the same level of grief in his voice. "Guys!" He huddled up with Kazumu and Konohamaru. "We have to promise each other right now that we won't kill anyone, or even try to."

"Of course we won't!" Kazumu stepped in first. "I could barely think of killing an actual enemy let alone a Genin in a test!" He seemed pretty outraged from the fact that Naruto thought he had to make them promise this.

"I'm sorry! I just had to be sure we were all on the same page." Naruto said trying to calm the situation down.

"Well you should know us well enough to know we'd never do something like that."

"Ok times up! We are starting, once your team has been called you will be reverse summoned out into the desert and receive your scroll." Kankuro announced as the teams were getting called one by one.

"Team Naruto!" A Chunin called signalling the three of them to come over to him.

"Yeah yeah we're coming." Naruto said still agitated from Kankuro's explanation.

"Ok then. I'm going to reverse summon you so stand on the contract glyph." The sand Chunin explained as they gathered together.

"Are you guys ready?" Kazumu asked and they both nodded.

"Ninja Art! Reverse Summoning Jutsu!" All the three of them could see was white smoke for a while and then they saw though it to see they were in the middle of the desert. The Sand Village wasn't even in view.

"Here's your scroll." They all looked behind them to see another sand ninja holding a scroll with the kanji for Heaven written on it. "Good luck. And remember not to open the scroll until you have returned both to the Sand Village. You have five days to bring both scrolls to the Sand." He then handed the scroll to Naruto.

"Thanks a lot." Kazumu bowed politely.

"Glad I could help. Good luck again. I hope you guys do well." He weaved a handsign and disappeared with a white puff of smoke. They all stood there looking around.

"So we started with the Heaven scroll again huh?" Naruto looked a little down saying this. "So who's gonna hold onto it during this stage?" They all looked at each other, thinking pretty hard about this choice.

"I'll do it." Kazumu stepped forward. "I'll have a summon look after it." He was about to ready the Rinnegan when Naruto stopped him.

"You promised Bushy-brows sensei you would only use the Byakugan during the exam Kazumu." Kazumu snapped and remembered his promise.

"Dammit!" He stood the thinking to himself for a bit. "One sec then." He bit his finger making blood trickle out, performed a few handsigns and slammed his hand on the sand. "Summoning Jutsu." A glyph appeared in the usual manner and white smoke came out.

"Kazumu! You have a summon!?" Kazumu smiled and fires started swelling around the summoning glyph. Suddenly a giant bird appeared out of the ground covered in flames.

"You summoned me master. What do you desire?" Naruto and Konohamaru were shocked. It was speaking to them telepathically.

"Helios."

"Yes master?"

"Stop calling me that. You know I don't see you as my slave. Could you please hide in the sun's light and look after this scroll for us?" The bird gazed at the other two and nodded. It took the scroll and the sun shined down and the bird disappeared.

"I will await your call." Naruto and Konohamaru stood there completely shocked.

"I guess I have some explaining to do huh?" With their mouths still wide open they nodded and Kazumu began.

(Flashback one month ago)

"Summons!"

"Summons?

"Yes! Summons!" Guy gave his famous smile. He was explaining summon animals and contracts to Kazumu.

"So like my Animal Path?" He thought he had it all figured out.

"No. More like this." He bit his finger, made some handsigns and slammed his hand on the ground. "Summoning Jutsu!" Guy summoned a big red turtle with a Leaf Village headband around it's neck. "This is a proper summon!"

"What the? Why am I here Guy!" The turtle definitely didn't sound happy.

"I'm sorry Ningame. I was using you as a demonstration." The turtle seemed to be the superior here.

"Then I'm going! I think I've done enough time here as a 'demonstration'." Ningame then disappeared in a puff of white smoke. Guy looked pretty embarrassed.

"Well, that was my summon Ningame..."

"Seemed very, nice?"

"I guess he was in a bad mood, again." Guy was down on himself now.

"It's ok Guy. I get what a summon is now. Even if Ningame was a poor sport about it." Guy perked back up. "So what do I have to do to get a summon?"

"You need to sign a blood contract with a summon animal like mine."

"But that could take forever to find one!" Guy then looked like he was leaving something out. "Guy? What is it?"

"Well... If you use the summoning jutsu without a contract you might be transported to the home of the summon animal that matches you personally." Kazumu smiled, bit his finger and started performing the handsigns. "But it's really risky Kazumu you can't-"

"Summoning Jutsu!" It was too late. Kazumu disappeared in a puff of white smoke.

"..."

"Where am I?" He looked around and there was literally nothing there. He was surrounded by nothing but darkness. "Ok, next time I'll listen to Guy." He started walking around. He didn't know where he was going or where he would end up but it was better than nothing. "What the hell is this place?" He kept going. On and on for hours and hours not finding anything. "Is there anyone out there?" He stopped walking and looked around some more. "Am I going to die here?"

"No." Kazumu jumped and looked around. Still not seeing a thing.

"Who's there!?"

"I am known as Helios." This voice wasn't being heard though Kazumu's ears. It was speaking directly into his mind.

"Where are you? Why can't I see anything?"

"You are in a realm where your kind cannot enter. Therefore, you do not belong here Kazumu."

"How do you know my name?"

"I can see into your mind. The life you have lived. The hardships you have suffered. Also, I have been waiting a very long time in this world of darkness for someone to show me the light."

"W-what are you?" The voice didn't respond straight away.

"I am the embodiment of the sun. Of light itself. I am a Phoenix who has not spread it's wings since the moment I was born." The place lit up in a flame in front of Kazumu. Taking the form of a giant bird encased in a beautiful array of light and fire.

"Helios..." He stood there admiring the sight. A small flame appeared in front of Kazumu and it turned into a scroll that opened.

"Sign your name in blood Kazumu. Then I will aid you when you call for me." Kazumu nodded. He bit his finger and wrote his name with the blood. The scroll then disappeared. "You will not be able to return to your would yourself. I shall aid you in this." Helios approached Kazumu and touched him with his talon as a light began to envelop him. "Till we meet again. Master."

(Flashback end)

"And that's basically what happened. After that I ended up back at the training field and I went to Ichiraku's while I had the chance away from Guy." Naruto and Konohamaru were still standing there jaw dropped. "Come on guys it's just a summon. Sure no one else has ever formed a contract with him but it's not that bad." They snapped out of it and came to their senses.

"That is amazing!" Konohamaru yelled.

"So he's a phoenix then huh? That's one unique summon." Naruto said sounding a bit jealous.

"Yeah well I was saving him for another occasion." He gave Naruto a certain look when he said this. "But he is my only summon besides my Animal Path so I had no other option. The scroll is safest with him."

"Agreed. Now we should probably head out." Naruto started walking until he realised no one was walking with him. "What are you two doing?"

"I don't think we will need to go anywhere yet Naruto." Kazumu looked very serious his gaze was fixed on something.

"Maybe it wasn't such a good idea huh?" Konohamaru looked over to Kazumu.

"Yeah. Summoning Helios just brought attention to us. Not the greatest idea when you put it that way. The extra sunlight was basically a massive beacon." Kazumu pointed out his obvious mistake. "Well, lets just hope they have an Earth scroll." They all readied themselves for a fight. Kazumu took the stance of the Strong Fist from Guy, Naruto sat down and began entering Sage Mode and Konohamaru stood there doing nothing.

"I wish I had some special thing I could do." He pouted as Naruto stood up with his Sage Mode achieved.

"You will Konohamaru. Every ninja has something special to them, you just need to find it." Naruto took a stance and Konohamaru shook off the whining and readied himself as well.

"This is it guys. The start of our fight." The others nodded and they stared down their approaching enemies. Three figures came in fast and stopped in front of them.

"I'm guessing you guys caused that big light to appear." The one in the middle spoke first. There was nothing out of the ordinary about them. Just three Sand shinobi.

"That would be correct." Kazumu answered hesitantly, making sure not to cause a conflict.

"Look we don't want to start any fights if we don't need to ok? Are we both alright on that?" Kazumu nodded. "We're gonna tell you what scroll we have alright?" Kazumu nodded once more. "We have the Heaven scroll ok? If you have the same one we don't want a fight."

"We also have the Heaven scroll." Kazumu even after telling them this didn't move an inch.

"Good. Then we'll be taking that then." The three of them got their kunai out and took their stances. "A spare is always a good bargaining tool."

"You little fools. You really think we're going to let you take our scroll." Kazumu strengthened his stance. "Back off you two. They're mine."

"What!? Why do you get to have all the fun?" Naruto was the first to complain.

"Because my Taijutsu is the best way to get them down without killing them." Kazumu began walked towards them.

"You really think you can take on all three of us without killer intent? You Leaf Village Genin are all the same." The second he said that Kazumu snapped and before you could blink he had kicked the both ninja on the outside knocking them out cold and sending them in opposite directions and he was standing right next to the other Sand ninja and he whispered in his ear.

"Have you heard about the Akatsuki member that switched sides and joined the Leaf?"

"W-what about him?" He was shaking in fear at this point.

"Well I've still got a bit of the Akatsuki in my system." The Sand ninja froze from fear. "And I just might take it all out on you..."

"I-i-i-it's you!" He began stumbling backwards, falling over every time he tried to get away.

"Yes it's me. The one who defeated your Kazekage and the one who is about to kill you!" Kazumu ran towards him and he fainted there on the spot before he reached him. Naruto, Konohamaru and Kazumu completely froze. "Are you serious..." They broke into laughter and started walking off to the south. "I can't believe that just happened!"

"I know! What a bunch of little kids!" Naruto joined in.

"Wait did we grab their scroll?" Kazumu remembered and looked back.

"I'll go get it!" Konohamaru volunteered and went to go search them.

"Well so far so good hey Naruto?" Kazumu relaxed for a bit.

"Yeah. I didn't imagine this sort of atmosphere when we started. But I guess it's different this time now that we are out of everyone else's league!" He laughed to himself while Kazumu gave him a funny look.

"When you put it that way you sound very up yourself you know that?"

"Hey guys I found it!" Konohamaru returned with the Heaven scroll the Sand ninja had. "But why do we need this anyway?"

"As they said. It's a good bargaining tool. With this we can avoid one fight at least by handing it over." Kazumu explained.

"But that's a little cowardly." Konohamaru didn't understand very well.

"We don't want to kill anyone and that becomes harder with every fight we participate in. In one fight we might not even be able to defend well enough without killer intent just like those Sand ninja said." Kazumu took a very dire tone. Konohamaru just nodded and they all started walking off again.

"Kazumu?"

"Hmm?"

"Do you think you should use your Byakugan to track some of the other ninja in the exam?" Naruto asked him.

"No. If I use too much chakra I'll end up having another nightmare." Kazumu said making everyone feel down just from mentioning it. "Time to let Sage Mode shine Naruto!" He smiled changing the subject.

"Sure! I'm still in Sage Mode from earlier!" He closed his eyes for a moment and started tracing the chakra sources out in the desert. "Well we have two choices it seems."

"Two? Oh this will be good." Kazumu said with a smug voice.

"We could either take the easy way. Leaving us with a few weak groups of Genin to the north."

"Or?"

"We could meet our only competition out here to the East. His group is all alone out there." Kazumu smirked hearing this.

"Lets do it!" Kazumu said with determination. "I want to fight this guy. To prove my training was worth it. To prove I can overcome this stupid weakness of mine. And also. I just know he has the Earth scroll we need. Somehow I just know it." The other two didn't say anything. They just nodded and they started walking. They went on for a while not talking as they came up to something they could see in the distance.

"Kazumu..." Naruto put his arm on his shoulder. "I sense a chakra coming from there and it's very faint even from this distance." His eyes widened and he started running over with the other two close behind. As they got closer they all began to see one colour in particular. Red.

"No..." Kazumu fell to his knees looking at the scene. All three Genin of this squad had been brutally attacked, soaking the sand with their blood, there was so much blood.

"It was them..." Kazumu looked over to see one of them was still alive, meaning this was the chakra Naruto sensed. "They said they didn't care about our scroll. They just wanted us dead. Have this. Please. You have to stop them before they-" His hand fell and went limp. He passed away giving Kazumu an Earth scroll that was soaked in his blood. Kazumu picked up the scroll and stood up.

"Kazumu? What are we going to do?" Kazumu didn't answer Naruto. Instead he put his hands to his mouth and whistled.

"As you command." Helios had returned and flew past Kazumu. He instantly jumped onto his back leaving Naruto and Konohamaru behind in the middle of the desert. All he could hear was them screaming at him. Telling him not to go. "Shall I assist you?"

"If you wish to. I can't leave this alone. I need to deal with it."

"Yes master. I understand."

"Stop calling me that. Kazumu is fine."

"Yes, Kazumu." Kazumu smiled as they came close to another group of ninja. "I can see them."

"So can I. Land next to them for me." Helios nodded and flew down to the ground landing next to the group. Kazumu jumped off and faced his enemy. "So it is you."

"You say this like you know me. You have no idea who I am." His voice was dark. Filled with hate and without reasoning.

"But I do know you. Or I should say I know your kind. Preying on the weak for no reason!"

"Your point?" He ripped the Sand Village headband off his cloak.

"I saw you. How strong you were. And all I could think of was how excited I was just thinking about fighting you, but."

"Spit it out." Kazumu looked up at him with a bloodthirsty gaze.

"Now all I want to do is kill you!" Kazumu jumped on Helios and performed some really quick handsigns. "Fire Style! Phoenix Flare!" Kazumu placed his hand on the back of Helios' head as he did this and a gigantic flame erupted from Helios, headed straight for the three ninja.

"Collaboration!?" The second ninja yelled and they all tried to jump out of its range which they did, but It burned off all remains of the cloaks hiding their identities. They landed back on the ground soon after. "Damn it! We paid good money for those!"

"We stole those you idiot!" The third ninja said, from the sound of her voice she was a women.

"Enough you two." The first ninja took charge. He had dark hair with a white long sleeved shirt, dark blue pants and what looked like a purple rope tied around his waist. He was currently holding a sword he had drawn moments before. The other two included a guy with white hair and a massive sword on his back and a red haired girl with glasses.

"Who the hell are you people?" Kazumu jumped off Helios once again and signalled him to leave, he responded by nodding and vanished in a puff of white smoke.

"Well I know you've heard about me at least once. And I've heard a great deal about you from the Akatsuki."

"But who out of them would've told you about me?"

"My brother, Itachi Uchiha." Kazumu was shocked by this and broke his stance.

"Then, that means you're-"

"Sasuke..." Kazumu looked behind him to see Naruto standing there.

"Naruto. I'm not here to see you. Go away." Sasuke ignored him and faced Kazumu. "I also heard Itachi called you his brother at one point. I can't accept this." His sword started discharging lightning chakra and he ran at Kazumu who had his head lowered and his eyes closed. "Now die!" He swung his sword down at Kazumu who proceeded to stop it with his hand, holding the tip of the blade.

"My turn..." Kazumu raised his head and delivered a powerful kick to Sasuke's stomach, making him slide backwards along the sand and cough up a small amount of blood. "Now, stop me if you've heard this one." Kazumu then bolted at Sasuke but didn't reach him. Instead he started running a perfect circle around him at lightning speed, making the sand kick up around him.

"But this is-" Sasuke was cut of by Kazumu's next kick, sending him flying into the air high above the ground. Kazumu then disappeared from sight.

"Where is he now?" The white haired guy looked around.

"Sasuke! Behind you!" The red haired girl yelled as Sasuke looked back seeing Kazumu.

"Dancing Leaf Shadow, but how?"

"Too late to question it." Kazumu's bandages unravelled, surrounding and binding Sasuke completely. They both together then started spinning towards the ground, faster and faster as they got closer. "PRIMARY LOTUS!"

End of Chapter 11.

I'm really sorry for the delay, i've had a busy week. Helios is a personal summon I created for Kazumu, i liked the idea of a phoenix so i went with it. I chose the same test because of two reasons, Naruto and Sasuke's reunion and I couldn't be bothered thinking of a new one haha. And while were on the subject Sasuke's appearance has a very big part to play so i'll try getting round to it very soon.

Anyway thank you for reading and see you next chapter.