I'm glad that I didn't take as much time with this chapter as the last. Thanks to you all for bearing with me though. This entire applying to medical school thing is a real pain in the ass.

For all of you have been worrying over Minato, don't worry. He will be back. While he won't be freed from the seal until Jiraiya pops up, I can guarantee you will be seeing him before that.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Chapter Eighteen: Encounter in the Forest

"What are we still doing out here?" Kankurou grumbled as he and his siblings continued to wander through the Forest of Death.

"We must find Uzumaki Naruto," Gaara intoned.

"What's with you and that guy anyways?" Kankurou asked. "You're strangers one day and best friends the next!"

Gaara paused for a moment to address the question. "He helped me…" he responded. "He fixed my seal."

Recalling how Gaara was now sleeping without Shuukaku coming out to play, Temari and Kankurou had to acknowledge the truth behind that.

"But how?" Gaara's elder brother queried. "Your seal was made by our best seal master, Chiyo-sama. Even she could not fully subdue the demon. How could a fresh-out-of-the-Academy Genin do what she could not?"

"Keep in mind, Kankurou, Konoha has given rise to some of the greatest seal masters to ever exist like Jiraiya of the Sannin and the Yondaime Hokage. Knowing that, is it still surprising to you?" Temari pointed out.

The puppeteer had to concede that point. "I guess not," he replied, although he still felt a little suspicious.

If Naruto really had managed to help their brother, then the Suna nin owed the blonde a lot. What he had granted Gaara was something that they could have never been able to give: a life without the horrible influence of his tenant constantly tormenting him and the chance for him to heal his wounded heart.

Even now, Gaara was mellowing out, giving his siblings hope.

"Maybe he is special," Kankurou mused in the end.

Once Naruto felt he was far enough away from everyone, he skidded to a halt.

'Calm down and think rationally,' Naruto told himself, taking deep breaths.

Thinking back to the battle against Orochimaru, he focused on what had led to his father's disappearance.

It was like his memories were going back on rewind as he tried to pinpoint the exact thing that had screwed over both his chakra and the communication link he shared with Minato and Kyuubi.

/"Gogyou Fuuin!"/

Eyes widening as he remembered Orochimaru's attack, he lifted his clothes to look at his abdomen as he channeled chakra.

Looking at the seal, he saw the source of his problem.

'So this really is all Orochimaru's fault,' Naruto realized, anger flaring. The snake Sannin had stolen his Tou-san… he would pay the next time Naruto saw him!

That is… if he could overcome the major handicap he faced with his messed up chakra control.

That meant his wind chakra was out for the count, and with that, any Hyouton jutsu. He couldn't chance any Fuuinjutsu either. If he made even the slightest mistake with that, he could severely hurt himself or those around him.

All he really had at his disposal now that most of his Ninjutsu was out of commission and his Fuuinjutsu was off limits was his Kage Bunshin and his Taijutsu.

He'd really been put at a disadvantage.

There was a sudden whistling noise and Naruto found himself bound to a tree, courtesy of a group of vines.

"It looks like we've caught a little fox," Daichi sneered as he approached Naruto alongside his teammates.

Naruto cursed as he struggled against his bins. "Damn it, why can't you just leave me alone?" he yelled.

"As I said before, that's a no can do, Izou-kun," Daichi drawled before smirking maliciously. "Or should I call you Namikaze-kun?"

Naruto's heart nearly stopped at the conviction in the Iwa nin's voice. There wasn't even the slightest amount of doubt in his voice or eyes. He knew.

Shock wearing off his face, Naruto went stone cold. "How did you know?" he asked, seeing that it would be pointless to deny it anymore. Nothing he could say or do would convince them otherwise when they were so hell bent on believing it.

"Other than the fact that you're a complete carbon copy of the man?" Osamu inquired.

"Speaking of which, your village must be really blind not to notice the connection… either that or they're protecting you," Michiru commented.

Naruto scoffed. "Their grief makes them blind," he responded simply.

"I've seen the way the villagers look at you, Namikaze," Daichi mused. "They don't like you very much, do they? Why is that? You're the child of their darling Yondaime Hokage. You would think they would treat you like a Prince."

"That's none of your business," Naruto said, looking away from Daichi. They'd already figured out one of his secrets. He wouldn't let them find out the other.

Daichi forced him to look back at him by taking hold of his chin.

"I'm making it my business. Now tell me," he ordered, only for Naruto to spit in his face in defiance.

Daichi's eyes turned stormy as he wiped the saliva away. He reveled in Naruto's cry of pain as he backhanded him harshly.

He thrust his hand into Naruto's blonde hair and used it to pull him towards him. "I'll enjoy breaking you," he hissed in his ear.

"That will never happen," the Namikaze heir scowled, blue eyes burning with determination. It pissed Daichi off.

He sneered. "I really hate everything about you," he spoke, his inner rage peeking through. "Your father screwed me over by destroying my family. I'll do the same to him by destroying you."

"You can try all you like but I'll fight you until the end," the blonde retorted, baring his teeth.

"Big talk coming from someone who always needed to be saved during our previous encounters," Michiru retorted.

"Tch," Naruto grunted. The only reason he had not fought against them properly before was because he had been trying to avoid conflict with them like he had been advised to.

Kakashi-sensei hadn't wanted the Iwa nin to get an inkling of just who he really was. That advice would do him no good now that his identity was blown.

Unfortunately, he wasn't in any condition to fight back against the Iwa nin. He barely had any chakra left and he hadn't had the time to get himself accustomed to is new limitations yet.

'Damn it,' he cursed inwardly. 'How am I going to get out of this mess?'

"I thought you were going to fight us, Namikaze. You can't do that if you're still tied up," Osamu taunted.

Naruto's silence was all they needed. They broke into jeering laughter.

"You can't get out, can you?" Michiru realized. "The son of the Yondaime Hokage can't even break out of these simple restraints. Pathetic."

"I guess the Namikaze heir isn't all that he's cracked up to be," Osamu drawled, looking unimpressed.

"Your father would have been disappointed to know just how pathetic you really are," Daichi stated, looking down on the blonde.

Naruto snapped.

He converted his remaining chakra directly into wind and let it run completely wild as he let out a scream of sheer rage that echoed throughout the entire forest.

The three Iwa nin tried to stay on their feet but it proved to be useless. Michiru was knocked out as she slammed into a tree, Osamu got himself tangled in a nearby bush, and Daichi was forced to release Naruto in order to stabilize his own position.

In the end, Daichi found himself alone against a freed and pissed off Naruto.

"Don't you dare speak of my Tou-san, teme… you don't know him," the blonde stated, panting heavily.

'What is he?' Daichi wondered, shocked by Naruto's resolve. He'd known the moment he'd seen the blonde in the forest that the boy was utterly exhausted with little chakra to spare and little way to defend himself. There should have been no way for the Namikaze to fight against them… yet, there he was, completely free.

Of course, it was at that moment that Naruto passed out from exhaustion.

"He's his father's son after all," the Iwa nin remarked, grudgingly acknowledging Naruto's potential as a shinobi. 'You're more interesting than I had previously thought, Namikaze Naruto.'

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Osamu moving to finish Naruto off. "Stop," he ordered, gaining a surprised look from his friend.

"But I thought you wanted him dead," Osamu remarked with a frown.

"I do," Daichi agreed. "But not like this. I want to play with him for a little while longer. I want to see all that he's capable of before I finally do him in."

"Have it your way," Osamu shrugged, backing off and to go and collect Michiru.

"Let's get going," Daichi stated. "We'll have our chance to face him again later when he's at full strength. Defeating him like that will be the only way that I can get satisfaction out of my revenge."

"Kougyoku-sensei isn't going to like it when he finds out you let him go," Osamu warned.

"It's my revenge, isn't it? Not his. He'll just have to deal," Daichi responded, unrepentant. He took out an extra pair of Heaven and Earth scrolls he and his team had gathered and put it beside Naruto alongside the three-pronged kunai he had found.

"You're giving that back to him?" Osamu queried, raising an eyebrow.

"It's not like I have any use for it," Daichi shrugged. "Let's go."

With that declaration, the Iwa nin left Naruto behind.

Not much longer, Gaara and his siblings came across the unconscious blonde, having been attracted by his chakra release.

"It's him," Temari stated the obvious in surprise. "I wonder what happened to him?"

"Chakra exhaustion," Gaara said simply as he approached his fellow Jinchuuriki. When he and Naruto had bonded that first night, they became highly in tune with each other's physical and mental states. His sand wrapped around Naruto, cradling him gently, providing an impromptu bed.

"Look," Kankurou pointed out as he saw the scrolls. "He must have lost consciousness retrieving or defending them." He debated the idea of taking them, only to be met with Gaara's glare. He figured it was best to leave it with Naruto. Then his eyes fell on the Hiraishin kunai. "What's this?"

"I don't know," Temari commented. "But it looks familiar. I've seen it somewhere, I'm sure of it."

Gaara didn't say anything as he used the sand bed to lift Naruto off of the ground, scrolls and kunai included. He quickly tucked the kunai back into Naruto's weapons pouch, not wanting anyone else to see it.

"Come, we're going to bring him back to his teammates," Gaara stated as he started walking away. His siblings had no choice but to follow.

"I'll never understand this bond between them," Kankurou grumbled.

"I don't think anyone will," Temari declared.

Shikamaru and Sasuke glared at each other while Ino was helping fix Sakura's hair. Chouji was trying to act as a mediator between the two rivals for Naruto's affections.

"Naruto doesn't belong to you," Shikamaru scowled.

"He will," Sasuke responded coldly. "It's only a matter of time."

"You have no right to be so possessive of him!" Shikamaru snarled, shocking Ino. She'd never seen her teammate so angry before.

"Of course I do. He's my teammate, not yours. Naruto is mine, as is Sakura! No one can get in between us!" Sasuke growled.

Sakura blushed in the background. So it wasn't just Naruto that he was so possessive over. She'd gotten scared that she had lost Sasuke to Naruto. She hadn't even realized he was competition. Although, it didn't seem that Naruto was terribly interested in the Uchiha in the first place. He seemed like he was falling for Shikamaru… but then again, Naruto had stayed the night at Sasuke's place the night before…

Shikamaru was stunned by the sheer degree of Sasuke's possessiveness. It was frankly alarming.

"You're deranged, Uchiha," Shikamaru declared, much to Ino and Sakura's displeasure. "You're a threat to both of your teammates. If I have to, I'll protect Naruto even from you!"

"Big words coming from a loser," Sasuke scoffed derisively.

Shikamaru grit his teeth and he was about to speak once more when both teams sensed someone approaching.

They all turned in time to see the Suna siblings arrive with the unconscious Naruto in tow.

"Naruto!" Sakura called out in concern as Gaara gently lay the boy down on the ground near her and Ino. "Is he okay?"

"He'll be fine. He just wore himself out," Gaara responded, the most they had ever heard the stoic redhead say.

"Thank you for taking care of him," the pink-haired girl said, relieved to see her wayward teammate in one piece.

"I promised him that I would protect him," Gaara replied simply.

'Promised who?' everyone wondered. It couldn't have been Naruto. Naruto wouldn't have liked to ask anyone for protection. He would try to fight for himself. Shikamaru had an inkling of just who Gaara was talking about. If it was true, that meant Gaara knew Naruto's secret.

Jealousy filled the brunette. Naruto only knew Gaara for a few days and in that time, not only had he shared a bed with him but he'd also shared his most protected secret. What did the Suna nin have that he did not?

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the same jealous expression on Sasuke's face.

"What's that in Naruto's hands?" Ino broke Shikamaru's thought process as they all noticed the scrolls in Naruto's possession.

"He got us scrolls in this amount of time?" Sakura declared, bemused. Given the way Naruto had been before he had fled, he hadn't looked like he was in the right mind to go hunting for scrolls. Then again… this was the most surprising ninja in all of Konoha they were talking about.

"That explains why he's unconscious, he hadn't had much chakra left to spare as it was," Shikamaru stated, thinking back to how much Naruto had spent when he'd woke up and freaked out.

"We will accompany you to the Tower," Gaara stated simply. "I must abide by my promise."

"Seeing how stubbornly Gaara was sticking to Naruto, Sasuke could only growl.

"What scroll do you guys need?" Sakura asked Ino curiously.

"An Earth scroll, why?" the blonde girl inquired.

"We need a Heaven scroll," Sakura stated before tossing the extra Earth scroll to Ino. "Consider this a thank you for helping us against the Oto nin. You deserve this as much as we do."

Ino looked surprised. "This better not be charity, Sakura," she stated.

"It's not. Just consider this as me repaying you for my debt. Besides, the Chuunin Exams wouldn't be much fun if you weren't there to compete against," Sakura smirked.

"Then we accept," the blonde female replied. 'You're not fooling anyone, Sakura. You're doing this for Naruto. You know he would want Shikamaru to remain in the Chuunin Exams.'

"Let's go," Gaara said, sounding quite impatient. The three-team group was quick to comply.

A/N: I hope you liked the chapter. I'm glad to finally be done with the Second Exam. The preliminaries will be fun to do and in one particular scene I'm going to start bringing up memories from Naruto and Minato's pasts, so if there are any scenes you guys are particularly interested in seeing, feel free to ask.

Also, I've been receiving another muse I thought I'd ask you guys your opinions on. It's rough at the moment but seems fun to do:

Naruto and Sakura were dating but in the end, Sakura chose Sasuke over him, Ino helps him get over her. Then an enemy pops up with control over this death veil thing (like the thing in the fifth Harry Potter book) and starts bringing back all of the old enemies, including Madara. Sasuke pushes Naruto into the veil but Naruto finds his way back out of it… alongside a few formerly dead allies (any guesses who? *grin*)