A/N: Sorry guys, been trying to take a break and play video games. I mean school just got out, but i will still try and keep writing. Hope you guys enjoy.

Also guys check out my other story "My Last Smile". I think i might leave it a one-shot but if i get enough feedback i will continue it as well. Anyway, enjoy the story.

Chapter 19 - Forest of Death

'Oh Kami he looks so hot in black.' thought Ino Yamanaka. She would turn her gaze somewhere else every time Naruto looked at her but whenever she got the chance to steal a peek, she did it. 'I can't wait to show him how strong i've gotten. After these exams we defiantly are going on a date.' she vowed to herself. Ino then looked over to her teammate and saw the same dreamy look she had on. Tripping her in mid air would have been nice but she doubted Naruto would appreciate that, after all they shouldn't be staring at him from his back anyway.

"We've been going a while now, do you guys need to take a break?" Naruto asked as he came to a stop on a fairly large tree branch.

"We're fine Naruto-Kun." said Sakura first.

"C'mon now Sakura, i know your forehead must be slowing you down." Ino teased.

"Shut it pig, maybe if your bu..."

"Um, i think I'll find us some fresh water." Interrupted Naruto as he hopped off the branch. He didn't want to be put in another situation about who looks better than the other. 'After all they were trained by Baa-Chan, and she can hit VERY hard.' Naruto cringed at that thought as he walked away.

"Now look what you did Billboard brow, you drove Naruto-Kun away from us. Now he thinks we're just dumb kids." said Ino.

"Me? I didn't do anything wrong, i just said that we're fine and you insult me." retorted Sakura.

"Well maybe you should stop trying to flirt with him then!" yelled Ino.

"I wasn't flirting with him! I just answered his question!" Sakura yelled back.

"Then don't call him Naruto-Kun! You didn't call him that when you found out about what's inside him! Don't get any ideas thinking that he'll ever like you!" Ino shouted hoping to shut up her rival.

Her words did the job alright, but it did it a little to well. Sakura lowered her head and her green orbs reflected much sorrow. She didn't deserve his friendship. Sure it was a mistake but she still treated him horribly and called him names that she regrets.

Realizing what she had just said Ino started to apologize, "Sakura I..."

"It's fine Ino, your right. I don't deserve to be his friend..." Sakura said sadly.

"That's not what i meant." said Ino as she started walking over to her depressed teammate. "I meant keep your hands off him because he's mine. After all he's only got one tool." Ino said but whispered the last part in Sakura's ear.

Now Sakura's face was pinker than her hair, "JUST BECAUSE HE HAS ONE DOESN'T MEAN HE CAN USE IT ONLY ONE TIME!" she yelled back but covered her mouth and flushed even more at what she had just said.

"My My Sakura, so you are interested huh?" Ino teased.

"N-No, leave me alone pig! I'm going to go help Naruto-Kun." said Sakura as she started running away from the scene, not knowing she was heading in a completely different direction than Naruto.

'Just be sure to keep your hands off of him Sakura. Hmm... should i tell her she's going the wrong way? Probably not. Now i got Naruto-Kun all to myself!' and with that Ino started to go in Naruto's direction.

- With Sakura -

"Stupid Pig, thinking that i like Naruto-Kun. She made me say something so stupid! I'm just glad no one was there to hear that, especially Naruto." Sakura grumbled to herself. She then stopped and sighed, 'Naruto... Do i like you?'

'CHA! Hell Yeah he's hot!' came a familiar voice from inside Sakura's head. Sakura nearly face faulted at what her inner just said.

'Wait? What? When did you get back, and he's not hot as Sasuke.'

'HAHA! Please! I am the way you really feel about things, you think he's at least ten times hotter than Sasuke, especially with that black on. You should just take off his pants and su...'

'Shut the hell up! Kami why are you so perverted?' Sakura mentally yelled.

'Remember your talking about yourself!' her inner responded as it retracted back into Sakura's mind.

"Finally, some peace from her..." Sakura said out loud. "I guess i should go back to Naruto-Kun and Ino-Pig. But..." WOOSH! Sakura was interrupted by a loud gust of wind. She braced herself and stood her ground. 'What the hell is that?' she thought. A few seconds later after the wind calmed, 'I guess i better check it out.'

"Sakura wait." someone behind her said, scaring the daylights out of Sakura. She turned around and saw her teammate Naruto along with Ino. "This is none of our concern."

"But what if someone is in trouble? I mean Genin shouldn't be able to make jutsu like that right?" Sakura asked.

"Sakura, everyone around is, is the enemy. We can't go helping everyone especially when we are trying to pass the exams ourselves. Everyone here knows exactly what they got into and they were willing to take the risk. This is survival of the best forehead." Ino said.

Suddenly a blood curtailing scream was heard a distance away, causing all the birds to leave the trees. "Sasuke-Kun?" said Sakura. And with that she was off and running toward the sound of the scream.

"Dammit forehead!" Yelled Ino as she was about to start after her but was stopped by Naruto with a hand to the shoulder.

"I will get her back Ino, this is really dangerous business. The Kyuubi was able to sense something from the start of these exams and it is starting to feel it stronger than ever. I don't want you getting hurt so please just stay put." Naruto said seriously. Ino nodded in response and Naruto disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

-Back with Sakura-

"Please be okay Sasuke." Sakura whispered to herself.

"Sasuke with no -Kun? Hah so you do like Naruto more!" shouted Inner Sakura.

"Not now!" Sakura thought as she forced back her inner.

As Sakura came to a clearing, she looked at the branches above her. She saw a man with his face half ripped off and appearing to be talking to someone. She started to jump up from tree branch to tree branch to get a better view of what was happening. When she reached a good view point she gasped in shocked. The man with the ripped face appeared to be laughing at Sasuke who was on his knees and screaming in pain. Sakura then looked to her left and saw Choji pummeled into a wall unconscious and Shikamaru on another branch also unconscious.

Just when Sakura was about to leap into action she was stopped by someone grabbing her wrist. She looked back, ready to attack whoever grabbed but stopped short, "Sakura, don't. Let me take care of this and get out of here. This could get really ugly."

"But..." Sakura tried but was stopped by Naruto's voice getting louder.

"Sakura! This is a life or death situation! None of your stupid love games! Now get the hell out of here!" shouted Naruto, gaining the attention of the man that has beaten team seven.

"Hmm? Did someone else come out to play?" he said giving a evil chuckle as he raised his finger to point at Naruto and Sakura.

"Shit..." Naruto said as he pushed Sakura out the way and jumped himself as a snake's tail smashed the branch they were standing on.

'Ah. So this is the nine tails hm? Interesting.' thought the man. 'I guess i better not kill him, or else the akatsuki will keep hunting me down. Let's see if my informant's information was accurate or not.'

As Naruto saw Sakura was out of harms way as well as him, he landed on a large tree and leaped forward toward the man. As he closed in, he started to notice the defining features of someone he had so much hate for. Orochimaru, just his name made Naruto's teeth clench his anger as he continued to close the distance. When he was about ten feet in reach he seemed to flash away.

'Oh shit.' Orochimaru thought as he brought his hand to the side of his head to block one of Naruto's punches. 'He's fast.' Naruto then grabbed a hold of Orochimaru's wrist and held him in place causing said person to raise an eyebrow. Orochimaru looked down and the branch seem to explode from under him as another Naruto had a rasengan aiming straight for his chest. Orochimaru went wide eyed but broke free of the other Naruto's hand and jumped away. As he was in mid air, about a dozen kunai were flying straight at him. He landed on a tree trunk and sprung to another tree and finally got back to his snake which blocked more Kunai that were coming for him. The snake roared and a few seconds later, it's head exploded from the dozen or so kunai that were lodged in it's head with exploding tags attached. Orochimaru gave an evil smirk. 'Hmm.. he's got talent, but/.' he thought as he saw Naruto hopping from branch to branch at him. 'He's still got a while to go before he can be a challenge for me.' and with that he opened his mouth wide and before Naruto knew it, his right shoulder was pierced by a blade.

"Dammit!" Naruto groaned.

'I told you to watch out for that! That's what the pervert was talking about! Why don't you ever listen?' said the Kyuubi.

'Not the time for i told you so.' Naruto flinched, causing the Kyuubi to put out more of it's chakra. Naruto moved his left arm to grab the blade, but before he could, Orochimaru raised his head, lifted him into the air and slammed him down on the ground, with the blade seeming to extend with each passing moment. The sheer impact was enough to level a few trees in about a thirty foot radius. Sakura could only stare in horror at what just happened to her returned teammate.

"Kukuku... that should stop him for now." chuckled Orochimaru, but quickly felt a familiar chakra and he made his leave by stepping into a black pit on the trunk of a tree. "Until next time, Naruto-Kun."

After regaining her composure and realizing what just happened. Instincts took over Sakura as she raced down to the cloud of smoke still on the ground. When she reached it, the smoke started to clear and there she saw Naruto slightly slumped over with his hand right shoulder and a fairly large amount of blood running down his shirt. Sakura saw his gaze shift to her and he still had on his emotionless eyes. "I told you to leave..." he said almost in a whisper.

Seeing his injuries Sakura ignored him and approached him fairly quickly. She learned how to analyze injuries and even if she hasn't fully mastered how to use her chakra with others, she still had medical supplies she could use. When she placed her hand over Naruto's shoulder he suddenly grabbed it. "Why didn't you listen?" he asked sternly.

"I'm sorry Naruto, please just let me heal you." she said as she again attempted to place her hand on his shoulder, but was stopped again by Naruto.

She looked at him confused, so he pulled down the collar of his shirt to reveal the gash was healing extremely fast. It appeared to be burning and in a few moments it would be completely gone. Sakura was amazed at the healing rate at which Naruto had. "I-Is that?" she started to ask as she placed her hand over the spot where Naruto's wound used to be.

"The Kyuubi? Yes." Naruto answered. But his look changed to puzzled when Sakura wouldn't stop rubbing his shoulder. She appeared to be in some sort of trance just touching him. 'okay...' Naruto thought as he sweat dropped. Suddenly a strong cough was heard a short distance away. It was enough to snap Sakura out of her 'Fantasies' and she quickly removed her hand from Naruto's shoulder with a huge blush on her face.

"What do you think you're doing forehead!" shouted the blond ninja.

"I-um-P-Pig i-it's not w-what you think!" Sakura horribly stuttered out.

"Well by the looks of it, you are trying to feel up MY Naruto-Kun!" retorted Ino.

"Since when did i belong to either of you?" asked Naruto innocently with a half smile. It was quickly changed as Naruto felt the extreme amount of killer intent coming from both kunoichis.

"Is there someone else?" Ino and Sakura said in a demonic tone.

Just looking at their faces made Naruto want to crawl under a rock. He started to wave his hands in front of him defensively. "N-No it's nothing like that i swear!" he said, while sweating profusely.

"Okay!" they both said, quite girly and cheerfully. "Now where were we?" they both asked as they started bickering again.

Naruto gave out a deep sigh as he began to look at the amount of damage he and Orochimaru had done. Then he looked at the downed Shinobi. 'Guess i should take care of them for now...' Naruto thought to himself.

A/N: Next time - Naruto vs the Sound Ninja

Hope you guys enjoyed. I will try to update the next chapter soon. Review please =)